Recently a car mechanic told me this story: He was depressed at work but stuck with his job because of family responsibilities. Then he encountered a Sufi teacher who said to him, "Each time you turn the ratchet as you repair a vehicle, speak the word Allah." The mechanic did so, and his whole life changed, the whole relation with his work changed. "Now," he said, "I love my work. I love cars. They are alive. It is a mistake to think of animate versus inanimate. A car will tell you, if you listen deeply enough, whether it wants to be repaired or whether it wants simply to be left alone to die."
— Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh