Work As a Spiritual Practice A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job

The Koan of Everyday Life To find joy in your work is the greatest thing for a human being. --Harry Roberts: agronomist, cowboy, woodworker, welder, boxer, gun-sight maker, spiritual teacher in the Native American tradition, and Ginger Rogers's dance partner "So. What do you do?" How many times have you been asked that question and answered, without thinking, "I'm a lawyer," or "I'm an aerobics instructor," or "I'm a musician." But beyond small talk, that question suggests a deeper inquiry. What, indeed, do you DO, here on this earth, here in your life? What is your work? What is your passion? What is your aspiration, your dream, your calling? Do you find joy in your work? Have you given up hoping that joy is something you might expect from work? Or do you love your work so much that you have no time to enjoy anything else? Why do you have the job you do? Is it just a way to make ends meet, or is it something more? What is the relationship between your inner self and your outer, public life on the job? This book seeks to guide you on a path of spiritual discovery about the work that you do and offer practical ways to make that work more connected to your inner life. I don't know if what you learn will improve your job in a conventional sense. Who knows, it might make you upset enough to quit your job and find a better one! But it may help you in a spiritual sense. I am a Buddhist, which means I am also a realist. In our society, work is not expected to be spiritually satisfying. For the most part, our jobs are designed to make someone somewhere a profit. Listen to what one recent writer to Ann Landers had to say about his job: Why should anybody give their best effort on the job? No one cares about the worker anymore. Growing up in the '60s, we were taught that giving your best would always ensure your employment. That's baloney. It's all a matter of random chance whether or not your job continues. I've been laid off twice through no fault of my own. Perhaps someday work will evolve to the point where it is once again integrated with family, community, spirituality, and nature, as it was in preindustrial times. Until then, the Buddhist worldview begins with today, just as it is, for good and ill--today's job, today's life, today's "you." What this book offers are ways to help you become more aware, more awake, and more engaged in your work life. Even the worst job has its compensations, and even the greatest job has its demerits. This book can't make your job perfect, but it may make it more workable. The reason I think so is because, spiritually speaking, you are in charge. Your employer may dictate every aspect of your work life, but no matter what kind of job you do, you are the boss of your inner life. Most people think of Buddhists as people who meditate. That's partly true. I spent many years living in a Buddhist retreat center, where I did indeed spend many hours each day in silent meditation. But Buddhism has its active side too, and some of its practices are adaptable to a busy, engaged life. Many of them aren't meditation in the usual sense of the word but rather exercises in awareness and focus. Some address various emotional states, such as anger, fear, frustration, and boredom. Others work on how we interact with people, or on the speed and pace of our activity. All of them are designed to awaken the fundamental spiritual inquiry: Who am I? What amRichmond, Lewis is the author of 'Work As a Spiritual Practice A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job', published 2000 under ISBN 9780767902335 and ISBN 0767902335.