For various reasons which I can elaborate on if you wish, human beings have three basic sets of needs. The first is our physical needs that come as a result of humans being a physical organism. Secondly we have social and intellectual needs because we are social animals with an intellect, intelligence and a desire to connect to others. Finally, because we are conscious, and have a “theatre of mind” we have spiritual needs. These needs are simply our needs for a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives.

That is what spirituality consists of. Uniquely, because of our consciousness (self-awareness) we have a need for a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives. Simply (in no more than a half dozen words or so) that is what our spirituality is all about!

Can you explain what you mean by spirituality in forty words or less.

And, as discussed earlier, not restricted to the workplace.

Omar Khayyam

To be a little more precise.

The ‘book of verses’ is currently ‘Lost Books of the Bible’ for dummies.

The ‘loaf of bread’ will be available from the Breville machine by lunchtime.

A ‘jug of wine’ is a couple of bottles of bubbly.

And ‘thou beside me singing in the wilderness’ is a blonde soprano who won’t shut up.

Merry Whatever.

Thanks for adding me to your blog mailing list.

In regards to obtaining meaning in your work, my experience is that this is not necessaily a good approach. In the past I think I was pretty typical in that I wanted to find meaning in my work, wanting my labour to amount to something. Looking back, striving for meaning in my work lead to samsara, a roller coaster of pleasure and pain. A series of events lead me to giving up on this notion of finding meaning in my work (at least to some extent). I found this lead to more peace in my work life; more and more, work is simply becoming a place to spend my time and enjoy the day. One unexpected observation is that I think my work performance has improved (although you may need to check with my boss).

A further point (I fear this may be a bit too idealistic), I have been wondering whether the concept of a corporation is flawed. By people thinking within this abstract entity, known as a corporation, it seems like people will be destined to making decisions that they would never make if they were acting on their own. We could all think of many examples of corporations making decisions that detrimentally impact on people or the environment and I find it hard to believe that these same decisions would have been made if an individual was making decisoins on their own.

Regards,James

and surprisingly budhists this was at times a painful endeavour full of anxiety and fear, worrying myself with questions like whether I was doing enough or was my work meaningful enough. The flip side of this was that at times it was exciting and and One of the main points