The kind of work you do could be spiritual. Sometimes I'm challenged with the translating verbiage in the bible to something meaningful today. We miss the context of the time and it can be extremely difficult to interpret some of the language without understanding that context. Of course, we don't work literally with our hands as much anymore. We should be using our talents and abilities to our best though. To mind your own business - I think that's a difficult one because if you are in a leadership position, you can't really do that. It sounds like something written by a philosopher without a lot of real world work experience. I could try to turn it into something insightful but it's difficult to do that because even 2000 years ago, it doesn't make a lot of sense, unless you did manual labor for someone else. A quiet life? Yes - I think to eliminate hurry in our lives is probably one of the most important things we can do.
I think my brain automatically makes those adjustments. May be part of why I am a sucky Evangelical, lol.
I think there is a difference between leading and needless or malicious meddling. And one has a duty to protect the defenseless when one can, but a lot of people get bent out of shape by silly stuff that isn't hurting them or anyone else. I think we're better off when we let that stuff go.
Any work that is useful is honorable, IMO. Work that brings harm is dishonorable. Doesn't matter if you're in a cubicle or picking rocks out of a field, IMO.
Sometimes things aren't so black and white as that: my husband's work is useful: he helps transport food to restaurants and nursing homes and other businesses. On the one hand, he's helping feed people. On the other hand, the truck is damaging the environment, the food isn't locally grown and a lot of it is probably unhealthy. But with his earnings, we have a place to live, food to eat and other good things and we try to help others out, too. So just like everything else in life, you do the best you can.
I don't know. I think my attitude is a reflection, to some degree, of being working class. You hear a lot about how work should be fulfilling and how, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life, etc. That strikes me as kind of stupid and middle-classy self-help book crap. There are just too many things that need doing in any community that really almost cannot be fulfilling in and of themselves. The people that do those kinds of jobs are freeing others up to do 'fulfilling' work and, to me, those doing fulfilling work more or less stand upon the shoulders of those who do the needful, but less fulfilling tasks and deserve respect and appreciation for that work. Myself, I don't mind mundane work as long as I'm not treated like crap for doing it. For me, people's attitudes have been the thing that has stolen my feeling of fulfillment from my work rather than the work itself. I try not to do that to other people.