Your Calling is Calling – The Role of Discernment Part II of a Series on Finding True Vocation and Right Livelihood

BY ROBERTO BLAIN

“You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.”
—Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

In the 1962 cult classic Carnival of Souls, a woman finds herself drawn into a world populated by ghouls who are out to get her. (I hate revealing endings, but they eventually do.) In one of the film’s most surreal sequences, a posse of creatures begin waltzing mechanically at increasingly faster speeds. It’s a chilling scene but you don’t have to view the movie to see it. Just step into one of the beehive-like offices around the country and observe the mechanical waltz taking place. Check in for a minute. Are you one of the waltzing wounded? Can you honestly say that you go to work every day (OK, most days) with a sense of anticipation, inspiration, excitement and purpose? If you don’t, this series is for you.

Let me recap my previous installments on vocational calling. My entertainment career had ceased to inspire and I went on a two-month Vision Quest. I came back recalibrated and quickly drummed up a high-paying job to pay the bills. Within a week I had a dream that my new job was the equivalent of a death march and I respectfully resigned. Shortly thereafter I was encouraged to try reciting the Prayer of Jabez by someone in a weekly visioning circle. “Lord, shower me with your blessings. Expand my territory. Let your hand be in everything that I do. Keep me safe and whole, and clarify my path.” When genuinely invoked, it activated a stronger and clearer connection to God, the Universe—insert your term for something greater than your ego here. In other words, it handed the steering wheel over from my ego to something Higher, more authentic and soul-directed. Within a week a door into a strange but promising world of possibility opened. It was an act of surrender by yours truly.

The blessed calling came in the form of an e-mail from an old boss, who was currently serving as a Human Resources Director at USC, stating that a position heading the university’s Recruiting Department was available. My initial reaction was somewhere between skepticism and curiosity; universities weren’t on my radar. All my life I worked for high-powered private industries and, later on, at sexy movie studios. I’d come a long way, baby, so why would I want to relive my college days? However, as I was transitioning into the red alert state of receptivity that Welsh poet David Whyte calls “radical attention,” (the opposite of ADD). I heeded the call and checked it out.

The courtship between USC and I was a veritable dance of discernment. My future boss felt burned by selecting a prior director that hadn’t stayed long, so she was also on red alert. Having sacrificed a high-paying job to find my right livelihood, I was not about to end up in a position that was anything less than “inspirational.” (Notice the word’s root: Spirit.) Both of us were on a mission, our collective “jaydars” (job radars) finely tuned.

Finding the right job is a one-two-three punch. The first step is generating the intention and practices that allow one to be used as a “hollow bone through which Spirit can flow,” as shamanic practitioners would say. The second is leaning into potential opportunities, working from one’s strengths and talents, while at the same time creating enough space and receptivity in one’s life for the right opportunity to manifest. The final step involves employing shrewd discernment so that, when a viable opportunity presents itself, we can properly distinguish the genuine from the imposters.

Having gotten through steps one and two, I arrived at the final hurdle. Here’s what happened and how I knew the job was right for me. The interview with my boss Mary was inspiring. We were both so engaged that we spent approximately four hours together. The language she used—words like “vision,” “alignment” and “contribution”—resonated with me. After being interviewed for two hours, she turned everything over to me; I had the opportunity to ask questions and present samples of my work. We certainly appeared to be on the same wavelength. Understand that at this point in my life it wasn’t about the money, but about something more meaningful.

Prior to the interview, I scoured the USC Web site for clues regarding fit. While the university’s strategic plan was highly inspiring, the overarching mission of the university, “the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit,” was up my alley. Things were obviously lining up, but there were other, more unconventional synchronicities.

On Mary’s wall was a portrait of a white wolf, and on her desk was a sculpture of a wolf head. The white wolf is my shamanic power animal. Also on her desk was a figurine of a goddess-like image. That evening my Parabola magazine arrived; a picture of the same image was on the cover. There were other signs that some of you might scoff at. I had dinner with a friend that evening who gave me a Tarot reading which proved to be exceptionally accurate. One of the key cards was “Mother Mary.” I was recruited by a Mary and my potential boss was another Mary. A stretch? Maybe, but if all this seems alien to you, consider digesting some Joseph Campbell, Marion Woodman or Carl Jung for numinous and archetypal exposure, which provide useful and reliable discernment “guideposts.”

Perhaps one of the more poignant, down-to-earth signs came at the tail end of the selection, or rather, discernment process. Wanting to provide the staff that would report to me the opportunity to check out the merchandise, Mary invited me to do a walk around to meet them. As I walked by one individual, she looked me in the eyes and said, “please come, we need you.” I didn’t need to be hit by a two-by-four to connect the dots.

Next stop, what the sages and masters have to say about this phenomenon of vocation and right livelihood.

Roberto Blain is head of talent acquisition at USC, on the executive team of c3 transmedia and a frequent collaborator with Dr. Don Kilhefner.