Spirituality deserves a central place in science

"Spirituality is an anchor in the pursuit of happiness and prosperity. It’s human nature and nothing new, but it’s something we’ve forgotten about. We are conditioned, living in a certain context, without room for spirituality." Prof. Sharda Nandram's words immediately give food for thought. Today she is delivering her inaugural address at Nyenrode Business Universiteit entitled: Spirituality: discipline for doing business with the unknown. With this, she holds the Business and Spirituality chair. 

Spirituality is going beyond what we see, Nandram explains. “Spirituality deserves a central place as a discipline in science. Every discipline needs a definition, a research method, and a vision." Nandram draws on mathematics to show why this is needed. "There are also many unknowns in mathematics. The concept s like zero and 'infinit y' were introduced to be able to deal with the unknown. Spirituality is also about searching for the unknown. That soft side of spirituality deserves a hard side that mathematics already has."  

Intuition as the foundation

Spirituality’s ambiguity needs to be clarified, according to Nandram. As she describes it: solving issues from other levels of consciousness. "We know how important intuition is for entrepreneurs. Intuition is the foundation; it requires a certain boldness. The more you look for it, the more it reveals itself; the more you surrender to it, the more it comes to the surface; the more it comes to the surface, the more creativity there is and the faster it is possible to think of solutions ”.

With the chair, she hopes to further develop the discipline of spirituality. "People know it is important, but they are still stuck in the quiver of rationality. That's not where you can find spirituality." Nandram wants to help people embrace  the unknown in business. She wants to give them a lens to achieve acceptance for the unknown in science and business.

Source of innovation

"The unknown offers an infinite source of innovation. That's where many entrepreneurs draw their ideas from and achieve their successes. Entrepreneurship begins with ideas that aren’t there yet. Entrepreneurs draw from their infinite source. You need this to stay ahead of your competition and it sets you apart as an entrepreneur. You want to grow and develop, so you need to use your intuition. Spirituality is the cornerstone in this, giving you the much needed space for imagination. It's just not measurable , yet experienceable."

Many people can’t wait to work on this precisely because spirituality isn’t measurable yet. According to Nandram, "What happens when they embrace the unknown? What will they do with it? How will they work together? What do they do? How will it lead to solutions? This realm is where the potential of the unknown lies".

Sustainable happiness

According to Nandram, all new topics in science require fifteen to twenty years. Therefore it ’s  important to be patient with the development of the discipline of spirituality. "Entrepreneurship was also given this amount of time. Spirituality requires courage and needs people who live through it. I want to contribute to that with my work. I hope that there will be a greater understanding of the phenomenon of spirituality and how it can serve sustainable happiness and prosperity in any organization."