A personally

rewarding life:

A mystery

whose solution

lies in the

substance of

Autonomy.

In brief

I was always interested in what makes life worthwhile but for the first 25 years of adulthood, I focused on my role in the marketplace. Then I began to immerse myself in the subjective dimensions of life—the philosophical, spiritual and moral dimensions. The results were dramatic and exciting.

Yes, I am a product of nature and nurture. However I am now also deliberately constituted by my understanding of my new evaluative authority based on the study of the inspired personally rewarding life.

Indeed, this inquiry generated a sea change in being and direction.

The whole story
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Whether or not we choose to call life a game, we know it has requirements: Rules and penalties press us to conform. The competition for rewards is fierce.

Furthermore, human beings aren’t cold, shallow, methodical machines. A conflict between the demanding circumstances of civilized life and the brute influence of feelings, drives, fears and desires is inevitable.

Given this human condition to which everyone is subject, I asked myself the equivalent of, “What does it mean to have substance? How is it distinct from being shallow?

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What do I have if I have substance? Also, are freedom, prosperity and peace of mind compatible? What constitutes the inspired and inspiring life?”

The search for a personally
rewarding life

Since history began, some individuals (and sometimes groups) have been intent upon discovering the meaning of human life.

Some, of course, believed there was just one meaning, a holy grail if you will, that if found would reveal this secret purpose, to whose achievement all human beings should dedicate themselves.

Others sought more personal meaning in a particular challenge or conquest, as in conquering Mt. Everest or in challenging a fear or limitation.

And finally, with respect to identity and authority, some of us were intent upon distinguishing the reach of human beings’ unique ability to transcend the petty, the immediate and the base in favor of a personally rewarding life of substance and contribution.

The solution

I sensed that this search would be rewarded, that there was an answer to this line of inquiry, that the mystery that lies at the core of what it means to be a person of substance could be solved.

However, I did not know how many starts, setbacks, false clues and dead ends would be involved.

Further, when I first tried to solve the mystery, I did not have the vocabulary that I can now use to describe both the problem and the solution. This vocabulary evolved over the many years I engaged in a largely independent course of study focusing on the pursuit of substance.

Does material success bring about substance?

We begin our lives thinking that material success brings about freedom. After all, we more or less do it “by the book.” When we take our place in productive society, don’t we take on roles defined by our country’s institutions? Don’t we choose among roles and discover that there is some latitude in how we “play” them? In addition, don’t we have some discretionary time to use for recreation, leisure, travel, etc? Aren’t the roles we take on (or were “given”) plus what we do with our discretionary time supposed to equal freedom and happiness?

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Well, yes and no. After we are successful, we start to ask some questions. How much of my life did I actually design or create? Is there something more to my unique individuality than this competent role playing? Have I been in charge of how I worked, how I lived and how I felt? If not me then who or what was in charge? In fact is much about my existence unevaluated? Am I caught up in the momentum of a life well under way — a momentum that I may not have mindfully initiated? What constitutes a worthwhile life?

If I only “go around once,” is this the way it is going to be?

Is this the measure of my finitude? Who I am, aside from my roles, who YOU are, aside from your roles, is a unique individual or, if you will, a unique spirit, a human being who is not merely a cog in the great machinery of prosperity.

Indeed, a meaningful life, the quality and mood of our living experience, is in large part an individual achievement. Each of us has an inner life. A heart. Private thoughts. Pockets of irrationality. Each of us experiences anxiety, fears and stress. And most of us, too, “feel” or are driven by our own human spirit.

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This self or spirit, energized by wisdom and by meaning, has a concern for the bigger picture, for a meaningful, worthwhile, decent and generous life.

In other words, yes, material accomplishment seems to be the primary focus of the secular world in which we live. Yet, even when we abandon the metaphysics, don’t many of the objectives we have inherited from religious tradition remain valid, even imperative? Aren’t questions about being generous, responsible and fair still relevant? Especially if we are to make a bigger contribution and enjoy peace of mind?

Did our lives just happen to us?

We’re not born with enough judgment to set out all of life’s priorities. Busy and extended, we are often well into adulthood before we realize that “how we go about living our lives” must be seriously addressed.

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But then what? How and where do we acquire and implement strategic life plans that address the challenges of our unique individuality? How do we resolve the conflict between knowing what it takes to lead a productive life and the overwhelming brute influence of emotions which may hinder such effort? How do we acquire a deep and abiding self-possession or spiritual maturity that endures even as we contend with the next, and the next challenge to our enterprise, whether public or private?

An Archimedean point, a significant point of leverage

Accomplishment in the substance of Autonomy takes time and practice.

Though the absence of substance takes a toll on our day-to-day experience, our already-well-underway lives are remarkably demanding. Time and again we may be diverted from our commitment to be mindfully and conscientiously in the world. Somehow we hope the broader horizons and substance will show up magically alongside our other accomplishments.

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In fact, though, self-possession, that is, self-determination and self-control rarely come naturally or automatically. They must be sought and acquired, over time and in due course, through study and effort. But the focus and time invested are well worth it; the development of substance is a significant leverage point with regard to both public and private expression.

Looking back for a moment

I wanted to have a functional stake in productive society. I figured such a stake was essential to a full life, the means to satisfy many of my objectives and, at the same time, a contribution to society.

And I was pretty well convinced that a successful functional stake in productive society is a consequence of training, experience and competence. Some people get “breaks,” but most of us depend upon the skills we have acquired to lead us to the material success and/or marketplace status we want.

I started my professional career at an entry-level position in an accounting firm. In due course, I became a managing partner. Later I joined a real estate development company as partner and chief operating officer.

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Then, expanding the focus of my career from the abstractions of finance and management to include those human skills involved in generating successful enterprise, I formed a consulting partnership.

This provided traditional accounting services as well as advice on “managing the momentum of their enterprise” to entrepreneurs and professionals.

As a result of my experience with competition, communication and performance coupled with my continuing interest in the substance of Autonomy (described in the next paragraph), I established a consulting company and satellite network company specifically addressing the question “What does it mean to be a human being?”

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During these same years, I was engaged in a largely self-directed inquiry into issues concerning the human predicament — the confrontation with nature and human-made existence. Curious about how we human beings got to be the way that we are, I was interested in these issues in the abstract. But I was also interested in them in a more pragmatic way.

This because, as I said earlier, I realized that the quality and mood of our living experience is shaped by success with work but not only by work.

I sensed that a truly successful life depended in large part too upon the ways in which we go about being human day-to-day, upon the degree of self-possession (self-determination plus self-control) we acquire and the degree of inspiration in our lives.

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In 1985, a full 25 years after graduating from college, I put it all together. Sensing that I had the know-how to share the results of my marketplace experience and extensive independent course of study, I set aside all other professional commitments and began to teach these classes and coursework full time.

Of course, I have much to be grateful for

The entire enterprise has been enormously rewarding to me and (so they say) to the participants.

While they work in a wide range of our society’s institutions, industries and cultural marketplaces, and each, of course, has individual goals and objectives, we share a love of life and its challenges. As such, the participants are profoundly appreciative of a time and a place where a structured inquiry into the human spirit and an enhanced critical intelligence serves their commitment to impose order — not to mention grace and kind-heartedness — on the complex conditions that define their lives. I am deeply grateful to these many students whose sincere engagement with these classes and coursework has been inspiring to me and contributed significantly to their evolution.

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Naturally, over the years, my inquiry has been extraordinarily influenced by studying the wisdom, scholarship, observations and interpretations of serious thinkers who have inquired into the human condition, and especially by some who, intent upon understanding and changing the conditions in which people find themselves, have helped to change the course of human events. Such work established new authority, generated an outpouring of creativity, invention and action, and disclosed new possibilities for the rich blend of expression available to those whose love of freedom is combined with the willingness to acquire self-discipline. I am deeply grateful to their contribution to my quest and to my ability to forward this work.

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I also wish to express my respect and admiration to those whose avenue of contribution has been the marketplace and/or the creation or expansion of our other great institutions. These are the unheralded men and women who make it all work, politically, economically, socially and culturally. Their inspired and pragmatic approach to solving problems and creating new opportunities for millions of others to participate in productive society with a functional stake has also changed and improved the conditions in which people find themselves.

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And special mention to those characterized clearly by their unselfishness: I wish to express my respect, my admiration and my gratitude to those who contribute their intelligence, talent and energies to the closer-to-home but just as compelling needs of family, neighborhood and community.

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