Tikkun Magazine, January/February 2008

Awe-Based Work

by Kirk J. Schneider

REDISCOVERY OF AWE—THE SENSE OF HUMILITY AND WONDER BEFORE creation—is vital to our contemporary lives. In too many ways, across too many settings, we not only fail to ask the big questions about our lives like, "What really matters?" and "How do we live in the face of the daunting enigma of death?" but we fail to be fully present to those questions, to integrate them into our everyday routines. As a result, many of our lives become truncated, minds cut off from bodies, rituals separated from spirit.

In this article, I examine how awe i.e., the cultivation of presence to the big questions in life, can apply to one of our most prosaic rituals: work. What has awe—the sense of profound wonder and humility before creation—got to do with such an everyday scenario as a job? What has the sense of mystery, discovery, and possibility got to do with filing forms or crunching numbers, investing in stocks or flipping burgers?

Much has already been written on and indeed applied to this general topic, from lunchtime speaker forums, to seminars on sustainable work places, to workshops on employee mental and physical health. However, what I don't believe has been optimally explored is an alternative drawn from experiential-depth therapy principles that I call "awe-based" well-being programs (see my book Rediscovery of Awe for an elaboration). Awe-based well-being programs provide a weekly forum whereby issues pertaining to employee (and employer) well-being are not just talked about or reported on but affectively and kinesthetically experienced. Additionally, such programs would be facilitated by experiential-depth psychologists (or kindred professionals) who are schooled in the art of affective/kinesthetic searching. This approach helps participants learn to pause and to stay present to, not just the content of their concerns (e.g., the need to improve product safety), but the feelings, body sensations, and images that arise in association with that content (e.g., the implications of product safety for the employee's sense of planetary integrity).

As an experiential-depth psychologist myself, I have seen numerous cases of businesspeople who, through the art of attending deeply to what matters to them, discover not only a fresh approach to their work activity (e.g., an innovative idea), but a rejuvenated approach to life (e.g., a renewed appreciation for the here and now). Here is a brief illustration of what I have witnessed and would like to see extrapolated, perhaps as a pilot study, to the business setting:

Joe: I'm feeling bored at work. The calculations and the cookie-cutter paperwork are just not doing it for me anymore. I used to see a value in these when I was younger, and I did everything by the book, or for the boss's approval, but now I feel like I'm just going through motions and I really don't see that they lead anywhere.

KS: Joe, see if you can stay with that feeling a moment and check in with what you're experiencing in your body right now—any other feelings, sensations, images?

Joe: Yes, I'm thinking of how I enjoyed making popsicle stick airplanes as a kid, how I'd be in a big field and tied the things together and made them go. I loved the freedom that brought.

KS: You smiled as you said that, Joe.

Joe: Yes it's exhilarating to feel that again, it was the freedom, the looseness to just try things.

KS: Can you feel that freedom or looseness right now? Where do you feel that in your body?

Joe: Yes, it's in my chest area.

KS: Take a moment to feel that area, Joe, what comes up?

Joe: Hope, a sense that maybe I could try something different today.

KS: Is there anything "different" you'd like to try out today, perhaps at work?

Joe: Yes, as a matter of fact, I'd like to be part of a team that's taking another look at how we design products in my industry, and see if we can come up with one that allows for more creativity and imagination.

Now the vignette above is, of course, condensed. But it is a glimpse, in my view, of what could viably be transferred from the consulting room to a business setting. As a matter of fact, companies like Google already set aside a weekly period for employees to explore potentially innovative ideas. The awe-based well-being program, on the other hand, appears to go beyond what Google and other companies offer. It would enable employees (and ideally, employers) not just to have a period of time to think or talk about innovations, meaningful ideas, etc., it would foster immersion in these issues, with appropriate follow up, for the implications that may ensue.

My point here is that to effect lasting and holistic change at the work setting, lasting and holistic change modalities must be implemented.

What employer would be willing to pay for such an undertaking, or risk such self-expression? At this time in our cultural climate, probably very few. But even a few could be foundation-shaking, and all we may need to get started are a few far-seeing souls who would sponsor the project on a pilot basis. The impetus for this sponsorship would come from three key sources: the recognition of a human need to consider what really matters about life, the acknowledgment of work as a vital link to individual and collective well-being, and the realization that a gratified and healthy work-force, as has been shown time and again, is a devoted and productive work-force, serving a productive and grateful clientele. These visionaries would also perceive that one of the fundamental paradoxes of an ethically fortified bottom line is that the financial bottom line also tends to strengthen, commensurately.

In sum, there would surely be formidable challenges to awe-based well-being programs. In addition to those already discussed, the whole question of nonretaliation, safety, and confidentiality would also need to be addressed. Conflicts and tensions would inevitably arise, but the balance of benefits in my view would far outweigh the risks—for the worker, the manager, and our world at large. By providing a space to dwell outside the box, by asking and experiencing the deeper questions about work, and by exploring how work is connected with the community it serves, and indeed, life itself, we are all the beneficiaries.

This article is adapted from Kirk Schneider's Rediscovery of Awe: Splendor, Mystery, and the Fluid Center of Life (2004) Paragon House.

Schneider, Kirk. 2008. Awe-Based Work. Tikkun 23(1):20-21.