I have read this book before and in rereading it I'm really disappointed that I waited this long to pick it back up. It is a collection of maxims and advice that fortunately, while it has a spiritual feel, does not really identify itself with any particular religion. That may be the defining point of the book, its universality.
While by the end of each section it seems like I'm ready to call what I just read my favorite part of the book there was, happily, one part that really stuck out to me this time through.
"Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."
The meaning or effect of this short quote may be significantly different from person to person, a lot of this book is left that way, it nevertheless reminds me in its own prescriptive way that there is still a lot of enjoyment to be had even from hard work (a nice thought with finals coming up).
1 comment:
Deep quote. "Work is love made visible". Being raised papist Catholic, I cant hear that without thinking of Pope John Paul II. He wrote a little encyclical about work and how the whole purpose of work is to make God's love manifest or something. I don't know if thats exactly what this guy was getting at, but I think that a lot of the value of what you do is in the intention.
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