When the census asks you your religion and you choose ‘spiritual’, what do you mean? For many of us the word ‘religion’ does not describe how we frame our beliefs about why we’re here, what we’re here for, or how we find meaning in our everyday lives.
According to a 2004 study by Australia author Mary Winter, more than two thirds of Australians think it’s important to have some kind of spiritual belief.
Author Marian Salzman, writing in 1998, found that there is now a much greater mixing of business and spirituality than in the past. We want to believe in something bigger and more important than ourselves, but the lines are blurring between our spiritual and everyday self. It’s now common to hear business leaders like, Malcolm Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine, use spiritual sounding phrases like, ‘the best vision is insight’, at motivational business conferences.
The bridge between the old and the new is being built with the spiritual acting as midwife. Business people in all modalities – health, education, property, manufacturing, retail, hospitality and personal development – are leading the way, because business people are working everyday on the coalface, and they know it’s good business sense to adapt and try something new to improve the demand for their service or product.
According to Paul Ray who coined the term The Cultural Creatives, we are at a watershed in history when big numbers of people are concerned, about spiritual transformation, ecological sustainability and the feminine in us all. Research in 2006 has found that about 30% of the US population, and 35% of the Italian, Western European, Japanese and Canadian populations are defined as Cultural Creatives. These people agreed with a set of statements about themselves used to define this group such as being aware of problems facing the planet, helping other people, volunteering and wanting to be involved in creating a solution.
Business, especially small entrepreneurs, recognize this change because they are part of it. They are creating, changing and modifying their business practice to reflect the emerging needs and demands of the Cultural Creatives. At the same time, through the products and services they offer, they are educating the public about different ways of living and doing business.
These business people and they’re customers are Cultural Creatives, and also Creative Change Makers, because they are actively involved in making themselves part of the solution by taking personal responsibility for making positive change happen.
They bridge the spiritual and everyday by thinking deeply about practical ways to offer products and services that nurture and sustain, as well as satisfying a demand and making a profit. This is as much spiritual as sitting cross legged sounding the OM or theorizing on the meaning of life.
Through their intelligence, passion and commitment these new entrepreneurs are building the bridge from the now outmoded practices of the past into the exciting unknown of the future, making the way a little clearer for others who also want to do their part in creating a more equitable and sustainable world.
Sources:
Paul Ray, The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing The World (2000)
Marian Salzman, Next: Trends for the future, (1998)
Mary Winter, Herald Sun, 23/4/04 p13, New Age Becomes the Norm. From Builders & Boomers to Xers
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