A Brief Re-cap of the Purpose of the Rule of St. Benedict

Let's pause today for a brief re-cap of the purpose of the Rule of St. Benedict, as well as how we can take advice and instruction intended for monks and apply it us non-monks.

As we work our way through The Rule of St. Benedict, we find that some passages provide specific advice we can directly apply at work. Others seem to apply only to monks - the intended audience; but with a little interpolation, we find valuable advice and lessons that can help us at work. This wider application that reaches out of the monastery into our workplace marks The Rule as the product of a brilliant mind as well as a deeply religious soul. 

Thus St. Benedict combines the practical and the spiritual in a unique way. He clearly understood what it would take for a monastery to be organized and run as a "going concern." He also understood that the monastery must serve the individual monks, to help them on their road to salvation. A monastery that could not function and thrive in the natural world would likely not survive what the natural world dishes up over time. If it didn't survive, it would not be a useful instrument for the salvation of souls. 

Conversely, if the souls in the monastery functioned only as efficient managers and workers keeping the enterprise humming, without concern for their eternal souls, they would be undermining the monastery's entire raison d'etre.

Our emphasis in our review and discussion of the daily entries of the Rule this years remains building a stable workplace. The raison d'etre for our emphasis is to help us consistently perform our duties on the job despite the plethora of distractions flying at us with speed and acuity these days. We've reviewed these many times over this year. (Click HERE for a recent review.)

Let's recall, as well, that one of the purposes of the Rule was to promote "stability" in the monastery. It's a little different than the stability we seek in our workplace.

St. Benedict provided his rules in order to assure that monks remain in place in a given monastery. Indeed, some monks (all?) take a vow that commits them to remain in their monastery until death do them part. That's important to remember if we want to fully appreciate the genius of the Rule. All of the specific commands and recommendations will serve stability in the monastery. What makes the a product of genius is how they consider both the spiritual and the practical, as well as the organization and the individual. All blend to make the monk's commitment to stability one that lasts for life.

In our own workplaces, stability may not include the commitment of a worker to stick with one business for life. While it wasn't so uncommon in the past, it's a rarity these days. People move from one place to another, one type of work, or career, to another. Understood. But too much turnover in any business can't be a good thing. 

I've worked in a couple of joints where turnover was ubiquitous. It served neither the enterprise nor its workers very well. 

So there needs to be a happy medium. Indeed, St. Benedict was a big fan of moderation. In many instances he advocated choosing in media res - the middle way. For our workplace there needs to be that middle way.

If people move on, that's just the way things are these days. We wish them luck. We just don't want the business to drive them out. So we create a well-organized, well-managed business. We employ a fair, equitable process of rewarding good work. We provide healthful, calm, even peaceful surroundings so that a worker can concentrate on the task at hand without distraction or annoyance. With that, low turnover should be the rule.

Even before the deluge of distraction we've noted as our reason for fostering stability in the workplace, stability in the workplace was desirable. As we recently saw, even in those occupations where job performance entails working in noisy even chaotic surroundings, there's typically a time and place where calm, quiet, peace play a role.

As a boss, work at keeping your workplace stable. As a worker, work at contributing to that stability.

I think St. Benedict would be pleased.