What is work, truly? In its widest sense, work is not just a job. It is all our purposeful activities. Seen in this light, work is our whole life.

Out of this idea, Lewis Richmond, author of the acclaimed book Healing Lazarus, brings us a new book that examines the eight important modes of work--the Earner, the Hobbyist, the Creator, the Monk the Helper, the Parent, the Learner, and the Elder--along with the their corresponding eight modes of inner work, which are Precepts, Vitality, Patience, Calm, Equanimity, Giving, Humility, and Wisdom. These inner modes of work are drawn from the author's Buddhist training, but in some form they can be found in most spiritual traditions, demonstrating the broad recognition throughout history that even when life was short and survival hard, our whole life's work has inner as well as outer dimensions.

Although the Earner's work has been predominant through most of history, Richmond argues that to grow spiritually all eight modes of work are necessary. It is through these modes that our lives gain purpose and meaning, not to mention such vital attributes as spiritual virtue and practice. Put simply, A Whole Life's Work provides its readers a roadmap for a practical as well as spiritual journey that melds outer livlihood with inner life, so that as we grow old we can look back and say: I did the best I could, what I did counted, I am satisfied.