Rants
Questions
Soapbox
Best Practices
Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!
Fri, Nov 21, 2008 14:43 EST

|
Posted by: Meridith Levinson in Soapbox Topic: Personal ManagementBlog: Career Connection
Current Rating: |
Most people don't consider their work a spiritual endeavor, but the connection between work and spirituality is deeper than we think. An upcoming book, Five Minutes on Mondays: Finding Unexpected Purpose, Peace and Fulfillment at Work, seeks to show us how we can unite our spiritual lives with our professional lives.
****
About 10 days ago, a coworker forwarded a pitch from a PR person to me with the subject line, "Finding Unexpected Purpose, Peace and Fulfillment at Work." Shyeah, right, I thought when I read the e-mail's subject. While I agree that work can be meaningful and fulfilling (it certainly is for me), for most people, it's just a means to an end, and all the competition and politicking associated with work is hardly a peaceful or spiritual endeavor. Nevertheless, the e-mail piqued my curiosity, so I opened it and read.
It contained a pitch for an interview with the author of one of these inspirational business books—you know, the Seven Habits—type. The book, due out next spring, is called Five Minutes on Mondays: Finding Unexpected Peace, Purpose and Fulfillment at Work (FT Press: April 2009). The book's title and description struck me as a cross between Tuesdays with Morrie and Who Moved My Cheese? The author, Alan Lurie, is a rabbi who works for a real estate services company, Grubb & Ellis, in NYC as a project manager.
Intrigued, I quickly responded to the PR person to schedule a phone call with Mr. Lurie. The two main questions I wanted to ask him were basic: Do you really think it's possible to find purpose, peace and fulfillment at work? (Finding all three seems like a tall order to me.) If so, How?
Lurie, who's 50, understands my—and others'—cynicism about finding some kind of inner peace or spiritual transcendence at work, and he addresses it head on in Five Minutes on Mondays (which is named for the five-minute sermons he began offering every Monday in a Grubb & Ellis conference room when he joined in January 2007.) I would argue that most people don't think to find tranquility or "oneness" at work. I certainly don't. Work and spirituality seem so contradictory: one is focused on the material, while the other is focused on the other-worldly. When we do seek a spiritual experience, we don't look for it at the office. We search for it in churches, mosques, temples and synagogues, at yoga retreats, in nature or someplace deep within ourselves.
Lurie believes otherwise. He believes work can in fact be a most spiritual enterprise. The business world, he says, presents challenging opportunities to grow spiritually and to put spiritual teachings into practice. He writes in Five Minutes on Mondays, "…we may think that spirituality is found only in prayer, religious text study, or on the meditation pillow, but the rubber hits the road when we are faced with implementing these ideas in the complex world of work."
Lurie believes that work and spirituality are much more closely aligned than we realize. And he points to the Hebrew word for work, avodah, which also means prayer, to prove his point:
In Hebrew, the word for work is avodah, which also, surprisingly, means prayer. This teaches us that there is a direct connection between the physical world of work and the non-physical world of the spirit. … Just as we pray for the blessings of
Thanks for alerting me to this new book on spirit and work. Your comments and the book itself will definitely go into our Spirit and Work Resource Library, which now has about 120 books and hundreds of articles on how bringing spirit respectfully to work can ease stress, eliminate burnout, and anchor all work in integrity and purpose.
All faiths have wisdom for work. You mentioned how the Hebrew word "work" can be the same for "prayer." That meshes with the Benedictine concept of "to work is to pray" or "to pray is to work." At work, people of different faiths (and no particular religion) often share ways they can make work more meaningful, satisfying and ethical by tapping into this wisdom or creating their own.
As a long-time writer and speaker in the field of spirit and work, I've interviewed hundreds of people in all types of work about how they integrate their values and vision at work. Almost always, people suggest an attitude shift, e.g., from "work is drudgery in a dog-eat-dog-world" to "work can be a place where I stretch my skills and reap the joy of serving others while meeting my own needs." Next, respectfully and discreetly bring into your work simple practices such as meditation, or practicing compassion for yourself and that nasty boss rather than wasting energy stewing about how you now see the situation.
Respect is a big issue: respect for business needs, respect for people of all types of faiths, and much more. Here are some guidelines about spiritual etiquette at work.
http://www.workforce.com/section/09/feature/25/96/27/index.html
Again, thanks. As you explore this wonderful new book, may you enjoy much more than the easing of headaches. May every day at work be richer and more productive. May you end each day with satisfaction and more time to spend on all the things and people that matter most to you.
Pat McHenry Sullivan, co-founder, Spirit and Work Resource Center
This is a great article, thanks for posting it. Life's about more than making (eking out?) a living. We have an opportunity to serve others, and this can be a ministry and witness in the workplace. Amen.
Thank you very much for sharing this. I'm going to look this book up. This also reminds me of something that Khalil Gibran wrote in "The Prophet" about work and spirituality. From Chapter 7 of Gibran's "The Prophet":
And all work is empty save when there is love; And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.
That is so beautiful! Thank you for sharing! I think I may have to add "The Prophet" to my reading list.
Meridith,
This was a great post by you and thank you. I believe I have found a certain spiritual fulfillment at work.
I will look for the rabbi's book.
Mike