Illuminating Spiritual Innovation with Sacred Design Lab

In the suburbs of Yokosuka, Japan, Soin Fujio sits with a young man who’s lost his will to live. People in crisis come to his temple often – so often that this monk’s life has become a vigil. He says, “I don’t leave for more than 24 hours. If I stop for one day, I might lose someone.”

A lifelong monastic who worked as a banker to gain worldly experience, Rev. Fujio was moved to begin crisis care after the suicides of three friends. “People come to me with zero battery,” he says. “I ask questions to help them feel their body. I ask them, do you need heat? Water? Then we walk zazen together. Sometimes for three hours. I don’t let them leave until their battery is recharged. Then, I recharge my own.”

To do this work well, Rev. Fujio has innovated within his Rinzai Zen tradition. He’s combined his Zen practice with Tai Chi to support embodied healing. He invites people in his meditation groups to share how they are feeling after each sit. He trains young priests in counseling. And since Covid, he leads zazen in the metaverse. This is a fairly radical shift for the 400-year-old temple’s traditions, but these changes allow Rev. Fujio to be a more effective leader and spiritual care provider.

In Japan, where 40% of young people report being profoundly lonely and suicide is a leading cause of death, a majority of those aged 50 and under say they have no reason to visit a Buddhist temple. Japanese Buddhist institutions can be perceived as detached and unconcerned, reserved for funerals and sightseeing. But Rev. Fujio is one among a host of Buddhist innovators who are actively working to address the spiritual well-being of their neighbors, placing themselves in service of the needs they feel and see.

The above is an excerpt from Sacred Design Lab's recent report, HIGHLIGHTING THE WORK OF spiritual innovators.

Discover KEY Insights from the Report BELOW.

1. Global crises are spiritual crises.

Underpinning the crises of our world is a crisis of spirit. Amidst technological and economic advancements, the march toward modernity has often neglected spiritual well-being, leading to widespread disconnection and existential angst. The imbalance between our relentless pursuit of material innovation and the under-resourcing of spiritual, moral, and ethical development has left us with a world rich in ideas but impoverished in ideals. The consequences are far-reaching, manifesting in rising loneliness, environmental degradation, and social division. Addressing these crises requires a rebalancing—placing spiritual imagination at the center of our creative lives. How might we ground material progress with spiritual depth, so as to foster a society that prioritizes collective flourishing?

2. Spiritual well-being is fundamental to flourishing.

The way we relate to ourselves, our communities, and the larger ecosystems we share, is inextricable from our well-being in the areas of:

• Belonging: Knowing and being known; loving and being loved;
• Becoming: Growing into the people we are called to be;
• Beyond: Experiencing ourselves as part of something more.

The neglect of our spiritual lives leads to unaddressed longings of the soul, and this deficit contributes to cultures of interpersonal, structural, and planetary harm. To turn the tide toward flourishing, we need new ways to address spiritual longings. We need spiritual innovation.

We define spiritual innovation as novel ways to address spiritual longings that contribute to the flourishing of individuals, communities, and ecosystems. Our research and the world’s wisdom traditions contend that those well in spirit are better resourced to work on behalf of others, catalyzing virtuous circles of love and justice in the world.

3. Spiritual innovation happens along a spectrum of tradition.

Of any given innovation, we might ask: Where are they innovating in relationship to tradition? We find innovations all along the following spectrum:

• Inside, rooted in, and helping to evolve, religious wisdom of the past – such as the Extreme Way of the Cross, a popular new Polish Catholic devotional journey based on the traditional 14 Stations of the Cross;
• On the edge, branching out from existing traditions while maintaining a connection – such as Sadhguru’s Inner Engineering Program, which is grounded in yogic principles and practices but designed for broad appeal; and
• Outside, originating beyond religious frames of reference, often directly addressing spirituality in secular settings – such as the Australian Spiritual Health Association, which uses a scientific evidence basis to advocate for spiritually inclusive healthcare.

4. Spiritual innovation addresses different kinds of spiritual needs.

Along with varying relationships to tradition, spiritual innovations address spiritual needs in at least three different ways:

• Practically, through new programs, practices, and services to support spiritual well-being  – such as the Limmud Festival in the United Kingdom, an annual celebration of Jewish life, learning, and culture that has fostered a global network of over 80 Jewish communities around the world;
• Conceptually, through new ideas, frameworks, and strategies to address spiritual longings – such as Egyptian Muslim preacher Amr Khaled’s curriculum for spiritual growth that draws on positive psychology research; and
• Distributionally, through new pathways of discovery, access, and engagement with spiritual community and practice – such as Conscious Kenya, an online hub for Kenya’s wellness community.

5. Spiritual innovation operates differently in different societies. 

Any spiritual innovation is inseparable from the cultural, social, and religious contexts in which it emerges. Understanding how spirituality operates in different societies can be aided by the following framework developed by sociologist Nancy Ammerman: 

• Entangled, in which spirituality is woven into the fabric of daily life – as in much of Africa; 
• Established, in which an authoritative religious institution is recognized and supported by the state – as in Saudi Arabia; 
• Institutionalized, in which spirituality resides within formal institutions – as in the United States; and 
• Interstitial, in which spirituality is a highly individualized pursuit – as on the internet. 

In addition to these variables, spiritual innovation is impacted by macro-level forces including market capitalism, postcolonialism, secular culture, and American influence worldwide.

6. Four themes in spiritual innovation play out worldwide. 

Over 100 interviews with practitioners and scholars in 37 countries revealed four global themes in spiritual innovation today: 

• Technologies of Spirit: The pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of spiritual life, accelerating the rise of spiritual influencers, digital ritual, and practitioner platforms that create great opportunities for reach and scale, while raising challenges related to commodification, surveillance, and standards of ethics.
• Resistance and Reclamation: There is renewed interest in indigeneity and ancestral wisdom worldwide – especially shamanism and other healing modalities – that is often in opposition to colonial histories and religiously repressive states. Rising generations are finding new pathways to healing and liberation, but innovators face questions of spiritual integrity, not to mention fears for their own safety in contexts of religious repression. 
• Embodied Experience: In a growing quest for direct, embodied connection to the divine, people are increasingly drawn to community- and nature-based experiences such as plant medicine journeys, pilgrimages, and spiritual retreats and festivals. Emerging interest promises to bring greater resources and attention to this part of the field, while also seeding the potential for over-tourism and over-emphasis on peak experiences absent ongoing spiritual community.
• Secular Spirituality: Secular contexts are providing a seedbed for spiritual innovation through leadership programs, personal transformation apps and platforms, and spiritually-inclusive healthcare, all of which address spiritual needs outside of conventional religious settings. While these are promising pathways for integrating spirituality into people’s lives, they also require innovators to couch their efforts in secular, often scientific, terms. 

7. Promising spiritual innovations have three qualities. 

We find that the most promising innovations are those with spiritual integrity, project sustainability, and community support:

• Spiritual integrity: The project espouses values that support spiritual well-being, and the approach to the work matches the values.
• Project sustainability: The work reaches those it intends to serve and has sound structures, resources, and leadership in place to continue.
• Community support: The innovators themselves are part of loving communities of support, training, and accountability from mentors and peers.

Today’s spiritual innovators are up against a set of significant challenges that impact their own well-being and capacity to actualize the potential of their innovations toward flourishing. They need support across all three domains: spiritual leadership development, financial and operational sustainability, and ongoing connection and community.

How might we support current and future efforts, so as to mitigate risk and increase the likelihood that these initiatives will meet spiritual needs for the long term?

8. Call to Action: Supporting spiritual innovation.

Around the world, spiritual innovation stands at a crossroads. Visionary and devoted innovators from Ireland to Indonesia are addressing spiritual longings with creativity and care. But the scale of global need for spiritual well-being dramatically overwhelms the reach of their offerings. And without sustained support, many of their efforts will falter or disappear.

At Sacred Design Lab, we are committed to convening and catalyzing organizations and initiatives that support spiritual innovation, such as the Fetzer Institute’s Sharing Spiritual Heritage, Clal’s Glean Network, Wesleyan Impact Partners’ Locke Innovative Leaders, the Embrace Impact Incubator, and initiatives by Faith Matters Network, Beloved, the Unitarian Universalist Association, Soularize, and the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.

As a collaborative, we are actively building toward the next phase of work to connect innovators, foster their spiritual leadership, and support their operations. We envision a thriving movement dedicated to addressing spiritual longings and transforming our world toward flourishing. 

To get involved:

• Read the full report, Illuminating Spiritual Innovation
• Join our global spiritual innovation webinar September 5th, 2024
• Reach out at hello@sacred.design

Join us in helping to create a brighter, more spiritually nourished future.

Learn more about Sacred Design Lab.

View the related TWCF-funded project here.