Economic Life and Human Transcendence a Paradigm for Everyday Spirituality

Spirituality has not be brought into economic life from without, it is potentially already there, but we are not always aware of it. What we want to do in our paper is to make explicit the spiritual dimension of economic activities. This involves three dimensions. First of all, spirituality involves a certain relation to oneself. One can show that this is also required by sensible economic action. Secondly, Spirituality is utterly important in our relations with others, for instance on the workfloor. A purely instrumental use of employees or colleagues is contrary to all meanings of spirituality. Finally, spirituality has a macro dimension. It entails an acute awareness of the gift dimensions of life and a sense of connectedness to the universe. There is no inherent conflict between spirituality and involvement in economic activity both in the Eastern and Western traditions