hambuka wiwaraning jiwa jawi

enliven our understanding of javanese identity

GESANG GAGRAG ANYAR | CONTEMPORARY LIVING

 

BALANCE AS WORK ETHIC

 

History, culture, even spirituality have shaped the workplace as surely as have technology and the availability of natural resources. How we work is a direct result of who we are.

Little by little throughout the 20th century, America’s business has become the world’s business. It could be argued that Western commercial expansion is the new colonialism. Mickey Mouse toys are being manufactured by children in Indonesia (children whose incomes are insufficient to buy the toys they are producing).

It may be time to ask ourselves what else is coming from the West, and how does it match or clash with what we already have. As America exports their products and expands their businesses into every corner of the globe, they export with it another commodity, their values.

The Puritans that were ejected from Europe often found their way to the European colonies along the eastern coast of North America. What Europe didn’t want, America got. When compared to the relative decadence of most of Europe, the Puritans were a prudish, plain and pious people.

Additionally, they possessed a religiously based obsession with hard work. “Idol hands are the devils playground” so the American saying goes. America has made hardwork a hallmark of its culture and business practices.

It has been suggested by some American businesspersons that, in certain regions of the world, hardwork is not valued. This criticism has been leveled at Javanese by foreign investors. Yet, the Javanese see the question very differently.

To a Javanese, what Americans call “hardwork” is roughly the equivalent of “klêngêr” (an unbalanced life that could lead to exhaustion and instability).

Javanese prize “srêgêp mêgawe” (working diligently) over “mêgawe abot” (hardwork). They generally see American style “hardwork” as an over extension of oneself that must surely reap disastrous consequences in other areas of life.

For example, American-style “hardwork” can lead to tensions within the family as the workplace begins to supercede one’s home-life. It can lead to illness and lethurgy. It might contribute to a lose of joy in one’s work and one’s coworkers. Or it could interfere with one’s devotion to the Almightly should profit or productivity claim time that might be spent in prayer and offerings.

Anthropologist Jules Henry in Culture Against Man, stated that working for a multinational corporation tends to create “hostility, instability, and fear of being obsolete and unprotected. For most people their job was what they had to do rather than what they wanted to do, . . . taking a job, therefore, meant giving up part of their selves” (p.129, New York: Vintage Books)

Srêgêp or diligence is seen as a hallmark of dedication and care for one’s craft environment and balanced life-style. It is not remarkable that persistence is still a value for the ancestors of those who meticulously carved and fit together (without mortar) over 1 million mammoth stones to produce Borobudur.

Even today, it is quite common for a Javanese or Balinese to spend hours, each and everyday, for praying or making intricate sesajen or canangsari offerings for the Gods. Such dedication and patience exercise of one’s skill is clearly an ancient trait in Indonesia.

It is believed that through diligence, one’s productivity can be great and, more importantly, one’s life can be more fulfilled.

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