Spiritual leadership is based on consciousness of unity. It is a realization of a connection between myself and another person, myself and the world. Of course, I can easily distinguish myself from another person, and myself and the world. However, in consciousness of unity, I am aware that there is a simultaneous inextricable connection: What I do with myself I do with my surroundings, and what I do with others I also do with myself. Consciousness of unity is also the awareness that the other may be different from myself but, then again, not really. This has significant consequences in the way in which I communicate.

Spiritual leadership is based on vision. I perceive vision here as what I wish to achieve in the world. This is not the same as purpose, or life purpose. It is an image of what I want to create, possibly together with others, which is fed through my desires, my goal in life, my talents, and other factors. It comes from my whole self--from the mind, body, and soul--and is not just an intellectual aim.

Spiritual leadership is based on honesty. By this I mean facing up to reality--both external reality and the reality within ourselves--in a direct manner. This isn’t always easy. We have the tendency to perceive both the external and internal world in a more positive light--or at times even more negative--than it actually is. It takes courage to take an honest look at the world around us and to look inside ourselves without guilt, anger, disapproval, or judgment, but one must take a look at reality without all of those feelings and reactions or else it will become distorted.

There is often a discrepancy between vision and reality, which is experienced as a sort of tension. Fritz calls this creative tension. A typical characteristic of a spiritual leader is his or her ability to allow this tension to exist, and to know how to distinguish this from emotional tension (stress). I will deal with this in more detail in chapters 2 and 9.

Someone with consciousness of unity, vision, and honesty is charismatic. There are also other forms of charisma--for example, charisma based on authoritarian attitude, good manners, or being handsome. But spiritual charisma has a different effect. It invites the receiver of the charisma to develop the same qualities as the leader himself: consciousness of unity, vision, and honesty. This is why a spiritual leader doesn’t create dependent followers. The reverse happens--he stimulates independence. Spiritual leadership cultivates spiritual leadership; it is contagious. Therefore, the call for spiritual leadership is something completely different to the call for a strong man (or a guru). There is a paradox here: a spiritual leader has significant influence, and thus can be very effective, and at the same time makes/leaves people free, as opposed to the strong man who pressures or binds them (to himself or an ideology).

Another consequence of spiritual leadership is the development of a spiritual community: a group of people who, from a consciousness of unity, work on the realization of a common vision. This is why the concept of community is inextricably bound to the concept of leadership I’ll develop in this book. I will deal with this in more detail in chapter 7.

Therefore, spiritual leadership has nothing to do with gurus or sects or similar groups. It is a form of leadership which can occur anywhere, from the top to the bottom, in the business sector, government, education, the health care sector, the arts and in the church, with men and women, with young and old, and, yes, even in politics.

What would actually motivate you to become a leader? I ask this question explicitly of those who, in the formal sense of the word, are not currently working as managers. I am not referring to motives such as position, power, or status, because these desires motivate the creation of power, position, and status--not leadership. However, consider that everyone who wants something that concerns other people is (also) motivated to lead. He or she is in fact motivated toward achieving something that he or she wants to achieve together with others.

And what is it that we want to achieve? This is basically the same for most people. A happy life for ourselves and our loved ones. But what is happiness? We can make that very complex, but it is probably no more than a situation in which our basic needs are satisfied and in which we can make our talents available to the world. The latter requires a situation in which we can develop ourselves, in which we can grow.

Growth is a characteristic of life itself. There is no life without growth. If growth comes to a standstill then this is the onset of the dying (off) process. When considering growth, I do not think only of quantitative growth; I consider it as being primarily a qualitative growth: maturing, developing talents, wisdom, gentleness, and so forth. The spiritual leader is motivated toward creating a world with others that is geared toward qualitative growth. He is also, just like everybody else, motivated toward developing his own talents and bequeathing them to the world. One of those talents is his capacity to manage. Put another way: he loves life and wants to actively participate in it.

What is the purpose of this book? Let me first make clear what is not the purpose of the book. It does no provide short-term solutions to your current problems. It does not write prescriptions. It is not a cure-all for your personal or business problems. I have noticed that many managers in the business sector and in government, as well as politicians, are desperately searching for the one answer that will get rid of a specific problem once and for all. This requirement results in the delusion of the day. Management through objectives, quality groups, strategic planning, re-engineering, total quality management, the learning organization, visionary leadership, neurolinguistic programming, the emotional revolution--we have seen them all come and go. And although all of these methods, techniques, and approaches have some value, they lack one thing: the capacity to make your situation manageable to such an extent that you will no longer have any problems. In addition, the solutions from these techniques will create new problems that seem more extreme than one’s previous problems.

While I don’t provide a quick fix for your problems, this book will help you find your own way as a leader, or as someone being led (externally or from within). It attempts offer you a new perspective of a reality, one you actually want and one you can create with others--maybe not today or tomorrow, but during the course of your life. In this way it is a sort of handbook that you can always reach for when you require support or inspiration. This book can assist you in finding your direction (again), even though the ultimate decision as to which path you take must come from within yourself. A good method of using this book may be to use it as an oracle: you can open it randomly, or at a page which you have found using a random process (for example, by drawing lots or with the aid of a table with “random” numbers). There you will find exactly the message you need. Of course, you can just read the book from cover to cover.

But acute problems must also be solved. Sales must continue and the organization must survive. (Always? At what cost? Why?) Otherwise there is no longer a context in which to realize your ideals, or it will create so much trouble that the price may become too high. Even though this book provides useful tips for everyday problems, they do not constitute the core of the book. There are other outstanding books and courses which have been developed for this purpose. This book intends to make a contribution to long-term development, not only for your organization in particular, but for you personally and for the world as a whole. It may be a small contribution, but it is a contribution, because I would rather be a part, however small, of the solution to the problem, than a part of the problem itself.

In order to help you bridge the gap with your own daily activities, a number of experienced leaders will share their spiritual and not-so-spiritual experiences in this book.

The intention of this book is to provide a contribution to the development of spiritual leadership in general, as I believe that this is what is needed in our world. We need a world in which political decisions are made effectively and with care, in which efficiency, compassion for work, and quality are the hallmarks of organizations. We need a world in which prosperity and happiness for everyone can be realized in harmony with the world which we are part of. I am convinced that spiritual leadership can make an essential contribution to this.

For the managers and politicians who are reading this book: the acceptance of the ideas in this book will not diminish your effectiveness in any way or compel you to earn less profits or fewer votes. Although this occasionally and temporarily may be the case, ultimately, the contrary will come true. Even though this book will not immediately solve your practical problems, it will not intensify them, either. It could not possibly lead to chaos in your life and work situation--provided, of course, that you are prepared to be and have the courage to be honest regarding yourself and your surroundings.

This book intends to put forward a number of insights from world literature and tradition that are within arm’s reach for all of us, but which we very often tend to let slip by unnoticed. Furthermore, the book provides a number of practical tips and exercises that enable you to develop the sources in yourself, and with this execute your own capacity for spiritual leadership. It can also assist you in recognizing spiritual leadership when you see it (for example, with staff members) and to submit to it in a wholesome manner. In both cases this will lead to a more satisfying life for you and to the disappearance of the feeling of powerlessness regarding current issues. In the theory that unfolds in this book, there are no fundamental differences between leaders and those being led. You are now both, even though you may not be fully aware of this. There is always a choice to be made, an action to undertake, or an influence which can be exercised.

This book is divided into three sections: foundations, instructions, and education. In the first section, chapters 1 to 4, I explore the sources from literature and tradition that can provide us with the understanding and wisdom to become a spiritual leader, sources from which we can extract consciousness of unity, vision, and honesty. Chapter 1 is to be considered as an initial exploration of the whole field based upon a number of novels, in particular Watership Down by Richard Adams. Chapters 2 through 4 then lay the foundations for spiritual leadership. Each of these chapters provides one of the pillars upon which this book is based. Chapter 2, The Law, treats the law of manifestation, which defines how we create our own reality. One of the conclusions that can be drawn from this chapter is that creation is always co-creation, in particular in cooperation with the life flow itself. This brings us to Chapter 3, The Way, in which the concept of life flow is dealt with in detail. I base this upon Taoism, the second pillar of this book. Here we will observe that the life flow always manifests itself in two forms of energy--yin and yang. Chapter 4--The Goddess--defines how the yin variant, the book’s third pillar, has gone underground in our society and explains how we can retrieve it.

The following section of this book, chapters 5 through 7, is intended to provide levers with which we can develop spiritual leadership within ourselves. The classification here is in accordance with the classic Buddha classification of the three “refuges”: the Buddha, the teachings (dharma) and the community (sangha). Chapter 5--God or the Buddha--deals with spiritual development. In this chapter I show how the foundations of our spiritual development have been lost because we are alienated from yin and yang energy. I make a distinction between soul, mind, spirit, personality, God, and the Buddha and provide instructions as to how we could be able to find our way (again), if we wish, in God’s (or the Essence’s) maze, to get our spiritual beliefs back on track. Chapter 6--The Teachings--sums up a number of insights from the Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist scriptures and traditions from which we can directly profit in practice.1 Chapter 7--The Community--deals with the spiritual community--what it is, why we need it, and how can we create this in the workplace or in politics. In order to achieve this it is imperative that we communicate well, which is why this subject is also dealt with in this chapter. In particular, I ask how can we communicate in such a way that we will consciously hear and be heard?

The last section of the book, Education, is about learning: How do we develop spiritual leadership in ourselves and in others? Chapter 8, The Soul, provides a significant number of exercises with the aim of getting to know one’s self better, which can be seen as an exercise in honesty. Chapter 9, The Vision, provides a number of exercises for the development and realization of an individual vision and the collective vision which results from this. Chapter 10, The School, deals with education: How can we learn spiritual leadership? Can we create leaders? A distinction is made between those who are already functioning as a manager, director, or politician and young people who are yet to begin their careers. I subsequently provide a comprehensive definition of how, in my opinion, a leadership school for both categories should be constructed.

Each chapter is introduced with a motto, a guideline for the spiritual leader. Together these guidelines form the “Ten Commandments” (they are actually more like wisdom, principles, or statements), which together form the essence of spiritual leadership. In the epilogue I will once again summarize my opinion about spiritual leadership based upon these ten statements. Subsequently I will return to the fundamental choices we are faced with in life: God or Mammon, in other words: spirituality of the world of matter. I will conclude by sharing my planetary vision with you.

As stated above, I’ve included contributions from experienced leaders who link theory to practical experience.

If you wish to write a book such as this, then you discover relatively quickly that everything has already been said before. Each time I thought that I had an original thought I discovered that someone else had already articulated it and, in most cases, considerably better, sometimes thousands of years ago. The sense of this book is therefore not related to the originality of the separate elements.

In the case that it is clearly obvious where specific ideas originated from, then I will indicate the source concerned. However, there are many things in this book which I have picked up during my learning process, but I no longer remember exactly where. Therefore I would like to thank all my teachers, everyone who has helped me become the person I am today, through word or script, if I was aware or unaware of it, and via communication in this life or another, from this reality or another reality, or even maybe through my genes.

Naturally there are people whom I would like to thank individually. However it would become a drawn-out story, as I have been inspired and nourished and brought to my senses by many people, and it will no longer be of interest to you as a reader to read all of that and you will skip it anyway. But I would like to personally thank those who through their textual criticism have significantly contributed to the quality of this book: J. Th. Blok, G. Broekstra, G.J. Doeksen, M.D. van Dijk, R. Gaastra, J.W. Ganzevoort, Aa Jonker, H. de Korver, H. Matthes, I. Van Melle, M. Prop, J.P. van Soest, A.Twijnstra and Miss G. Voorbij. For their selfless time, energy, and attention I am particularly grateful. What’s more, many of these people have been wiling to make a contribution from their own practical experiences and have made themselves vulnerable. That touched me deeply. I would also like to mention my friend Aadt Jonker, my spiritual traveling companion, who through his loving attention and his stimulating questions can be considered more than anyone else as being the co-author of this book. I would therefore like to dedicate this book to him.

I would also like to thank ERA Bouw bv. for their material support.

I would like to conclude this prologue by thanking you. Not only through buying and/or reading this book and in this way enabling me to write and publish this book, but you have also, on a deeper level, through your willingness to learn from me, or to become acquainted with what I have to say, created the prerequisite for my own learning process. This provides me with a deep feeling of satisfaction and joy. May you experience this yourself through reading this book.

Notes

1. I have based this book primarily on Taoism, the Judeo-Christian tradition, and Buddhism, not because Islam, Hinduism, and other religions could not provide a significant contribution to our spiritual understanding and to the foundations of spiritual leadership. I have never studied or practiced these religions and can therefore not say very much about them. I hope that this book inspires experts to do this. Also due to a lack of knowledge, I pay little attention to shamanic traditions, even though my dealings with the female principle and the soul in chapters 4, 5, and 8 have definitely been influenced by these traditions.

2. In this manner we refer to the Holy Ten Commandments. See: Whitlau, Tenachon 12.

An Appeal for Contemplation

I had two reactions with Erik van Praag announced that he wanted to send me a manuscript about spiritual leadership. The first was one of curiosity regarding what his competent pen would provide. The second concerned how I would respond to his request to provide an opinion on his writing.

Regarding my first reaction: my curiosity was more than satisfied. With this book, van Praag has utilized much of his extensive knowledge and experience. You, as the reader, must be careful that you do not become overwhelmed or overloaded by this. An almost effortless transition from literature, which analyzes leadership processes in apparently childlike fantasy stories, to opinions about actual elements of, for example, Christianity and Buddhism, made reading this book a personal exercise in flexibility and compelled my memory to function at a high level.

Concerning my second reaction: through van Praag’s request that I provide a contribution from my own personal experience as an executive, I got more involved in this book. I did not wish to speak from my own isolated position. Therefore I required permission from those I worked with very closely. This, however, would have resulted in abandoning my own spontaneity. But van Praag’s request, and the thoughts stimulated by it, caused my to contemplate his ideas more closely, which I hereby offer.

The question that most concerned me was how a book that primarily deals with humanities and bears the title Spiritual Leadership could touch on business and organizations in a culture made up of bits and bytes and a no-nonsense attitude. Will enough attention be given to expressions that at best can fill up a Sunday morning but definitely do not belong in business communication?

My initial cynicism turned into enthusiasm. I think that this is the right time and the right place for something like this, which is not exactly commonplace.

We are experiencing a period in which, through a number of developments, the ego has made a significant lead over what I, much like van Praag, wish to summarize in the concept of ECO (see chapter 3 and 4, EvP). I offer but a few points:

Technology enables us to obtain a large amount of information from all over the world, without the assistance of others. Prior to this, not so long ago, a significant input by and study from staff departments was required.

The same technology allows us to inexpensively and very quickly explore the world physically and subsequently develop it all by ourselves.

The old hierarchies (within families, schools, church, business, and organizations) have made way for a greater emphasis on individual freedom, advanced participation, and cultural decay. Through this a binding agent has been lost and we are being increasingly left to our own devices.

Permanent employment and the associated feelings of solidarity and loyalty are being forced to make way for more short-term contracts, such as flexible work time, job-share programs, staff detachment, part-time work, and so on.

Global thinking in terms of production, distribution, and consumption break down the national and regional structures, resulting in a decay of cooperation and team spirit.

During this period socialism lost its basis. With good reason, attempts are being made to resurrect its elements of ethics and protection. However, this isn’t an easy undertaking in today’s society.

Within this framework and in these times of unrest I place van Praag’s appeal for contemplation of the elements of spiritual leadership. For me personally the following is important:

Delve more deeply into the question concerning whether a spiritual leader is a master of manifestation. In other words: how can he create the situations he wishes to achieve without pressuring his fellow man?

Appreciate the fact that in our beta world the male energy has pushed the female energy into the background. This is an appeal to both men and women, starting with listening to each other better.

Develop the spiritual (working) community by using open communication. If the leader lets himself be led through this then he makes himself autonomous and liberated, as well as liberating others.

All of this requires the following: that we speak openly, listen openly, and have courage and honesty. I believe that with this we can contribute to possible solutions to a number of local and global problems. This book has put me on track to try, together with others, to reach a vision, in the sense such as defined in this book.

Mr. G.J. Doeksen, ex vice chairman RvB Internatio-Müller.