Spiritual L.

On first reading the title of this article, you may be thinking, why have I decided to go religious on you, however, I am not talking about religion or religious leaders. Non the less, here is my question;
Is there scope in a world that is fast succumbing to the sole gratification of materialistic success, an aura of extreme materialism, a community of self-mindedness, a society that is doing its best to forget the very essence of, “do on to other as you’d have them do on to you”. In a nation devoid of collective conscious, can we as leaders evolve to, spiritual L.?
As a martial artist, when I train and teach I look to develop and integrate, the body, mind, and spirit; I’d like to focus on the spiritual aspect of martial development. I don’t think or believe the martial art to be a religion, nor does it look to compete or carryout the roles and responsibilities of organised religion. Hence in my martial training I’ve often asked and being asked, what is the meaning of spirituality in martial art? My research into this area, has lead me to believe, that Spirituality in martial art, is about us identifying 3 things:
1. Where we fit in this universe?
2. What contribution we’d what to make here on earth?
3. What we can do, to help our brothers and sisters live a life of happiness and avoid suffering
To achieve the 3 points listed above, spirituality in martial arts provides us with the insight to conduct ourselves with the following values:
1. Love:
a. A deep feeling toward a person arising from kinship and a sense of underlying oneness
2. Compassion:
a. Deep awareness and understanding of the suffering of others and a wish to relieve it
3. Patient:
a. Bearing or enduring pain, difficulty, provocation, or annoyance with calmness
4. Tolerance:
a. The capacity for or the practice of recognising and respecting the belief or practice of others
5. Forgiveness:
a. The capacity to excuse a fault or and offense
6. Respect:
a. To avoid violation or interferences with another right to be happy and avoid suffering
It is these value that I refer to when talking about Spiritual L., as Leaders of industries, communities, organisation and families, I agree that we must exercise power and authority, however I believe that we should temper our steel with a hint of velvet, and lead our follower with, Love, Compassion, Patient, Tolerance, Forgiveness, and Respect.

I’d like to finish with a quote from His Holiness the Dalai Lama
“The Spiritual actions we undertake which are motivated not by narrow self-interest but out of our concern for others actually benefit ourselves.”
I believe that if we took the time and reflected on teachings of this quote, and challenged ourselves to shift our idea of headship to embrace the values of spirituality, and not only lead, better still, to live by them, it would pay us dividend in all area of our L, more then we could ever deemed possible.