Spirituality vs. Job

For a long time i’ve been seeking spiritual strength. As a young seeker I tended to settle in a distorted idea of how spiritual life should be. The image of someone spiritual was fed from cliche archetypes: long bearded, naked feet and skinny saints, wondering through deserted landscapes in an absolute inner-peace harmonic state. And I though “I wanna be like that!”

Actually the spiritual life I pretended to have included the total rejection of material responsibilities and attachments...Desire was a sickness and material objects were heavy anchors that push us to the bottom of hell.

So, in the end, how the heck do I find happiness in my job? How do I merge this materialistic world and my inner, deep secret garden where only vegetarians and Sadhus are admitted? That created a crack inside.

When you look around in your office and find that the project manager is pouring saliva while he stares at beautiful lady designer; or the other guys are secretly looking for another position cos their huge salary is not enough to buy a Porsche…And things get even worse! Later in time you find out the project manager, that selfish bastard, is marrying the beautiful designer and every single programmer has a Porsche. JA! Now you are disoriented. Looks as if life rewarded every selfish desire of every materialistic soul around you!

Well my friend...those two worlds CAN live in perfect harmony. And that loneliness should fade away, cos you are not alone in this Hieronymus Bosch looking world.

Recently a partner in Heavydots (Alex) handed me the 37signals book called Getting Real. Amazing material. Through the reading I understood that spiritual and zen based beliefs with strong professional skills could work together. I felt we were not alone. Actually that there are big fishes who proceed both spiritually and professionally.

So now the main goal is how to detect those guys! Whenever you brake up with a nasty unhealthy working environment and face job interviews make sure you interview them too. Try to understand the ethical paradigm this company breathes.

To make it simple, there are two main fields which integrates a healthy and spiritual working team: ethical behaviour and ethical economic agreement. And is very easy to seek a job with those features: just look for the right leaders. If the leaders of a company or team are conscious of ethical principles, then the rest of the team is right for you!

This few characteristics will help you to find your boss, or your inner-boss:

• Coherence
• Respect
• Patience
• Strength
• Firmness
• Humour

So don’t panic. Your secret garden can be open to public, cos lots of respectful people can walk though it without harming anything. Just pick up the right team.

And for Christ sake...there is nothing wrong with cars and girls!

See ya around!