Metamorphosis

I need to digress from the 12 step process for a minute. As I mentioned in my first post, I am going to be laid off from my job soon. Let me give you a little background because it will help put this all into perspective.

About 15 years ago, I was a sophomore in college. I was a philosophy student at a small, private midwestern university. I was pretty much loving the study of philosophy. Maybe a little too much. As I moved from one school of thought to another, I would throw away the old and adopt the new.

By the time I was a senior, I was reading Wittgenstein and became convinced that philosophy is basically intellectual masturbation. Upon graduating, I scraped my plans for graduate school and turned in the complete opposite direction and went east to Wall Street. It was the late 90's and all you needed was a pulse to get a job which was a good thing because I never took a single business course as an undergrad (a fact I am quite proud of).

I spent 10 years at various large investment banks doing the corporate thing, making money, getting promoted, and buying Brooks Brothers suits. I got rid of all my philosophy books, replaced them with finance text books, and proceeded to adopt the values of the finance world as my own (read: capitalism, money, power, position, status, etc.).

Let me tell you from personal experience, Wall Street does not believe, as Socrates once said, that the unexamined life is not worth living. In fact, I would argue that Wall Street can't afford to examine itself too closely. Why? Because underneath all the theory, the practice, and the quasi-science, it's not much more than smoke and mirrors. On this, I am an expert. And I will elaborate in a later post in great detail.

So, here we are. I have scoured the web for sites and blogs that might speak to the general criticism of the corporate world. There are a few. Generally written to be humorous or to give you pointers on how to make a career change (i.e. create a budget, network, blah, blah, blah).

John Taylor Gatto, a former NY public school teacher, was a harsh critic of the public school system. He said public schools are basically "dumbing us down". Well, in my humble opinion, that's what corporate America is doing to us. Dumbing us down, stifling our self-expression, and forcing us to adopt its own institutional values (which are usually in opposition to individuality). Is anyone writing intelligently on this? If you know, please let me know.

So, if you were recently laid off from a large corporation, it might just be the best thing that ever happened to you. Shave your head, grow a goetee, and reconnect with who you are. You might be surprised at what you find.

Namaste,
Gattosan