Work As A Spiritual Practice: Seeing Work as a Spiritual Practice  

By William and Debra Miller

Work As A Spiritual Practice: Seeing Work as a Spiritual Practice  

Susan, a telephone service representative for a large health insurance company, once taught us an extremely important lesson about "work as a spiritual practice."

She was known as one of the best at her job. Whenever she received a call from an angry person complaining that a huge bill had not yet been paid, she silently kept a spiritual mantra going in her head as she listened to the caller. It helped her maintain a peaceful mind and reminded her that the caller was a spiritual being in his or her own right. She kept connecting with the caller, heart to heart, in every word she said and patiently demonstrated her accurate listening. Soon, angry callers became calm, and began to trust that she would really do her best to help them.

Susan saw her job as a spiritual practice. She knew that her work time consumed a large portion of her life and therefore she wanted to invest every precious minute of that time for spiritual growth. It naturally gave her the dividends of high job effectiveness and high personal fulfillment.

What does it mean to see work as a spiritual practice? The Bhagavad Gita teaches three interconnected pathways for spiritual practice: The path of seeking and gaining spiritual wisdom ( jnana yoga ); the path of strengthening devotion to the Source of creation ( bhakti yoga ); and the path of selfless service to others ( karma yoga ). At work, we have the opportunity to cultivate each of these pathways and to use our work situations as a practice ground for our spiritual growth.

How would this actually work? Our interviews with spiritual-based business leaders have given us many examples. A human resource director once joined a company where there was a huge conflict between the professional staff and top management. He located his office in the middle of the professional staff, rather than isolating himself on the management floor. His basis for doing this was his innate faith in the unchanging Truth that we are all Divine. It wasn't something he needed to preach about, it was something he naturally lived and demonstrated through his actions at work. As a result of taking this step, he was able to facilitate a complete turnaround in the attitudes of both the management and the professional staff.

The chairman of an international chemical company once told us, "everyone must feel taller when they walk out of my office than when they walked in." Through his devotion to the spiritual growth of each employee, he made this his number one priority. He said he was willing to give whatever amount of time it took to support his people through any challenge or opportunity they faced at work. He would tell them with a big smile, "You can only get away from me if you feel better about yourself and the situation after we talk, than you did before."

A partner with a large CPA firm taught us about selfless service when he shared an experience he had with a young employee. This employee had made some key errors that brought negative attention to the firm. While the partner agreed with the decision to let the employee go, he also sought to selflessly assist the employee by meeting him personally. He had the young man fly to his city and throughout their meeting together he treated him with respect and dignity. The partner's intent was to help the employee leave the firm with self-respect and self-confidence, so that he could learn from this experience and be successful in the future.

What does "seeing work as a spiritual practice" mean to you? How can you see work as an opportunity for furthering your spiritual practice?

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More from same authors see: William and Debra Miller

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