Finding Purpose at Work

Eckhart Tolle poses this thought-provoking scenario in A New Earth:

"Let's say that you are a businessperson and after two years of intense stress and strain you finally manage to come out with a product or service that sells well and makes money. Success?

In conventional terms, yes. In reality, you spent two years polluting your body as well as the earth with negative energy, made yourself and those around you miserable, and affected many others you never even met.

The unconscious assumption behind all such action is that success is a future event, and that the end justifies the means. But the end and means are one. And if the means did not contribute to human happiness, neither will the end."

I don't think you need to believe in what he calls karmic action for the anecdote to raise powerful questions, like:

1. Is there really hope that a largely negative experiential existence, trudging through years of work, can justify future goals that may benefit humanity?

I am honestly uncertain on this one.

2. Is hard-work and sacrifice a negative force? I think Tolle would say it depends: If the tasks and tedium are performed in complete presence of Being, aligned with internal and external purpose, they contribute to being "friendly" with the now and positive overall, including for humanities' future.

Further, that such highly present work action, especially when going "all in", is the entrepreneurial spirit and the essence of true individual success.

Tolle's inclusion of the perspective of Roman philosopher Tacitus emphasizes: "the desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise" is acknowledgment of the value of complete dedication to the work process itself.

After all, Tolle was broke and with considerable shelter instability when he bought a lottery ticket , winning $1000 to keep him going and writing just long enough to publish The Power of Now, which has now sold over 16 million copies globally.

FYI I have no affiliation with Tolle.