Spirituality is, in a narrow sense, a concern with matters of the spirit, however that may be defined; but it is also a wide term with many available readings. It may include belief in supernatural powers, as in religion, but the emphasis is on personal experience. It may be an expression for life perceived as higher, more complex or more integrated with one's worldview, as contrasted with the merely sensual. Spirituality - The spiritual and the religious. An important distinction needs to be made between s ...

Including:

• 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 - Spirituality

Read more here: » Spiritual: Encyclopedia - Spiritual

An important distinction needs to be made between spirituality in religion and spirituality as opposed to religion. In recent years, spirituality in religion often carries connotations of the believer's faith being more personal, less dogmatic, more open to new ideas and myriad influences, and more pluralistic than the faiths of established religions. It also can connote the nature of a believer's personal relationship with God, as opposed to the general relationship ...

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 - The spiritual and the religious

Spiritualism may refer to a variety of modern religious ideologies, primarily active in the United States and Europe. Central tenets of Spiritualist liturgy and dogma are the beliefs and practices of mediumship which purports to be evidence of the continued existence of an individual's spirit or soul after death. The origin of Spiritualism is commonly considered to be the Modern Spiritualist movement of the 19th century United States. Spiritualism - Background. Spiritualism in its modern incarnation started ...

Including:

• Spiritualism - Background
• Spiritualism - Meditation
• Spiritualism - Organizations
• Spiritualism - Specific Religions and Thought Currents
• Spiritualism - Theorists and Proponents
• Spiritualism - Well-known Believers
• Spiritualism - Critics and Exposers
• Spiritualism - Exposed Frauds
• Spiritualism - Miscellaneous

Read more here: » Spiritualism: Encyclopedia - Spiritualism

If you are a corporate leader and you would like to include spirituality in your organisation's culture, you are not alone.

Business leaders we've met, and management students sometimes ask us if it's really possible to make spirituality an overt and explicit part of an organisational culture - without causing religious conflicts or being inappropriate to an otherwise secular way of operating.

(See also: Corporate Spirituality, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Studying the myths of various cultures leads to a better understanding of their social and religious underpinnings. By turning the myths inwards, inviting them into our lives and learning their language of imagery and symbolism, we learn more about ourselves.

In almost every culture, the metaphor of descent serves as a powerful, sacred and mythic image for women. One of the earliest such accounts is the story of Inanna, the Sumerian goddess and Queen of the Upper World. She was worshipped in Sumer from the third millennium BCE (before the common era) to the first millennium BCE.

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

"We are all spiritual beings first and foremost, we exist beyond our bodies'', say Debra and William Miller, an American couple who have launched an international research programme on spiritual-based leadership in business. William began his spiritual journey at Puttaparathi in 1982 under the guidance of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and made frequent trips to India thereafter.

But after marrying Debra in 1999, "we have come home to India, leaving our home in the US''. In an interview to Mahendra Ved, they say that they believe it is their dharma to help awaken spirituality in business, "and India is the best place to grow in our ability to do this'':

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

When William was attending a Catholic secondary school, his teachers would ask the students if they had a "vocation", which meant a calling from God to enter a religious order, as a priest or monk. Only later as an adult did he understand the broader notion of "vocation" as a "calling" (vocation is from the Latin " vocare ", "to call"). A "calling" is any "strong inner impulse towards a course of action, especially when accompanied by a conviction of Divine influence."

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

Several years ago William spoke at a large business symposium in New Delhi on the many varied aspects of becoming a spiritual-based leader in the workplace. During the question and answer session, a business executive asked him in a strong tone, "You've talked about how you can be spiritual and successful in business at the same time. India is known to be a spiritual nation. If we're so spiritual, why aren't we more successful in business and why is there so much corruption?"

William answered, "Over the last 10 years in the US, there has been a growing awareness of a distinction that you may or may not make here in India - the distinction between "being spiritual" and "being religious."

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

"Spirituality at work." Seeing or hearing these words, some people feel sceptical about whether spirituality can mix with work. Others feel cautious that some religious pressure will be put on them at work. Still others feel enthused at the possibility of expressing a more meaningful part of themselves through their jobs.

How about you? What comes to mind when you think about spirituality at work? People often ask us, "Can I really be spiritual at work? Can work really be a part of my spiritual path?" For us, the answer is unequivocally "Yes." With confidence, we invite you to join us in the weeks to come in exploring how you can indeed put your spirituality to work in practical and fulfilling ways.

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

Spirituality and Science: Two Ways to Arrive at the Truth

Some of the greatest scientists have attributed their sparks of genius to spiritual inspiration. "I assert that cosmic religious experience is the strongest and the noblest driving force behind scientific research," said Albert Einstein.

Scientists today are striving to discover how creation came into being, and how human beings came to be. A state-of-the-art space telescope has been able to detect some of the earliest moments of the Big Bang. By picking up signals from several light years away, we are able to glimpse at the early universe, whose light is only now reaching us, billions of years later. Will we ever be able to discover the secret of creation?

Read more here: » Spirituality and Science: Two Ways to Arrive at the Truth

In February of 2000, we began writing an in-depth programme for working people which explores five human values that are found across all spiritual traditions: Truth, righteousness, love, peace and non-violence. The title is Human Values in the Workplace: Making Spirituality the Inner Context for Your Work.  [1]  

We were inspired to write this programme because our collective business experience showed us that these five human values were the fundamental roots of a healthy, vibrant, viable organisation - and of healthy, vibrant, viable individuals.

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

Do human brains play any role in spiritual contemplation? Is the spiritual experience real? And, if so, is the spiritual urge programmed into the brain's neural structure? Is the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain understandable?

Neurotheology

Scientific studies have explored the genetic basis of our systems of belief, giving rise to a new discipline - Neurotheology

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

Buddhist Quotes: A Spiritual Revolution

My call for a spiritual revolution is thus not a call for a religious revolution. Nor is it a reference to a way of life that is somehow other-worldly, still less to something magical or mysterious. Rather, it is a call for a radical re-orientation away from our habitual preoccupation with self towards concern for the wider community of beings with whom we are connected, and for conduct which recognizes others’ interests alongside our own.

.

(See also: Buddhism Archives, Buddhist Quotes, Inspirational Quotes, Love Quotes, Friendship Quotes, Life Quotes)

Read more here: » Buddhist Quotes: A Spiritual Revolution

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)

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

Does the recent interest exhibited in non-fiction titles such as The Soul of Business, A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America, The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace, The Three-Minute Meditation etc in the US point to the possible evolution of the "enlightened corporate sector"?

Do Indian managers, born in a land that has offered "yoga and meditation" to the world corporate sector (to overcome stress), have the "first-mover advantage"? These are the questions that should interest "enlightened" managers in "progressive" Indian corporations.

(See also: Spirituality at workplace, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

 While the ultimate result of any truly spiritual path is the negation of the individual ego-self, one cannot begin on one's own personal path of spiritual realization unless one establishes his/her individuality. That means freeing oneself from the demands of organized religions, creeds, socially accepted beliefs, the dictates of any prophet. All of these characteristics of religious participation establish only the group-identity, the body of like-minded believers. People can spend an entire lifetime following the teachings and beliefs of others, without ever finding the path that is right for them personally.

Read more here: » Spiritual Growth: The Individual Path

Imagine what your workplace would be like if it fostered service, sacrifice, balance, good order, endurance, attentive regard, sharing, kept promises, courageous respect for others, and a check on the appetite for excess.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes your parents can be a great resource of ideas for your work, especially in ways you least expect? We experienced this when William's mother recently sent us an article entitled Finding Spirituality in the Workplace . It was written by a Jesuit priest named William Byron, and published in the Texas Catholic (USA) magazine.

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

Most traditional religions assert that God is the ultimate Truth, while science, without admitting the existence of any personal God, claims that its motive force is the quest for Truth. Science and religion seldom see eye-to-eye; this is partly because science has played a big role in enhancing our material comforts.

Since religion has always regarded materialistic conquests and gains as being secondary and sometimes even detrimental to our spiritual progress, the spiritually-minded have come to look upon science as a sphere of activity that denies the existence of the Divine.

(See also: Spirituality and Science, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)