# Spiritual Dimensions of Sustainable Development

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Arthur Lyon Dahl, Spiritual Dimensions of Sustainable Development, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Spiritual Dimensions of Sustainable Development
> 
> Arthur Lyon Dahl
> 
> 1996-03
> 
> When we think of development, we usually think first of economic development
> to meet material needs, measured perhaps through growth in the Gross National
> Product (GNP). Yet is that all that there is to development? Does economics
> measure everything? It is clear that development must include not only
> material progress, but social and cultural dimensions as well. For instance,
> a developed society must have an effective legal system built up through
> years of parliamentary action and judicial interpretation, yet this is
> never considered by economists as a capital asset and included in national
> accounts, despite a very high human investment and replacement cost. Because
> development has such social dimensions, each society must define development
> in its own terms to reflect its underlying culture, values and goals.
> Development also has a moral, ethical or spiritual dimension. It is
> after all basic human values that determine social interactions and cohesion.
> How you think about other people influences how you interact with them
> in various social and economic contexts. In biological communities, it
> is genetic instructions and instincts that determine interactions, but
> in people these interactions are largely governed by values which we receive
> through education in the family, from religion, in school, and by observation
> in society. If we need to restructure society to make it more sustainable,
> we must start with its basic values.
> Sustainability is not easy to define, but it implies maintaining a balance,
> both in present society and over time. It is not a destination to be reached,
> but a dynamic process requiring consideration both of our present balance
> between parts of society and between society and nature, and of the future
> potential to maintain that balance. Sustainability is like flight. Just
> as many forces can push an aircraft off course, requiring corrective action,
> so can many kinds of instability or imbalance push development in unsustainable
> directions. It is in fact often easier to measure unsustainability, and
> to focus our efforts on reducing such negative forces, than it is to define
> sustainability itself.
> By almost any measure, most development today is presently unsustainable.
> Economic systems that focus only on physical needs and material development,
> and lack an ethical dimension, have failed to deliver the promised results.
> Today's social and environmental problems reflect the failure of our economic
> systems to account for many real impacts and costs, giving a false impression
> of economic success, often because they ignore the future. Our short-term
> materialistic perspective is accumulating not only financial debt, but
> resource debt, pollution debt, and human and social debts as well. As planetary
> limits increasingly constrain development possibilities, the moral requirement
> for responsible behaviour increases.
> The concept of sustainability expresses an ethical position of justice
> and solidarity within and between generations. It condemns present actions
> that place a burden on or reduce the possibilities available to future
> generations. It thus requires a long-term view and an integrated perspective
> of the whole human and natural system. Sustainability also requires moderation.
> As Bahá'u'lláh warned over a hundred years ago, "if carried
> to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had
> been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation." It is
> clear today that the natural systems of this planet have only a limited
> capacity to absorb the impacts of modern society, and many human development
> activities must be moderated to remain within those limits.
> Therefore, for development to achieve sustainability, appropriate values
> must be incorporated at all levels of society. Each individual should,
> through education and individual investigation, adopt values to guide his
> or her life. These should include individual goals for the refinement of
> character, and belief in a social purpose contributing to the advancement
> of civilization. The recognition, implicit in the concept of sustainability,
> that individual good comes from the common good should inspire a spirit
> of service to others. The need today is for group salvation, rather than
> the invisible hand of self interest at the foundation of traditional economics.
> Achieving sustainable development will require that many in wealthier societies
> will have to sacrifice some of their immediate advantages for the larger
> good and for the benefit of future generations. The motivation for this
> can come from a sense of spiritual purpose, beliefs and values which can
> provide the real foundation for commitment to the changes needed in society.
> Today that commitment is best expressed as a sense of world citizenship
> based on a recognition of the oneness of humankind.
> Families have a key role to play, because it is in the family that the
> education of each new generation begins, forming character and basic social
> and spiritual values. The transmission of culture, ethics and morality
> from generation to generation is an essential aspect of sustainability.
> A society that does not transmit its heritage will collapse.
> A sustainable community must be characterized by its sense of solidarity,
> ensuring that everyone has a place with dignity and self-respect, just
> as it respects the needs of the unborn future generations. The present
> "Darwinian" values of market economics emphasize the economic efficiency
> of the survival of the fittest. This of course implies that the unfit should
> not survive, which in terms of individuals is morally unacceptable in any
> modern society. We have privatized employment, but left unemployment and
> other social needs a public responsibility. It is no wonder that businesses
> are doing well and governments are deeply in debt, but this is not sustainable.
> We need to redefine the measure of successful development not as the most
> efficient use of money or capital, important as that is, but as the maximum
> use of the available human potential in the community. This is the real
> wealth-generating capacity of society, if we consider wealth to include
> not only the material, but the social, cultural and spiritual dimensions
> of life. In this new framework, it becomes an essential role of social
> institutions to provide everyone with education and training, and then
> to ensure that each person has an opportunity to use their skills for the
> benefit of themselves and society. Work is not only an economic activity;
> it has social and spiritual value and should be seen in that larger context.
> It is also important for sustainability for local decisions to be taken
> in a global perspective, as a community expression of the concept of world
> citizenship.
> There are also sustainability values needed for each cultural or ethnic
> group. Instead of being divided by fear and prejudice, each group must
> come to appreciate their own differences as part of that wonderful unity
> in diversity that is the human race. Each should maintain and develop their
> own cultural richness as a contribution to that larger whole that will
> be the future sustainable society.
> Values need to be injected into the corporate dimension of society.
> This is basically a structural problem. In the legal framework for businesses
> today, the only required measure of success for which managers are held
> responsible is the profit earned for their shareholders, and any corporate
> chief who neglects this is quickly replaced. Corporations have no positive
> obligation to be of service to society or to play any other social role.
> Many business people are highly ethical, but they are constrained by this
> structural problem. The business structure is basically amoral and materialistic.
> The State or national dimension is also one where new values are needed.
> We know much of what needs to be done to achieve sustainable development.
> Agenda 21, the action plan adopted at the Rio Earth Summit, is a good example.
> It is frequently said that what is lacking is the political will to implement
> these known requirements. Political will and the courage of leadership
> come from values. The extreme exercise of state sovereignty is the national
> equivalent of selfishness. What is needed today among States is a stronger
> sense of shared responsibility, working for the common good and not just
> national interest, recognizing that the real national interest in sustainability
> can only be found in the common good of a harmonious world system. Nations
> must respect each other and consult together, and not just wield power.
> International cooperation expressing these values is essential for sustainable
> development in an increasingly global society.
> Spiritual values are thus not only relevant to the individual. These
> higher levels of human organization also need to function by, and respect,
> basic values. There is a collective spiritual dimension to a community
> or society, like a soul in many bodies. In fact, this unity is a special
> distinguishing characteristic of humanity that will be increasingly apparent
> in its future evolution towards a sustainable world society.
> 
> The views
> expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of
> the United Nations Environment Programme.
> 
> METADATA
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> Views17962 views since posted 1998; last edit 2012;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../dahl_spiritual_dimensions_development;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *Spiritual Dimensions of Sustainable Development (Used by permission of the curator)*