Business In the World but Not of the World
You can practice high ethics and still be competitive.
Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 11:54 AM
Subject: Re: [lds_reconciliation] At what cost?
Being in a similar profession to yourself, Wayne, heavily involved in
the financial side of business, I understand your dismay of the daily grind. The reality is
we can live by our principles wherever we are. We can be fair and think of the whole rather
than be in a competitive mindset so much. For instance in negotiating contracts rather than
trying to get the best of someone (I win they lose) I can and do negotiate contracts that are
win-win. When I was a real estate broker I could tell people that a smaller home would
better meet their needs and budget. Amazed, they would ask me why I would give advice that
would result in a smaller paycheck for me.
"Selfishness", I replied. "I want you as a friend
5 years from now. When you can afford a larger home you will come back to me because you
know I have your best interests in mind."
And it worked, financially and spiritually. We do not have to
sell our souls to have a mess of pottage. It is possible to have integrity and do business
in today's world. It is old paradigm thinking that says we cannot get ahead unless we are
stepping on someone else's head.
When we are secure with our daily activities at a soul level, knowing
that we are following the highest path that we know, we can be assured that blessings will follow
and our earthly needs will be met. When, in fear, we do things our soul cringes at, we lose
blessings and it creates a self-perpetuating cycle. We feel we must do "it" in
order to survive and we receive less blessings and have more survival issues and so on and on it
goes.
I believe the biggest soul lesson of our age is to be able to do
business with the whole in mind. It is said that the Native American elders used to make
decisions based on how it would affect the tribe to the seventh generation. Zion gets built
one brick at a time and each individual can start making those bricks by how they act in their
daily life. If Jesus were to come today as a businessman, how would he conduct himself?
It is a mindset, a perception that we are in a prison camp. The
Bishop Sterling refers to is a businessman--an honest, fair one who pays his employees well,
prices his products fairly and still has a nice lifestyle himself. I do not accept that we
must be miserable until Zion is built in its fullness. We cannot be an instant Zion.
It is built precept upon precept, brick by brick. We start with where we are at.
Guilt is a useful emotion if it spurs us on to do better, but utterly
useless if we flagellate ourselves and push ourselves deeper into the mire. If my soul
cringes at something I do, then I have the opportunity to stop, put down my arrow, think, re-aim
and try again. My recent traffic ticket is a case in point. I could have lied to the
judge and gotten out of it, I am pretty sure. But my soul said, "It is not worth the
$170 to lie." But it was a speed trap, my family was sick, I am justified in lying and
not paying such heavy consequences. The policeman was a thoughtless jerk. "It is
not worth the $170 to lie. It will affect not only you, but the policeman if you lie and get away
with it." I paid it and still have enough money to meet my needs. But more than
that, I can live with myself.
We all have areas of weakness where we are tempted to go against our
soul and better judgment. We justify ourselves and get lazy. The spiritual path is not
for wimps. It is hard work and takes our full attention, affects our every decision, and
results in a certain consciousness. If we choose against our soul again and again we will
attract negativity to ourselves like a magnet. We will invite an ugly spirit into our
home. We will reap the rewards we deserve.
I am not satisfied with crumbs nor a crust. I want a full
satisfying meal. If the members are eating crusts and they see me feasting, will they not be
attracted to a higher path? It is up to me to set my light upon a hill and be the example
God would have me be. How can we hope that the members and the leaders will ever repent of
their follies as we wallow in ours? What incentive do they have to wake up if we cannot show
a more joyful way of life? We are no better off than they are and we show that we still need
their strict rules and guidance as we are still children in need of a strict taskmaster.
Our Bishop friend says that the church needs those with light to
return to the mother church to light the way. There are valiant saints within the
church who are pillars of light and some are called to stay within its ranks to help awaken the
saints. The folly is in thinking that only the church members can generate
light. Many arrogantly think because they have been given much they are better.
Those with fewer talents, who magnify them more, will be given more than those with much who
magnify nothing. Zion will be much more inclusive than the church at present is. Zion
is not the church, it is the pure in heart.
We must begin to purify our hearts from where we are today. We
must not let Satan convince us we are helpless and the situation is hopeless. We can do it
or we would not have the yearnings that we do. It will take courage, perseverance and a
willingness to follow the light of our soul wherever it leads, into the mother church or out of
it.
James, I predict if you learn to follow the highest path that you know
that you will find a people as prepared as you are to build Zion. And if none of you are
truly prepared it will fail. And you will have to re-aim. That is the lonely path of
the spiritually enlightened. For a time we must travel alone and purify ourselves. As
the urge to gather becomes so strong that we cannot deny it, we will gather. And if we are
pure in heart we will build Zion. Until then, we build only earthly organizations which are
destined to fail. As long as we blame "them" for not having Zion, we are in denial
that we are not ready to build it either. (Said twice for me and once for you.)
Susan
See also
