For a complete answer to the question, the first thing I would say is work is defined in most dictionaries as ‘activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result’. The word ‘money’ doesn’t appear. Because money is (regrettably, I feel) a necessary resource in this world, work for pay has to come into our lives in one way or another. When or why and for how long is something we each have to decide for ourselves.
Focusing first on the dictionary definition of work, we all do things for a purpose, an outcome. I believe every outcome needs to in some way result in a use, development or appreciation of our natural-born talents, gifts, soft skills, passionate interests.
In every case these actions would be directed to in some way moving us forward to achieving our natural born potential. A potential that only self can achieve because our mix of natural abilities is different to everyone else in the world. This fact means we can all make a difference to the world…be it a small or large difference. Making a difference in this world is a goal we were born to achieve and to be proud of when we realize we have made some sort of difference between the world we came into and the world we one day leave.
Work, in this context, becomes merely a means not an aim in itself. There are many financially rich people who have left the world in a worse place than when they arrived in it. There are far more financially poor people who have made magnificent and memorable positive changes to the world during their time here.
When it comes to ‘finding a job, a career, or a vocation’, we know our best life is in serving a cause that serves our purpose in being here, one that is bigger than ourselves, one that gives the world a reason for having us.
To verify what I am saying, we need only look to nature. An acorn is ‘born’ to become nothing else but an oak tree. It can never become a fruit tree or other money-generating tree, bush or plant. It has all the right ingredients within its seed to achieve its natural potential (albeit with the help of its surrounding ecology). I don’t need to describe what an amazing creation an acorn is born to become. We are in awe of any acorn that has blossomed and matured into what can be described as a natural cathedral of substance. It doesn’t get old, it ages, and matures to the point it becomes regarded as significant.
A mature oak contributes to the surrounding natural ecology in so many ways. Beyond simply something magnificent to admire, it provides a home for birds and insects, shade for us and the growth around the tree, oxygen for the air critical to survival of all, and nutrition to the earth its roots spread far and wide to explore out of our sight. We are in fact a part of nature, not above it. It’s why we come alive, we‘come home’ whenever we are outdoors in nature-al surroundings.
Work is what we do, be it for passion, for love, for service to others, irrespective of whether we get paid money to do it. Life is about keeping our eye on our purpose, our passion, our reason for being here. Money is just one part of the process.
