As belief systems, these three disciplines are all very different and an integrative understanding seems rather elusive. Yet, as we have seen in this episode business people (and even scientists) make frequent references to their God for whom they often credit their inspiration and guidance. In two programs we featured Michael Novak who is the theologian in residence at the American Enterprise Institute. His research shows that Judaeo-Christian belief systems laid foundations in the USA that gave rise to rapid advances within science-and-discovery and to business-and-enterprise. It laid the foundations for belief that one can tap into that universal power and be guided.

Topic for Discussion: What is that Universal Power? How does one tap into it?

Answer: We do not presume to provide an answer when there are thousands of books and millions of pages about the issue. We have discovered, however, those three universals shared by religion, science, and business. These universals are the first principles by which we define this show. In summary, the first principle that defines our humanity is our urge to create order and its most basic function, a simple perfection, is continuity. The second principle is relationality and its perfection is symmetry. And, the third is dynamics and its perfection is harmony.

Every scientific and religious assertion, both seeking to understand and define the universal, begins with the same first principle and evolves within its own understanding to the second and third. This is also the basis of the value chain, the heart of business. The more perfect a moment or an experience is, OR the more perfected a thing or system is, the more valuable it becomes.

You think about it: If a religion is to prevail as a systematic and coherent explanation of life and for progress, must each uniquely explain science and business as an extension from within their own first principles? We believe they do and as they do, this notion of "tapping into the universal" will be part of their self-understanding.