WORK IS DEVELOPMENT*

Work – a demand for constant development

‘Everything you do not use zealously in the right way must gradually become stunted and lost to you! Automatic adjustment is nothing but the consequence of the Law of Movement in Creation. This is only one of its many-sided effects. That which does not move in the right manner, and naturally also that which is not always kept in the necessary movement, must degenerate and be finally discarded altogether, also from every gross material form; for each form is shaped only in accordance with the kind of movement.’ In the Light of Truth – The Grail Message (Lecture: At the Boundary of Gross Matter) by Abd-rushin (Oskar Ernst Bernhardt 1875–1941)

In an ideal situation, the rights and duties of the professions provide constant impulses for further development: A person faces a completely new challenge, which is initially considered to be difficult or even insurmountable. But efforts to find a solution soon uncover possibilities and give rise to the ability to differentiate. The issue becomes multi-faceted and can then be tackled item by item. Unnoticed, this person has harnessed his or her will and mobilised new energies.

Ideally, young people experience exactly this effect during their first apprenticeship or initial vocational training. Their effort bestows on them a conscious experience of personal growth and development. They experience themselves thereby embedded in the best possible way in the Cosmic Law of Movement, which conveys to us that everything in Creation must develop constantly from one actuality to the next, just like the seasons, and by ‘adapting’ to changed circumstances, continue to unfold.

Of course, this does not mean an outward adaptation in the sense of a passive compliance and capitulation, but rather the human being is called upon to mobilise new energies in the face of these demands and challenges. This is precisely what resilience is all about, the ability to harness energies, to confront difficulties with one’s own initiatives and to withstand pressure.

If a person evolves and perceives the challenges of life in this way, even if things still appear difficult, he or she will feel good in the long run, buoyed by the knowledge that no challenges have been evaded and no responsibilities shirked.

Standing still is retrogression!

However, if a person is in a job he has been able to handle well for a long time, which may seem quite pleasant at first, but over time, given no new challenges to refresh the mind, the trends towards routine or predetermined responses will soon become evident. There is a lack of living challenges for growth and development, resulting in stagnation and associated queasiness, disinterest and disappointment. Then people often remark ‘I have already seen all of this; there is nothing new here!’ By this they mean that they are not experiencing any further development. People who stay in a job solely for the sake of good earnings or because of other amenities and perks, even though the work is dull and unsatisfying, feel as if they are in a gilded cage.

In working life, stagnation, also in the form of an outward adaptation due to lack of resistance or firm resolve, or only ostensible advancement such as the one-sided preoccupation with material wellbeing as well as operating one-dimensionally in a purely rational manner, very rapidly leads to crises, blockages, failure and depression!

On the other hand, the willingness for continuous development is an essential aspect of job satisfaction. Even if they seem uncomfortable at times, the occupations of today form a permanent impetus to keep pace with the Cosmic Law of necessary Movement and to continue to unfold and not stand still.

In the Bible, too, we have a statement that makes us think: ‘By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken.’ Conventional interpretation sees this primarily as punishment of God; one therefore often enough encounters the idea that work above all means hardship and