Sex in the office?

I was walking with a friend not so long ago. We were discussing sex. My friend made the pronouncement "I don't fuck anymore!" That's not to say that my friend is celibate, far from it I imagine. It was rather more a statement of intention. Their point was that sex had become a sacred act. Now before you start rolling your eyes and thinking, "Oh, I suppose there are always candles and everything is perfect and little birds sing when this person makes the sweet love" hold your horses a minute.

My good friend certainly enjoys a good romp. Although not speaking from personal experience, I imagine sex with this person would run the gamut from soft, tender nurturing love-making to an all out surfeit for the carnal senses. The point here is that they approach the sex they engage in as sacred. I started thinking about the words Sacred Sex and what they actually mean to me.

The "Sex" part was easy enough for me to define, it was the "Sacred" part and the combination of the two words together that really stuck with me. Grab your handy-dandy dictionary and you'll see that "sacred" means Holy, Divine, set apart from the ordinary. The words "sacrifice" and "sacrosanct" have the same root. Putting the words together then, I come up with " a union between partners that is marked off from the ordinary, expected boundaries. Sex as an offering of and to the Divine and to those presently involved, invoked and evoked."

Okay...So, um, how does this relate to the office? Well, my mind works in a strange way. I took this conversation and applied it to the world outside of the bedroom (kitchen table, laundry room - wherever - no judgements here!) to the every day, mundane world of the old nine to five.

I'm in my office 40-50 hours per week. There are only a few people that I spend that kind of time with on a regular basis. The work I do feeds my family and, I believe, it should feed my soul too. And this lead me to another combination of words: Sacred Vocation. Alright, so using the same formula as above what is suggested? Vocation is defined (handy-dandy dictionary again) as:

a particular occupation, business, or profession; calling.

a strong impulse or inclination to follow a particular activity or career.

a divine call to God's service. (for our purposes, let's make this gods'/goddesses' service shall we?)

a function or station in life to which one is called by God/dess.

Do I approach my work as a sacred act, offering myself to it fully? Do I look at my career as a call to service? Some weeks I really do feel that way. If I'm going to do something for an extended period of time, I want it to have some meaning beyond simply toiling for the sake of it. I work hard. I help others earn a great living. I teach sales strategies. I reward hard work in others. I empower or show the people I work with how to empower themselves. That's a good, dare I say, noble endeavour. And I do enjoy what I do.

But then my definition of Sacred Vocation becomes " that, which beyond the ordinary, expected boundaries, I am called to do in service." It's that word called that sticks in my craw. Am I called to do what I do? How would I spend my time differently if I viewed my occupation as a sacred vocation? If I cherished the company as I would cherish a lover, how would I show up differently? Would I allow others to treat my sacred lover as they do. Do I always honour what my job and the entity it becomes as sacred?

And lastly, what would I be doing if this is not my calling?

Thoughts to ponder...