The Inner Turn: Sustainability, Religion and Spirituality

The modern sustainability agenda, as framed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), fails to be inclusive of the inner dimensions of sustainability. Reason and scientificity alone do not deliver the transformations that science itself has been demonstrating to be necessary for planetary well-being, which indicates that shifts in mindset, beliefs and values are urgent. Thus, affective capacities and emotions are required to leverage relevant and significant changes. Spirituality, whether or not grounded in religious affiliation, is one of such dimensions. Perceptions of sacredness and enchantment for elements of the world around us – feelings largely asphyxiated by the commoditisation of life – are examined in this chapter as manifestations of spirituality. Religions, mindfulness and animism are all processes oriented by principles of love and respect towards oneself, other people and nature, thus having the potential to foster feelings of oneness and wholeness with the world. Given the regained power of religion and spirituality in present days, even in the political scene, they emerge as potential drivers of sustainability transition. Examples of ongoing dialogues between religions, mindfulness and animism with the SDG process are hopeful evidences of convergence between modern and non-modern attitudes and visions.