Working for One's Self

I recently listened to an interview on PBS with author, Daniel Pink regarding his recent book about motivation, entitled, "Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us." Pink studied the research on human motivation and the surprising truth he discovered is that the old school method of "carrot and stick" incentives are decreasingly effective in moving us to do good work. Research reveals that "if-then" rewards systems are far less effective in moving us to work at a high level, than intrinsic motivations such as autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Whenever I see this kind of news coming from the secular world I am encouraged by evidence that the inner life of the individual counts for something in the marketplace. So often, it is believed that we have to leave our spiritual sensibilities outside the door of the work place or marketplace because in the "real world" the bottom line is not about soul satisfaction but production and profitability. When real world technology reveals that positive motivation and an inner sense of purpose lead to better performance and profitability, there is every reason to bring one's whole Self to the job at hand.

Of course this finding does not surprise those of us who know about the incentive of the drive toward wholeness, that spurs us to express more Self, wherever we find ourselves in life. It only confirms the premise and offers a wider palette of possibilities.

Yet despite our "no duh" response to this conclusion, there is still reason for our attention and celebration. When spiritual truths become eminently practical in the world their value in our human portfolios can skyrocket. While many of us have profited in immeasurable ways by principles and values rooted in spiritual wisdom, such values have not often translated into spendable manna.

This Sunday as we continue with the Go Giver series, we'll look at the Law of Compensation. In this principle we discover the reciprocal value of serving others, both the inner and outer rewards of bringing greater value to ot hers.

A Turnaround Success

The "little I" seeks to enhance itself by external approval, external possessions, and external "love." The Self That God created needs nothing. It is forever complete, safe, loved, and loving. It seeks to share rather than to get; to extend rather than project. It has no needs and wants to join with others out of their mutual awareness of abundance. - A Course in Miracles

This Sunday we begin a new series based upon the parable of the Go Giver, a book that offers practical advice on how to be successful in business and life by following a radical principle. Generosity and authenticity are not the watch words of traditional business practices, nor readily endorsed by our rational minds. Yet creating value for others and unqualified sharing of our resources and gifts is the very premise of this little book. This premise, which seems anathema to business success and our self protective nature, squares perfectly with spiritual wisdom teachings. By following these teachings we might find success in the world and in our spiritual understanding.

In the midst of these challenging economic times, we have seen and felt the fear based responses. We know how to contract, protect, withhold, and hedge our bets. When we have suffered a loss our thoughts instinctively go toward a sense of lack and limitation. We often have visceral sense of emptiness, internalizing the loss in our body and psyche. This is a survival reaction designed to motivate the responses, which will ensure our physical well being. But it is only at a very rudimentary and basic level that this survival response is useful. Certainly we need to take whatever steps are necessary to provide for our bodily needs, provide food, and shelter, and basic human comforts. Beyond that point, this response only perpetuates our fear and limits our creative responses that can help us grow and prosper.

This sense of loss we carry typically results in compensating outlook in which we are on constant look out for what we can get to make us whole again. We are looking to fill this void, this emptiness, this hole in our souls, carved out by our response to loss. Perhaps it is a kind of reciprocal sense of fairness which reasons that there should be some compensation for what has been taken away; trying to find some kind of fairness in the universe in all that has happened. We may wish for the universe to drop some blessing of equal weight on the other end of the see-saw to at least get us even.

In the face of this instinctual response to loss are the spiritual masters who say "give and you shall receive" This makes no sense to the surface mind which forms its logic from the outer world of appearances. Giving when we have lost, seems antithetical to our goal, contrary to what we think will help us. When we first hear these prescriptions we often laugh at the absurdity of such logic. We who have suffered loss should not be expected to give, that we should be the ones at the receiving end of the equation. That is, in receiving we shall receive. Yet beneath this surface logic is deeper spiritual truth which says that it is only when we give of ourselves that we will discover a greater reservoir of supply within our self. It is perhaps the most profound and surprising turnabout experience that we can have as human beings to discover that whatever we share with another we experience for ourselves.

Pray Knowing

Prayer is not a pious gesture at all. It is a response to the One whose heart beats with ours. - Joan Chittister

No matter our religion or spiritual views, the longing to have an active relationship with something greater than ourselves seems universal. There are a thousand names for God and a thousand ways to pray yet beyond labels and forms of worship, we all share a yearning to know and be known by the Divine.

Because we are offspring of the Divine, we carry within us the imprint of our creator and deep remembrance of our true nature that calls to us to heal the divide and restore our primary relationship with Life. The urgency of this calling and our response is often related to how well we are doing 'on our own.' When our lives are relatively peaceful and to our liking, the call can be just a whisper in the background. When our life "hits the fan," the volume and intensity of the call can be like a siren in our heart that brings us to our knees in surrender, to prayer, and sometimes, to insight.

In Unity, our prayers are entirely self-directed. There is no capricious God apart from us withholding our good. There is only the presence of God in its fullness at every point in space and time radiating its blessings in every direction. This sweeping realization can both soothe us and trouble us. We love the notion of an unconditional loving God that is always there for us. The discomfort arises when we realize in those dark hours of our lives, that God has not left us, we have left God. Like the prodigal, it is up to us to reverse our wayward search in order to find the loving parent who awaits our return home.

Prayer is our attempt to correct our perception of any separation between us and the Divine and see the answer in the midst of us, even as us. As author, Eric Butterworth wrote, "prayer is not a matter of conquering God's reluctance, but of attuning our selves to God's eternal willingness."

Any words or practice or mantra that closes the gap in our awareness of the Infinite arms that constantly enfold us is useful to bringing us to a place of remembrance and comfort. As Buddha noted, "better than a meaningless story of a thousand words is a single word of deep meaning which, when heard, produces peace."

A simple phrase, such as God is here, God is now or Be Still and know repeated slowly and mindfully can calm the raging waters of our mind and soothe our aching hearts. Even a minimal choice, to pause momentarily in our busyness and take 3 conscious breaths can, in an instant, change our reality. In that simple practice we can suspend history and mystery, find a moment of timelessness, and let ourselves be enfolded by the One whose heart beats with ours.

Shaping the Light

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Jesus-Mathew 7:7

We have been exploring the major tenets of Unity philosophy in these articles and our Sunday lessons. This week we look at the principle that perhaps causes the greatest confusion and difficulty in accepting and understanding its implications and application in our lives. It is the notion that each of us has co-creative power to affect our lives. Sometimes called the Law of Mind Action, it claims that "thoughts held in (our) mind, produce after their kind." Quite simply this spiritual principle contradicts the fatalistic belief that life happens to us leaving us helpless to affect its outcome, and conversely suggests that have dominion over our lives. It is the conviction that our thoughts and feelings have creative, formative power in our life experience.

While most people, regardless of religious or spiritual orientation, would agree in general with the idea that our state of mind can affect our state of affairs, there is significant disagreement as to just how literally and to what extent this principle is valid and useful. This is a long discussion that the scope of this article cannot do justice (that's for Sunday) but suffice it to say that when it comes to this principle there is a wide range of understanding of what it really means. Just like in religious circles within a given faith, adherents to this principle range from literal fundamentalists, who believe that we can, and do, create everything in our lives by the content of our minds, to those who see it as an awareness to take us deeper into our true self. I'll admit my prejudice to the latter camp. Again, the whole explanation can't be unpacked in this short treatment, but let me give you a glimpse of my take on this much debated spiritual question.

Clearly we are creative beings, as offspring of a Creator; we share its creative nature. Quantum science bears out the implication that our presence in the field of infinite possibilities is significant and causative to particular outcomes. There seems to be no escaping the idea that our perception of reality is fundamental to our experience. As some have said, "we see the world not as it is, but as we are."That said, the question for many of us is how we use that ability to create better lives; a better world. For some of us who have played with the manifestation powers of focused intention, created treasure maps of ideal life situations, and witnessed the magic unfold before our eyes, there remained a lingering discontent that the stuff of life did not alleviate. That is the ache for inner wholeness, the back story of every human want or desire. Simply, it is our desire to know God, or more universally, to know our true self, the imago dei.

Once we come to realize the deepest need of our soul then that becomes our focus, our raison d'etre, and it follows that the most appropriate and effective use of our creative power is to maximize that awareness. Jesus taught this in many of us parables about the kingdom of God, suggesting that the worldly gains would not take us where our souls will find respite. He said "seek first the kingdom of God...and these things will be added unto you." In other words if we make peace, love, wholeness, harmony the predominant thoughts and goals for our life, we direct the universe to match our life experience according to these inner qualities. If we do it in reverse (I have) we get the sports car, or house overlooking the ocean, and still feel spiritually bankrupt, and then were back at the drawing board trying to figure out what would really satisfy us.

The truth says that you have the kingdom of god within you now, this inner treasure. When we focus our creative power on manifesting these spiritual qualities, we create a world that works for us, without exception or condition. And incidentally, the rest of the world is equally blessed by your brighter light.