A Rarer Form of Gratitude

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When you look at your life and the moments that you might be inclined to feel gratitude in it, what is that in relation to? If you are like most people, the experiencing of that feeling will be reserved for when things are going positively to your benefit. Having a body that is healthy and functioning; being praised by a superior at work; a special moment that is shared with your partner; receiving an unexpected gift from someone close to you; the temperature of the day being just how you like it. While all of this is good and a valid cause for our gratitude, I don’t think that we need to become dependent on things falling our way before we can experience appreciation for what life has to offer us.

Amidst all of life’s imperfections, deficits, losses and chaos, there is tremendous opportunity for each of us to serve a vital reconciliatory or restorative function. Being some of the most meaningful and impactful work we will ever undertake, it doesn’t make sense for us to curse this state of affairs or judge it as something that shouldn’t be, especially when we possess the ability to change it for the better. Even in things that are beyond our capacity to change, the Japanese notion of Wabi-sabi teaches that beauty can be found in nature’s imperfections if we are willing to define reality on terms that transcend the ego’s superficial understandings. While this hyperjudgmental dimension of self would have us avert our gaze from what it finds distasteful or ugly, our higher spiritual self doesn’t have to do this because it doesn’t perceive in separation, or stand apart from what it recognises shares its essence. In this realm of interconnectedness which we understand ourselves as belonging to when we align our being with our spiritual nature, we become receptive to the call to integrity or wholeness, which first animates us and then moves out into the world through our intentions, words and actions.

To conditions of dis-ease, we can bring healing; where there is injustice, we can bring an even hand; where there is conflict and division, we can serve as an instrument of peace and unity; when others suffer under the weight of aimlessness and confusion; our presence can enlighten their path to bring purpose and clarity. Where chaos is sown, we can restore order as a firm foundation from which individual and collective thriving can take place.

A key thread of the above paragraph are the three A’s that we re-connect with when we embody our essential nature: autonomy, agency and authority. It is an illusion, perpetuated by the ego, and reinforced by our evident physical limitations in the world, to think that we are incapable of playing a part in the flourishing of the human condition. As terrible as things have been historically through wars, famine, pandemics, the subjugation of vulnerable peoples, and the like, there have always been people who refused to slink into the narrow confines of victimhood and hopelessness to meet the needs of the moment and serve the purpose for which they were created. While the majority of others looked at those despoiled conditions and helplessly lamented what had befallen them, these beacons of light saw the opportunity in the darkness to make manifest more than what was reasonable in the circumstances to contemplate.

It has been said previously that progress in the world depends on the unreasonable men and women who get their strength, resilience, resourcefulness, and vision from somewhere else. From what I have stated above, it should be clear where the territory I am advocating for you to explore is located. This is the home of not only our supreme giftedness but our latent virtue and golden compass. They are there ready and waiting, even if presently your eyes aren’t open enough to see them.

While you, like I and the world, are mired in our imperfections, we aren’t finished on our journey either, which is worth remembering and being grateful for when we are tempted to cynicism, nihilism or the confused and lonely road of purposelessness.

Many Factors, not One Cause (Part 2)

Just the other day, I heard someone claim that disparities (by themselves) are evidence of discrimination in the workplace. But is that really true? Only to the type of person who is inclined to see the world through the narrow lens of particular identity categories like race or gender, or other select metrics that support their subjective truth or map which they are attempting to lay over the broader territory of the world. While no doubt in some instances disparities can be produced by discrimination or the degeneration of a meritocratic process into one that is more ‘mirror-tocratic’, on more occasions than not, there are a multitude of other factors at play to explain those disparities. Some of these are 1) the desire or inclination of individuals of a certain race or gender to partake in the work in question (e.g. how many women have a natural desire to work in construction or as electricians?); 2) whether the representation of a particular group within the organisation is commensurate to their representation in the broader community (i.e. the national context matters here – particular racial groups who immigrate to a foreign country will as a minority naturally be more underrepresented institutionally when compared to their homeland where they constitute a majority of the population); 3) the presence of standardised or blind recruitment practices that place ultimate weight in education, experience or a particular skill set that isn’t exclusive to members of a particular race or gender (don’t forget how organisations are incentivised to practice meritocracy in the capitalist system – the best people (regardless of their identity characteristics) produce the best work of highest value to the market that will earn them a greater share of that market which will translate into more profits for the company and benefits for its stakeholders).  

It is these sorts of factors that are overlooked when hyperbolic media claims are made that women at universities are being ‘locked out’ of fields like physics or mathematics on the basis of their underrepresentation, despite 60% of all university graduates being female. Pursuant to this figure, and the underrepresentation of men in universities relative to the broader population, are we to deduce then that males are being discriminated against in higher education? Of course not, and I would never make such an absurd claim. But to those with an ideological agenda or narrative to push, pretty lies do tend to rally support better than ugly truths, so it will be convenient for them to ignore the nuance associated with these debates which I have highlighted above.  

3. Criminality – I wasn’t initially going to focus on this when I started writing this entry, but after reading about the drastic spike of some crimes in the Australian state of Queensland in recent months, and the criticisms made of police that they are not doing enough to alleviate the problem, I decided it was worth canvassing. In addition, there is often a lot of emotionality surrounding the topic which can complicate our best attempts to tease apart the Gordian knot of contributing causes that are both misunderstood and neglected. While I am not an expert in the area, the subject of the justice system and how it can be reformed through my framing of Natural Law principles will be something that I cover in my next book, so it is worth me providing some exploratory thoughts here.

The reality is that there are a multitude of internal and external considerations that contribute to criminal offending and the ability of the state to effectively respond by administering justice. While no doubt the responsiveness of police can be deficient in serving as a deterrent against crime, the system in which officers work isn’t always conducive to them putting their best foot forward. Resourcing shortfalls, the high-risk nature of the job, the public scrutiny of their performance and hostile attitude that anti-authoritarians tend to have towards their presence, to say nothing of the relatively low rates of pay they receive which makes quality recruitment difficult, are but a few of the factors that add to the challenging nature of the work. While they are an easy target to criticise in the post George Floyd era, I think those who too often get a pass are the criminals themselves. Despite some trying to make the argument that the proclivity to engage in criminal behaviour is somehow predetermined by an individual’s nature or upbringing in a particular environment (nurture), I don’t buy that thesis, as there are too many examples of people who share those environmental or dispositional traits that didn’t resort to criminality in order to make their way in the world. Even siblings in the same family unit have been shown to take radically different paths despite suffering the same types of hardship in their early years. Drug, alcohol and sexual abuse, domestic violence, family breakdown, poverty, social isolation, lack of employment or educational opportunities, and other forms of trauma are all pertinent as contributing factors to the breaking of the law that one chooses to engage in.

An Ode to the Coalface (Part 2) (Interlude)

When we chase ‘success’ as it is superficially characterised, we will be more inclined to dishonour our work and use it for instrumental purposes that disadvantage those on the lower end of our organisational structures. I don’t think it is a coincidence that many leaders who have gravitated to occupy their position for the wrong reasons, overlook the needs of those who work at the coalface, while remembering to look after themselves and the members of their coalition who keep them in power. With this power being the primary driver for feeding their ego-based identity, they demonstrate an inherent and unconscious indifference (some might say distain) for those who don’t possess it on the terms that is valued by the hierarchical culture that they find their place in climbing. This is also revealing of one of the most prominent tensions that is experienced by those who do what they do as a vocation.

When I interviewed respondents for my PhD study, one of the most common barriers to living a calling in an organisational context was the cultural disconnect that stymied the best efforts of those at the coalface from bringing their full selves to work. While no doubt there has to be some parameters to work that standardise and streamline the collective work to be performed, these boundaries don’t have to be experienced as constraining if there is a high level of trust in those on the ground, and a commitment by management to equip those members of the organisation with what they need to do their work to the best of their abilities. When these two enabling forces are embodied in the higher rungs of an organisation, freedom can be gained from stifling conformity that allows work to get done in a way that honours the individual as much as it does the organisation. Integral leaders create this cultural container that doesn’t sacrifice one at the expense of the other.   

A real difference maker here is to have in leadership or managerial positions those who have been with the organisation for a long time and risen through the ranks to be able to understand the various aspects of operations, and how they contribute to an effectively functioning whole. By their long-term commitment, sacrifice and contributions in service to the core mission of the organisation, these individuals command both loyalty and respect from subordinates in ways that others who have been parachuted into those roles from the outside do not. For individuals who come into managerial or leadership roles from the outside, the questions always linger, ‘why are they here? As a temporary stop to pad their CV, or because they genuinely care about the mission and those who they have to lead along that journey?’ Unless these managers and leaders can prove that their involvement is rooted in the second, purer motivation, they will always struggle to get buy in from those at the coalface who they need to perform to the best of their abilities for success to be achieved.

When I encountered leaders who have traversed that path from the bottom to the top of their organisation, one of the dominant traits that emerged from them was humility. Having taken that hard road to the executive suite, they not only didn’t take that journey for granted but they didn’t look down on, or past, those who do the work that they once did. By being able to see themselves in those individuals, they were better able to relate to them at both the personal and professional levels, and thus serve as the connective tissue that binds not just subsidiary teams together, but also larger units such as divisions or departments with each other. In organisational life, it is an inescapable truth that individual integrity must always precede a collective coming together, and conversely, any intrinsic dysfunction will be made manifest in broader conditions of chaos, conflict and inevitable fragmentation.  

These ideas are not abstract, and only appear so to those who are so shallow to value form over the substance which brings it to material reality. One’s state of being will always orient their actions, the form of which will in turn shape the institutions in which we and our vocations will find life. Yesterday, when I was doing some reading, I serendipitously came across the quote from Persian sage Rumi that, “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise so I am changing myself.” Part of this wisdom that Rumi is referring to is growing beyond any egocentric and grandiose ideas that we have of changing the world, to embrace the core work of evolving ourselves at the coalface of our life, so that this can be extended towards the domain that destiny has given us to affect meaningful progress and advance the human condition. 

An Ode to the Coalface (Part 1) (Interlude)

In every person’s heart of hearts, they yearn to make a difference or have a profound impact on the world, which no doubt is a noble aim that characterises a calling, but how a person thinks they can make this contribution is important to decipher. I say this because often our egocentric ambition can hijack this intention of our heart and have us believe that in order to make the contribution we are destined for, we need to be elevated to a higher station in society, where power, influence and our perceived wisdom to solve its problems will effectively enable us to serve a saving role in the world. When this idealised grandiose vision of the future is contrasted with our more modest present reality, we can be tempted to feel that nothing we are doing now really matters, and that it is only those who are celebrated in the media/social media and by the broader culture (who are where we want to be) that are making the type of difference that is worthy of us.

When we think in this way, the daily work we partake in can be seen as ‘small’ or beneath the limits of our potential, and therefore taken for granted with its significance. This way of viewing our efforts can also be amplified when we are working in one-on-one settings where our perceived reach to the broader units of society is limited. While this is understandable if within ourselves we know that we have so much more to give, we mustn’t allow this myopic yearning to blind us to the reality that it is at the coalface that the greatest difference is made to peoples lives. Teachers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, psychologists, mental health professionals and customer service roles are but a few examples of a broader range of professions that interface directly with the public to meet fundamental needs that these people have. While the organs of society don’t always honour the contributions made by these workers by compensating them properly, the immense value of the services they provide is clear to see.

Without these individuals being there as the backbone of society, doing this hard graft with little if any fanfare, its degeneration would be swift. For this reason, I highlight the paramount importance of not diminishing these professions or overlooking those who engage in them as a calling or vocation. In every field, we need committed professionals who love and care about what they do and whom they serve by their efforts. Not only does this make for a meaningful enrichment to the quality of life being derived by those who are served, but it also fosters an enduring sense of fulfilment in those serving, who we need sustained for their continued contributions to be made. This has become all the more important in the wake of the Covid pandemic where workers across professions are having to deal with increased workloads and demands with less support and resourcing for their core functions. While doing more with less appears on its face to be a paradoxical impossibility, in my experience those best able to manage it are the heavily invested and resourceful few who see their work as more than just a job or career.

Another thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is that as we climb the ladder of ‘success’ in our chosen profession which moves us closer to having the outsized impact that the ego finds appealing, we will often become disconnected from the core work that was cause for our involvement in the first place. When I was working in the law, and since moving on to academia, I have witnessed numerous instances of purpose driven and passionate lawyers/lecturers being promoted to executive administration roles that did not resonate with them at all, and drained them of the enthusiasm that infused their work at the coalface, dealing with clients in need and students who were thirsty for the knowledge they had to convey. Chasing the money or promotions in organisational life can have that downside, so if we don’t want to compromise parts of ourselves that keep us connected to and fulfilled in our work, we must be cognisant of the trade-offs involved in taking that course. What is often perceived as ‘levelling up’ by the ego’s measure of progress involves a spiritual regression as we relegate its call to the recesses of our being.

I have made the point on numerous occasions previously that the human spirit has an actualising quality to it, so when we live in alignment with it, our inclination will be to be more and do more of what it is calling us into, but this process of unfolding our latent potentiality and character is organic, and not forced or driven by the personal desire for gain or recognition. Thus, accepting a promotion can be a very natural course if it is something that we grow into by, for example, demonstrating the virtues of diligence or excellence in our work, integrity in our decision making, or responsibility in leading others. The associated increases in pay or other benefits we may receive are earned in this way, as they should be rather than sought as the primary means to be acquired.