At the Crossroads: The Intersection of Private Spirituality in the Public Workplace

Abstract

Spirituality as an aspect of human work appears in religions, belief systems, and secular actions. Catholic Social Thought, expressed in John Paul II’s (1981) encyclical Laborem Exercens, serves as a foundation for examining the spirituality of work, the meaning of work, and its importance for managers in the workplace in particular and humanity in general. A chain of interest can be drawn from the Catholic perspective of the spirituality of work to the commonalities found in monotheistic traditions. This chain continues through the emergent ‘spiritual but not religious’ phenomenon drawing on multiple religious and secular sources. For example Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism pre-date the Abrahamic traditions and convey a common message on spirituality and social norms. The chain of interest moves to the secular via various psychological and scientific perspectives including spiritual intelligence, transpersonal psychology and neuroscience. Finally the chain is completed with a discussion of spirituality and the changing American workplace, the changing context of work, and employer movements towards spirituality. The conclusion is that the spirituality of work exists along a spectrum from an intensely religious experience through to the singular focus of concentrated effort.

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At The Crossroads: The Intersection of Private Spirituality in The Public Workplace
Abstract
Spirituality as an aspect of human work appears in religions, belief systems, and secular
actions. Catholic Social Thought, expressed in John Paul II’s (1981) encyclical Laborem
Exercens, serves as a foundation for examining the spirituality of work, the meaning of work,
and it s importance for managers in the workplace in particular and humanity in general. A chain
of interest can be drawn from the Catholic perspective of the spirituality of work to the
commonalities found in monotheistic traditions. This chain continues through the emergent
‘spiritual but not religious’ phenomenon drawing on multiple religious and secular sources. For
example Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism pre-date the Abrahamic traditions and
convey a common message on spirituality and social norms. The chain of interest moves to the
secular via various psychological and scientific perspectives including spiritual intelligence,
transpersonal psychology and neuroscience. Finally the chain is comp letedwith a discussion of
the spirituality and the changing American workplace, the changing context of work, and
employer mo vements towards spirituality. The conclusion is that the spirituality of work exists
along a spectrum from an intensely religious experience through to the singular focus of
concentrated effort.

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INTRODUCTION
The author’s particular interest in the encyclical of Pope John Paul II(1981), Laborem
Exercens, is how it serves as a foundation for examining the spirituality of work, the meaning of
work,and its importance for managers in the workplace in particular and humanityin general.
This interest leads one to explore both the encyclical itself and writings and research from a
variety of Christian and non-Christian sources. Non-Christian sources such as Taoism,
Confucianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism pre-date the Abrahamic traditions and convey a
common message on spirituality and social norms.
Encyclicals such as Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum and Pope Pius X’s Quadragesimo
Anno encompass social doctrine with an emphasis on objective work and its broad economic
interests as they relate to changing social situations. In contrast, the central point of interest in
Pope John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens is the subjective aspect of work, humans as theworkers,
and the spirituality of work. This is the depth of John Paul writing as he reflected on an early life
performing hard manual labor. Throughout his papacy hedeeply connected with workers around
the world. Importantly, the social justice element in this encyclical reinforces the principle of the
priority of labor over capital, although both are necessary in society. From a historical
perspective, Pope Leo XIII was not alone in speaking to these issues in Rerum Novarum. Walter
Rauschenbusch and other Protestant Social Gospel adherents in the 19th century also wrote and
spoke on care for the poor, the dignity and respect of workers, the rejection of socialism and the
virtues of private ownership (Miller,2007).
Consideration of the economic world of today with mass unemployment, considerable
under-employment, immigration issues, expanding income gaps, and stagnant growth suggest
that the message of the encyclical, while shared by many, remains appropriate,but hardly the

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main concern of the world’s business and political leaders. Irrational outsourcing, seeking unfair
competitive advantage and the increasing financing of enterprise argue for the advantage of
capital over labor and argue against activity that provides for the dignity of labor and the ability
of individuals to fulfill their place on earth through work. By working, humansserve in co-
creation with God’s work. Thus, it may be argued that for a socially just economic system to be
moral, it must humanize itsworkers in the system as partners in productive enterprise. It is not
labor versus capital. Rather, mutual survival is a common goal of all participants.
LABOREM EXERCENS: GOD THE ORIGINAL WORKER
God,the original worker,created the universe. Humans as workers cooperate with God
through working. It is through engaging in work that humans are able to share “in the activity of
the Creator” (John Paul II, 1981: Sharing in the Activity section, para. 2). Genesis (1:26-31,
NAB)provides the doctrine of work from which John Paul II links an understanding of the
human as a creature of God and the nature of one’s need to work as part of God’s purpose for
him on earth. Pope John Paul II’s argument primarily uses scriptural revelation. As referenced
later in this paper Taoists, Hindus, Buddhists, and Confucians primarily argue from reason.
Framing human work as a continuation of God’s original creation extends to “the most
ordinary everyday activities” (John Paul II, 1981:Sharing in the Activity sectio n, para. 4). This
provides the very foundation for workplace motivation as “the knowledge that by means of work
man shares in the work of creation constitutes the most profound motive forundertaking it”
(John Paul II, 1981: Sharing in the Activity section, para. 6). John Paul II cites Jesus Christ,the
working carpenter,and Paul,the tentmaker,who encourages the faithful: “Whatever your task,
work from yo ur heart, as serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will
receive the inheritance as your reward” (Col. 3:23-24). Benedictine and Franciscan spirituality

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make it clear: “The relationship man has with God…determines his relationship with his fellow
man and with his environment” (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,2004: 464). In and
through spirituality in work it is possible to increase “human dignity, brotherhood and freedom”
(John Paul II, 1981:Human Work in the Light section, para. 8).
In Laborem Exercens,the Pope states, “human work is a key, probably, the essential key,
to the whole social question” (John Paul II, 1981:The Question of Work section, para. 2). John
Paul II makes an important distinction between objective work and subjective work. Objective
work is the external aspect of work, or the actual job function that one performs including the
technology that is “in and by means of work” (John Paul II, 1981: Work in the Objective Sense
section, para. 1). In contrast, John Paul II describes the individual as:
…a subjective being capable of acting in a planned and rational way, capable of
deciding about himself, and with a tendency to self-realization. As a person, man
is therefore the subject of work. As a person he works, he performs various
actions belonging to the work process; independently of their objective content,
these actions must all serve to realize his humanity, to fulfill the calling to be a
person that is his by reason of his very humanity. (John Paul II, 1981: Work in the
Subjective Sense section, para. 2)
The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace refers to Psalm 8:5-7, in which it states that
humanit y“has dominion over the works of your hands; yo u have put all things under his feet”
(2004: 255). As such, from the Catholic perspective, humansmust work:
[w]ork is, as has been said, an obligation, that is to say,a duty, on the part of
man…Man must work, both because the Creator has commanded it and because
of his own humanity, which requires work in order to be maintained and
developed. (John Paul II, 1981: Within the Broad Context section, para. 2)
It is the stewardship of God’s creation combined with the subjective aspect of humans in the
work process that “conditions the very ethical nature of work” (John Paul II, 1981: Work in the
Subjective Sense section, para. 3). Clearly John Paul II’s message is that work is an essential
element to human existence and functioning as a person living on earth within the community of

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persons. As such, work should enrich all workers regardless of their position. John Paul II
argues:
…[w]ork is a good thing for man —a good thing for his humanity — because
through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but
also achieves fulfillment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes ‘more
a human being’. (John Paul II, 1981: Work and Personal Dignity section, para. 3)
The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace suggests “[w]ork has all the dignity of being a
context in which the person’s natural and supernatural vocation must find fulfillment” (2004:
101).
ELEMENTS FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY OF WORK
The Catholic Church sees “a particular duty to form a spirituality of work which will help
all people to come closer, through work, to God, the Creator and Redeemer” (John Paul II, 1981:
A Particular Task section, para 1). Because work is the ground from which independence,
achievement and self-worth can emerge, it can be considered “the core of life” (Rosow, 1974: 2).
In reality, work can both enrich and dehumanize.
John Paul II writes of the error of economism, or homo economicus, considering labor
solely according to its economic purpose. To this narrow interpretation of labor he highlights the
rightness of humansas the worker, or homo faber, to the fair share of the fruits of his productive
labor. He places a priority on labor in theconsideration of labor versus capital (Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace,2004: 275). This is most obvious in the examples of “companies
[that] put the needs of shareholders above the needs of workers” (O’Toole & Lawler, 2006: 15).
While this is currently the most common state of play, there are a minority of companies that
take a ‘stakeholder’ perspective of the firm. These companies attempt to satisfy the needs of a
broader cross-section of society that includes both customer and worker. Case (2012) provides
evidence of such a company in the actions of Aaron Feuerstein,who,when the family-owned

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Malden Mills textile factory was destroyed by fire,continued to pay the worker’s wages. These
obligations are reciprocal. Employees must always do their best work as “[d]ignityin work lies
not in meeting, but in exceeding requirements” (Case, 2012: 22).
Case quotes astatement attributed to Zilbarg (2001: 128) from the U.S. Catholic
Conference of Bishops: “Every economic decision and institution must be judged in light of
whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the human person” (Case, 2012: 16). Christian
teaching holds that humanshave a right to private property (Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace,2004: 176). Yet this right is subordinated to the right of common use of the products of
the whole of creation. This is not an argument for socialism as it is clear that the state has no
legitimate role in taking over the means of production or socializing the labor capital
relationship. Socialism,which the popes rejected in the earlier encyclicals Rerum Novarum and
Quadragesimo Anno,is the taking over of the means of production and is the nullification of
both labor and capital. The state has a role in providing political power forunions to enhance the
individual economic power of the single worker. However, well advised managers, those who go
beyond command and control to engage with workers through communication and coordination,
favorably influence the culture of the workplace. Cultures that “encourage employees to become
self-policing, mutually supportive, concerned with the good of other” (O’Toole & Lawler, 2006,
p. 157) really have little need for unions. These are companies that really are communit ies with
the consequent development of a cultural ethos of ethics. These are homo faber firms.
Work is an obligatio n and a duty, and as such implies rights of the worker (John Paul II,
1981). Individuals must work because God has commanded it and also to maintain humanity in
the community of others. Additionally, work allows an individual to form and provide for a
family. Work is also for the good of society as a whole (John Paul II, 1981). Work unites

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people. It has social power and it empowers individual workers in the face of powerful capital.
Bouyer asserts:
For Catholicism, there is no fully authentic Christian spirituality without the
realization of an equal co-presence of our fellow-believers with Christ and
ourselves, in the Church…it is essentia l to the very goal of the spiritual life.
(1961: 11)
This is expanded upon and integrated in the works of the Catholic spiritualists Carmelites St.
John of the Cross and St. Teresa and, for example, in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises (Bouyer,
1961: 17).
COMMONALITIES IN SPIRITUALITY AT WORK
AMONG MONOTHEISTIC RELIGIONS
Separating religion from spirituality, “[o]ne can say that there are innumerable
spiritualties, both non-Christian and Christian” (Haight, 1982: 2). Huston Smith, author of the
well-regarded The World’s Religions,a meaningful description of religion and belief practices,
honored the many differences and similarities between them by likening them to “a stained glass
window whose sections divide the light of the sun into different colors” (Smit h, 1991: 386). The
monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share many commonalities (Peters,
2008). For example, “[a]ll three religions believe one God created the world…commanded
people to live in morally responsible and accountable ways…[and to] revere Him of their own
free will” (Case 2012: 5).
Commonalities between the three traditions place an emphasis on the religious principle
of integrity, a person’s moral character or conformance to moral standards or codes (Case, 2012).
In contrast the emphasis in the corporate world seems to be on achievement at any cost.
Jackall’s 1988 and 2010 studies that affirm the pressure of corporate culture to sub-ordinate
individual’s personal ethical values to the need for “getting ahead” (cited in Case, 2012: 4). Case

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suggests an alternative based in spirituality since “[t]he golden rule easily serves as a normative
foundation for business ethics” (2012: 29). In support of this argument, she reports one
interesting study by Conroy and Emerson (2004) of undergraduate and graduate students
attending one public and one Christian university that found that the “degree of religious
affiliation was associated with higher ethical standards, but taking an ethics course had little
impact on ethical behavior” (cited in Case, 2012: 3).
One noble objective of Sufism, themystical facet of Islam, is for “the illusion of private
self to be annihilated in oneness with the reality of God” (Debs, 2005: para. 42). This stands in
stark contrast to the duality of private versus corporate ethics referred to above. In the Jewish
religion, the expectation is that “…every human person is created in the Divine Image with
inalienable dignity and thus any act of misbehavior against another human person is an act of
misbehavior against God Himself” (Rosen, 2003: 1). This belief circumvents theduplicity
implicit in manipulating others for personal gain. More specifically, Rosen suggests this standard
is particularly salient for those with power and authority:
While there are covenants that God makes with individuals…these are never
exclusively personal, but inherently relate (their obligations and responsibilities)
to a collective (e.g.,Abraham’s descendants; David’s household and the
obligations of royal leadership to the people as a whole). (Rosen, 2003: 2)
So it seems the tenets for a spirituality of work exist in each of the Abrahamic traditions. And
yet, in the words of Jim Wallis,Editor-in-Chief/CEO of Sojourners,“[t]he connection the world’s
waiting for is to connect the hunger for spirituality with the passion for social
change…spirituality has to be disciplined by social justice” (Lumsden, 2005: para.12). Islamic
theology “rejects the separation between worship, piety, and spirituality from one hand and
mundane activities in particular social activity” (Rabinataj & Azadboni, 2011: 6-8).
Unfortunately, the gap between espoused and enacted values is evidenced in that the ideal

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practice of theology falls short in the practice of daily living. This is true regardless of the
spiritual foundation. The strong emphasis on social justice in the Qur’an can be hard to see in
some contexts (Debs, 2005). Similarly, the labour practices of Walmart have been criticized
given their espoused foundation in Christianit y(Featherstone, 2004). It is the culture, not the
theology,that generates large differences in societies.
SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS
What is the answer to the question: Why am I here? It is not only a world question; it is
first and foremost an individual question. For centuries, individuals have sought the answer in
religion. Increasingly it is believed that it can be answered in a non-religious way. Many
individuals today suggest that they are spiritual but not religious in asecularized Western world
that is separating farther from a religious meaning of work. Even so,the desire for a lasting
meaning in work is becoming an ever-increasing expression by workers,whether they are
Chinese laborers in the emerging manufacturing centers or sophisticated knowledge workers in
developed nations. TheBhagavad Gita expresses it as follows: “To the vast majority of
men…life seems to be a meaningless muddle. Not many seem to realize that life, at its noblest, is
a yatra, a pilgrimage to God: The Infinite is our true home”(Vaswani, 2006: 1).
Increases in material well-being are not enough as “[p]eoplehave enough to live by, but
nothing to live for; they have means, but no meaning” (Frankl cited in French, 2012: p. 5).
People possess an individual need to work that has meaning over and above one’s self. In other
words, one wants transcendent work. From a religious point of view this is the concept of work
as a divine calling, or, as described by Weber (1958 and 1963), a response to a call from God to
do morally and socially meaningful work. Despite its’ religious roots, the concept of calling has
evolved to have secular significance as well (Elangovan, Pinder & McLean, 2010). Research

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suggests individuals with a calling orientation to work are more likely to put mo re time in at
work (Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin, & Schwartz, 1997), report higher life satisfaction
(Wrzesniewski et al., 1997), demonstrate optimism (Gillham, Shatte, Reivich, & Sligman, 2001),
mastery (Rawsthorne & Elliot, 1999) and conscientiousness (McCrae & Costa, 1999). While the
presence of a work calling can have positive benefits (i.e. calling is positively correlated with
decidedness, comfort, self-clarity and choice-work salience), the search for a work calling is
negatively correlated with decidedness, comfort, self-clarity and choice-work salience (Duffy, &
Sedlacek, 2007).
Connections to the concept of calling can be found in idea of transcendental leadership
(Cardona, 2000), an extension of the continuum from transactional to transformational work.
Transactional activit y considers the individual worker as fungible,exchanging time and energy
for wages. Workers are rewarded for following orderly processes to achieve ends desired by the
organization. This is the classic interpretation and is still prominent in many of today’s
organizations. Transformational leadership goes beyond the transaction exchange of an
economic relationship to include an element of social exchange. Transformative work can
change one’s habitsand give one a feeling of self-satisfaction. This expresses itself in the Human
Relations movement in American industry. The individual partic ipates in work not only for the
economic exchange found in Transactional situations but also in recognition of intrinsic rewards
coming from self-awareness and self-motivation.
The transcendentalist tradition thinksof the character of the individual forming the
culture of the organization and as such is “concerned with people…and their personal
development…on the whole person” (Cardona, 2000: 205). Transcendent work unites one
spiritually with a universe so powerful that it encompasses all.It connects theinner journey

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towards spirit with the outer world of work. From the Taoist tradition, “[i]f you trust yo ur
intuition…your feelings of the ‘rightness’ of things, you cannot go wrong”(Osho, 2009: para. 3).
This is mirrored in the sentiments of the Buddhist writer Bante Wimala:
…the peace, happiness, and meaning that we seek is already available and
accessible within each one of us. Discovering them through awakening, and
experiencing them is the work or our spiritual path. It is the path of spiritual self-
discovery. The path to happiness and highest peace must be trodden by each of
us, alone. No other person can walk this path for you….Buddhas merely show
the way. (Wimala, 1997: 25)
This is a most comprehensive frame for worker involvement with a high degree of inner-
directed spirituality and recognition of a universal power (with or without religion) of man’s
place in the universal world. The Buddha states, “Your work is to discover your world and then
with your heart to give yourself to it ” (Bodhisattva Quotes, n.d.). The intention is a union of
man’s work and the work of the cosmos: “It’s about a connection with an Ultimate Ideal, Reality,
God, or Truth” (Fernando, 2007: 77). This expression aligns with Maslow’s research on ‘peak
experiences’ (Maslow, 1971). An avowed atheist,Maslow suggested that in addition to the
number of individuals who may reach self-actualization:
…most people, or almost all people, have peak experiences, or ecstasies…It looks
as if any experience of real excellence, of real perfection, or any moving toward
the perfect justice or toward perfect values tends to produce a peak experience.
(Maslow, 1971: 168-169)
More recently Csikszentmihalyi coined the term ‘flow’ to describe such peak
experiences: “Athletes refer to it as ‘being in the zone,’ religious mystics as being in ‘ecstasy,’
artists and musicians as aesthetic rapture” (1997: 29). So spirituality is not only a religious
experience, it can be achieved through intense concentration in study, or in natural appreciation
of triggers to mystical experiences. Consequently, the existence of an innate ability related to
spirituality is salient.

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SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE
Pursuit of the questions ‘who I am’and ‘why I am here’suggeststhat the search for
purpose in life involves aspects of the whole person —body, mind,and spirit. Intelligence,or
IQ,addresses a person’s mental abilities. Emotional intelligence,or EI, addresses a person’s
ability regarding bodily feelings. Spiritual intelligence,or SI, addresses a person’s ability
regarding values and meaning (Zohar & Marshall, 2001). The modern idea of SI is relatively
new and still controversial, not unlike IQ and EI before it. However, Emmons suggests that
“converging lines of evidence support the thesis that spiritualty does, in fact, meet several of the
acceptable criteria for an intelligence” (2000: 17). The concept of SI speaks to the deep human
longing “to find meaning and value in what we do and experience” (Zohar & Marshall, 2001:4).
SI is described as an integrative and “necessary foundation for the effective functioning
of both IQ and EI. It is our ultimate intelligence” (Zohar & Marshall, 2001: 4). Linking SI to
Maslow, Zohar and Marshall (2001: 6-7) suggest SI “is the Jungian ‘self’ or the Jungian
‘transcendental function’”. Maslow (1971: 269) himself states: “Transcendence refers to the
very highest and most inclusive or holistic levels of human consciousness, behaving and relating
as ends rather than means, to one-self, to significant others, to human beings in general, to other
species, to nature, and to the cosmos”. Continuing, Maslow (1971: 333) says, “The great lesson
from the true mystics, fro m the Zen monks, and now from the Humanistic and Transpersonal
psychologists —(is) that the sacred is in the ordinary”. Wilber (2001: 110) integratesEastern
and Western human growth development to answer ultimate questions of spirituality and
suggests that “Westerners…repress the transcendent”.In psychology, repression often
resurfaces in strange ways and peculiar behaviors. “Buried deep in every person’s being is the

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mythology of transcendence, and ignoring this powerful layer can only have the most regrettable
consequences” (Wilber, 2001: 112). Such is implicit in Plato’s concept of Er.
For some people in the 21st century, the capacity for transcendence is developed by way
of meditation. Transpersonal philosopher and integrative spiritualist Ken Wilber suggests:
Meditation is …a spiritual practice…a way for the soul to venture inwards, there
ultimately to find a supreme identity with Godhead. ‘The Kingdom of God is
within’—and meditation from the very beginning has been the royal road to the
Kingdom. Whatever else it does, it does many beneficial things, and meditation is
first and foremost a search for the God within. (Wilber, 1998: 5)
Wilber (1998) differentiates between prayer and medit ation suggesting the former is
particular to the religious traditions and the latter is a practice available to all people. The
suggestion is that “[s]piritual intelligence can be strengthened by both secular and religious
means” (Finch, 2010: 1). Bringing this to bear suggests a practice of making work a meditation,
or,if you will,a calling to serve God through labor. Meditation leads one to realize that the only
person who one can control is one’s self. Success arises when individuals assume total
responsibility for their situation. Then they can work in concert with others to achieve commonly
held goals enlivened by a vision of achieving this goal. “The key questions for today’s managers
and leaders are no longer issues of task and structure but are questions of spirit” (Hawley, 199:
1). The very basis of management and leadership is spiritual. It is little understood nor practiced.
Spirituality exists abundantly and universally. It is a serious mistake to relegate
spirituality to church, synagogue, and mosque, or to package it as a particular brand. Morris
(1997:173) states: “The fourth universal dimension of human experience is the spiritual
dimension (the other three are truth, beauty, and goodness),that aspect of our nature which
strives for unity or ultimate connectedness.” Continuing,he states that “spirituality is
fundamentally about two things: depth and connectedness”(1997:174). Pascal,cited in Morris

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(1997, p. 178), posed three orders of reality, namely, the physical or body, the intellectual or
mind, and finally the most important, the spiritual (or heart). It is through spiritual reality,
regardless of one’s religious traditio n, that we get depth, deep rootedness, and connectedness:
The ultimate target of the spiritual dimension is unity: connectedness, or
intimate integration, between our thoughts and our actions, between our beliefs
and emotions, between ourselves and others, between human beings and the
rest of nature between all of nature and nature’s source. Unlimited
connectedness. Ultimate unity…Indian philosophy and Hindu thought stress
the deep oneness of all things.Judaism proclaims the importance of brotherly
unity. (Morris, 1997: 179)
Moore (1992) takes a more Jungian approach, maintaining a role for ritual and myth in a
spiritual life of the soul.Some individuals are religious from childhood and family experiences,
and the practice of religion stays with them as a base for their spirituality. Others evolve and
revolve around various aspects of either religion or spirituality while searching for what their
particular path is. For those whose church-going religion influences their actions, spirituality can
permeate their daily lives or merely be ‘church on Sunday, work on Monday’. Sometimes this
allows for extreme religiosity while providing for secular values,as in the expression You are a
fellow (fill in the blank), but business is business.Other evidence appears in the actions of
Islamic worshipers who treat fellow Muslims of different sects as infidels in the act of business.
Quoting Lynda Sexson, Moore (1992:215) suggests that “to catch the appearance of the sacred
in the most ordinary objects and circumstances,” people keep dreams and hopes and memories
alive in diaries and containers of holy treasures of a lifetime. Further, “An appreciationfor
vernacular spirituality is important because without it our idealization of the holy, making it
precious and too removed from life, can actually obstruct a genuine sensitivity to what is sacred”
(Moore, 1992: 215) and to what is spiritual. “The history of our century has shown the proclivity
of neurotic spirituality toward psychosis and violence. Spirituality is powerful, and therefore has
the potential for evil as well as for good.”

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Moore continues, “The soul needs spirit, but our spirituality also needs soul —deep
intelligence, sensitivity to the symbolic and metaphoric life, genuine community, and attachment
to the world” (Moore, 1992: 229). “In the broadest sense, spirituality is an aspect of any attempt
to approach or attend to the invisible factors in life and to transcend the personal, concrete, finite
particulars of this world” (Moore, 1992: 233). Importantly, “[s]pirituality is not always
specifically religious”(Moore, 1992: 232). And “Spirit, the Platonist said, lifts us out of the
confines of human dimensions, and in doing so nourishes the soul”(Moore, 1992: 233).
Additio nally, “there are many different kinds of spirituality. The kind with which we are most
familiar is the spirituality of transcendence, the lofty quest for the highest vision, universal moral
principles and liberation from many limitations of human life”(Moore, 1992:240).
In a series of ten essays analyzing both Eastern and Western belief systems, Hixon (1995)
presents different understandings of spirituality or enlightenment. Not surprisingly, substantia l
commonality appears although terminology, ritual, myths, and end results differ. All agree on
one-ness, or a universal force that is above all. In the “theistic sense of Divine Grace…the
devotee receives from God the movement toward God. In the non-theistic sense…there is no God
who showers grace, yet enlightenment dawns in the same graceful manner….Divine Grace and
spontaneous awakening least as measured by self-transcendence, doesn’t result from outside
influences describe the same process of receptivity and gratitude in two different languages”
(Hixon, 1995: 14). This is Plotinus’sone and Osho’s no-thingness.
Dreyfus and Kelly (2011) take a route through the great Western writing in a
demonstration for the search for the meaning of human existence —the search for spirituality.
Interestingly, the polytheism of the Greeks and the idea of arête, or excellence in life,depends
on “…the Homeric world …crucially on one’s sense of gratitude and wonder”(Dreyfus & Kelly

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2011: 61). And in Dante’s Divine Comedy,one finds fulfillment of Spirituality in the Beatific
Vision or oneness with God. Further, referencing Karl Jasper’s 1949 book The Origin and Goal
of History,which offers tracings from Plato’s metaphysics, Buddha’s concept of Nirvana, and
the writings of the post-Christians, the notion “that there is a good beyond what we can find in
the everyday conception of human flourishing” suggests that there is a transcendent good that is
the nature of the Divine (Dreyfus & Kelly, 2011: 163). And this good can be practiced in the
“communal Melville’s Moby Dick” (Dreyfus & Kelly, 2011:167).
NEUROSCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY
Hamer maintains that Robert Cloninger, building on Maslow’s later work, “is perhaps the
first modern day behavioral scientist bold enough —or fo olhardy enough —to have tried to
quantify spirituality” (Hamer, 2005: 21). Zohar and Marshall (2000) identified Spiritual
Intelligence. Newberg & Waldman (2009) measured the brain changes in subjects who meditated
or were involved in study requiring intense concentration. Hamer intended to use Cloninger’s
statistical study in an attempt to study the “connection between genes and spirituality” (Hamer
(2005:38). In his study of identical twins, the implicationof the statistical findings is that
“spirituality, at least as measured by self-transcendence, doesn’t result from outside influences”
(Hamer, 2005:49). Rather, it is part of one’s DNA —spirituality “is part of the genes” (Hamer,
2005, study on the emphasis on spirituality). Observing Tibetan monks and Christian nuns
during meditation, the experiments of Newberg and his associates “offer a glimpse into how the
brain becomes self-transcendent” (Hamer, 2005: 127). This is the state of the brain in a Beatific
Vision, or a state of Nirvana. For non-religious meditators, the feeling of “the whole being more
than the sum of the parts” (Hamer, 2005: 128) is experienced in such experiences as viewing a
beautiful sunset, being in awe in a grand cathedral, or instances of ‘rapture’ or ‘ecstasy’ from sex

AOM Submission # = 15192 17
or high emotional events. The highest element of self-transcendence is the blissful state of
absolute oneness –“a deep sense of harmony and total obliteration of the self” (Hamer, 2005:
128).
Recapping, “[f]irst, the sense of self is central to spirituality…in every case the ability to
lose one’s self, to become at one with the universe and everybody and everything in it is at the
heart and core of spirituality. Second, our sense of self and of the world around us arises from the
distinctive brain process of consciousness. And third, monoamines (brain chemistry) play a
central role in consciousness by lending value to perceptions….This is why feelings of
spirituality are a matter of emotions rather than intellect” (Hamer, 2005: 137-38).
There is a difference between spirituality and religion. “Spirituality is based in
consciousness, religion in cognition. Spirituality is universal, whereas cultures have their own
forms of religion. I would argue that the most important contrast is that spirituality is genetic,
while religion is based on culture, traditions, beliefs, and ideas”(Hamer 2005: 213). “Our genes
can predispose us to believe. But they don’t tell us what to believe in. Our faith is part of our
cultural heritage, and some of the beliefs in any religion evolve over time”(Hamer, 2005: 214).
Hawley states, “Spirituality is the goal, religion is the path” (1993, p. 3).
Further, Conner (2008) traces the religious knowledge of spirituality and what people
believe as a matter of faith. “But when Albert Einstein postulated that energy and matter were
one and the same —that is, that the raw material of the universe is nonmaterial —he set off a
revolution in scientific thinking that continues to draw the spiritual and scientific realms
closer….Science, it appears, is discovering what the ancients, mystics, and poets always knew”
(Conner, 2008: 128). Scientists using the Akashic Record,which is “a modern term for the
universal filing system that contains every feeing, thought, work, and action of every soul”

AOM Submission # = 15192 18
(Conner, 2008: 129), recorded brain waves of subjects that symbolically reflect the feeling of
deep connection with the universe —a merging of science and spirit. Thus, another approach to
a path of awareness is open. Jung’s work on the soul is seminal in gaining an understanding of
the self and enabling one to integrate personality into life generally including life at work (King
& Nicol in Biberman & Whitty, eds., 2000, Work & Spirit).
SPIRITUALITY AND THE CHANGING AMERICAN WORKPLACE
A telling shift in the intersection between private spirituality and public workplaces is the
emergence and growth of the Academy of Management special interest group of Management
Spirituality and Religion.An interesting theme in this domain of literature is that of individual
spiritual transformations and the resulting impact on business practice(Benefiel, 2008).
Perseverance in the process involves an individual in subjugating an ego-centered life, perhaps
involving St. John of the Cross’s ‘dark night of the soul’ and culminating in surrender to a higher
power that can not be fully understood by human means. Here, the individual is driven by a
desire for a higher good, in effect to be transcended. Frankl similarly referred to man’s search for
meaning in a more secular unitive manner. Naughton (2009: 48) states that “the very essence of
our humanity is found at this profound level of giving ourselves.” Further he writes that
individual’s must also be receptive for one cannot give what she does not have:“I will never get
work right, unless I can receive” (Naughton, 2009: 54). And humansreceive the gift from God
called grace. Benefiel goes beyond individual spirituality and illustrates it applicability in the
example of Tom’s of Maine. Fernando (2007) also directs his work to the process applied in
primarily entrepreneurial firms.

AOM Submission # = 15192 19
The American transcendentalists,particularly Emerson and Thoreau in the 19th century,
linked the belief of a personal identit y of divinityand a universal view of nature (Nichols, 2006:
6) with “the power to transform lives as well as social institutions”.
Gaylord Harnwell,then-president of the University of Pennsylvania, maintained,“Man
works for the profitable employment of one’s time” (1957). Many historical scholars have noted
the religious origins of the American work ethic. The Greeks regarded work as a curse. The
Hebrews regarded work as expiation for original sin. It remained for the Christians to show work
as necessary to keep a healthy body, mind,and soul. And they looked to charitable sharing of
goods for the welfare of others. St. Thomas Aquinas added to the social practice in the payment
of ‘just price’ or payment to the worker of just wages. But it was the Protestant Reformation
wherein Martin Luther eliminated the distinction between working and serving God. And Calvin
further strengthened the moral connotation of work with his interpretation of ‘predestination’ that
made success at work and accretion of wealth as a sign that one was pleasing God and earning a
place in heaven. This intensity of the Protestant work ethic exists today though it has lost much
of its spiritual base. Results from becoming more secular suggest that,in many instances,the
American Work Ethic is exceeding rational boundaries and approaching greed as its goal. Work,
however, spiritually provides a transcendent meaning in people’s lives. This meaning cannot be
satisfied with ‘watered down’ corporate social responsibility activity alone.
THE CHANGING CONTEXT OF BUSINESS
Another favorable and supporting argument for spirituality arises in assessing the nature
of the modern knowledge-based economy. Workplace activity discovers the wondrous world of
creativity as it is arises from the intelligent use by humansof the tools of production. Economies
grow through investment in education and continued technical advances. It is shortsighted to

AOM Submission # = 15192 20
think of cheapest labor source/cost as the provident way to social well-being. Rather,such
thinking forces the externalities of real cost onto society in general. Companies in the United
States are starting in a small way to re-source formerly outsourced jobs. Whirlpool Corporation
recently re-shored the production of hand mixers that hadpreviously been outsourced to China
and is planning to do other products as the cost calculations become evidently clear (Hagerty,
2012). Further, Michigan workers are now making TVs again. The last American made TV was
produced in the 1970s. Then Japan and other Asian producers took over the manufacturing.
Now productivity increases, improved automation, lower shipping costs, decreased inventory,
and faster customer delivery make “the final cost of a set made in Mexico, or Michigan ‘…very
similar’ ” (Aeppel, 2012: B1).
A somewhat different view of on-shoring presents the scheme of Japanese automobile
producers’success in the United States manufacturing the base of a ‘foreign’ automobile
(O’Toole & Lawler,2006). Analysis of the total, fully allocated life cycle costs of production
reveal in many instances a lower cost to produce and service customers close to markets,as
opposed to incurring the costs of shipping, increased inventory, and political impediments of
going ‘off shore’. This does not negate the argument of competitive advantage. More likely,
total factor productivity analysis brings a focus on the need for a knowledge-based global
economy to be truly global. In recognizing the total productivity cost,the real value of
contributions of labor wherever it happens to be performed is illuminated. This serves to
illustrate and enforce the contributions of the market forces which serve to distribute the benefits
of production. The moral responsibilities of employers require recognition of all economic costs
in the pricing of a product or service.

AOM Submission # = 15192 21
Costs that are not recognized by employers are borne by society. An example exists in
health care where total costs of individual health care prove more than an individual can bear and
are covered by social insurance. Another example is in payment of low wages which are
subsidized by transfer payments. Increasing stress, more mental than physical in today’s
workplace,results in lower productivity, low service quality,increased absenteeism, and
increased turnover. Companies that do not pay these costs directly either through providing and
paying insurance premiums or in paying competitive wages pass these costs on to societ y
(O’Toole & Lawler,2006). Certainly this also applies to ‘sweatshop’ conditions in foreign and,
in some instances,certain domestic enterprises that are locally owned or prime sub-contractors to
final producer concerns. An argument can be made that jobs in low-wage countries provide
employment and wages for native people who would otherwise starve, but this is a world
economy problem requiring answers on how global can best be addressed in the framework of
social justice. This offers insight into the proper role of finance as support to the total global
system. One seeks an optimum, not a maximum,balance for an ethical distribution of payment
for the use of resources to satisfy a world economy. The social capital of the worldremains a
goal, not the sub-optimization of one factor of productive capitalism over another. In this,the
gains of the world can be shared in producing a morally better world for all. The growing global
economic and financial systems provide wealth, but are “accompanied by an increase in relative
poverty” (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,2004: 362).
The Catholic Church “considers science and technology are a wonderful product of a
God-given human creativity, since they have provided us with wonderful possibilities, and all
gratefully benefit from them” (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, 2004: 457). The

AOM Submission # = 15192 22
growing global economic and financial systems provide wealth, but are “accompanied by an
increase in relative poverty” (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, 2004: 362).
EMPLOYER MOVEMENTS TOWARDS SPIRITUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE
Karakas (2010: 26-33) offers words of caution to those who seek to implement
spirituality in the workplace. He cites four major problems and offers four suggestions for
offsetting, but not solving, the problems. First, proselytism may lead to coercion and alienation
of employees unless there is respect for diversity and accommodation of different spiritual
requests. Cavanaugh (1999), cited in Karakas (2010,p. 31), suggests, “As lo ng as the spiritual
requests of some employees do not limit the freedoms of others, managers should respond to
them.”
Second, compatibility of individual spiritual practice/beliefs and corporate culture.
Again, this requires respect for diversity of individuals. Krishnakumar & Neck (2002), cited in
Karakas (2010: 31), state: “Since spirituality is a highly individual and idio syncratic experience,
it is necessary that spirituality practices be customized based on the principle of respecting and
valuing individual’s unique inner landscape, values and perspective.”
Third, there is a caution against manipulation by employers as a way of increasing
worker productivity. Avoiding this threat requires a positive practice of spirituality for its own
sake with openness and freedom of expression. Krishnakumar & Neck (2002), cited in Karakas
(2010: 32), state: “It is important to mention that the organization doesn’t establish or enforce
any particular spiritual principle common to all its employees. Spiritual enrichment of the
workplace is supported and ensured by the free and open expression of intuition, creativity,
honesty, authenticity, trust and personal fulfillment in a positive atmosphere.” One is not sure
that this applies in religious organizations. Leigh (1997), cited in Karakas (2010: 32), argues that

AOM Submission # = 15192 23
“[w]orkplace spirituality starts with the acknowledgement that employees do not bring only their
bodies and minds to work; but also their hearts, souls, creativity, talents and unique spirits.”
Fourth, legitimacy is a problem for researchers studying spirituality in the workplace.
The field is still in its infancy, even though the Management Spirituality and Interest Group of
the Academy of Management have been working in this area for more than a decade.
CONCLUSIONS
This article has attempted to follow a chain of interest in private spirituality in public
work. Beginning with the Catholic perspective as expressed by John Paul II, work is inherently
spiritual in that humans continue the creative work of God the original worker and they are the
subject of work, they have the capacity to decide and make meaning regarding their work which
ultimately influences who they are and the nature of the world around them. Aspects for the
spirituality of work are not limited to the high church of Roman Catholicism but can be found in
other religions, belief systems, secular teachings and recent movements in the world of work.
The conclusion is that the spirituality of work exists along a spectrum from an intensely religious
experience through to the singular focus of concentrated effort. While differences in practice
and the experience of spirituality at work exist the effect of bonding, of unity or oneness is
common. It is possible for very private spirituality to exist in the very public workplace.

AOM Submission # = 15192 24
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