Right Livlihood – oh that topic again…
I found the following quote via the Lotus in the Mud blog as I sit here at my desk job listening to The Ramones “Rock and Roll Radio” and think dreamily of a job which would help me to do good in the world.
I’m always get myself involved and over committed to things I think I want to be a part of only to realize that what I ended up with was just more anger, stress and anxiety. I guess I feel some comfort in that I realize that I’m feeling like I need a change rather than just sitting in the boiling pot.
Damm if the ‘more balanced, simple, clear and focused life’ doesn’t sound ideal to me right now… Or am I just grasping? I’m having my mid-life career crisis early!
Those of us who start on the path to right livelihood find that our lives are more balanced, simple, clear, and focused. We are no longer strung out in a meaningless cycle of material consumption. The contemporary economy focuses on this cycle of consumption. It doesn’t really support our efforts to find meaningful work. Today, work is a means to consume or to pay debt for consumption already indulged in. How many people do you know who really love the work they are doing? How many feel bored and alienated? How many are simply earning the money to spend it on material pleasures? Right livelihood demands that you take responsibility for making your work more meaningful. Good work is dignified. It develops your faculties and serves your community. It is a central human activity.
~ Roger Pritchard, in Claude Whitmyer’s Mindfulness and Meaningful Work
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