I wrote a book!
Selling Without Selling Your Soul is available for Amazon Kindle right now.
This is a book on Christian transformation for salespeople. I came to the journey when the verse convicted me:
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul?
As a salesperson, driven to succeed, I found that the more I got, the more dissatisfied I became. I felt a clear connection between all the striving to sell more to achieve and feeling dead inside. What I was selling was my soul.
The framework of transformation that Joseph Campbell codified in all stories as the Hero’s Journey fascinates me. It has four distinct phases a character would go through. The character wanted something. Came up against obstacles and by overcoming them would receive a gift. Bringing it back to serve the community.
I could see a similar pattern in other areas. The seasons, there was Fall, went through Winter to get to Spring and then Summer before it began again.
Ancient near eastern communities saw the day starting at Dusk. It went through the Dark before Dawn, then became Day.
Alexander John Shia, a student of Joseph Campbell wrote a book called Heart and Mind, mapping the Hero’s journey to the Biblical Gospel account. Shia orders the gospel in the order they were read historically as Mathew, Mark, John, Luke/Acts.
As I saw the pattern, I saw it everywhere. So many Bible stories follow this pattern. In the Jewish tradition, when the Israelites are freed from Egypt, to wander in the wilderness before they could enter the Promised Land and take claim of their new lives there.
It happened to Christ. The Father baptized and blessed Jesus to be tested by the Devil. He overcame and was tended to by angles before he lived out his teaching ministry on earth.
I could see the transition points in my own life. I could see it in the inner transformations I went through towards maturity.
As a salesperson, I could see this pattern a prospect went through to become a customer and become increasingly loyal to our company. I could see it on a smaller scale in each customer interaction and sales meeting.
And we break the business calendar up into four parts, and we call quarters.
When I looked more in depth at the verse’s context, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world you forfeit his soul, I could also see the four-stage pattern. The expanded passage with Jesus’ teaching is:
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
Luke 9:23-25
Following Christ is the process of transformation. It is how we are made new, not one time but daily, and we live into the life he made available to us. The life that is truly life.
I’m defining the four-step journey as to how we start out with Desire, then Deny Ourselves, Take Up The Cross, and Follow Christ. There is no following without going through the steps that came before.
This is not something that we do all alone. It is actually something that Christ has done on our behalf. We celebrate them at Christmas and Easter. We can see the pattern with Incarnation, Life, Death, and Resurrection.
There is a cost to following Christ. It is a life that is truly life, but it is not a life of comfort and ease.
What does it mean to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily?
It is different for each of us, but the clue to figuring it out is how we try to save ourselves. I thought to be ok with myself and my life, and I needed to have it all and be successful. I was desperate for money as a means of attention. I thought it would solve the pain of my childhood and fix the difficult relationship I had with my dad.
I wanted to be all who God made me be, but the truth is I didn’t like who I was. I was driven to personal development so I could become someone different. I didn’t like how God made me. I ended up scrapping around at the bottom of the barrel of life until I hit rock bottom and realize I had become someone I didn’t want to be.
The road out has not been easy. But over time, I have been able to heal the relationship with others and start to heal the relationship I have with money.
It is the path to deriving meaning.
I hope you give the book a read.
Let me know what you think!