Is it 'work'?

A couple of random quotes to get us musing:

"If I insist that my work be rewarding, that it mustn't be tedious or monotonous, I'm in trouble. . . . If we're detached and simply pick up the job we have to do and go ahead and do it, it's usually fairly satisfying. Even jobs that are repugnant or dull or tedious tend to be quite satisfying once we get right down to doing them. One of the routine jobs I get every once in awhile comes from putting out a little magazine. You have to sort the pages. It's a simple, routine, mechanical job. I never realized that this would be one of the most satisfying parts of the whole thing, just standing there sorting pages. This happens when we just do what we have to do." –by Thomas Merton, on "Why We Need Boring Work," as quoted by Peter Gomes to graduating Princeton seminarians.


"There are many who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge: That is curiosity. There are others who desire to know in order that they may themselves be known: That is vanity. But there are some who seek knowledge in order to serve and edify others: That is love." -- Bernard of Clairvaux