> Date: Thu, 18 May 1995 01:08:36 -0700
> From: patakos@PrimeNet.Com (Alex N. Pattakos, Ph.D.)
>
> >Bernard, I am intrigued by the fact that you are "very, very suspicious
> on all the discussions about spirituality and soul." I don't think it is
> because you are European (I am first generation American--Greek and
> German). Raised as a Greek Orthodox, we still were able to distinguish
> "spirituality" from religion per se. If collective entities are more than
> "interactions", what are they? Is there more to life than what is
> observed by "sociologists?" Or any other "social scientist" for that
> matter? Why would one expect to find "soul" under a scalpel anyway?! Must
> "man" be in "control" of everything? What about the nature of quantum
> reality? Does it offer anything to this discussion? Alex
Spirit and soul have both been aroound long before religions
started to develop. I would say that most religions take advantage of the
fact that both terms are very easily to understand and/or control.
Although I grew up as Roman Catholic, I have not been a very religious
person (I don't practice any form of religion), but I still feel those who
"have it." I mean the soul and the spirit! Being spiritual and soulful
has nothing to do with religion. I also believe that, since we have found
other things that we can control, we have lost our ability to "see and
feel" spirituality. In fact, most of the human inventions have just added
to our separation of human beings from their spirituality. The
development of weapons, which probably were first invented as a mean of
securing food, were turned into instruments to resolve disputes (and still
are!). We develop houses, property, cars, telephones, computers, etc.
which have contributed to the isolation of man from soul and spirit.
If we looked at most of the initial steps of the Organizational
Development movement, we may see attempts to reach the soul again.
T-groups and other techniques early techniques might have had the
unintended purpose of searching for the soul. We look at the many
consultants doing training on the area of trust building, team building,
through special trips to the country, etc., and we might see that what
they are trying to do is reconnect something (the soul and the spirit?),
that have long been disconnected or erased from our interaction in
organizations and even in society. We may not totally realize this,
because we might be calling an effort to improve the competitiveness of
the organization and not a way of regaining the soul of business!
Ivan
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"Las naciones marchan hacia el termino de su grandeza, con
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