The Officialdom Watcher

The journey of an “officialdom observer” is a practice with no end. It begins with the anxiety of being “observed,” moves on to the strategic contest of “observing one another,” and culminates in the awakening of “self-observation.” This is not merely a matter of climbing the ranks, but also of honing the mind.

Along the way, the most precious thing isn’t a letter of appointment. It’s finally learning to set your own standards amid the clamor of the system. Those standards can measure both the heights of the world and the warmth or coldness of people’s hearts. They can gauge the results of your work as well as the purity of your soul. This is the deepest metaphor behind the “officialdom observer” in this story.