Applied Spirituality and Sustainable Development Policy

The book Applied Spirituality and Sustainable Development Policy is breathtaking in its scope and awe-inspiring for the depth of insight brought to bear on the current world crises. The editors have brought together contributions from a powerful team of academics, researchers and thinkers in the areas of spirituality, policy and sustainable development to create a truly outstanding text, sure to become a future classic. I will be using this text with my students!

-- Lee Newitt, Founder MA Spirituality, Ecology & Mental Health at Buckinghamshire New University, UK

Physicists define energy as the capacity of matter to do work, and have demonstrated that this capacity is in all things everywhere and can be neither created nor destroyed. Have we not just described the God of ancient man, and the essence of modern spirituality? Let us then leave mysticism behind. If energy created this planet, its systems, and the vast cosmos surrounding it, would it not have the capacity to solve what appear to be unsolvable human problems? Energy does not deny us its aid. Rather, we deny energy its existence and pretend to be separated from our own being. The laws of physics hold otherwise. This remarkable book on applied spirituality is nothing less than a manual for the application of the energy in all things everywhere to solve human problems. Of course, energy has no problems. If we apply the lessons of this book, we will soon realize that neither do we.

-- James Kimmel, Jr., JD, Yale School of Medicine, author of Suing for Peace, The Trial of Fallen Angels, and The Science of Revenge

Rather than outlining another neat, pre-determined framework, destined by definition to oversimplify the complexities of the real world, [this book] proposes a radically new approach -- one that neither rejects reason and rationalism, nor subjectivity and diversity; one that rather expands and enriches both.

The Constitution of UNESCO reads 'Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed'. Similarly, this book posits that to achieve sustainable and equitable development in our world, we must cultivate the conditions for its flourishing within ourselves. It reminds us that we already hold the keys to this, both in the form of centuries’ old spiritual wisdom passed down to us through the ages (spiritual, not religious), and in our own innate spirituality. Rather than engaging in exhausting ideological battles, it recommends opening the mind to applied spirituality, free of religious, political and ideological dogma. In this way, the buttresses of peace and wellbeing for all sentient beings can be constructed.

This approach will undoubtably elicit skepticism from various quarters, particularly from the rationalist orthodoxy camp. But reason and rationalism represent only one essential human faculty. Surely the complexities of our world with its multiple, intersecting, systemic challenges merit the full benefit of all our faculties and capabilities – our intuitive and ethical faculties, the faculties of the heart and our ability for love, empathy, and compassion, to name a few? Why would we willingly withhold the full scope of our faculties and abilities in the quest for a more sustainable future? This book calls for an integral, systems approach to our complex, interconnected global challenges, one that not only brings all our faculties to bear holistically, but that also stems from profound wisdom and applied spirituality. Methodological issues will certainly be open to debate, but the approach itself is deeply compelling.

-- Renata Lok, Former Senior UN Official and Former Coordinator of the UN System in India

Applied Spirituality and Sustainable Development Policy makes a much-needed contribution to our understanding of how spirituality, as distinct from religion, can inform and improve every aspect of our life. My own practice of Sahaja Yoga meditation over the last 35 years has revealed to me that inner transformation, which comes about as one seeks spiritual depth, enables us to make intuitively informed choices that enhance the quality of our family, professional and social interactions. The editors and contributors deserve our highest compliments and deepest gratitude for their courageous effort to explain that spirituality does not isolate us from society or nature. On the contrary, spirituality empowers us in the subtlest of ways, to live in consonance with nature and in harmony with mankind.

-- Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chair (2017-22), NITI Aayog, Government of India

This is a very stupendous work! Public policy and spirituality seem unconnected, but public policy is surely based on the quality of the key players and needs their internal transformation. Religion was created precisely to provide this support. Unfortunately institutionalised religion has created the opposite effect: of excluding others, rather than feeling the one-ness. It has led to destruction, wars and violence. If the theory of change proposed in this work has to materialise, it needs a lot of hard work of reformation, both within and without. But the time has come for it.

-- R. Subrahmanyam, Former Secretary, Higher Education and Social Justice, Government of I