Most of us want to perform well when we are required to do some work. Most of us do our best and hope for recognition or reward for what we do. In recent times though, this work ethic has become stressful. Many of us worry about how we are performing compared with the rest of the workforce. Some are driven by the fear of failing, some are driven by a passion to achieve and succeed and push themselves to the limits of their capacity. All this creates negativity and anxiety, and where once being efficient and doing a good job was more than enough, now there always seems to be another level of excellence to be achieved.
However, the spiritual component of life is unique. It is not a separate part of life; it is intrinsic to how we behave, and it impacts our professional life just as much as any other part of our life. There are two aspects to spiritual efficiency. One is how my spirituality can help me to be more efficient in everything I do, and the other is how efficient my own spirituality and spiritual progress is. Sometimes we act with full spirituality and sometimes we do not. It is a process and we become more and more spiritual as we continue with our study and efforts.
The calibre of the work we do is based on how I am internally. If we think of people we know of, who have achieved great things, it is often seen that if those achievements are not rooted in something spiritually healthy, the price they pay is often deadly. Great geniuses are often a mess internally and not only do they suffer, but as their personal lives unravel, their reputations also suffer. If we look at mahatmas, or great souls, who have achieved great things, their achievements are based on the inner work that they have painstakingly done over many years – their achievements are a reflection of that work. So, spirituality can help us in both, our ability to do things right and our capacity to do it well. Both factors are important and they are not the same thing. I may have the ability to perform well in my work, but unless I have the capacity to tolerate more, harmonise with others more, do more, listen more, work with those I find difficult, then the efficiency will gradually deteriorate.
Spirituality is a combination of three things. My mental stage, or level of consciousness, the awareness of karma, and my attitude based on my original values. My level of consciousness depends on who I think I am. I am not any of the roles I play. I am a great and unique soul on a spiritual journey on planet earth and enjoying the drama playing out. When I leave, it will all seem like a dream. Maintaining awareness of my karma, my actions, means that I am able to see why I am where I am, what I am doing now and what the consequences will be. So, for example, I have a role in my professional life that I have trained for and am good at. How I do that job, how I speak to people, how I listen to people, how I hold good wishes for all, will all have a consequence on any success to come. So, these actions have to be based on my attitude, based on spiritual values. I am where I am to serve and help others, contributing as others do, to the well-being of the world in which we live, for the time being. All this improves my ability and capacity. When I work with benevolence, kindness, caring, being gentle and not pushy, the impact is incredible. It requires practice on a day-to-day basis, but as the capacity increases, it is easy to see what a valuable employee one can become.
In terms of checking how efficient my spirituality is, the evaluation of my own spirituality is a fascinating area. The quality of my spirituality can be instantly measured by how happy I am, but to check more deeply there are three questions we can ask ourselves.
1. What is my motivation? Why am I making spiritual endeavours? What do I want to achieve, what do I think addressing my spirituality will provide me with?
2. What is my application of the spirituality I have already acquired? What am I doing with it?
3. How am I doing what I am doing?
Finally, we need the awareness that spiritual efficiency is not practised in a vacuum. We are not alone. There are millions of souls making spiritual endeavours and we are connecting with a higher energy to guide us and give us strength and blessings, inspiration and courage so that we can be successful on our own spiritual journey. The result is happiness.
Eric Le Reste is a journalist and producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and coordinates the activities of Brahma Kumaris centres in Canada.‑