An Original Mind at Work
By Elijah Maddox
Everyone has had a bad day at work. First, you fumble your way through your tedious morning routine. You wish you hadn't stayed up so late watching that disappointing movie, but here you are, tired and irritable. The early morning commute traffic does nothing to improve your mood. Then you find yourself facing yet another grueling day at your job. Amid your burning frustration and foul mood, do you ever wonder, “Is there any point in trying to be kind or decent today at all? Why don’t I just embrace the negativity?”
Our Original Mind is Good
In times like these, each one of us has to remember that we, like all people, are more than our meanest instincts. We are created to be full of the potential to do good as well as the desire to follow through with it. This potential and desire is what Unificationism refers to as our Original Mind. When we study the book of Genesis in the Bible, we can see clearly how humanity fell into temptation and sin, and history has shown us a prolonged continuation of that sad state of affairs. And yet, as far as we may have fallen from God’s ideal for us, we cannot totally lose our connection to the true, good nature that our Creator has endowed us with. As the Principle of Creation explains it, “the original mind always inclines toward goodness, even in an evil person. However, unless a [person] leads a good life, the [Original Mind] cannot provide anything for the betterment of the physical [person].”
“The original mind always inclines toward goodness, even in an evil person. However, unless a [person] leads a good life, the [Original Mind] cannot provide anything for the betterment of the physical [person].”
As difficult as it often can be, we have to become people that always strive in our lives to follow our Original Mind. But how can we do that? Making an effort to practice it in the mundane and ever present aspects of our day to day routines. What better place to start than at work? With all the stresses and temptations to give in to negativity, choosing to follow your Original Mind, while challenging, can be extremely rewarding.
Practice at Work
Take that blue Monday morning we started off with. When you enter the breakroom for your first cup of coffee, gathered around the counter are your equally tired and cranky co-workers, many of them eager to engage you in a group whining and complaining session. It’s what everybody does, and it’s what you often catch yourself doing. But if we turn to the Bible, we are told, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
The Bible says we should avoid following the ways of the world because they are governed by selfish desire and negativity. In order to orient our minds towards God and goodness, we need to try our best to act out of positivity, love, and kindness. That means when others complain, we should not. When others give up and put in minimal work, we should continue to give our best efforts. Our tendency is to shy away from hardship and pain, but if we listen to our Original Mind, it will tell us that hardship is just an opportunity for growth.
“A newborn baby cannot carry out the work of God’s providence. Heaven waits until the baby grows up, is able to judge things for him- or herself, understands God’s will, makes his or her determination, and advances toward perfecting his or her character.”
God Knows It Takes Time
In a recent speech, Mother Moon, co-founder of Unificationism, explained that God intended for people to grow naturally in their ability to follow their Original Mind. “A newborn baby cannot carry out the work of God’s providence. Heaven waits until the baby grows up, is able to judge things for him- or herself, understands God’s will, makes his or her determination, and advances toward perfecting his or her character.” That means that instead of expecting ourselves to be perfect at dealing with hardship and automatically following our Original Mind, we should have the courage and grit to train ourselves to tap into it a little more every day.
Coworkers are a Training Ground
The most challenging part of any workplace will often be those pesky interpersonal relationships. When diverse people come together to work, conflict, misunderstanding, and personal differences can make things much harder than the job itself would indicate. Once again, a common temptation for many of us is to resort to complaint and negativity, or else treat the relationship with indifference or contempt. In our goal of always following our Original Mind the challenge then is to face these difficult relationships with an attitude of kindness and love.
Again, hardship can be our friend.
When we work to overcome our difficulties with even the most challenging co-workers, the resulting transformation within the relationship can be incredibly rewarding. Maybe you’ll resolve your conflict in a way you never thought feasible. Maybe you’ll turn a rivalry into a close friendship. Or maybe you’ll simply strengthen your patience. Any outcome will surely be better than choosing the path of negativity, resentment, and unhappiness.
Whether it’s a stressful project, an uncooperative coworker, or just a bad day at work, we will always be faced with hardship within our workplaces, and ultimately throughout our lives. The key is to remember that each one of those challenges can be taken as a miserable burden or as a wonderful opportunity to put our Original Mind in the driver’s seat and grow in our capacity for goodness.