Journal of Sacred Work

Today's meditation was written by Cathy Self, Senior Vice President for the Baptist Healing Trust.

     Parker Palmer, author and teacher, speaks often of the spirituality of work and, in particular, of the spirituality of leadership. In much of his writing, Palmer advances the ideal that spirit, thought, and human aware-ness are the deep sources from which change is created. Most of all, Palmer seems to believe that our inner quests lead us to co-creation of the world in which we live – and each one of us is responsible for projecting into that reality either a spirit of hope or of despair. A leader, asserts Parker, is particularly capable of projecting his or her own shadow or light,  is particularly powerful in creating conditions that can be illuminating or dark, and must take particular responsibility for what's going on inside him or her self "lest the act of leadership create more harm than good." Powerful thoughts, and powerful possibilities.

     Much has been written in leadership studies of the tendency in many noted leaders to be extroverted, operating most effectively in the outer world but sometimes at the cost of an awareness of what is going on (or not) internally. The risk, of course, is that an inward and deepening journey asks that we engage with what lies hidden in the shadows and for many of us that is the place shadowed by fear. It is just easier to stay engaged with the outer world, manipulating context and content to meet needs and desires. Palmer advocates for the only true way as "in and through" those dark places that we want to deny, moving on until at last we arrive at the place where we can rest in the one thing given to us all – the heart that cares.

     Shadows in leadership may include believing that who I am depends on what I do. Identity, suggests Palmer, doesn't depend on titles or degrees or functions. It only depends on the simple fact that we are each created as a child of God, valued and treasured. When a leader knows that without uncertainty, organization changes and work is expressed with meaning and purpose. Another shadow cradles the belief that ultimate responsibility for all things of importance rests with me. Some authors have referred to this mis-belief as functional atheism. Such belief ultimately leads to burnout, stress, broken relationships, and surely unhealthy priorities. And, of course, fear lives in the shadows – fear of silence, of stillness, of non-doing, fear of uncertainty or lack of control.

     These are some of our shadows, and like Beowulf we must also attend to what lies beyond and beneath in the form of not just the monster Grendle, but Grendle's mother. We need each other to find our way in and through the shadow. The journey is personal but our work asks that it not be necessarily private. As caregivers we need community; as leaders we need to especially pay attention to the inner quest. The German poet, Ranier Maria Rilke, called us to this shared journey with these words, offered here in a closing invitation: "Love is this- that two solitudes border, protect, and salute one another."