I had a BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious) the other morning while walking in the hills of my Santa Fe home. It occurred to me that the very motivation, the essence even, of everyone who desires to bring their spiritual nature to the workplace is to help others.

Let that sink in for a second or two. This is huge, seems to me. Because what it means is that the yearning to know more about one's own spirituality becomes entirely selfless and inclusive when practiced in a group environment. In fact, if someone is really striving to be a better person in the workplace -- like, better relationship with co-workers, happier attitude through higher purpose, even better decision-making through righteous wisdom -- everyone in the workplace benefits.

How cool is that? Not only is that a present, tangible benefit, you score in the metaphysical being of life. Probably every faith tradition mandates the necessity of improving one's self in order to bless others. Actually, it seems to me, this indicates that helping others is inherent in our divine, spiritual nature.  It's that important.

But, sheesh, there are a lot of ways to skate on that. I know for myself that I can get very caught up in focusing my prayers on my problems, my priorities, my issues...and not include friends, family and community in my prayers. OUCH!! Not only that, lots of work environments don't welcome folks who discuss spiritual values relative to work issues. So there are "forces" that conspire against practicing what is truly natural to each of us.

However! Since the yearning to understand more about your spirituality can't be stopped, then the desire to help others can't be stopped either. The workplace is that opportunity -- hey, maybe it is even a divine opportunity -- where your complete spiritual nature is put into practice.

This morning I was reading the story of Solomon when he is praying to God for guidance, once he had become the new king. His prayer is this:

Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

I've read this many times. But today it really hit me: Solomon has taken on a new job and basically he is asking God to give him more spiritual understanding SO THAT he can help others in his new job. God is really REALLY happy with Solomon and he becomes one of the most loved of Old Testament rulers.

To me this is not saying we SHOULD be this selfless...it is saying we ARE this selfless. When we strive to develop spiritually and bring this state of consciousness to our workplace, we bless everyone we come into contact with.