32. Universe Job Survey

My friend Ed forwarded me the following slogan that he saw on a bumper sticker: Many people want to serve God, but only as advisors.

This got me thinking . . . it's in all of our best interests to remember that it's not our job to manage the universe.

So, if we aren't here to advise God, what is our job?

Here's a way to think about answering that question.

Imagine for a moment that the universe was your employer.

Based on the way you actually live your life — not on how you wish you did — how would you answer the following questions on The Universe’s Job Survey:

• What is your job title?
• What department do you work in?
• How high ranking are you in your department?
• Do you have a job description?
• Does your job have fixed hours or benefits?

The idea of a taking a personal inventory is as old as religion itself.note below I encourage you to take 10 minutes to answer the above questions as best you can.

Taking The Universe’s Job Survey will teach you a lot about yourself and it is just as important as anything else you could spend 10 minutes doing.

But, it's just an idea unless you actually do it. Choosing not to participate in a personalized religion exercise is like trying to make music by reading a book about playing the piano.

So, based on the way that you live your life, how would you answer?

Answers:

Rabbi Brian's Answers to The Universe’s Job Survey

I work as a rabbi in the department of human resources. Those I work for are proud of what I do — encouraging me to be more creative and even to expand and hire a staff.

My job description mentions the phrases “do that which is right” and “be compassionate.” The hours are flexible, but I tend to work more than is good for me. I don't enjoy my benefits as often as I should, alas, due to the over working.

Follow-up 1:

If you don't like your current job, what job do you wish you had?

(My friend Brandon told me he was hoping for a job as an oak-tree shade tester.)

How do you imagine you could go about changing departments?

Follow-up 2:

Which departments do you think rate the highest in job satisfaction?

Which department do you think gives its workers the best benefits — and what are they?

Do you think there is a correlation between benefits and satisfaction?

Notes

Moral inventories are a hallmark of many religious traditions. (Please note, these inventories are not supposed to be done with severe judgment. They are supposed to be an accounting — something to help you know what is going on inside your soul.)

Jewish tradition calls its version of The Universe’s Job Survey Hesh'bone Ha'Ne'fesh — an accounting of the soul. (The literal translation accounting of the soul slightly misses the mark. A Hesh'bone is more like the check you ask for at the end of a meal, but the translation check of the soul, sounds a bit dorky.)

Muslim tradition suggests a similar accounting process and calls it Jihad Bin Nafs. First and foremost, this is really what the word Jihad means — a struggling with the soul — a personal inventory. (Note: the trilateral root of the Arabic Jihad is the same as the Hebrew Israel — to wrestle or struggle with.) Second, the Hebrew word Ne'fesh and the Arabic Nafs are one and the same — a soul or a breath.

12 step work calls this the fourth step: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.


With love,


And, if you care to, click here to see comments on the streetprophets site where the article went up previously.