Becoming Whole In Spirit and Business

By: Dr. Bill Anton

Genuine spiritual leaders have long recognized that a transformation must occur in people’s lives before they can become whole. Becoming whole is the process of reducing the gap between the known and unknown part of us and is the basis for liberating powerful forces for good within us. Most of these leaders say that a transition from the unexamined life to a life of inner knowing will liberate the most essential parts of us. In other words, something must occur for us to be at our creative best.

This transition often involves discovering and yielding to some previously unknown power within us. The power seems to patiently wait until our fear of our greatness is overcome by courage and we are ready to discover and be responsible for our destiny. All things change when we do; hence, the word “awakening” is often associated with this transformation.

As a psychologist, psychoanalyst, and CEO coach, I am struck by parallels between personal mastery and spiritual development. I have observed several parallel ideas related to this concept:

a. The potential for spiritual and psychological development is within you and cannot be achieved by focusing on the outside.

b. You must reflect on the beginning of your life and learn who you truly are to liberate the spirit of creation within you.

c. Growing into our greater selves involves a transformation from what was to what can be.

d. The process of transformation involves the death of the familiar and the birth of something new, though we have sensed it was there all along.

e. When this all comes together in our lives, others are drawn to us, which enlarges our purpose and continuously generates creative energy and power if our will is steadfast toward the good.

Unlike business leaders, however, spiritual leaders have long been aware of the enormous forces that must be overcome to become enlightened and stay on the mark. They also know something about the power of nurturing relationships in helping the courageous take a leap of faith when no guarantees are offered. The path to discovering the genius within us is fraught with real and imagined dangers, and spiritual transformation is not for the faint-hearted.

Business leaders are increasingly becoming aware that helping others become conscious of their own tacit mental models is part of personal mastery and is a precondition for developing meaningful beliefs. One’s ability to add value to knowledge creation when part of a group or team also depends on this level of self-knowledge. Companies are systems, and what happens to any component of a system affects the entire system. This last point is seldom obvious to business leaders because, often, the consequences of many of their decisions and actions are only experienced after some time has passed.

Both spiritual and business leaders know the value of helping members of their organizations develop in this manner, evolving their capacity and willingness to offer their best selves. Both types of leaders also know, or at least sense, that information alone is not sufficient to liberate creative energy or make a commitment to personal mastery.