Leaving the arbitrary

Some things are so arbitrary. Days of the week are an example. Division of time into hours, minutes and seconds is another.  I guess those who lived in ancient times just needed something to do after dark since they had no electricity. The names of everything are also arbitrary. Try learning a couple or three languages to prove that point. The work day is arbitrary.  I would like to know who in the world began the 8-5 work day.  I do so much better starting work at 10 or working a few hours in the evening.  My mind is clearest between 11 at night and 1 in the morning.  Eating 3 squares a day is sometimes too much and sometimes not enough. But, most events work around the noon meal and the evening meal.  Dressing with a tie or not, putting on heels or not, follow rules that are so arbitrary.

Unfortunately, society is built around making normally arbitrary matters a matter of rule.  So, people's jobs revolve around the noon meal and their evening events around the evening meal.  People dress up or dress down according to the rules of etiquette governing what is appropriate at work and play.  Most events have a starting and ending point; they are not come and go affairs.  Figuring time by days, years, decades, and centuries helps categorize without a doubt. But, what if something is not in a person's memory (or cell phone these days)? Does that person need to categorize anything?

Working with those who have ventured into the virtual world already, I have found that there is really no need to keep the arbitrary reckoning for things.  Who cares when the work is done as long as it is ready when it is needed?  Who cares when a person learns particular target information as long as it is learned in a manner timely enough to be used for a person's needs?  Who cares when the next meal is as long as a person eats when hunger urges one to eat?  Who cares when sleep happens as long as a person is rested at the times (s)he needs to have energy?

The mind is truly more creative when allowed to follow what is needed when it is needed rather than assigning or being assigned busy work to fill time and to meet deadlines.  That freedom, not to live according to the arbitrary-turned-mandatory, allows me to do what is necessary, and I feel so much more fulfilled, more energetic, more optimistic. I fully support the movement of the world to what is less arbitrary-turned-mandatory.  It actually leads people to the more deliberate things in life.