The answer to the question of the meaning or value of work certainly depends on who you ask.
For some, work is a necessary evil in order to pay the rent and other costs that life entails. These people work in order to live. Perhaps these people also see a moral obligation to society, because it is considered antisocial to live at the expense of others. Putting this idea in positive terms, work is of course also a way to increase social status by making a career or starting a business. Last but not least, work can be a vehicle to achieve personal goals such as owning a home and financial independence.
Idealists would respond that work offers an opportunity to make the world a better place. These people experience an increase in self-esteem through the meaning they see in their work and possibly a social upliftment from those who share their ideals (sometimes ideologies). Spiritual people also use work as a form of meditation (ora et labora), while less spiritually inclined contemporaries use it to structure their daily lives. Altruistic people see work as a way of helping others or bringing joy. As the saying goes, it is better to give than to receive, so for many people it is certainly about feeling better about themselves.
From an evolutionary perspective, work is of course an ideal field to fulfil the evolutionary impetus of further development. Work can also provide an interesting playing field for the pursuit of power or, to put it more positively, the desire to take on responsibility. The meaning that can be seen in work is therefore highly individual and can take on a wide variety of forms.
Is that all there is to it?
Fortunately not. Alongside healthy food, clean water, clothing, a roof over one's head and social contact, work is a basic human need. People need a job in order to lead a fulfilling life. This is particularly tragic in many cases where people have been looking forward to their retirement for years because they will finally no longer have to work, only to die a short time later with no sense of purpose because they only realised the importance of work in their lives on their deathbed.
When people stop working, the risk of depression and anxiety disorders increases dramatically. One prominent example is the former head of Trigema, Wolfgang Grupp, who suffered from depression after handing over his position to his children and committed suicide, which fortunately failed. Less prominent are the millions of people who have become unemployed through no fault of their own and who, in addition to many other challenges, are also struggling with a lack of meaning. In every respect, work is a necessary ingredient for a fulfilled life.
Any work?
That's an interesting question. Many people believe that "their" work should make them happy. Just like "their" partner, "their" city or "their" hobbies. Unfortunately, this is a fallacy in every respect. It only looks as if this or that job makes us happier or more dissatisfied than another. Of course, a person with two left hands is at a disadvantage when it comes to craftsmanship and someone who has no sense of tact is not particularly well placed in either diplomatic circles or studying music. Nevertheless, the question of what work "makes" us happy is the wrong one. Because it is not the work that makes us happy, it is our own inner joy of life that we put into this work.
So it depends on our inner attitude. If we reject an activity outright and do not question our inner resistance, we will not be happy. In the worst case scenario, work can make us ill. We moan and complain and the years go by without us changing anything. "Love it, change it or leave it" is an American work philosophy. Either I can come to terms with the job to such an extent that I can at least accept it without suffering (love it), I find a way to do the work differently or have it done by another person or a robot (change it) or I give up this work to end the suffering (leave it). The popular German "bear it and blame others" does not apply here.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter what profession we take up or what jobs we do. Anyone who has understood that it is the inner attitude that counts is freed from the constraints they have created or assumed and can make decisions on their own responsibility and with self-confidence.
And what do we gain from this?
Nothing at all. This question is also wrong. The right question is what we don't lose by letting go of our inner resistances and prejudices: our own zest for life. This is our natural state. We can fill every activity, even the most mindless or physically difficult, with this joie de vivre and thus give our work and our life itself meaning.
And if we do this consistently, sooner or later we will probably be lucky enough to find true fulfilment in our work. Then we are an arrow flying towards its target. We have no doubt that we are in the right place at the right time. This is the state that is needed to achieve truly great things. Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel or Beethoven's Ninth are outstanding examples of work accomplished in this state of "bliss in labour".
The Persian Sufi poet Hafiz put it like this: "I am a hole in a flute through which the breath of God blows." Labour, which we ourselves give meaning to, can achieve no more, but also no less.
