IIHFD
Spiritual Intimacy
There is a new move today to understand what Spiritual Capital is. As is expected, those scholars who are leading this move have few clues as to the actual meaning and essence of Spiritual Capital. This scholarly quest to decipher precisely the meaning and significance of Spiritual Capital requires an anchor and direction so that its pursuit will yield a productively useful final outcome. To avoid an academically speedy saturation of this area of research interest, it is important that scholars interested in this topic realize that Spiritual Capital is sine qua none to sustained progress in terms of overcoming the existing social, economic, political, educational, religious, and technological problems. It is encouraging to know that academicians are now getting more interested in the concept, Spiritual Capital. This interest and its pursuit are in the right direction because any successes made in grasping the meaning and significance of Spiritual Capital will lead to the discovery of new ideas, methodologies, and solutions to the age-old human problem. The discoveries arrived at and the conclusions made will lead us to revisit Nietzsche’s pronouncement of the death of God and what we must do to reverse the path of self-destruction it has placed on humanity since the time of the proclamation.
When Nietzsche pronounced God dead, he was convinced that humans now have the chance to face their own social, economic, political, educational, religious, and technological problems without any reliance on divine intervention and providence. According to Friedrich Nietzsche (1974), people’s acceptance of and belief in the Death of God places humans again in the driver’s seat to determine and control their own destiny. Being in the driver’s seat once again frees and commissions humans to commence the search for another worldview through which to engage in unrestricted lifestyles and choices. Humans are now at liberty to discover what they desire to do to improve their quality of life. In his own words, Nietzsche notes:
At long last the horizon appears free to us again, even if it should not be bright; at long last our ships may venture out again, venture out to face any danger; all the daring of the lover of knowledge is permitted again; the sea, our sea, lies open again; perhaps there has never yet been such an open sea (Quoted in Richard Morrison).
The newly revived interest and quest are about discovering new bearings and guidance systems we need to survive and to improve our quality of life. We must discover what to do to rise above our troubled humanity, its weaknesses, and attendant problems. We are now in full control, so we can believe and act accordingly. We need to know how we can become more humane; how to make this world a safer and better place; and leave it as an appealing and appreciating legacy to members of the future generations.
Today, given the enormity of the consequences of human failure, the quest for freedom from social, economic, political, educational, religious, and technological predicament is again back in vogue and is in a full swing. The hitherto restricted and vast seas of spiritual knowledge, the treasury chest of spiritual understanding, and the wealth of spiritual wisdom are ready to be tackled once again. Scholars have already begun pushing their rusty academic boats to sea, lowering their torn nets of intellect, and fishing ignorantly for some sort of guidance systems with which to provide direction to people in this universal wilderness of life. On their radar screen is the vague idea that the concept, Spiritual Capital, may be of some significance to human survival and progress after all. And if this is the case, God may not have died in the first place after all! He is still alive and we are forgiven for having tried our hardest to kill him by drowning him in the seas of intellect and rationality that cannot be trusted a hundred per cent in the absence of God’s inputs.
Spiritual Capital: Its Significance
It is not surprising there are now new waves of movements whose leaders are calling for a thorough inquiry into the study of Spiritual Capital or what some have wrongly referred to as Religious Capital. This desire is a result of the fact that decades after having declared God to be dead and engaging in lifestyles that please sensuous feelings have not produced any long-term positive improvements in the human quality and its associated lifestyles. The human traversing and the excavation of the womb of vast stretches of oceans of secular humanistic knowledge have only landed us in more tumultuous and hot waters than we had expected at the time we intentionally killed God, buried him, and proscribed his laws. We rejoiced when the principle-centered were jailed, ostracized, and barred from bringing their principle-centered lifestyles into public life.
Our momentary guffaw for having falsely believed that we had gotten rid of God has now dried up and the outcomes of our celebrations have now become the new realities we face but loathe. Our unrestrained indulgences in unprincipled behaviors that make us feel good externally and rotten internally regardless of their unfairness, wrongness, and unjustness now threatens to annihilate us. The knowledge we have gained from the pursuit of secular humanism and the various ideas of capital we conceptualized during the years we pronounced, celebrated the untimely death of, and lived without God did not birth the certainty of hope, assurance, communities of nonviolence, and an enhanced quality of life. The expected improvement we had envisioned in the quality of life did not materialize. We are now apprehensive about our chosen directions and have once again begun to look for better alternatives.
It is light of this quest that this book is written to assist interested scholars to gain a better understanding of what Spiritual Capital actually is; its significance; and how to go about to develop it.
Contents
1. Introduction
2.The Resurgence of Academic Interest in and Quest for Spiritual Capital
3.The Human Factor Concept I: Its Meaning and Significance
4.The Human Factor Concept II: Its Composition and Significance
5. The Meaning and Significance of Spiritual Capital
6. The Formation of Spiritual Capital
7.The Application of the Scientific Method: Realities and Myths
8. Observations and Recommendations for Public Policy
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this book when it comes out in the fall of 2009, please e-mail Professor Senyo Adjibolosoo, PhD at: HYPERLINK "mailto:sadjibol@pointloma.edu" sadjibol@pointloma.edu. He will contact you when the book is released.
The title of this book is: Spiritual Intimacy: The Essence of Closeness to God. This book is about how to enhance personal Spiritual Intimacy with God. An announcement will be made once the book is published.
Spiritual Capital
There is a new move today to understand what Spiritual Capital is. As is expected, those scholars who are leading this move have few clues as to the actual meaning and essence of Spiritual Capital.
Spiritual Capital
Leadership Effectiveness
It is argued in this book that the best way to achieve leadership effectiveness is to concentrate on developing the positive human factor (HF). The HF is the “spectrum of personality characteristics and other dimensions of human performance that enable social, economic and political institutions to function and remain functional, over time” (Adjibolosoo, 1995, p. 33).
