Business is business, they say. It’s hard and not for the faint-hearted. The human world depends on it. But any business is an interaction between human beings. In fact, we are all involved in it. So why can it not involve the heart as well as the head? For many, this may sound absurd. Those aspiring to win The Apprentice would shudder with horror. Or laugh their socks off. Can personal ambition and the desire for big profit mix with the heart? Ay, there’s the rub, as the bard said.

Business mustn’t forget the purpose of life

Life as we know it couldn’t exist without the commercial world. On the other hand, don’t we need to have regard to the purpose of life?

Whether a person is a magnate of a commercial empire, runs a corner shop or sells their own produce, that person is a spiritual being with a spiritual purpose. That purpose may be different for everyone because we are all at varying stages of evolution. But for no-one should love ever be excluded from the path.

Being ethical

How can love come into business, then? The first step has to be that whatever we do must be ethical. In other words, whatever we engage in must, at the very least, cause no harm to others. If profit causes suffering, it is wrong. More than that, a business should be conducted so that it enhances life for others and in some small way makes this a better world. If our work is ethically driven, that is what it will do and, if we are in business, that should be our intention.

Love, business and exploitation

Love will not countenance the exploitation of another human being. To become rich at another’s expense is to set up causes for future suffering. We cannot be happy if we exploit – but we can be enormously happy if we love.

Business and spiritual growth are not incompatible. Better still, love does have a place in business. It will show as fairness and kindness towards suppliers, customers and workforce. If we conduct our business with the desire for the highest good and with kindness, the world will be all the richer.

Head, heart or both?

It is not a question of letting the heart rule the head but rather of allowing the heart to guide the head. There is never a time when love is irrelevant. Kindness is always possible.

You don’t mean me, do you?

We may not be in business, but all of us engage with businesses in one way or another. The same principles apply. Be kind, honest and fair in your dealings with others, whether they be a vast energy supply company, the post office where you buy your stamps or the corner shop. In short, whenever we pay for goods or services we are at that moment in business. It is entirely up to us whether we act with goodwill and kindness towards others but if we listen to our heart, we will know which is the right way to act and to be.

More like this in Awakening Heart: The Blissful Path to Self Realisation