Audre Lorde & Career Inspiration

I was (re)reading one of my favorite essays by Audre Lorde, “Uses of the Erotic.”  I tend to do that when I’m looking for some inspiration.

I was badly in need of a distration and not another WSJ reminder about the joyless economic recession and thin job outlook.

Specifically, I was hoping to find an encouraging, happy hum amongst the dismal drones of media negativity - something so positive, it could be dangerous.  Ms. Lorde was my chanteuse – even if I did have to time warp.

After reading Lorde’s essay, I tried to remember the last time my workdays reached the emotional zeniths she described as the erotic (read – passionate) morphed into professional performance.

It’s hard to figure out how passion can be fused into the countless hours of the workday. When our lives are squeezed with prioritizing meetings, filing, faxes, calling clients, proofreading emails and typing correspondence – it gets kind of hard to tap into the “sexiness” of your job.

Lorde explains the uneasiness that is exhibited when people (women) tap into their passions.

It is never easy to demand the most from ourselves, from our lives, from our work. To encourage excellence is to go beyond the encouraged mediocrity of our society.

But giving in to the fear of feeling and working to capacity is a luxury only the unintentional can afford, and the unintentional are those who do not wish to guide their own destinies.

Spending your time passionately engaged in what you are doing is the vital energy necessary for an “erotic” professional life. Demanding more means wanting more of yourself in order to be invigorated by the elusive and sensual ”passions” you seek.

Remember the last time you were “in the zone” about something? You thought you could do it all day and nothing was cooler than what you were doing at the very moment. That’s passion creeping up on you. Lorde further explains (emphasis mine):

Such a demand incapacitates everyone in the process. For the erotic is not a question only of what we do; it is a question of how acutely and fully we can feel in the doing.

Once we know the extent to which we are capable of feeling that sense of satisfaction and completion, we can then observe which of our various life endeavors bring us closest to that fullness.

Sounds good, Audre. What are you really talking about?  Simple, unadulterated emotional highs – the sense of purpose that overwhelms you when you complete the tasks embodying the “work” you need to get done.

Product is only the result of the work – but passionate work is your performance made erotic.  This is the soul of enjoying your 8 (or 14) hour work day – you are bringing yourself closer to that “fullness” Lorde mentions.

Of course, women so empowered are dangerous. So we are taught to separate the erotic demand from most vital areas of our lives other than sex.

And the lack of concern for the erotic root and satisfactions of our work is felt in our disaffection from so much of what we do. For instance, how often do we truly love our work even at its most difficult?

Loving what you do at its most uninteresting, vapid and difficult is the emotional signpost that you are engaging in your “heart’s desire.” Recognizing this makes you a little bit dangerous – because you are more than a little bit ahead of the game.

Freeing yourself of the encumbrances of what you should like versus what you passionately enjoy threatens the status quo malaise of others who are content to couch themselves in its staid and familiar comfort. They would be more than happy to have you join as well.

Developing (and successfully capturing) an appreciation for passionate work makes you clear headed in ways others have trouble connecting with – you’ve learned the secret to driving your purpose.

How does your passion drive its purpose?