I read Deep Work by Cal Newport lately and I was very impressed by its argument that deep work (as opposed to shallow work) is the secret to a happy, important, and meaningful life. It’s my understanding of how to go about finding the meaning and purpose in life.
God and King used to be the authorities and they provided some meaning for human existence. Then, God died and kings were dethroned and the modern man was left with a big hole. He had to find the meaning in himself and find by himself. This search for meaning is not taught in schools and there haven’t been any technological advances in that direction. And with God, a sense of sacredness and awe were lost. Life was all there was in front of him.
One of our poets D.V Gundappa has this advice as to how to live day-to-day life: If you want to appreciate a flower, you do it delicately. You don’t dissect and analyse it. Life is like a pond. You don’t stir its bed to get water. Life is good with this balance.
Now, there are studies which say your attention decides the fabric of your life. And the attention gives life a meaning. Big solid blocks of attention devoted to something meaningful give you the feeling of meaning and importance in life. The more organized your thinking, more organized the life looks. As the old saying goes, ‘As you think, so you are.’
If large periods of rapt attention occupy most of your waking hours, you will have less time for other little, trivial things and it’s easy to put it into practice what the poet D.V Gundappa advised. This kind of life which has little time for numerous insignificant details is simple and not messy. It significantly improves happiness and provides a feeling of fulfillment.
In the book All Things Shining, Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Kelly argue that a man seeking meaning leads a boring and almost unlivable life. A craftsman, on the other hand, is far better off. He has found a meaning outside of himself: his craft. There is some order, some inherent value which is independent of him. He aligns himself to it and he merges with it and forgets himself. He finds sacredness, awe, and mystery in it. He doesn’t try to create a meaning but chooses one from available ones.
Rapt attention is equal to minimizing random thoughts and focusing on only a few well-chosen thoughts. It gives a structure to life and life becomes organized and important. As a result, The overall well-being increases.
Meditation goes a step further and in its deep state, there are no thoughts. If reducing random thoughts to a few deliberate ones gives sanity and purpose to life, it’s only logical that going from thoughts to no-thoughts must make life blissful as proclaimed by all the mystics.
I believe deep work is very important for both life and being. It’s an intermediate step from confusion to clarity.
