You might have noticed that I’ve been a little prolific with my writing of late.
What is happening is that I am transitioning to a new job, so there is an opportunity for me to take some time to process everything that I’ve been thinking about so far and get it down in writing. I will put all the Network-centric posts together and make it into the second edition of the Network-centric Preaching Review later on.
My new job, which I will be starting on July 1, is as a technical writer. I will be writing manuals and other user documentation. It’s a good fit for my future direction - it builds on my strength in writing, and it fits with my projected goals. You might recall that I posted three months ago my desire to make my living writing, within five years. Well, that milestone has been reached in three months. Man proposes, Krishna disposes.
If you read that post of mine, you might also recall that the immediate plan was to get a job with less than 40 hours a week, to free up more time. Well, prior to the technical writing job (which is with Red Hat), I was offered another job for 20 hours a week, paying what I am paid at the moment for full-time work. Actually, someone at work pointed out to me that for the last 2 years I’ve been working 45 hours a week. I hadn’t noticed that detail.
Anyway, I passed up on the 20 hours a week opportunity. Why was that? Especially when it fit in with the plan that I had made?
This is an interesting demonstration of decision-making in a complex and uncertain environment (life).
Not every open door is an invitation
- Andy Stanley
The top-down approach is to make a plan and then execute it.
The bottom-up principle for dealing with chaos (dharma), was explained to me by His Holiness Hanumat-presaka Swami.
How to know what to do? You can consult a pure devotee, if one is available. If not you should consult a smrti-sastra that is relevant for your environment. If this is not available, then you should consult seven brahmanas.
There is no smrti-sastra written yet for 21st century Brisbane, so I began a process of consultation. We live, or we should live, in a community of gurus - advanced practitioners of Krishna Consciousness who can guide and advise us.
As Andy Stanley makes the point again and again (this is one of the three fundamentals that we are building our Sunday School curriculum around): “I need to make the wise decision”.
I consulted and the consensus was to go with the 40 hour a week (it’s 9-5, Monday to Friday) writing position at Red Hat, rather than the 20 hours a week support position at another company. So many factors were mentioned in those discussions, including continuing to build on my relationships and reputation at Red Hat, but the point is not the details, but the principle.
We need to always make the wise decision. In a complex and uncertain environment our calculating power, however great it may be will not be sufficient to compute all possible outcomes. The process of making a wise decision is one that is informed by Guru, Sadhu, and Sastra.
Ask a pure devotee, consult a relevant smrti-sastra, consider relevant scriptural principles, consult “seven brahmanas”.
That’s the dharma, or principle, in relation to making decisions in a complex and uncertain environment. The mantra is: “I always need to make the wise decision.”
