confession

I continue to be perplexed by the statement,

(A)"There are worse things to lose than a tenure track job."

A principle of psychology says that if something bothers you, by following it through you may discover something about yourself.

(A) was recently uttered by someone who, I think, has a secure academic position, i.e., "tenure".

would it bother me so much if said by someone who did not have a secure academic position?

(A) was, in context, a reminder....

But, for me it rings hollow....

And I recall Ted Honderich once writing of consumer goods that they are chiefly scorned by those who have easy access to them. (Readers of this blog will see that remark applies here!)

Having tenure is neither good nor bad in itself. It depends upon how you use it.

But, for all that it may be a good not to be scorned.

That's not an adequate response.

I continue to be in aporia.

Unless I'm simply envious and can't admit it.

Or maybe I simply think things haven't been given their proper weight.

Paraphrase of (A): Don't get so hung up on the idea of being strategic in achieving your goals that you forget what the important goals are...

Quick after-thought:

I may by now have gotten this out of my system. Perhaps I was reacting to a remark that, in context, was simply a sort of reminder. (As in: don't forget there are more important things than X...)

However, I do accept the principle that if it bother you, there is something behind it,

something worth figuring out. Keith Oatley discusses examples where people were bothered by something, and reflecting upon it led to insights. And I think the principle is in Freud...

and well, maybe even earlier, but I'm stopping now.....