Occupational Therapy and Finding One's Calling (Part 2)

Outside the Park Cafe in Winnipeg, MB, Canada

After three years of being a frontliner, I finally got to be a bum --- in Canada! For ten days, I got spoiled with free rides, meals, hotel rooms, lodging in a cozy Winnipeg home, and an amazing trip to Niagara Falls! Typically, I would’ve been embarrassed by all the free stuff that I was getting. But I'm just grateful that my family invited me back to Canada.

There’s something quite addicting about becoming dependent on people. Who wouldn’t get addicted, when you’re getting free stuff and caregiving without the risk of failure and reputational damage? Letting other people get free resources from you to “help them” can also become pathological when taken too far. By allowing them to become unnecessarily dependent on you, you’re enabling their laziness, perhaps even their vices, instead of encouraging them to be the best versions of themselves. Who knows, they might even rightfully earn more privileges than what you can ever give them if only they applied themselves in pursuing their calling.

But what is a calling? It is not as mystical as we make it out to be. It’s simply your responsibility over things that you can do and can learn to do that will give your life purpose. In occupational therapy (OT) lingo, a calling is an “area of occupation”. But what gives life purpose?

Imago Dei

Contrary to the prevailing culture of always demanding for more privileges, it’s not free stuff, affirmative action, or the pursuit of hedonistic pleasures that make life meaningful. In Genesis, God’s purpose for creating us was to bear His image, the way an artist creates masterpieces that reveal his abilities and his character.

We see in Genesis that God is a loving and generous Creator. Most of all, He is holy. He intended human beings to reflect these attributes by mandating us to be good stewards of His creation. This not only pertains to the physical environment but also to our health, innate abilities, good character traits, and relationships because we human beings are His creatures. We are therefore called to faithfully cultivate the skills that we need to engage in the different areas of occupation (self-care, instrumental activities of daily living, play, leisure, rest, school participation, work, and social participation).

A Cultural Clash in OT

Due to our cultural differences, we will tend to prefer some areas of occupation more than others. In the East, we greatly value activities that uphold the collective above the individual. We emphasize complying with authority, providing for our families that include our extended relatives, and celebrating traditions with our communities. Westerners engage in such occupations too, but they tend to place more importance on the individual. In the West, they greatly value taking care of themselves, staying true to their personal calling despite opposition, and acquiring skills that will allow each of them to make a unique contribution to the world.

As an occupational therapist with more than ten years of clinical experience, I can attest that the clash between these two cultures is quite real in the therapy centers. Filipino therapists are trained to adhere to the Western individualistic framework. But we ourselves as well as our clients remain firmly rooted in the Eastern collectivistic mindset.

This tug-of-war seems to be the cause of many conflicts between Filipino therapists and service users. It affects the different aspects of the therapy process --- from conducting evaluations, to goal-setting, to providing interventions. This is not just my pet theory, mind you. An entire field called Sikolohiyang Pilipino is dedicated to studying this phenomenon. In OT, Dr. Michael Iwama and the Japanese occupational therapists have identified the same problem.

Perfect Unity

Yet in Christ Jesus, I see perfect unity between these two worldviews. The strengths of one offsets the weaknesses of the other so that both perspectives become useful in OT. The Bible tells us that next to loving God, we are to love our neighbor the way we love ourselves. It doesn’t tell us that “we should love ourselves more”. The Scriptures point out that we already love ourselves --- too much, in fact! Jesus also says that anyone who wants to be great must be the servant of all. This is in contrast to the self-centeredness that is associated with individualism in which people are brainwashed into “following their passions” and trying to “become anything that they want to be”.

But how do we love our neighbor? A person loves his neighbor by voluntarily following the unique way that Christ wants him to serve other people. When Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow Me”, you are supposed to carry your cross --- not the cross of your community, whether that may be your friends or your family. In fact, Jesus said that anyone who values his family more than Him is not fit for God’s Kingdom. You are not to carry the cross of your entire country either! Remember that the Bible says that we are to be more loyal to God than to our ethnic groups. Moreover, you’re supposed to carry your cross instead of compelling other people to do it for you. You will know what your “cross” is by identifying how your unique abilities can serve others and by working on your personal weaknesses. Such teachings are countercultural in collectivistic cultures wherein people oppress one another into fulfilling each other’s demands.

Our callings are not as mystical as we make it out to be. Perhaps we’re trying to make it mysterious to have an excuse to slack off. But as Oswald Chambers wrote, “We are not meant to be seen as God’s perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace. Drudgery is the test of genuine character. The greatest hindrance in our spiritual life is that we will only look for big things to do. Yet, ‘Jesus took a towel and began to wash the disciples’ feet (John 13:3-5).’ “

Chambers went on to say, “Don’t always expect God to give you His thrilling moments, but learn to live in those common times of drudgery by the power of God. My obedience even in the smallest detail of life has all of the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I will do my duty, not for duty’s sake but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience, all of the magnificent grace of God is mine through the glorious atonement by the Cross of Christ.”