Do you like tearing down or taking apart more than setting up and putting together? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, page 632).
When
I was a teenager in Bowling Green a chore that I enjoyed doing was
cutting the grass. There was a field in back of the house that had
tallgrass growing wildly on it. One of the things I enjoyed doing was
encroaching on this field with the heavy-duty lawnmower.
This action joined the pleasures of tearing down (cutting down the
tallgrass) with those of setting up (creating a beautifully mowed
lawn in its place). Often these diverse and distinct pleasures appear
in tandem. In my college years I enjoyed doing term papers that
critiqued past research while hopefully contributing to fresh insight
– once again joining aspects of tearing down with those of setting
up. In my work now with computers it is often necessary to analyze
(breaking a problem down into its constituent parts) before coming up
with creative solutions (building something new). Thus it becomes
clear why problem solving is so enjoyable – it offers a double
whammy. The mastery inherent in breaking down (analysis) combines
with the synthetic mastery inherent in creation – both providing
triumphant pleasures to the mind and spirit. I often feel sorry for
those who mistakenly assume that work is devoid of pleasure when in
fact the very opposite is true – pleasure is the driving force that
spearheads the will to work. It is in this sense that work is a
necessary though light burden.
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