What Is Workplace Spirituality? by Nancy R. Smith Spirituality is the inborn desire and ability of every person to seek, know, and respond to the Mystery that I call God. What does this have to do with work and the workplace? More and more, workers are insisting that their spirituality be welcomed in the workplace just as their intelligence is. Like intelligence, our spirituality is part of what we bring with us to work.

Spirituality is the inborn desire and ability of every person to seek, know, and respond to the Mystery of God. I call that Mystery God; you may call it something else: Spirit, Universe, Energy, Life, etc. Every person is created in the image of this ultimate reality, in God’s image – imago Deo – and so is a spiritual being, regardless of his or her religion, or lack thereof.

Spiritual formation consists of all of the experiences – both planned and unplanned – that direct and shape (or form) our spirituality. Spiritual formation includes our childhood experiences and our concepts of God (or Mystery) that result from those experiences. It includes religious instruction – or the lack of religious instruction.

As human beings, we seem to be driven to find language to describe our experience of Mystery. We marvel at spiritual experiences and want to express them to further our own understanding as well as to share them with others. And so we study sacred texts, participate in other classes, and spend time in reflection to help us understand who God is and to help us express our experience of God.

As adults, we can select many of the influences that will form the way our spirituality continues to unfold and grow. And we can work and pray to RE-form spirituality that has been DE-formed by such influences as abuse or harsh teachings.

Spiritual disciplines are those practices that we intentionally take on in order to form our spirituality in a specific direction. Christian spiritual disciplines are designed to open us to God’s presence, to make us available for closer intimacy with God, to help us discern God’s will for our lives, and to cooperate with God’s ongoing activity in creating us in the likeness of Christ! Other spiritualities have similar disciplines and practices but have different interpretations of the purpose and result of those practices.

Workplace spirituality refers to the ways we express our spirituality at work, both for personal support and in making ethical, just decisions.