7 - Creating Wealth Involves Material and Spiritual Aspects

Summary

First, the spiritual aspects of wealth creation are illustrated with the examples of the Grameen Bank (at the micro-level), the Matsushita philosophy (at the meso-level) and the values incorporated in the EU Treaties of Maastrich and Lisbon (at the macro-level). Then two extreme positions – the materialistic and the spiritualistic – are refuted, based on the “bodiliness” of the human person or the inseparable unity of body and mind. Subsequently, several notions of spirituality are discussed before adopting Judy Neal’s definition of expressing “the experience of a transformative connection” and commenting on the spiritual awakening among business practitioners and scholars in the last 30 years. Often, but not necessarily, spirituality in the workplace is related to religion. Finally, the Manifesto for a Global Economic Ethic and the Interfaith Declaration of International Business Ethics demonstrate what world religions can contribute to a common ethical ground for business in the global and pluralistic context.