The Spiritual Crisis
Dear Friends,
Our youth tell us a lot, and at least in the US where I live, our youth seem to be telling us to rethink our ways.
The World Happiness Report is just out, and the US dropped out of the top 20 for the first time since 2012.
While older people in the US did well, it was really the youth where the shift was most noticeable. Of the 143 countries surveyed, the US ranked 62nd for people under 30!
This is in the most powerful country in the world, the hub of technology and innovation, and the country that has the highest number of smartphone users in the world … and there are 61 countries where youth feel much better off.
What does this tell us about what really matters? What does it tell us about true happiness?
I know people are on this Wisdom 2.0 list from across the world, including Finland, which has the highest in happiness, yet there are lessons to be learned.
What is Enough?
Social media tends to show us that we do not have — the places in the world we are not visiting, the friends we are not hanging out with, the world we are missing … and this often reinforces a feeling of “not enough.”
And any true spiritual or wisdom tradition tries to do the opposite:
They help people see that who we truly are, beyond name and form, is complete. There is nothing we can ever do or achieve that can bring us closer to this essence.
So our world is possibly facing a spiritual crisis than anything else. Maybe this is the message of our youth.
Our most important inquiry may be this:
Can we discover who we are, and support this same discovery in the next generation, and help cultivate a sense of belonging rather than otherness and lack?
As far as I can tell, there may be no more important endeavor.
Our Power of Presence series continues tomorrow, and if you are wanting to join us for Wisdom 2.0 2024, tickets increase in a few days. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Roshi Joan Halifax, Deepak Chopra and others will share about the inner dimension.
Blessings,
There is so much to unpack in determining what makes one happy; I know, for me, the more I embraced spirituality and simplified my life the happier I became. Our culture sets a very high bar for being "happy", without acknowledging that happiness is on a continuum and shifts from moment to moment. I look forward to hearing from Dan Harris on this topic (and a timely guest!).
The World Happiness Report needs to be looked into, the methodology, questions, etc. It seems like some of the 'happy' places may also have high suicide rates. ?? I'm thinking of Sweden and Finland. Food for thought. I'm with on loving now and self.