Working With Spirit - Lucy Reid

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from non-Christian traditions, we touch on some of the wisdom from other world religions, as it pertains to work. The book concludes with a compendium of resources in chapter 9 and a list of suggested reading in chapter 10, aimed at providing practical ways for people to start on this journey of engaging spirituality to meet the challenges of the workplace.

      In order to understand what spirituality in the workplace can offer, we need to reflect on the evolution of work. A workplace characterized by a relatively “flat” hierarchy, career switches, multi-tasking, email, and a thirst for spirituality is a new phenomenon. We need to consider how we arrived at this point in our history. We will focus on three stages of the evolution of Western society: agrarian society, industrial society, and today's post-modern society.

      Agrarian society

      In the nineteenth century Canada was primarily an agrarian society. There were hunters and fishers, carpenters, crafts people, government workers, merchants, ministers, police, and teachers, but most people worked at home and farmed. Many societies in the world evolved from an agrarian base, and of course, in many parts of the world there are still societies that are agrarian.

      What was life like in an agrarian society? There was a strong sense of community and a reliance on family. Families tended to be larger than today, with son's and daughters working on the farm as soon as they were able. In an agrarian society many needs had to be met by families and the immediate community. Home schooling was common (and we still see examples of home schooling in rural communities today). Farmers raised a variety of crops and livestock to meet the family's needs as well as to sell. Worship was a communal activity. Life still revolved around the farm. Boys and girls would have to miss school when they were needed at home to help with the harvest. An interesting note is that some school districts in Canada today continue to delay the start of classes when necessary, to accommodate the harvest.

      Agrarian life centred on farming and the seasons: spring planting, summer weeding, fall harvest, and winter maintenance. Spirituality was tied to the land and weather. Fields were blessed before they were seeded. Farmers prayed for rain, warm temperatures, and a late frost. When the harvest was safely in, the community would gather in the church to give thanks, and then celebrate together with a harvest supper. Life, work, and spirituality were interconnected and reinforced each other. Life and work were not separated — there was no need to go home after work, because work was done at home.

      In an agrarian society life for everyone revolved around farming. Merchants did not make many sales when crops were poor. Teachers lost their students to farming at harvest and other times when their labour was needed. The whole community was affected by bad weather or crop failure. Even those not actively involved in producing food from the land were directly dependent upon it in very immediate ways.

      It is easy to think nostalgically about a slower paced way of life based on community and family. It can seem idyllic in contrast to today's hurried and impersonal lifestyle. But there were many hardships and difficulties as well. Farming required arduous work with very long hours and uncertain outcomes. And no matter how hard a family worked, the crop could be ruined by a hailstorm, flood, or drought. But for many generations farming was the mainstay of life and work in Canada.

      Although farming has continued to be an important part of the Canadian economy, Statistics Canada reports that currently only 330,000 Canadians are employed in agriculture, or 2.1% of all those employed. The size of farms continues to increase from an average of 207 hectares per farm in 1981 to 273 hectares in 2001. Many contemporary farms are now huge agribusiness organizations run by managers who do not necessarily own or live on the farms they manage. Far fewer families plough today, and the farms they work have increased in size and production. While agriculture provides food both for domestic use and for export, and many agricultural communities are still tied to a strong sense of community, Canadian society is no longer an agrarian one.

      Family snapshot, 1803: John and Eliza

      What was life like in 1803 for an average family? John and Eliza (fictitious) settled in Upper Canada (now Ontario) along Lake Ontario. They had a large family of eight children, and John's brother, Matthew, lived with them. One child died soon after he was born in 1794. John, Matthew, and the older children all worked on their farm. They grew a variety of vegetables for themselves and several hectares of wheat to sell. They had a horse that was used to pull the plough and their wagon when the family went to town. John had been able to buy two cows after last year's harvest, so they now had a supply of milk. Eliza maintained the household. She cared for the children, cooked all the meals, made butter and soap, and cleaned the family's clothes.

      The town's first church was going to be built after this year's harvest, if the harvest proved to be a good one. In the meantime, they worshipped each Sunday at a neighbour's house. They were also anxious for a school to be built, but it was decided that the church would be built first and it could be used as a school for the younger children during the week. In the evenings Eliza was teaching each of her children to read and write. John was illiterate, but he understood the importance of reading and writing and marvelled at Eliza's ability to teach the children.

      John felt tied to the land they now farmed. It had been a struggle to settle in this area, build a house and barn and clear the land, but he loved the farm and the work. John was deeply spiritual — he prayed each morning and led the prayers at suppertime. He often asked Eliza to read passages of the Bible to him after the children went to bed. Matthew was not as keen on the Bible as John, but he did enjoy listening to Eliza read. John and Eliza found the strength to deal with hardships through their belief in God.

      Industrial society

      Where did all the farmers go? The simple answer is that they went to the growing cities during and after the industrial revolution. They were attracted by factory jobs with fixed hours. Some left because of problems on their farms. There were many reasons, but one outcome — a decline in the characteristics of an agrarian society and an increase in a new way of life where needs were met outside of the family. Work, health care, education, protection, worship, and other societal needs were all centralized in various organizations: factories, hospitals, schools, police forces, and churches. Family was still very important (as it is today), but the linkages between work and family, spirituality and family, and work and spirituality began to break down.

      Spirituality without its linkages to the land and to work became much more formalized. Religions, as the purveyors of spirituality, grew. Churches, synagogues, and temples were built throughout the cities. Houses of worship grew in numbers and functions. Community events, adult religious teaching, Sunday school, meetings, and other activities were held in churches, synagogues, and temples. These buildings became central to the community. Many of today's church buildings, for example, were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s, during the population expansion and urbanization that Canada experienced.

      In a more diverse society with people engaged in many different types of work the interconnections that existed in an agrarian society were lost in the industrial age. Perhaps the greatest change in the industrial period was the split between work and family life. In an agrarian society, the two were linked — we still refer to the “family farm.” Farming was a family matter. In the industrial age, the father went off to work, the mother looked after the children and the house, and the children went to school. A separation of roles was created, and a compartmentalizing of life developed.

      Work in a factory was not dependent on the land or the weather. The cycle of the seasons did not have a direct impact on most forms of industrial work. And for most workers, every day was the same repetition of a very specific task thousands of times. The industrial age created a great diversity of jobs, and the rise of unions eventually helped to ensure fair wages, safety, and reasonable hours. But the work was often boring, the workers were disconnected from their roots, and social upheaval was common.

      Family snapshot, 1903:

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