The Four Labors of Life

Physical labor – regular old manual work.
Intellectual labor – manual work in the brain.
Emotional labor – the work of building, maintaining, and breaking-up relationships.
Spiritual labor – the work of getting to know our Self.

The Nature of Labor

At any given moment, every person is engaged in at least one form of labor; whether they are aware of it or not.

Each labor makes the previous ones easier. For example, intellectual labor makes physical labor easier, and emotional labor – building a team or community – makes intellectual and physical labor easier.

However, it is all a double edged sword. Someone might use emotional labor to break-up another’s relationship, or physical labor to destroy another’s property (aka, war).

The Psychology of Labor

When we are young it is easy to sustain ourselves on the manual labors alone; physical and intellectual. But, as we get older, if we do not perform emotional and spiritual labor, our labor first becomes our prison then our destruction.

– Every person has one labor that is their strength.
– A healthy person can do all four labors when necessary.
– A conscious person can choose which labor is best at the moment.

The Labor Ecosystem

A healthy and evolving civilization requires all four forms of labor, equal and integrated in application.

Civilization crumbles when people look to only one form of labor, when corporations and governments look to only one form of labor, to solve all problems.

The Four Leaders

Physical Leaders
Physical leaders see something that needs to be done and simply start doing it. They only become a boss when people come to help them. They have no interest in people who are not there to help. They will also work to protect a project and the people working on it; not politically, but physically.

Intellectual Leaders
Intellectual leaders work at building an idea in their mind and sharing it as simply as possible. An intellectual leader does not concern themselves with trying to force people to listen or agree with them. They are not politicians. They only try to teach those who come to learn, but are conscious of the trap set by people who want to be taught in perpetuity. They are not very good at protecting the people working with them. They need a Physical Leader to help do that.

Emotional Leaders
Emotional leaders work to build relationships and communities from the currents of energy they experience. Much in the same way a Physical Leader will with something they see that needs to be done. And, also like the Physical leader, they do not concern themselves with people who do not wish to be a part of a relationship or community. They can even work to protect the community from people who might show up to hurt it, but only emotionally.

Spiritual Leaders, or Guides
Spiritual Guides live as an example for others to notice and follow.

There is no uniformly acknowledged trait that makes a person a Spiritual Guide. They are recognized only by the people who see them as a guide at the time.

No Spiritual Guide would ever claim to know if they were a Spiritual Guide or not. They are only concerned with living their own lives in the environment that they inhabit.