[From Unsplash]
Good morning,
Some of us who are in the knowledge business look at a carpenter or a sculptor deeply involved in their work and yearn to take physical tools in our hands, instead of staring into our computer screens and tapping away on our keyboard.
In Deep Work, Cal Newport says there is no difference. He writes:
“Consider this quote from the coding prodigy Santiago Gonzalez describing his work to an interviewer:
Beautiful code is short and concise, so if you were to give that code to another programmer they would say, “oh, that’s well written code.” It’s much like as if you were writing a poem.
Gonzalez discusses computer programming similarly to the way woodworkers discuss their craft...
The Pragmatic Programmer, a well-regarded book in the computer programming field, makes this connection between code and old-style craftsmanship more directly by quoting the medieval quarry worker’s creed in its preface: “We who cut mere stones must always be envisioning cathedrals.” The book then elaborates that computer programmers must see their work in the same way:
Within the overall structure of a project there is always room for individuality and craftsmanship… One hundred years from now, our engineering may seem as archaic as the techniques used by medieval cathedral builders seem to today’s civil engineers, while our craftsmanship will still be honoured.
You don’t, in other words, need to be toiling in an open-air barn for your efforts to be considered the type of craftsmanship that can generate Dreyfus and Kelly’s meaning. A similar potential for craftsmanship can be found in most skilled jobs in the information economy. Whether you’re a writer, marketer, consultant, or lawyer: Your work is craft, and if you hone your ability and apply it with respect and care, then like the skilled wheelwright you can generate meaning in the daily efforts of your professional life.”
Have a great week ahead!
One nation, one language
Now that the idea of One Nation, One Language has entered the mainstream debate once again, what if it is actually implemented? This is a question Mrinal Kaul of IIT-Bombay tackled in The Indian Express over the weekend. He grew up in Kashmir speaking Kashmiri and Urdu.
“However, when I came across people from the Hindi belt, I initially kept wondering why they spoke like characters we saw on television in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan or B R Chopra’s Mahabharat. I used to laugh at some of my friends and ask why they couldn’t talk in a normal language, not realising that this was probably normal for them. And they, in turn, kept taunting me that my language sounded like Farsi (Persian) and thus very foreign to theirs. It was all linguistic fun and we enjoyed it.”
As he settled in Delhi, he writes “I also gradually became aware of how the Kashmiri language had suffered in its land of birth by the dominance of Urdu (the state language) in the way that so many other South Asian languages are dominated by Hindi.”
He then went on to learn the history of language and as he delved into the theme he started to understand a few things. “One of the main reasons for the partition between Western Pakistan and Eastern Pakistan—later Bangladesh—was that the former was imposing Urdu on the latter. The former was predominantly a Punjabi-speaking area and the latter was a Bengali-speaking territory. Urdu as a concocted Islamic category was made to mediate between the two distinct cultural zones and unify them under a single imaginary Islamic linguistic umbrella. It had to be a miserable failure. In other words, the idea of a national language sounds wonderful, but only on a Wikipedia page.”
Dig deeper
The face of success
When most people are asked to paint a picture of what success looks like, answers follow a certain trajectory. Get richer, move to a bigger home or better neighbourhood, have access to a better life, or some such. That is why when we stumbled across this post by Katie Hawkins-Gaar where she lists the things that makes her feel great after having given up on the hedonic treadmill, we stopped to look at it closely.
- I work for myself, setting my own hours and schedule.
- I am a mom to an amazing little girl who’s teaching me endless new ways to look at life.
- I’m in a wonderful relationship, one that requires an incredible amount of patience and understanding.
- I have survived losing my dad, my husband, and my mind, and I’m still standing.
- I write this newsletter (one that isn’t as widely read as my past endeavour, but gives me great fulfilment all the same).
- I live much closer to my family, am getting to know my neighbours, and have a solid circle of support.
- I make time to go on one long walk a day, read a book every week, and get seven or eight hours of sleep each night.
- I am no longer exhausted by trying to aim for the next big thing—or prove my worth and relevance to others.
It has left us thinking.
Dig deeper
Environmental theology
(Via Naresh Fernandes on Twitter)
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And if you missed previous editions of this newsletter, they’re all archived here.
Warm regards,
Team Founding Fuel
