Spiritual consistently!
It seems as if many of us can fall into the trap of attempting to keep spiritual, emotional and professional goals separate from each other.
I recall watching some episodes of the television show “The Sopranos” some years ago. It seemed as if the main character, Tony, defined success in his business life in terms of power and money. In his personal life, loyalty, love, and care taking seems to be the chief characteristics of success. Tony, the family man, was very likeable and someone I might have enjoyed getting to know. In his professional life, loyalty was still an important characteristic but if someone did not behave in a way which was consistent with the goals of the work family, he could make a decision to have the person killed. The chief goals of the “business” seemed to be power and making money. Of course, without power over others the organization did not make any money. Although most of us would not condone killing in our business or professional life, it is often clear that we often define success in our work life as making money, getting a promotion or gaining power over our competition no matter who gets hurt in the process.
I suspect that many of us are tempted to see the greed of the pharmaceutical companies as an anomaly. We would like to point fingers believing that we would never knowingly do something which we knew was hurtful to other people just to make money. Yet, the truth is the owners or management of many companies expect one to be loyal to the goals of the organization or business even if those very same goals are inconsistent with one’s stated moral values. After all, one might tell oneself, it is “just business”. It is not my intention to judge or condemn this practice. I am not sure that many, if any, of us, have managed to consistently practice our spiritual values in all aspects of our life. For example, as a professional counselor who used to bill insurance companies for the services I provided, I sometimes used a diagnostic code because it was what the insurance company would cover. I would like to think that I always refused to do that but I am not sure that is correct. After all, as long as I believed that the presenting issues or symptoms of a client were genuinely affecting his or her health, it make sense to do all I could to make sure that the insurance company paid for the service. Also, as a counselor, one learned to word the clinical notes to conform to evidence based procedure which the insurance companies often demanded even though actual therapy sessions were not as “neatly” organized as the notes might indicate.
Many organizations expect one to do whatever is needed to meet the actual goals of the company; to meet the quota of clients, sales, sessions or whatever measuring stick is used. Although we live in an age when most organization have a mission statement which proclaims a lofty sounding spiritual or very humane goal, the truth is that the goal is often about keeping the organization alive. After all, no matter how lofty the goals if the organization crashes it cannot provide services to anyone.
It is not easy to consistently ensure that one use a spiritual measure of success in all areas of one’s life. After all, if one does not have a certain income one cannot care for one’s children or other loved one. If one does not have a certain income one’s aged relatives might be forced to live out the last days in a facility where the underpaid and overworked staff are not able to provide the quality of care one would like.
I suspect that the best we can do is to follow the principles of the 12 strep program used by those recovering from an addictive disorder. They practice:
My best thinking is not always clear or consistently spiritual. I can easily convince myself that some decision is the best I can do until I share my thinking with someone I know is going to help me see it more clearly. My trusted friends help me be honest with myself and willing to be open to trusting that if I do the next right thing I will get what I need to grow spiritually. I cannot even approximate this goal if I do it alone.
Written September 30, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
It seems as if many of us can fall into the trap of attempting to keep spiritual, emotional and professional goals separate from each other.
I recall watching some episodes of the television show “The Sopranos” some years ago. It seemed as if the main character, Tony, defined success in his business life in terms of power and money. In his personal life, loyalty, love, and care taking seems to be the chief characteristics of success. Tony, the family man, was very likeable and someone I might have enjoyed getting to know. In his professional life, loyalty was still an important characteristic but if someone did not behave in a way which was consistent with the goals of the work family, he could make a decision to have the person killed. The chief goals of the “business” seemed to be power and making money. Of course, without power over others the organization did not make any money. Although most of us would not condone killing in our business or professional life, it is often clear that we often define success in our work life as making money, getting a promotion or gaining power over our competition no matter who gets hurt in the process.
I suspect that many of us are tempted to see the greed of the pharmaceutical companies as an anomaly. We would like to point fingers believing that we would never knowingly do something which we knew was hurtful to other people just to make money. Yet, the truth is the owners or management of many companies expect one to be loyal to the goals of the organization or business even if those very same goals are inconsistent with one’s stated moral values. After all, one might tell oneself, it is “just business”. It is not my intention to judge or condemn this practice. I am not sure that many, if any, of us, have managed to consistently practice our spiritual values in all aspects of our life. For example, as a professional counselor who used to bill insurance companies for the services I provided, I sometimes used a diagnostic code because it was what the insurance company would cover. I would like to think that I always refused to do that but I am not sure that is correct. After all, as long as I believed that the presenting issues or symptoms of a client were genuinely affecting his or her health, it make sense to do all I could to make sure that the insurance company paid for the service. Also, as a counselor, one learned to word the clinical notes to conform to evidence based procedure which the insurance companies often demanded even though actual therapy sessions were not as “neatly” organized as the notes might indicate.
Many organizations expect one to do whatever is needed to meet the actual goals of the company; to meet the quota of clients, sales, sessions or whatever measuring stick is used. Although we live in an age when most organization have a mission statement which proclaims a lofty sounding spiritual or very humane goal, the truth is that the goal is often about keeping the organization alive. After all, no matter how lofty the goals if the organization crashes it cannot provide services to anyone.
It is not easy to consistently ensure that one use a spiritual measure of success in all areas of one’s life. After all, if one does not have a certain income one cannot care for one’s children or other loved one. If one does not have a certain income one’s aged relatives might be forced to live out the last days in a facility where the underpaid and overworked staff are not able to provide the quality of care one would like.
I suspect that the best we can do is to follow the principles of the 12 strep program used by those recovering from an addictive disorder. They practice:
- The HOW of the program – honestly, open mindedness and willingness.
- The “we” of the program - sharing the process of decision making with trusted others.
My best thinking is not always clear or consistently spiritual. I can easily convince myself that some decision is the best I can do until I share my thinking with someone I know is going to help me see it more clearly. My trusted friends help me be honest with myself and willing to be open to trusting that if I do the next right thing I will get what I need to grow spiritually. I cannot even approximate this goal if I do it alone.
Written September 30, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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