A Future Between Worlds: Part 2

“Before there was labor, there was offering. Before there were jobs, there was joy.”

 Work is not ending.

But something in us is.

The version of ourselves that believed we had to suffer to matter…

That part is dying.

 And in its place,

a different rhythm is rising.

To understand where work is going,

we must remember what work used to be.

 AGE 1: THE AGE OF OFFERING
(Prehistoric to Ancient Civilizations)

 In the beginning, work was not a transaction. It was a devotion.

 A potter made vessels for water and worship.

A hunter asked the forest for permission before taking a life.

A weaver sang songs into every thread.

Work wasn’t what you did. It was how you belonged.

The word vocation comes from vocare - “to be called.” To work was to listen.

 AGE 2: THE AGE OF EMPIRE
(Feudal to Pre-Industrial)

Then came kingdoms.

Hierarchies.

Ownership.

The farmer still worked, but now for a lord.

The blacksmith still forged, but now under the sword of duty.

Work was still physical, still communal, but the energy shifted.

The sacred was replaced with the structural.

Work became a way to survive power, not serve life.

The field narrowed.

The soul dimmed.

But echoes of devotion remained.

AGE 3: THE AGE OF EXTRACTION
(Industrial to Taylorist Factory Era)

This was the rupture. This was the split.

Work became output. Humans became units.

The factory line didn’t just shape machines, it reshaped the worker.

Time = money.

Rest = laziness.

Speed = virtue.

This was when hustle was born.

And then, when it could’ve softened,

Jack Welch arrived.

 “Public hangings are teaching moments.”

– Jack Welch, on firing employees publicly to set an example

He didn’t invent work.

He militarized it.

He institutionalized a brutal truth:

You are only as valuable as your last quarter.

“Only insecure managers surround themselves with yes people.”

Translation? Keep your power by keeping people off balance.

Welch turned the workplace into a battlefield.

Top 20% = reward.

Middle 70% = pressure.

Bottom 10% = termination.

Rank. Yank. Repeat.

“Control your destiny, or someone else will.”

But what if you never wanted domination?

What if you wanted wholeness?

AGE 4: THE AGE OF PERFORMANCE
(Digital Age – 1990s to 2020s)

Work became a performance.

Not just to the boss, but to the algorithm.

 You curated your LinkedIn.

You spun your burnout into brilliance.

You learned to smile through the pain.

Even “purpose” became a KPI.

And the field, the real field, grew silent.

AGE 4.5: THE AGE OF GLORIFIED BURNOUT
(The Peak of Hustle Culture – 2010s to early 2020s)

Before the AI shift, we hit peak masquerade.

Not only did we forget the soul of work,

we started worshipping the wound.

We saw:

• Founders bragging about sleeping under their desks

• Operators working 18-hour days like martyrs

• VCs glorifying grind like gospel

• Biohacks sold as salvation

This was survival marketed as mastery.

When people broke, they weren’t told to rest.

They were told to get stronger.

Even joy was framed as a weakness.

Even friendship became “networking.”

AGE 5: THE AGE OF RETURN
(AI Age – Now Unfolding)

Then, something divine happened. AI entered.

And the system panicked.

But AI didn’t come to take your job.

It came to show you which jobs were never worthy of your soul.

It automates the output.

And in doing so, it clears space for the input of presence.

• Emotional clarity

• Sacred intuition

• Pattern sensing

• Truth transmission

• Relational magic

We are not entering a world without work.

We are returning to a world where work is once again human.

AGELESS: THE FIELD BEYOND THE HAMSTER WHEEL

Work is not a sprint.

Not a status game.

Not a sacrifice.

Work is rhythm.

Work is belonging.

Work is what happens when the soul touches the world.

And AI?

AI is not our replacement.

It is our releaser.

 We can return to:

• Joyful creation

• Unhurried excellence

• Friendship as strategy

• Aliveness as proof

• Trust as currency

• Work that doesn’t require you to die in order to be seen

You Are Not a Machine

“The meaning of life is to find your gift.

The purpose of life is to give it away.”

— Pablo Picasso

“Technology should free us to be more human, not less.”

— Sherry Turkle

 “You were not made to be understood by spreadsheets.”

— Audience Haus

You are not meant to hustle until your body breaks.

You are not meant to perform your worth.

You are meant to bring coherence to chaos.

To feel. To offer. To build in love.

In the world of AI, your job is no longer to outperform machines.

 It is to become fully human again.