The Network of Spiritual Progressives is a broad network that seeks to transform our materialist and corporate-dominated culture into a loving and just society. We envision a world based on a New Bottom Line of awe and wonder at the universe where everyone is seen as fundamentally valuable regardless of their role in the marketplace. We call this framework “a spiritual progressive worldview.” Our network includes environmentalists, social activists and people of all walks of life who identify as religious, spiritual, atheist, and secular humanist. We are the interfaith advocacy arm of Beyt Tikkun.
But I’m not a Spiritual Progressive. I don’t believe in God and am not religious.
You don’t have to believe in God, be part of a religion, follow a particular spiritual teacher or path, or identify as spiritual to join us. Many people do not identify as a spiritual progressive and yet desperately want to live in a more loving, kind and just world. A member or supporter of the Network of Spiritual Progressives is someone who endorses the New Bottom Line and seeks a world based on that New Bottom Line.
We use the New Bottom Line to assess the value of our economic, political, and social arrangements and seek to do tikkun olam (heal and transform the world). We use tactics and strategies which themselves manifest that New Bottom Line. Or to put it in a short sound byte: we support The Caring Society—Caring for Each Other and Caring for the Earth.
So what do you mean by spiritual?
Those aspects of reality that cannot be reduced to publicly observable and verifiable behavior are spiritual. These include ethics, aesthetics, love, compassion, creativity, music, altruism, generosity, forgiveness, spontaneity, emergent phenomena, consciousness itself, and any other aspect of reality not subject to empirical verification or measurement.
Many scientists are also spiritual. They understand that the scientific method is appropriate for describing regularities in the natural world, but not for understanding all of reality.