Against Ikigai

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel described the weekly practice of Jews abstaining from work, Shabbat, as “a sanctuary in time.” I love the idea of building infrastructure around sacred time as one might build infrastructure around sacred space. Protecting nonwork time is particularly important because knowledge work can easily expand like a gas to fill... See more

Although searching for one's life purpose in work can be a noble pursuit, the popularized notion of Ikigai that locates meaning only in work is misguided. It has diluted the term to the point where we've lost the script. 

Meaning is not something that is bestowed upon us—it’s something we create. And as with any act of creation, it requires time and energy. One of the downsides of a life completely subsumed by work is that it leaves room for little else. In the words of psychologist Esther Perel, “Too many people bring the best of themselves to work and bring the le... See more