Preaching in the workplace

Guess who's knocking on the office door? It's God. If Canadians decide to let him in, we may set ourselves up to become as beset by inter-religious strife as the Arabs and the Jews (no offense). According to an article in a famous magazine, the latest craze has corporate executives fighting for free expression of religiosity in the workplace. Lord help us if this "craze" succeeds.

As recounted by magazine, "Three dozen middle-aged rebels in business suits are gathered for lunch in a conference room on the top floor of a Bank building in a province ... They are floating radical ideas: Work less. Slow down. Stop multitasking. Listen to your heart ... (They represent) a counterculture bubbling up all over corporate America who want to bridge the traditional divide between spirituality and work. Historically, such folk operated below the radar, on their own or in small workplace groups where they prayed or studied the Bible. But now they are getting organized and going public to agitate for change."

"Rebels?" "Radical ideas?" It seems truly bizarre to paint these gentlemen as romantic figures in a heroic battle. There is nothing new or radical about their ideas. Today's workplace evangelists propose nothing less than a reinstitution of the repressive tactics our Founding Fathers od US fled England to avoid authoritatively imposed religiosity. Spirituality is a very personal thing. People should come to it, it should not be foisted on them.

Besides, can you imagine how incensed most of corporate America would become if people "worked less, slowed down and stopped multitasking" in the name of the Lord?

Can you imagine the competition among various sects of Christianity, Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism and so on that will want to turn the workplace into one big evangelical marketplace? Members of non-evangelical religions, such as Judaism and Buddhism, (not to mention atheists and agnostics) will be offended as co-workers proselytize them at work. Productivity will drop. Lawsuits will blossom.

Do evangelical Christian Americans really want to be interrupted by office mates who stop working and bow to Mecca several times a day? Do Jews want Buddhists burning incense in the workplace? Do Catholics want Baptists to try to convert them? Do Muslims want Wiccans praying to pagan gods at the office? On and on it might go in its florid capacity to create interoffice strife where such strife never before existed.

"Why would we want to look for God in our work?" Fortune quotes one man as asking. "The simple answer is most of us spend so much time working, it would be a shame if we couldn't find God there. A more complex answer is that there is a creative energy in work that is somehow tied to God's creative energy. If we can understand that connection, perhaps we can use it to transform the workplace into something remarkable."

There's also no end of issues that already divide us plenty on the job: turf, working conditions, employee conduct and so on. Let's not add one more very explosive element into the mix. If an evangelist comes knocking on your office door, tell him, "Thanks, but I'll see you in your spiritual community."

Benefits of Spirituality

Benefits of Spirituality

Belief can be translated into physical reality in the body. people experience spirituality when, first, they feel the presence of a power, force or energy guiding them, and second, that presence is close to them. When those two components are there, people say it’s a spiritual experience. For 95% of Canadians, the most powerful belief is belief in God. If you want them to have the healing power of belief, their most powerful belief is the belief in something beyond themselves.
The benefits of prayer and spirituality are enormous.

How can we describe the positive impact of spiritual belief in our health, work and daily life?

The positive impact of spiritual belief on health is the result of hope that people can get from religion, or can come from from belief in a larger reality that allows them to be non-attached to a specific outcome.

Sometimes it could be both, or either.If you believe, in one extreme, in a sugar pill, that belief can help you heal. It almost doesn’t matter what you believe in, in a religious belief, in your doctor, in nature itself. We all have a belief in something and we have to tie in the power of the body to heal with what we believe in, which may be different from person to person.

How do we differentiate this power of belief from what we might just call the will to live, or love of life?

That’s part and parcel of it. Or look at the numerous examples of people who stayed alive for a wedding and anniversary, or willed themselves to die with the loss of a loved one.

Spirituality has been an influential force for many people. Although often ignored in business settings, it has recently been a topic of heightened interest to managers and scholars worldwide

What a better world it would be if more people were spiritual. The benefits of being spiritual will result in your having a more serene life. Spirituality not only helps you deal with difficult times, it also helps you heal physically. Those who are spiritual recover faster from an illness than those who aren’t spiritual.

There are differences between spirituality and religion. You can have a connection to a spiritual force/power/energy. Religion, which is a doctrine of belief with rituals, is a form of spirituality.

Spirituality provides a sense of deep self which enables you to deal with the obstacles in your life. You make better decisions.