Why Work is Divine – Part 3
Anyone who has any experience with work and the
workaday world may see and remember that there are two
things that we deal with at work.
One is the duties and responsibilities that are
involved with our work. Generally, if we are
adequately trained and a balanced individual our work
will not put excessive and undue pressure and stress
on us.
Usually it is not so much the work that we find
stressful as the quality of the people that we work
with.
We lose patience with the lazy and complaining co -
worker or those who have an attitude different then
ours to work. Sometimes those that we work with may
think that our approach to work is something that they
should and can ridicule.
A greater problem may be that we feel that our boss
‘has it in for us” or is unfair to or too demanding of
us.
If we have any experience living or working in another
country, we will find that such a feeling is one that
can be had by all people in all parts of the world.
But it is this opportunity to work with others in a
mutually beneficial manner that is another thing that
makes work divine.
We can look at our experience of work as being an
opportunity to interact with others who face like -
minded challenges at both work and in life.
We will many times also find that because of the
amount of time and effort we put into work, it is the
people that we work with who turn out to be the people
that we are closest to, relate to the best and many
times share many of our social activities with.
Sometimes they become our closest long - term and
lifetime friends, and if we move on to a new job, it
is them that we find that we will feel the most
difficulty leaving behind.
It is such an opportunity for growth with others and
the shared experience of life and working with others
that is another example of how work is divine.
Like all aspects of living a spiritual and divine
existence, it is our approach to life and work that is
of greatest significance.
If we see those that we work with as our competitors,
we will not see them as colleagues and friends.
If we see those that we work with as threats to or
having ambitions and desires that conflict with ours,
we will be less likely to trust or share with them.
If we see those that we work with in terms of being
lazy, uncaring and uncooperative, we will have a more
difficult time seeing such tendencies within
ourselves, or to understand why they are such a way,
or be willing to investigate what it is in their
present or past life that has led them to think and
act in this manner.
In sharing the work experience with others, we are
once again provided with the opportunity to access and cultivate the divine within, while seeing it at work in the lives and actions of others.
©2004 John C. Kimbrough
(John lives and teaches in Bangkok, Thailand. He can
be reached at johnckimbrough@yahoo.com)