Self-identity

      Our self-identity is now a matter of choice. And we have more choices than ever before. In agrarian society people's identity was largely predetermined, and based on the family and community. You were Robert Smith's son. You would be expected to help your father run the farm and someday take it over. In industrial society identity was found in work. You were a miner and part of a fraternity of those doing the same work. Or you were a factory worker and union member. Today identity is an individually constructed matter. You are a computer programmer. Whether or not you have a family is a side issue. Your parents' work is irrelevant. Your company cannot claim your loyalty or sense of belonging, because you may leave any time you choose and even start a completely different line of work. And your religious or spiritual beliefs are your own. No one is likely to ask you about them at work. You can choose to be a member of a church or not — there is very little social pressure; in fact there is probably more pressure not to go. You may choose to search for a spirituality that fits your sense of self.

      The point of this book is not to bemoan the decline of organized religion in Canada. The point is to try to offer the reader an understanding of spirituality that can be integrated into life and work, so that a sense of God can develop in the midst of daily activities. This in turn can heal some of the fragmentation we live with, and root our core identity on something solid and dependable. The spirit or soul has classically been understood as residing deep inside, where the real “me” is, beyond the projections and pretenses and problems of our lives. In this ever-changing world we badly need to rediscover the soul in order to anchor our lives on a firm, integrating foundation.

       Questions

       What are the different compartments of your life?

       How porous are the walls between them? For example, many of us bring some of our work home. How often do you bring part of your home life to work, and how does that feel?

       Is spirituality a part of your work?

---CHAPTER 2--- Workplace Woes

      Why do we work?

      This may sound like a silly question. There is a sense of necessity about work: it is just something we have to do. We need to earn money to buy groceries, pay off the mortgage or pay rent, pay for our children's orthodontic needs, hockey gear, and on and on. Our ancestors had to work to stay alive, literally. If they did not hunt, fish, and grow enough food in the summer, they would starve in the winter.

      Farmers understand this sort of work. They do what they need to do each day. For some days this means working long hours to bring in a crop before the rain or frost. Other days there is time to chat with neighbours over the fence. Farmers work with nature — they know that they cannot ignore the weather. Some things cannot be done in the rain so another task is quickly chosen — there is always lots to do.

      For most of us, our work is not dependent on nature the way it is for farmers. Most of us do the same work whether it rains or shines. We don't need to look to the sky to decide what to do each day, although we may need to shovel snow from our driveways in order to get to work. Yet working in an office often feels as much a necessity as toiling in a field. We are still working for our survival, though in a more abstract way than our great-grandparents or our agricultural neighbours. We are working to stay afloat, get ahead, be secure. The thought of being without an income terrifies us as much as the prospect of being without food or shelter terrified our forebears. Work provides us with much that we consider essential.

      But at a deeper level work offers far more than mere survival. If it were just a matter of making money, we would all compete for the same jobs — the ones that pay the best. But we have a society with thousands of different jobs, some paying well and some paying poorly. People seek work that interests them and fits with who they are, because work is a fundamental part of our identity. We gain satisfaction from our work, not just an income. We experience a sense of contributing to society through our work. Many people pursue higher education because it will help them find jobs that are challenging and that mesh well with their sense of identity. Precisely because work is so highly valued, societally and personally, those without work can feel excluded and discounted.

      Psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) referred to a hierarchy of needs that human beings experience, starting with physical needs and going through to the need for self-actualization. Our most basic needs, he said, are for things such as food, water, and safety. We then look for “higher” needs to be fulfilled, such as the need for relationship or belonging, and the need for self-esteem and feelings of worth. Lastly, if these previous needs are met, we seek self-actualization, or a sense of personal fulfilment of our potential. And if that occurs we experience what Maslow called “peak experiences” — deep moments of happiness, love, and understanding; feelings of being intensely alive; a passionate concern for justice and harmony.

      Maslow wrote in his classic work Motivation and Personality; “Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. What humans can be, they must be” [Maslow 1987, 22, original emphases]. His studies of the workings of the human mind led him to believe that for optimum mental health and well-being, a person's potential had to be tapped. It is not enough simply to feed, clothe, and occupy human beings. Work, therefore, may provide us with the necessities of life, but it can also meet some of our deepest or highest needs, as we reach for our vocation, personal fulfilment, and a sense of peace with ourselves and the world.