Chapter I - INTRODUCTION
Finding a True Vocation
When we are children, people say to us, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" At that
age, we usually have dreams. We know that we want to reach the Moon, or learn to fly the
fastest aircraft in the world, or save endangered animal species, or make some brilliant
scientific discovery that will transform human lives. We are not yet old enough to worry about
job markets and balancing budgets and supporting ourselves and our families. We have only
our dreams and the secret certainty that we are unique and have a very special thing to do in
life. Even if our parents have different dreams for us, we know the difference between their
dreams and our own. When we are children, we are still capable of hearing the voice of the
soul.
As we grow older, the questions change. People say to us, "You had better start thinking about
what you want to do with your life. How will you make a living?" There is no longer time for
dreaming; we must now "face reality" and think about how to survive in the big, bad old world.
The inner sense of specialness fades before the numbing evidence of high unemployment figures,
stiff competition for every job application, and economic swings and downturns which make us
feel we are fortunate to get any kind of work at all. And if we find ourselves discontented in that
work, or we lose our jobs, we feel demeaned, devalued, and unable to trust our deepest dreams
and aspirations, because there might not be any other work. And even if there were, we have
probably long since lost that inner connection which could tell us what makes our heart sing and
restores the sense of having a very special thing to do in life.
This astrological report is about your vocation. It is meant to help you get a sense of what you
might be good at and what might be good for you, so that your working life has a meaning as well
as a pay cheque. If you are looking for a direction, astrology could help you to find it; if you
already have one, astrology could help you confirm and perhaps enhance it. The English word
"vocation" comes from a Latin root which means "to call". Having a calling implies something
higher or deeper - an inner Self or soul which knows what we are really here for. Today we use the
word "vocation" mainly in relation to those who feel a religious calling. The challenges and
problems of the changing world, with its rapid and unsettling advances in technology and its
shifting political and economic currents, have frightened us and turned our minds away from the
inner importance of what we do in life. Yet so many people feel directionless or are unhappy in
their work, even if they are well paid for it. Few of us possess the luxury of inherited wealth; most
of us must make our own way in the world. Work, no less than relationship, lies at the core of our
lives and occupies most of our waking hours. Yet we may be unable to think from the centre
outward - to focus first on who we are and what inspires us, and then seek vehicles for this in the
outer world. Instead, we think from the outside in, focusing on what others, or our own hidden
insecurities, tell us is possible. We are not brought up to know and trust ourselves and our
abilities, but rather, to know only the limits of external reality. And then we hammer ourselves
into shape to fit them.
Because every birth horoscope is unique, astrology teaches us that each individual has a unique
nature and a unique set of abilities. While a horoscope cannot tell us which company will offer us
a job, or how much we can expect to be paid, it can help us to understand that, if we wish to feel
our lives matter, we need to express in the outer world at least some of who we are in the inner
one. No job is perfect; we must all compromise. What matters is that what we do connects us to
something special inside, something that makes us feel worthwhile and impels us to offer our best
to life. The insights of astrology are not literal and specific. They are symbolic and psychological,
and tell us about spheres of life which inspire us, needs which nourish our souls, and personal
limits which mark the boundaries of what we are capable of achieving in one lifetime. We cannot
become other than what we are, and no human being contains all possibilities. We are all good at
different things. The right mix of realism and faith in ourselves can ensure that we feel our
passage through life has been worth the effort.
To make the best use of the astrological insights offered by this report, it is important to remember
three things. First, a sound understanding of one's needs, potentials, and limits is far more
important than the facts and figures presented to us by the outer world. It is not that facts and
figures do not matter. But even if there is only one job available and four hundred applicants
seeking it, we possess more power than we realise to create our own reality. If that job is truly right
for us, and we are prepared to do the necessary preparation and training, we will achieve it -
somewhere, some time, somehow. Second, we must not be afraid to try. Trying and failing and
trying again are far better than not trying at all, for we can learn from our failures even more than
we learn from our success. Understanding why we might unconsciously court failure or fail to
seize opportunities may also be important. Many people are dogged not by lack of ability, but by a
deep unconscious conviction that they do not deserve to be fulfilled. Understanding ourselves
more deeply can help us to distinguish between real limits and unnecessary self-sabotage. Third, a
birth chart cannot, of its own volition, create our opportunities for us, any more than a road map
can make us take a journey. A birth horoscope can show us a direction and encourage us to
make manifest our highest values and most cherished dreams. But each individual must make
the decision to set off down the road. If we refuse through fear or cynicism, and remain sitting on
the doorstep yearning for what might have been, we cannot blame either astrology or the world for
our discontent.
Chapter II
How You See the World
Each of us sees the world differently, and feels strong and
competent in some areas and uncertain or ill-equipped in
others. No person is perfectly adapted to every sphere of life.
Finding the right direction may depend partly on your knowing
how you evaluate and adapt to life, and finding an outer
situation which matches your fundamental outlook. Of course it
is not as simple as just looking for a place where you can
exercise what you believe to be your strengths and avoid what
you perceive as your weaknesses. Sometimes, working to
develop sides of your personality where you feel unsure can
generate the greatest feeling of accomplishment. But it does
help if your perspective on life is in harmony with what you do,
and you can therefore feel confident and able to meet the
challenges which your work offers. It can also make a difference
if you are able to remain loyal to your values and needs, rather
than accepting a situation where you believe neither in what
you are doing nor in the people you work with.
Find a vehicle to communicate your ideals
You are a restless soul with a great need for personal freedom.
You also have a low boredom threshold, which can make it
difficult for you to do repetitive work for any length of time.
You need people to talk to and ideas which inspire you; and
you also need an audience to listen to your own inspired
thinking. You could sell anything to anyone, provided you
believe in what you are selling; and you might also make an
excellent teacher or educator. You could have a gift for
languages. Work which requires travel or involves you in
different world-views and different nationalities and modes of
life might prove very rewarding. You are naturally idealistic,
and potentials mean more to you than reality. Therefore you
need to work in spheres where you can contribute new and
innovative ideas, and deal with a wide variety of people. Try to
avoid an institutional setting where you would be cramped and
stifled by small minds and too many rules and regulations. You
are not incapable of discipline. But you prefer it to come from
your own perception of what is required, rather than from
regulations imposed by those whom you do not respect. You
have little tolerance for stupidity and ignorance, and even less
for prejudice and wilful narrow-mindedness. Because you think
globally, you need to work in an environment where others look
beyond the confines of their own back garden.
Although you are likely to be deeply concerned with social
issues, you may be repelled by the world of politics, because you
find it hard to be silent if you feel strongly about an issue.
Hypocrisy is not your style. Therefore you need to work with
people who are not afraid to hear the truth from you. All
spheres of knowledge might be suitable for you to work in, from
television and publishing to the internet to university education.
You may also have strong spiritual commitments, since the
pursuit of meaning matters as much to you as knowledge. This
may attract you to work which involves some spiritual or
idealistic commitment to the betterment of human life.
Teaching such subjects - astrology, yoga, psychology, health and
alternative healing - could appeal. So could film and television
projects which allow you to utilise your fine imagination as well
as your communication skills. Most importantly, make sure you
are not hemmed in by your work. You must have air to breathe,
thoughts to share, ideas to inspire, new projects which challenge
you, and a large world to traverse, physically or intellectually.
Think big - not in the sense of "making it" on a grand scale, but
in terms of the real values and ideals which inspire you. You
will never be happy mired in the mundane. You may need to
curb your restlessness, and learn to discipline yourself more
than you might like. But you can do this if you feel there is a
deeper or higher meaning in what you are doing.
Chapter III
Your aptitudes and strengths
An honest and realistic understanding of your fundamental
strengths can help you to orientate yourself in the world and put
your energy into areas where you can hope to shine and achieve
at least many of your most cherished goals. Recognising basic
issues such as the capacity and desire to handle responsibility,
or the need for stability and security, or the craving for constant
new challenges, can affect your decisions and help you to avoid
wasting your abilities in spheres where you are not likely to be
happy or at home. This does NOT mean that, if this report
seems contradictory to what you are presently doing, you should
abruptly throw aside everything you have built so far. If, for
example, new challenges and a degree of independence are
important for you in your work according to your astrological
profile, you should not immediately abandon a steady job and
charge off into the blue pursuing an unrealistic dream. Further
training may be necessary, and your domestic responsibilities
must also be considered in relation to what is possible at any
given time in your life. But a personality which fundamentally
requires an independent creative platform from which to work
means that you might need to consider new possibilities within
the framework of your present circumstances, or work on a
long-term plan through which you can gradually achieve the
autonomy you need. The secret of real success - the kind which
is rooted in an inner feeling of a worthwhile life - is to first
accept who you are, believe in it, and stop trying to model
yourself on somebody else. Then aim to shape your outer life in
as many ways as are realistically possible in order to provide the
right working vehicle for your true nature and values.
A life in the service of high ideals
You are a practical and well-grounded person, but you would
not be satisfied for long in work which is purely mundane. You
have a strong sense of some higher reality, and this makes it
impossible for you to feel contented merely satisfying your own
material and emotional needs. Instead, you want to dedicate
your energy and efforts to something in which you believe
wholeheartedly, so that you can offer service of some kind to
that higher source. But because you are well anchored in the
world, this service has to be practical; you would not be content
to work at a meaningless job and then go home and quietly
meditate. Your ideals have to be translated into everyday
actions and everyday work. You need a vocation which allows
you to know and see, on a tangible level, that you are making
the world a better place. You would not have a lot of patience
with groups which pursue the ineffable while floundering on the
practical level; you want to see action and results. It is possible
that, in an earlier phase of life, you might have pursued
material rewards for their own sake, and demonstrated your
organising skills and qualities of leadership in a more mundane
sphere. In discovering your need to serve something greater,
you still need to feel you are effectual in your efforts to anchor
your ideals.
In some ways you would be well suited to a "fifth column" kind
of work, embedded within a conventional structure or company
but quietly dedicated to raising the level of consciousness of the
individuals with whom you work. But this requires a level of
deception which in the end might not suit you. You might be
happier in one of the helping professions, particularly those
such as medicine and psychiatry, which deal with real-life
problems but need the kind of vision and idealism which you
could inspire. You might also be attracted to other forms of
service to the community, social or political, where you could
use your understanding of the ways of the world to bring about
a broader and more inclusive vision. Most importantly, you
need to know you are being of genuine service, and that you are
translating your beliefs into tangible form. Don't try to split
your life between a conventional work environment and a
hidden spiritual path. You are likely to feel most fulfilled if you
can combine these two distinct but interrelated dimensions of
your nature in a field of work where you can be, and practise,
both.
Bringing the vision down to earth
There is a constant tension in you between your intuitive
perception of the meaning in things, and your pragmatic need
to live in the so-called "real" world. If you do purely practical
work, your craving for contact with subtler levels of existence
can make you restless, frustrated, and discontented. If you
abandon material responsibilities in favour of a spiritual path,
your desire to be productive and useful in a practical way can
make you feel undermined and unsure of your worth. You need
to bridge these opposites within you by creating material forms
which can express your inner vision. You could do this through
one of the creative media -writing, painting, working in theatre
or film - provided what you create is able to convey a message
rather than being merely pretty or pleasing. Or you could create
structures such as a school or business which is solidly anchored
in the mundane world but which serves as a purveyor of the
ideals to which you aspire. You may be happy marketing
knowledge, selling inspiration, advertising consciousness -
making your inner vision available to ordinary people in
ordinary, everyday ways.
You may need a group with which to work. This could give you
a sense of security and a feeling that you have at least some
collective support -even if your little collective is considered
"fringe" in the eyes of the larger collective. Whether you find
your group in a company or institution, or in an educational
setting, or in organisations which are dedicated to ideals similar
to your own, you are likely to feel happiest when you know you
have a backup from colleagues. This is because the polarity of
your inner world tends to make you a little anxious and
insecure, and you may feel better when you know you are
getting validation from your peers. Qualifications may also be
important to you. Although your vision may be unconventional,
you have a need to be accepted by the world in general as a
competent and "normal" person. If you wish to work in a more
unconventional field, make sure you have the right bits of paper
so that you feel you can demonstrate your competence to those
who might question the nature of the beliefs you espouse. At
heart you are a practical idealist who understands the necessity
of working to improve life from within existing structures,
rather than attempting to change the world as a renegade from
without.
Contact with the ineffable
Despite your firm grasp of reality and its limits, you have a deep
instinctive sense of connection with a larger unity. This might be
called a mystical inclination, although you might not think of
yourself in such esoteric terms. Nevertheless, whatever terms
you use, you have one foot firmly on the ground and the other
foot halfway through a doorway into the invisible realms. This
opens you to inspiration from the collective psyche, which could
be effectively channelled through a creative medium such as
music. You can be highly imaginative and your inner world is
rich and vivid - even if, a good deal of the time, you feel vaguely
uncomfortable dwelling for too long in such ineffable climes.
Equally, your receptivity to higher planes of existence could
open you to inspirations in the sciences, or in technology, where
intuition rather than logic can reveal exciting new concepts.
You could also utilise your gift in fields which cater to collective
needs, such as the world of film, because you can sense the
dreams and longings of the collective long before people know
what it is they are really seeking.
Your sensitivity to these higher levels of reality, and your
awareness of the suffering inherent in life, deepen your need to
feel you are being useful to others in some way. Your strongest
need is to work at something which serves that deeper unity of
life you sense so strongly. You have a devotional nature and
would not be happy if you could not use your field of work as a
vehicle for your devotion. Whether you focus your efforts on
other human beings, on nature or the animal kingdom or the
Earth itself, on scientific research or social issues, just beyond
your field of vision is that invisible domain in which you sense
the meaning and purpose of earthly existence. It is likely that
you have spent a good deal of time not understanding the
"divine discontent" which has made it so difficult for you to feel
contented by ordinary material satisfactions. You may even
have drifted for a time, confused about your direction and
lacking confidence in your ability to stick to anything for very
long. But you have great persistence and tenacity if you believe
in what you are doing. Your vision of unity, and your
compassion for all living things, needs to be embedded at the
core of your work.
The gift of faith in life's goodness
You have a deeply optimistic spirit, and tend to see even
painful experiences as a means of learning and growth. This
innate faith in the essential goodness of life is a valuable
quality, both for your personal life and in your work. You want
to be able to share it with others, and you could make an
inspired teacher or educator because you want to open others'
eyes and hearts to the larger reality which you yourself perceive.
You also love learning and take pleasure in encouraging others
to learn. If your work does not provide you with the opportunity
to broaden your world-view and communicate your discoveries
to others, you can easily feel bored and restless. Travel is
probably nourishing for you, because you expand your mind and
discover new truths about people and about life; and ideally
your work should allow you the opportunity to taste different
cultures, values, and environments. You need a certain amount
of freedom to move about, and you should try to avoid jobs
where you are confined to one place seeing the same people
day after day. Even if your travel is sporadic, you need it as an
important feature of your working life.
You are generous by nature and love to share your knowledge
of higher things. You might also enjoy a certain amount of risk-
taking in your work, for there is an adventurous spirit in you
which loves to discover new things in unknown places, mental or
physical. Most importantly, you need work which stimulates
your mind and your imagination, and keeps you moving from
project to project. You need to communicate and to educate, in
literal or metaphorical ways. Fields such as publishing and
media might suit you, provided you can promulgate ideas which
you feel will help make the world a better place. Your need to
be of service should be expressed through work which allows
you to enlarge others' vision. Don't allow yourself to be trapped
into playing the workhorse in a large company, group, or
institution. Although you are perfectly capable of handling
responsibility and carrying more than your share of the load,
this would stifle your restless spirit and deny you the right to
pursue knowledge and communicate it with the freedom you
need and deserve.
Making the inner vision work in the world
You may have already gone through a crisis in terms of your
work direction. Or you may be going through one now. Your
life has a tendency to fall into distinct chapters because of the
tension between the earthy and spiritual sides of your nature;
and a crisis in your work is likely to be the result of the
profound need to bridge the gap and unite the opposites in your
personality. Your work needs to include both sides of you,
providing a sound practical vehicle through which you can make
an impact on the world around you, but also serving the inner
ideals to which you are so deeply devoted. There are several
different spheres of work which might suit you, but they all
share one thing in common: they enhance the human condition
in practical ways, and reflect both worldly craft and intuitive
vision. Any work which does not, like you yourself, include
these opposites, will not ultimately satisfy you. Neither extreme
is likely to make you feel fulfilled. Take your ideals seriously,
and don't ever betray them. But try to live them by offering a
tangible service to others, and to life itself.
Additional aptitudes and strengths
Although these are your main strength, there are other qualities
which you can build on as you consider the best ways to utilise
your energy and talents. These may not be as dominant in your
nature, but they are important nevertheless and need to be
considered in any assessment of your work situation. An
astrological chart, from the perspective of vocation, presents us
with an essential character pattern; and the "ideal" sphere of
work is one in which as many of one's essential character
qualities as possible can be given an avenue of expression.
There is no perfect job for anyone, just as there is no perfect
world. But these important characteristics need room in your
life, somewhere, somehow, to be honoured and offered some
vehicle through which it can live.
Contributing to the human family
Your work needs to contribute some benefit to the human
family of which you so strongly feel a part. You are idealistic
and tolerant, democratic in spirit, and deeply concerned with
human potential and the possibility of improving society. This
does not mean that you are merely a "do-gooder" with vague
ideas about how to save the world. You are more sensible than
that, for you have a good, clear, rational mind and the ability to
plan and organise. Whatever field you engage in, you need to
know that you are doing something for others as well as
yourself. In fact, sometimes "I" is not as much as reality as "we",
for you tend to think in collective rather than individual terms.
Sociology and psychology could interest you, for you are
fascinated by what makes people "tick" and might enjoy working
with theories and structures of ideas which help to explain the
mysteries of human behaviour. You have a strong sense of how
mass collective movements operate, and you could make an
excellent group leader or organiser. You also have what is
known as "the common touch", for you are interested in all
kinds of people and can find a way to communicate your ideas
in language which is clear and understandable, rather than
obscure and technical. You could work in business, economics,
or politics, provided you felt you were offering something
positive to others, rather than merely amassing lots of money. If
you do amass lots of money, you are likely to give a lot of it to
charities or organisations which offer some kind of support to
others. You have a strong sense that things should be shared
rather than hoarded. You could make an excellent educator, for
you enjoy stimulating others' minds and helping people to
understand themselves better. Make your humanitarian
interests the basis for your direction in life.
Taking the Promethean spirit to the marketplace
Prometheus was the mythic figure who stole fire from the gods
and gave it to human beings so they could progress. You have a
good deal of this Promethean spirit in you. You too feel human
beings have vast potentials which they have not yet fulfilled; and
you too are prepared to work on the fringe and be
unconventional in your thinking and even your behaviour if it
will help realise those potentials. You need to work for others -
not necessarily in the literal sense, for you are a little too
independent in your thinking to enjoy a hierarchical institution
or organisation, but in the sense of serving the evolution of the
human family on material, emotional, intellectual or spiritual
levels. Your work fulfilment comes from knowing that you are
part of a larger unity, and offering your particular talents to
help the human family move toward a better future. Whether
you do this within your own community through projects which
help those in need, or through a large organisation or
movement which seeks to make changes on a national or
economic level, you could never be content working at a job
which gives material security but carries no deeper significance
in the grand scheme of things. Back up your idealism with
properly trained skills and a good education, and find the right
group or organisation which mirrors the ideals in which you
believe so strongly.
Chapter IV
Know Your Limits
Recognising your innate limitations can help you to focus your
energy in the right direction and get the maximum fulfilment
from your work. All human beings have limitations, and these
need to be seen, not as "faults" or "failings", but as the inevitable
result of having strengths in other areas. No individual has
everything. Being able to understand those areas where
essential character qualities might restrict your capacity to
engage in or enjoy a particular kind of work, is part of the
building of self-understanding and self-confidence. Sometimes
we have to try and then fail before we are able to recognise that
we are undeveloped, unsuited, or simply uninterested in a
particular sphere of life. Pressure from family and peer group
may push us into attempting to become what we are not, and
much time and energy may be wasted in attempting to fulfil
someone else's expectations when we know we are not
comfortable in that particular kind of work. It is important to
recognise that limits do not signify any irrevocable flaw in
character. Working hard on an area of limitation may, in fact,
produce great confidence born out of hard effort, and
sometimes real talent may be discovered beneath the surface of
what appears to be a block or difficulty. It is up to you to
discern whether a character limitation needs to be worked on,
or compassionately accepted, or both.
Learn to enjoy the moment
Your chief limitation, in terms of work, arises from your
greatest asset: your deep commitment to serving a higher or
deeper reality. This commitment gives meaning to your working
life and allows you to feel you are making a useful contribution
to human evolution. But you may sometimes forget that
pleasure, joy, and the ability to live in the moment are equally
part of life. You can be very intense, sometimes to the point
where you deny yourself the kind of ordinary everyday
pleasures that, for many people, constitute their reason for
living; and if you take this too far, you may find yourself
becoming censorious or judgemental toward colleagues who do
not exhibit the same degree of dedication you do. Try to lighten
up a bit more. Whatever your personal world-view or
philosophy, you need to avoid dogmatism or the belief that
there is only one path. If you work in the helping fields, there is
a danger, if you are too dogmatic, that you will impose your
beliefs on those who are seeking your help; and if you work
within a group or organisation, you may feel impelled to
"convert" those who have not yet seen the light, which can prove
a great irritant to working colleagues. Your heart is sincere and
your motives and commitment unquestionably fine. But it is
doubtful that the higher reality toward which you aspire
requires you to curtail pleasure in the incarnate world in which
you are living and working. You may need to find a creative
balance between your ideals and your capacity to enjoy the
pleasures of everyday material existence. You may also strive
too hard to be responsible, and take on too much. You cannot
save everyone, nor transform the entire world in the span of a
lifetime. Try to be respectful of the limits of your time and
energy, and do what you can to avoid the trap of rigid thinking.
You do not have to prove that you are a good person in ways
which could be hurtful to your physical or psychological well-
being.
Valuing creative self-expression
You are prepared to put a great deal of energy and effort into
serving those ideals in which you so strongly believe. You want
your life to be useful and productive, and you want to know that
you are doing your share to help human evolution on some
level. This is a wonderful quality, but sometimes you may forget
that you also have creative abilities which need to be expressed
for no reason other than the sheer joy of it. You are not just a
worker and server; there is a part of you which is imaginative,
childlike, and in love with an inner landscape peopled with
romantic figures from myth. If you have artistic ability of any
kind, it is important that you honour it, try to develop it, and
include it in your working life if possible. If impossible, then
ensure that you have time each day, or each week, for
indulgence in this playful, creative world. Even if you are not
skilled in painting, writing, or music, you may get enormous
pleasure from these things, and need constant contact with
them to refresh your spirit and remind you that life includes joy
as well as hard work. Try to balance the committed and the
childlike in yourself; together they make an enormously creative
combination. But if you try to suppress your playful, imaginative
side in favour of an ideal of self-sacrifice, you may store up a lot
of resentment and a deep envy toward those who are able to
give themselves permission to be irresponsible sometimes. You
have a powerful intuition, but you may fear its ability to
overturn your material stability, and you tend to need highly
structured containers in which to experience revelations from
the inner world. Sometimes these structures may be too rigid.
Intuition can work not only in the spiritual realm, but also in the
artistic one, and it may be important for you to have more
flexible creative vehicles as well as the structures in which your
belief system is encapsulated. Try to loosen up, and learn to
value creative self-expression for its own sake.
Sacrifice of self is not always a good idea
You have a strongly devotional nature and a great sensitivity to
the suffering in the world; and you want to be able to be of
service in some way because you sense the higher reality behind
life's apparent unfairness and harshness. This is likely to attract
you to a profession which involves helping or healing others. If
you are involved in such work, it is very important for you to
recognise not only your physical and psychological limits, but
also your right to enjoy life as an individual. If you are too self-
sacrificing, you can exhaust yourself physically and emotionally,
and wind up disillusioned because there always seems to be
more pain which you cannot heal. Try to remember that you
cannot cure the world's ills by yourself, nor can you help those
who do not wish to help themselves. Discrimination is an
important faculty which you may need to work hard to develop,
however hard or selfish it may sound; there is only one of you,
and you would be wiser to give your energy where it is most
productive and needed, rather than where it can be exploited or
simply wasted. Whatever ideals you espouse, and whatever your
spiritual philosophy, it is unlikely that any tablets written in
stone are demanding that you give up personal contentment
and pleasure; and if you believe you should, perhaps you might
look more deeply at the unconscious motives which could lie
beneath such a world-view. You are vulnerable to others in your
work because you care so much. You need strong boundaries
and a good, healthy dose of self-protectiveness. You are also
vulnerable because you will not always be able to match your
vision with the reality of the people with whom you work. A
clear, unjaundiced view of others' real characters can help you
to guard yourself against exploitation and ensure that you will
feel enthusiastic in your work rather than drained or victimised.
Chapter V
Working with Others
One of the most important factors to consider in terms of your
direction in life is how you work with others. Everyone has his
or her own style of relating in the working environment;
everyone has different needs and requirements; everyone needs
a different degree of privacy or teamwork; and everyone
interacts differently with peers and with authority figures. There
is no "normal" way of being with others, but it is important that
you understand just what you do need, so that you can maximise
your abilities in the best possible way. Many specific issues
concerned with your interaction with others at work have been
covered in earlier sections; the following paragraph is more a
summary of fundamental needs which might be helpful to keep
in mind.
Accepting those who have a different vision
Your dedication to your ideals gives you courage,
determination, and a willingness to commit yourself
wholeheartedly to the welfare of others. You are at your best
when you are able to share your ideals and join in work efforts
which allow you to feel you are part of something larger, and
contributing alongside others to the evolution of the collective.
In such a setting, you can be generous and selfless in offering
your support to colleagues, and you are willing to accept many
foibles and weaknesses on the part of co-workers as long as you
can see that they are motivated by the same vision you are.
However, you may not find it so easy to sympathise with those
who do not see what you see, and do not share your particular
world-view. You may find it hard to understand those who are
focused on their own personal satisfaction and success, or who
are more materialistic in their motivation. The difficulty is that
you are not always able to be flexible in your thinking, and this
can make you intolerant of those with differing attitudes and
viewpoints. Your intensity can make you a little fixed in your
thinking, and you may not find it easy to accept the fact that
truth can come in many forms.
Although you are happiest when you know your vision is
shared, it is unlikely that you will find the perfect work situation
where every single individual with whom you work has precisely
the same world-view you do. People will always differ, not only
in their opinions but in the intensity of their feelings about their
opinions. You need to be more open and willing to accept
people as they are, rather than judging them according to their
particular spiritual outlook. Many people may be fundamentally
decent, good people, but they might not formulate their feelings
and ideas in the same language you do. Try to refrain from
attempting to convert others to your way of thinking. This can
create animosity and difficulty in your working relationships,
and the ethical basis of such attempts is questionable. The
certainty of your convictions is appropriate for you in your own
individual life, but it may not apply to others; and while there
may be a single truth for you, that truth may not be the truth
which speaks to others' hearts and souls. Sometimes you may
assess people too literally, and become critical if they do not
behave as you would wish, or phrase their perceptions in the
same language as yours. Greater tolerance and flexibility, and a
willingness to be wrong sometimes, can help you to create much
warmer and more genuine relationships with work colleagues,
even if their aspirations and ideals are expressed in a different
language from yours.
Chapter VI
What Success Really Means to You
When people speak of "success", they generally mean a position
of importance in the world's eyes, or a job that yields lots of
money and all the material pleasures and comforts that implies.
But success, in terms of the deeper issue of vocation, is a highly
individual thing that means different things to different people.
Success in this more profound sense is linked with an
individual's capacity to express in the outer world the values
and ideals which matter most in the inner world. Seen in this
way, success may not involve money or position at all; for it
depends on a quality of inner loyalty and integrity, and reflects
the real essence of individuality rather than a common
consensus based on superficial social or material concerns.
Success, for you, must reflect the efforts you make to bring
order to your inner and outer world. Although material reality
is important to you, you are not motivated by monetary gain or
status or a "top" position in the world. Deep down, you are a
craftsman, whether you work with material substance or the
stuff of the human psyche or body. To integrate, polish, refine,
craft, and make whole and healed are the tasks toward which
your spirit impels you, and your work needs to allow you to do
these things in order to feel you are living a meaningful life.
Being useful is fundamental to any real sense of success, and
you need to know that your life is fulfilling a useful purpose or
serving the higher realities in which you believe. More than
many people, you are capable of loving work for work's sake,
for it helps you to feel connected to the deeper rhythms of daily
life and the larger pattern in which you instinctively know your
own life is embedded. Integrity is also extremely important to
you, on the most profound level: you need to serve your inner
ideal rather than accommodate the external world simply for
security or material gain.
A certain diffidence and lack of self-confidence could make you
underrate your abilities, and worries about being too "selfish" or
self-assertive could cause you to set your goals too low.
However, these anxieties could also serve a very positive
purpose, provided you do not stifle your need for individual
self-expression because of too much self-doubt. Your
inclination to restrain your self-assertive instincts could help
you to be more sensitive to the needs and rights of those with
whom you work, and your uncertainty about your right to be
"special" could ensure that you always try to be authentic and
honest in what you are offering. And your powerful need for
self-expression, hedged about by uncertainty and unease, could
contribute to the development of a highly individual set of skills
which truly earn you the right to feel special even while you are
offering service to the larger unity of which you feel a part.
You need to work to make bridges, heal what has been spoiled,
integrate what has fallen into disunity, and bring to its most
efficient and healthy functioning whatever has been
contaminated, ignored, or allowed to fall into disrepair. You
might do this with objects, with buildings, with the physical
body, with the psyche, or with nature or the plant and animal
kingdoms. A true vocation, for you, must allow you to bring to
your immediate world a little of the order and harmony which
you know to be the underpinning of all existence.
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