The Meaning of Work

04/26/2005

What good is running if one is on the wrong road.
English Proverb

Donna Rafanello recommended to ExchangeEveryDay readers the book, Mindfulness and Meaningful Work (New York: Parallax Press, 1994) by Claude Whitmyer. Here are some excerpts Donna has selected for us...

In the chapter "Skillful Means," Tarthang Tulku writes:

"Working is the natural human response to being alive, our way of participating in the universe. Work allows us to make full use of our potential, to open to the infinite range of experience that lies within even the most mundane activity... Each of us has a sense of the role work plays in our lives. We know that work can draw on every part of our being, bringing our minds, our hearts, and our senses into full play."

In the chapter "The Sacredness of Work," John Daido Loori writes:

"Work practice can also be a teacher if we regard it that way. After the work is laid out, the next step is doing it. The art of this step is to really 'do what you are doing while you are doing it.' In other words, to be fully present...To be the work...It is easy to practice when everything is going smoothly, but to sit hard is to sit when sitting is difficult. It is also the place that generally is the most productive, because the things that are most difficult for us almost always have the most to teach us."

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