Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism — From Ask Lewis
A path to authenticity
Many people sell stuff to those who claim to be interested in spirituality. Still, they collect trinkets, build altars, etc.
These sellers are not usually involved in spiritual businesses; they are simply businesses selling spiritual materialism. I’m not judging them for doing it. It is just not what we are talking about here.
To have a spiritually based or “conscious” business is to aim to raise awareness within the chaos of everyday life and support others in noticing the assumptions that influence our perceptions and practice. To have a spiritually based or “conscious” business is to help others become more aware. From that process emerges consciousness of purpose. Spiritually based or “conscious” is not concerned with quarterly profits. Their outcomes tend to be greater efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity. Strong, long-term business performance counts more than short-term profit.
This is not just a “new age” approach to business. This approach is aligned with a view of business derived from Complexity Theory and Organizations one of the most revolutionary business models of recent times. Complexity Theory and Organizations, also called Complexity Strategy or Complex Adaptive Organizations, is the use of the study of complexity systems in the field of strategic management and organizational studies.
Complexity theory is an interdisciplinary theory that grew out of systems theory in the 1960s.
In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, vol. II, page 316, Adam Smith says,
“By acting according to the dictates of our moral faculties, we necessarily pursue the most effective means for promoting the happiness of mankind.”
Contrary to common misconceptions, Smith did not assert that all self-interested labor necessarily benefits society, or that all public goods are produced through self-interested labor. His proposal is merely that in a free market, people usually tend to produce goods desired by their neighbors. The tragedy of the commons is an example where self-interest tends to bring an unwanted result.
To learn more about my thread — Ask Lewis — please read this short piece below…
The invisible hand is traditionally understood as a concept in economics, but the same concept can be found in several other areas of academic discourse under different names, notably Darwinian natural selection. It is a pattern language that may be applied to a number of seemingly disparate areas of inquiry (consciousness and free will). The Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz says:
“The reason that the invisible hand often seems invisible is that it is often not there.”
Stiglitz explains his position:
“I put it in my new book, Making Globalization Work, the reason that the invisible hand often seems invisible is that it is often not there.” Whenever there are “externalities” — where the actions of an individual have impacts on others for which they do not pay, or for which they are not compensated — markets will not work well. Some of the important instances have long understood environmental externalities. Markets, by themselves, produce too much pollution. Markets, by themselves, also produce too little basic research. (The government was responsible for financing most of the important scientific breakthroughs, including the internet and the first telegraph line, and many bio-tech advances.) But recent research has shown that these externalities are pervasive, whenever there is imperfect information or imperfect risk markets — that is always. Government plays an important role in banking and securities regulation, and a host of other areas: some regulation is required to make markets work. Government is needed, almost all would agree, at a minimum to enforce contracts and property rights. The real debate today is about finding the right balance between the market and government (and the third “sector” — governmental non-profit organizations.) Both are needed. They can complement each other through this balance differs from time to time and place to place.
Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, is often cited as arguing for the “invisible hand” and free markets: firms, in the pursuit of profits, are led, as if by an invisible hand, to do what is best for the world. But unlike his followers, Adam Smith was aware of some of the limitations of free markets, and research since then has further clarified why free markets, by themselves, often do not lead to what is best.
Whether Smith meant it to be so central to his ideas or not the fact remains that the “invisible hand “ is the single most important proposition in economic theory. Adam Smith, said little more than competitive markets do a good job allocating resources.
The world financial collapse of 2009 has increased the debate about the proper balance between markets and government and prompted some scholars to question whether the conditions assumed by Smith which might have been appropriate for his time …can explain the realities of modern economics in a global economy.
Even if these ideas are a bit intellectual and “left-brained” it is a wonderful foundation for holistic thinking and the integration of game-based thinking, collaborative intelligence, pattern language, and other important business ideas.
This story is an excerpt from my course “How to Become Really Wealthy”
©Lewis Harrison, all rights reserved.
Here are a few stories in a similar vein
@LewisCoaches
https://readmedium.com/the-6-types-of-games-in-game-theory-069b391b2cd3
https://readmedium.com/the-consequence-of-caring-d578087bb783
https://readmedium.com/i-will-never-be-a-stealer-ac9bd0add752
Before you go…
I am Lewis Harrison, a successful entrepreneur, and advisor to philanthropists. I am also the award-winning author of over twenty books on business, leadership, personal growth and strategic thinking. For over a decade I was the producer and host of the show “What’s Up” on NPR-affiliated WIOX FM in New York.
Now, aside from writing on Medium, and connecting personally with my readers, I teach seminars and speak on personal development, and life strategies throughout the world.
Here are links to three of my best-selling business books:
https://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Capitalism-Spiritually-Business-Teachings/dp/153982618X
https://www.amazon.com/Gamification-Business-Lewis-Harrison/dp/1628651083
https://www.amazon.in/Building-Your-Business-Digital-Reality/dp/1628651164
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