Azure Wings Café

Life is marked by spontaneity. You never know what will happen. The only thing to do to make something happen is to make it happen. In order for a person to be doing something, he or she must do it. But why do we do these things? Do we do them just for the sake of doing them? Supposedly, we do not. However, a part of reality is also that we do some things for the sake of doing them because of routine. This is when we become mechanical; like a machine where moving gears will always do the same type of motion and get the exact same result every time.

Man, however, is not a machine. This is true even if he acts like a machine. Unlike pressing the "copy" button on the photocopier will make the photocopier do the exact task expected for it to do, a person doing the same thing over and over again will not have the same output for every attempt to do the action. For example, waking up early in the morning and rote memorizing textbooks in preparation for an exam will not work for every exam. This kind of result yields from a thing we call context. Machines will act and bear fruit the same way regardless of context, but man will have varying results of the same actions depending on the context by which the action is done.

Context is unique for every person at every instance of his life. The context at which a person performs a task in the morning is not the same context under which he does the same task in the evening. And it is through this context that a person formulates his reasons for doing a certain action. That being said, a person cannot really do an action for the sake of doing it; because as we have said, context is never constant.

We do not wake up early on an examination day because we want to wake up early, rather we wake up early because we need to have additional time to study lessons before answering the examination. We do not wake up early on a day where we need to travel to a far location because we want to wake up early, rather we wake up early because by leaving early, we can arrive at our destination early.

It is this "mechanicality" that removes the thing called "purpose" in any act. By doing things for the sake of doing them, we kill the intended purpose of doing such things. Like going to church, for example. We should be going to church because we want a nourishment of faith, not because we are required to do so. The consequence is that, if we go to church to have a nourishment of faith, we are able to appreciate the things that go on inside the church, such as the mysteries and miracles of prayers and actions. But when we go to church in order to go to church, everything else is meaningless, because the act itself is the end.

Another example I think I will be able to justify is in mathematics. When we solve equations in order to solve equations, we become like those who are failing in this subject because they cannot find values to plot into formulas in finding solutions. The funny reality in mathematical problem solving is that the actual mathematics is less than 50% of the solving method. Of greater importance is the process of expressing the problem being asked mathematically, which varies as much as there are different types of problems. This is also why those who have difficulty in math are those who think that solving equations are done in order to solve equations. Again, this reason lacks a context, and is similar to how a machine works. It is these people who could never find an application of such an intellectual science; they are the people who say "Dear Math, grow up and solve your own problems" or "Math is useless in real life."

But there is a concept we call procedural knowledge. Procedural knowledge defined is "knowledge of being able to do something." It is learning how to do something. And the only way to obtain it is through practice. Therefore, this practice is what we can consider as doing for the sake of doing, which if taken as it is should be contrary to the point we're trying to prove. Or is it?

Recall again what makes a mechanical act different from a purposeful act: Context. In the light of learning procedural knowledge, context is very much present. Why do we need to do in order to do? Because being able to do this procedure will allow us to use it for purposes we intend to do it for. Thus, it becomes very contextual, purposive and non-mechanical. What have we just discussed here? In learning procedural knowledge, the act of doing for doing is not the end itself. It is a means to another end, in contrast to the previous example of going to church, where the act is the end itself.

So is there a need to avoid doing things for the sake of doing them? As ends, yes. As means to greater ends, no. Note that the product is not the same for men who do the same actions in different contexts. If there is no context, then the action is meaningless and mechanical. To conclude, we can restate a previously said statement: "Man is not a machine." He is much greater than a machine, and to act mechanically is an insult to himself.