Article October 26, 1992 Issue

Taking the struggle out of work

Frustration can give place to satisfaction through a higher view of ourselves and our work.

J. Todd Herzer

There is a story about a traveler in Europe during the Middle Ages who came across three bricklayers toiling away in the cold, damp mud. When asked what they were doing, the first one shot back, "What does it look like?" The second bricklayer looked up and said, "They told me it was a wall for some building." Standing back to admire his work, the third bricklayer said with a smile, "I'm building a cathedral!"

How we perceive our work influences, to a great extent, our satisfaction, our motivation, and, ultimately, our success. Most of us spend much of our waking hours working, so our feeling about our jobs tend to occupy a great deal of our thought. Wherever we work and whatever the tasks, whether in a large corporation, a fast-food restaurant, or simply doing chores around the house, we can overcome a feeling of hopelessness brought on by an unsatisfying job and see the situation turn around.

The Biblical allegory of Adam and Eve can help us understand why human experience can be so discouraging at times—especially when it comes to our jobs. An important clue is that the concept of work is represented in this story as a curse. Having to "till the ground" is Adam's punishment for his disobedience to "the Lord God." Whereas he was once living in a type of paradise where all his needs were supplied, his life is now reduced to a continuous struggle in order to acquire his most basic needs. But this isn't the original, authentic conception of God's man, who, we're told in the first chapter of the Bible, was made in God's image and given dominion. As Mrs. Eddy observes in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, "Man is not made to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not subjection."

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