Making a Life or Making a Living?

Foreword by Fr Peter Newby

The content of this page is the talks on the relationship between Faith and work and entitled, 'Making a Life or making a living'. They were originally given in June 2003 at St Mary Moorfields as part of this Parish's wider mission to the city community. The audience for the original talks was drawn from the city and beyond, both Catholic and Anglican alike. The question over the relationship between faith and work has begun to occupy an increasing number of Christians, as conditions in the work-place seem to be evolving so quickly in the light of changes in technology, work hours, and job security. The world of work, other than sleep, occupies the largest portion of our day, and if faith is to make an impact on our lives, other than on a Sunday, then a proper understanding of the place of work remains key to establishing a life in conformity with Jesus Christ.

Fr Dermot Tredget OSB is Prior of Douai Abbey and has made a This field his specialisation, both lecturing in Oxford and at Rome, as well as giving retreats on this subject at Douai. I was very grateful that Fr Dermot was able to devote the time to give these talks, and I hope that both those who attended the original series, and those who were unable to do so, will find this booklet of interest. These talks are also being published on our website.

Fr Peter Newby

Making a Life or Making a Living?

A Series of Five talks on the Spiritual Dimension of Work by Fr Dermot Tredget OSB at St Mary Moorfield's Catholic Church, Eldon Street, London EC2 7LS - June 2003

I. THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION AND WORK LIFE BALANCE

I would like to use this first talk to introduce the notion of workplace spirituality and at the same time 'set the scene' for the next four talks. I hope that it will become clear, if it is not already so, that issues such as relationships at work, coping with success and failure, the ethical dimension of work, have a strong spiritual element. The second part of this evening's talk will have to do with work-life balance. I shall be making the claim that the spiritual element has important part to play in getting that balance right.

Firstly, the spiritual dimension. When we describe one of our work colleagues as the life and soul of the party what do we mean? Alternatively if we speak of working in a 'soul-less' office block or having a 'soul-destroying job' what are we trying to say? In the context of workplace co-operation we might talk about building up 'team spirit.' So already, perhaps without thinking about it, we use a spiritual terminology for workplace practices and people. Consequently, we might ask ourselves, "what is the spiritual dimension and where is it"? I would like to suggest that it is never very far away. It is within you and outside of you. If you put the phrase 'spirituality in the workplace' into an Internet search engine you would be overwhelmed by the number of hits you might get. I think the last time I tried it there were over 30,000. That tells us a number of things. Firstly, there is a lot of workplace spirituality about, secondly, there is a great deal written about it and thirdly, it is not easy to pin down. Some definitions of spirituality can be found in Appendix 1 at the end of this talk. They have been taken more or less at random from books I have on my shelf. You will see the references in the footnotes. These definitions represent a broad spectrum of what different people, ranging from eminent theologians, through government agencies, to 'new age' writers, think spirituality is. I will let you read those definitions a your leisure.

What I would like to do, however, is to summarise three common themes that arise when we speak about spirituality, especially in the context of the workplace. There are others but three is enough to grasp the form and shape of what we are talking about. Firstly, just to take a straight forward dictionary definition, we learn that the spiritual has to with life, breath, soul. It is something that enlivens or animates us. The spiritual is to the soul what breathing is to the body. But, if we probe further, there are deeper and hidden meanings. It is not something that is static or fixed. There is always a sense of becoming, growing, changing or transforming. The early Christian writers, especially those in the Greek church had a special word for it. They called this conversion metanoia. For them this is not a superficial or transitory change. It was a change, a transformative process, that involved every part of the human makeup, body, soul, emotions, intellect, psychological and physiological. The spiritual had to do with a fundamental reorientation of one's life. This conversion does not happen at one particular point in time. It is an ongoing process. In fact, it does not stop until the day we die. Often we come across the metaphor or symbol of journey, path, ladder or pilgrimage in the spiritual life. These are very good ways of describing what we are about. They imply forward movement, progression, a chance to pause and stare, sometimes we are led astray down a blind alley or cul de sac, but hopefully we come back to the right path. At the end there is the goal, a light, a fulfilled and happy life. For a Christian of course that "happy life" is eternal friendship, companionship with Almighty God.

Secondly, if you have taken a quick glance at those definitions you will notice that not one of them specifically mentions 'God.' You may find that surprising. But then perhaps it is not. You don't have to be a member of a church or a religious group, Christian or some other faith, to be spiritual. Some of the definitions speak of 'super-sensible realities' or 'transcendence.' That is, the belief or experience that there is some higher power outside of us, or within us, or both, that has some form of control or influence over our lives. For most of us that higher power is the Trinitarian God. In a pluralistic and multi-faith workplace it is very important to realise that this is not the case for all our work colleagues. In fact we might have noticed at the place where we work that Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists are much more 'open' about their spiritual practices and beliefs. But what about us? "If it was a crime to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict us?" Some interesting research has been done in the USA by Ian Mitroff and Elizabeth Denton (A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1999) to show that people are much more at ease at work speaking or discussing the spiritual dimension than they are the religious. There are a number of reasons for this. One reason is the fear of being preached at or being expected to adhere to some prescriptive moral code; another is the disenchantment with the various religions and the way in which senior members (i.e. the clergy) conduct themselves. To use an American expression, "they do not walk the talk." Finally, religion is seen as some form of infringement or denial of human rights, freedom and liberties. Now of course we might not agree with these reservations and objections but that is what a lot of people think. Many of them very good people in the moral sense and deeply spiritual as well. So, when you speak about the spiritual dimension of work do not expect God to crop up into the conversation each time. My personal belief is that irrespective of who they are, what they do, all people are spiritual. It is an inescapable part of our makeup. The problem is that for a lot of the time we feel we have to bury or sublimate it. We have to leave our soul behind as soon as we walk through the workplace door. It is politically incorrect or a major CLM (career limiting move!) to declare any form of spiritual belief or religious practice.

A third common theme is the one of relationship or what some writers call 'connectedness.' I think this understanding is the most important and most useful in the context of the workplace. The best way to explain this is by imagining a vertical and horizontal axis dissecting one another at the centre. Just like a compass with four points. At the centre is me, all of me, not just the soul, but my body, intellect, emotions, in fact everything that makes me tick, every part of me that is essential for my becoming a person in the fullest sense. At the north end of the vertical axis is God, or this higher or transcendent power we might like to call it. What we know and believe is that this higher power sustains and transforms every moment of our day. It is always there even if I forget. At the south end of the vertical axis is what I like to call the inner or deeper me. The part of me that is not even known to myself, or at best it is only partly understood or recognised.

When Socrates said that the unexamined life was not worth living this is the part he was talking about. 'Know thyself!' This is the inner work that continually has to be done . As Christians we believe that the Holy Spirit can enlighten us and we come to a greater knowledge of ourselves. I think we all know that to keep a relationship alive and healthy we have to communicate. This involves listening as well as speaking. Relationships deepen and grow through constant open, honest, and trustful exchange. It is often necessary to make ourselves vulnerable, open up, be 'transparent.' In this relationship it is prayer, private and communal, that fulfils this essential function. In Christian prayer we speak of prayer as praise (affirming), contrition (saying sorry), thanksgiving (thank you) and supplication (asking). These four aspects of our relationship with God and anyone else for that matter are what keep relationships thriving. So here we have the north south axis. Let's move on to the horizontal east west axis.

We do not live in isolation from one another, community, society or state. 'No man is an island,' so the saying goes. The traditional way of thinking about the spiritual dimension was in terms of that vertical axis I have just described. It was a 'me-God' relationship. I want to suggest that the horizontal relationship between me, other people and God's creation is an integral part of the spiritual equation as well. It is not as dominant as the vertical one but it is indispensable. Our relationship with God and the inner me is going to influence and be influenced by the world around me. That of course includes the workplace, where, we are told, and I am sure many of you here can back this up by your own experience, people spend increasingly, the majority of their waking day. You hear horror stories about professional people, having started at 6.00 or 7.00 am working to the small hours of the following morning to meet a client deadline. And this is done on a frequent basis.

I want to suggest that at one end of this horizontal continuum there is the world and other people perceived by me and at the opposite end, there is the world and other people as perceived by others. Apparently, the psychologists tell us, in looking at any situation, we filter out 80% of the data available to us. We often have to, life is far too complex. But we are also conditioned as to what we see and don't see by the way we have been nurtured, other cultural differences, age, sex, and so on. After a few management meetings we soon learn that the same set of facts and figures can be interpreted in quite an opposite way by other people who we once thought were quite intelligent! I don't need to elaborate because I am sure you have been both victim and perpetrator. This is part of the spiritual dimension of relationship. The way I handle that relationship will I suggest, be strongly influenced by the way I relate to God and the inner me. Within those two extremes there is a whole range of intensity of relationship. The degree to which I get involved, or am willing to be involved with an individual, a group or even part of the created world such as the environment. Perhaps some of you are familiar with the concept of 'stakeholder theory.' Although it is mainly used in economic and social applications use it in the spiritual workplace dimension. Is my relationship with work colleagues, the customer, suppliers, the local community, the environment, the countries with which I trade, affected by my spiritual relationship with God and the inner me? My personal belief is that we cannot be unaffected by them. Just as prayer is important to that vertical relationship with God, human communication very important on the horizontal level too. I am not sure if mobile phones and E mail have improved communication. I suspect it might have created a lot of unnecessary communication or prevented more effective communication by preventing people speaking face to face!

It is on this axis of course that we are speaking about ethical and moral behaviour, the relationship between human beings. How should we act in our relationships with other people? This is why the spiritual and ethical are strongly interlinked. Although the ethical dimension is dealt with specifically in the last talk of this series the it is certainly implied in relationships at work and in the market, coping with failure and success and the spiritual tools of the workplace. So the ethical and spiritual dimension will underpin much of what I say I the next four weeks.

Before I move on I think it is important to place the spiritual journey in the Christian context. I implied earlier that there is this increasing interest in the spiritual dimension of work. Although much of it draws its inspiration from Christian spirituality some of it operates outside the mainstream Christian tradition. Go into any book store and you will discover a great number of spiritual, psychological and 'self-help' books aimed at people exploring the spiritual dimension. What many of them do not acknowledge, or stress, is the Christian belief that our spiritual journey is an integral part of salvation history, God's plan for us. Without God we can do nothing. That is the power of his grace made available to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In short, the spiritual journey or pilgrimage is following the same path as Christ did. In the course of the next four talks we will try and explore that more.

I have spoken at length about the 'spiritual relationship compass.' I would like to conclude this first part by saying something about another compass. This is the 'Compass of Four Intelligences.' Again I am drawing on some of the insights provided by different psychological writers. When I was 11 years old IQ intelligence tests were the way you were selected for Grammar school. I am afraid I failed the 11+ and ended up in the local secondary modern. I think it is fair to say that the practice of selecting people on the basis of this kind of test prevailed not only in the world of education but also in the workplace. And, to a certain extent it still does. Academic qualifications and skills tend to be what count. Over the last 10 to 15 years, in the world of business management, in particularly leadership development, other forms of intelligence are being recognised. I would just like to say a little bit about these. You will see that the second handout again identifies four points, or as they are called, quotients. Starting at the bottom and moving clockwise we have IQ or intellectual ability, then EQ for emotional, followed by SQ, the spiritual quotient and finally PQ for the physical.

Those responsible for selecting and developing management and leaders are recognising the importance of the emotional, spiritual and physical dimension as well as the intellectual. You will see that the IQ covers areas such as expertise and academic competence, the ability to think strategically, plan and process complex information. In 1996 Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist with a lot of experience in executive development brought out a book called Emotional Intelligence: why it can matter more than IQ (Bloomsbury, London, 1996). To quickly summarise, he concluded that the ability to share feelings, listening, bringing your passions to work, allowing the passions of others to affect you, meeting the needs of individuals in a team was just as important as IQ. Then in the last couple of years people like Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall have focussed in on the SQ, or what they call the 'ultimate intelligence,'.(SQ-Spiritual Intelligence: the Ultimate Intelligence, Bloomsbury, London, 2000). This intelligence integrates life projects, values and beliefs about the meaning and purpose of life. It places emphasis on personal growth and transformation. Then we come to PQ or the physical side of life. The number of gyms, health clubs, diet books, bear witness to the ways in which people in the workplace are paying far more attention to this aspect of their lives. I think it is important to get a sense of where all this is going. Much of it is to counteract the increased stress, the longer hours, the complexity of the workplace and extreme workloads. This compass of the four intelligences is saying something to us about work-life balance. Are we getting it right? I suspect quite a number of you are here because you feel the need to make some adjustment in your work-life balance, the important things in your life, family, friends, opportunity for sport and leisure, are being squeezed out. And all this is having an adverse effect on your relationships both a work and at home. So part of the need is to get our compass of intelligences pointing in the right direction. This leads me to the final part of this talk where I would like to address the issue of work-life balance.

In this final handout you have what is called a 'wheel of life exercise.' I would like this to be the practical bit of the talk. This is your homework. It is something you have to work on over a period of time. It requires self-discipline, encouragement from others and focus. But it would be useful to quickly touch on some of the segments and suggest more specific areas you might want to explore. Let's start with the spiritual and inner work. I think it is important to have a spiritual practice and routine which involves some kind of reflective time. You have to be able to create a reservoir of silence for yourselves. In this day and age it needs a great deal of ingenuity and cooperation fro others. We might come back to this at question time. The next segment is mental and physical health. How are you doing on that? Things like coping with stress. There is positive and negative stress and we need to recognise the difference. Positive stress is healthy, negative stress is harmful both mentally and physically. Are you a woman trying to be successful in a man's world both as a mother and an executive? Are you a workaholic? Does work provide a substitute for deteriorating relationships with significant people? Are you the caring type and suffering from compassion fatigue? All your time is spent looking after others and there is no time to look after yourself. That leads us to family and friendships. How are things going there? The prevailing culture of 'presenteeism' may make you feel that you can't leave work when you would like to. Poor relationships with others at work is one of the major contributors to staff morale and turnover. It undermines productivity, effectiveness and team work.

Then at a more personal level. Are my affective needs being met? Love, trust and respect are things that we will explore more in the next talk on relationships. What kind of support and leadership to we get from colleagues and our bosses? Here I make a strong distinction between 'being led' and 'being managed', or manipulated. As for personal development, with things changing so quickly, do we not have a responsibility to make sure we keep up to date with developments in our chosen profession? When do we fit in leisure and exercise? Walking swimming, golf, gym, tennis, or anything else. Taking a day off and sticking to it. Eating and drinking regularly in the right quantities. This is all part of 'life's rich tapestry' as we like to call it. We might not have much influence on our physical workspace but if we do lets create a decent place to work? One of the leading American architects of office space, Francis Duffy (The New Office, Conran Octopus, New York, 1998), speaks of four discreet office areas. First, there is the hive where everyone is busy at their assigned tasks. Next, the den where two or three can go for that intense brainstorming or confidential meeting. When you feel in need of some socialising there is the coffee house. And finally he says, the fourth kind of space, there is the cell where you go to be reflective and silent. Speaking personally this can be the most creative ad productive location to work in. With hot-desking, tele-working, working on split sites or out of a car, how easy is it? Last and not least career and money. To a great degree work-life balance is determined by what kind of lifestyle we want to have. Lifestyle is determined by the amount of money we have. It may mean setting some limits and rules, budgeting and financial planning. Choosing a new job...time to move on perhaps? In short, do we find it difficult to perform the role we are expected to play? So, for next weeks these are some of the aspects of your life that I would like you to consider.

APPENDIX 1 SOME DEFINITIONS OF SPIRITUALITY

1. Breath, life, animate, soul, enliven, quicken (Oxford Dictionary)

2. The quest for meaning in life, truth & ultimate values. (QCA-Qualifications and Curriculum Authority)

3. Awareness of aspects of life other than physical and material, including beliefs, conscience and quality of life. (QCA)

4. Feelings of transcendence, awe, wonder and mystery. (QCA)

5. The inner world of imagination, inspiration and creativity. (QCA)

6. Awareness of self-identity and self-worth. (QCA)

7. Recognition and value placed on relationships, society and environment. (QCA)

8. A particular way of living and doing things. Spirituality derives from the coming together of two things, a person's life and a set of beliefs and practices. Spirituality does not exist on its own apart from the person (or group) who lives and practices it. (Fr Tom Jordan O.P. in Spirituality Journal)

9. Spirit means life, and both life and livelihood are about living in depth, living with meaning, purpose, joy, and a sense of contributing to the greater community. A spirituality of work is about bringing life and livelihood back together again. (Matthew Fox. In The Reinvention of Work)

10. Fundamentally spirituality has to do with becoming a person in the fullest sense.

11. (John Macquarrie in Paths in Spirituality)

12. A word...to describe those attitudes, beliefs, practices which animate people's lives and help them reach out towards super-sensible realities. (Gordon Wakefield in Dictionary of Christian Spirituality)

13. Spirituality, as the subject matter, or material object of the discipline, is the experience of conscious involvement in the project of life-integration through self-transcendence toward the ultimate value one perceives. (Sandra Schneider)

14. Basic feeling of being connected with one's complete self, others and the entire universe (interconnectedness) (Mitroff and Denton)

II. RELATIONSHIPS AT WORK AND IN THE MARKETPLACE

In this second talk I would like to focus on relationships at work. In particular, three dimensions of relationship. First with the self, that is with the inner me. This may sound a strange thing to say. How can I have a relationship with myself you might ask? I can only relate to things outside of me, not within me! In answer to that I would say that parts of us are like strangers. Not only do not we recognise them, we often turn away (from ourselves) and walk in the opposite direction. The key to having a good relationship with others and understanding them, is understanding ourselves first. So I have no reservations about putting that at the top of the list.

That leads us to the second dimension; the relationship with those with whom I work, whether it is colleagues, line management, the chief executive or people who are subordinate to me; and finally, with the marketplace and other stakeholders. This is the third dimension. Last week I touched on the concept of 'stakeholder.' So, in terms of market relationship, we will ask ourselves who am I relating with in the wider world of business? I will go on to suggest that the scope for relationship is more than the customer. In all this I am especially interested in the quality and degree of relationships. As I said in the first talk, the spiritual and ethical dimension are interlinked.

Just to recap a little. You will remember that I suggested that one of the best ways of understanding spirituality was in terms of relationship or connectedness on a vertical and horizontal axis. On the vertical axis, with the whole me in the centre, you have the relationship with God (or some higher power) at the top and at the bottom with the inner, deeper me. It is a part of me that even I find it difficult to see or understand. I suggested that part of our spiritual journey involves the gradual discovery of that inner depth. This is achieved through prayer and spiritual practice. Whatever form it takes prayer is the essential communication that is needed to keep a relationship alive and flourishing. This is what spiritually nourishes us, especially in times of need when the going gets tough and we are finding it difficult to cope. As Christians we believe that Grace plays an important part here. This is the free gift from God, his unconditional love. And also the sacraments, God's contact points in our everyday existence; especially the sacraments of healing and strengthening such as the Eucharist, reconciliation and, when we are ill, anointing. Above all this relationship is characterised by faith. That leap in the dark that takes us beyond the rational to the world of mystery, awe and transcendence.

We are all on a spiritual journey. Throughout the Christian ages many books and manuals have been written about the form this journey might take. For each of us it will be different. We can engage with the spiritual life in various ways. We may find the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius helpful, alternatively we might be attracted by the Spanish Carmelite mystics such as St Teresa of Avila or St John of the Cross. Increasingly people are becoming Franciscan tertiaries or Benedictine oblates to supply a spiritual framework for their daily work. One of the more important insights I have gained is how temperament can be of help in my understanding of the inner me. When I was speaking about the four different kinds of intelligence last week I mentioned that many people undergoing selection or development in the workplace participate in various tests. Often one of these is the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). There is not time to explain it fully, but if you have not done it, I would strongly urge you to have a go. It is very revealing. There are four pairs of preferences, introvert or extrovert, sensing or intuitive, thinking or feeling and judging or perceiving. Realistically we tend to be at a point on a continuum where we gravitate to one of these preferences. It is never black and white. What we end up with is a profile which might tell me for instance that my preferences veer towards the introvert, sensing, feeling and judging.

What I am particularly interested in here is the application of Myers Briggs to the spiritual growth. For instance if you have an S and a J - sensing and judging (SJ) you will probably have a strong preference for Ignatian spirituality. About 40% of the general population in the US are like this. This is someone who tends to be planned and organised, a strong sense of duty and obligation. I want to feel useful. Even though I may have doubts about by faith I continue to go to Church. An SJ would have a strong work ethic. Laws, order and hierarchy are important. Can be pessimistic. If you are SP (sensing and perceiving), again about 40% of the population would be drawn to Franciscan spirituality. This means that you want to be free, unconfined, able to respond to the prompting of the spirit. You don't like the restriction of rules. You want action. These people make good negotiators, diplomats and are easy to get on with. I have not got time to go into further detail but I hope you can envisage how a modern psychological insight such as Myers Briggs could be of help.

I would like to move on now to the horizontal dimension and speak of our relationship with the people we work with, those within the organisation rather than those outside of it. If faith characterises the relationship between God and me, with human relationships it is trust. In any breakdown of relationship, the lack of trust is usually the major contributor. It is probably the most single important issue that affects society today. Some of you may have heard last year's BBC Reith lectures given by Dr Onora O'Neill, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, entitled A Question of Trust (C.U.P, Cambridge, 2002). Often we say we can no longer trust our bosses or others we work with. People that we have to rely on are treated with suspicion. This crisis of trust precipitates a vicious spiral and has a debilitating effect on morale, teamwork and productivity. In the concluding remarks of her final lecture she says this: "We may constantly express suspicion, but it is not clear that we have stopped placing our trust in others - indeed it may be impossible. We may constantly seek to make others trustworthy, but some of the regimes of accountability and transparency developed across the last fifteen years may damage rather than reinforce trustworthiness. The intrusive methods we have taken to stem a supposed crisis of trust may even, if things go badly, fuel a crisis of trustworthiness, and so lead to a genuine crisis of trust. If we want to avoid this unfortunate spiral we need to think less about accountability through micro-management and central control, and more about limiting deception. If we are to restore trust we shall have to start communicating in ways that are open to assessment."

I am sure that many of you here tonight recognise the scenario she describes. Onora O'Neill sees the solution in a fundamental review of the way in which public, political and private institutions are governed. This of course includes the workplace. One aspect of that is being concerned less with transparency and more with limiting deception and falsehood. Put in a positive way acting with truth, integrity and honesty. What Onora O'Neill has done is to focus on some of the sound bites articulated in Francis Fukuyama's important treatise published in 1995 on Trust: the Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (Free Press, New York, 1996) in which he linked social trust to economic prosperity. Jesus reminds us that any house that is divided amongst itself cannot stand (Mark 3:25). O'Neill and Fukuyama are confirming just that.

There are two other important words that come to mind in the context of human relationship and these are love and respect. The two are linked but not the same. Love is not commonly spoken about in the workplace. It does not sit well with words or phrases like the bottom line, competition, market share, productivity, shareholder value and so on. Of course there is 'tough love' or having to make difficult decisions; 'no pain, no gain' as we are sometimes told. But if we believe that there should be love in the workplace what form should it take? Love is the principle which creates and sustains human relationships. It is the catalyst for helping others change and achieve. Should it based on the Christian understanding of love or should it be a diluted version where we are more measured in the ways we express our love for our work colleagues? After all, cultural, legal and professional codes place considerable constraints on the way in which we can express our love to one another in the workplace.

In terms of Christian love, Jesus gives us plenty to reflect on. "God is love" (I John 4:16); "no greater love can a man have than to lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13); "love your neighbour as yourself" (Mark 12:31); "when you did this to one of these you did it to me" (Matthew 25:35). Friendships formed an important part of Jesus' life. "I no longer call you servant but friends," Jesus says (John 15:14). Christian friendship is underpinned by divine love. Our relationships with other people in the workplace is really a three way relationship: us, the other person and God. There will be many people at work that we will find it difficult to like, let alone love. In fact we may have a strong aversion to them because of the things they do and say, what they believe in. I think this is where the notion of respect comes in useful. Respect is to know one's own worth and to honour the worth of others. It is a acknowledgement of the inherent worth and innate rights of each and everyone. We may not be able to love someone in the way, or with the same intensity, as we love a significant person in our lives, but we can treat them in a way which preserves the integrity of that three way relationship between us, God and them. A very wise and gentle monk gave me some good advice once. When you are finding someone difficult, even impossible to love, think of him or her as standing before you with Christ's hand touching their shoulder. Christ is with everyone. When you did it to one of these you did it to me.

One aspect of Christian love, not always immediately obvious to the outsider, which we might pause and reflect on for a moment is that of obedience. Christian love implies being obedient to one another. We tend to think of obedience as one way - the subordinate obeys the superior, the child obeys the parent. But in practice loving requires us to give in, accommodate the other person's need. Even put the other person first. After all are not parents continually obedient to their children? For two decades or more mothers and fathers put their lives 'on hold' as all their efforts and love are directed towards their children, nurturing, clothing and educating them. Sleep deprivation, acting as chauffeur for all their school activities, and their friends, (why do you always bring your friends round to our house my mother always used to say!) and socialising are common features of this kind of mutual love. This is all part and parcel of parental love. In his famous sayings, The Prophet, Kahlil Gilbran (Heinemann, London, 1980) speaks of 'work being love made visible.' When relationships at work get tough that is a sobering thought.

It would be unrealistic not to assume that there are times at work when relationships go askew. We legitimately get angry with someone for a variety of reasons. We believe that we have been insulted, treated unjustly or used or manipulated. Perhaps we have been physically hurt, even if it is accidentally. Culturally, our stoical British reserve tends to prevent us from expressing our anger no matter how valid it might be. That inability to discharge our anger in some constructive way can lead to resentment, displacing it onto someone else, often our partner or children. We can even get very depressed about it and set up some sort of pretence or denial that it ever happened. Some people seek refuge in some form of addictive behaviour, drink, drugs or shopping. If our passions take over we may discharge our anger destructively. This can cause irreparable damage to workplace relationships. We lose our temper, hurl verbal abuse and sometimes physical violence. The signs are, that as people in the workplace come increasingly under stress, these violent explosions are more and more prevalent. And it spills out onto family violence, road rage, deplorable sportsmanship, unsocial behaviour and vice versa.

What can we do about it? I think the most important things is to watch out for the signs, especially in ourselves. You get to know when things are starting to "come to the boil." Try and physically walk away from it, even if momentarily. Find a neutral person to have a chat about it . Go for a walk, have a coffee or something. The great gift in relationships is to be able to say something, no matter how negative it might be, out of love for the other person rather than out of hatred or desire for revenge. So often it is not what we say, but the way we say it. The tone of our voice, and the body language we use.

What comes after we have "blown our top?" For the Christian what follows has to be a time of forgiveness and reconciliation. Remember that we don't have to have the other person's permission to forgive them. They might not even realise that they have offended you. We can be oversensitive in the same way that others can be insensitive. The other person might be on the other side of the world. They might be dead. Forgiveness is entirely up to me. It is both a decision to let go and a process. It is a decision to let go of the anger, the desire for revenge, punishment or getting even with someone. And it is also the start of a process. We sometimes say "forgive and forget" when perhaps we should say "remember, forgive, then you can forget and move on." Moving on is an integral and final part of the process.

For the final part of this talk I would like to look at relationships beyond the workplace. Notice that what I have said so far in terms of the spiritual dimension of relationship also has a strong moral, ethical dimension to it. We are speaking about ethics as well as spirituality here. How should I live? How should I treat other people at work? Where is happiness and fulfilment for me and others? As I said last week our relationship with God, as sustained through prayer, worship and the sacraments will shape how we relate to other people and God's creation. In turn, with God's grace, these factors will shape us.

Up to now I have been speaking about relationships with people with whom we have fairly frequent contact, usually on a daily basis. Businesses have stakeholders, that is groups and individuals who benefit from, or are harmed by the business activity including the people within the business. These stakeholders also have rights that can either be violated or respected by business. In addition to the obvious ones such as owners, employees and customers it has suppliers, local community, the environment, the unemployed, the developing world and so one. If we take the developing world as one example we cannot fail to see the effect that some multinationals are having on third world countries in terms of extraction of scarce mineral resources, pollution, unsafe and unhealthy work practices, breakdown in cultural and moral values brought about by lack of education, media advertising and so on.

From the earliest Christian centuries the Church has promoted the social doctrine of the Common Good. In response to the rapid economic and technological progress, not to mention the growth of the free market economy, Catholic social teaching, especially in the last 110 years, has placed increased emphasis on this. The Second Vatican Council (Gaudium et Spes - Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World §26) described the common good as the 'sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as individuals or groups, to reach their fulfilment more fully and more easily.' In fact the Church's understanding of the Common Good is far wider than the concept of stakeholder theory. It continues: "there is a growing awareness of the dignity of the human person, since he stands above all things, and his rights and duties are universal and inviolable. Therefore, there must be made available to all everything necessary for leading a life truly human, such as food, clothing, and shelter; the right to chose a state of life freely and to found a family, the right to education, employment, to a good reputation, to respect, to appropriate information, to activity in accord with the upright norm of one's own conscience, to protection of privacy and to rightful freedom in maters religious too."

The teaching of the Second Vatican Council has further been reinforced by recent papal encyclicals especially those of the Pope John Paul II such as Laborem Exercens and Centesimus Annus. What we are speaking about here goes beyond the workplace and outside the control of the humble employee. It also involves the State and political power. We may well ask what influence do I have over these matters? Through democratically elected government we do have the ability to choose and shape political administration that puts the Christian understanding of common good at the top of the list. These are all matters of social justice. They cannot be ignored. But, for the moment I am more keen to establish the link between the spiritual dimension of work and social justice. This is something that I will hope to develop more in the final talk on 30th June 'Taking responsibility for ourselves and others: the ethical dimension of work.'

III. COPING WITH FAILURE AND SUCCESS

Although I a going to start with failure I would like to keep the enquiry at the optimistic tone. Also I want to place our whole discussion in a Christian as well as a workplace context. Here is a quotation from St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. (Chapter 1, vv. 18-25).

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are to be saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the he who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength."

That passage expresses a particular theological perspective which has come to be known as the 'Theology of the Cross.' But as I said in my introduction, we know that resurrection and eternal life follow the cross. We do not end on a sad note. From a spiritual standpoint this reminds us that wherever we are, and whatever we do, we have to keep one eye on this world and one eye on the next. It is as if every task we undertake, whether it be at work, at home, or wherever else, has an eschatological perspective. Eschatos is the Greek for last things, the ultimate, the eternal. Everything we do has an ultimate purpose. That is an inescapable fact that we Christians have to continually remind themselves about. What St Paul is telling us is that part of the paradox of the Christian life is the ability to celebrate failure. Is not that what Christ's life was about? We follow in his footsteps.

Failure comes in many guises, ranging from job loss and redundancy, loss of confidence and trust. Perhaps an important client no longer requires our services. Business is subject to a whole range of threats outside out control. In particular, the finance services sector is a volatile and fragile environment. The financial markets fail to offer the security they did a decade ago. If we accept that failure is an intrinsic part of our life how do we cope with it?

Christ provides us with the answer. It is through humility and obedience. Christ's humility was a robust, courageous form of humility. I said a little bit about obedience last week in the context of it being one aspect of love. In addition to love, there are also two other theological virtues, faith and hope, that we need to keep in front of us. For the moment let us focus on humility, especially humility in the workplace. What does it look like? What are its characteristics? How would we describe it to someone else? Would we recognise it if we fell over it? Spiritual writers describe humility in a variety of ways or images. One of these images is the ladder. The symbolism reminds us of Jacob's ladder in the Book of Genesis (28:12). In his Rule for Monks, written in the sixth century, St Benedict speaks of twelve steps of humility by which we ascend to God. (Rule of St Benedict Ch 7). The two sides of the ladder are body and soul. When we explore the meaning of failure and success in our lives these steps can provide important insights about ourselves.

Remember that last week I spoke about self-knowledge being the key to understanding other people. The word humility comes from the Latin word humus which means ground or dirt. Those of you who are gardeners know all about putting some good humus or vegetable mould around plants that need nourishment and protection. I think that one of the best ways of describing humility is having both feet on the ground. Being realistic about yourself, the world around you, the threats and opportunities. In the workplace spirituality workshops that we run at Douai Abbey one of the projects the participants tackle is that of defining humility. They do it with great insight and wisdom. These are some of the words and phrases that they have come up with; grounded, authentic, deep listening, servant leadership, being the same to all people, affirming others, accepting mistakes, learning from others, respect for consensus, open communication and recognising diversity.

We may be lucky enough to work in an organisation where such humility is apparent. But, more often than not, it is not the case. The workplace is preoccupied with personal advancement, massaging the ego, dominating others. Many of the problems associated with workplace bullying and harassment are caused by the opposites of humility. The vices of pride and greed.

I am sure that we ought to agree that pride has a legitimate rôle in the workplace. Surely, we ask, there is nothing wrong in taking pride in our work? Doing something to the best of one's ability or achieving a breakthrough in some project. But there is that negative pride where we cling to bad habits, pursue illusory goals, engage in a blind commitment to work practices that should have been changed years ago. St Benedict was very wary of monks taking pride in their work because he saw that it could lead to forms of isolationism, individuals or small groups declared independence from the rest (RB 57). Others were no loner relevant. In short, their personal goals were no longer in alignment with the organisation they worked for.

One aspect commonly associated with failure is blame or scape-goating. Perhaps some of you work in organisations where a blame culture is prevalent. One or two of you mentioned this last week in the context of workplace relationships. This is a very negative way of coping with failure. Of course it was an Old Testament practice to send a goat out into the desert to die in order to expiate the sins of the people. The sacrifice of birds and animals in the Temple at Jerusalem was also a way of expiating the guilt of the donors. Getting back to our theme on the theology of the cross, Christ was the ultimate sacrifice, once and for all, who on Calvary expiated the sin of the world. This is the atonement, the celebration of the greatest failure, we might like to call it. At mass that sacrifice, that atonement, is remembered. 'Do this in memory of me.' Atonement or at-one-ment; that is exactly what it is. Finally, we are at one with God and with one another. So there is also something eucharistic about the failure, trials and tribulations which we have to undergo in the workplace. In no way do we want to legitimise unjust behaviour and work practices, but undergoing trials, as St Paul reminded us in that passage from Corinthians, is part of the journey.

Although failure can be a positive learning experience, it can just as easily lead to fear, anxiety, physical and mental sickness, even despair and crisis. I wonder how much negative stress is caused by fear and anxiety of failure? I mentioned in earlier talks that stress has a positive and negative dimension it. Stress in an inescapable part of our journey. The crucial thing is knowing how to cope with it. Failure to cope can lead to, or be a contributing factor to illness, chemical dependency, divorce, family break up, bankruptcy and even suicide.

In another group exercise done during a workshop participants came up with the following key words and phrases for failure; lack of trust, being disorganised and confused, de-motivated, lonely, isolated, silenced and voiceless, powerless and invisible, withdrawn, tense and tired, aggressive and angry, and finally, unloved. We need to know how to recognise these negative symptoms early on and take corrective action. This applies as much to others as it does to ourselves. If there is one way in which we can show our love and concern for one another in the workplace it is by keeping our antennae alert for the tell-tale signs of stress. It is not uncommon for people to be subject to physical burnout and mental distress by the time they are in their late 30's and 40's. And the age range is creeping downwards. Only today the headline of the 'Independent' newspaper (June 16, 2003) read "Employers who ignore stress face legal action." The government through the HSE is to introduce legislation to ensure that:

85% of employees say that they can cope with the demands of the job

85% consider they have an adequate say over how they do their work

85% say they get adequate support from colleagues and superiors

65% say that they are not subjected to unacceptable behaviour such as bullying

65% say they understand their rôle and responsibilities

65% say they are involved in organisational changes

Those who observe leadership behaviour ask the question more and more "why do people hit bottom when they reach the top?" This may be characteristic of our own lives? When we look back, probably the most significant growth points are the times when we have had to come through some form of personal crisis. On a work level we may be able to cope with crises more easily. But personal crises seem to have a far more devastating effect. A couple of years ago I ran a workshop for a group of highly successful young managers. They all owned start-up companies, usually high-tech, turnover around £10 million, 50 or so employees. We addressed this issue of success and failure. Out of a group of 13, 11 were divorced. One could tell from the different stories they told, that in spite of the commercial success they enjoyed, their personal lives and significant relationships had been fractured. I think that this is a reminder that, as Christians, we have do remember the transitory nature of many aspects of the business world.

Earlier I used the spiritual image of the ladder in relationship to humility. I would like to use another image and that is the one of the desert. In my imagination I always thought that desert was a hostile environment. Experienced travellers tell us it can be, if you are not properly equipped for it. It was not until I travelled to some of them that I discovered how beautiful they could be. For instance the deserts of America, Australia and the Middle East. From the earliest times, Christians, went out into the desert to seek God. Jesus went out into the desert for that very purpose. It was also a way of preparing for what was to lay ahead. We are told in the Gospels that he fasted forty days and forty nights (Matthew 4: 1-11).

I wonder if we can look at the workplace as some form of desert experience? In other words the workplace desert is important to enter, it can provide opportunities to grow fully human. Sometimes it is a place of powerlessness, purification and hardship. But it is also a place of tranquillity, peace and contentment where we find a thirst quenching spiritual oasis. Perhaps this is where faith and hope come in to play? Faith that we are held closely in the hands of God and hope that we are called to some better place. So, I don't think the desert is a place we should be afraid to go into. Recognise it when we are in it and try and adopt the right coping mechanisms.

Well, let's end on that happy note! How do we cope with success. Is there anything to cope with? Rather should not we say, "we enjoy success." We are talking about the fruits of our hard work, our personal achievements and those of our children and others. Success can take many forms, the affirmation that others give us, they place their confidence and trust in us, it can be the gaining of academic and professional qualifications, promotion, a job with better pay or more status. Success is often accompanied by a greater self-confidence, we find it easier to relax. and so on. When we are successful we can be energised, creative, have a feeling of worth and a clear idea of our purpose in life. But then after a while, do we start to get bored, impatient with ourselves, get itchy feet, we want to move on? This is part of the human condition.

Success can have its negative side. We become over confident, even arrogant about our achievements. The more we have the more we want. Envy, jealousy and greed start to creep in. We cast our eye on our neighbours goods. "I'd like a car like that," or, "they are going trekking in Nepal this year darling. Shall we go too?" A pre-Christmas shopping weekend to New York perhaps while the pound is strong? Yet, we can not eat plain bread all the time - we need some butter and jam on it! For the Christian we are wandering into a hostile rather than an hospitable desert.

Again the virtue of humility brings us down to earth. Reality regains the upper hand. There is another aspect of success which we might consider and that is competition. Does it follow that if there are winners there are always losers. Or put another way, my success is someone else's failure? The perfect economic model would say that supply always matches demand. There are no losers! But I think we know that the workplace is a harsh, cut-throat environment. We can develop that killer instinct - win at all costs. My job may be on the line if I don't get a particular contract. That may be so, but it another dilemma for the Christian to reflect upon in relation to God's plan for each of us.

We have talked quite a lot about virtue this week. Humility, obedience, faith, hope and love. But in the meantime I would like to introduce the virtue of temperance or temperateness. This is one of the four cardinal virtues. The other three are justice, courage, and prudence. And next week I shall talk about them more. In some countries virtue is something you do. In countries like ours virtues tend to be something you do not do. The virtue of temperateness applies particularly to our appetites, our physical needs. To use a modern term, it is about life-style. So it leads to the question, "when is enough enough?" What are we prepared to sacrifice in terms of wants so that we can live more balanced lives? This does not mean being a kill-joy. Rather it means the opposite, to satisfy our desires appropriately. In fact, the great systematic theologian St Thomas Aquinas thought it a vice not to satisfy our natural desires unless we had good reason for doing so. What is the trade-off? Pleasurable things have an end, a purpose. Temperateness enables us to use and enjoy pleasurable things in the right amount. The thing is that we live in a society where our natural desires are continually being stimulated through media advertising, easy credit, peer group pressure, and retail opportunities. Today a temperate person needs to desire food, drink, sex, clothing, houses, music, entertainment, status, sport, travel and an innumerable variety of possessions in the appropriate way, at the appropriate time and to the appropriate degree. We live in a world where something like 70% of the world's resources are used by 30% of the population, perhaps far less. We work in a society where one of the main indices of success is economic growth. Almost by definition demand has to be stimulated continually to match supply, increase turnover and profitability. So where do we go from here?

I suspect that as we become more successful in worldly terms, better paid, more senior in our place of work the questions I will need to be asking myself more and more are. What do I want out of life? Jesus tells us that he has come into the world s that "we may have life, life to the full." Each of us has to answer the question where is life to the full for me?

IV. THE SPIRITUAL TOOLS OF THE WORKPLACE

I have taken the title for this fourth talk from St Benedict's Rule, Chapter 4 "The tools for good work." (Quae sunt instru-menta bonorum operum). It is one of the longest and most important chapters in his rule and in it he outlines the virtues and habits needed to be a good monk. One could describe it as a 'teaching checklist' for the Abbot or superior to use in the monastery. St Benedict often speaks of the spiritual tools or spiritual craft, and likens the monastery to a workshop. What I would like to do here is use this chapter as a basis for defining some of the more important spiritual tools for the workplace.

Before I do that I want to make a diversion. So far I have not said that much about the Rule of St Benedict. You may think that is a strange for a Benedictine monk to omit this. So, before I delve in to our spiritual toolbox it might be worth elaborating on the Rule. I think that it is generally accepted by the majority of historians that St Benedict's rule is one of the most important documents to have survived from the early Christian centuries. Its impact on western society and successive generations has been significant. In the 21st century the Rule of St Benedict continues to be recognised as being of importance. As some of you may know there has been a revival in interest the Benedictine model and its spirituality. More and more people like yourselves are reading and using the Rule of St Benedict as a guidebook for daily living. One management consultant, after reading the Rule, described it as a manual for 'high performance coaching.' Douai Abbey now has over 50 Benedictine oblates doing just that.

Situated on the fringes of the world, the monastery is a place where the monk can focus on seeking God. Monastic life is a form of Christian commitment or vocation. In St Benedict's time the monastery was not clericalised. It was a kind of lay movement. I suppose the nearest equivalent might be a secular institute where lay people take vows. In one sense people who live in monasteries chose to be marginal people. I remember once hearing monks being called a "metaphysical misfit." Yet, in another sense, we all have that monastic impulse within us. The monk is an archetype of the human condition. By this I mean that there are times when we seek seclusion from the cares of the world.; we seek solitude to explore the deeper meaning of life. You do not have to join a monastery to create this reservoir of silence. With practice and the right personal dispositions we can create places where we can go to be monks, even if for a short while.

A Benedictine monastery and the life of a monk is characterised by three main activities, firstly, the Work of God or Opus Dei, secondly some form of manual work or labour, and thirdly, sacred reading or Lectio Divina and study. The work of God, community worship and prayer took pride of place. "Let nothing be preferred to the work of God," says St Benedict. In his rule, with great care and detail, he legislated for eight or nine prayer slots per day. So the monks were always in and out of church. His idea was that a monk should pray continuously. Even when they were at their daily labours the rhythm of work enabled them to engage in prayer. When away from the monastery, at prayer times they would stop and say it where they were. Some forms of manual work or physical activity lend themselves to praying; cultivating the fields, gathering the crops, pruning the fruit trees, sweeping the cloister, setting the table for dinner, preparing the ingredients for the meal. These are such routine activities that we don't have to think very much, we go into auto mode.

Right up to the time of the Reformation the Benedictine rule provided an important model of how we should engage with work. There were many types of work. The monks were responsible for providing the main repositories and libraries for many of the ancient texts we now have available. Until professional manuscript copiers gradually took over in the late middle ages, monks produced copies of scripture, commentaries, sermons and classical texts. Some of you who are familiar with illustrated manuscripts will be familiar with famous copies such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. The raw materials for manuscripts and books had to be provided also. One flock of sheep produced enough vellum for one book. A goose would provide a sufficient number of strong quills. The provenance and production of ink was a lengthy and skilled process. Book production was only one type of work that monks undertook. They were also skilled at agriculture, architecture, land management, homeopathy, construction. As their expertise in these areas grew monasteries became successful enterprises. Not only did they build and own churches (many now English Cathedrals) and monasteries, but they possessed many acres of land. At the time of the Reformation about 25% of all land in the British Isles was owned by monastic houses. It was far more than they needed. One can understand why their wealth was envied by others. In many ways the Benedictine ideal was diluted as monasteries became preoccupied with maintaining and caring for large buildings, thousands of acres of farm and woodland. Monasteries were large businesses, and many today still are. But through the centuries the nature of work has changed both in and outside the monastery. From manual work to the crafts and then to the kind of work where the intellectual skills are far more important. So it is the same in the modern workplace. Our value to an employer or company, if that is the right way to describe it, is our intellectual capital, our expertise and experience.

What St Benedict wanted was a self-sufficient community. As far as possible all that was needed to sustain a monastery was to be done within the enclosure. He envisaged monks engaging in crafts such as farming, milling, cultivating grapes and wine making, brewing, baking, bee-keeping, book-binding, gardening, weaving, tailoring, blacksmith, carpentry, masonry and stone carving. Every monastery had its workshops. At the end of the day the monastery had to be economically viable. The monks contributed their labour and their services free. Everything that was earned or made came back to the monastery. A monk forgo the right to ownership and private property. This was living the common life, partly in imitation of the early Christians we read about in the Acts of the Apostles 5:32-37. Just to remind you of two key sentences in that passage: "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and one soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common...There as not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold."

For Benedict work was love made visible. The monks displayed their love for each other through their mutual service. That service did not stop at the enclosure door. It reached out into the world. They became important centres for scholarship and learning. Monasteries provided hospitality in the form of accommodation and food, shelter for the poor and hungry, refuge to fugitives, hospices for the sick and dying. It was rather like a medieval "social services." As St Benedict constantly reminds the monk, Christ dwells in all these people.

"Care of the sick must rank above and before all else, so that they may truly be served as Christ, for he said 'I was sick and you visited me' (Matt 25:36), and 'What you did for one of these least brothers you did for me.'" (Matt 25:40).

For over fifteen centuries Benedictine monks and nuns have preserved this approach to work. That is, work as love and service to others. The types of work have changed. For instance in the English Benedictine Congregation the emphasis is on pastoral ministry and education. Other congregations, such as the German Otillien Congregation, focus on missionary work part of which is establishing schools, hospitals and homes in the developing world. The Solesmes congregation is famous for its liturgy, especially plainsong chant. Where monasteries were established local communities and economies flourished. A great number of the surrounding villages and their inhabitants were dependent on the monastery for their livelihood. If you had a famous saint or martyr buried in your church you became (like Canterbury or Winchester) an important place of pilgrimage. This was tourism in one of its earliest guises. I hope this overview of the Benedictine Rule gives you a clearer idea of the shape and form contemporary monastic life takes.

St Benedict created a community where men and women prayed and worked together. A community that was sustained by love and service manifested in mutual obedience and service to one another, and through hospitality, a concern for the world that came to its door. This evening we might want to ask ourselves to what extent that Benedictine ideal is desirable and achievable in the modern workplace or business. Let's get back to Chapter 4, "The Tools for Good Works." As we might expect from someone who is instructing us on living a good life the initial section of this chapter is a restatement of the Decalogue, the ten commandments. But let's move on. Remember what I said in the first talk about the spiritual dimension having a vertical and horizontal relationship. Here St Benedict is focusing on the relationship we have with our neighbour. You will notice that he uses that phrase from the gospels that has come to be known in ethical terminology as the 'golden rule.' Even if you do not have a faith or religious practice this is the code that is commonly adopted in a civilised society. "Do not do to someone else, what you would not want done to you." Then, in no particular order, St Benedict lists the good works needed for the Christian life, honour everyone, relieve the lot of the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick, help the troubled and console the sorrowing. Our way of acting should be different from the world's way, the love of Christ must come before all else. St Benedict goes on to speak about anger, nursing a grudge, forgiveness which we spoke about in the second talk on relationships in the workplace. And he concludes, "the workshop where we are to toil faithfully at all these tasks is the enclosure of the monastery and stability in the community."

The word virtue if frequently cropping up in the Rule of St Benedict. Last week I said something about the Cardinal virtues, but particularly temperance or temperateness. Now we will start to look at a further two, justice and fortitude. We will look at them some more in the final talk next week as well. The whole of a monk's life is spent acquiring virtue. St Benedict calls the monastery a "school of the Lord's service." This is where the virtues were taught and practised. A virtue is defined as a "settled or consistent attitude conducive to achieving a good outcome in some aspect of our behaviour." Much of Christian teaching on virtue has its origin in Greek Philosophy, especially Plato and Aristotle. St Augustine was strongly influenced by Plato. St Thomas Aquinas took large chunks of Aristotle and adapted them for the systematic exposition of Christian doctrine in his Summa Theologica. Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics set out what he understood to be the ultimate end of man's existence. The first was happiness, human flourishing or fulfilment, eudaimonia as it is called in the Greek. The second end was contemplation.

For St Benedict, as for all other monastic writers, this happiness or fulfilment was friendship and companionship with God. The highest form of contemplation was union with God. Something that could only be achieved fully in life eternal. Aristotle developed a schema or framework for the virtues. He uses the concept of the 'mean.' The virtue comes in between the 'excess' and the 'deficiency.' For instance, courage is the mean between cowardice and rashness. Temperance between licentiousness and insensibility. Prudence or practical wisdom is an intellectual virtue which requires good deliberation, understanding and judgement. Aristotle's treatises on ethics was the preparation for the person to play his rightful role as a citizen in the state or polis as he called it, hence the word 'politics.' The individual was equipped with the proper virtues for statecraft and public life. With confidence they could engage in political debate, the world of policy and decision making.

When you have a spare moment, look at St Benedict's "Tools of Good Works" and Aristotle's list of virtues. The Christian virtues are a development of the pagan virtues. You will notice that Aristotle does not include humility or obedience. Neither does he speak of faith, hope or charity although he does talk at length about human friendship. Justice is treated separately as well. Nonetheless, in the context of the workplace I think that the Aristotelian virtues have an important part to play in our practice of Christian virtue as outlined in the Rule of St Benedict. This is because they form a basis for our understanding of human behaviour especially in relation to the ethical dimension. How should I live? More particularly for us this evening. How should I behave in the workplace? One of the main points I want to ask tonight is, "can the workplace be just as good a workshop for acquiring virtue as the monastery?"

What about justice in the workplace. The short definition of justice is giving each one his or her due. This includes giving God his due also! That is not as easy as it sounds. St Benedict quotes St Matthew, "endure persecution for the sake of justice." What does that mean? It sound as if St Benedict is trying to justify injustice! What St Benedict is telling us here that being just means being in right relationship with other people and other things. Giving each person his or her due means getting things in balance, in equilibrium. It also means respecting the rights of each person and establishing a harmony which promotes equity and the common good. Sometimes that means burying our ego and putting up with discomfort, inconvenience and even psychological pain. There are plenty of opportunities for doing that in the workplace. We don't have to go out and seek them. They land right on our desk; work colleagues, line managers, customers, unreliable suppliers or service providers. They are always ready to torment and persecute us. How do we react to such situations. Is it a question of fight or flight? I think that this is where courage and fortitude come in. Our natural instinct may be to put up and shut up but in more serious matters we need to courage to make a stand for what we thing is the right thing to do. Here we also need constancy and stability. I am not going to say much about prudence as I intend to cover that in my final talk next week. Sometimes we have to make difficult decisions or take a calculated risk. That requires courage.

Catholic social teaching in the last 110 years has been extremely vocal about justice in the workplace, especially in regards to wage levels, conditions of work, adequate rest and leisure, holidays and most importantly time to fulfil one's religious obligations on Sundays and other important festivals such as Christmas. If you remember, in my second talk, I quoted from one of the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. (Gaudium et Spes) in relation to the Common Good. I would just like to read a short extract from John Paul II Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (§32) published in 1991.

"Besides the earth, man's principal resource is man himself. His intelligence enables him to discover the earth's productive potential....Important virtues are involved in this process, such as diligence, industriousness, prudence in under-taking reasonable risks, reliability and fidelity in interpersonal relationships, as well as courage in carrying out decisions which are difficult and painful but necessary, both for the overall working of business and in meeting possible setbacks."

So here we see that the Church continues to place great emphasis on workplace virtue. In doing so she is only reaffirming the teaching of the New Testament and Christian tradition down the centuries. But, as the nature of work and the workplace has changed the teaching has had to adapt. This leads me to the final part of this talk. If we believe in the importance of workplace virtues, how do we acquire them. Perhaps, we ask, they are already there and they have to be developed or drawn out? One way of course is through grace, the Holy Spirit. St Paul speaks about the gifts of the Spirit, wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, prophecy and discernment in I Corinthians 12: 4-11. In Galatians (5:22-23) he lists the gifts of the Spirit as being love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity and self-control.

Virtue, according to Aristotle could be learned through training. Many of the virtues we need for adulthood are acquired as a child, at 'our mother's knee' through developing good habits. Good habits are approved, bad habits disapproved. After a time these become part of us. We don't have to think about what we are going to do. These become character traits, human disposition or what we call virtues. Virtue comes from the word meaning power or strength. Many would say that the decline in the influence of the church and religion has made the acquisition of virtue more difficult. The gradual disintegration of family life, the social fabric, greater autonomy and independence, the ability to think for oneself as a result of better education and liberalism leaves people without the kind of benchmarks or standards of behaviour we took for granted fifty or so years ago.

It is a kind of "pick and mix" approach to morality. As young people, graduates and those straight from secondary education, move into the workplace, from where do they obtain their ethical framework? I think we are faced with an enormous problem. It is not easy to develop virtue unless the seeds of virtue have been sown at an earlier age. I do not think that a top-down approach such as imposing codes of practice, passing more laws, professional handbooks necessarily 'fits the bill.' What we are speaking about here is personal transformation. The Christian way to acquire virtue is through practice and by living in community such as a family, school or workplace. It is hard to imagine anyone learning virtue by living alone. Growth in virtue implies relationship with another or some group. In the spiritual journey we speak of spiritual discipline or asceticism. That is why St Benedict calls the monastery the workshop because he saw it as a place to acquire spiritual skills, i.e. virtue. Through monastic asceticism such as prayer, fasting and alms giving (faith, hope and charity) , the monk climbed that ladder of perfection which I was speaking about last week in the context of the virtue of humility.

By this stage you may be asking, "how do I make the workplace a more virtuous environment to work in?" In answer, I would say that there is a good deal we can do. The first thing we have to do is transform ourselves. We have to become people of virtue. We cannot start changing other people, or organisations, until we have started to change ourselves. The problem is what virtues are necessary for the workplace? We cannot expect to take the total list of Christian virtues and transpose them into the factory, office or wherever. Some virtues, such as those Pope John Paul II mentioned in Centesimus Annus, diligence, industriousness, prudence, reliability, fidelity and courage are more important than others. One of the questions we will ask later is "what are the important virtues for me in the place where I work?"

The second point is related to the first. How do we create or develop virtue in our place of work? One of the most important ways is through example, being good rôle models. Mentoring is something that a number of organisations are reintroducing, or introducing for the first time. In years gone by there was greater stability in the workplace, in the sense that people stayed longer, perhaps all their working life, in one company or place. Now everyone is moving on; many of them possess moral wisdom and experience. The result is that anyone coming to a particular work environment for the first time lacks the moral guidance they might have had in former years. What I would like to suggest is that we can be unwitting mentors, moral guides, mirrors of virtue to others. This is not in an 'holier than thou preachy way' but more by what we are, say and do in the presence of others, especially those who are young or impressionable, or are in need of some form of guidance. I know from personal experience that some of my significant learning experiences, how I should act, have been unwittingly taught by colleagues in the workplace. We must not underestimate our ability to change things for the better. Then, our spiritual tools for good works will become the kind of tools others want to have. In the same way that I suggested last week that the workplace can become our spiritual desert, so the workplace can become the workshop where we too grow in virtue.

V. TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR OURSELVES AND OTHERS: THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF WORK

Speaking about 'taking responsibility for ourselves' may seem a strange way to start a talk on the ethical dimension of work. After all, we might say, is not the ethical dimension about the way we treat other people? In one sense that is almost certainly so. But in another sense, unless we take responsibility for ourselves first, there is very little we can do to ensure that what the way we act toward others and God's creation is ethically sound. Of course we can understand the phrase "taking responsibility" in different ways. In the workplace if something goes wrong as a result of a decision you have made then you have to take responsibility. Thus it has a retrospective sense - taking responsibility for something you have already done. However, we know from experience that the ability to take responsibility varies from person to person. A host of factors come into play. Age and experience of course, but other social and psychological factors. As I mentioned in an earlier talk the human being is a composite of physiological, soul, emotions, intellect, senses and spirit. This kind of responsibility also means being accountable for our sins.

A second way of understanding responsibility is being able to answer for what one will do. We ask the question, or at least try to find out, hopefully before someone is employed, whether or not they are trustworthy and reliable. It implies a degree of freedom as a moral agent; having the ability to know right from wrong. To know how to think about how to act. In the workplace it means that you are responsible, if for instance, you turn up for work on time, can meet deadlines, can be trusted not to divulge confidential information and you are unlikely to defraud your company or their clients.

I have always been struck by Jesus' words to the rich young man in the Gospel, "love your neighbour as yourself." (Matthew 19:19). Jesus was quoting direct from the Torah (Leviticus 18:19), the Jewish law, which provided rules, guidance and instruction for all aspects of living, both spiritual and temporal. This phrase is very similar to the "Golden Rule" I spoke about last week, "do not do to another, what you would not want done to yourself." In his epistle, the Apostle James refers to this saying of the Torah as the "royal law." (James 2:8).

The bit of the phrase that intrigues me is not so much "love your neighbour," but the second bit "as yourself." This is because it seems to imply a degree of selfishness or egoism that is in sharp contrast to what Jesus tells us in other places about the Christian life. He constantly reminds us that we have to put other people first even if it means making the supreme sacrifice of giving up one's life for one's friends. But, we must not forget that in all his dealings with others Jesus placed great emphasis on the inner dispositions of the person, especially the heart. This is why he was always attacking the scribes, the Pharisees and Priests. They had lost the plot. Their self righteousness and legalism placed heavy burdens on faithful Jews. We can still come across people like that. Perhaps we are a little like that ourselves sometimes! We have one standard for ourselves and another standard for others.

Why did the Pharisees and the Scribes behave as they did? I think it was because they had lost sight of the purpose of the law and had an impoverished relationship with their neighbour. That relationship was illusory, make pretend, it had no depth. Their virtuous behaviour was a pretence, a sham. Remember that in previous talks I have been talking about relationship being key to the spiritual dimension. Having a right relationship with God, the vertical dimension, implies having a right relationship with our neighbour and God's creation. The Law (or Torah) Jesus tells us was made for man, not man for the Law. The Scribes and Pharisees thought that being perfect meant observing every small detail of each statute. The disposition of the heart, what we are rather than what we do was far more significant for Jesus. Speaking of disposition reminds us that virtue is a way of describing who we are.

In the earlier talks I have spoken frequently about the virtues. The three theological virtues, faith, hope and love (or charity) and the four cardinal virtues. I have already spoken about temperance, courage and justice. I also said I would complete this quartet this week by saying something about prudence. Prudence, in meaning, is not dissimilar to two other words in the English language, "discernment" or "discretion." St Benedict called discernment or discretion the mother of virtues.

Excitable, anxious, extreme, obstinate, jealous or over-suspicious he must not be. Such a man is never at rest. Instead, he must show forethought and consideration in his orders, and whether the task he assigns concerns God or the world, he should be discerning and moderate, bearing in mind the discretion of holy Jacob, who said: If I drive my flocks too hard, they will all die in a single day (Gen 33:13). Therefore, drawing on this and other examples of discretion, the mother of virtues, he must so arrange everything that the strong have something to yearn for and the weak nothing to run from. (RB Ch 64:19).

St Benedict knew how easy it was for the human spirit to be deluded or led astray. The theme of discernment or discretion appears often in early Christian literature, especially the desert monks. The omnipresence of demons or devils, which appear alien and suspect to the modern mind, is fundamentally a mythological way of stating profound spiritual and psychological insights into the human heart. St Benedict often refers to the delusions of the devil. For instance in his chapter on the reception of guests (RB 53). "First of all, they are to pray together and thus be united in peace, but prayer must always precede the kiss of peace because of the delusions of the devil." The unmasking of illusions conducted by the early monks is in some respects an anticipation of what we have come to call psychotherapy, but its purpose was entirely spiritual and pastoral. If we reflect for a moment on all that we have said about virtue we might discover that virtue is not always so easy to discern in others, let alone ourselves. In respect of workplace colleagues we can only go by what they say and do. We know them "by their fruits." In ourselves it is even more difficult to discern. We need family, friends, mentors and work colleagues to tell us how we are climbing the ladder of virtue. Remember I said last week that it is impossible to grow in virtue in isolation. There has to be a social or communal dimension. I suggested the workplace could well be the workshop where the virtues are acquired.

I introduced the Rule of St Benedict last week and I would like to say some more. When St Benedict writes about the qualities of people in leadership positions he speaks of those qualities in terms of virtue. What we are and not what we do. They are spiritual qualities. Nothing is said about having a degree, an MBA or management experience. You will be quick to realise that this approach is counter-cultural to modern selection techniques. We hardly hear the word 'virtue' mentioned in the workplace. In fact virtue is probably regarded with deep suspicion. It is perceived as something that is weak, pious or has religious overtones. Even worse, it may be regarded as providing an introduction to moralise others. I think that one of the things that our society has lost is its understanding of and the importance of virtue in human development.

Perhaps much of that suspicion has come about as a result of the declining influence of the church and religion. Although the Roman Catholic church has been prominent is promoting issues of justice and ethics in business through Papal encyclicals and letters at a pastoral level the Church has not been able to meets the needs of those of its flock who have real difficulties accommodating workplace behaviour to the Christian life. For instance, when did you last hear a sermon preached on work or business ethics in your local church?

But I think there are other reasons which are more connected to society's desire to make a strong division between Church and State and thus seek philosophical, rather than religious foundations for an ethical framework. For the last three centuries, in fact since the start of the Enlightenment period, the principal objective of philosophers and ethicists has been to establish a moral framework which is based on reason rather than revealed religion or faith. The net result is that we have inherited two broad approaches or ways of thinking about how to act. One, the teleological, focuses on the end result rather than the means. The dominant theory here is utilitarianism. It is expressed in the following way. The way to act is to choose the option where the greatest number of people will benefit from the greatest good. The approach of the business community in market economies tends to be utilitarian. One of the problems with this way of acting is that there is always a minority that loose out. There are important issues of justice that have to be considered especially in regards to those who are not able to help themselves. Various social benefits are one way of providing a safety net to avoid unjust outcomes.

The second approach is the deontological where how we act, or the means, are as important as the ends. Philosophers advocating such an approach, for instance the German philosopher Kant placed emphasis on natural rights, respect, duties and obligations to one another. Kant formulated a number of 'categorical imperatives' which more or less boil down to saying the same thing. To give you one example, 'act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should be come a universal law.' These two approaches consistently focus on the act, the behaviour. The debate between utilitarianism and Kantians has been going on for decades.

Things came to a head in the 1950's when a Catholic Oxford philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe ("Modern Moral Philosophy" in Virtue Ethics, Ed. Roger Crisp & Michael Slote, OUP, Oxford, 1997) proposed that the debate was a waste of time and philosophers should go back to Aristotle and the virtues for an understanding of how we should live. It is not the act that is important but the agent. Her intervention prompted the renaissance of virtue ethics. I would be making a false claim saying that virtue ethics is currently the dominant ethical theory. But perhaps you are starting to realise how this development ties in with St Benedict's strong emphasis on the virtues, that is on an 'agent centred' morality rather that act. One important exponent of virtue ethics is Alasdair MacIntyre. In the concluding page of his study in moral theory, After Virtue, (Duckworth, London, 1985) having lambasted the Enlightenment project, modern forms of government and bureaucracy, he says this, "If the tradition of the virtues was able to survive the horrors of the dark ages, we are not entirely without grounds for hope. This time however the barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing for some time. And it is our lack of consciousness of this that constitutes part of our predicament. We are waiting not for a Godot, but for another - doubtless very different - St Benedict."

If you want to get a flavour for some of the key attributes associated with St Benedict's vision of what a good moral agent was go to the chapters on the Abbot (Chapters 2 and 64) and the Bursar (Chapter 31). One of the key elements in taking responsibility for ourselves is having those spiritual qualities. At the back, with copies of the talk, you will find these chapters. In this part of the Rule St Benedict is telling the Abbot how he should take responsibility for himself and others, especially those under his care. I will read a few sentences.

In his teaching, the abbot should always observe the Apostle's recommendation, in which he says: Use argument, appeal, reproof (2 Tim 4:2). This means that he must vary with circumstances, threatening and coaxing by turns, stern as a taskmaster, devoted and tender as only a father can be. With the undisciplined and restless, he will use firm argument; with the obedient and docile and patient, he will appeal for greater virtue; but as for the negligent and disdainful, we charge him to use reproof and rebuke." (RB 2 v.23-25)

Appealing to a morality based on virtue ethics is not plain sailing. Acquiring virtue is a difficult, long and lifetime process. It requires courage, faith and de-termination. Remember the ladder of perfection we talked about. You climb a couple of rungs and then slip down a rung. In addition to our own efforts, and more importantly, it requires the gift of God. By ourselves we can do nothing. "Not to us Lord, not to us, but to your name give the Glory" Another difficulty is that being virtuous does not necessarily tell me how I should act in a particular situation. It does not provide me with practical guidance. In such cases we have to try and work it out for ourselves, rely of the experience of others, ask for advice from those who have encountered a similar difficulty or problem. So here we are not speaking of providing manuals on how to act in various situations. Acting virtuously is much harder than going to a book to seek 'off the shelf solutions.'

That is why discernment, discretion or prudence are so important in the way we take responsibility for ourselves and others in the workplace. Apart from scripture St Benedict only refers to his literary sources on a couple of occasions. At the end of the Rule (Ch 73) he indirectly refers to John Cassian whose life straddled the fourth and fifth centuries. He wrote on the importance of discernment. He called it the "eye and the lamp of the body."

"The eye sees through all the thoughts and actions of man, examining and illumining everything which we must do. And, if not sound in the man, that is not fortified by good judgement and by well-founded knowledge, if it is deluded by error and presumption, this makes for darkness in the entire body...for let no one doubt that our thoughts and our works, which originate from the deliberative processes of discernment, will be caught up in the shadows of sin if ever the good judgement of our heart goes astray or is taken over by the night of ignorance."

You see from this passage that wisdom, intelligence and sound judgement are connected to discernment. Cassian says that there are three important pre-requisites for discernment, humility, purity of heart and balance or moderation. These are the hall-marks of monastic spirituality and I am sure they are just as important for the workplace too. In conclusion I would like to make some remarks on how we might use discernment in a workplace context, especially for making important decisions or solving ethical dilemmas. An interesting article has been written on this by Paul Caron entitled Discernment beyond the Church. You will find it in supplement #86 of the Jesuit journal of spirituality called The Way 1996. In referring to the business world Caron define discernment as:-

• figuring out what is going on
• the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure
• revealing insight and under-standing
• the ability to separate and distinguish between different facts
• process of seeing small signs and indices which point to a larger form

Because of complexity, lack of time and accumulated experience we develop or construct decision 'models' to help us. For instance we may see a market opportunity so we put together a team to produce and sell a product or service. When we build models we inevitably simplify them and in so doing blind ourselves to much of the reality which seems to be unrelated to our immediate goals. Discernment is crucial when using such models because it helps us navigate that shaded area between our temporary. reductionist view of things (i.e. our model) and the infinitely more complex changing world.

But discernment can be a lonely process as it might put us in a minority. Good insights sometimes occur only in a few people. Therefore we have to allow for the minority view. St Benedict encouraged group discernment. When anything important was to be decided the whole community was to be brought together and the abbot should listen to their advice. Particularly pay attention to the young for often the Holy Spirit speaks through them. It is far easier making decisions when you know you have the advice, support and encouragement of others in the community or workplace.

I think we have to encourage 'collective' or 'group discernment'. If members of a group can each contribute their own discernment then the emerging form may be more clearly seen. This 'team' process is also instructive and affirming. We come to hear other people's point of view which may lead to us change our view too. We also take collective ownership of a decision. Ultimately the boss, the chief executive may have to make the final decision, but only after taking and weighing up the advice of all.

In conclusion I hope that if you have been expecting a talk that addressed specific ethical dilemmas in the City and other workplaces you have not been too disappointed. That would be an impossible task as I think many professional bodies have discovered in their attempts to address malpractice and unethical behaviour. I hope that you will have grasped that my approach has been to explore the spiritual tools of the work-place, in particular discernment, as the way forward for making sound ethical decisions. Again, I repeat, it is not about changing organisations or structures. It is about changing yourself. Only when we have put this transformational process in motion can we hope to have some effect on others.