Work

“It is fundamental for you to understand that you have come to the world to work. This is not the world where you go to have a holiday. This is not the world where you go to take a great vacation or to have an immense amount of rest. You have come from a place of rest, but the world is a place of work and action. And you have come here to work and to take action.”

Work in the world

"The world is a place of doing. Your Ancient Home is a place of being. The world is a place of doing because it is a place of work. Work involves accomplishing tasks."

"When you speak of spirituality, speak of work in the world and of meaningful relationships, for this is where spirituality lives and expresses itself through the love and labor of people."

Directives

"Do not seek an easy life. Do not seek a life without work. Do not seek a life that is all joyful and wonderful, pleasurable and relaxing. That is not a real life. Pleasure and enjoyment will attend you if your work in the world is meaningful. If your work in the world is meaningful, then the relationships that are associated with that work will be meaningful."

Mundane work and Higher Purpose

"Your work in the world is in two arenas. One is the transformation of your experience of yourself and your relationships, and the other is the rendering of your specific contribution to the world."

"In considering the greatness of Knowledge, do not think that this means taking on a great role in the world. For Knowledge expresses itself in the most simple ways, in the simplest gesture, in the most mundane activity, in the simplest life and in the most humble work."

Provision

"Your spiritual purpose is not necessarily the practical work that you do in the world. This is especially true at the outset. Here, if you are a student of Knowledge, work is merely a way to provide for yourself while you undergo your spiritual preparation. This is necessary. You will also find that the work that you are drawn to do may have great benefit, particularly in the future."

"Your duties in the world are small. They are meant to secure provisions which you need physically and to maintain those alliances with others that are beneficial for your well-being and for their well-being as well. These are important, but your mission is greater. Do not undermine your ability to receive your mission by being in failure concerning your duties. This is only a form of self-avoidance."

”It may take you a long time to find your real work and a much longer time for it to support you financially. In the interim, you do work that supports your real work. This is perfectly all right. In fact, it has to be this way. If you live in poverty because you have refused to do any work other than what you think is your real work, you will not have the power, the stability or the foundation to do your real work, even if it becomes known to you.”

“To build a foundation for learning and living The Way of Knowledge, it is necessary that you be able to provide for yourself in order to meet your basic needs and expenses and that you deal with these resources—money, time and effort—effectively. If this is neglected, you will be disabled in your attempt to build your foundation and to begin your journey into the next great stage of your life, which is the reclamation of Knowledge and the discovery of a greater purpose.”

Preparation

“Your employment is a perfect environment to teach you discernment, discretion, insight, compassion, ability and restraint. Use this, then, as part of your laboratory for study. Do not demand that your work environment reflect the greater values that you yourself are learning to experience, for in most cases, your work environment will not be able to reflect or demonstrate a greater truth. However, you can demonstrate a greater truth by being there, not by proclaiming yourself or your ideas, but through your own demonstration.”

Work on Self

"You must learn what you do, where you make your mistakes, where you are courageous, what your predispositions are, how you respond to difficulty, how you respond to loss, how you respond to success and how you respond to failure. Without becoming self-absorbed, you can gain valuable information here because you must learn something about your own tendencies in order to learn how to work with yourself."

"You are a piece of a puzzle. You want to make the best use of that. You cannot be a different piece and make yourself fit where you do not fit. You must learn to work with your design. You must learn how you function in relationships. Your past experience can teach you this."

The Pillar of Work

“The ability to work, the desire to work, the ability to maintain work and to apply yourself in work, while preserving part of your life, attention and energy for greater endeavors and studies, represents a mature and successful approach in building this Pillar of your foundation.”

Misconceptions

"People often think of self-love and self-acceptance as a form of passivity where you don't have to work any more. You can go on vacation or holiday with yourself. But real self-acceptance is very different from this. Here you realize that your lack of self-respect and your propensity for error require correction and are opportunities to express that which is genuine and meaningful within yourself."

"Someone who is great can do small things without complaint. Someone who is with Knowledge can undertake mundane activities without any sense of disgrace. Activities are only activities. They do not constitute your true nature or Being. Your true nature or Being is the Source of your life, which will express itself through your small activities as you learn to receive it and to see it in proper perspective."

The Greater Work

Your work "becomes increasingly more an expression of the emergence of Knowledge within you. This is when your spiritual calling begins to emerge."

“Only those who can patiently build the foundation without demanding glory or total satisfaction for themselves will be in a position to receive the grace of Knowledge and its great work and endeavors.”

“You work for your own behalf and you work for your Spiritual Family. Your success is for them, and your failure is for them as well.”

"A deeper reality was created by God. It does not have a nametag. It does not have a social function. It is not simply based upon one’s role in a family or a culture. It is not based necessarily on one’s work or vocation."

"In your life, you will find that certain people who are really ready to participate with you and who have the right qualities will come into your life to assist you with your greater work, whatever that may be."

"Your calling is where your greater work, born of your Knowledge, becomes evident. It is born of your preparation in Knowledge, it is born of your readiness for Knowledge and it is born of your marriage to Knowledge within yourself. This makes true marriage with others possible.

Your calling represents a specific set of tasks to be carried out in the world. This represents your life's work."

"Relationship at the level of interdependence is rare and very special. It can take the form of a marriage. It can take the form of working together in spiritual community. It can take the form of a great alliance at one’s work. But it has this greater dimension, this greater power and this greater stability."

References

See also

Calling

Provision

Further study

• Faith, Work and Higher Purpose

• Living The Way of Knowledge, Chapter 9: Sharing The Way of Knowledge With Others