The use of the word "work" is varied. Most people associate it with the exchange of time for wage. I have always associated the word "labor" with demanding physical effort.
Labor is a part of my practice. I labor at staying physically fit. I labor at maintaining my small garden. I labor at maintaining my house. Turning labor into practice is a conscious decision to approach physical toil with acute attention and appreciation of the task as having value of its own.
This is a Zen concept as well. Zen practitioners rake gravel, sweep floors, bake bread, polish wood with meticulous attentiveness and daily repetition as part of their meditative practice. Focusing on simply being while laboring yields peace, balance, communing with the Universe.
I have found that choosing a new task, one with an inherent challenge to your skills, yields growth and a tremendous sense of liberation. This is a paradox. By becoming focused in the most material and mundane task routinely and entirely can lead to an openness to the wide Universe. This accounts for the utter bliss found in some craftsmen who master their medium (wood, paint, stone) and continue to strive routinely to achieve a great sense of perfection. The liberation they experience is found in the absolute dedication to the labor.
We are currently in a dark time. Physical labor is currently seen negatively by a vast segment of the population in wealthy societies. Even those with poor education or intellectual capacity look down on physical labor as an inferior occupation. Should we wonder why the infrastructure of these wealthy societies is threatened by increasing use and inadequate maintenance? Should we wonder why obesity is epidemic in these societies?
Practice itself is difficult. Incorporating physical labor into practice adds a great deal to it. For some, physical labor may be the path to practice and human evolution.
