Institut Teknologi Bandung

Haidar explained that passion is often understood as a hobby or a preferred activity. Some understand passion as a desire or craving for doing something. In fact, in terms of language, besides meaning love or sympathy, passion also comes from the word "pati" which means pain or suffering.

He shared the story of the passion of Jesus: Jesus' love for Christians was shown by atonement for human sins. "When Jesus died on the cross, that was the meaning of Jesus' love for his people. His life is hoping that people are far from suffering. That's his passion," said Haidar.

Therefore, passion can be interpreted as a love that causes a person to endure suffering. Suffering is deemed worthy of being endured and is believed to be a source of happiness. Another simpler example is a mother taking care of her baby. Although the taking care activities are tiring, it became the source of her joy.

"Working with passion is recording everything that is done and created with the breath of your spirit. Therefore, people choose jobs that match their passion so that when they feel tired and stressed, the suffering remains a source of their happiness," said Haidar.

Haidar then explains the types of success divided into three: bitter success, toxic success, and meaningful success. The first—bitter success—for example is having lots of money and popularity. However, this success is bitter because many owners of this success suffer and decide to end their lives.

The second, namely toxic success, is a success over the suffering of others. For example, a person is successful by owning a factory, but the waste from the factory is dumped into the river and harms other people. "This success also does not give happiness," explained Haidar.

The last success is a meaningful success. This is a happy success because this success contains meaning. Wealth and fame, as in the first success, may not give meaning—and end up as a bitter success—unless the wealth and fame are used to, for example, help others so that it provides a meaningful memory.

"The thing that drives us to achieve meaningful success is compassion," said Haidar.

Thus, Haidar considers that working according to his hobbies and interests is good but boring. On the other hand, it is usually not easy to find a job that matches your hobbies and interests. "So, how? Learn to love it, learn to love the work we already have. Love has to be learned and re-learn," concluded Haidar. That is the passion by compassion referred to in this Studium Generale. When we can do something for others through our passion and compassion, we can feel enjoyment and happiness, both for others and ourselves.

Reporter: Zahra Annisa Fitri (Region and City Planning, 2019)