The Business of Mysticism

Tuesday, January 28th 2014

Is this any way to build a business?

In case you thought that most mystics are wearing yoga pants and sitting in a lotus position somewhere in Sedona, guess again. Eastern meditation and occultism threatens to take over, of all places, Wall Street and the business community. The “mindfulness” of meditation is suddenly the in-thing with the corporate world. A recent article in the international business magazine The Economist observes that many business schools are embracing eastern meditation, including Harvard, as a way to develop future MBA leaders who are “self-aware and self-compassionate,” whatever that means.  Google encourages employees to “search inside yourself” and Ebay has meditation rooms with pillows and flowers. Twitter and Facebook are also on board. Sitting and relaxing, closing your eyes and shutting out the world is likely to do some good. (We used to call this a power-nap.) But the problem comes with the spiritual overlay that accompanies these techniques. Inherent in these mystical concepts is the negation of sin and any need of objective moral behavior. It’s all touchy-feely-fuzzy and requires no ethical commitment of character – just look inside yourself. The Bible says that, without Christ, the inner you is evil. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure,” is the way the prophet Jeremiah (1:7) described it. But “blessed in the man who trusts in the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:7). If the business world wants to truly encourage employee morale and increase profits, they’d be better to pursue the “peace that passes understanding” from knowing Christ. The Protestant work ethic is what made America great, and a Buddhist work culture will, in time, erode our competitive edge.