A Reflective Sunday: Spirituality and Career

All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from,
and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that,
and I intend to end up there. (Rumi)

Can spirituality and our pursuit of career success mix? Can we remain spiritual and yet be driven by our desire to get on top of the corporate ladder? Can we be both spiritual and professional at the same time? Can spirituality interfere or help us make important business and career decisions? If you are into ‘dichotomy,’ I can hear your resounding NO! However, if your view of life is holistic or you are a person who places emphasis on spirituality in everything that you do, then you will readily say YES. Honestly, I don't know where I am between those categories.
Bolman and Deal, in ‘Leading with Soul,’ observe:

The search of for soul and spirit , for depth and meaning (spirituality) in our lives, is fueling a powerful and growing twenty-first-century movement. It is a contemporary quest for depth, meaning, and faith that transcends boundaries of gender, age, geography, and race. It is a fresh and contemporary and specific to our time as the latest dot-com start-up. It is emerging as a counterforce to the modern technical mind-set that can land a man on the moon yet provides few answers fro bringing joy to life or meaning to work (career or business). *enclosed texts mine

This comes as refreshing news. If they were accurate in their observations, then corporate America should be seeing a new and dynamic direction in the way it does business and defines success. But that were not so. Many still perceive spirituality as something separate, confined in the litany of a religious gathering. We dichotomize. Then the other extreme is trying a guise of spirituality in business and professional life, which short fall of hypocrisy in effect. These two views erred considerably in a lot of respects.

While I am not in any of those categories, my aim is to seek a middle ground. What I want is a spirituality that emphasizes purposefulness in everything we do, whether it be within our professional lives, careers or outside. Spirituality that puts value on humanness, dignity of the human life, and embraces humanity regardless of differences. Spirituality that is, borrowing Bolman and Deal’s phrase, in search of ‘depth and meaning in our lives’ is more preferable. Spirituality that goes beyond the confinements of our religiosity and transcends the bounds of legalities and structures of doing business or pursuits of successful careers should be our aim. I sound so idealistic huh. It is hard indeed, albeit doable.

Your thoughts please. Enlighten me.