I have lived in Southern California since my Sophomore year in High School. So since the 1980s you can safely assume that I have consumed my fair share of IN-N-OUT hamburgers. Now I am not that big a fan, some people are absolute fanatics, but I certainly take it for granted that there is a drive in hamburger stand open somewhere around SoCal. In all these years of getting the same wrapped Double Double, and the same plain white drink cup, with the palm tree on the side, I did not notice a peculiar feature. A franchise that has built their reputation on secret menu’s has also been putting, in small print, bible verses on their drink cups and hamburger wrappers. I had no idea. Never noticed. Apparently back in the 80s, Rich Snyder the youngest son of the original owners, decided to start printing these Bible Verses. He was a devoted man of faith, and felt inspired to do so.
Nowadays, we rarely encounter spirituality at work. There was a time, back in the 1930s, when spirituality at the workplace became really popular. Prior to that there were many business leaders that were openly spiritual, but a separation was still maintained. Leaders, like Andrew Carnegie, had divorced themselves from any organized religion but he still encouraged in his writing and memoirs for people to have faith in a Supreme Being. He also created the Gospel of the Wealthy, which requires that you give away your wealth before you die. You will notice that the modern day wealthy business tycoons all seem to follow this same creed. However, after the great depression and the rollout of the New Deal, American Companies had a bad rapport. They were highly demonized in newspaper publications and many people who were just starting to feel better about the national economy had a weary suspicion of evil corporate greed. In 1935, the game Monopoly became popular. You know the one where you create corporate monopolies and crush your opponents with excessively high rent? Yeah, that was the feeling in that era.
American Corporations started taking on this new persona, which you can still get a feel of today. There became a significant push through large lobbies, such as the Chamber of Commerce, to start linking the ideals of Christianity with American Business. Prayer meetings in the workplace started to become commonplace during this time. The National Association of Manufacturers even had major advertising runs featuring prominent business men and their emphasis on idealistic values. Have you ever wondered why companies have such a strong emphasis on being viewed as a good steward, having well meaning, value statements openly published? You can trace this back to this time period. Now many business authors will stake the claim that a solid values statement will help solidify your organization, and perhaps that is true, but the root of this comes from a time when the American Corporation needed to seriously improve how they were viewed in the public eye. You will still see the value of “integrity” in almost every American Company value statement.
Prayer meetings, open emphasis on the hand of God in the business, became much more common place in the following decades. Today, it is very common for a company to promote a Chief Diversity Officer, or something similar. This is to definitely send a message of how the company take diversity seriously. A similar trend was occurring in the 40s, and 50s in appealing to ‘Christian values.’ Companies were hiring Christian Pastors to serve as their public representatives. They were actively taking the message, and the concept, to the public that the company that they represented was at their core a value based organization. It was during this time, that Mr. Billy Graham instituted the National Day of Prayer, which we still honor to this day. Read this article by Kevin Kruse, professor of history at Princeton for more detail. This faded overtime. A sensitivity to differing views and beliefs started to take shape. However, the concept of spirituality, or at least the Christian manifestation of that, like prayer, were still common place for quite sometime. However, nowadays, if I were to open up one of my business meetings with a prayer, people would think I had lost my mind. Can you imagine? Everyone gets on the conference call and the business leader askes one of the attendees to open with a prayer?
I remember when I was younger, a prayer being offered at work before we ate some food that was catered. That was done in a very docile manner with no specific references to any particular God, however, I remember people looking around at each other feeling a bit awkward. The fact is this, we have always believed that American Society is highly religious, and maybe it is in name, but in reality very few people practice, or attempt to improve their spirituality. Most people will grow up not having any formal introduction to prayer. Those of you in a devout household of one faith or another, will find this shocking, but it is absolutely true. We are not typically a nation that prays all that much, unfortunately. Spiritualty at work is awkward for two reasons. The first being the fact that there is concern and worry that some people may not appreciate it, the second being that people are just awkward with it because they do not experience it all that often. The first one is the excuse, the second one is the real reason. Just in case you were wondering, this has been a contested legal issue over and over again. The general rule is that as long as any form of spirituality is voluntary and optional, it is not illegal. You have the right to pray at work and you have the right to ask others to pray at work. However, you absolutely cannot coerce or punish people for not doing so.
Having said all of this, the important question is this. Is prayer or spiritualty at work a good idea? I think we need to consider that question before we ask the next question, which is how would you even do that? We all can recently remember the controversy when the CEO of Chick-Fil-A took a stand on same sex marriage. That somehow became a story about overt religious influence in the workplace, so I think we all have a certain fear or hesitancy about even discussing matters of spirituality in the workplace. Is this a problem? To examine this question, I looked at it from two perspectives. A utilitarian, practical approach and a faith based approach.
The Utilitarian View
We can look at this from the concept of efficacy. Does prayer work? Perhaps prayer is to specific of a word. The question might be, does spirituality improve employee productivity? Will the company do better if the employees are openly encouraged to be spiritual?
I think the science behind the spirituality of human beings is becoming well known. I read a study from 2019 in which a group of scientists determined that the primary region of the brain that is activated during spiritual experiences is the parietal cortex. Read that study here. This study is of interest because they seem to have discovered the area of the brain where God resides, or at least the area of the brain that is stimulated by these thoughts. If you read this, pay particular note to the research review. Clearly, the evidence abounds that humans are spiritual creatures and to ignore that fact is folly. There is significant attachment to the stimuli required in the brain for motivation, inspiration, and other important aspects. Humans that are spiritual tend to see beyond themselves, understand the greater purpose of organizations and are more likely to work cooperatively in teams. I could probably spend my life in research on this topic, you just cannot deny the fact that spirituality impacts the human brain and almost entirely in a positive manner.
Spirituality is not necessarily prayer. I personally see very little difference in the two concepts, but it seems that the concept of spirituality is accepted more readily. If you were to broaden the concept of spirituality to include meditation, then modern science is even more conclusive. Studies show that people that practice mediation have improved health, such as lowering blood pressure. Meditation allows people to take a break, reduce anxiety, develop skills to handle conflict, increase imagination and creativity and become more tolerant. All of this are attributes that we would look for in an employee, so clearly meditation is a good practice, if you believe the modern research being performed by behavioral scientists.
We joke around about people selling their soul to the Devil to make a buck, but what about offering our soul to God so that we can thrive and succeed? If prayer, meditation, and spirituality help people reduce stress, become more productive, and allow people to focus on what is important then why wouldn’t corporations be actively encouraging spirituality? Perhaps it is the stigma of religion, or overt religious influence. Well, here is a news flash, Christians do not have the patent on prayer. Just because a business leader encourages their employees to be spiritual does not mean they are “forcing Christianity down their throat.” Christians pray, certainly, but they did not invent the practice and spirituality comes in many forms and not all of them mandate a belief in a Supreme Being.
However, lets take that topic on. The belief in God is at the root of spirituality in the minds of most people. That does not necessarily have to be the case, but for the most part people feel that when they are being spiritual, they are getting closer to God. Back to my utilitarian view, we have to grapple with this fact. Putting religion aside, in the most recent Gallup Poll, on this topic over 80% of Americans state a belief in God. A lot of this depends on the wording of the question, but suffice to say, that most of your work colleagues, believe in some sort of Supreme Being, whom they most likely refer to as God. So why the hesitancy to discuss matters of spirituality with our colleagues? I am not asking someone to attend mass, or go to pancake breakfast, I am simply open about talking openly about the concept that is of the highest importance in almost everyone’s lives. You would think that with all the emphasis on sterilizing our school curricula, focusing on evolutionary science and the general secularization of almost everything that people would be less inclined to believe in God. However, that does not seem to be happening. Spirituality, as it seems, remains very important to all of us.
So how does it make sense to avoid an aspect of everyone’s life just because we are at work? Is it because our ambitions at work are not the same as our spiritual ambitions? Are we walking around in a constant state of dissonance? We spend 40-60 hours of our lives each week focused on objectives that are not in harmony with what is the most important to us? How do people survive in that state? That does not make sense. It seems that it would be extremely wise for business leaders to align the spirituality of human beings with the objectives of the company. Sure we are all motivated by money, but something tells me that the spiritually minded people that work with me are motivated by a much higher purpose, they see something much bigger than themselves. I really want to work for people like that, and I absolutely want people like that working for me.
Finally, my last utilitarian view is this. Most atheists will agree that human spirituality is part of our history, engrained in our primal brains in ways that modern science has yet to understand. I always call this the evolutionary scientists ultimate dilemma. If there is no God, then you have to grapple with the fact that the very thought of ‘a God’ is what probably sparked human consciousness in the first place. So to deny God, is really to deny ourselves. The ability for humans to place their ideal above themselves, to separate their current actions from a form that is much better, is most likely what sparked the growth and and expansion of humanity. God, as it seems, even in concept is the very essence of being human or thinking like a human. You think people that believe in Creationism have a challenge, try to get your mind around this concept!
The Faith View
I have no qualms with stating, unequivocally, that I believe in God and put a tremendous amount of faith in prayer and a relationship with deity. I have a lot of faith that God has an interest in my life, cares for me greatly, and is an active participant in helping me to learn, grow and to become a better soul. I accept the fate that God has provided me, and in true stoic fashion understand that I am not in control over everything, but I can choose how I act today. The greatest gift that God has provided me is the freedom to act for myself, and with that great responsibility, I hope that my actions will produce a better person, family, community, and society. So does that faith extend to my work life? Of course it does.
Now when I was younger, I dealt with this topic. I just started a company, and I was really perplexed about praying for the success of my company. The question that kept coming to my mind was, why would God give my company success and not another? I realized then, and I remind myself frequently now, that I was praying for the wrong thing. It was a few days after my first son was born that I began to understand the answer to this question. I now had a great responsibility, to raise and care for this child. My company success was absolutely required for me to be able to do so, so when I prayed I asked for strength, for courage, for insight into the things that I would need to be successful. I pleaded that I would be able to put the work in, and by so doing, gain the benefit needed to provide for my family. As I have gotten older, I have realized the weight of this burden for all the people that work for the company. When I started hiring employees and even firing a few employees, I grappled with this concept frequently. More so then ever, with each person and their families that I felt responsible for, prayer become even more important. The question feels silly now. Why would I ever consider not praying for success at work?
Prayer just works. I, of course, attribute this to the truth of God’s existence. However, now that I am older, I could really care less. Prayer works. Who am I to question why or how? If prayer helps me to be a better person, more effective, more focused on what is important, then why would I ever consider an alternative? I have yet to find a more practical, straight forward method for keeping me focused on important objectives and open to new inspiration at the same time. If I were to look at prayer as a business tool, like a CRM software, laptop computer, smart phone, or business productivity tool then I think prayer is at the top of the list. In fact throw away all the business books, self help books, training manuals and all of that. Just start praying, it is whole lot cheaper and has no barrier to entry. You want to have the most successful business year of your life, start praying. There you can send me a thousand dollars and cancel the sales training meeting you are scheduled for.
Prayer works for many reasons. First, it definitely keeps you to be humble. To acknowledge an entity bigger than yourself is an important concept in controlling an over blown ego, which I am prone to be influenced by. Learning to gain the bigger picture and to focus on the will of a greater purpose than your own petty issues is an important daily reminder. Second, prayer gives you a different perspective. It takes you out of your normal course, allows you time for reflection. That silent time to ponder without distraction is valuable just by itself. The perspective that prayer provides is long term, extremely long term. The more you pray, the more eternal your view will become. You will start to think about how your actions might influence the next 10 generations or so, that is perspective and is very valuable to have. Third is gratitude. Prayer helps remind you of what you have and keeps you focused on what is important. Having more gratitude reduces anxiety, improves your outlook on life in general and tends to help you feel more at peace with your life. All great things to take into your work life. Finally, if you are like me, I carry things home with me. Even if I now work exclusively at home, I find that I harbor the emotions and conflict from my work life. I have a hard time letting things go. Prayer at the end of the day helps me close the book so to speak, move on to the next day with some peace that I did the best I could. Prayer is a way for me to lay my burdens down at the end of the day.
I do not know if anyone else feels the same way, but I want to see humanity improve. I want to see us become better people, for things not to decay but thrive. I want to see people create beautiful things and perform amazing acts. I love to see successful companies, and I love to see people happy at what they do. I really like to see things grow, and that includes people and profits. I pray for that and hope that in some small way that I can assist.
How?
Well you certainly do not want to blatantly start holding remote online candle light prayer vigils at work this week. That would probably be viewed negatively, and you would certainly be made fun of. However, there are somethings that you can do. Here are some ideas that I came up with.
Be Open About Spirituality
The phrase spiritualty is not the same as religion. I do not recommend talking to your work colleagues about your religion and its practices, however you can talk about what you are doing to be more spiritual. You will find that almost everyone will appreciate this and may be curious about how a similar activity may help them. There is a difference between trying to convince someone you are right about theology and talking to someone about what you have been trying to do and how it is working in your life. This will not get you in trouble and will rarely subject you to ridicule. In fact, I have discovered that this connects you to people in a powerful way. All of us are eager to find ways to explore, enhance and experience more spirituality, it is in our very natures. So this is not something to feel shame about it. You are trying to practice meditation, or have recently had a spiritual experience – feel free to share. Most people will appreciate the fact that you did, and maybe eager to share their own experiences. You will find that we are a lot more connected than you think. Spirituality is something that can join Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Atheists in common cause. Focus on spirituality, in your personal journey and you will find greater acceptance by others.
Prayer and Meditation
When I describe to others the concept of prayer, I use the phrase prayer and meditation. This covers all the bases. Every world religion practices one form of either of these, so you are in safe territory. Most transcendental meditation practices have become very sterile in their approach when it comes to religion. Even yoga classes nowadays are starting to cut out the Hindi derived meditation chanting that used to be very common. People do not look at you cross eyed when you use the phase prayer and meditation. In fact, most people will make the comment, ‘yeah, I need to work on that myself.’ The concept that healthy, well rounded people tend to pray and meditate seems to have become ubiquitous. For me, I chose to do both. I need all the help that I can get.
Work is Your Life
Many of us will pray for spiritual experiences, opportunities to serve other people, to be reminded of what is important. So does that only apply after 5pm and on weekends? Seems silly to me that someone would pray for an opportunity to serve another person and then all day long God is providing you with those opportunities at work and you ignore them. Your work life, is most likely, your primary vehicle for associated with and being involved with people outside your immediate circle. Seems that if you want to learn to become a better person, and you are praying for that outcome, that your work would be the principal and primary place where that would occur. So your work does not need to define you as a person, but it is absolutely part of your life. Praying for people, clients, and for colleagues at work is ok. You do not need to brag about it, but if you sincerely want to help others, help them improve and grow then you absolutely should include that in your prayers. Why would you not?
Spiritual Moments are not Just in the Pew
Many of us may have had a moment where someone at Church said something to inspire us. Perhaps a song was playing that really touched you. You might have experienced God in nature on a hike or something like that. However, you are just used to and probably not open to spiritual experiences at work. Why not? If you really do believe in God, then why would God only be involved in your life when you are in a Church building, a temple, synagogue or standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon? You can and should be open to spiritual experiences at work. I do not expect you will see angels descend from the throne of God playing trumpets during your next quarterly business review, but I think you absolutely can receive revelations, inspirations and see the hand of God in your work life. Just being open to this concept, being willing to see it, is usually enough. When you are seeking to be more spiritual, you will find that opportunities to do so abound, even at work.
Be Yourself
The ultimate goal of any corporation is centered on the idea of growth. In a capitalist society, you have to continue to grow in order to return value back to your shareholders. Even non-profit organizations have the requirement to post revenue to continue to expand their efforts. We must never forget this concept, we are always under the obligation to help the company we work for to grow. That is the nature of the business. I do not believe that the inherent spirituality of humans is at odds with this requirement. I do not think appointing a pastor to be the company spokesperson is the right idea, but certainly encouraging and accepting that employees working for a company are spiritual beings is an important consideration. The best way to achieve this is simply to be yourself. If you are open about who you are, your spirituality, your use of prayer and meditation then I think you will find that other people are also open to merging their work life and their spiritual life. In my mind, this is not a bad thing. I think it has been written somewhere, if God is on our side then who can withstand us? Well maybe God does not care about our stock price, but I suspect that the encouragement, growth, and improvement of humanity is somewhere on the list of priorities. Maybe right before a in-in-out burger, animal style of course.
Guy Reams
