Prosperity – Magic or Mystery?
By Dr. Lon Peckham
A recurring theme among business management consultants is the notion of controlled predictability – “If you will do exactly as I tell you, if you will walk-and-talk like the successful Mr. X, you will have the same success”. Often called “modeling”, proponents of this theory assure us that all of our wildest dreams will come true if only we follow their secret laws of abundance. Like all fatal heresies, there is often a lot of truth in what they say. However, they all make one extremely critical error – they confuse Mystery with Magic.
In their landmark book, The Spiritualty of Imperfection, Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketchum explain the difference.
Miracle involves openness to mystery, the welcoming of surprise, the acceptance of those realities over which we have no control. Magic is the attempt to be in control, to manage everything – it is the claim to be or have a special relationship with some kind of “god”…
Underlying the very concept of miracle is the simple acceptance that we are not in ultimate total control. This is also, of course, the inherent, eternal, fundamental message of spirituality: You are a human being, and human beings make mistakes, and have limitations…
Sensitivity to the distinction between mystery and magic – to the difference between the willfulness that demands a kind of magical control over change and the willingness that creates an openness to being changed – lies at the heart of spirituality’s horror of “idolatry”. Idolatry represents the attempt to wrest control, even of mystery, trying to twist it into some kind of magical talisman…
Perhaps the most pervasive of modern-day idolatry is the worship of “technique”. Used fittingly, technique – the attention to method, the use of routines – enhances many areas of our lives. But there are limits to all human realities, and technique is a human reality. Unlimited faith in technique – the demand for procedures for everything in our lives, the refusal to acknowledge and attend to what cannot be measured and manipulated – indicates a rejection of our own limitation, a disowning of our very humanity. Such a denial of limitation is a form of idolatry that demands magic and thus refuses spirituality…
We find miracle only when we stop looking for magic.
This surrendering our willful demands and conversion to a willing openness to success – whatever form it may take – is in and of itself a mysterious happening. At best, we can only be “willing to be willing”. What happens next is, well, mystery.
Actions however do often speak louder than words, and one significant way we can act on and demonstrate our surrender of control, even if it means we “fake-it-‘til-we-make-it”, is to practice Altruism – giving knowing that the “bread” you “cast-on-the-waters” will come back to you, but surrendering all expectation as to how or when that will happen.
This altruistic living must not be confused with mere generosity, or giving of your surplus. While that too is commendable, it has nothing to do with surrendering of control. Real altruism is practiced as a prelude to prosperity rather than as a sequel. For only when you give from a place of vulnerability have you really surrendered control.
This is why to experience true balanced success and prosperity, altruism must be an integral part of every business; why every entrepreneur should purpose to be a social entrepreneur from beginning to end, with altruism being a very foundational core value of every organization and individual.
