Sometimes I wish a different world to all of us...don't we all? A world where money, status, financial position, material things and appearances wouldn't be so important. If you are religious or not, it doesn't matter: no one will be able to take anything with them after death apart from whoever they became with their experiences. That's a lot to think about if you give it a proper thought.
I worked in many places where I saw so many people being humiliated for many reasons, but mainly because they didn't have the money, the power or the status to be respected or to be treated decently by people above them. Bosses, owners, managers, wealthy people can be extremely petty, spoiled and childish, sometimes, just because they have the power to be it. It always bothered me to see someone being pushed down, not receiving the recognition or the respect they deserved as human beings because they didn't have the final saying...maybe it bothered me to see it happen to others more than when it happened to me! Sometimes it's difficult to have money, power and everything else that comes with it and be a leader, I understand that. Pressure, competition and keeping up is not easy for anyone and I appreciate that leaders, owners, managers, bosses in general have also great responsibilities over their shoulders and leading people anywhere is not a walk in the park. I ask myself if I would be able to impose myself to others through humiliation and intimidation to be able to get the results I needed if I was someone with power, money and everything else that comes with it. There's no way to know unless you've been there and I haven't. But it makes me sad to think that people in leadership and holding the power, at the moment, think that humiliating and intimidating is the best they can do. Let's try not to judge anyone, but I ask myself why this would be necessary. How many times I asked myself if it wouldn't be easier for everybody if the leaders and the ones "in power" would do us the favour of giving the examples first and then expecting things from others afterwards. How can you be respected by anyone by making people work their hardest for you while you watch them do it and take the credit? How can you expect to be fair acting this way? If you would like to be treated fairly by others, why can't you be the first one to treat others fairly?
I am talking about work because of one of my favourite messages from Cardinal Morlot from the book Gospel according to Spiritism that is called THOSE WHO ARE SUPERIOR AND THOSE WHO ARE INFERIOR. It talks about authority and the use we make of it, so I couldn't help thinking about work in general with human beings!!!
I started talking about bosses, leaders, owners, the powerful and the wealthy, but don't forget that, every single employee or subordinate also have their moral obligations. Lack of power and money doesn't make us victims. Employees cannot steal their money from somewhere, they have to work for it. If you don't do what you know you should, that means you're stealing from your employer, not working. Stealing doesn't necessary mean only material things! We do have also the responsibility to work for our salary and not pretend to work. An awful boss doesn't justify lack of hard work and dedication from the employees. Can you visualise both situations happening at your work place? I am sure that, in every work place (no exceptions!), there is that employee who doesn't do anything, but somehow always gets the promotion or the attention. Luckily, the same lazy co-worker won't be a back stabber!!!! There is also those bosses that take the credits for their leadership and etc when, in fact, they don't have a clue about how things are done and how the results were achieved! Luckily, some bosses are not bullies!!! The incredible part is that everybody sees what happens, but everybody pretends they don't! How human beings are complicated!!!
Wouldn't be great if everybody just did what is right independently of other people's attitude? Because, at the end, it's only this that we are going to take with us: our actions, our thoughts, our consciousness and our story...
I watched a film the other day that is called Extraordinary Measures. It is about money, power and work, but focused on the Pharmaceutical industry. Good film with Harrison Ford playing a scientist. His character said something that I really liked. He said: " I don't care about money, I am a scientist. I have more important things to care about!!!!" I totally got his point!
Let's all be careful to not do to others what we don't want others to do to us. Let's also be careful to do our part, no matter if others are doing their part or not. Nobody is saying it will be easy!!! Always remember what we can take with us and what we can't!!!
I am copying the message from Cardinal Morlot for you below. If you want to read Gospel according to Spiritism, you can go to my previous post to click on the link for this book there. If you would like to read other Spiritist books, you can go to this site here: www.oconsolador.com.br There are various books in english and in portuguese for you to read for free!!!
I hope you enjoy this message and think about it!
Take care!
Mrs. P
THOSE WHO ARE SUPERIOR AND THOSE WHO ARE INFERIOR
Authority, just as much as fortune, is delegated; and those who have received it will be required to give an account of what they have done with it. Do not believe that it has been given for the futile pleasure of command, nor even less as a right or property, as is falsely thought by the majority of powerful people on Earth. Besides, God is constantly proving that it is neither the one nor the other, since He takes it away whenever it pleases Him. If it was a privilege inherent to the person who exercised it, it would be inalienable. However, no one can say that something belongs to them, when it may be taken away without their consent. God confers authority with the title of mission or test, as He sees fit, and takes it back in the same manner. For the depository of authority, whatever its extent may be, from the master over his servants to a sovereign over his peoples, it must never be forgotten that such people have souls in their charge, and will have to answer for both the good and bad directives given to these subordinates. The misdemeanours these may commit, and the vices to which they may succumb in consequence of the directives received or the bad examples given, will all revert to those in command; just as in the same way the fruits of the solicitudes offered in conducting these subordinates towards goodness will also revert to those in authority. Every good person on Earth has either a small or a great mission, and whatever form it may take, it is always given for the purpose of goodness. Therefore to turn it away from its purpose is to fail in the execution of the task. If God asks the rich man: "What have you done with the fortune in your hands which should have been a source for spreading fruitfulness all around you?", He will also inquire of those who have some authority: "What have you done with your authority? What evils have you avoided? What progress have you made? If I gave you subordinates it was not so that you could turn them into slaves to your desires, or docile instruments for your whims or your greed. I made you strong and entrusted to you those who were weak, so that you could protect them and help them to climb up towards Me." The acting superior, who keeps Christ's words, despises none of his subordinates, because he knows that social distinctions do not exist before God. Spiritism teaches him that if these people are obeying him today, perhaps they have already given him orders in the past, or may give them to him later on, and that then he will be treated in the same manner as when they were under him. If the superior has duties to be fulfilled, the subaltern also has duties on his side which are no less sacred. If this person is also a Spiritist their conscience will tell them, in no uncertain terms, that they are not exempt from fulfilling these duties even when their superior does not fulfill his, because they know that you do not repay evil with evil and that the failings of some do not authorize others to fail likewise. If they suffer in their position, they will comment that without doubt they deserve it because they have perhaps abused the authority they had been given at some other time, and that now they are feeling the disadvantages that they had made others suffer. If they are obliged to support this situation for want of a better one, then Spiritism teaches them to be resigned as a test of their humility which is necessary for their advancement. Their belief guides them in their conduct; inducing them to proceed as they would wish subordinates to behave towards them, if they were the superior. For this reason they are more scrupulous in the fulfilment of their obligations, as they understand that all negligence in the work which has been confided to them would cause a loss to the one who pays them and to whom they owe their time and effort. In a word, this person is guided by their sense of duty, which their faith has instilled in them, and the certainty that all turning aside from the straight and narrow pathway will be a debt incurred that must be repaid sooner or later.
FRANÇOIS-NICOLASMADELEINE, Cardinal MORLOT (Paris, 1863).
Message from the book Gospel according to Spiritism by Allan Kardec, chapter 17 "Be perfect".
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