One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.
— C.G. Jung
The Quality of Unity
Your test results suggest that your true goals are in the realm of service and a sense of connectedness to the whole. This is an idealistic stance and one that usually requires years of patient inner growth, or something life-altering, such as a near-death experience.
If this is your genuine yearning you may want to listen to talks by people like Eckhart Tolle - who had just such a transformative mystical experience after years of depression. Byron Katie is another contemporary writer and speaker who can speak to that quality of feeling so connected to the whole that many of the small frustrations simply fall away in the enormity of the grandeur that is life itself.
Does your work help or hinder you in living out the value of Connection to the All?
Connectedness In the Workplace
The Quality of Unity, of feeling that deep kinship and connection in the workplace - at this level - is not the same as the yearning to “fit in” with your colleagues. The Quality of Belonging speaks to that desire [see the Orange page for a description of that quality.] This kind of connectedness is tightly linked with the search for meaning, the profound desire to make sense of the brokenness of so much of life, and to find how our individual lives are part of the greater whole; how we are part of all that is.
Companies that recognize that this quest for meaning - for a narrative that gives us a sense of destiny - is hardwired into humans and only beaten out of us after years of disappointments and unmet expectations, will be in a better position to accommodate that need. Giving employees a chance to find meaning in the work they do by making clear the connection between their job and the larger mission of the company is a good start. But there are some jobs where it would be hard to make that leap with integrity. Then it is imperative for companies to give workers the freedom to use at least some small portion of their work time and energy participating in volunteer opportunities where this quest for meaningful engagement can be satisfied.
When the Quality of Unity is missing . . .
On their deathbed, nobody every says, “I wished I’d worked harder at the office!”
Why Name these Qualities as Colors?
There are many developmental theories that look at human needs, motivations and fulfillment and arrive at a schema with seven stages or levels. The fact that there is so much overlap in these theories suggests is that there is something there which all these observant human beings have noticed. For this deep assessment I offer my own synthesis of these developmental theories, using seven simple colored blocks to designate the seven key challenges to human beings - those needs or yearnings that require our mastery in order to thrive and live into our full humanity.
In adopting the metaphor of the seven colors, I am following in the footsteps of author Christopher Hill who felt that the rainbow colors - as defined by Isaac Newton: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet - aided in an intuitive understanding of the 7-level Chakra system. It has become so adopted by the West that I use it for convenience - and for aesthetic purposes.
There are other metaphors which may feel more natural to you than the color spectrum, and I encourage you to find your own analogy. What I am describing as Qualities are purely abstract and can be associated with any color, texture, sound, flavor, and image.
Read About the Other Qualities in the Color Wheel
The Seven Qualities in Your Life & Work
There are seven Qualities that align with multiple inventories of human values, motivations, and needs: Maslow’s Hierarchy, the Barrett Value System, Erik Erickson’s Model of Development, Ken Wilbur’s Spiral Matrix, the Chakra System, and others. The three courses I offer engage the participants in a much more detailed exploration of how these seven Qualities inform your experience of work and leisure, and how you can bring greater balance, health, creativity and joy to your work by integrating them in your daily life.