Interesting excerpt. Much better when read in context:
...Work is no longer a series of obligations to be fulfilled for the sake of sustenance: it is the expression of one’s authentic self. With the extraordinary rise of internships — not just filled by college students anymore, but more and more by working-age adults — people from sufficiently privileged backgrounds are even prepared to work without pay because it allows them to “grow” as persons. Every aspect of one’s existence is meant to water some fantasy of growth.
But here’s the rub: if one believes that there is an intimate connection between one’s authentic self and glittering success at work, then the experience of failure and forced unemployment is accepted as one’s own fault. I feel shame for losing my job. I am morally culpable for the corporation’s decision that I am excess to requirements.
To take this one step further: the failure of others is explained by their merely partial enlightenment for which they, and they alone, are to be held responsible. At the heart of the ethic of authenticity is a profound selfishness and callous disregard of others. As New Age interpreters of Buddha say, “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”...Read more in Opinionator in the NYT. (Thanks, Alessia)
