The fact that discernment and choice ultimately cannot be separated from one an- other has one important implication: it brings us to the realisation that spirituality cannot be limited to the search for harmonious security, enjoyable spiritual experi- ences or to the fostering of oceanic emotions. Spirituality’s path, on the contrary, is the difficult path of “letting go” of such emotions. What such “letting go” can imply can be elucidated in light of the images from Plato’s story about the cave dwellers.
While it is possible to leave the cave, Plato describes such liberation as a painful process. Confrontation with the light and with the real world of people and objects is not easy. No matter how painful the discovery of reality may be, it ultimately brings joy. The enlightened and liberated human being considers himself or herself to be happy and experiences a sense of pity for his or her former fellow prisoners.
The story does not end in an atmosphere of euphoria, however. Plato goes on to ask what it would be like if the liberated person should return to the cave: the person who has seen the light is never believed. The cave dwellers consider the enlightened re- turnee to be so dangerous that they plan to kill him or her if the opportunity presents itself.
One might interpret Plato’s story as follows: it is not the blissful sense of security or the joy of “seeing” that stands at the core of the process of discernment but rather the pain of vocation and mission. It is about leaving the womb for an undistorted perception of reality in all its veracity. Such “letting go” will inevitably encounter resistance and opposition. People are generally more inclined to opt for the security of the illusions in which they are imprisoned than to confront the consequences of a new and more authentic consciousness.
The person who desires to take the lead in letting go of closed conceptual frame- works, to open the way to new meanings, to see with new vision and thereby be a leader of people, should not expect to be applauded. The option for genuine leader- ship demands courage.
Paraphrasing Vaclav Havel we can conclude that this courage is the pen with which we write in human history the story of a new creation. This creative and innovative attitude is the heart of leadership.
146 J. Verstraeten
Notes
1. Some aspects of this chapter are worked out more extensively in Johan Verstraeten, Leiderschap met hart en ziel. Spiritualiteit als weg naar oorspronkelijkheid, Tielt, Lannoo, 2003, especially 19–70.
2. Joanna B. Ciulla, “The State of Leadership Ethics and the Work that Lies Before Us”, in: Business Ethics: A European Review, 14 (2005) 4, 323–335.
3. A call to action. Summary of Our Global Neighbourhood. The Report of the Commission on Global Governance, (Geneva: 1995), 19.
4. Manuel Guill´en, Tom´as F. Gonz´alez, “The Ethical Dimension of Managerial Leadership: Two Illustrative Case Studies in TQM”, Journal of Business Ethics, 34 (2001) 175–189.
5. Kenneth Goodpaster has labelled the focus of managers on economic goals and the instrumental ra- tionality related to it as “teleopathy”, See Patricia H. Werhane, R. Edward Freeman (eds.), Blackwell Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Business Ethics, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998), 627.
6. Judy B. Rosener, “Ways women lead”, in: The Leader’s Companion: Insights on Leadership Through the Ages, ed. Thomas E. Wren (New York: The Free Press, 1995), 150.
7. Smelik, Klass A. D., Gideon Lodders and Rob Tempelaars (eds.), Etty. De nagelaten geschriften van Etty Hillesum 1941–1943, 3rd ed. rev. (Uitgeverij Balans, Amsterdam, 1991).
8. For a most lucid synthesis of the contemporary quest for spirituality in business, see: Thierre C.
Pauchant, “Introduction: Ethical and Spiritual Management Addresses the Need for Meaning in the Workplace”, in Id. (ed.), Ethics and Spirituality at Work. Hopes and Pitfalls of the Search for Meaning in Organizations (Westport, Conn./London: Quorum Books, 2002), 1–27.
9. William James, The Moral Philosopher and Moral Life, as quoted in Martha Nussbaum, Wat liefde weet. Emoties en morele oordelen, (Amsterdam: Boom/Parr`esia, 1998, 129). (We have here retrans- lated the Dutch translation of Love’s Knowledge into English).
10. Joseph Pieper, Leisure. The Basis of Culture, (South Bend: St. Augustine’s Press, 1998), 34.
11. Mike W. Martin, Meaningful Work. Rethinking Professional Ethics, (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 203
12. Louis Dupr´e, Edith Cardoen, Terugkeer naar de innerlijkheid (Antwerpen/Amsterdam: De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, 1981, 21 (This book is a revised translation of Louis Dupr´e, Tran- scendent Selfhood, Seabury Press, 1976).
13. Diane Fassel, Working Ourselves to Death, (San Francisco: Harper, 1990), 2.
14. Nicole Aubert, “L’entreprise comme instance de cr´eation existentielle: aspirations et d´esillusions”, in Thierry C. Pauchant, La quˆete du sens. G´erer nos organisations pour la sant´e des personnes, de nos soci´et´es et de la nature, (Montr´eal: Ed. d’Organisation, 1996), 116.
15. Burkard Sievers, “Participation as a Collusive Quarrel”, Ethical Perspectives 3 (1996) 3, 133.
16. James C. Collins, Jerry I. Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, (New York: HarperCollins, 1994).
17. Dave Arnott, The Insidious Lure of the All-Consuming Organisation, (New York: American Management Association, 2000).
18. E. Enriquez as quoted by Nicole Aubert, art. cit, 199–120.
19. Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organisations (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1993), especially 3–14, 134–155.
20. Our Global Neighbourhood: The Report of the Commission on Global Governance, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 47.
21. Jeroen Witkam, Bewaak je hart. Diepte-inkeer en gebed, (Antwerpen/Amsterdam: Patmos, 1975), 53.
22. Bart Raymaekers, “Zoeken naar de zin en de zin van het zoeken”, in: Ethische Perspectieven, 7 (1997), 3–4, 173–174.
23. Burkard Sievers, “Participation as a Collusive Quarrel”, in: Ethical Perspectives, 3 (1996), 3, 128–136.
24. A most interesting elucidation of the role of basic trust via mediation and spirituality can be found in the book of No´emie Meguerditchian, Entrer dans un discernement spirituel. Quelques rep`eres psychologiques, (Paris: Descl´ee De Brouwer, 1998).
Responsible Leadership beyond Managerial Rationality 147 25. Paul Tillich, Systematische Theologie, III, Stuttgart, 1966, 268.
26. Abraham Zaleznik, De mystiek van het management. Het belang van leiderschap in het bedrijfsleven (Utrecht/Antwerpen: Veen, 1990), o.c., 204 (retranslated from the Dutch text by myself).