Most people are dissatisfied with
their jobs for the same reason that they are dissatisfied with their lives:
they have forgotten that they have immortal souls. Even those people who are
intent upon doing good work for integrity’s sake oftentimes fail to see the
transcendent nature of their work, because they have left their souls out of
the equation. Having negated the soul, they forget that even the smallest
gesture, word, attitude, or action, are reflecting something of their souls
(for good or ill), and that the work
itself is an avenue for deep soul work. It is not solely about the work we
produce, but also the work that is being accomplished in us and through us that is
of eternal consequence.
Consider these two passages from
Wendell Berry’s book, “Christianity and the Survival of Creation”:
It is impossible to see how good work might be accomplished by
people who think that our life in this world either signifies nothing or has
only a negative significance. If, on the other hand, we believe that we are
living souls, God's dust and God's breath, acting our parts among other
creatures all made of the same dust and breath as ourselves; and if we
understand that we are free, within the obvious limits of moral human life, to
do evil or good to ourselves and to the other creatures - then all our acts
have a supreme significance. If it is true that we are living souls and morally
free, then all of us are artists. All of us are makers, within mortal terms and
limits, of our lives, of one another's lives, of things we need and use...
If we think of ourselves as living souls, immortal creatures,
living in the midst of a Creation that is mostly mysterious, and if we see that
everything we make or do cannot help but have an everlasting significance for
ourselves, for others, and for the world, then we see why some religious
teachers have understood work as a form of prayer...
When all we see is the work at
hand, our perspective is earth bound, time bound, because the work is all there
is, and all there is begins with me and ends when my life ends. Even if you are
a brain surgeon who is saving lives every day, if you are not engaging your
soul, if you forget that both you and your patients are “God’s dust and God’s
breath,” there is a world of supreme significance and meaningfulness that you
are not seeing or experiencing.
What if every day you went to work
knowing that most everything that is about to occur is being used for soul
work? What if you approached the struggles, the conflicts, the temptations, and
all the possibilities for expressing your love for God and others that you
initiate or ignore, as tools that are shaping your soul? Now, the reality is
that, whether you see this or not, all these things are determining the character of your soul. The only question here
is whether your soul is becoming an “immortal horror” or an “everlasting
splendor.” (CS Lewis)
Yet it is not only a case where the
work that we are doing is helping to shape our souls, but that where we work is
a place where we express our souls: our love for God and others, our stands and
commitments regarding integrity and virtue, or the lack thereof. What is
pouring out of your soul every day into the work place and onto your work
mates? Is it a testament of an individual who is living with the awareness that
they have an immortal soul and are engaging other immortal souls? Does your
work reflect the knowledge that what you do, how you go about doing what you
do, and who you are, have eternal significance? Whatever your
answers here, what you are being presented with are opportunities for a more
thoroughgoing soul work. You are also being shown possibilities for furthering
the transformation of your workplace into an avenue for expressing the depth
and breadth of an immortal soul that is ever-increasingly filled with love for
the eternal God and for all those with whom you work, who also have immortal
souls that are at stake.
Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2013
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