Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work and the Shaping of Identity - Hardcover

Whyte, David

4.26

1,121 ratings by Goodreads

9780718145101: Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work and the Shaping of Identity

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0718145100 ISBN 13: 9780718145101

Publisher: Michael Joseph, 2001

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We spend most of our time in the workplace, but work needs to be much more than a means to make money. What we seek is meaningful work and a sense of fulfilment. David Whyte, who has become a popular speaker on creativity and work, shows us how to find that fulfilment. Work is a powerful force in the shaping of our identity. If we do our work unthinkingly, it can damage our souls. CROSSING THE UNKNOWN SEA is a unique blend of poetry, gifted story-telling, and personal experience, beautifully written in lyrically inspired and powerful prose.

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Review:

"Readers who accept poet and Fortune 500 consultant Whyte's invitation to enter into 'an imaginative conversation about life and work' are likely to be challenged as well as delighted by the beauty of his writing and the expansiveness of his views. Gracefully using the metaphor of a sea voyage to depict the journey through the world of work, Whyte views work not only as a means of support, but as a means for interacting with the world and developing self-expression and identity... An abundance of provocative ideas...thoughtful readers will wholeheartedly savor this book."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Crossing the Unknown Sea is like a grail that reconfers dignity to what has been demeaned by our preoccupation with monetary wealth."--Paul Hawken, author of The Ecology of Commerce

"Managers might do well to ditch wishy-washy motivational speakers and instead hire the fiery David Whyte to stir creativity and imagination in their employees."--USA Today

"Keep this beautiful book with you and you will discover, as I have, a still point amid our slightly mad world."--Peter Senge, author of the The Fifth Discipline and coauthor of Schools That Learn

Synopsis:

Our greatest opportunity for discovery and growth is in the thing we most often want to get away from: our work. It's where people spend the majority of their time, and it's where many spend much of it wishing they were somewhere else, doing something else. And it's where people often spend their time not being present, and not being themselves. Whyte points out that "as human beings we are the one part of creation that can refuse to be itself. Our bodies can be present in our work, but our hearts, minds and imaginations can be placed firmly in neutral or engaged elsewhere". Being engaged elsewhere is damaging to our souls. "Crossing the Unknown Sea" is about reawakening the sleeping captain in us before that soul crashes on the rocks. The book takes us on the holiest of pilgrimages - to the centre of identity and the roots of growth.

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