This message is from David at PiB
MESSAGE BOARD: Vol.3 Issue 1 January 2010
HELLO
and welcome to the first edition of your Message Board for 2010. Recently, Sam Walsh (Chief Executive of Rio Tinto Iron Ore) gave an inspiring speech on Spirituality in the Workplace. I'm going to kick off this year with a series of articles on that topic - an exploration long overdue. I hope you find them food for thought...
I thank you for your continued support. If you missed previous Message Boards,
you
can retrieve them from the Archive.
Read on, and enjoy this issue...
Busy? Print this Message Board and read it
later
__________________________________________
IN THIS ISSUE
News and Events
The Message Board Feature Article
We Are What We Do
Subscriber Information
_______________________________
NEWS AND EVENTS
Our 2010 Saturday morning Snapshot Events begin soon, so be sure to mark your diaries! To read more about our first one in February, just click the link below (registrations for this event close 15 February 2010). As always, small groups work best, so if you would like to bring a friend or a group of friends, I urge you to book as soon as possible.
- 20 February 2010: FINDING OUR INNER SPACE
- 27 March 2010
- 15 May 2010
- 19 June 2010
- 31 July 2010
THE MESSAGE BOARD FEATURE ARTICLE
The Human Spirit at Work: an Introduction
A recent article by Sam Walsh (Chief Executive Rio Tinto Iron Ore), Resetting the Moral Compass in Business - WA Business News December 2009, ignited a desire to reflect on the topic in this column.
People in business generally become very suspicious, or at least guarded, when spirituality is raised in conversation. They see the topic as out of place in the work arena and any exploration of it is welcomed only in an air of secrecy...
|
Why go there? Why would we even speak about spirituality in the same breath as business? Indeed, in his address on this topic at St Georges Cathedral at Christmas, Sam Walsh referred to this tension, saying "Indeed, some might say that putting spirituality and business in the same phrase creates an almighty oxymoron." |
Why would we even speak about spirituality in the same breath as business? Indeed, some might say that putting spirituality and business in the same phrase creates an almighty oxymoron. |
A disconnected world
Corporate collapse, financial crisis, corporate greed, white collar crime, deceptive board practises... they are all symptomatic of a chronic disconnect in human beings (and in particular); leadership. I am not picking on the big end of town. Personal debt, or the ability to manage our debt, is driven by an appetite to have more now and disregard the consequences. Wanting more, and measuring our worth by all things external has a human consequence. Thus, we hear people say that the world has lost its integrity, moral compass, commonsense and creativity; and that we merely exist without meaning.
'The world' of course, is a euphemism for my next door neighbours, work colleagues, lovers, and friends. And if I am to be honest, it is also ME - I am greedy, self-centred, have too much debt, consume beyond my needs and perhaps even fear that who I am is never good enough without the garments of prestige, power, control and what I possess.
On the other hand, I have the capacity to be thoughtful, kind-hearted, altruistic, hard working, creative, self-motivated and compassionate.
Our inner life and outer life are ONE
Who I think I am comes to work, goes home, has families and engages or disengages in everyday life. We all have the capacity to create who we are in our mind. This is our inner life. But our inner life and outer life are ONE. When we are talking about our inner world we are talking about our spiritual capacities. Our endowment to form ideas, attitudes, beliefs, vision, likes and dislikes are all due to the fact that I think. Our ability to manifest personal reality is a spiritual power. Spiritual, not in the sense of some deity - out there - but a natural faculty within our minds to create attitudes, beliefs, etc. that influence everything we call our life.
Similarly, we are sensate beings, having an innate capability to experience and know our existence; consciousness, again, a spiritual skill.
LIFE, that energy that endowers all matter with existence; is intelligent. I have near to no understanding of the four fundamental forces (gravity being one) of physics, and how they influence matter in our universe. Yet, I trust the elementary knowledge that these forces exist. And as science knowledge expands, so will our understanding of the influence they have on our universe. LIFE has intelligence, and that intelligence influences our human experience. Charles Chaplin alludes to this with "Think of the power that's in the universe, moving the earth, growing the trees. That same power is within you." Again this spiritual power...
|
Our physical, intellectual, emotional, behavioural and spiritual self is all one; there is no division. It is a fiction to see there is a division. Hence, we are coming to a place in our history where we are mature enough (conscious or self-aware) to see this fiction. Our whole being comes to work. To think we can isolate or quarantine part of ourselves at work is a fiction. |
"Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin" |
Hermann Hesse (1877-1962). German author, novelist, 1946 Nobel Prize winner
Acknowledging our inner world and outer world as ONE
"Spirituality in the workplace starts with the acknowledgement that every entity, individual, or group has spirit. Spirituality in the workplace has little to do with religion, but everything to do with interconnectedness. The awareness of being interconnected reaches much further than merely in the workplace - it affects the individual worker, the organisational network, and the interaction between organisations and communities."
*Extract from Spirituality in the Workplace. Joan Marques, Satinder Dhiman, Richard King.
Human beings are independent thinkers, have different levels of self-awareness (consciousness) and have access to LIFE'S intelligence. And the capacity to think, be self-aware and be open to LIFE'S intelligence is a universal spiritual force within each of us. Spiritual forces make up our being, and it is our whole being that comes to work and life.
See you next month as the reflections continue...
Comments on this article? I'd love to hear from you
__________________________________________
WE ARE WHAT WE DO
A disconnected life, in which we hurry from one activity to the next, our minds filled with 'what next', in which we experience stress, anger, dullness and perhaps retreat into drinking, gambling, or excessive television gazing is a signal for us to look within our hearts and minds. The question is, are we up for what that takes?
Looking within is not a one-off event. It requires us to be willing to listen to our inner world and, depending how disconnected we are, this voice is sometimes a mere whisper. In the modern world this inner listening is often discounted, or seen as unnecessary, for people of action. But action is powered by sound judgement, commonsense and good old-fashioned wisdom in order to bear fruit. What are you doing right now to expand the sound judgment, commonsense and wisdom which will enable powerful action to be your hallmark?
Until next time... David
SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION
Privacy Disclosure
PiB will never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason
whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as
a direct result of our association.
Subscriber Information
You are, or have been, a valued client of
Principles in Business, Dimension 4 Consulting, or The Philosophy of
Living Centre (formerly known as the Psychology of Mind Resource
Center) and your name has been added to our database. You are
currently subscribed to receive both the Message Board and
occasional emails for Calendar Events in Perth.
To unsubscribe from The Message Board, Click Here
To unsubscribe from Calendar Events, Click Here
Email preferences
To receive further emails from us in Plain Text, Click Here
Copyright Notice
Message Board contents © David Bodman PiB. Personal copying and/or
transmittal to a colleague or friend is welcomed. For commercial use please
contact
the author.
Thanks for reducing landfill whenever
possible
___________________________________
Principles in Business
PO Box 2243 Midland Perth WA 6936
P 61
089 274
8877
F 61 089 274 7354
E director@principlesinbusiness.com