That is not what real spirituality is about at all, of course. Real spirituality is about making hard choices, about working with others to bring about a better world, about challenging ourselves and others to be, in the words of the ads for today's Army, "the best that you can be."
Try this definition: Spirituality is a serious, long-term, disciplined attempt to align ourselves and our environment with transcendental reality, the ultimate meaning of existence, the holy, the divine, in a word, with God, and to incarnate that spirit in the world.
What Is the Spirituality of Work?
Try adding this definition of work: Work is all the efforts we exert (paid and unpaid) to make the world a little better place, a little closer to the way or reign of God.
All work -- jobs, home maintenance, church and community involvement, caring for parents, children, relatives, friends and strangers, even some hobbies -- can be seen in a spiritual light.
The disciplines of a spirituality of work would have to be like the traditional (monastic) disciplines, yet be designed for today's busy workplace. They would have to be things that people who are not particularly pious or even religious would feel comfortable doing. The key to these disciplines is that they be done consciously, faithfully and regularly and that they change our consciousness and awareness of what we are doing.
For an expanded discussion of the definitions, click here.
Here are a few "disciplines of the spirituality of work" to start with:
1. The Discipline of "Sacred Objects"
Many people in the workplace surround themselves with "sacred objects." These can be anything from traditional religious art to photos of family and friends to completely secular items that carry for the person a very deep and spiritual meaning. Some even go so far as to refer to their collection of these objects as an "altar," but most people are content merely to have them around, without necessarily assigning religious words or titles to them.
2. The Discipline of "Living with Imperfection"
This discipline involves recognizing on a regular basis that we are human and will make mistakes. How does living with our imperfection get us in touch with "the holy"? First, it reminds us of our human frailty and disabuses us of any idea that we can bring about God's reign on our own, without divine help. Second, it gives us perspective in our work, a realization that work is not the only important thing in life, that we have other responsibilities to balance with our work.
3. The Discipline of "Assuring Quality"
Like most things in the spiritual life, there is a yang to the yin of living with our imperfection. While it is well, and spiritual even -- to live with our imperfection, we can never use that as an excuse for doing less than our best work. A contradiction? Yes, but not entirely. Our best work, for the most part, will be imperfect. Yet it still must be the best quality of which we are capable, if it is to be worthy of feeding our spiritual lives. How can we maintain that our work has transcendent importance and then not try to make it the best work possible?
4. The Discipline of "Giving Thanks and Congratulations"
In many ways, this discipline is already well-practiced in most workplaces. There are many occasions when people's work is recognized, appreciated and congratulated. Performance-review time, birthdays and special days such as Secretaries Day, Bosses Day and others are all times when people are singled out. Then there are the big occasions: 25th and 50th job anniversaries, promotions, and retirements, transfers and departures for other jobs. Certainly these efforts should be honored and built upon. But the spirituality of work also needs a more mundane discipline, one that reminds the practitioner to thank people -- both others and self -- regularly and often for their work.
5. The Discipline of "Deciding What Is Enough ... and Sticking to It"
Deciding what is "enough" and sticking to it is a very underrated virtue. How much of the pressure, the busyness, the competition, the unhappiness, the inability to see God in our work comes from our failure to practice this discipline?
We get people working on an assembly line or other repetitive job, and then we establish goals for "productivity." The worker finally meets those goals, but then finds that it is not ''enough,'' that the standards have been raised. A person opens a retail store, hoping that someday sales might reach half a million dollars. That goal is met, but it is no longer enough. A lawyer or accountant puts in extra hours on a big case only to find three more similar jobs added to his or her load because of the good job done on the first.
In the workplace, enough is never enough. Whether it is time, money, energy or attention, we do not have the ability to say NO. That is where this discipline of the spirituality of work comes in. We must build into our workday ways of reminding ourselves of what is enough, and then sticking to that.
One practice I have, for example, is to try to be home for dinner almost every night by 6 o'clock. This very often means that I must leave much work undone (see "Living with Imperfection" above), but it does force me to live by values I claim to espouse.
6. Generosity
Another practice I try to incorporate into my work is generosity. In negotiations with my partner, my staff, clients, suppliers, colleagues, I always try to ask myself how much is "enough" for me or for my company. Once I've got that clear and if I stick to it -- then I'm more generous than if I hadn't thought and decided what was enough.
There are many other ways that the discipline of deciding what is enough and sticking to it can be practiced. Perhaps when one is offered a promotion or new job, for example, it can be an opportunity to decide what is enough and to live with it. Or perhaps if you own or run a business, this discipline of enough can be triggered each time salaries are reviewed or bonuses set.
We all need to figure out ways that we can discover and accept the glory of "enough" in our lives, for in so doing we will touch God, who is always enough.
Greg Pierce is co-publisher of ACTA Publications in Chicago IL and leads an email chat-group entitled "Faith and Work in Cyberspace" which frequently discusses work and spirit issues. You can email Greg at gfapierce@aol.com.
For an expanded discussion on "spirituality" and "work", click here.