Purpose and calling. What is good about vocational work What is a person's vocation

A vocation is a beloved and socially valued work in which a person is a professional. A vocation is what a person is called to. This is an inclination and inner attraction to some business or profession, justified by the presence of the necessary abilities for the business.

Work and vocation

If you have few resources, you will only have work. The right to a vocation must be earned. It's not for everyone, it's expensive.

What you need to have or be able to find a calling

Well-developed universal skills: the basis for professionalism - goal-setting, planning, maintaining vigor and high energy, a positive worldview, easy learning, etc.
Cheerful, lively and collected body.

If a person is lethargic, his eyes are sleepy, dead, his gestures are lowered, then any vocation is closed to him for the time being. Such a body blocks any calling. The vocation is the soul, but if a person has the wrong body, the soul will be blocked by the body.

Rich desires: I want a lot!

A lively and vigorous person has energetic, developed desires. He wants a lot, he has something to wake up for every day, and he does not just work out what others expect from him, he does what he wants. He wants. He dares to want. How much, how much do you want?

The ability and habit to bring one's abilities to the level of "Excellent", to the level of mastery.

Appeal: “I don’t know what business I should do in life. I’m not drawn to anything ... ”- quite typical. Over time, I discovered a surprising pattern: as a rule, people who can do little well do this.

Caring, focusing on people - this is a calling that many people need, in which there is meaning. When your calling is dear to you, you do something not only because it is personally interesting to you, but you care about what people need.

When Sherlock Holmes plays his favorite violin, he is doing his favorite thing. But while he plays only for himself, this is his hobby, but not his vocation.

Vocation Pedagogy

In children (including adult children), the vocation must be developed from the side of “I want!”. To make sure that a vitally promising business is your (or a loved one's) vocation, you should take care of the following points:

Easy start (see Positive Self-Motivation)
Having life prospects
Authoritative reviews of authoritative people
Anchoring. See "There is such a profession - to defend the homeland!" To form interest in the search for a vocation, the words of an authoritative senior comrade end with a view of the Sublime Mountains against the background of Sublime Music) - anchoring is arranged by touching the hand (pay attention!), Sublime pictures and sublime music. The mechanism is similar to the operation of the Keys of Happiness
Lack of good alternative choices. If everything turns out easily for you, different authoritative people speak authoritatively about your different hobbies, and sublime pictures are shown about everything - the person’s consciousness is confused, the choice becomes difficult. If there is only one choice, it becomes obvious.

Adult and caring people need to talk about the Meaning, about the need for people to do this, and he will take care of his own Want. It is enough for such a person to explain in words or let him find for himself such a form of his business that will be most useful and significant for people. Businessman - build a business on the principle of cooperation, make sure that the field of your influence is wide. Designer - make a company that will work efficiently, give jobs to many people. Manager - build a team in which people like to work, educate employees nearby so that they learn to be leaders. Mom - raise high-quality, responsive children who will do a lot. And so on.
If a person wants a lot, but knows little, in order to find a calling for him, you first need to teach him. To begin with, the first thing that such people need to be taught is to learn. Easy learning is also a skill. Settle for new things, try new things, turn on your head, think, set goals, achieve goals, plan time and life, and so on. When these skills are developed, you can launch “I want!” and seek a calling.

An adult, accomplished person knows and believes that there are many beautiful and necessary things in the world that he can do with pleasure and with meaning, especially if he becomes a master in them. The one who knows how to enjoy life and knows how to love (do you know how?), does not sink to melancholy. He learns cheerfully, gets acquainted with life and his peculiarities (talents) with interest, works hard and with pleasure, setting more and more significant and more difficult goals. Become big man, work creatively - and you will never be bored in life. Yes?

; 2) a pronounced inclination to one or another type of creativity, activity, to one or another specialty, profession.

How does the concept of “fulfillment of a vocation” differ from the concept of “realization of talent”?

In some cases, the terms "vocation" and "talent" can be interpreted as synonyms. However, not always. After all, if he endows a person with some ability (talent), then he wants this ability to be realized by him to the extent that the conditions of God's House-building require it. In the case of a correct, charitable attitude of a person to his talent, its consistent, active disclosure will correspond to the Divine will. We can say that God calls a person (including) by giving him this or that talent. How ignoring such a Divine gift ends is shown in the parable of the talents ().

On the other hand, we must understand that the disclosure of individual talent by a person can be carried out both in accordance with the eternal plan of God, and contrary to (see:).

Let's say the Lord endowed such and such a person with the ability to draw. But he, developing and realizing this ability, can direct it both to writing coarse, depraved panels or idol images, and to writing Orthodox icons.

Another example. Man is endowed with the ability to literary activity. Also, as in the previous version, he can write malicious prose, or he can become a good writer. So, Leo Tolstoy left us a rich literary heritage, wrote a lot about the good, revealed the shortcomings of people, showed their best sides. However, he went against the Church and even against the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, began to deny His Resurrection, His Divine dignity. Unfortunately, many readers, carried away by his writing skills, authority, fame, followed him as a beacon and deviated from the Truth. Has he realized his writing gift? - Implemented. But did he fulfill God's calling? did he please the One who gave him this gift?

Therefore, the realization of a personal talent by a person does not always lead to the fulfillment of God's calling, but only when a person treats him morally responsibly, when the talent given by God is directed towards Good. In this case, God becomes His Helper and Protector.

I think it should be immediately noted that the word vocation they call different things. There is a habitual, almost everyday use (in essence, meaning an innate inclination towards something, talent) - and there is another, actually religious idea of vocation. They are different things, I think. Moreover, I think that it is dangerous not to distinguish between them, I will talk about this later. In the second case, the original meaning of this word - the call - is very direct and specific (there is the voice of the caller, there is a specific case to which this or that person is called, like the prophet Jonah or Francis of Assisi or Joan of Arc). In the first case, in the usual use of "calling", this meaning - direct, clear, "from the side" of the incoming call - is rather metaphorical. Here a person listens to his own inner disposition. But I will start with this first case.

Vocation in this sense coincides with the physical and mental and spiritual abilities and inclinations of a person. Man seems to find his place in the world: here he feels better than anywhere else, here what would be difficult or boring for others gives him pleasure (as they say “you won’t tear it off!”), here he easily gets what others don’t get: here he productive, in Goethe's words. Happy is he who is his He finds a place early, and who has the strength to hold on to his find. Because not every such place of its own is respected in society, neighbors do not always approve of this craving. I have met quite a few people who were prevented by their parents from exercising such a natural inclination (believing, for example, that a liberal arts education or music or philosophy is an unreliable business, and forcing children to receive a “solid”, technical, say, education). Or other circumstances interfered. Subsequently, these people, having given their duty of filial or daughter obedience, or a tribute to circumstances, anyway returned to what attracted them (usually already with the loss of lost years) - or they lived all their lives with the bitterness of their own unfulfillment. And this, natural vocation, as we see, is stronger than a person. It is impossible to change him without loss for yourself.

Are there many occupations in the world to which one feels such a pronounced vocation? It seems to me that the trouble is that we, modern society, have a very narrow repertoire of such "callings". Science, art... what else? If they can still sometimes say that there is a vocation of a cook, that someone is a cook “by vocation”, a brilliant culinary specialist (since cooking is also a kind of creativity), then talking about a vocation, for example, a dentist, will already sound strange; anyway, it's unusual. Meanwhile, I met a man who clearly had a calling for this. Nothing in the world was more interesting to him than the structure of the teeth and in general everything connected with it, and the very activity in which he is engaged and which he serves people. It was both a talent and a strong passion. I had to meet the same chauffeur by vocation ...

But usually such things are not discussed. And since they are not discussed, many people feel deprived of their vocation, because it is customary to look for a “person of vocation” in a very narrow circle of professions: musicians, artists, scientists - in the circle of traditionally revered occupations, which include “chosen ones”. ". And this, of course, is a big mistake or oversight, if you like. Because of this, many troubles happen, many lives break down - and most of all, according to my observations, it’s not for those who were not allowed to fulfill an artistic or intellectual vocation, but for those who chose this path despite the obvious absence of a personal vocation. How many people undertake to write poetry precisely because it is a highly valued occupation. Or because they really love and feel poetry - already written poetry. As a result, their lives are ruined forever. It's not that they write bad poetry - something else is worse: they live a false life, "the life of a poet." They play someone else's role, and they play badly, because what such is the real “life of a poet”, they do not know, they know the stereotype. This stereotype they play out in life. A real fisherman (actually anyone real) is more like a real poet than such a product. Yes, the area of "creative professions" is the place where most mistakes are made, where people choose someone else's life for themselves.

It would be worth breaking this inertia, it would be worth considering how different - and how unexpected - real professional vocations can be. And not only professional ones - the range of professions available in our civilization is far narrower than human inclinations! There is no such profession as a "friend", let's say, but there is a calling to be a friend. And the simplest, I think, criterion for distinguishing a vocation: whether a person feels that he is well when he is busy with one or the other. Work according to purpose, according to vocation, brings joy in itself, regardless of its results. A person at this time does not need anything else. It is not so important for him whether it will bring him success, recognition. He's happy when he just does this. He feels that here, precisely here, is the fullness of his life. And it can be the strangest things. Here's what probably needs to be reminded to modern man, who is tuned in to a very narrow repertoire of "callings", that there are many more. You just need to be more attentive to yourself and notice where you feel good. Where you feel good, there you do his a business. This is the natural calling. Let's leave this word for now, although, it seems to me, another word is more appropriate here: purpose, let's say. But - I object to myself - this criterion is not absolute. After all, it happens to a graphomaniac very it's good when he composes his verses! He experiences an ecstasy that Shakespeare did not know. And the madman often feels "in his place" more than healthy man! Worth considering...

But one way or another, this realizing natural calling or coincidence with one's own place is a great success. If this happens, sooner or later, a person can say: “Finally I know what life is. I live, and do not serve a term and do not work off a debt, I am in my place. This can happen at different times, in different eras of human life In childhood, in youth, and sometimes quite late. Suddenly a person finds some point where he feels good, where he seems to be, finds what he was born for.

But I repeat, we are not yet talking about a proper spiritual vocation. About natural gift, natural attraction. And such a natural calling undoubtedly obliges you to something. When they say that N.N. - a capable person, but lazy, then most likely, he is simply not very capable, not fully capable. Because the real ability is the ability to work. For a person from the outside, it may seem that a professional musician, performer is a martyr. To sit for several hours over some one passage? For me it would be just torture! But for him this is not at all forced and stupid labor, this is his vocation. And what about the physical suffering of ballerinas? Or about a philologist rummaging through a pile of volumes in search of one word? The notion of some kind of “ability” abstracted from “labor” is very superficial. The ability to be patient and work is part of the gift, maybe the defining part. But let me emphasize ability to labor, the happiness of voluntary labor.

Of course, don't oversimplify. It happens that a person sees that the vocation requires too much from him, and he wants to run away and do something else, or nothing. It’s good if you are corrected and directed from the outside. It is good when such a father is assigned to the boy Mozart, who will not let him escape from his calling. But, I repeat, the very ability to work is, perhaps, the most important ability. The ability to grow, the ability to not feel sorry for yourself and not feel at the same time that your work is a “sacrifice”, one that should be followed by some kind of reward, some kind of achievement (as Pushkin's Salieri describes his studies). In Soviet times, they did not like the topic gift: it did not fit into the materialistic worldview, into class theory, into populist aesthetics. They preferred to talk about work. People, they say, are distinguished not by some mysterious talent, but simply by diligence. At the same time, various authoritative opinions were cited, such as the words of P.I. Tchaikovsky that in the work is either 90% of labor, or 95% (I don’t remember the statistics) and, accordingly, 10 or 5% of talent. Those who have become great have simply done a good job. This is undoubtedly true! One thing is missing here: what is it gift labor, the inspiration of free labor.

When on the flame of labor
Live seething imagination

as Pushkin wrote. No matter how you force and persuade someone who does not have the gift to work, nothing will work. There will be no fire in such work. And there is nothing to boil on it.

So this very division into “talent” and “gift” is too flat. And not only labor or “performance” is included in the gift, but also a kind of spontaneous asceticism. There is some kind of acceptance of limitations, a natural asceticism in each of these natural callings. As you know, the Apostle Paul sets athletes, sportsmen as a model for Christians: if they want to win, they will certainly abstain from one or the other. An athlete is the most obvious example of physical asceticism. In order for your body to remain obedient and to be used as a good instrument, many things must be given up. In other professions, such natural abstinence may be less due to purely physical limitations, but rather to mental and spiritual ones. Here, an experienced master is, in a sense, his own coach, he knows and constantly learns what is harmful to his work, after which he cannot return to his work. Perhaps there are also common simple patterns here. For example, everything that dispels, everything that amuses, everything that deafens - this makes it very difficult for people of mental work to return to their area.

And probably, only people of vocation, busy with what they love, what they put above themselves, can be called fully accomplished people. They can be envied, whatever their vocation: they have something that no circumstances take away. In any circumstances, they will mind their own business. I have heard under what circumstances this was possible. So the great astronomer Kozyrev told how in the Stalinist camps, chained to a wheelbarrow, he observed the starry sky. Both the wheelbarrow and the imprisonment became a secondary circumstance for him. He continued his work. Or my teacher, philologist Mikhail Viktorovich Panov told me: in the army, on the front line (he was an artilleryman), when the German attack had already begun, he thought about the possibility of free verse, free verse in Russian. He had no time to be afraid of an attack.

That's what a calling is. It sort of takes a person out of immediate circumstances, frees him - and gives him support forever. We said that this requires both work and a certain abstinence, but all this is perceived as a voluntary act. Such people are often described as heroic and sacrificial, but from the inside it doesn't look like that at all. They are happy with what they do, they live by it, and they do not have the feeling of making a heavy sacrifice. Vladimir Veniaminovich Bibikhin spent the last night of his life editing a book about Wittgenstein. He no longer had the strength to move a finger. The editor sat by the bed and read aloud unexplained passages to him. They checked cross-references. And finished this technical(!) work only when Vladimir Veniaminovich fell asleep. This was his last dream. Many will say: this is heroism, unheard of self-sacrifice! But I am sure that Bibikhin himself would not agree with this: for him it was not a sacrifice, but salvation, life itself. Life until the last moment.

We have already talked about society's inattention to many vocations and destinations, about too narrow a circle of "chosen" occupations. And if a person is in the wrong place, he will always feel like some kind of worthless, serving a term of life. He will be restless towards others, envy ... Or you could try to find out where my real place is after all. It can be very strange. About myself, for example, I can definitely say: I clearly have a calling to be a cleaner and garden worker. In this kind of occupation I do not feel labor, they give me the best of pleasures - the pleasure of a clear conscience. And what? Quit my other activities and become a cleaner? On reflection, I think that this “vocation” of a cleaner does not essentially contradict what I do in other areas, in word, in thought. Basically I do something similar there. I want to free up space from unnecessary, dirty, damaged things. Not to fill it with something else, but rather to release it. So my passion for cleaning or clearing the garden gives me a visual image of my mental activities rather. Follow and connect...

What distinguishes people who have really found their place? First of all, as I noticed, that they think much less about themselves. They are freer from the fundamental disease of modernity, from this endlessly problematic self. Who am I, and what am I, etc., etc…. Am I a Napoleon or a trembling creature, am I a genius or a genius? In their case, it’s not that modesty: it’s busyness.

We remember this question of Salieri: am I not a genius? - ends "Mozart and Salieri" by Pushkin. Father John asked me during the conversation to touch on this piece, Mozart and Salieri. What is this contrast; a gift and labor or a chosen one and an impostor? Salieri is not an impostor. He clearly has a calling, an early-discovered impressionability and a passion for music (as he describes his first impression of music as a child, how he feels about Mozart's music). Probably, his mistake is in something else: his vocation is not creative. Musical, but not creative, if he were... It's not good to make such experiments with a work of art, but, let's say that we consider Pushkin's composition as incidents from life. For example, a person like Salieri, who from the first days feels the power of music so much, who understands so much from the first hearing that Mozart plays for him, what vocation can he have? interpreter. Criticism. Music researcher. Undoubtedly. And if he had become a critic, a great, insightful critic? Why didn't it occur to him? Because the composer, the creator is obviously higher. Making music is more honorable than interpreting it. And if he had become a critic, it would not have occurred to him to measure himself by Mozart. It's completely different. Mozart, I emphasize: as he is depicted by Pushkin, he does not possess this critical feeling at all. He doesn't need it. He is playing and cannot appreciate what he is playing. They would perfectly complement each other: the creator and the interpreter.

It is characteristic that just Pushkin's Salieri, a person who is not doing his own thing, constantly raises the question: why? What's the use? He constantly asks: what is the use of Mozart's genius? Man on his place does not ask this - just as nature does not ask why it does something: why does the river flow, why do mountains stand. Meister Eckhart has a reflection that if we asked life for a thousand years why it lives, and it deigned to answer us, its answer would be: "I live to live."

My teacher Nikita Ilyich Tolstoy once told me, back in my university years: “If you, Olya, for some reason, the question comes to mind: why is this? - drop this business (it was about choosing a research topic). Everything can be done only until the question arises: why is this? This is a sign that you are not in your place. Everything real is done for nothing. Just".

So, we have been talking about natural callings so far. Spiritual vocation in the proper sense, I think, is quite different. This is certainly the case if we look at real stories such vocations. They are full of the narrative of the Holy Scriptures.

But a preliminary remark: as in the first case, it is worth remembering the diversity of vocations, their unexpectedness. Holy Scripture offers us stories of great callings, stories of people decisively chosen from among their people. Does it follow from this that there are uncalled people and, moreover, that such people are the majority, people without a spiritual calling? I think you will agree with me that each person, since he is created by man, must have his own place, must have a plan for him. To understand this idea, to coincide with it, is another matter. But there cannot be a person who is not needed for anything. An unnecessary person, completely unnecessary, cannot exist. Otherwise, you and I would profess a different theology.

The hero of Pasternak (Doctor Zhivago) says: you care about the resurrection, but you did not notice that you have already been resurrected once - when you were born, when you were brought from non-existence into existence. This is the resurrection, the first resurrection. And in this sense, every born person is already called, called out of non-existence for life.

Who has me with omnipotent power

Called out of nothingness?

as Pushkin asks in sad poems written for his birthday (“nothingness” in his language is non-existence). Life itself is a calling, It might not exist. You can not take it as a simple reality: well, I live - and I live. It is worth remembering that we are “called to life” and life itself is already a spiritual calling. So, in addition to a distinctive calling, for example, musical or some other, there is this first and general human calling - life. There are no exceptions here, if we share the Christian faith, if we repeat that Christ “enlightens and enlightens every person who comes into the world,” then there can be no unnecessary, not chosen for life, not initially enlightened people. This, I think, is the first spiritual calling: to live.

And another vocation, so to speak, the second election, a vocation already in the strict and concrete sense of the word - the biblical stories tell about it. Here in the word "calling" its direct, original meaning sounds: a call. This call belongs to the Other. Man himself cannot summon himself. First there must be a voice that calls. The man answers this call, as Abraham answered - and went to no one knows where.

Here we see a very strange thing. If the natural vocation, as we have described, in the deepest sense corresponds to human nature, then everything here seems to be just the opposite. This vocation is contrary to the whole givenness of the person who is called. The first thing such a called person says is, as a rule, a refusal. He replies that he simply cannot do what is required of him, for obvious reasons. Perhaps I do not remember the opposite cases. Abraham didn't seem to argue. But further... The already aged Sarah laughs when she is foreshadowed to give birth to a son. The most egregious story is, of course, Jonah. That's how he resisted, to the point that he was already in the belly of a fish: but even after that he did not stop. Remember all these callings - up to the Annunciation (I hope this does not sound blasphemous). The first word of the Summoned: “But how can I do this? I didn't know my husband." Those who are called are called to do incredible things for them, to impossible things. "Objectively" impossible. The prophets provide evidence of this impossibility: Jeremiah is young, Moses is tongue-tied...

Why here Is a person chosen, as it were, contrary to his nature and available possibilities? A girl or an old woman - to give birth, a boy - to teach the elders ... This, I think, remains a mystery. But as if the universal plot of calling includes the resistance of the one who is called. For some reason he resists. And he is right in his own way! It is as if a lame man were told to become a dancer, or a dumb man to sing an aria. Why not choose more suitable performers for this? And here, in contrast to what we have called the natural vocation, along with the vocation, another, new human nature is created. He receives everything necessary to fulfill the call. Moses is given the gift of speech, and so on. The original, given properties of a person turn out to be insignificant. Why is that? We can only stop in bewilderment, Indeed: why not choose a brilliant orator to speak to the people? why not send a less obstinate person who would immediately answer: “Yes, I will immediately go to Nineveh and tell them everything.” No, for some reason, such a resisting material is almost always chosen. Perhaps, in order to make it more obvious, as they say, the glory of God, the power that is accomplished in impotence - here, again, from nothing, from dust, a person is created when it is necessary. But perhaps there is another readiness and suitability that a person himself does not know in himself - and on the basis of which he is called ... In any case, the biblical stories of vocation somehow clarify the highest value that obedience is endowed in Christianity. The torment of obedience, its work, and the enigma lies in the fact that it most often contradicts our existing nature. Our nature, our inclinations repel him: we are told other! And we cannot say: “Chur, not me! No, it's not for me, it's for someone else!

This is where I will end.

I. Ponomareva: Does it mean that if a person does not ask himself the question of his vocation, does this mean that he is simply spiritually immature? And vice versa, if he thinks, searches, is this a sign of his spiritual maturity? Is there any pattern here?

Olga Sedakova: You know, there are very vain searches. In art, this is obvious. I don’t remember which of the great masters said about “searching”: “they are looking for where they need to be found.” "Find" as if inadvertently. You can "search" for the rest of your life. It happens that such searches are not at all a sign that a person has matured, but quite the contrary. In addition, a person can perform his task without any search, without even thinking that he is doing something special. You probably know the well-known plot in different Patericons: a great ascetic in the desert at some point decides that he has reached the last heights in spiritual perfection and asks in prayer if there is anyone who has achieved more? And he hears the answer: “Go to such and such a city and there on such and such a street you will see a shoemaker; He has achieved more." He obeys, finds this shoemaker and asks him about spiritual exploits. The shoemaker says to him: “But I don’t do anything special.” Later it turns out that what he does without noticing and not considering it a special spiritual matter is the best fulfillment of spiritual requirements. (This plot was repeated in a new way by Leo Tolstoy in "Father Sergius": do you remember how Father Sergius visits Pashenka?) Maybe something like that. A person fulfills a calling without looking for it, without seeing it, without being aware of it. And such a performance can be rated higher. Probably because it is quite sincere. That this is the very “full of the world” and “overflowing cup”. Such a measure of dedication that there is no space left to look at one's own action from the outside.

No, I would not say with all certainty that those who seek are already awake, and those who do not seek are asleep. Perhaps some other distinction must be found for such sleep and awakening.

I. Ponomareva: Olga Alexandrovna, what laws should a called person live by? If he really once realized that there was nowhere to go?

Olga Sedakova: I think he will open them. Will discover these laws. He will understand that personally for him (this personal moment is very important here) to the detriment and benefit. Others, for example, can do this, but for some reason he can’t. He may not even be able to explain to himself why. But from somewhere he knows this very precisely: he knows - or smells (Brodsky said that he is guided by the scent, like a dog), where he can break something that will affect his gift. There is a striking passage in Tolstoy's diaries (V.V. Bibikhin often recalled him): “you can kill a person and not commit a sin, or you can bite off a piece of bread in such a way that it will be a mortal sin.” This is an artist's observation. We know stories, true and apocryphal, about the wild life of famous artists. For some reason, these gross violations of morality are not fatally reflected in their works. But there is something that would certainly be reflected, that would distort the very essence of the vocation. What's this? I think that in different cases it is different, the ego apparently depends on the very thing that is expected of him, to which he is called. What is needed for this thing, then it is required of him.

E. Novikova: Olga Alexandrovna, what do you think, is such a variant possible: a person has not found the place intended for him, like the first step that you named, but at the same time he fulfilled his calling? That is, he fulfilled his spiritual calling, but did not find his destiny.

Olga Sedakova: I think yes. In this case, we can think that his purpose was a spiritual calling, and not something else. That shoemaker from Paterik, whom we mentioned, is not said to be amazing, the best shoemaker in the city. It is said that he distributed the money earned by this craft.

E. Novikova: And, for example, when a person's destiny conflicts with his vocation?

Olga Sedakova: Yes, thank you, your question reminded me that I have not yet said one important thing that I was going to say. If this is a calling (natural attraction, talent, ability to find one's place in life and be productive in that place), if it is mistaken for a proper spiritual calling, which often happens, this is a very dangerous thing. Then serving one's purpose, the gift, turns into idolatry. And idols, as Averintsev liked to repeat, require human sacrifices. There is interesting story young Pasternak's "Parallel Octaves", about an organist who, in a passion for his game, kills his own son. A late echo of the artist's romantic cult. No matter how they discuss the story of the sacrifice of Abraham, transcendent to human understanding, this is a completely different matter. The Pasternak artist does not know what he is doing. He is ready to allow anything for those close to him for the sake of his service to any demand of the victim. The deification of art, like any other creation of idols, ends badly. But I am sure that the artists who managed to create something great created it precisely because they did not worship art or creativity as such, but considered everything else and everyone else only as a means or material for it. This kind of worship is peculiar just to people like Salieri, semi-conscripted.

Dictionary of Efremova

Vocation

cf.
1. Inclination, inner attraction to smth. case, some professions (if you have the necessary abilities for that).
2. Role, task, purpose.
3. obsolete The process of action by value. verb: summon (1a1).

Ozhegov's dictionary

RECAP BUT NIE, I, cf.

1. Propensity for one or another business, profession. P. to science. Doctor by vocation.

2. Life's work, purpose. Raising children was her calling.

Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language (Alabugina)

Vocation

I, cf.

1. special inclination, ability to case.

* Call to painting. *

2. book. That which makes up the meaning of the existence of someone, something; purpose.

* calling of man - serve the people. *

Dictionary Ushakov

Vocation

vocation, vocations, cf. (books.).

1. only units Action on ch.- , call, invitation ( obsolete torzh.). Come to a friendly calling, come, O young traveler.

2. An inclination, an inner attraction to some business, some profession (if you possess or are convinced that you have the necessary abilities for that). Feel the vocation for science. A call to music. Follow your calling. Artist by vocation.

| Role, task, purpose. "You have nobly understood the vocation of an actress." Nekrasov. “Oh, who will now remind a man of his high calling?” Nekrasov. The historical vocation of the proletariat is to build a socialist society.

Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms

Vocation

♦ (ENG vocation)

(lat.- call; from vocare - to call)

Divine call to people to become Christians. In a narrower sense, the view that God calls people to perform certain professional duties or to follow a lifestyle as a path of Christian service and piety. Most often, this term is associated with initiation into a spiritual order. In this case, many factors interact, and the meaning of the vocation manifests itself in many ways. No calling is considered more important than others.

(Appeal)

♦ (ENG call (calling)

(Greek kaleô - to call lat. vocatio - vocation)

calls of God to salvation or to a certain type of service, suggesting God's chosenness. God called to Moses (Ex. 3:4) and to prophets(Jer. 1:5). Jesus called apostles(Matt. 4:21; Rom. 1:1) and others (Matt. 9:13; 22:14).

Bible: Topical Dictionary

Vocation

, urge

♦ The Lord calls us to Himself

BUT. The main meanings of "call (call)"

♦ call to a meeting:

Gen 3:9; Acts 4:18

♦ pray to the Lord:

Gen 4:26; Rom 10:13

♦ put into service:

Ex 3:4,5; Mark 1:19,20

B. The call to become children of God

1. What is its essence

♦ call to heaven:

Php 3:14; Heb 3:1

♦ immutable:

♦ related to our election:

Rom 8:30; 2 Thess 2:13,14

♦ many are called, but few are chosen:

2. What should we do

♦ repent:

Luke 5:32; Acts 2:38,39; Acts 17:30

♦ call on the name of the Lord:

Acts 9:21; Rom 10:12

♦ confirm the calling of God with your lives:

3. What are its implications for us

♦ justified and glorified:

♦ We have fellowship with Jesus:

♦ Let's enter the Kingdom of God:

1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Pet 1:9,10

♦ let's enter into the light of God:

♦ Let's enter into the glory of Christ:

♦ We have Christian hope:

♦ we get an inheritance:

Reading time: 3 min

The vocation of a person and his life mission are inseparable categories and represent a combination of those life meanings and value orientations that determine all human activity. It is customary to associate a vocation with work, and indeed this category reflects activity, but does not imply a rigid binding to the work area, rather, it is about realizing one's activity in a way that brings a sense of fulfillment and personal involvement in the life system.

The choice of a profession by vocation is considered the most favorable, since it will meet the realization of the inherent internal needs of the individual, her unique abilities to transform the world for the better. In a situation where life circumstances or rash actions do not allow to be realized in the most relevant direction, a person can find time for his vocation in his free time, being carried away by something.

If abilities and education help determine what a person can do, then vocation always reflects that side of being that a person cannot help fulfilling. Going against inner impulses, a person may eventually lose his uniqueness, inspiration and motivation. The lack of understanding of the internal benefit of the case leads to a deep existential crisis, which is why the problem of finding one's true destiny is so urgent.

What it is

Vocation is a rather vague category, and attempts to simplify it come down to choosing a professional path. Such a strategy can lead to complete disorientation, because the restructuring of society and the high speed of technological development creates new relevant specialties and forever sends those that existed before into history. The pursuit of such relevance and compliance with trends can deprive a person of his inner calling. For example, drawing on canvas is increasingly being replaced by computer graphics, and hand-made footwear is being replaced by factories, not to mention the specialization of the agricultural industry. And then people whose vocation is in mixing paint ingredients, leather dressing or gardening can abandon their unique talents or choose to realize it, moving to a unique production or leaving the vocation as a hobby.

It is possible to check whether a person is engaged in his vocation or simply in an activity that succeeds him successfully by several important criteria.

If the work performed brings spiritual satisfaction, a sense of self-fulfillment so much that the process becomes the main thing, and not profit, while the surrounding society benefits from what a person does or produces, then this is a calling.

Another point is the scale, reaching dimensions that exceed in their semantic richness, duration and importance a person's life in its everyday understanding. This is an ideology that remains alive even after the creator himself or the inner understanding of a person disappears, that he can sacrifice some aspects of his life for the sake of realizing his own idea that benefits others.

From a deep point of view, calling is also a great responsibility, and not just a gift of abilities. A person will feel a constant spiritual lack and torment when he fails to fulfill the tasks of his vocation, if this continues. long time, then all the talents and abilities laid down for this will atrophy. This is how life motivation disappears, a feeling of not living one's own life appears, and the search and return to the starting point becomes difficult.

Naturally, vocation is not a static category, and it changes along with personality changes, however, there is never a cardinal change, only adjustments are possible associated with a change in the situation, needs, and an increase in the level of proficiency in the skills necessary for its implementation.

For those who are globally absorbed in their hobby, it can represent the main existential category, and a person literally begins to go out and "die before our eyes", in the absence of this activity. Others easily endure the lack of realization of their intended path, having many other areas of activity, hobbies and a low degree of motivation as supports.

How to define your calling

It is important for a person to determine his vocation, but sometimes this turns out to be a difficult task. The reason for this may be the lack of contact with one's experiences, internal mental and emotional processes, and as a result, the inability to hear one's abilities, understand meanings and aspirations. Personal immaturity also makes it difficult to understand one's vocation, since it implies a high level of responsibility for the choice made, first of all to oneself, as well as to the whole society.

The infantilism of many people leaves them at a teenage level of development, where it is impossible to make decisions on their own, and vocation always requires full direct participation.

The diligent and artificial search for a vocation usually does not end in success precisely because a person directs the bulk of his energy to various methods and study, instead of immersing himself in what he can do for hours and what he believes in. Naturally, only doing what you like cannot advance you to understanding your business, you may need creative actions, innovations, a combination of several approaches. This is especially true for those whose vocation has no analogues in the world or is rather uncommon.

To facilitate the search process, it is important to have a high level general training in all industries. It is hard to understand that you are called to make discoveries in the field of molecular biology if you do not know that such a thing exists.

Accordingly, the greater the arsenal a person owns, the greater his chances of finding exactly his own. The development of skills must also be regulated in those areas where there is the greatest interest in developing as much as possible - it is precisely beyond the knowledge of everything that has already been done in this area that personal discoveries and an individual path begin.

In order to go such a distance, motivation is important, and not external factors but by inner desires, because calling always comes from the heart and one's own realization.

A person with many desires is always more motivated than one who is limited to standard social needs. If you want more than your current level gives, then the subconscious mind automatically begins to look for ways to realize and achieve, this is how the process of creativity takes place, new ideas are born, and the inherent potential is revealed.

Dreams and plans also help to develop desires, without criticism of consciousness and logical stops about the impossibility of doing this. Take time every day to imagine what you want, dream about your new life, the reality that surrounds you, the social structure and other worlds. If fantasies become more detailed, the level of desire will be higher, and only then logic and creativity will be connected, helping to realize everything invented.

Analysis of the desired response to their activities is a standard motivation for choosing a main direction. But in order to find a calling, it is also important to understand what you can and want to give to others. The emphasis is better on what you want to give, because you can give your time and want to give paintings or you can give money and want to give security. Only if the process of bestowal is as pleasant for a person as creation, then he will be in his place.

Examples

To distinguish vocation from many other concepts, examples help well. So a vocation can find its realization in a hobby or relationship, but one thing remains common - it is always an active position of a person.

Thus, a vocation cannot be a factor that is outside the zone of influence and competence of a person. For example, parenting can be a calling, but children cannot. The difference is that throughout life and in many situations a person can be engaged in education, but it is impossible to put all the meaning into specific children - they are not an activity, they develop at their own pace, they may no longer need education, and so on.

Painting can be a vocation, but a painting is not - it is a finite thing that has its end point of creation. From these examples, it is clear that the possibility of realizing a calling must remain with a person throughout his life, and physical factors and the will of other people are only temporary variables.

Objectively, there is no division of vocations by gender or age. Theses in many sources say that a woman's vocation is in motherhood, practice shows that fathers sometimes more successfully fulfill a similar role.

Travel is attributed to the younger generation and even stimulated to do so until a mature age has come, but those who have a vocation to travel continue to fulfill it and go further.

Surrounding this concept with a halo of high, inaccessible and something creative makes people forget about many possibilities. Shoemakers, who benefit many specific people with their practical help, may well realize their vocation. A crisis manager is not only a monetary profession, but also a moral attitude and a person's ability to resolve difficult problems. Not everyone is able to show the patience of priests or volunteers in rescue missions, but they can sculpt clay figures that delight children or invent new medicines.

Speaker of the Medical and Psychological Center "PsychoMed"

You can often hear the phrase: “Happy is the one who has found his calling!”. It is difficult to argue with this positive statement, but not everyone understands it correctly. What is a vocation - is it a matter of life or a set of talents?

Definition of the term

If you turn to explanatory dictionaries, the meaning of the word "vocation" is deciphered as the ability or inclination to some particular type of activity. Often the same term is used to refer to the business of life, which is not the main profession. In psychology, a vocation is a combination of ability and desire to do something. This definition can be used to refer to what brings a person joy and satisfaction. At the same time, the acquisition of new skills within the framework of a vocation usually does not cause difficulties and occurs naturally. Often this term is also associated with inspiration and the presence of internal motivation for some type of activity.

Why is it important to find your calling?

Lead a dignified life modern world almost impossible without money. And this means that work occupies a significant place in the life of every person. At the same time, real pleasure from professional activity not all of our contemporaries receive. But this is true happiness and a guarantee of success in life - getting positive emotions from your own work. The chosen profession should bring not only a stable income, but also moral satisfaction. At the same time, it is not the career prospects or the creative component of the work process that should be assessed, but the person's personal attitude to a particular type of activity. What is a calling? This is work for joy. Feeling the pleasure of the chosen profession, it is not difficult to be a happy person.

Remember who you wanted to be as a child...

To work according to a calling is true happiness, but how to find your place in life? First of all, you should try to understand your own feelings and emotions. Do you really dislike the profession? Often, work does not bring joy due to the specifics of the organization of the workflow in a particular company. A cardinal change of profession and / or field of activity in adulthood is a responsible step. If you are ready to do it, it's time to think about how to find your calling. Try to remember what you liked as a child. At an early age, many children choose professions, following the example of their parents or other authoritative adults. You don't have to take your kindergarten dream of "becoming an actress or an astronaut" seriously. But if at school you most of all liked the exact sciences, and you dreamed of being an engineer, but became an economist, it is useful to remember this dream. Write down in one list all the activities and scientific disciplines that were most interesting to you as a child. Having carefully studied the resulting list, you can identify several of the most attractive professions for yourself.

Ask yourself the right questions

Each of us likes to do what we can do without undue effort. You can understand what the vocation is directly for you by closely examining natural talents. This word is more often understood as some kind of creative ability. But in fact, natural literacy, the ability to quickly count in the mind, and developed logical thinking can also be a talent. The meaning of the word "vocation" is often interpreted as "an occupation that a person likes most of all." So why not spend some time exploring your own personality? Try to understand your strengths and weaknesses. A vocation is a passion of a person, an occupation during which his soul truly rejoices and opens up. You can find your place in life by identifying the things that are most important to you. What life achievements matter to you personally? What would you like to achieve the most? The answers to these questions can help you find your personal life path.

Search Formula

Some personal development professionals suggest that their clients use a universal formula for finding a calling. In fact, it is not difficult to calculate the type of activity in which you have every chance of achieving success. The secret is that the vocation of each of us is at the intersection of his talents and passion. One should look for "one's own" business among those types of activity for which there are visible abilities. It is also important that the chosen activity brings unconditional pleasure. If you find it difficult to rationally assess your own talents on your own, listen to the opinions of others. Ask close friends and relatives in which areas they think you can be considered the most. efficient person. Be prepared for the answers to surprise you. But it makes sense to carefully consider all the voiced options.

Trial and error works!

How to find your calling if you have identified your own talents and inclinations? It's time to understand how all this can help you fulfill yourself in a professional environment. Having singled out one or more of the most interesting specialties for yourself, it's time to try your hand. If you don't have the experience or qualifications to land the job of your dreams, you can try a closer job with less stringent requirements. In parallel, you can take refresher courses or intensively engage in self-development. It is difficult to unequivocally formulate the answer to the question: “What is a vocation?”. But as soon as you find your "life's work", you will definitely experience special feelings. If, when working within the framework of the specialty selected according to the vocation formula, you do not experience any special emotions, it makes sense to try to change everything again. Do not be afraid of change, be afraid to live life surrounded by what does not bring joy.

Do all callings need to be fulfilled?

Do we all really have only one calling and life path? Psychologists and personal development experts agree that each person has several talents, many of which remain undiscovered. So what is true calling? This is an occupation that brings full satisfaction and does not make you doubt the correctness of the chosen life path. At the same time, one person may be interested in and have a penchant for several activities at once. We are talking about happy people who work at their favorite job and manage to devote a lot of time to their own hobby. The vocation can also be the upbringing of children or charity. It is not an easy situation when a person has a number of talents that are difficult to combine with each other. This is the case when you need to weigh all the pros and cons and make a choice in favor of one thing. Knowing what a person's vocation is, it is not at all difficult to find the main thing in your own life.