Yes, Productivity is not Working

There is a fantastic article called “Productivity is not Working” by Laurie Penny. Take time to read it here.

Penny suggests that so many of us are addicted to the treadmill of our work lives, not because it takes us anywhere but only because it is comfortable and known:

This is how most of my peers have experienced the modern economy. We were told that if we worked hard, we would be safe, and well, and looked after, and the less this was true, the harder we worked.

The idea that hustling can save you from calamity is an article of faith, not fact—and the Covid-19 pandemic is starting to shake the collective faith in individual striving. The doctrine of “workism” places the blame for global catastrophe squarely on the individual: If you can’t get a job because jobs aren’t there, you must be lazy, or not hustling hard enough. That’s the story that young and young-ish people tell themselves, even as we’ve spent the whole of our brief, broke working lives paying for the mistakes of the old, rich, and stupid. We internalized the collective failures of the ruling class as personal failings that could be fixed by working smarter, or harder, or both—because that, at least, meant that we might be able to fix them ourselves.

Penny comes to the obvious conclusion that “the cult of productivity doesn’t have an answer for this crisis. Self-optimizing will not save us this time…”

Really, you should read the article.

While Penny’s article ends with a word of hope, I would like to offer what might be the Good News hidden in the title.

There are several ways to read this title (“Productivity is not Working"). One way is to say that being productive in the traditional economic sense is not helping right now. There may be a day in the future when we can all be “productive” again, but today is not that day. To put it another way, it is saying that “productivity isn’t working”. Like the refrigerator that isn’t working, in time we can fix it and it will work again.

Another way to read the title is that is productivity equals (is) not working. But how can this be? How can productivity BE not working? This is the mystery of grace in the world. If we want to gain our life, we have to loose it. The only way that God can produce fruit (be productive) in our lives is when we are not working. When we step aside and realize that we cannot save the world. When we submit to the reality that all our works can never fill the deep desires of our hearts and souls. That we will be “restless until we rest in thee.”

You may be tempted to think that what this suggests that the Good News is to live a lazy life of not doing anything. This is the false choice given to us by the soul-sucking economy - we either are working or we are lazy. We are either striving or we are abdicating. We are either growing or we are dying. These are all false choices because there is another way to life - not by working and not by being lazy but by receiving.

We have such a cult of productivity that even today some of the “best” leaders of our time are encouraging us to use this time to think through how we can be better and more productive in the future. These liturgical sermons from the priests of productivity are not new. We have heard them before. And for many of us, we build our lives around their gospel. As Penny says, “There is nothing counterrevolutionary about keeping busy.” There is something that is counterrevolutionary and that is by receiving the Gospel that productivity is not working.

Which can only mean that God is.

Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom?

In Philippians 2:1-11 we read the following:

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is among the richer scriptures in the New Testament regarding Christ. There is debate if this is a song or poem, if Paul wrote it or if he just knew of it. It is identified as a “Christological hymn” however let us not forget that it is not just about Christ. It is an invitation for each of us on how to live our lives after the example (pattern) of Christ.

What is this pattern? In short it is the pattern of kenosis - the pattern of divesting power. Here is what that might look like:

First we begin with fear of the Lord. This is not that we are “afraid” of the Lord but that we do not compare ourselves to anyone else but the Lord. In doing so, we begin to see that we are in fact not the Lord and that our Sin is ever before us. If we compare ourselves to others, then we become prideful and boastful to the point where we begin to feel like we are “above” or even “godlike” to others. Thus fear of the Lord is knowing who/what to compare yourself to.

When we compare ourselves to God, we are face to face with the shortcomings we have. These shortcomings are the very things that keep us from union with God, others, world and self. And so, if unity is what we seek, we must renounce our current way of life.

When we renounce ways of living that keep us from union, we become a learning again. The idea that “what got you here cannot take you there” is at play. So as ones who have renounced “what got us here” because it “cannot take us there” we are humbled as one who is just beginning a new journey. We have to learn again a new way to live that is without that which we renounced. (Thus, religion is about helping us unlearn before it is about helping us learn.)

Once we renounce our previous ways and in a posture of a humble learner, what are we to do? We need a teacher to show us and tell us what to do. When you are taking a class, the teacher will often tell you to do things that you do not fully understand at the time. However, you trust the teacher and you do what they tell you to do hopeful that in the doing you will come to a greater understanding. Trusting the teacher and doing what they ask is called obedience. Obeying is not a high value in the individualist times we are in, and maybe this is part of our resistance to the spiritual life.

Finally, even if you obey the teacher, the lessons of how to live a life like Christ will take patience. We will not learn over night. It was said that one monk put a stone in his mouth for three years just to learn to be silent. It was said that one monk was in the desert for over fifty years and was just beginning to tame anger. It was said that Jesus Christ himself took forty days in the wilderness to overcome the temptations. It took God in Christ three days to defeat death. Needless to say, if it takes God in Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit some time to overcome things, it will take you time as well.

This is a pattern to consider as the spiritual life:
1) Fear of the Lord
2) Renunciation
3) Humility
4) Obedience
5) Patience

Now, if only I could get that first one down…

Privilege Says...

I want to introduce you (in case you do not already know of her work) to Dr. Christena Cleveland. Her website introduces her as:

”a social psychologist, public theologian, author, and activist. She is the founder and director of the recently-launched Center for Justice + Renewal, a non-profit dedicated to helping justice advocates sharpen their understanding of the social realities that maintain injustice while also stimulating the soul’s enormous capacity to resist and transform those realities. Committed to leading both in scholarly settings and in the public square, Christena writes regularly, speaks widely, and consults with organizations.”

Image by David Rochas - used with permission from Dr. Cleveland’s office

You might be interested in exploring her Learning Community where you can get a sense of her current and how to support her future work.

Dr. Cleveland wrote the following poem. From what I understand the insights she elevates are not “new” to those who study and speak about privilege. The poem’s power resides in her ability to list several examples of what privilege looks like. As a person who as more privilege than most people in the world, I am humbled by Dr. Cleveland’s work and give thanks for the ways she is gracefully teaching me. I know that I have so much learning, no, so much unlearning to do. I pray that others in my position will join in the efforts to repent of our blindness and admit that we might very well be doing more harm than we would like to admit. And may our repentance lead not forgiveness and change of how we use our privilege.

I share the following poem with permission from Dr. Cleveland’s office:

Privilege Says...

Privilege says I'll only listen to people who experience oppression if they offer practical solutions to the problems that they describe.

Privilege says learn my language, my customs, and my particularities -- so we can all enjoy unity.

Privilege says the world's problems would be solved if everybody were just like me.

Privilege says I can dress unbecomingly but still be perceived as edgy, unique or not materialistic, rather than homeless.

Privilege says I'll only listen to people who experience oppression if they communicate in a way that's easy for me to understand.

Privilege says I have no cultural identity.

Privilege says diverse people should come to my spiritual community, on my turf, in my comfort zone.

Privilege says I've earned everything I've got.

Privilege says the characteristics of the divine that are most evident in my culture are the most important ones.

Privilege says why are people who experience oppression always talking about oppression? Why can't we all just get along?

Privilege says your perspective is tainted by your culture. I speak pure truth.

Privilege says I'll only listen to people who experience oppression if they describe their negative experiences in a super hopeful way and I leave feeling super hopeful.

Privilege says that reverse discrimination is real.

Privilege says I'll only listen to people who experience oppression if they come to my institution/conference/social space. I don't see that in doing so, they risk being further marginalized by me.

Privilege says I'll only listen to people who experience oppression if they possess the kind of credentials that I value.

Privilege says I'll only listen to people who experience oppression if they listen to me.

Privilege says people who disagree with me are angry.

Privilege says I choose a spiritual community based on what is comfortable for me and my family.

Privilege says I would listen to people who experience oppression but they see everything from their unique cultural viewpoint. I, on the other hand, can see the big picture.

Privilege says I'll be friends with people who experience oppression, as long as they never call me an oppressor.

Privilege says your perspective is important, just not as important as mine.

Privilege says my culture naturally embodies more of the characteristics of Jesus.

Privilege says I'll only listen to people who experience oppression if they remain calm (in the way that calm means to me).

Privilege says let's plan a conference/roundtable/anthology and then after the fact invite diverse people to "add flavor."

Privilege says this cross-cultural encounter is uncomfortable. I'm leaving

Privilege says this person who experiences oppression’s story is such a downer.  Why can't they be more hopeful and grateful?

Privilege says I'd definitely follow a poor/trans/person of color leader.  I just never have.

Privilege says I should get brownie points for being friends with people who experience oppression.

Privilege says I don’t see color.

Privilege says I'll only listen to people who experience oppression if they repeatedly affirm that I'm a good person and not like other privileged folks

Privilege says this is the land of equal opportunity.

Privilege says I don't have a cultural identity, but people who are different than me do.

Privilege says I'm not privileged.