Quote:
Originally Posted by atisketatasket
I have heard a few times from therapists that they believe they have a vocation or a calling to be a therapist. Given the religious roots of the term, I find this somewhat creepy. Even as a secular concept, it suggests it's something more than a career choice. I don't regard being an academic a calling, it's just what I enjoy and am good at and want to spend my time doing...but I'm not going to say I'm serving some higher purpose by doing it.
So, what say you? Is therapy a vocation or a calling?
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So, not to be persnickety but in looking at the bolded part, I could well believe that
I am serving a higher purpose -- as defined entirely by me -- to say, laze about doing absolutely nothing (which I do believe) but no one else need believe it.
So, does the definition of calling have to be one that inlcudes shared meaning of some sort? In which case, I would consider anyone -- including those doing anything with religion -- using the term as umm....delusional.
And, if not, I wouldn't necessarily take umbrage at it.
I mean, I define it as the latter (i.e., no shared meaning) -- so, for the most part, the only crime I see in using the term is one of indulging in melodrama but that's about it.
And, like I said earlier, I seem to hear that term used by all and sundry -- it's a bit like that other awful word with religious roots, "blessed", that's thrown about by folks to mean anything from they got extra fries at McD's to actually surviving major surgery.