Generosity

It seems that the holiday spirit visited me early since I have been baking up a storm. Orders for the Bake for a Cure tripled in this last week. People preparing for the festivities next week. $140 raised thus far. So for this week and Christmas I would like to acknowledge the generosity I have seen not only today but all through the year. Give thanks that people are truly creative and good.
Merry Christmas.

What is a meaningful job?

Well, my goodness, "what is the meaning of life?" you ask. "What is the meaning of "meaning" in your question? And whose life? A worms?
John Updikel

So I have been pondering what exactly do I mean by a meaningful job and how do I expect to find it. So I have two questions or thought streams about this concept.

First, since I am a word nerd, defining what meaningful is, has proven to be a philosophical and perhaps a psychological conundrum.

I ran across a Philosophy paper entitled "The concept of a Meaningful life," by Thaddeus Metz, on just what is the meaning of "meaning." The essay poses some very interesting questions. First it says that, like the quote above, defining what a meaningful life is, is much too vague a concept, which I agree with.

So now we ask is meaning solely derived from a desire to fill some spiritual or humanistic duty on earth. For myself, is it to assist humanity in its progress towards a more peaceful, wholesome existence?


I would say yes. But I believe that, as I stated in another blog, to make a more peaceful world at every level you must and can start at any level. By that I mean that peace does not limit itself to the cessation of armed combat. Some of our most violent confrontations take the form of verbal arguments. Not to mention the economic violence that certain powers assert over weaker groups or individuals.

Therefore I am confronted by my own argument. What is it that this meaningful job that I am looking for, since all jobs have meaning if striving towards a more peaceful society, contains?

Latter in the essay the author questions if meaning is associated with a certain level of happiness. Latter they dispute this since consuming ice cream makes me happy but I do not find meaning in eating it. Or at least I don't anymore ;).

all this questioning leads me back to what I hear at so many job seminars mainly, that your value should not be tied up in your career achievements. I see and hear about so many people who claim to be unhappy in their jobs or seem to have no feelings whatsoever about their job. They simply care that it gives them what they need to achieve the lifestyle they desire. This makes me feel that perhaps I am alone in my drive to find a job that makes me happy and also fulfills my desire to contribute to our progress towards peace. However, I know that I am not alone in my desire to find a meaningful job.

So my second question is, Is our desire to find a meaning in our employment new? This question is harder to answer and I could not find reference to it. I read about people throughout history and society who did amazing things in their lifetimes. But have we, in retrospect given their life meaning? Did they feel like they were fulfilling some cosmic role?

I hope that in the near future I can interview people who have attained the status of a meaningful life in our society. I would like to ask them if they knew or even felt that they were fulfilling their calling? Did they know it was their calling from the beginning or did it become apparent at the end.

Any thoughts on the idea?

Still searching

Searching through the blog archives I came across this blog. It seems that Andrei Yashurin A Russian blogger has been writing articles on truth. I stumbled upon his writings because he recently wrote an entry on a meaningful life. He speaks generously about the universe and the spirit which guides us. He says:

Peace doesn’t always come to us when we seek it for its own sake. Peace is a by-product of living a meaningful life. It is a natural state for those who realize their place in the universal scheme of things, and build their lives upon this realization.

The sense of meaning gives us an exalted vision. We begin to see ourselves and all the things which concerns our life from the universal perspective. What is the result? Small things which could trouble us before, lose their importance to us. We treat them as temporary setbacks and valuable lessons to learn from, rather than inherently tragic events. Knowing that all that happens contribute to our ultimate success, we don’t worry.

Meaningful life doesn’t depend on place which we hold in life. It is the attitude which inspires us to be our best, no matter what is our place. Even if it seems that there is nothing great about who we are and what we do, we live with a deep conviction that we are needed and important. We see ourselves not as victims of circumstances, but as responsible creators of our life. While being the best at where we are, we stay open to another stage of our personal unfoldment which will be revealed to us at due time.

To read the full entry please visit http://unityway.net/blog/?p=80

Dressing for the Job

There's an old saying that we should dress for the job that we want. How many articles have I read that instructs us to wear our way up in the world?

(Strangely do you think that is what most of the world is doing with our never ceasing drive of consumption. But I digress.)

So my friend and I were discussing what our resumes say about us. Here was her question "what do we do when the standard format for a resume does not pay justice to the work that we have done?" For example both her and I have had a substantial number of Administrative jobs at varying levels. WE took these jobs because at one time we were both under the impression that ANY job in the organization/field you want is a good one. Now we are both realizing that this may not be entirely true. Do we really think that the secretary is given the chance to lead or manage a project? Yes, but so rarely.

So we both took the same root, seeking leadership opportunities in the volunteer fields. Both learning and refining our management ability.

Now back to the resume, both of us now have substantial volunteer experience however, some employers don't even look at the volunteer experience. Some only care what you do when you are getting paid, as if this determines our character. Our problem is that resumes are geared towards the "standard" tract. School, work, more work and all with increasing responsibilities. But for many of us our desire to volunteer more substantially has interrupted our work seniority, taking us around the country and around the world.

My question is how do we dress our resume for our perspective jobs? How do we show that our drive for a cause has lead us up ever increasing responsibilities and ever deepening commitment?

You might ask why we don't work for the organizations we volunteered with. Well, for the most part they are small nonprofits, barely able to pay their current employees and both of us do have substantial debt from school and living.