The dynamic of practicing spirituality while maintaining a time consuming job

[kamwalker]

I am a newly practicing surgeon. I started exploring spirituality and consciousness more over the last few years after gaining interest through various experiences in the years prior to that. As I have gone deeper into it and exploring this different path it inevitably got me to start questioning whether this type of pursuit would mesh well with the medicine lifestyle and whether the time I spent to get to this point was worth it as the sheer amount of hours you must dedicate to it strips away much of the time you can allocate to other endeavors. It has caused a fair amount of confusion within me and I have had to continually question it all and if it is possible to truly let go and awaken while still having to deal with healthcare bureaucracy and the stress of cutting someone open. Wondering if anyone here can relate to this on some level or has any insight.

[Flowerfaeiry]

Welcome to the spiritual path. My advice is to stick with it. It may seem at times like your whole world has turned upside down and you may question why you got involved in the first place, but it can be a very rich and fulfilling journey. 

[Terell Kirby]

Agree with @Flowerfaeiry

The pandemic was a blessing in disguise for me, in terms of being able to work from home, and meditate incrementally from the comfort of my apartment without dealing with a commute or bothersome co-workers.

Now with the economy opening back up, wage slaves are expected to go back to…well, slaving. I’m also having to figure out how to juggle spirituality with a 9 to 5.

Some things are just to good to turn your back on, spirituality is one of them. Good luck

[Leo Gura]

Two points:

1) A big part of spirituality is realizing how dysfunctional our modern lifestyles are, and changing how you structure your life. The Western medicine system is insanely unhealthy and dysfunctional on many levels -- for patients and doctors alike. So of course you'll have to question your involvement in that. In the end you may decide to transition to more sustainable and holistic types of healthcare. This will be hard for your ego to swallow because you've invested so much into this dysfunctional system while assuming it would serve you and your patients.

2) Check out Daniel Ingram's work/books. He was an ER doctor and a hardcore Buddhist mediator at the same time. He became enlightened while still working as a doctor. So it is possible. However, you have to understand that it will be extremely challenging. Most people will not be able to pull that off.

Enlightenment usually requires taking time off of work to focus on it exclusively. You should expect it to interfere with your work/business.

But something like a 1-hour per day meditation or yoga practice is doable alongside almost any profession/biz. Just don't expect huge results from 1-hour per day. You are not going to reach deep levels of awakening via such a piddly practice.

[mandyjw]

My spiritual journey really took off when I became a mother. There's no quitting that. Enlightenment is the recognition of the conditionless. That's why having a fear that the conditions aren't right for it feels so off. Life has a way of working out for us perfectly, even when it doesn't make much sense and doesn't seem that way in the moment. 

[PepperBlossoms]

wow congrats on the career. I can see spirituality may bring more empathy for the patient and appreciation for the shortness of life; seeing beauty in the human body and appreciating all that it does; seeing beauty in the surgical methods and how much they can transform someone's health/life; seeing the beauty in the health system that we have created (despite any shortcomings)

[kamwalker]

1 hour ago, Flowerfaeiry said:

Welcome to the spiritual path. My advice is to stick with it. It may seem at times like your whole world has turned upside down and you may question why you got involved in the first place, but it can be a very rich and fulfilling journey. 

I think so too. Something in me keeps telling me to go deeper into it despite the apprehension I feel about how it will conflict with my current job. 

1 hour ago, Terell Kirby said:

Agree with @Flowerfaeiry

 

Some things are just to good to turn your back on, spirituality is one of them. Good luck

Agreed! Despite the dilemma I don't regret going down this path. 

28 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Two points:

1) A big part of spirituality is realizing how dysfunctional our modern lifestyles are, and changing how you structure your life. The Western medicine system is insanely unhealthy and dysfunctional on many levels -- for patients and doctors alike. So of course you'll have to question your involvement in that. In the end you may decide to transition to more sustainable and holistic types of healthcare. This will be hard for your ego to swallow because you've invested so much into this dysfunctional system while assuming it would serve you and your patients.

2) Check out Daniel Ingram's work/books. He was an ER doctor and a hardcore Buddhist mediator at the same time. He became enlightened while still working as a doctor. So it is possible. However, you have to understand that it will be extremely challenging. Most people will not be able to pull that off.

Enlightenment usually requires taking time off of work to focus on it exclusively. You should expect it to interfere with your work/business.

But something like a 1-hour per day meditation or yoga practice is doable alongside almost any profession/biz. Just don't get expect huge results from 1-hour per day. You are not going to reach deep levels of awakening via such a piddly practice.

1) I have definitely recognized how toxic the medicine system can be, particularly in residency where abuse is simply brushed off. You're correct about my ego having difficulty with the idea of dropping it all together because of the time and effort investment while not having an alternative course at the time. I don't think I'm ready to detach quite yet especially since I am newly minted, but it's something to consider. 

2) Thanks for the reference, I absolutely will check out his stuff as I have had a very hard time finding colleagues who aren't caught up in the rat race. It is nice to know there's at least one other person out there who somehow made it work. 

I think that's more manageable for the time being. I will never blow off the spiritual pursuit now that I'm on it, but enlightenment just might not be in the books for now. 

14 minutes ago, mandyjw said:

My spiritual journey really took off when I became a mother. There's no quitting that. Enlightenment is the recognition of the conditionless. That's why having a fear that the conditions aren't right for it feels so off. Life has a way of working out for us perfectly, even when it doesn't make much sense and doesn't seem that way in the moment. 

That's a great way of putting it. Most of us have something going on that will seem to always get in the way of the journey, so waiting for the "perfect" time may not ever happen. The best we can do is stay present with whatever it is we're doing at the time even if the objective life situation doesn't seem ideal. 

[kamwalker]

5 minutes ago, PepperBlossoms said:

wow congrats on the career. I can see spirituality may bring more empathy for the patient and appreciation for the shortness of life; seeing beauty in the human body and appreciating all that it does; seeing beauty in the surgical methods and how much they can transform someone's health/life; seeing the beauty in the health system that we have created (despite any shortcomings)

Absolutely! It's a very rewarding pursuit that makes me feel fucking incredible at the end of a case that I nailed. Meditation has helped me immensely actually as presence is critical any time you're cutting on someone. No time for anything else in that moment. With that said it is obviously very stressful too.

Edited August 30, 2021 by kamwalker