Thursday, October 22, 2015

54 Percent

If he spoke not of Christ to you, you spoke not of Christ to him.
(A Course in Miracles)

Portfolio managers and analysts often report that - on average - they just manage to come up with 54 names out of 100 stocks in their portfolio that beat the benchmark. So in other words, the investors accept that in 46 of all cases they underperform. Yet, the winners in their portfolios bails them out, and over the life-time of the investment, they end up making money for their clients.

I was reflecting on all this when I thought about my spiritual track record in my interactions with people at work. I am in the somewhat unique position that I only have to deal with people who I consider my friends. But even for me, in a work setting some interactions are transactional rather than spiritual. Sometimes you do strike a spiritual note which is enjoyable, but often conservations appear as mundane and, and in rare events, even soul-less.

I sometimes hear in our spiritual community the view that it is our job to cut out all transactional, soul-less and hostile exchanges. True, over time we all should aim to head that way. Yet, if one particular conversation is experienced as soul-less, is that perhaps because we ourself had a bad day, and our own fears and prejudices again got the upper hand?

Just as a portfolio manager only has himself to blame for picking the wrong stock, I never consciously cut out anyone unless the negative signals really start getting overwhelming. As a matter of fact, I don't even recall the last time I cut out anyone. Sometimes people just disappear naturally from my life, and I always accept that as well without trying to fight the unavoidable. 

So never mind a wrong tone, a missed step or an annoying conversation as long as you promise to try to do better the next day around. Work on yourself instead. Cut out all the conflicting energies that are running through you and the environment you are dealing with will clear up with you. You are not here to change the world. To the contrary, the world is here to show you the Way. And when you finally experience perfect peace and happiness at your work, that might well be a sign that it is time now to graduate. I don't know what my spiritual "hit ratio" is these days when I am interacting with my friends at work. What I do know is that my interactions get deeper and more meaningful all the time.

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