TFN#61: 🪜Maintaining a layer of separation: Spiritual quest through work

A few years back, I learnt about Vipassana Meditation. No, I didn’t go for it, and shortly, I will explain why. But some of my friends recommended it, while a few were already practising it.

If you don’t know what Vipassana meditation entails, from what I have heard from my friends and read online, the first leg of exercise is a 10-day long silent meditation on their campus. You try to empty your mind. Many people can’t last a day or two and they quit.

When people complete the intense 10 days of Vipassana, most of them feel as if they are reborn. As if they’re entering the world for the first time. They can speak, listen to their own voice, see other people. (Because during 10 days of Vipassana, it is recommended that you don’t look around too, nor try to communicate.)

And…that’s how it works. One of the main problems with so many structured and rigorous meditation practices is that you may be able to empty your mind and be one with the light, but as soon as you’re back into the world, that state doesn’t last. That’s the reason so many people go on sort of an annual pilgrimage of 10 days of Vipassana. I’m sure it works for them, but my intention has always been to build a practice that integrates with my life. My day-to-day being.

One such practice is maintaining a layer of separation between people’s work and their characteristics.

I mean…

It is kind of accepted truth that one should not engage with people at work on the basis of their personal characteristics such as religion. It doesn’t matter what the other person’s religion is, we engage for the common goal of getting work done.
Instead of religion, it could also be their sex, food preference, mother tongue, height, weight, favourite sports team etc. You get the idea.

So, the overall work culture has accepted these fair agreements.

But still, we fail to maintain the line of separation

Not exactly on the point of religion, sex etc.
But separating one action from another.
For example, if our colleague shows up late on the event day a few times, we’d automatically tag him/her late-Latif. If someone gets angry during a heated office debate, we tag them as the angry bird.
And then we keep ignoring all the signs that they are not that way all the time. Their one action is not a reflection of their whole being.
​Same thing about positive actions:​
If someone is tolerant of satire from their other colleagues, it may not hold when we try to be satirical.

The moment when I heard people hire based on politics

A few years back, I heard two of my outgoing colleagues discuss some prospective hires for their new business venture. They were discussing some candidates received through friends.
​

The main filter they applied was evident from their quick comments:

Unfortunate.
No wonder their business didn’t see the light of day.

This Danish TV ad is my all-time favourite

In this 3-minute TV ad, Denmark’s TV2 Network shows us how we box people. And if you show just a little bit of curiosity and charity, you get to unbox people. And connect with them.

If you loved that ad, here is another one from the same TV network, with the same message. But this is likely to make you cry.

So what does it mean to work with a layer of separation?

It makes you a professional.
It helps you detach from the outcome.
It helps you dissolve your ego.
It encourages you to disagree with the person but commit to the manager.
It makes it easy to criticise a part of the organization’s policy and appreciate the rest of it.
In other words, it helps you develop a sense of self-consciousness pushing you to be your best self and realize your potential.
And above all, it helps you enjoy your work.

What work practices do you observe that help you elevate your well-being and overall satisfaction? Not making it a mechanical job-to-be-done thing?

Hit Reply and share it with me.

Reads of the week:

One of the things that rings true again and again is human being’s capacity to solve any problem through their resourcefulness.
We regularly hear about how the world is going to run out of freshwater by XYZ year. I have been hearing this for more than 3 decades of my life. And if you’ve lived longer than me, you’d agree.
​Incentives drive behaviour in the world.​
The so-called journalists and news media thrive on hijacking our attention by throwing negative news. If negative news is not there, they manufacture it or suppress the good ones.
Such as this: we are not going to run out of fresh water. We are efficiently converting seawater into fresh water by desalinating it.
So much so that UAE’s whole municipal water supply is desalinated, and so are their agriculture practices.
Read the short article, and explore that website. If it piques your interest, then you may want to read the Book Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think.

If you read this book, don’t forget to try the short quiz provided at the beginning. The same quiz has been presented by the authors to the UN, WEF decision-makers and politicians across the world.
Wait, I found the live quiz here.
13 questions to test your idea of the world.