The relevance of spirituality in life, reality… and leadership

Leadership is a concept that has become hard to ignore in our personal lives, in our professional lives, and in society at large. Despite the fact that leadership is one of most studied phenomena in the social sciences, there are still many things that we do not yet fully understand, especially the deeper, spiritual layers of it. Jessica Dinh and colleagues back in 2014 compiled a list of at least 66 leadership styles (e.g., directive, transformational, charismatic, ethical, servant, etc.). ‘Spiritual leadership’ is part of this list. Yet, I do not think this does justice to its full significance of the spiritual in leadership. As if there is one specific leadership style that contains spiritual elements while the other 65 leadership styles are about behaviors and processes for which spirituality is irrelevant. This idea comes from a tendency to separate the ‘sacred’ from the ‘secular’. As if our connection with God is something we only do ‘at home.’ This tendency actually rooted in ancient Greek thinking. For the Greeks, the sacred was the realm of the spiritual, the wise, the godly, and the eternal. The secular is the realm of the material, the temporary, of the body, and of work. It was believed that the two had little to do with one another. In our current Western European culture, we inherited from the Greeks this presumed uncoupling of the secular from the sacred, but have since also lost our appreciation for the ‘sacred’.

This is, however, an outdated assumption, even from a scientific standpoint: science itself teaches that the material reality we live in, is made from the spiritual.

Left with only the secular and the material, we have come to believe that man is just an another animal, a product of cosmic coincidence with no inherent purpose, while our feelings are reduced to biochemical processes as their bare essence. This is, however, an outdated assumption, even from a scientific standpoint: science itself teaches that the material reality we live in, is made from the spiritual. Normally the material realm is described as consisting of three dimensions (length, width, and height), but since Einstein, we know that a fuller description requires at least a fourth dimension – which is “time”, defined as the continued progress of existence and events. There is something interesting going on regarding this fourth dimension. In fact, if you travel through the time with the speed of light, you can function as if time is irrelevant; you can go back in time, and forward in time, and even step outside of time altogether. This is the spiritual realm, the reality of the heavens that God created, and in which heavenly beings dwell. The Hebrew word for the spiritual realm is ‘olam’(עוֹלָֽם) which can be translated as world, realm, or eternal. The word ‘eternal’ thus refers to a type of reality that exists independent of time.

Although invisible, this eternal reality is the actual basis from which our worldly reality is made. This notion has, in fact, been supported by findings in quantum physics. The position of particles such as electrons cannot be pinpointed, as they appear and disappear at will and even move through time and space as if time does not exist. In other words, electrons operate from an ‘eternal’ reality. In this reality, it is the Spirit that steers things. Indeed, quantum physics shows that these material particles respond strongly to our attention to them, and their spin can become entangled such that they remain coupled, even when lightyears apart. In other words, quantum physics teaches us through many different concepts and findings, that our material reality is inherently constituted by a higher, spiritual realm. Without the spirit, there wouldn’t be any matter to begin with.

The word spirit means ‘breath’ and is the animating principle behind all life. In the book of Job 34: 14 we read “If God should withdraw His life-giving spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust”. God is infinite and Spirit, and as the Creator of (the finite) heavens and earth, abides in His own (infinite) dimension of reality. This is logical necessity. If God creates space and time, He must Himself be outside of it. Isaiah 40:12 says that He measures the entire cosmos (which includes heaven and earth) within a span of His hand (!). Does this mean we can get to God or heaven if we manage to figure out the quantum world or manage to travel with the speed of light? No. The verb ‘alam’ (עֹלָם֙) on which this word for eternity is based, means to ‘conceal’. The Godly, heavenly, or ‘spiritual’ realm is carefully concealed from us and even guarded against human trespassers, because of our sin (Genesis 3: 22-24).

But thanks to the fact that Jesus has 2000 years ago lovingly taken our sins upon Him, the way is now open to re-connect with God via our spirit. Every human being has a spirit, but this spirit is dormant unless it is revived when we accept Him into our lives. The Bible teaches us that God has laid eternity (literally: עוֹלָֽם) in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3: 11), so that we might recognize Him through His works (see also Psalm 19: 1; Romans 2: 20). When our spirit awakens, the spiritual realm becomes a realm in which humans can abide, even when still on earth (e.g., through prayer or worship). It takes a spirit to know the things of the spirit (I Corinthians 2: 14).

But thanks to the fact that Jesus has 2000 years ago lovingly taken our sins upon Him, the way is now open to re-connect with God via our spirit.

What does all of this mean for our understanding of spiritual leadership? Because the present culture has depreciated and uncoupled us from the sacred and the spiritual, we lost sight of the deeper (sacred) things that make life worth living, like meaning, destiny, awe, purpose, ultimate truth, deep connection with others, will, conscience, awareness, redemption, love, forgiveness, righteousness, higher values, valor, caring, direction, and so forth. These concepts are inherently spiritual, and transcend what can be accounted for with our (three-dimensional) scientific measures. And it so happens to be the case that the leadership literature is FULL of these inherently spiritual concepts, albeit that sometimes they have been renamed to make them sound ‘secular.’ As a scientist and Christian believer, I find it exciting to explore the connections between the wisdom that comes from the scientific study of leadership and the wisdom that comes from the Bible.

Let’s get on it.