Stop Focusing on Self

We're continuing with some comments on those specific parts of the three spiritual passages we recently posted (HERE, HERE, and HERE). These parts somehow grabbed us. We suggested you allow the grabbing to hold you in place for a few minutes. Take some time to let the specific point or message you ascertained sink in. As you hold in place, re-read the relevant sentence or sentences - and do so slowly.

At the risk of being repititious, the ideal way to read good spiritual works is to do so slowly from the get go - not just when something particularly grabs your attention. Read slowly and allow the words to penetrate the mind, the heart, and the soul. If you do this, you may very well feel that penetration in some way. And when that happens, that's when you pause. You maybe re-read. You definitely think about/meditate on those words.

Again, I've chosen a couple of parts that grabbed me, this time from THIS post. As you'll see, the focus is self-love. The message: "Stop focusing on self."

As we've noted many times in the past, there's just so much that urges us to "love ourselves." While there's some truth to the idea that we ought to love ourselves, the typical messages we get stray far from that truth.

If we know that we are created by God in His image, it can make sense to love, rather than hate ourselves. Indeed, it's important that we do. You ought not hate yourself. But you very well may, really ought to  hate your thoughts, words, and actions - specifically when they are sinful.

But the messages we receive from the world around us typically doesn't make this distinction. Instead, we're urges to accept ourselves "as we are." Of course, "as we are" isn't restricted to the reality of being made in the image and likeness of God. Instead, it includes pretty much all that we think, say, or do. Added to this, we're urged to accept the thoughts, words, and actions of others, even when they are sinful and offensive to God. 

That's the sort of self-love that will lead us down the slippery slope that could land us in...well, you likely know where this can lead, right?

In these short selections, our author focuses the role of self-love in fostering "vain preoccupation". You'll see that these are especially pertinent to our work and/or career.  

Vain preoccupation has its source in self-love. Its roots are traceable to an immoderate pursuit of success, fear of an anticipated humiliation, attachment to a special occupation, or apprehension regarding the future or the past. 

We all want to be successful of course. Nothing wrong with that. If we do our work to the best of our ability, we've accomplished that. But excessive focus on success - beyond the diligent performance of our work - takes the focus off our work, and places it squarely on self. Not good.

As for "anticipated humiliation," sometimes our work may not be up to par - or at least our usual standards - and we're uncomfortable when a boss or customer notices this. In certain cases, this can be downright humiliating. I've had this experience more than once (to put it mildly). If and when it happens, you might try remembering that any humiliation may very well be deserved and leave it at that - without worrying about how others think of you.

"Attachment to a special occupation" may cover a particular job, or some aspect of your work. My favorite all-time work never resulted in the sort of remuneration I needed to support my family. No way could I bee too attached to it - although I knew others in similar circumstances who were so attached. I had to do something else to earn a living.

While "apprehension regarding the future of the past" can easily take hold of our thoughts and feelings, in the end it's nothing more than a manifestation of self-love and the vain preoccupation it spawns. At work, if infected thusly, you could easily spend oodles of time obsessing on a job or project that didn't go as planned, or anxiously worrying about some anticipated problem that might arise in the future. 

The past is over. As for the future, we should be able to prudently anticipate problems. If there's something that should be done in anticipation, do it. Leave the rest to God.

And, as we'll see, our author shows us clearly that preoccupation over such things is "a permanent wrong":

...preoccupation is a permanent wrong, inflicted on the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, Who wishes to live and reign in your soul; on the other hand, it leads to ridiculous reliance on your own providence and your own industry. You believe yourself more capable of arranging your destiny than God Himself.

Make no mistake about this: We still need to do all we can to pour out our best efforts into our daily work. And that includes sufficient time and energy - some days to exhaustion if necessary. With all that, we must always remember that we've simply done what's expected of us. Ultimately, all will proceed according to God's Providence. When things go right, it behooves us to thank Him, rather than pat ourselves on the back. On the flip side, in those times when things don't turn out as we'd wished - after we've done our best - we know we have a loving Father Who's Plan simply did not include things turning out as we'd wished.

Instead of focusing on self through all this, we'd be a lot better off reminding ourselves that it's decidedly not about us. We do what we can as best we can. The rest is God's business.