OpEdNews » Callings: Finding and Following An Authentic Life

Granted, there are real limitations in the world----poverty, race, gender, disability, lack of access to education, having a squadron of children. Yet even against what conventional wisdom would suggest are impassibles, people do prevail. They find ways of making end-runs around such odds. This book is filled with stories of people who have successfully negotiated the tight passages to authenticity and personal power. They will describe, in detail, the process of how they responded to their callings, from the moment they first heard them; how they figured out what those calls were; where they found the courage to pursue them in the face of opposition from within and without; and what in their characters helped (and hindered) them on their journeys.

ARIADNE’S THREAD

In attempting to weather the tests and win our spurs, it is essential to know where we’ll go to gain and regain strength----to what people, places, teachings, practices, beliefs and sanctuaries. Who, that is, or what, are our allies?

In the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, after Theseus has slain the beast in the center of the labyrinth, he guides himself back to the surface by a length of thread given him by Ariadne, the king’s daughter, retracing his steps in the dark maze of tunnels.

What is that thread for you? What can guide you through the labyrinth, back to safety, back from your encounters with the dark? Perhaps it is the lamp of someone’s love, the support and feedback of people who genuinely believe you can do it, your connection to something bigger than yourself (family, community, nature, music, God), your own courage and humor, even your own desperation. Whatever the forms, these parts of you, of your life, can help you remember who you are. These are the parts of you that haven’t gone to sleep.

If our allies helps us stay the course, though, our “enemies”----that which thwarts us----provide us with the true tests of our spirit. They offer us the best opportunities to learn strength, resolve, patience and compassion----skills that are easy in the abstract and damnably hard in the doing. Sometimes, however, what first appears to be an enemy turns out not to be, and because we never know exactly when that will be the case, it is the better part of valor to exercise a heroic quality of discretion in following our calls. Be willing to approach obstacles as if they might be allies, and make your leaps of faith accordingly.

When Jonah went overboard after finally taking full responsibility for the calling that was his, he leapt not into the swallowing sea, but into an unexpected benediction----the belly of the whale. It was the whale that served as Ariadne’s thread for Jonah, leading him to safety, delivering him to his own fate for resolution.

The whale represents an appropriate plot twist and an inspired bit of symbolism. The only other time we are inside another’s belly is before birth, so the image reflects the anticipated birth that follows sacrifice. In that belly, drunk on evolution, we are not so much acting as being acted upon by Something Bigger than ourselves. It is preparation to be spilled forth into life, into the world, ready, at last, to carry out our missions.

The psychologist Ira Progoff once said that each of our lives is like a well, and what we’re meant to do is go down deeply enough into our own wells that we finally reach the stream that’s the source of all the wells. There, says theologian Frederick Buechner, in the place where “our deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet,” we hear a further call. This call leads us out into the world to test our bright swords in real combat----to teach love, save lives, change minds, educate, minister.

If the question arises in our minds, which it must, whether our deep gladness can satisfy the world’s deep hunger, here, again, is a test of our faith. The difference that any of us will ultimately make in the world is equivalent to throwing a stone into the sea. Science tells us that because the stone is lying on the bottom, the level of the water must have risen. But there is no way to measure it. We must take it entirely on faith.

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www.gregglevoy.com

Gregg Levoy is the author of Callings: Finding and Following An Authentic Life --a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, Quality Paperback Books, and One Spirit Book Club, as well as a text in various graduate programs in Management and Organizational Leadership. As a fulltime lecturer and seminar-leader in the business, educational and human-potential arenas, Gregg has keynoted and presented workshops at the Smithsonian Institution, the National League of Cities, Microsoft, BP Amoco, American Express, Ascension Health, the Universities of California, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Texas and others, Esalen Institute, Omega Institute, and others, and has been a frequent guest of the media, including ABC-TV, CNN, NPR and PBS. A former adjunct professor of journalism at the University of New Mexico, former columnist and reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer and USA Today, and author of This Business of Writing (Writer's Digest Books), he has written about the subject of callings for the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Omni, Psychology Today, Reader's Digest, and others, as well as for corporate, promotional and television projects.

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Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com and is a columnist with Northstarwriters.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump s...

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Rob KallRob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com and is a columnist with Northstarwriters.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump s...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Responding to a call is a key stage of the hero's journey

One way to understand the journeys we take, whether by choice, by fate, by disease, by accident, is the mythic, archetypal "hero's journey" original described by Joseph Campbell in his classic book, Hero With a Thousand Faces.

by Rob Kall (890 articles, 4056 quicklinks, 350 diaries, 1922 comments) on Friday, March 23, 2007 at 3:20:25 PM

American against War and Violence. Writer, English Teacher, Inventor, Creator of the First Manmade Floating Farm On The Ocean.... My companies name is ACET: Algae Charcoal Ethanol Technicorp. We grow Algae for Oil.
Dom JermanoAmerican against War and Violence. Writer, English Teacher, Inventor, Creator of the First Manmade Floating Farm On The Ocean.... My companies name is ACET: Algae Charcoal Ethanol Technicorp. We grow Algae for Oil.

Tinitus a Calling or Bad Cold.

Thanks Rob. The whole article sounds like me. Although I recognize he is trying to encourage us to do these things. My revelation was I didn't hesitate to think about it. I just went ahead. He doesn't give any support to how to accomplish the things to our calling, even suggesting that perhaps hope is not enough, but perhaps that is the suffering part.

God I suffer all the time, I live in a foreign Country, live with a foreign wife, who can't speak English, with two kids, who also are real chinese, and I awake each morning after 5 years to somehow being blessed I think. Who is it talking to my wife, is it me or some other spirit that lives in me and keeps my motivation tempered and daily trying to remain calm? How do I put up with the crowded buses the daily stares that make me feel I am still riding high in my UFO? The food is different, although one thing is common it goes in the mouth at one end and still comes out on the other end; whatever form that maybe.

Then I have to and enjoy to perform for children to teach them just the basics of English, with a sincere hope that what I am doing is for something. I find myself fighting cultural differences in weighing what is right, or wrong, discrimination, or indifference backed up against where I came from in the US who in my estimation has totally let me down. So where do I base my rational in teaching and delivering a message? That is the calling I think. That is putting together a fragmented face that in whole is the embodiment of the millions of faces that roam this planet.

Dysfunctionalism is never mentioned, nor to even consider that dysfunction is normal and everybody is only trying to be different so they are not being accused of personality copy right infringment, or stealing someone elses sense of authenticism.

Your authentic self mirrors mine and we seem to always be going in different directions. No one considers the whole, it is their own interests, in a micromanaged legend, contented toward the Unit in Macrohierogliphics.

I cry, I moan, I wonder, I adjust. And what about the clean air? The only calling is to join the Monastery, while Merton and friends locked their doors.

How to do the impossible is nothing? Why do people climb mountains? Probably the same reason they are afraid to build a city on the ocean. The dream is a dream. The only real thing I feel about it is the cool breeze of ocean air hitting my face as I look at the horizon, all knowing that my horizon is really rounded off around the bend. I am as unauthentic as bottled watered. Every damn thing I own is someone else, so where the hell am I? I can't get a degree knowing that accredited institutions are organs of the lying status quo, so that is suppose to be the answer in moving me toward my calling of authenticity?

In fact we are all cavemen with Phds. in Science and Medicine undeserving the bread and cup of wine from our anointed father. And so death is never an answer. Sure miss my auntie though. We are more afraid of life I think in this world than death. At least we always rely on it. Life is just something in between right?

http://www.sugarcitycane.com

by Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments) on Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 1:44:28 AM

Eileen is the Founder and Editor of wearewideawake.orgProducer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu" Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory" and an e-book; "So, That was 54..."She has been to Israel Palestine six times since June 2005.
Eileen FlemingEileen is the Founder and Editor of wearewideawake.orgProducer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu" Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory" and an e-book; "So, That was 54..."She has been to Israel Palestine six times since June 2005.

Authentic Life=being true to yourself

"being acted upon by Something Bigger than ourselves. It is preparation to be spilled forth into life, into the world, ready, at last, to carry out our missions."-Gregg Lavoy

I never went to journalism school, but when I was a kid, I wanted to grow up and be Brenda Starr: the red- headed ace investigative journalist of the Sunday comics.

I even worked as a copy girl for one year after high school, but decided to go into nursing and that led me to meet, fall in love with and marry a doctor, which enabled me to travel four times to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the last year and a half.

I am one spoiled American who lives a comfortable life on ten acres in paradise: an environmentally protected sanctuary atop of the aquifer in the Green Swamp of Central Florida; and occupied territory is no vacation!

I am a homebody and never cared to fly anywhere, even before that day we call 9/11.

But I have been compelled, impelled and propelled by a force greater than myself, to go-witness and report about life for Christians in Israel Palestine.

I was raised in a Catholic family, but gave up on the Institution in the summer of 1964. I never doubted there was a God, but at the tender age of ten, I decided to find my own way and listen to my heart to lead me to the truth and light.

At the age of twenty-seven, from the pit of hell I had created, I cried out "HELP!" There are no words to describe the overwhelming sense of connection I felt to the Mystery we call God, but I knew in my gut, that He/She understood me and loved me just as I was.

That moment also was the beginning of my journey and desire to discover what exactly I was created for...

and the moment I was aware of :

"being acted upon by Something Bigger than [myself]. It [was] preparation to be spilled forth into life, into the world, ready, at last, to carry out [my] missions."-Gregg Lavoy

eileen fleming, author of MEMOIRS of a Nice Irish-American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory

by Eileen Fleming (157 articles, 58 quicklinks, 268 diaries, 611 comments) on Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 8:20:37 PM

Dr. Mehl-Madrona is Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and is also Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Hawai'i. He is the author of Coyote Medicine, Coyote Healing, Coyote Wisdom, and the forthcoming Narrative Medicine: the use of history and story in the healing process.
Lewis Mehl-MadronaDr. Mehl-Madrona is Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and is also Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Hawai'i. He is the author of Coyote Medicine, Coyote Healing, Coyote Wisdom, and the forthcoming Narrative Medicine: the use of history and story in the healing process.

Finding callings in adversity

Dear Rob, et al.Levoy really spoke to me and my recent experiences. Describing a moment of inspiration outside of Fresno, he said, “I saw in that moment that the whole sky is filled with furtive transmissions----pollen and seeds, radio waves and subatomic particles, the songs of birds, satellite broadcasts of the six o’clock news and the Home Shopping Network. And I saw that what is necessary to make substance or meaning out of any of it is a receiver, somebody to receive.”I have been trying to make sense of a recent five month experience outside of Pittsburgh. I have been looking for my receiver. I was recruited by Intercare Health and Psychiatric Advisory Group to come to the Pittsburgh area to create a state of the art center for integrative psychiatry, for demonstrating other approaches to mental health than just drugs. Almost immediately after my arrival to Pittsburgh, Psychiatric Advisory Group and Ira Cohen, its principal, disappeared, and the beautiful, state of the art Center was now an illusion, leaving me to a 5 month, ¾ time contract of providing conventional child psychiatric services to three rural clinics. When my funding disappeared, I was left to car camping as the temperature fell lower and lower, eventually to -22 on the coldest day of that year. I have been struggling to find a meaning, a sense of calling for that experience, and this is what I have come to understand.I must oppose for-profit medicine at all costs. My experience working for Intercare Health taught me how evil it is. Patients could not be seen for longer than 15 minutes for more than once per year. Imagine doing child psychiatry in 15 minute increments, once monthly if we’re lucky, with one 30 minute to 45 minute appointment per year. The for-profit system is focused upon how can we maximize income and not how can we help people to improve. In fact, helping them to improve is the least of the concerns. In my heart, I believe that good care is cost-effective, but for whom? When we focus on what can make the most money today, we make very different choices than when we focus on what will be the most health-effective and cost-effective for societies over years. Short-term profit was what my employer, InterCare Health, was all about, regardless of what happened to the people. Opposing this type of care is a calling. Opposing rampant capitalism and its traditions of greed is a calling. As Levoy said, we must “summon adherents away from their daily grinds to a new level of awareness, into a sacred frame of mind, into communion with whatever is bigger than themselves. The calls may come from bull-roarers, trumpets, rattles, wooden clackers, songs, bells, or the chanting of muezzin atop the minarets.” In my case, the call came from being the flotsam and jetsam of rampant capitalism and of having to wade through its castaways. As Ira Cohen said when I asked about my replacement for the people, “who cares how they feel about the next doctor. They’re lucky to have one at all.” And this is the philosophy of rampant capitalism – let’s make money at all costs.To paraphrase Levoy, it is as if God said “Let there be profit” and there was profit, and the people suffered. This is the result of rampant, uncontrolled greed. In previous ages, religious has mitigated against unrestrained greed, but “God is Dead,” and greed has no bounds.Levoy wrote, “’living means being addressed,’” as the theologian Martin Buber once said, and whatever or whomever is addressing us is a power like wind or fusion or faith: we can’t see the force, but we can see what it does.For me what it has done has been to galvanize my opposition to health care for greed and profit beyond all else. And I have seen capitalistic evil which must be opposed.