With the approaching dawn of the 21 st century, governments, organizations and peoples are expending enormous energies to develop communities which are socially vibrant, united and prosperous. In the long term, however, community-building efforts will succeed only to the extent that they link material progress to fundamental spiritual aspirations, respond to the increasing interdependence among the peoples and nations of the planet, and establish a framework within which all people can become active participants in the governance of their societies. It is to these three foundational elements of sustainable communities that the following comments are addressed.
Human nature is fundamentally spiritual.
Communities are unlikely, therefore, to prove prosperous and sustainable unless they take into account the spiritual dimension of human reality and seek to foster a culture in which the moral, ethical, emotional and intellectual development of the individual are of primary concern. Today, however, the substance and direction of community development are largely determined by material considerations. The peoples and nations of the planet are being drawn together as they become more and more dependent upon one another. This growing interdependence and the intensifying interaction among diverse peoples pose fundamental challenges to old ways of thinking and acting. How we, as individuals and communities, respond to these challenges will, to a large degree, determine whether our communities become nurturing, cohesive and progressive, or inhospitable, divided and unsustainable.