You don’t need a calling (an anti-capitalist manifesto)
You Don’t Need a Calling is a book to ask you to stop ‘searching for purpose’ and instead start being present. Everyone you look, you are being asked to ‘become the best version of yourself’ or ‘make your life count’.
These messages inundate us, not just in daily life, but even in churches and even more in self-help books. But this is leading to a world of worn-out people who always feel we fall short.
In a capitalist society determined by profit, we are told to work and shop till we drop, to promote ‘economic growth’. Rather than be inspired by places like Costa Rica and Bhutan, which have ‘happiness indexes’ that deem quality of life more important than the bottom line.
Governments try to manipulate us into believing our entire lives should be about making money and being productive and successful. Society has narrowed our perspective of success to be living in a mortgage-free house with a new car and lots of money in the bank.
But we don’t have to accept that limiting view. In this book, the author suggests you reclaim your true purpose in life, by resisting systems that are trying to exploit you for their own gain. And instead slow down and tune into what’s really important in your own life.
The author (a former minister) says that purpose is nothing you find, it’s something that finds us, when we learn to be present in the world. This is a new course to chart away. Sometimes God’s plan can be that your life has purpose, even if you are not doing that much at all!
If you are exhausted by the idea of ‘God’s plan’ for your life or exhausted by the achievement treadmill, this book can reframe your worth in the world, without having to adhere to the plans of others. It’s not about becoming a person you wish to be. It’s about freeing yourself to be who you already are.
Who wrote this book?
Damon Garcia is a theologian and writer who discovered his passion for ministering to ‘spiritual misfits and radicals’ through youth adult ministry. He likes to combine this with anti-capitalist politics, to help people ‘unsettle’ from oppressive ideaologies. He lives in California, USA.
I almost died after accidentally overdosing on antianxiety medication after a depressive episode. A friend took me to the hospital, and the doctor told me if I had gone to sleep, I may not have woken up.
A couple of years later, I burned out. So I slowed down. But then a few months later I went back to trying to life life to the fullest again. Then a while after that, I burned out again. And again. And again. Something wasn’t working, and I couldn’t figure out what it was.
Burnout forces you to slow down because your body has no choice but to catch up on the rest you’ve been putting off. A lot of us don’t learn the lessons that burnout has to teach us. We just get back up and wear ourselves down again, over and over, until we die. Damon
