A reader asks:
I've noticed some reader feedback on amazon.com, claiming
your book is too religious. Why do you feel it's necessary to
include so much religion in your famous book? Why not stick to
the topic of job-hunting and save the preaching for another
book?
In answering this question I've found it's always best to start off
by being frankly defensive. (Whimpering would be even better,
but if you're six foot five, as I am, that makes for a truly pathetic
sight.)
But defensiveness is good. Seeing it, people know they're talking
to a flawed human being, trying to find his own way out of the
thicket called Life.
So, my immediate defensive response usually runs as follows: "In
the current 1999 What Color Is Your Parachute? God or faith is
mentioned in only five sentences in the entire body of the book
(241 pages long) – one sentence (only) on each of the following
five pages: xiv, 23, 27,61, and 175.
"To be sure, at the end of the book there is an Epilogue (19
pages) discussing my views about how faith relates to the
job-hunt and life/work planning. Many readers have asked for
this. But this passage is buried as an Epilogue at the end of the
book precisely so that no reader will feel compelled to read it
unless they wish to.
"That Epilogue aside, five sentences about religion in a 241
page book can't really be called 'too much religion', unless one is
holding out for 'no mention at all'."
On most days, this is about as defensive and whiny as I tend to
get. Then I limp off in search of a more sunny maturity, looking
for broad principles to answer the obvious follow-up question:
"Okay then, why did you put an Epilogue about faith, in your
book on job-hunting and life work planning?"
I can answer that best, through two similes or metaphors.
1.Job-hunting and Life/ work planning
are like the rings of a tree.
The innermost ring, in our lives, is plain old job-hunting.
The next ring outward is career-change.
The next ring is career-planning.
The next ring is life/work planning.
And the final ring is finding one's mission in life.
We all tend to start with the innermost ring, job-hunting, but as
we get older, we move outward, from ring to ring.
If one has religious beliefs – and according to Gallup polls since
the 1960's, a vast majority of the American people (94%) have
some kind of belief in God – there is danger if you leave your
beliefs in a mental ghetto as you move through these rings. Most
of my six million Parachute readers want some guidance, here,
as evidenced by the fact I've gotten more appreciative mail about
this Epilogue than any thing else I've written in my life.
And now to our second metaphor:
2. Religion is like a playpen or sandbox.
Every decent marriage counselor knows that there are two
arenas in a committed relationship that function essentially as
'playpens' or 'sandboxes' in which the two partners act out in
microcosm, who they most truly are in macrocosm. Those two
playpens are "sex" and "finances."
In the playpen called "sex" there is a wide range of behavior, as
people use their sexuality to act out who they are in relationship
to others. And so we find sex used for dominance or submission,
gentleness or roughness, anger or appreciation, love or hatred.
Wide and various is this thing called "sex."
In the second playpen called "finances" there is likewise a wide
range of behavior, as people use their money to act out who they
are value-wise. And so we find money used for hoarding or
giving, a love of power or a love of helping others, a love of
things physical or a love of things spiritual. Wide and various is
this thing called "finances."
Ah, but there is a third playpen in human life, and this is the
arena called "religion" or "spirituality" or "faith." Here too there is
a wide range of behaviors, as people use their spirituality to act
out who they are in the life of their soul. And so we find:
Spirituality that is centered around God vs. spirituality that is
centered around the self.
Spirituality that holds religion to be "a tale told by an idiot"
vs. spirituality that holds religion to be God's constant grace
in our lives.
Spirituality that is mesmerized by sin, vs. spirituality that is
mesmerized by forgiveness.
Spirituality that sees oneself as "us vs. them", compared
with a spirituality that sees oneself and the rest of mankind
as "we."
Spirituality that is a desire to manipulate others, vs.
spirituality that is simply a desire to share with others.
Wide and various is this thing called religion.
Hence, religion that is viewed as "preaching" by one person is
viewed as the secret of life by another.
I hold the latter view.
I think religion and spirituality – the good kind – is not only the
secret of life, but also the key to dealing with those rings.
"Taken from the website www.Jobhuntersbible.com. Used with Permissiion of
the site-owner, Richard Bolles, author of What Color Is Your Parachute (2002 edition).
