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The Virtue in Work.

Some may think that there is no virtue in doing work of any kind. This is not true. Even if one was incapacitated and unable to any physical labour of any kind, the mental labour of controlling ones thoughts would be that individual's work! We labour our whole lives to put food on our table, and cloth ourselves but to be at rest in ones mind at work is an arduous step. We struggle with stress and meeting deadlines, striving as we do to please our boss, but there is a work we can do while we work and that is remaining calm inwardly while we do our work. Half of the battle is showing up on time, but if we are not aware of an inward life and glimpses of peace of mind outside work, we will succumb to the workaholic mentality that I must be busy all the time, even mentally. Training the mind doesn't have to be relegated to Indian monks, or Buddhist monastics. We can take a little time everyday to cultivated a stress free mind.

Think of the times when you were younger, if you are over 30, to the times when the circadian rhythm of your mind and your body worked together. You may have been just dreaming and planning your future during this season of life, but I can guarantee you, you were not addicted to your work. There is a virtue to work, that even the greatest men and women have attested to over time. Many texts from various religions talk about work and the one I want to use for my blog today comes from the Bhagavad Gita! Its talking about the difference between meditation and work and which one is better;

If meditation be a nobler thing
Than action, wherefore, then, great Kesava!
Dost thou impel me to this dreadful fight?

It is talking about the work that is needed to cultivate a peaceful mind, but it is also at the same time using working in our daily lives as a slimily. I find these next verses very interesting;

there be paths
Shown to this world; two schools of wisdom. First
The Sankhya's, which doth save in way of works
Prescribed by reason; next, the Yog, which bids
Attain by meditation, spiritually:

The above can be talking about Karma Yoga, and the below is talking about not renouncing work to become a Yogi. It does mention worthy work, which I understand as anything that leads you to God, not away from God. Working as a receptionist can lead you to God if your motivation is correct!

Yet these are one! No man shall 'scape from act
By shunning action; nay, and none shall come
By mere renouncements unto perfectness.
Nay, and no jot of time, at any time,
Rests any actionless; his nature's law
Compels him, even unwilling, into act;
[For thought is act in fancy]. He who sits
Suppressing all the instruments of flesh,
Yet in his idle heart thinking on them,
Plays the inept and guilty hypocrite:
But he who, with strong body serving mind,
Gives up his mortal powers to worthy work, 

Here it is talking about being lazy and saying you are cultivating a peaceful mind, rather than putting your energies to some kind of tangible work, as well as cultivating peace in your life. The rest of this section in chapter three just stresses the holiness required to work with the right attitude. Being that I subscribe to the bible, and not just appreciate the Gita, I will leave out what the bible says about work because the way the Christian and the way the Hindu look at work, differ in that Christian meditation is less a training of the mind, and more of a contemplation of the God of the Bible.

This is Mike.

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