We continue our four part series on "The Soul of Computer Science" by Richard Epstein. This section is on "The Alchemy of Work." Richard G. Epstein is a Professor of Computer Science at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. For more information, go to: http://www.cs.wcupa.edu/~epstein.

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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= THE SOUL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE: Part Two of Four The Alchemy of Work I By Richard G. Epstein <epstein@wcupa.edu>

One of the most interesting ideas in Moore's chapter on work is his discussion of alchemy, which I see as a fundamental concept for understanding the soul of computer science and especially workplace issues in information technology. Indeed, the next two sections of this essay are devoted to elaborating upon this concept. Here is an extensive excerpt from Moore's discussion of the alchemical power of work. Moore's discussion, in turn, is based upon Jung's theories.

"Alchemy was a process in which raw material was placed in a vessel where it was heated, observed closely, heated some more, passed through various operations, and observed once again. In the end, the result was an arcane product imagined mysteriously to be gold, the stone of the philosophers, or a potent elixir. In Jung's view, alchemy was a spiritual practice carried out for the benefit of the soul. Its play with chemicals, heat, and distillation was a poetical project in which substances, colors, and other material qualities offered an external imagery for a hidden parallel process of the soul. ...

"This process of working the stuff of the soul, objectified in natural materials, the alchemist called the opus, that is, 'the work.' We could imagine our own everyday work alchemically in the same way. The plain concerns of ordinary work are the raw material, the prima materia, as the alchemist called it, for working out the soul's matter. We work on the stuff of the soul by means of the things of life. This is an ancient idea espoused by Neoplatonists: ordinary life is the means of entry into higher spiritual activity. Or we could say that at the very moment we are hard at work on some worldly endeavor, we are also working on a different plane. Perhaps without knowing it, we are engaged in the labors of the soul. ...

"... The more deeply our work stirs imagination and corresponds to images that lie there at the bedrock of identity and fate, the more it will have soul. Work is an attempt to find an adequate alchemy that both wakens and satisfies the very root of being. Most of us put a great deal of time into work, not only because we have to work so many hours to make a living, but because work is central to the soul's opus. We are crafting ourselves - individuating, to use the Jungian term. Work is fundamental to the opus because the whole point of life is the fabrication of soul. ...

"... [I]f what we do or make is not up to our standards and does not reflect attention and care when we stand back to look at it the soul suffers. The whole society suffers a wound to soul if we allow ourselves to do bad work." (Pages 184-5)

These quotes from Moore bear the potential to allow us to radically alter the information technology workplace so that it can be transformed into a truly soulful place. I expressed ideas similar to these, but much less convincingly, I believe, in my own essay, "The Wheel" [10]. In that essay I envisioned work in information technology as an alchemical process (although I did not use that term) if and only if the worker used his or her work as an opportunity to grow spiritually. This perspective is consistent with Moore's assertions. However, Moore is saying something that is deeper and much more provocative. He is saying that the work itself, by its very nature, has some deep meaning for the soul.

Moore also discusses the importance of beauty and artistic creativity for the health of the soul. These are concepts that can also help us to transform the nature of the information technology workplace. Clearly, the workplace environment can be improved by proper attention to these issues. For example, if workers are forced to work in sterile cubicles, this is a soul issue. It is a matter of respecting human dignity and the soul that stands behind that demand for dignity. Furthermore, computer technology workers need to feel creative. Any kind of repression of these significant needs (i.e., the need for beauty and the need for creativity) will give rise to symptoms of mental and spiritual illness. This observation is important because so much of what is done in the world of computer technology is in the nature of art. It is not just engineering. "Care of the soul may take the form of living in a fully embodied imagination, being an artist at home and at work. ..." (Page 300) One way to improve the quality of the information technology workplace is to assure that creativity is given free reign within the constraints of an organization's mission and purpose. We need to acknowledge the artistic dimensions of our work even within the context of achieving professional standards of competency. Any attempt to professionalize the software industry, for example, that does not acknowledge the powerful creative impulse that lies behind computer technology, is bound to fail.

One recent book that explores the relationship between creativity and the information technology workplace is Artful Making by Austin and Devin [11]. This book makes a powerful argument that what they call "knowledge work" (e.g., software development) requires the kind of creativity that one finds, for example, in theatrical productions. They emphasize the fact that this creativity is highly disciplined and structured, contrary to the stereotype that some people might have concerning artistic creativity. They describe how solutions to knowledge work problems emerge during a highly iterative and creative process. It almost seems that they are saying that a knowledge work project needs to undergo a process of individuation (in Jungian terms).

Moore's concept of soul is also applicable to many of the social implications of computing. For example, people who lose themselves in cyberspace experience a kind of divorce from their physical embodiment. (See, for example, Turkle [12] and Dery [7].) They are sacrificing the pleasures of the body for the stimulation of the mind. What are the costs of this kind of disembodiment of the human being in cyberspace? What are the costs of excessive use of computer-mediated communication? Another question that arises is whether time spent surfing the Web, like time spent at work, has an alchemical impact upon the soul. That is, does it transform elements in the soul? If so, is this effect harmful or beneficial?

Other issues in the social implications of computing and in computer ethics can be analyzed in terms of soul issues. For example, what are the implications of a loss of privacy for the soul? Does the soul need privacy? Moore states explicitly that the soul needs to express itself in concrete manifestations, for example, in concrete works of art that express the essence of the artist. If this is so, what are the implications for intellectual property on the Web? Is the destruction or weakening of intellectual property rights an attack on the soul and not just an attack on some reactionary literary or artistic establishment, as some among the "digerati" would have us believe? (The digerati, their accomplishments and attitudes, are recorded in Brockman [13].)

Other questions that we might ask about the social implications of computing involve the shadow side of the soul, that is, the way in which the repressed life force may wish to express itself in deviant and destructive forms. What does this understanding tell us about the phenomena of computer crime, racist and pornographic web sites, hacking, worms, and viruses?

The manner in which the shadow side of the soul manifests in computer technology is a huge topic in itself. Richard Power begins his book, Tangled Web: Tales of Digital Crime from the Shadows of Cyberspace [14] with a quote from Carl Jung. This quote suggests that computer professionals who desire to work in the area of cybercrime need to have an "imagination for evil":

"Since it is universally believed that man is merely what his consciousness knows of itself, he regards himself as harmless and so adds stupidity to iniquity. He does not deny that terrible things have happened and still go on happening, but it is always the others who do them... Even if, juristically speaking, we are not accessories to the crime, we are always, thanks to our human nature, potential criminals... None of us stands outside of humanity's collective shadow. When the crime occurred many generations back or happens today, it remains the symptom of a disposition that is always and everywhere present - and one would therefore do well to possess some 'imagination for evil,' for only the fool can permanently disregard the conditions of his own nature." (Power [14], p. xi).

Additional books that explore the psychology of computer criminals and the culture of hacking into systems include Schwartau [15] and Furnell [16]. The focus in this essay is not on the shadow side of the soul, but certainly that is an aspect of the interaction between the soul and technology that needs to be explored in depth.

The preceding paragraphs suggest the scope of the research agenda that is implicit in the subject of this essay. Appreciating soul can give us an insightful perspective for analyzing many social issues in computing. For example, Mark Dery, in his book about cyberculture, Escape Velocity [7], repeatedly refers to the tendency among the inhabitants of this culture to disembody themselves and others. Certainly, the attempt to transcend this human reality is just the opposite of what Moore means by soulfulness.

The Alchemy of Work I: Work as a Spiritual Practice

In this and the following section we shall discuss the alchemy of work. We saw in the previous section that there are two aspects to the alchemy of work. The first aspect is the effect that a particular kind of work has on the body, mind, and spirit. The second aspect involves the poetic or symbolic interpretation of a particular kind of work. This reveals the universal or transpersonal meaning of that work. In the paragraphs that immediately follow we shall summarize these two aspects of work briefly. The remainder of this section ("The Alchemy of Work I") goes on to expound upon the first aspect, while the next section ("The Alchemy of Work II") elaborates upon the symbolic meaning of work in computer technology.

In order to understand the alchemy of work as it applies to computer technology, let us consider an important and ancient profession in terms of its alchemical powers. Every profession involves some kind of physical effort, some kind of mental and perhaps spiritual training. This is the first aspect of the alchemy of work, the effect of that work on the body, mind, and spirit. The ancient profession that we shall examine in this light is that of the farmer. Our depiction of the farmer's work is somewhat idealistic. For example, I ignore the burdensome nature of work, which is also relevant to understanding the farmer who works by the "sweat of his brow."

Consider what it meant to be a farmer, before the modern era of automation. The farmer's work would involve physical, mental, and spiritual effort. The farmer's work leaves its imprint upon the farmer's body, mind, and spirit. Obviously, farming involves physical labor, which had a conditioning effect on the body. Perhaps, this would make the body healthy and robust. The body might relish the sweat and the muscle involved. The farmer might return to his abode in the evening exhausted and completely satisfied with the physical labor that he put into tending to his crops or caring for his animals. The physical conditioning of his work might provide the farmer with a deep sense of joy and health, one of the soul's most intense delights. The farmer's work also has an intellectual aspect. The farmer needs to understand the land and its capabilities, the weather, its signs, its moods, and its seasons, and the properties of various plants, pests, predators, and beasts of burden. Thus, farm work involves some kind of mental or intellectual discipline. Finally, farm work has a spiritual aspect. This includes an appreciation for the universe and its mysteries, a feeling of closeness to the earth, a feeling of kinship with all of life. Another spiritual dimension of farm work would involve human relationships. The farmer could not succeed without his wife, or without his children, whom he puts to work at the earliest possible age, or the neighboring family that is always available in times of crisis or hardship. So, the farmer's work has an alchemical effect on the farmer's body, mind, and spirit. Although the farmer can achieve individuation through his work, his experiences are those of a farmer and this shapes his consciousness, his physicality, his intellect, and his spirituality. "Individuation" is a Jungian concept that we mentioned earlier. Individuation has to do with finding and manifesting one's authentic self, or what Marc Gafni might call one's "soul print" (see Gafni [17]).

The farmer's work also has a symbolic aspect. One might call this the spiritual meaning of his work. The farmer is after all just one instance of an Archetype called the Farmer. There are millions of farmers, each one an instantiation of this universal reality. This reality is the reality of sowing and reaping, the reality of the abundant potential of earth and soil, or, its paradoxical stinginess, the reality of luxuriant plants growing from tiny seeds, the reality of breeding, milking, shearing, and slaughtering. This is the cosmic reality of the Farmer. Thus, when the farmer works on his farm, he is not only working on himself in the physical, mental, and spiritual sense mentioned above. He is also working on the universal reality that envelops all of mankind. He is the embodiment of deep truths that are part of the fabric of human life. He is not only working on his own soul. He is also working on the soul of the world.

Thus, when we see the farmer working in his field, he reflects back truths about our own reality, even though we are not farmers. This is the poetic or symbolic interpretation of what the farmer is doing. For example, as the farmer sows his corn seed, he reflects back to us the seeds that we have planted in our own consciousness, the seeds that will sprout and grow in their own season, the crops within ourselves that we will eventually harvest. He reflects back to us an aspect of our own inner reality, even as he works upon himself physically, intellectually, and spiritually. This same kind of symbolic interpretation can be applied to just about anything the farmer does, whether spreading manure or milking a cow. To a person with soulful perception, spreading manure is a very profound thing. Spreading manure resonates with deep truths about the nature of human life. Thus, the work of the farmer represents something universal, something within us that is deeply meaningful. This is true regardless of whether the farmer realizes the symbolic significance of what he is doing. This is the second aspect of the alchemy of work that we shall apply to computer technology in the next section. We will impoverish human life immeasurably if we relegate this kind of perception to the realm of poetry, as if you and I have no business being poets.

Now, we shall give a brief accounting of the first aspect of the alchemy of work for computer science and computer technology. This has to do with the transformations of body, mind, and spirit that can occur when one works in computer technology. This leads us to the consideration of work in computer technology as a spiritual practice, that is, a technique for self-understanding and spiritual growth.

In fact, this is the approach that I took in my essay, "The Wheel" [10]. Before I give a synopsis of that essay, I would like to mention that many books have been written in recent years concerning work as a spiritual practice. There are two lists of references at the end of this essay. The second list is devoted solely to books that relate to work as a spiritual practice. These references view the spirituality of work from various perspectives, including Christian (Matthew Fox), Jewish (Jeffrey Salkin) and Buddhist (Lewis Richmond).

Lewis Richmond, for example, is a Zen master who has been very successful in the software industry. He was featured in an article in US News and World Report about spirituality in the workplace. According to US News, many corporate leaders are waking up to the spiritual needs of their employees. Richmond's book, Work as a Spiritual Practice [18], emphasizes various emotions that arise in the workplace (such as anger, ambition, discouragement, boredom) and how the individual can transform these realities into meditative practices.

What is missing in most of these books on work as a spiritual practice is an understanding that many traditional professions allowed for the body to be worked on physically. Consider again how important the physicality of his work was for our traditional farmer. This is a dimension that I totally missed in "The Wheel". In practice, however, the physical body cannot be ignored in discussing workplace issues and the attitude that workers have towards their work. Some corporations are beginning to understand this problem, especially for information technology professionals, by providing gym facilities at their work sites. Another aspect of the physicality of work has to do with the ergonomics of the computer workstation.

The Wheel essay focuses on the mental and spiritual value of work. The article starts with the story of the Wheel, which is an attempt to capture the essence of meaningless work. Here is the story of the Wheel:

"A man was sentenced to thirty years in prison. During his years in prison he was forced to turn a gigantic wheel, day after day. Day after day he turned this wheel and he had no idea what the ultimate purpose of the wheel was. Was he grinding wheat? Was he milling corn? What was he actually doing? All he knew about the wheel was that it was on the outside wall of the prison. When he was finally released, after thirty years, the first thing he did was to run to see what the wheel was connected to, so that he would finally know what he had been doing for those many arduous years. Much to his chagrin he discovered that the wheel was not connected to anything. He had spent thirty years of his life turning the wheel with no apparent purpose or benefit to anybody. Upon realizing this, he shouted a great shout and he died." (Epstein [10], page 8)

I first encountered this metaphor in Twerski [19]. The Wheel is a graphic description of meaningless work. No one wants to end up turning the Wheel.

The Wheel essay then goes on to observe that even in the context of a prison, a prisoner could redeem his work by working upon himself, by using his work as a means of spiritual transformation. Thus, even a job that seems boring and without meaning can be transformed into something meaningful by means of spiritual practice. However, this should not be interpreted as implying that one should never leave a job. Certainly, if a job really is a prison, then it is time to leave.

The Wheel essay lists twenty-six ways in which our careers in computer technology can help us to grow spiritually. For example, we can use our careers to learn self-awareness, to learn the value of cooperation and teamwork, and to learn true humility and self-confidence. These elements represent one dimension of the alchemical power of work; namely, the power of work to effect transformations of mind and spirit. As we work, we learn about ourselves, our conditioning, our automatic responses to things. We learn how to deal with uncomfortable emotions, such as anger, envy, resentment, and boredom. We learn how to transform and to utilize these energies so that the soul can express itself fully.

The theory behind the Wheel is that no work in computer technology is intrinsically boring or life-denying if we take the attitude that work is a spiritual practice. However, this is too idealistic. A given individual may find a particular job inconsistent with the imperatives of his or her own being. Certainly, there are situations in which a particular job becomes inconsistent either with the ethical values of an individual or that individual's need for growth and advancement. Realizing that it is time to quit can be an important step in the process of spiritual growth.

There is an implicit research agenda in acknowledging the first aspect of the alchemical power of work. That is, can we really come to understand how a career in computer technology affects the body, mind, and spirit? The Wheel assumes that the outcome can be truly positive if the individual worker just makes the requisite effort. However, the reality may not be that simple. We have already touched upon the physical issue, that working at a computer workstation all day may not be good for the physical body. But, how does a career in computer technology effect the brain, a person's mental processes, a person's spiritual sensitivity? If vast numbers of people are involved in this kind of work in the future, what will the effect be in the aggregate? How will this affect our understanding of ourselves and of our relationships with others? The purpose of such a research agenda would be to eventually assure that the imperatives of the soul can be served in a career in information technology. Over the coming decades, this might require some dramatic changes in the way computer technology is created and the kind of thinking that goes into the design and implementation of systems. It might have an impact upon computer science education. Perhaps, the artistic and creative spirit needs to be acknowledged more. These are all profound topics, worthy of serious investigation.

Let us now turn our attention to the poetic or symbolic meaning of work in computer technology.

REFERENCES

7. Mark Dery, Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century, Grove Press, New York, 1996, 376 pp.

8. Christian Bobin, The Secret of Francis of Assissi, Shambala, Boston, 1999, 102 pp.

9. Patrick Glynn, God: The Evidence, Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA, 1997, 216 pp.

10. Richard G. Epstein, "The Wheel", Computers and Society, p. 8-13, June 1997.

11. Rob Austin and Lee Devin, Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work, Financial-Times Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2003, 201 pp.

12. Sherry Turkle, Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet, Touchstone, New York, 1995, 347 pp.

13. John Brockman, Digerati: Encounters with the Cyber Elite, Hardwired, San Francisco, 1996, 354 pp.

14. Richard Power, Tangled Web: Tales of Digital Crime from the Shadows of Cyberspace, Que, Indianapolis, 2000, 431 pp.

15. Winn Schwartau, Cyberschock: Surviving Hackers, Phreakers, Identity Thieves, Internet Terrorists and Weapons of Mass Destruction, Thunder's Mouth Press, New York, 2000, 470 pp.

16. Steven Furnell, Cybercrime: Vandalizing the Information Society, Addison-Wesley, Boston, 2002, 316 pp.

17. Marc (Mordechai) Gafni, Soul Prints: Your Path to Fulfillment, Pocket Books, New York, 2001, 318 pp.

18. Lewis Richmond, Work as a Spiritual Practice: A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job, Broadway Books, New York, 1999, 258 pp. (Also listed as F, below.)

19. Abraham Twerski, Lights Along the Way, Mesorah Publications, Ltd., Brooklyn, New York, 1995, 328 pp.

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Published   2003.08.15