Ora et Labora
In modern times, the Ora et Labora is a way of living, where constant prayer is a permanent reflection of gratitude and connection with the Universe, the pure concept of Oneness and reverence for the sacredness of all things.
There are many schools of thoughts besides the ones adopted by the religious orders that utilize the principals of Ora et Labora . An example is the working ethics behind the Fourth Way from George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, and later developed by his disciple, Piotr Demianovich Ouspensky.
Gurdjieff was an Armenian-Greek who grew up at the end of the nineteenth century in a pre-modern environment where the ancient world still prevailed. He developed an alternative spiritual way of living that “inspired” his students to practice their transcendent nature but also required of them manual labor, in order to keep the body aligned with the works of Spirit.
This Master of Ancient Wisdom believed that every individual that allows himself to become a seeker has a purpose, and this purpose can manifest itself though an internal mission and also an external one, which would require physical/ material preparation to be fully accomplished.
“The system is waiting for workers. There is no statement and no thought in it which would not require and admit further development and elaboration. But there are great difficulties in the way of training people for this work, since an ordinary intellectual study of the system is quite insufficient; and there are very few people who agree to other methods of study who are at the same time capable of working by these methods.” ~ Piotr Demianovich Ouspensky, the Fourth Way
