The Five Truths

There is a Franciscan Friar called Richard Rohr, well known for his writings on spirituality. He and a team of initiation leaders are attempting to guide men in lifetime spiritual learning and to train them to be elders, able and prepared to mentor the next generation and to pass on the wisdom that comes through experiential journeying into what Rohr calls "the true self." As part of this preparation and initiation, he imparts what he calls life's "Five Essential Truths of Initiation". These are:

1. You are going to die.
2. Life is hard.
3. You are not that important.
4. Your life is not about you.
5. You are not in control of the outcome.

Rohr calls the above truths, "ego stripping". Looked at in the right light, they certainly can be. They are also confronting; logically we know we are going to die, but how many of us have actually accepted that truth? I suspect as old age and its infirmities increasingly weigh on one, then that reality becomes more apparent. How about the truth that we are not that important? We humans are a very ego driven species and have become increasingly so over the last few decades until it appears that it is all about the individual. You have only to witness the use of the prefix "i" in common langauge; iphone, idrive and the proligeration of personal sites such as myspace, facebook, linkedin and blogs, even this blog! We are all driven by ego, so how hard is it for us to realise that, in the great scheme of things, we as individuals really are not that important?

According to Steve Biddulph, who writes extensively on this subject in his book "Manhood"; "Initiation centers on the most pressing spiritual task of any culture - making the young wise enough, soon enough, that they may join the tribe as superb and contributory human beings." Whether you agree with the above truths is entirely up to you, they certainly strike a chord with me. Truths, such as the ones proposed by Rohr, were imparted during the course of initiation and became the foundation for individuals to build their lives and their selves upon. They are not intended to break the individual down but to provide them with a different perspective of themselves and therefore how they treat others and live their lives.

Now Rohr's truths and Biddulph's statement got me thinking. What would be the Five Essential Truths of Employment? I gave this some thought and, you know what, I couldn't materially change the five truths that Rohr has posited. Mine are below:

1. Work is hard
2. Your employment is not guaranteed
3. You are not that important
4. Your job is not about you
5. You are not in control of the outcome

So I've changed the words only a little bit, but, and here's the thing, Rohr's five truths seem to apply equally well as an initiation into the working world as they do to life in general. I'm sure there are other variations out there that would fit equally well, and I'd be interested to see what other people think.

All the best

Jim