Due to its broad scope and individual nature, spirituality is perhaps better understood by highlighting a number of key concepts that arise for people when asked to describe what spirituality means to them. Research by Martsolf & Mickley (1998) highlighted the following areas as worthy of consideration: Meaning – significance of life; making sense of situations; deriving purpose. Values – beliefs, standards and ethics that are cherished. Transcendence – experience and appreciatio ...

See also:

Spirituality, Spirituality - The spiritual and the religious, Spirituality - Directed spirituality, Spirituality - Spirituality and personal well-being, Spirituality - The Spiritual and Science, Spirituality - Spiritual traditions and communities

Read more here: » Spirituality: Encyclopedia II - Spirituality - Spirituality and personal well-being

Personal Transformation

A profoundly intense mystical experience that leads to the acceptance and use of New Age beliefs and practices. Guided imagery, hypnosis, meditation, and (sometimes) the use of hallucinogenic drugs are useful to bring about and enhance this transformation.

Believers hope to develop new potentials within themselves: the ability to heal oneself and others, psychic powers, a new understanding of the workings of the universe, etc. Later, when sufficient numbers of people have achieved these powers, a major spiritual, physical, psychological and cultural planet-wide transformation is expected.

(See also: Personal Transformation, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Personal Transformation

A profoundly intense mystical experience that leads to the acceptance and use of New Age beliefs and practices. Guided imagery, hypnosis, meditation, and (sometimes) the use of hallucinogenic drugs are useful to bring about and enhance this transformation.

Believers hope to develop new potentials within themselves: the ability to heal oneself and others, psychic powers, a new understanding of the workings of the universe, etc. Later, when sufficient numbers of people have achieved these powers, a major spiritual, physical, psychological and cultural planet-wide transformation is expected.

(See also: Personal Transformation, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Spirituality and Business: Corporate & Personal Search for Identity

In a reputed business school, a session on cause-related marketing and social responsibility of business was in progress. Two volunteers from the class had to simply describe themselves as persons as if to Ômarket' that idea like a product or service to the class.

Read more here: » Spirituality and Business: Corporate Personal Search for Identity

The person who is willing to say yes to experience is the person who discovers new frontiers.

- John Marks Templeton

(See also: Spiritual Quotes, Love Quotes, Friendship Quotes, Life Quotes)

No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.

- Calvin Coolidge

(See also: Spiritual Quotes, Love Quotes, Friendship Quotes, Life Quotes)

It is inevitable that spiritual-based leaders will have to face and correct employees, contractors, suppliers, clients and even peers who have not acted as they had promised. Or sometimes the correction is needed because the person acted immorally, unethically or in a way that could have harmed themselves or others.

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

One of the questions we love to ask spiritual-based executives is, "How do you define business success?" While their answers are as unique and diverse as their personalities, invariably they have the same theme: to promote the inner happiness and fulfilment of everyone involved, and to sincerely make a positive contribution.

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

Introduction to Personal Growth and Transformation

On the path of personal growth, there are times when we seem to fall into a deep, dark pit, and the light is nowhere to be found. This is what is meant by a "spiritual crisis." This series of articles was written to better help people in this predicament understand and resolve their situation.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: Personal Growth and Transformation

When your values come from a spiritual basis, you'll become a beacon, or a magnet, to draw forth those values in others; that alone will begin to resolve many of the value conflicts you may be experiencing.

From time to time, people ask us, "What if my personal values conflict with the values of the company or person I work for?" After inquiring intently into this question, we've found that when values (whether personal or organisational) come from a spiritual basis, there will always be harmony among them. When values come from egoistic, self-centred intentions, that's when conflicts occur.

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

Many years ago, the Hewlett-Packard Corporation surveyed their 200 most consistently successful leaders to discover their common management practises. One of their key practises was to create a set of values for their own workgroup, independent of but related to the company values. Then they measured every decision they made in the workgroup according to these values.

You as a leader can also do this by asking each person in your workgroup to identify one personal value they would like to have incorporated into the way your group works, day-to-day.

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

The ways of discovering our calling are as diverse as our personalities and aspirations; just like spiritual enlightenment itself, there is no "one size that fits all".

In our last article, we explored the difference between "having a career" and "following your calling". After reading it, our editor asked us:

How can anyone find out what their calling is? Is there any one way, or is it just a matter of waiting in silence for the heart to speak up?

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

In a previous article, we wrote about how to have your values be "all for one and one for all." We explored the difference between values that have a spiritual basis versus values based in self-centredness. But what does this mean to a leader of an organisation?

As a spiritual-based leader, it is natural that you want a strong foundation of organisational values, and want your employees to work from a strong foundation of personal values. In that light, what difference does it make for you to foster an environment that nurtures spiritual-based values?

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

While searching through some quotes from our spiritual teacher, we found one that has left a profound impression on us. It continually invites us to stop and ponder as to how it can be applied by leaders in the workplace.

If man is valued at his true worth, and treated as a Divine Spark enclosed in the body, then he will rise into new heights of achievement and produce all the necessities of life in profusion. He will not grab or cheat; he will be a good worker, a pure person, and a sincere spiritual aspirant. (Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. IX)

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

What would you think if a senior vice-president from a multinational telecom firm said to you: Spirituality is very important to me as a person. I believe in God strongly. If ever there's a time for spiritual leadership, it's now. You must connect with a person's soul, at the deepest core. It can sometimes be lonely but you also feel happy and grounded inside. You also embrace your own humanness and imperfections and it keeps you humble as a leader and yet still strong.

She, and other executives like her, have helped us realise that spirituality is an emerging basis for highly successful business leadership. While these words are an inspiration to many, they can also evoke scepticism, doubt, and criticism.

To put these reactions into perspective, we've found that over the last 100 years, four distinct contexts of leadership have emerged in business. Each context represents a fundamental change in how we view the nature of business leadership and will therefore shape the perspectives and reactions of its leaders.

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

Fred Schwettman, former president of the circuit technology division of Hewlett Packard, once told us:

We had a discussion one time about values and beliefs in our staff meeting. I think one of the most important things we can do is to articulate what our personal purpose is - really trying to understand what we're doing to grow, and to work on that. An example could be for me to know God or to find love associated with God and to practise that in whatever I do.

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

Susan, a telephone service representative for a large health insurance company, once taught us an extremely important lesson about "work as a spiritual practice."

She was known as one of the best at her job. Whenever she received a call from an angry person complaining that a huge bill had not yet been paid, she silently kept a spiritual mantra going in her head as she listened to the caller. It helped her maintain a peaceful mind and reminded her that the caller was a spiritual being in his or her own right. She kept connecting with the caller, heart to heart, in every word she said and patiently demonstrated her accurate listening. Soon, angry callers became calm, and began to trust that she would really do her best to help them.

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

Have you ever known someone at work who always focused on "me, me, me" - preoccupied with enhancing their reputation or career, even at the expense of other people? You might have thought, "This person has such a big ego." The desires that spring from such an ego greatly diminish spiritual character.

What exactly are "ego desires"? The word "ego" is the Latin language word for "I" and means "the self, especially as contrasted with another self or the world." An ego desire originates from a feeling of separateness; its motivation is to satisfy individual wants and needs for our own self-centred, even selfish, benefit.

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

In all major religions, the path of spiritual wisdom ( jnana yoga) is the awakening of consciousness to see the inherent Divinity in all beings - which literally means to be aware of the "substance behind the form." As the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart once wrote:

Whoever has God truly as a companion is with Him in all places... When a person keeps their gaze fixed upon God, all things become God for him or her.

Imagine the difference it could make in the quality of your work, and in the satisfaction you derive from your work, if you were steeped in this unitive consciousness that Divinity resides in all of creation.

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

The materialist often views a religious person as being unsociable, dogmatic and lacking in intellectual insight.There is a certain perception that 'religious' people don't drink or smoke; they pray before every meal, frown at the free mixing of the sexes, are superstitious, impractical and way behind the times. Hence religious people are looked upon as social misfits.

However, the religious person understands that though he may be a social misfit, others are misfits of a different kind. They are spiritual misfits. They do not fit into the wider, more important, spiritual scheme of things.

(See also: Peace on Earth, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)