Seeing the World Through Your Field
Something funny happens if you work in a particular field long enough, which is that you start to see everything that happens through the lens of the field you work in.
For example, my current company (Cerebrum) operates in the background screening space. So I’ve started to see everything through the lens of background checks.
- Economic news is about companies, and news about companies is really news about the people in those companies, which is really news about who those people are hiring, which is really news about the background screening industry. If the economy is good, more people will be hired, and more people will be background checked.
- Geopolitical news is about inter-country dynamics, which is really news about where companies will hire employees, which is really news about which locations and jurisdictions will see more screening demand.
You can see how this goes on. What’s interesting is just how deeply it permeates my thinking, even without a direct trigger. Whenever someone tells me about where they work, I think: “Who does their background checks?" And when someone tells me about what they do, I think “Is that a good industry to sell background checks to? I wonder if they have a lot of fraud or compliance risk…". And this is not some kind of contrived, salesly persona. It’s just how I’ve learned to think.
I have a relative who works in hospitality. To them, everything is a matter of who is staying at which hotels. Regional patterns about who is staying for work versus who is staying for vacation. Indicators about whether budget chains or luxury chains are doing better. Booking rates and no-show rates. Social trends making one place more popular than another.
- War starts in a country? Hotel bookings go down.
- A country implements business-friendly policies? Work hotel chains will do better.
- A country’s currency devalues against the dollar? Hotel bookings go up!
- Terrorism strikes a city? Hotel bookings go down.
- A particular location goes viral on TikTok? Hotel bookings go up!
- A country is sanctioned? Hotel bookings go down.
The same is true for almost anywhere you work, or anything you do. If you work in finance, the world will be framed through finance. If you work in energy, the world will be framed through energy. If you work in transportation, the world will be framed through transporation. If you work in technology, the world will be framed through technology. If you work in agriculture, the world will be framed through agriculture.
One could call this an expression of Jijimuge. From the Tibetan Buddhist Encylcopedia:
Jijimuge ; The unimpeded interdiffusion (muge) of all Ji meaning things, facts, objects.
Source: https://www.tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php?title=Jijimuge
Or from Alan Watts:
I need every single other human being and the uncontrollable otherness of all those other human beings that I can’t do anything about. They’re going to be themselves whatever I do. And yet at the same time I depend on all their difference from me, and yet … they all depend likewise on me. So that I’m in a very funny position. The moment I would be ego-less and say I’m nothing without you, then suddenly I find I’m the kingpin; they all depend on me. Then suddenly then when I get swellheaded about being the kingpin I find I’m nothing at all without them. So everything keeps going bloorp, bloorp, bloorp, bloorp. In other words, no matter how much you think you’ve got it in one state it transforms itself into the other. That’s the Ji-Ji-Mu-Ge.
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Now, in Ji-Ji-Mu-Ge you see you got a vision of the world in which everybody is boss and nobody is boss. There is no one boss who governs the whole thing. It takes care of itself. It’s a colossal democracy. But yet every man, and every Uguisu, and every snail is king in this world, and at the same time is commoner. And that’s how it works.
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So then, it is through Ji-Ji-Mu-Ge, this idea of the mutual interpenetration and interdependence of all things that we have the philosophical basis for Zen as a practical non-intellectual way of life. Because of the realization that the most ordinary event, the charcoal brazier, the mat, soup for dinner, sneezing, washing your hands, going to the bathroom, everything…all these so called events, separate events, imply the universe.
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So a Zen master was asked “Mountains and hills, are they not all forms of the body of Buddha?” The master replied, “Yes, they are, but it’s a pity to say so.” .Source: https://shrikale.wordpress.com/tag/ji-ji-mu-ge/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/Qn21A8OghjM