Art, Physics & the Protestant Work Ethic

I've got 'summer brain' ... come with me

‘Summer brain’ is akin to ‘thinking hair’ in my book. Thinking Hair is long hair that is pulled up so that one can focus. Summer Brain™ is a wild ride. Unconstricted by syllabi, student emails (oh, the emails), and updates to the lecture slides my summer brain comes delightfully undone. I wander onto paths not my own into books, ideas, and podcasts not of my own making. They bring such great wild joy.

Hold on to your hats.

I told a friend once if I hadn’t been an artist, photographer, writer, I may have become a mortgage broker (a consideration once) or something else — had I the brain for it (doubtful, too much math) — I’d have pursued physics.

How the world is constructed alongside the great Mysteries it holds fascinates me beyond my wildest imagination. In fact, in part due to this fascination with the Great Mystery, my current WIP In Perpetuity was shaped.

Where is this going? (I can feel you wondering).

I’ve been reading about artistic manifestation (not the terribly woo-woo kind; let’s call it woo-light. Also, here), the origin of consciousness,¹ and the Protestant work ethic that’s burying us all in Western civilization … oh, my.

Wizard of Oz movie still.

Before I take you all the way down the rabbit hole with me, let’s begin with some definitions.

1. Artistic manifestation (woo-light): creating a life that suits you, that’s built around your actual artistic aims rather than the socially prescribed ones.

2. Origin of Consciousness: it can neither be scientifically ‘proven’ materially how it works nor can it be theologically or philosophically defined to a specific shape in a way we might desire. It’s a spiritual and material question.

3. Protestant Work Ethic: the idea that idle hands are the devil’s playground (which negates spiritual maturity, btw) and a belief that hard work is an ultimate virtue (rather than being simply a virtue).

Swirled together in my Summer Brain™ these three ideas connect to Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28-30:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” — Jesus, taker of many prayerful naps²

In the current moment with the ‘threat’ of AI coming for our jobs, our collective unconscious feels incredibly twitchy about the idea of not having said jobs. Entire politicians have campaigned on the concept of making sure you have a job. The few who dared to say otherwise and advocate for things like universal basic income were quickly dropped in the polls and dismissed as unserious by many, even though pilot programs (especially involving artists) are largely successful.³⁴

Rather than celebrate the possibilities of what this current moment means for creative nerds (like us), many people are simply arguing for the endurance of all current work. This has not worked out well historically. It reminds me of coal mine workers advocating against their own self-interests to keep mining coal, rather than get job retraining to work with newer, cleaner, more efficient energy sources. Are we afraid of wind turbines? I really don’t understand. I digress.

What if Jesus meant what he said? What if this is our moment to lean into a new way of working that embraces who we are and are meant to become? What if the lie isn’t that AI will take our jobs? What if the lie is that we must have those jobs no matter what … so that we matter?

Therein lies the spiritually formative part of this essay. We are destined to live lives we were not made for when we hold to ideas and ways of thinking that do not serve the collective us.⁵

The answer is not AI. Full stop. The answer is in the question, if you’re willing to sit in an uncomfortable space examining (perhaps) long-held beliefs about your purpose, your vocation, your work, and who you were made to become. Are you prepared to ask those questions of yourself, your family members, your community?

What if picking up your cross to follow Christ looks like laying down your job?

What if the outcome is better than you could have imagined?

Will you join me in the uncomfortable becoming of this moment in history? Let’s discuss together. Leave a comment below.

1. Michael Polan’s new book A World Appears.

2. On a boat (Matt. 8), to grieve (Matt. 11), after a busy work week (Mark 4), when he got hangry (Mark 6). Luke 5 coming in hot with a solid summary: “As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer” (v. 16).

3. See, Andrew Yang, 2020 presidential candidate: https://2020.yang2020.com/policies/the-freedom-dividend/

4. See, Ireland’s UBI for artists: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/10/ireland-basic-income-for-the-arts-scheme-becomes-permanent

5. No wonder Billie Eilish’s song, “What was I made for?” hit us so hard in the feels in 2023. It was prophetic, we just didn’t know it yet.