A few days ago, the South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han received the Princess of Asturias Award, undoubtedly a prestigious award.
Han’s work is diverse but a permanent theme stands out: the need to stop along the way and learn to calmly contemplate the world around us. Not everything is work, effort and progress. In fact, high doses of this can lead to what he calls Burnout.
A situation of hypertrophic fatigue that is already afflicting a good part of modern societies. There are even certain diseases that are due only to our tireless coming and going without peace.
This reminds us of an anecdote: a group of an African tribe is hired by some European explorers. After a long walk through the jungle, the tribesmen suddenly stop. When asked by the Europeans about the reason for their pause, one of them answers: “it’s because we are waiting for our souls to reach us.”
All this is relevant due to the debate on the reduction of working hours. There is a current of opinion that criticizes the proposal based on two prejudices. First, they point out that the imperative of increasing productivity must prevail over any other. Secondly, they argue that those who support the measure promote laziness and indolence. Neither argument holds water.
To this the following will have to be answered. Never before have great technological developments – highlighting artificial intelligence – promised to free us from routine workloads without necessarily implying a decrease in productivity. On the contrary: great economic growth is very possible as soon as the fourth industrial revolution is fully deployed. Of course, everything will depend on the judicious use we make of the brave new world of recent scientific and technological innovations. One thing is clear: we must make them work for us and not us for them.
Secondly, these advances could free millions of people from being dedicated to frankly brutalizing work and give them the opportunity to dedicate part of their time to cultivating themselves and creative coexistence with others. This, in fact, should not be seen as a cost to pay but as an objective in itself.
What we need is to open a great debate not only about the creation of value in the world of work but about the best use of the time dedicated to ourselves. Life, we know well, is not only business, it is also leisure. Who knew it who said that man does not live by bread alone.
Including a big discussion about the management of our free time on the government agenda is increasingly imperative. And there is a fundamental reason: we have to wait for our souls.