Spirituality is a term we hear more and more
of today - even in secular writings. Many
popular authors are devoting more time to a part of our essential being that has
been neglected for too long.
For many spirituality
has to do with "connection". Connection with:
- Self
- Nature
- A Supreme
Being
Spirituality has to do
with being who you were meant to be and being who you are wherever you are.
It has to do with ultimate meaning and purpose for being. Often we talk
about bringing spirituality into the workplace. If we take the broad view
of spirituality, as being the best you were meant to be and can be, wherever you
are, you cannot help but to include work.
Spirituality is not
necessarily the same as being religious. So often religion has to do with
rituals. Rituals are important, but they become dead traditions, when they
are performed long after the reality has departed. Spirituality has to do
with reality. Both ultimate and practical realities. Spirituality answers
the questions: What is life all about? Where did I come from? Why am I here?
Where am I going? Etc.
We often hear that
spirituality is a personal thing. It is. It is not something you can
force on others. But it is not a private thing. The presence or the
absence thereof, will affect the way we treat others and do our work.
Many are turning to
spirituality, because after they have reached the pinnacle of their careers and
have all the income and things they wanted, they still have a vacuous feeling.
They still have an acute sense of something being missing. Pascal referred
to this feeling when he said, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of
everyone, which can only be filled by God Himself . . ." St Augustine said, "You
have made us for Yourself, Oh God, and our hearts are restless until they find
their rest in You."
Others turn to
spirituality because they are at the end of their resources (or ropes).
They look elsewhere to find hope and reality, because people, systems and
things have failed to deliver on their promises or failed to deliver
period.
For those who want to take
spirituality to the workplace, here are some things to think about: Spirituality
. . .
- Has to do with
calling, not career
- Has to do with
conscience, not consensus
- Has to do with
commitment, not contracts
- Has to do with
care and compassion, not cheap rhetoric
- Has to do with
people, not profits
- Has to do with
serving others, not being served
- Has to do with
understanding others, not with being understood
- Has to do with
loving people and using things, not the other way around
- Has to do with
making meaning, not making money (millions)
- Has to do with
belief that affects behaviour
- Has to do with
treating others the way you would like to be treated
- Has to do with
treating others they way they like to be treated
- Has to do with
employing the whole person, not just their minds, or skills
- Has to do with
a mission that transcends bottom line
- Has to do with
having a faith that works, not so much a faith that is brought to work
How can we do this?
We can start by understanding ourselves - our needs, desires, etc. This
will help us to better understand others. We can then start loving ourselves.
Only then we can really love our neighbours. We also need to understand our
ultimate purpose and strive to fulfill it. Then we will understand that
others also have a purpose and we then will seek to help them realize their purposes
also.
We are more than physical and biological creatures.
We have a spirit. Our Creator made us for Himself. Without Him we are
incomplete. Without Him we are lost. Spirituality helps us to connect and
reconnect!
(You will need
Adobe Acrobat Reader
to view the PDF Files. You may download it from
Free Stuff.)
Here are some things to spur you on to completeness and to motivate you to
seek and serve our Creator and Redeemer.
Here, the bold, the brave,
and those who possess enough courage to enter, may wrestle with some
ultimate issues (questions), experience some defining moments and find much
benefit. Below you will fins some questions and
ideas to guide, inspire and prod you along.
