The SDGs as a map towards happiness and enlightenment?

Sustainable development has deep roots in ethics. Social justice, poverty and equality have been associated with sustainability, though for a long time the main focus was on environmental concerns and resource management. The SDGs have widened the scope of sustainable development and the concept now includes equality, freedom, safety, justice, welfare, education, health and many more. Sustainable development has been an all-encompassing idea that could be a guide for a better quality of life for everyone on the planet.

Here are two examples of groups that see great potential in the SDGs. They suggest that the SDGs could be a recipe for happiness or even the guide for a more conscious human race.

A recipe for happiness?

SDG Happiness Pyramid has split the SDGs into 3 groups: people, environment and spiritual matters. The SDG Happiness Pyramid suggests that the goals concerning people from the base, the environment the middle and the two spiritual goals: Peace and Justice and Partnerships for the Goals at the top.

Being in tune with the SDGs

Another example comes from Richard A. Bowell who led a group that created the “Conscious World Citizen” based on the SDGs and 17 “alignments” which correspond to the 17 Goals.

  1. No Poverty – Wealth Generation
    • Redefine what wealth means
    • Knowing when you have enough
  1. Zero Hunger – Leading fulfilling lives
    • Find a fulfilling purpose
  1. Good health and wellbeing – Sanctity of Life
    • Respect everyone who is alive and help others live a fulfilling life
  1. Quality Education – Natural learning
    • Never stop learning
    • Learn to live in harmony with your environment
  1. Gender Equality – Honoring the Whole Human
    • Respect the human and all the representations of gender
  1. Clean water and Sanitation – Sustainable Human Process
    • When we take responsibility for our own process, in ourselves and with others, we cannot but see there is a direct correlation between our reverence for life as a process and our reverence for water
  1. Affordable and Clean Energy – Natural Energy
    • Acknowledge the energy that is within everyone
  1. Decent Work and Economic Growth – Volunteering for the future
  2. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure – Conscious Human Connection
    • Increase and improve human interaction
    • Nurture human “infrastructure”
  1. Reduced Inequalities – Assessment not Judgement
    • Do not judge people or yourselves based on labels and status
  1. Sustainable Cities and Communities – Creating Safe Spaces
  2. Responsible Consumption and Production – Deliberate Thinking
    • Always ask yourself “Why”
    • Are we using things well and in full accordance with the larger picture?
  1. Climate Action – Regulating Ourselves
    • Acknowledge that we are a part of the planetary ecosystem
  1. Life Below water – In Harmony with Water
    • Realize water is so much more than a resource
  1. Life on Land – New Birth
  2. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – In Harmony with Our Constitution
    • Inner peace = Outer peace
  1. Partnership for the Goals – Developing a Truly Global Community
    • See the entire human population as your neighbors