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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