# The Plague of Seriousness By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-02-27 People who take themselves and their work too seriously plague our society and organizations. This is not to say that work can't sometimes be a serious endeavor. Indeed, work can be extremely serious—for example, surgery, bridge building, and nation-leading. However, the seriousness of the work does not mean that the ones performing it must think of themselves as seriousness personified. The work one performs is merely a mask put on via a social contract and economic incentive. The root of the word person can be traced back to the word used to describe the masks actors would wear in Greek theater. Thus, one is playing a role when one is performing work. If one takes themselves too seriously, one starts to believe they are the mask they are wearing. The second that this happens, one ceases to recognize the absurdity of their humanity and attempts to take control of their slice of society instead of doing the will of society. As a result, tyranny emerges. As shown in the Stanford Prison Experiment, give people sunglasses and tell them they are in charge of the inmates, and people start to play the part exceptionally well. Those who participate in society do this all the time, but those who realize it is merely a role maintain their grounding in who they are. Those who take things too seriously forget this. The trouble is that, eventually, society will be done with you. Those who merely played their part but kept their humor and humanity will find new meaning. Those who didn't will have lost everything that makes their existence meaningful, hurting society in extraordinary ways. Laugh at the absurdity of it all. Surround yourself with a few 'wise fools' who regularly point to the absurdity of our roles so one does not lose themselves. #### Related Items [[Society]] [[Work]] [[Identity]] [[Laughter]] [[Humor]] [[The Human Condition]] [[Norms]]