The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling Paperback – December 15, 2015

Sometimes a book just finds you. In my case I just turned 50 and feel as if my calling has escaped me despite having been successful in business. With a somewhat heavy heart that dharma has escaped my every effort to catch it (there lies the paradox) I downloaded Cope's book on my new Kindle and read it straight through. And how could I not read this book? My father did his dissertation on Walden's Pond and Thoreau and HDT and I share the same first and middle name, "Henry David," as I was named after the great writer. Thoreau is a central figure in Cope's book.I love spiritual non-fiction and have read well over 100 books on the soul, love, the shadow, spirit, and how to live an abundant and happy life. And while many are dog eared, underlined and highlighted, never before have I ever read a book that was just perfect. I dont purport to be qualified to edit such a great book but had I been put to the task, I wouldn't have changed, added or subtracted one word. This is a brilliant work of art and although Cope is modest and even comically self-disparaging at times, I believe this book has no peers in uncovering one's soul purpose in this incarnation--if that is of interest to you. And if you are quite pleased (and fortunate) to have found a meaningful calling, then still read about how some of the world's most respected and gifted artists, abolitionists, mediators and statesman (Gandhi) and others lived their lives, sometimes crazed and painful, with purpose and with a gift so special that all of them knew that their work flowed through them with divine grace. In short, ego was pushed aside to make room for greatness to blossom.As you go through this book and witness how those graced with a karmic, dharmic bedazzling gift (Thoreau, Whitman, Beethoven, Tubman, Gandhi, et al.,) either read and lived the wisdom from the Bhagavad Vita or if uneducated, like Harriet Tubman, still had the precious gift bestowed upon them, you may get the sense, as I did, that if you seek fame, fortune and ego gratification, dharma will look elsewhere. Yes, you may build skyscrapers and golf courses like Donald Trump, but if you are drawn to this book you will be far more interested by the personal journey of an enlightened monk in his little 10 x 10 room than by someone chasing and succeeding in finding a buck on Wall Street.Maybe I was put on this earth to be good salesman and caring father. There is no crime in or to my life. Yet, I still believe that something has evaded me. Tonight in my meditation practice I asked for guidance from the divine, as Cope suggests in the book. I'll be watching for the signs.Please read this book and please share it with your friends. It's a game changer. I once read a quote from the Dalai Lama that said "teach all eight years olds to meditate and war will be eliminated in one generation." I wholeheartedly agree and will add that if you read this book and live it, you will be more fulfilled, and for the lucky few whose dharmas are finally jarred loose from reading "The Great Work of Your Life," I imagine that it will be better than finding a gold ticket to Willy Wanka's Chocolate Factory!I am so happy that this book found me, even if that means that reading about the fulfilled dharma of others is as close as I will ever get to catching that elusive tiger by the tail. Perhaps when I give up the search, my dharma will find me. Perhaps I've had it all along.

A recurring theme of the book is based on a quote from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas:"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you; if you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."Now that I've completed it, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book. While I had a hard time identifying with some of the people that Cope uses as examples of those that lived out their dharma, I was still able to get something out of almost every story. There were others, on the other hand, with which I really connected, especially the stories of Thoreau, Robert Frost, and Gandhi.While I did enjoy the first half of the book, I feel like it really comes together in the latter sections where Cope gets into the essence of karma yoga, letting go of attachment to outcome and dedicating your actions to God. Somewhere amongst these pages, I began to really understand the concept of not being the "doer" which is something I've struggled to wrap my head around for some time. Now, I'm finally able to relate this concept to my own experiences and see how it's possible for it to play out in all aspects of life.The idea of service as a means to liberation is something frequently talked about by Ram Dass and also something that has been on my mind quite a bit as of late. So, it's not surprise that this passage really hit home:"If you don't find your work in the world and throw yourself wholeheartedly into it, you inevitably make your self your work. There's no way around it; You will take your self as your primary project. You will, in the very best case, dedicate your life to the perfection of your self. To the perfection of your health, intelligence, beauty, home, or even spiritual prowess. And the problem is simply this: This self-dedication is too small a work. It inevitably becomes a prison."The chapters on the life of Gandhi are very inspiring. I honestly didn't know much about Gandhi aside from the stories that I've heard Ram Dass and others tell. While I knew that the Bhagavad Gita was very central to Gandhi's life, what I didn't know, and it was very interesting to learn, is that he actually didn't read the Gita until he was in his mid-twenties. While I've read the Gita, as well as several commentaries on the Gita, I can't say that I've ever really studied it. After discovering how much of an impact it had on Gandhi, how it literally changed the direction of his life, I think this is something that needs to change.

I continue to gift this book to friends. It’s one I, myself, go back to over and over again when I need a boost. It’s transformational.