Freedom to Live chapter 3
Chapter Three GEORGE'S - AND EVERYONE'S - PROBLEM Ituvo defined goodness - anything is good when it has all the properties rupposed to have - and we've built a scientific axiology around that l. With this science we have found that we can know and measure value in nic, extrinsic (social), and intrinsic (Self or spiritual) dimensions, wc've found that a human life in its infinity is the most valuable thing I ri, Wc have, I believe, laid the foundations for the organization of good- nttd peace in the world. it's all, of course, much easier said than done.
It's still up to individ- hutttun beings to help themselves and the world recover from this sick- uttto death.
It's one thing to agree with Kierkegaard that most ofus live In thc basements of our houses; it's quite another thing to bestir our- nulliciently to move upstairs. Kierkegaard goes on to say: Mcrr...have for the most part a very lowly conception of themselves, lltnt is to say, they have no conception of being spirit, the absolute of nll that a man can be...Not only does a man prefer to dwell in the cellar' ho krves that to such a degree ihat he becomes furious if anyone wouli propose to him to occupy lhe bel 6tage which stands empty at his dlrposition - for in fact he is dwelling in his own house...' lllun does yearn to be better than he is, to be truly himself.
The divine porsist within; but we are torn this way and that.
Social and business rer push us, and we go along, but the spark within is hard to extin- nnd cven as we hurry to conform we may pause to wonder if this is is to life, and we glance uneasily over our shoulders (once a week ), wondering vaguely if we haven't forgotten something, a cheerful perhaps, a quiet moment, a liule love - could it possibly be ourselves Itrrgotten? g like this, I think, must have been bothering Bill Russell, the tlontcr of the champion professional Boston Celtics basketball tearn, ho told a sports writer, "Maybe you'll think I'm a funny guy, but I ftol what I'm doing is really important.
I don't feel fulfilled.
What I'd llke to do is discover something or invent something I'd be proud to ohildren." tu feeling that because of the threat of nuclear catastophe which hnngs over us all, there is more secret longing for inner, spiritual loday than ever before in man's history.
The needfor spiritual 72 FREEDOM TO LIVE:
THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY growth is the greatest human need there rs.
Satisfaction of that need is to mankind, I think, for it points the way out of our spiritual chaos toward that realm of infinite human love which can be man's destiny, little lower than the angels." It is this spiritual yeaming, I'm sure, that causes so many executi management men, and students to ask me, in effect, "How can I get hold this thing, this inner power, and put it to work for me?" A member of of my management development seminars put it like this: Talking with some of the others about what you've been telling ut, gather that what worries them the most is whether they can act the they know they should act.
George would like very much to be to be himself at work as well as at home, in whatever he does, to l l his definition of himself, as you've said.
George has so long been tomed to acting like someone else - his boss's conception of George, example - that it's really cluite something for him even to consider like himself.
Still, he fears that if he does become really George, his won't like it, and he'il lose his chance for a raise, orpromotion - hc even lose his job.
Now what's George to do? This man is saying, "What good does it do a person to know about a I I potential inner strength he has if in practical, everyday situations hc cnn use it even if he knows how?" This reaily is serious, I think, not only for George but for his co for society, and for America.
Among the personnel of every organizat business, social, poiitical - lie great untapped inner resources for i tion, creativity, long- and wide-range planning, and human leadership a word, for good.
Also in every organization arise the situations of stress strain which can be handled properly only by individuals able to tap t inner resources. The higher you go in management the more essential becomes thc uso your inner Self, your spiritual power, because your decisions becoms creasingly loaded with moral and spiritual implications.
Far too often make decisions which you, if you are sensitive, can hardly stomach tln would never make if it were not that you know you are expected to rn them - it's your role - and you must make them if you are, say, to bcat I year, beat that other sales region.
win that trip to Bermuda, or win tlt promotion over Jones.
It's estimated that management and social prc$$u and tensions which affect all workers account for a loss to industry cv year ofat least three billions ofdollars because ofjob changes, abscntccism, alcoholism, interpersonal frictions, executive breakdowns, ancl othcr ct tional difficulties.
The Horvarcl Business Review roports thnt cighty pueenG George's And Everyone's Problem *l tlrt' t:xccutives who would talk about it admitted that unethical practices rrn ;r lcncfolly accepted practice in their respective industries.
Every one of tiq.
I lurvc no doubt, knows personally of men who, under severe pressure {nrl rroral strain, have deserled their Selves and "cracked up" physically or n*'rrlirlly. iirrt'lr value crises do not occur only in business, of course; they happen llr tlrr' lrorne, in the church, inpolitics, in everypart of our lives.
What I have fur 'rilv.
[hcn, applies not only to George at work but also, in much the same rtrrlv, (o George at home, George in church, and George as a citizen in his I rrlllllltlllity. li .rulcl be tragic if in America, of all places, one's freedom to develop Irlrrr',r'll'intrinsically is stifled, if the individual, in the name of the systemic lrlrri,, ;1y1.1 extrinsic goals of a coilective organization, is walled off from Ilirrlrnity.
the pursuit ofhappiness, and God.
The business man, the adminis- Irirt.r.
thc politician, the worker, who, acting as a speciaiist, perhaps a ''triln:;poftation speciaiist," violates humal intrinsic value, fouls himself, l,rrrl'; rrurnkind, and fouls God.
In a corporate civilization like ours, this is I'r,'r rscly the kind of thing that can mire us in economic determinism, I i,rll.ss rnaterialism not unlike that in Soviet Russia, and "sickness unto rl.lrlr."' lu the past decade American life has produced plenty of evidence lllrl tlris can happen here.
I need tick off only a few scandals to make my |'nl:
(hc TV quiz show frauds, the call girls used as business bait by lrrrrrrrurcnt corporations, the Billie Sol Estes case, Bernard Goldfine and trlrt rrrxrLl Adams, the college basketball briberies, the electrical equipment Ir,lrrilry price conspiracy, the attempt to market the baby-deforming drug I lrirlrr[rrnide, the rise in crimes of violence (and the growing popularity of t l,L'rrr.:u as a way of life), the increasing domination of life by the military, [lr' rrrt Ir:ase in high school dropouts and juvenile delinquency, the prevalent flilllrtrlt:
oldisrespect for the law, the callousness toward unemployment, lr{ r\'r'l ly, sickness, and racial injustice. I lrtr rlanger arises, I think, from the growth of organizational bigness.
The lili .l thc organization is apt to become more important than the life of the lrrrl^rirlrral.
George and Jim are likelyto become loyal organizationservants f ir',1, lrrrrnan beings second; executives first, lovers, husbands, fathers, or real lrr r';r )ns sccond.
Even friendships are likely to depend entirely upon their +rlrrnsic value to the organization.
In all this, human intrinsic vaiues natu- rrrily rvould takc a beating.
The inner Self would be practically lost.
Wlurt can you do about it?
Frankly, it,s rough.
There is no easy answer, Itrrt l('l nrc clo my bcst to give axiological directions and guidelines. I rl rnc rnake it clcar that George will have his problem primarily when hr'.,'orrrpany or his homc -- isrun systetnically, at the expense of the lirrrrr;rrr e lcrnonl" -wlrcn rulcs.
prococlurcs, rcgulations, and system prevail 73 74 FREEDOM TO LIVE:
THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY decisions are made and results obtained based on those decisions, wi interference from capricious consumers. over people, when there is- pressure, pressure, pressure to meet the q and when the quotas are always being raised. . .A compqy operated in this fashion is primarily a money_making chine, and, in my opinion, because it ignorei people, it,s a poor way to r money.
Many businessmen would like to ignore people because theyare unreasonable and unpredictable, and this makes planning difficult.
inder it's been suggested that this may be one explanation for thi current corpon popularity ofthe various management "games" where price and producti Nevertheless, men who know how to work with people are increasir in demand in business.
Surveys, indeed, indicate ttrii quality is prized m more highly than technical skill in holders of upper ect eton positionc Inability to cooperare with others and inability tolrag.
people irave beor found to be two of the most frequent reasons ror eiecitire ralture.
In business, as elsewhere, then, the human factor of intrinsic value is Eu work, and.
until computers and other machines take over completely, it cannot be ignored.
we've seen this human factor at work in trre i.eriously mentioned Hawthome experiments where special attention *u, giu", ono group of gir_ls, in properly conducted profirsharing arrangements, "and in thO strange mathematics ofthe twenty-minute rest bre;ks.
It r;flects, in businesS, what is true in_society as a whole.
A nation that aspires onry to material progress, says Historian Arnold J. Toynbee, is doomed to economic stagna.
tion, boredom, and moral decay.
No iociety, he insists, has ever flouris=hed without a spiritual meaning.
The same thing could be said about a man - after all, most mental cases result frorn dull, hopeless, meaningless lives - andthesame thing could be said about a busineis, for a businessman neecla spiritual meaning in what he does as much as anyone.
Iwas delighted to read this corroborating statement i nanAtlantic Monthly article by Edward T.
Chase6 titled ,.Money Isn,t Eveqrthing,,: The degree to which a.sociew turns away from the immediacy of money.
making to the cultivation of the resources of the mind and spirit substan.
tially determines its ultimate economic growth.
This is a ne,,w concept in economics that has been proved statistically only in the past several years, President Murray D.
Lincoln of Nationwide lnsurance has long been saying^the same thing:
"we've never gone into anything primarily with the idea of making.money out of it, but somehow we nlarty-aiways selrn to encl up pretty well in that department, too.,' Another prominent businessman told me that the more he concentratccl on making money the less he made.
This is quitc unclerstanclable.
[,or in George's - And Everyone's - Problem r'nrrr'r'rrtratiflg on making money you do not concentrate on the element trlrrt'lr ulone makes moneymaking possible - the needs of human beings. I lrr'rc irre , as I have mentioned, numerous instances of salesmen who break ell tlrc rules but run away with the sales trophies because they are genuinely Iwrrrc oltheir customers, they love to do things for people, and their sincer- lly t:i rr:cognized as authentic, not artificial.
I was told about an insurance ngnrl with quaiities like these.
He's the rookie in a district force of a dozen rturnls, and he flunked some of his early assignments, but now he leads the rltrllrct in sales production by a wide margin.
Why?
Here's what one of his urllr'rrgues says: I lris man has something within him.
I can't pin it down, but I know what otlrcrs have said.
A minister:
"This man walks with God."A friend:
"He's 1u:rt naturally loved by everyone." His wife:
"As long as he's doing for ltlrcrs, he's happy." Everyone understands this agent like ABC. ,, rr cxe cutive told rne about his father, who ran a small tavem near New r,r li ( 'ity.
He was very unbusinesslike.
When his son came horre from out ul tolvrr for a visit one night, he hustled the customers out and closed up, qt'r,r'r'irl hours early.
When family friends arrived at home one noon, he rrllrt'tl out, leaving the customers to fend for themselves until he returned.
"l)orr't worry," he said.
"They'11 put the money for their drinks in the rlrrnvcr'." His place was a hangout for Brooklyn Dodger fans.
During a lrrr,rchatl world series, a stranger came in, ordered a beer.
"Who you for?" Irr ivls asked.
"I'm for the Yankees," the man said.
"Friend," the tavern rnvrrr.rr told him, "you have this one on the house and then you better leave. lVt' rkrn't want no Yankees around here.
There might be trouble." Ill health lorr'r:tl him to sell out his lively and prosperous little business.
Within six !rrorr(hs the new owner had gone broke for lack of customers. l'lrcrc is, believe me, an intrinsic value side to business. An cconomic act, a mere "fact" in the world ofbusiness, transcends itself rrrrrl is crnbedded in a wider context.
Gilbert K.
Chesterton, the English tvr ilcr, uscd to say that when he looked for a room he didn't look for the hot rrrrrl colcl water, the plumbing or furniture, but for the landlady's views of llrt' rrrrivcrse.
Even in the economic realm, intrinsic value precedes the r'r l lirr s ic, and thc moral or human context is more important than the eco- trorrric. liut supposing you are a businessman who, to make a lot of money, , h'libcratcly sets ont to operate on thattop level - the moral or spiritual level. Yorrr goll is to make profits, so you are nice to your employees and your r'u\l()nlors, aud you hclp thc church.
But that won't work because you have rlvcrsucl thc arrow.
You huvc rrraclc thc spiritual, thc intrinsic, into a means 75 76 FREEDOM TO LIVE:
THE ROBERT HARTMAN STOII? to the economic.
When you live truly spiritually, you cannot bc material rewards at all.
Every Aolarihat comes to you, you will head.in surprise and say, ,oI sure don,t understand htw iifrupp.nuJ'il one." ^_-j:,bu.k to George.
If he,s working with a company that is entrely on the lower or systemic level, he *o.r,t g"i much enc in developing his true Self-potential; indeed, he,ll be blocked and at every turn.
He has three choices:
(l) he can forfeit his indiviJ become a cog in a machine that wil irom then on stamp out his lirbi :il-r]ry and try to help change things so that his company ir;;r"; human concern paramornt;-or (3) If he relards the situation as miserable and hopeless, he will Lave to .or".id".
f.*irg f".
,.f ili ment or for another company or organization that Ao", pio"iae an ment favorable to Self-fu lfillment.- .Like everyone else, George is a unique individual of infinitc it ::tr::
T3.l:l,lfl he should let no.
organi zation,*"tr,., r,i, iiriq and so disvalue him.
For George, and foi every perr"", ,rr.
n,*l'i,rio, thing in the world is to tulfi tl hii inner yea*ing i;;;hil h;;;;il.,|, awareness and move up from the cellar.
Let's assume, then, that George,s situation is not hopeless but ,,.:l_1T.If" thath.ilggmpanyis run or could be run;;;;;;il; 3:.I"--,-"1ltr potentialities.
What shoutd he do to d;;.,dil i;;;; live more on the intrinsic level, so thathe can also ii;"ffi;;;i;; and extrinsic levels?
For it is true, and it can be demonstrated axi llt ll:
T:."_ tu1ly we ar9 grlselvg, tt " U.tt..
*;;;;;;ffi ;:;:i; ill1l:t-:., and in our rhinking.
piom *.
t"rr".
Gf *";Iirl/#;it :"-::::**g T,Iili1o 9".
rn"1, Self_develop-",, ir-n?i'u l;;,;y, l:::".:[y^?:
o.u1,beins truly ourselves on ail three levels.
S; il;;;t f::r-* whatever he does, and he -"George hilr"tf _;;r;; ffi,'i;, else can live there for him.
But how?
Again, in greater or lesser degree, at work or at home, tltlt everyone's problem. 1.
Rules for Developing the Inner Self IITj:,| l,r, lryoyta say, you have to achieve clariry about yourselt, phil,ra pners nave trled to show.you how to do it, from Socratei to Kicrkcgnurdr what they have said ca1 be synthesized inio what I call the rbur .Scrt'ruror, The first is Socrates':
know thyself, you (and George) t.,auc to-ri*ct our what kind.of person you are, wrrat tina of pioperties fo, havc, wrrat kind of material has been given to you to live wiih. George's - And Everyone's - Problem lltp ,,,',',,rrcl is Kierkegaard's'.
choose thyself.
This means that once you llrrrul out what kind ofperson you are, you have to accept yourselfand tlrr, lrcst of itbecause this is all you have, You have to choose yourself; 11r vour own material.
This is the material you have to develop to 1,, rrrrtl there is absolutely no limit, from the bottom at which you start Irr.rght to which you can go.
Jesus said to the thief who repented: v ,,lurlt thou be with me in Paradise." Mary Magdalene was a prostitute Irllrrrrrc a saint; Matthew was a tax collector, which at that time meant ,r irrrtl collaborator with the Romans, and he became a writer of the I I hcre is no limit to the lowness at which you may start.
But no Irow despicable you may be to yourself, you must choose yourself, rt vorrlsclf as the one you are.
"I am the one I am." lir,, tlrrlrl rule is Pico della Mirandola's and also Kierkegaard's create IVlrrkc yourself into the very best person you can.
You are your own lrrrr, lt's never too late, but stad as early as you can, and never stop. rl I ,i n lorc j oy in heaven tbr one sinner who repents than for ninety-nine i lr{'l,iolls who need no repentance. llrt, lorrlth rule is Jesus':
give thytself.
This means forget all limitations, l,r,rr,r()r.ls with your own Self.
Give your Self to your fellow man and to r r rr I t l. l..ove your neighbor as you love yourself.
Throw your bread upon rrrrte r'. Lack of love is the cause of our trouble.
If everyone would love Ir,rlll irrrcl his neighbor, fear of war and violence would fade away.
This I l[r'' t i, rspcI truth, expressed both by Jesus and the Prophets, both in the Old ler{rrrrrt'nt (Leviticus 19:18) and the New (Matthew 22:37-40).The Bible I nlt,' l ' lovc yourself and, within yourself, your fellow man is, thus, the end fflurlr ol rr chain of Self-discoveries, from Self-knowledge to Self-choosing kt 5t,ll crr:ating to Self-giving.
You can give yourself only when you have llrirrlr'rl yourself, when your own Self is no longer in your own way and you fltr!
irtr irrsicaily free.
The more you grow transparently within yourself the tlrrr(' lx)wcr you will find within - as if you had found the key to a treasure hlu,,,'.
\'ou will not only be able to love yourself, your wife, your family, lllr.
rt,-e ll' you will find that yourpower to love is inexhaustible.
Your love !vlll lrt.t'tln'rc deeperanddeeper, richerandricher, getevernewfacets, sothat h.llrt y()r,r call love today will appear like playing marbles tomorrow. I o irchicvc still more clarity about yourself, take the test which follows ll lrrrtl orrt where you stand in the development of your inner Self.
The test ll'1lrr tlro rrroral properties of the Man of Faith and the Man of Fear. I I yo Lr I ivc in the depth of yourself you are a world for yourself and you lr',,r1 rrotlring clse.
You are anchored with the totality of your own being in tlrr tol;rlity ol'thc world.
You feel at home in the world; you feel at ease.
The qrrrurltc tlring is, everything comes to you without any special effort - 11 78 FREEDOM TO LTVE:
THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY everything is addedunto you, as it says in the Bibte.you are, as we say, well born.
You feel wonderful to be alive.
Faith is exactry this - to feel good in the world and to feel that the world is good.
you are not only made in thc image of God and bear intrinsically His name - ("I am I") - but you also seo the world with the eyes of God:
"And God saw everything that Fie had rnado and, behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1 :3 1).
you are not letting God down by feeling the world is rotten.
You have nothing spirituany to fear, for you have the deep trust that God is good and the worrd is His ireation; and you have the humility, as did Job, to trust in the goodness of God and the world even though at times you are unable to understand either the one or the other. 2.
Intrinsic Faith and Intrinsic Fear Intrinsic Foith is the fundamental property of the morally good man.
on the other hand there is the unfortunate ferlow who is not well bom, who has not found himself, who has not anchored himself deeply within tho world as a whole.
That poor guy is ill-at-ease.
He feels that his birth was nn accident, that he is an error of the universe.
He reaily should not have been born, he thinks.
He does not like himself; he wishes he were not himself.
Ho lives in spite of himself, and in spite of everything.
He is defiant, intrinsi.
cally at odds with himself, with the whole world, and with God.
God to him is not a beloved and trusted Father.
He is a fearful and mistrusted master - as believed the unfaithful servant in the parable of the Talents.
This man lacks faith.
His whole life is one of great doubt or fear.
He knows not who he is or what he is up to.
He is intrinsically bewildered and hence afraid.
Intrinsic Fear is the fundamental property of the morally insecure person, These two great fundamental properlies characteize two very different kinds of people:
the morally secure and the moralry insecure, the itrong and the wobbly, the wideawake and the sleepy.
St.
paul called them the awaro ones and the wary ones.
The man of Faith is a cosmic optimist.
There are many lad things in the world, but they are flaws of the design or the execu.
tion of the world, not of its essence.
They belong to the reaim of contin- gency, a small part, a statistically calculable small part, of the grand design, The man of Fear is a cosmic pessimist.
He sees arl the bad things in iife, all the suffering, and he says, "How is God possible with arl this misery arou nd,l It would be blasphemy to believe in a God who created this world.;' He clocs not see the whole for the parts. Now look at the properlies that flow from the two fundamental rnoral types, the Man ofFear and the Man ofFaith.
I doubt whether you,ll fincl thtrt you are all one or the other, but you can learn which you most rescmblc, THE MAN OF FA{fH rS _ - humble.
He benords to the sDir.._ lolto man, so haq5 flo ,."d fJ,.
detiance or superiqgliry.
He do")t n t have ro preteneclanythins bJ- cause he rrusrs G64 anO tioo] everyrhing will be aall righr.
vs - serene.
He feels,; s deep joy Et being alive and ma u.ou.,d hi- r"; i i,; 15fi #:1l"rl E rs spiritually happy. - coopercrtive.
He S6esS others as p^otentral helpers in nnr"eting proUl tems.
Everyone can I be a eiend.
- ,- humane.
He ioveg5 people.
He helps them.
He ncve31 g;ays a bad word about anyone. - generous.
He knos s he can atrord_to give becausSs he knows that when he throws l-grig; bread on rne water ir will rertyfn ro him manifoid. .-^unpre le n.t ioas.
He d0 oelsn,t try to c.all attention to his alppearance.
rte doesn't have to tryy io pretend ne ts any.thing bur what.t trels.
This ts nrs world and he bellorgs. ,, ..t a I / - 1l t t,t.t cs.\.
(, ( l. n ( ) t o, 17,,c; i l.v h t r t. t.
llc llcvct'r'xl)cc'l illlw .t, iirrg r,ytr.,, George's - An6l fryeryone,s _ problerxln 79 I IIIi MAN OF FEARIS. lcfiont.
He defies the rvhole rvorld.
He assumes he is sutrerlor lo cys1r.r..
Because helacks lirith in the world, in anyone,he lurs to be the guy who does jialt. I lL, trusts oniy himself.
IIe can,t r I r. I cgate.
Everything depends rr pon him, for he thinks he is in_ ,lispcnsable. r r tgres sive and combative,He lr;rs to be because everythingde. 1,,'rrrls upon him. t,ontpetitive.
To him everyone r,r lr potential rival or enenyltto lrrrst be beaten or overcome,He lrrrs to be the top dog all the time r't,nical.
He has to teardown r v(.r'yone and everl,thing. ,v.r'ccdy.
Unless he grabs his, ,,,urrobody else will get it.
Heiras lrr liucp piling it up, Iest henay 'rlirrvc one day. t'(tin.
He feels the need ofalot ll lrrops for himself.
Themore t'rrlrnur.rs he has in LI/ho,sWha.
tlrt' hctter he feels.
He buildshis ,rrtcl solL He looks in the minor lrrrl lris I'i ncry makcs hin ficl 1,,roll. r'rrl; i l)t htyl, tttttt'h.t,.
I lt:,sso urli(rr:ul'e, tntl ho hirs gt.clrrlsllli fl!f :ililtrt THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY flllV llr ls11q lrr rlltty.lglc so hard, lHrl r,r r,r llltnli ts trguiltst him. llu'r t,uttr'rtttr'cl tluly about his rHltUrlrrp., ttot tltat olothers. t't,tt'ttr(ll),.
He is scared in his rlrlnl.
lhin-skinned.
He is born, so to spctk, without a spiritual skin rtgrrittst the world, but he is sensi- tivc r:nly about himself.
He is a spiritual mybaby; few things ap- pcar possible to him.
He tries to hoard what he has - like the unfaithful servant in the Parable of the Talents. - burdened with the heavy touch. Everything is very difficult for him.
He has to work so hard, harder than anyone else, and noth- ing comes of it. - prone to see the irrelevant.
He lacks a sense ofproportion, makes mountains out of mole hills, or vice versa.
F1e thus confuses the important with the unimportant, and his thinking is irrelevant. - inconstant, hesitant.
He lacks enough faith and inner strength to move toward his objective consis- tently, so he has a certain deep hesitation about his actions.
He goes to a certain point, then stops, looking for another direction. - systemic, rigid.
He uses sys- tems as a crutch and is lost with- out them - as was Adolf Eich- man.
The system is sovereign over him. from the world, but he tak whatever he receives as a gift from the bounty of God's ness, for which he is grateful. - bold, courageous.
Nothing appears impossible, every proh. lem seems solvable.
every difft. culty superable.
He knows he ia on the right track so he isn't afraid to move ahead. - blessed with the light touch.
He bounces through life, buoyed by the powers of infinity.
Everything comes easy to him. - prone to see the relevant.
He has a sense of proportion, sees things in their true relation to each other.
He is able to differentiate. He takes the important seriously and values it accordingly. - persevering, patient.
He knows he's on the right road and if he persists, he will reach his goal, he feels within himself the strength of the universe.
He is still water that runs deep. - spontaneous, /lexible.
He plays upon and with systems as a virtu- oso with a piano.
He is sovereign above the system. Irttltllt'r't'nt, callous' He is indif- Slt,rrt t.rrvard what really counts' ;ip,',,,'lly toward the infinite liilrrrcss of the human being' lir,, ,' 1,.
is weak inside and hates it, 1,,'touched bY anYthing llttpl,',rsrtnt.
he is indifferent to llll'lttittu. George's - And Everyone's - Problem 8l - compassionate.
ComPasslon rs his deepest trait.
He suffers with the suffirer.
Every suffering is his own.
He manifests within himself the intrinsic oneness of all Cre- ation.
ComPassion, as we said, is the touchstone of moralitY. r\s I said, none of us' of course' has all the properties of either the }vlu,., ttl I rrr(lr or the Man "iF;' Wt are all mixtures' I have trouble Y1:l E i-,tt',j'","J,rr.
r."tn'r *utl'' properties' For.
example' superiority' I use{ 1n tlrtrrl.
I was the most lln;;il;;", in creation' Now I'm not so sure' Evgi ru, nrv wiFe has to keepilminOilg me"'Be humble'" I krow a fellow w6o ;.'i,l;'.,,;i;;;r, one of tt'e most lovable persons I know' He has manv ot thN grrupr'ttics of faith, Uot i-'t ufto has a deep-seated' intrinsic fear' He laql(( rr,r.'nity.
is often on the defensive' is not expansive but narrow' and is ea5ilt- Iru t Acrually, he is "^ttl-"fY''uccessful in a material way' with " Oq*:$ i;:,;;,,:;;,J;;^*g" t rioTcuiittut'' Bu1$ is alwavs feartulhe will lo-se n1i il::'i;;'-'i,;;;il;*l n" r*rt r'e's no good; he.shouldn't have been bom; 1i1o lrrrr't lcally worth the tt""U1"' If th;Bomb does away with us all' that s.ali ii,,r,, *iirr'rri,,,.
He's'J*otti"a' Yet he's very much afraid of losing his nr, )ncv.
You cannot t';;i-t; bad man' b-ut he is morally insecure; he 6l rr,t tlcvclopea tn" totutlty' 'iljeiil';l';l't'r*ity within himself' .Vall:-t:gii r r'( rt r ilcs all people, g;i ot 6ua' io judge goodness and badness in their o1ryi ,,,,i,g".
and to use the?ilJ*"tAt t"t g*dness and badness' 65 3 result '' rtilrF,y pcrson will findanother stingy p""o' lood and a generous pers;l l,'tl.
rt prodigrr.
rn gt*"iui"t;;;";;d" livesin the systemic and extriqsli It,vels (on the left -id";f th" i;i")*il.r*d up:-'Y:i'1"^:1'"1Y'.1-Yuj i,t" ii . tigfr, side) not as he is - authentic' unpretentrous' generous' erQ' \ l;i i *ijtt;;ln** l*r"m;:ffi lhllffiTi:fr"'f;t]\ tlillurcncc who says *i"i' f *ut hired once because a fellow said I was n"" pr rrrtl.
Pcrson A asked Person B about this man Hartman' And Person B s;i: Irc's t.to good.
But Person A had a poor opinion of Person B' So he fisu"o) tlrrrt il'Pcrson B said Hartman is nb good' fiui*urr must really b" uiq[\ tlingcr.
And l-re hired me' fi:i-.'^'ffi;"#;i;,';;i have said' unless voY 1'" 3,!f iEXl.v""LY,'lt^:tu t I r. t y o u do n' t measur" il ;;' ;;",p i"l :i:
: :l llt} i:::
X :lil^ Ir* mi rrrilt you Lr\Ir L ruwors^"r;itl; *ht"tt yo' do not fulfrll your Self-definrtiod rrotc uncasily the resp -.^--^c.r +^^ ^rmi^^., l()tc Lttluusrry L'v rvr' ,ve, too vengeful, too cyniqai Yorr arc pcrhaps too littlc twarc' too uqq"^t:1..^,- ^rr+l.a roo*firr hr^nelr:^ ,i,l]\"il1"',|"", i.#il;;;;.
whrit clo you cJo to shuck ofrthe feartul propeqlo\ 82 FREEDOM TO LTVE:
THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY and develop the faithful ones?
In other words, we're back to the question, "How do we become Self-aware?" I've already given a partial answer.
You have to know there is within you which is intrinsically unique and extremely valuable to you, the universe, and to God.
You have to know that you make use of only fraction of that spiritual power.
You have to lcnow thyself, choose th create thyself, give thyself.
You have to know that full development yourself intrinsically takes a lifetime. This Self-development is what makes you Yourself.
Only you can gi your Self firmness, certainty, and moral security.
You are at rest only when you have the world in your Self and do not need to hunt for it in all of hustle and bustle.
Physically you're only a little person on a huge but within you, you can, if you fulfillyour Self, contain the whole world,l' all humanity, indeed the vastness of the universe and God. Let's analyze this Self-development, this growth process of the 'I.' Tho 'I' that I am within myself is not static; it is dynamic.
The concept that 'I aht. I' is the core of my being.
At birth I am given body, mind, and emotion - the capacity for feeling good, bad, pleasant, angry, etc.
As a baby I'm a littlE animal.
I have not such mind.
I don't think.
I am a little body, and my first actions are to get acquainted with my body.
i look at myself, stick my toer into my mouth, smell myself, and so on.
It's nearly two years before I speak of myself, saying 'I.' That's a wonderful moment.
Parents do not celebrato it as they ought.
It is the combination of the process of the growth of self-reflection from the animal to the human.
(Psychoanalysts tell us that this process begins in the second month of the child's life with the first smile.) This process is one of qualitative growth.
Quantitative growth is no problem; I just grow.
But qualitative growth is different; it is the growth of meaning.
Let me illustrate.
A sculptor has before him a big block of marble, As such, it has little meaning; it' s just a block of marble.
The sculptor chisels around this block and sometimes chisels offmore than he leaves, but at the end there is a beautiful statue.
Moses, by Michelangelo, Iet's say.
The meaningless block of marble with a minimum of material has acquired maximum meaning. That's an example of qualitative growth.
It's throwing away what isn't meaningful and differentiating, while liberating and refining what's left over. Michelangelo sometimes walked around a block of marble for years before he began chiseling away at it.
In his mind, or rather his person, he then had the final product, and he had to get it out of that marble.
So the 'I' is thc sculptor.
The material - the marble - is body, mind, and feeling, and I have to make out of the material given to me a work of art, a work of meaning. In other words, I have to peel away the animality of my body, the irrelevant of the mind, the disturbing of the emotion and make myself, as Kierkegaarcl George's - And Everyone's - Problem 83 'rrrvs, lnore and more transparent (like glass), less and less obstructive to the '1,' thc inner Self.
For example, if, when I try to talk to you, I stutter, my plrysical mouth is an obstruction to my inner meaning and I have to over- lorrrc it.
Suppose mythoughts areunclear.
Ihaveto clearthemup.
Suppose ['rrr vcry emotional, or not emotional enough.
Everything has to serve and lrt'e orne my meaning; that is clualitative growth. I can grow qualitatively in many ways.
I can become an artist, a sculp- lot , ln insurance man.
I can be anything as long as I make myself into .rorrrcthing more than I am materially given.
In other words I have to tran- 'i('rnd my material being, and I have to give myself transcendent meaning. I rrtrst become a symbol for something higher.
If I am a good salesman, I rvrll live and breathe my job; I will transcend my physical body and live in tlrc pcrson of my customer.
If you were to ask me how I do it, I wouldn't be rrlrlc to tell you.
Salesmen are given courses in economics and psychology rv lr ich they learn forward and backward, but there's always that one, like the rool
Qualitative growth.
The deepening of meaning. 3.
Six Ways to Self-development Again, how?
Assuming that neither you nor George has reached the point rvlrclc you might require psychotherapy, I'm going to suggest six ways that , rrrr load to Self-development. I . One way is to take seriously the teachings of your religion.
Become, rrr othcr words, a truly religious person intrinsically, not just an extrinsic rrrt:rrtrcr of a church.
"Love God.
Love thy neighbor as thyself.
Overcome r,vrl by good." I'll elaborate in the next chapter. l.
Another way is through crlirs.
In crisis a deep sickness, the loss of a lrclovcd, or some other traumatic experience- we are forced to delve deeply Io llnd our strength.
This is a pretty rough way to Self-development, and it lrrrrrrot be brought about voluntarily.
When crisis strikes, we may just as r'rrsily go under as triumph.
It may break us rather than make us.
We have Io tlrrow away our finite life and leap into the abyss.
We have to throw our Scll'lt the mercy of God.
A great example of Self-development through lrisis was that of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, from the day he was stricken with lrolio zrt Campobello on August 10,1921, to the day, June26,1924, when rrl Madison Square Garden he nominated A1 Smith as the Democratic Pres- rr[:utial candidate - standing on his own two legs, holding the podium with lris lolt hand, and waving with his right hand to the screaming, cheering clrwcl, a man triumphantly emcrged from the depth of despair to a new life. llcr his Campobcllo crisis, Rooscvelt said, "What I called thinking yester- rlrry wns mcrcly looking out uI'thc winclow." one way to develop your conscience is to follow the exampre of sensi persons like a Maria, like a child, like your wife.
A wife who roves is usu more mature than a man.
She loves you as a husband, not as an imp or not-so-important man, and shemay love you when you,re ust"ep than at any other time.
To women, uotrr tne *iar..t"ui JnJ-^lri*.
io,r,on - the- social play srnall roles relative to love and compassion.
vren a.e ofton lured by their intelleoual.and social power to insensitivity ""a Jir*g*o oi the spiritual.
Having to deal directry with the creation of lif", ,roo,., uro usually more sensitive to intrinsic ,ilue. 84 FREEDOM TO LIVE:
THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY the opposite. 3..A-.third way is through a conscious, deliberate effort to refine , sensibilities, to sensitize and develop your conscience sothat you kn# orgood when you see it.
Make that voice so sftong you cannot compror In Mexico two boys were driving one rainy ev.niig to e.uprt.o.
i-h"re suddenly a thud, and so_mething rike a body went n"virg trni" r, ir," "ir.
:
driver kept right on.
His companion ,uid, ..Stop, ,iun, .to], you,ra someone!" "oh," said the driver, "never mind that-.
He srrouton;t have b in the road'" But his companion became so hysterical the driver uacteo They got out and therewas a w9m1l siuing there crying, " fir,f.
U"V in arms.
He was injured, but not fatally.
In such a situati6n, the dri.rir or ouslywas insensitive to human life; he was without compur.ion.
rri.
rria whom I later had as a student and who told me the story, turned out to George's - And Evervone's - Problem 85 I lrr, " A-ha" experience of finding your Self is not so minute, however; it tiltt,, vorr on the road to divinity. It rs the intellectual way to Self-development that I have taken, though I n'l:r Irclped profoundly by the crisis experience which expanded rny firl'ril('ilcss at one almost shattering stroke.
Yet it was my lifelong endeavor hr lrrrrl a rational account of this experience, and I did find it eventually llrrurrlilr the precision of formal axiology. 1 A llfth way to Self-development is through the conscious pursuit of luttl (\periences.
A peak experience, in the terminology of Abraham lvlrr,,low.
who has studied this subject intensively, is one in which we feel lrl,it'lvcs at the peak of life, in the fullness of our powers and the maximum rlr,lrllr ol'our awareness.
It can come to us in love, in the birth of a child, the iltrlil rirgo of a son or daughter, in deep musical and other aesthetic experi- lnr ('s.
in creation and inspiration, or in religious insight and rapture.
Soms lrr,r:ions can make their whole lives into a series of peak experiences.
They ru'r 'r li irt their Being and not primarily at their doing, at their awareness rather tllrrr thcir activities.
Their eye for knowledge gradually becomes sharper for thr tlrings that matter and weaker for the things that don't.
They fulfillthe llr.ryrl that Kierkegaard put as motto tohis The Sickness Unto Death. ( iivc r-rs weak eyes, oh God, lror things that matter not, Ancl eyes of light and clarity lror all thy truth and verity. tr.
A sixth way to Self-development is to ask yourself the following four rllt('s(ior1s, and, afteryou've thoughthard about them, comeup with ansrrers tlut sttisf,i you. A, WHAT AM I HERE FOR IN THE WORLD? Irr Mcxico City I am with a personnel selection firm which tests candi- rlrrtt:s lirr cxecutivepositions.
In interviews I askthe candidates this question, rrrrrl I gct some queerreplies thatreallyaren't answers at all.
These men seem rrorrplusscd, as if they had never heard such a foolish question before, and tlrt:y go through tortuous maneuvers trying to figure out just what kind of iuls'wor will please me.
Many come out with such answers as "To make a lrvirrg," "To be happy," "To rnake money to support my family," orthe lirrnrlay schclol reply, "To complete my mission," without having the least rrlcl wlrat that might bc. What, thcn, arn I hcrc lirr in thc world?
To bc a good, loyal company rrurrr'l '['o clo what I'rn told'/ Wcll, no clog wor.rld lick mc for that.
To make Conscience is the organ of the Self.
It is, so to speak, the barometer of trt6 soul, the measure of its spiritual pressure.
In the degree maiwe-iegister normal sensitivity, especially compassion, our conscieice is sensitive; in tho degree that we do not, it is insensitive and undeveroped.
ro o*.on.cienc6 we register the properties of the Man of Faith and the Man of Fear, and it'r good to check this spiritual barometer. - - 4' A fourth way to Self-development is by using your inteilectuar power.
You can develop yourserf morally by reaming inteiGcruarr/uuo"ifou, self and growing in step with.your knowledge, ia Uy mixing t onestjto_good- ness efforts to define and become your sirf.
But you musireafly work at it, 24 hours a day, as hard as men like Galileo und N"*to, worked at their problems.
You work at it until one day something wilt snap, arrJ irri, i* it, You've experienced something like it when you rearned to drive a car, or to speak a foreign language.
Something clicked, and suddenly yo, Lou.
u, spoke..Psychologically this is called th" "A-hu', "*p"ri"n"L.'it "." i. on "A-ha" experience on alr revels, and the highest levelis coa.
e"i yo, oon't have to have it on that level.
Have it on youiown rever; be you, ioin-i,.q-hn,' experie-nce.
Make your own Serf your problem; when you work harcr at it vou wiff suddenly find the jusrright solution.
you wilr finct your rcif and you will feel "A-ha." Any "A-ha'iexpcricncc is a minutc ,.,.,y*ii" "^p"ri"r"c, 86 FREEDOM TO LTVE:
THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY a lot of money?
Money can be a fetish' It's nice to have but not so important il;iil"" to regard moneymaking as mymain reason for-being' You see' iiri.
ot..
", rigfit uactlo in" sttf]d"f'nition question' "who 1T I?"' Iutv answer is that f',,, n.r"1o define and give meaning to myself'.To give ;;;ri;g1" myself, t u* ity-g to.
enriJh the universe by articulating as ;i;;;ir;:.
po.riut.
tir";;i;,;;i'alue, bvhelping to orsanize goodness' bv ;;ftig d; possible.
This is my answer, not yoT t' You must find your ;;;;.;;t, ura it *itt Ue the more true the more fu1lyyou are yourself' For ;h;;;;; *ii1 conclude that you repfesent divine capital andthat you were bom to make this ""pi;"G.o; and produce' The higher your meaning' the gr"ut., "rri"t *.nt yo, *iil feel youhave to offer the unfuottl lil]le more ;;;h;;;1; develop vo* u"a/"nd mind' The larger vour meaning' the larger your life.
It .orir".
," mean complete dedication of your total Self to voi, ti.t, .rrirrg you.
ioiy andmind fbr a meanins^Uevon{11y1elf' You then transcend yourself.
You become a symbol for a meaning beyond v""r..fi.
Wt." i*.it.1t i. symbol - "City" - you don t think of the curves ;;;';;;i..
of the iinls, you think of the meaning of it - streets, houses, .il.*,.p."pte.
Vou fr"i,ify see thc letters'.Theydon't obstruct' They are transparent, and they ;;; ti'unt""oA"ot' But if I write po)"rq' the Greek word for city, you are "r"f. *ilf' the lines and curves of the symbol itself' It obstructs You. If you aren't transparent, if you can't read your own symbol' you get in vorrr own *ur, rou'Jon;i',nittttund your Self; you are' so to speak' ffi"#;;;"irl i"ir,i"rf_alienated.
So you must make your body, mind, "rJ -pi.i -"*ingn i; vo* namemust b"tott'" a symbol of meaning' You must have the feeling ili", v* "." here for a reason.
If you have that feeling, v"" ir""" i"r.i".i.
a"lptrr;-iiyou don't have it' well' then' you have to develop it. onecomment:greatnessofmeaningdoesnotnecessarilymakeusbetter morally than, ,uy, fuf^tiu, *t'o n'Uy gi"E t'erself to 1pa11' ]imi11$,1eaninS' Breadthofmeaningiswhatcounts,notwidth;quality,notqulntity'Maris """fJ*V tfr"t she iihere in the world to clean houses, and that doesn't seern to have much *"urring, i"i'h" p"tt into everv action what Kierkegaard calln the motions of "t.*liy.
It is not what you do that counts, but the spirit in which you do it.
vou i'ave it *itrri" v*io fill a particular place in the world, if-y"" il";; toward that place, large or small' great "1i11:t?
flYt' then you have the feeling of meaning, of transparen"y' tht point is.that.if you liko what you u." Oo*g, forffi"g* to see it - no matter how humble - in tho framework of eternity, and there you are on the first (intrinsic) level' It's true that mosipeople go through life without finding thc answcr t0 that question.
wrr"i'il .o'url;uring, rh"ough, is that many o1'them havc tho answer in their 1i";;;;;y a-on;ir".
tf,at thcy havc it; thcy lct it pass by George's - And Everyone's - Problem 87 unconsciously.
Perhaps we need trained axioanalysts who would listen to life stories and tell persons the meanings of their lives. B.
WHY DO I WORK FOR THIS ORGANZATION? If I don't have any particular meaning in life, it really doesn't rnatter, of course, what or whom I work for.
I just settle back and, working as well as living on a lower level,I just learn to classify, to put things in order, to manipulate and operate.
In other words I become a specialist who sees only to the tip of his nose.
My answerto the question would likelybe a short one: to make money.
In this case I make a living but I don't live; my life has no rneaning.
If, on the other hand, my life does have meaning for me, I will be cluite concerned about the organization I work for, because it would have to dovetail with rny own meaning.
If it doesn't and I keep on working for it, I'm either a fake or unhappy or both.
i cheat myself.
I waste the divine capital that I am.
I sell myself to the world, and I will pay for this betrayal by neurosis, by drinking too much, or by otherwise destroying myself, as i{' I were saying that I arn not worth the gift of life. C.
WHAT CAN THIS ORGANIZATION DO TO HELP ME FULFILL MY MEANING IN THE WORLD? This question implies, in other words, that the company I work with exists lirr rne.
This is true.
An organization never rises above the individual person, lrccause an organization cannot live on the intrinsic level.
A company can rystcmatically state intrinsic spiritual objectives, but individual persons have to lulfrll those objectives.
The company, therefore, has to be an instrument ol'nry rneaning.
It has to be an extension of my Self, as are my body and nrirrtl.
and like them must not obstruct my Self.
It has to nourish my inner Strll.
give my spirit strength and sustenance - it has to be transparent to my rrrclning. Many problems can arise here, and conscience perhaps has to work rrvl:rtime.
I was once in a situation which became so bad for me that I could rrot go into the same room with my superior without feeling nauseated.
I was urrhirppy and depressed, my work suffered and I suffered, until at length I lrlciurrc physically ill and had to have an operation.
Finally, there was trollrirrg for me to do but get out, for my work no longer had meaning. l'lrorc are tirnes when the onlything that counts is to be true to your Self, rrrr rrrirtlcr what the conseqllences, when you have to take your life in your lrrrrrrls lncl rur.
This is whcn you need Faith and Boldness. ,.
',, ! . , IIll I l'IIIISORGANIZATIONFULFILLMYN,II,\N= i llll i. ltlrll)' r ,rl, rtl rri 1,r'q1 cr llnd good will, Can reciprocate the good will ol lhf .
, ,r rrr, r t(,rr:rrtl nte.
For if the organization helps me to lillrll rttf | , , t'!
I , ( r l.unly will rvant to contribute one hundred percent ol'lt'vrolf ,, r, r'1,,t Iroltling back forty percent- as studies have sholvn thc irveltfi ,',,r1, r rl,t's and hurting myselfas rvell as the company.
I fulfill nlvrelF t,; IrrIIrIIrrrqrnyduties,andmore,towardtheorganization.
Itthusht.t,trntFl rlr( ( r\'irtivc instrument of my own Self-trilfillment.
There is no lrrrpplef rr l.rtr.rrship than such a one toward and with a company with wlrie,lr vu11 rr ot li. l'ltcsc, then, are the tbur questions.
They can be answered l'lipprrrrtly, Wlrat arn I here tbr in the world?
To make a livrng.
Why do I work lirr tlrll orsanization?
To make money.
What can this oreanization do to lrrll rrtg lirltill my purpose in the world?
Pay me.
How can I heip this orgirrrizrrtlrrll hclp mc fi,rlfill my purpose in the lvorld'?
Hetp it to make more mon(.\/ These are answers on the cxtrinsic level:
they are w.ithotrt valuc corrrprrrFd to those on the intrinsic level.
It has been my erperience that no cxr'(.lttive can do his bcst tmless he ansrvers these questions on the intrinsic lcv,t.l rrtrrl lrnless he puts into managernent jobs persons who can also answcr tltcnl rrll that lcvel.
Such an executivc integrates his life, his job, and his intcllcr lrrll and spiritual intercsts into one; his mrnd stretches, his horizon witlt,rrr, lrlt vision lcngthcns; he acquires thc tbresight to plan far ahead, sccirrp lrlr organization in a broadened context, in the light of long-term ratlrr.r tlrrril short-term goals.
With thc maturing of sensitivity he also acquires tlrt, rrlrrlltv to plurnb the intrinsic depths ofpersons who work with him and to irllit,rrlrrl€ ways tbr their Self-devclopment.
He uses a new kind of logic to provtrle human incentives as weil as material incentives.
He becorncs.
irrtlt.r,rl, { hannonious human being in the ri-qht spot for genuine leadcrship. Thesc four questions conclude rny six suggestions - to Gcorgc rrrrrl lrt everyone - for the trernendous joumey into the depth of your owrr Sr.ll, llt spiritual growth, and for the achievemcnt of the highest potentiirl lrrrrrrrlt value.
[n sufirnary, I have said:
comprehend and take yourreligion scri.r1,,ly, take advantage when yolt can of crises.
educate your conscicltcc, u(' yrntl intellectual power to think, search lbr the peak experiences, ancl arrsu,r,r tlr€ fbur questions. Work hard enough and long enough at part or all of this aclvicc.
rrrrrl l'rn sure that one ciay a light will flash, and you'11 shor-rt, "A-ha!
I rrrr!"
