Long before the days of therapists and career coaches, the Puritans learned how to cope with depression. They scorned idleness, believing it was indeed the devil's workshop, bogging down the body in inertia, and leading to brooding. Luther had promoted the opposite, a life of diligence, saying "God . . . does not want me to sit at home, to loaf, to commit matters to God, and to wait till a fried chicken flies into my mouth." Long before endorphins were discovered, the Puritans knew that moving and tiring the body in manual labor (even if that labor is the unpaid kind that paints the house and organizes the garage) proved a talisman against a host of mental ills.
Contrary to the misconstrued Victorian concept of 'Puritanism,' an idea C.S. Lewis calls "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy," the original Puritans, serious as they were, embraced not only hard work, but the pursuit of joy. Lewis, opposed to this inaccurate view of the Puritans, would agree with writer, Richard Bernard, who said Christians "may be merry at their work, and merry at their meat." Thomas Gataker wrote that Satan was the one who would try to convince people that "in the kingdom of God there is nothing but sighing and groaning and fasting and prayer," but the truth was that "in his house there is . . . feasting and rejoicing." Lewis, further debunking the myth that Puritans never had fun, said "bishops, not beer, were their special aversion." The Puritans pursued joy, the very antithesis of depression, even in the midst of hardship, believing they were firmly in God's hand, not forgotten and never forsaken.
Apparently Amy Henry has a job.
While reading “Albion’s Seed” by David Fischer, I learned just what a bad rap the Puritans had gotten, though I suspected as much.
Being in the wilderness would make it a little easier to find constructive things to do than living in an apartment in big city USA where you can’t chop wood or grow a vegetable or hunt a deer or build something or cut wood or even trench around your little shack to make it more water proof or make a million things that were made by hand in the day. Right now people aren’t looking for labor, they just want you to quit hanging around and to stay out their way unless you are going to purchase something.
This is in an area with one of the higher unemployment rates in the nation. I recently heard that he had just been hired into an engineering position, by one of our competitors. He never collected unemployment. Attitude makes all the difference.
I’m not sure I’ll buy into any of this yet...
Since late February of this year, I am sure there have been many opportunities for me to be employed doing things I probably would have done 15-20 years ago...
But that was then, and this is now...
Since then the one good thing is my wife finished her teaching degree and gained her certification to teach this year...I found myself not as idle as some would think that would make me a sloth...I got her classroom organized and setup, along with helping some of the other teachers in the late summer get their rooms up to scratch...I volunteer to do things to get setup for the science fairs at the school, district and state levels...
I have done some work on the side that keeps me out of trouble (i.e.: robbing banks /sarc), and I am an election judge in my voting precinct...
So if I am to be damned, for all eternity, for not taking jobs that involve, “Would you like to super-size that order sir?”...
Well then I am just not so sure (no, check that, I know I do not) I measure up to some folks, and the Puritan way of looking at things...
I am not sure if I am depressed, I know I have problems sleeping (considering I’m up at 2:30am on a Sunday morning) and there is not a lot moving and shaking on the job front for me...But its like that for a lot of people I network with...
I guess it is easier for folks who can write about how a religious sect got through times like these...Yet I do have a feeling that work these days for a lot of people does not glorify God in the least...
I know what I do has not done much to raise an eyebrow...And that is (I feel) more hurtful to me than to anyone else...I don’t want anyone else to suffer for my failures...
About 40 years ago in college I read Max Weber’s book on the Protestant Ethic. It focused my life and has helped me ever since.
And contrary to the popular and progressive view, they liked sex, provided those involved were married, or getting married.
I’ve been unemployed several times. Never depressed me. Did all I could to find comparable work, and enjoyed the rest of the time as state-paid vacation. It really is a matter of chosen attitude.
Stay out of debt - all debt - and lack of work won’t be a problem.