How Spirituality can Counter the Chaos of the World that invades our Organizations and Ourselves.
The famous contemplative and mystic Thomas Merton said ‘If you are looking for the Atomic Age, look inside yourself’. He was saying that the happennings of the world invade our very psyche.
And today we live in chaotic times, as William Yeats says in his poem ‘The Second Coming’…
‘Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.’
This choas invades our communities, organizations and ourselves.
It creates discord, anxiety, pain, restlessness, discontentment and destroys teamwork. Allowed free reign within ourselves and the organizations in which we work, it results in chaos.
A deep spirituality counters this dissipating force and creates tranquility and peace and feelings of joy. By spirituality, I am referring to an active inner life, a life animated by the Holy Spirit, within and without.
So often we get caught up with the hurly burly of daily work and family activities and neglect time out for our inner and outer connection to God. At work and at home schedule 5-10 min breaks regularly during the day to pray. Learn and practice Christian Meditation; pray a decade of the Rosary; converse with God through Our Lord Jesus Christ - tell him of your worries, fears, work challenges and anxieties; meditate on the image of the Divine Mercy and say a decade of the Divine Mercy prayer.
Do not be too anxious to respond to incoming communication, from whatever channel. Stop and take time to listen, reflect and go to God for advice on the best response. Become a contemplative - seeing beneath the agitated surface to the calm below. Open you mind to the creative force of the Holy Spirit leading you to innovative ideas and an entrepreneurial attitude.
Gradually, over days, you will notice an enveloping of calm trusting in Jesus Christ. You would not respond to slings and arrows with the same tension and anger, but with patience and listening. Work will become a joy. Interiorly you will sense a peace that only Jesus Christ can give. You will become an oasis in the desert.
