A Whole Life's Work: Living Passionately, Growing Spiritually

"What is work, truly? In its widest sense, work is not just a job. It is the sum of all our purposeful activities. Seen in this light, work is our whole life. In a continuation of his national bestseller, Work as a Spiritual Practice, Lewis Richmond's latest effort, A Whole Life's Work, explores the many facets of work as a means to cultivate inner life and contribute to the developing consciousness of all humanity. A Whole Life's Work defines eight important modes of work -- the Earner, the Hobbyist, the Creator, the Monk, the Helper, the Parent, the Learner, and the Elder -- along with their corresponding eight modes of inner work: Precepts, Vitality, Patience, Calm, Equanimity, Giving, Humility, and Wisdom. These inner modes are drawn from the author's Buddhist training, but in some form they can be found in most other spiritual traditions, demonstrating the recognition throughout history that our whole life's work has inner as well as outer dimensions. Here Lewis Richmond addresses a primary struggle of contemporary life: how to strike a balance between achievement and ambition on the one hand, and happiness and fulfillment on the other. Whether we are professionals, artists, hobbyists, parents, or students, Lewis helps us recognize the larger picture, too -- our contributions and responsibilities to the wider consciousness of the planet. Through teaching stories, spiritual exercises, and interviews, A Whole Life's Work provides an invaluable roadmap toward the ultimate reconciliation of outer livelihood with inner life, so that when we have grown old we can look back and say: I did the best I could, what I did counted, I am satisfied."

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Title of ebook: A Whole Life's Work: Living Passionately, Growing Spiritually
ISBN: 9780743488716
parent-ISBN: 9780743451307
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 02-2004
Released online for download: 02-16-2004
Author of eBook: Richmond, Lewis

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Whole Life's Work

Living Passionately, Growing Spiritually

Excerpt

Chapter 1: What Is Work?

The word work has an impressive range of meanings. In ordinary speech, it means making a living, "going to work." In science, it means "the transfer of energy from one physical system to another." Work can sometimes mean something difficult: "This is work!" It can also mean to sew, knit, or weave, as in to "work" a knot. It can mean the opposite of play: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!"

It can also mean success: "This works!" Or the way out, as when we "work" our way out of a jam. We "work off extra pounds," get all "worked up," and so on. The variations multiply. The more we study all its variant meanings we find that the word work - like be, come, go, or do - describes something so fundamental that no one definition can fully embrace it.

So when we ask what is the work of a human being, which definition should we use? Is our life working? Is it, rather than fun, work? Are we working our life like Gordian knots that we don't know how to untie? Are we worked up abou ... read full excerpt from: A Whole Life's Work: Living Passionately, Growing Spiritually ebook

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