Vita Spiritual Philosophy

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Vita spiritual philosophy is designed to resolve the climate and ecological crisis. In conjunction with environmental science and indicators for right action, this philosophy offers a pathway to long term human survival. 

Core themes of Vita spiritual philosophy are described below, including: 

-  The Golden Rule 

-  Cosmovision

-  Life’s Big Questions

-  Transcendence

-  The Inner Self

-  Higher Values

-  Tenets

-  53-Million Latent Vitans

A Golden Rule is a central, guiding statement that frames ethical and rational decision making. The world’s major religions all share a common Golden Rule. Western people will be familiar with the statement: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This statement fails to take into consideration the vital role of the biosphere.

Do unto others and the biosphere as you would have them do unto you.

Or put another way:

Be good to people and the Living Planet, and they will be good to you.

Cosmovision is a worldview, an overarching appraisal of how things really are. Vita cosmovision has three key elements: 

· Vitae-planeta

· The Anthropocene Crisis

· The Verdant Age

Vitae-planeta
A core belief of Vita spiritual philosophy is that all the living things on Earth are part of a single living organism called Imperium vitae-planeta a name roughly translating to Empire of the Living Planet. The name is shortened to Vitae-planeta. As living organisms, ourselves, we humans are but cells in the body of the Living Planet. Vitae-planeta is our life support system and we must protect her if we are to survive.

Anthropocene Crisis
Through our dominant technologies and beliefs, we humans have harmed the Living Planet to such an extent that she is rapidly changing to a form that is hostile to human life: the Anthropocene Crisis. If we continue with Business as Usual our civilization will collapse and humans may go extinct in the coming decades.

The Verdant Age
Our planet’s orbit places us in a habitable zone, and if the atmospheric greenhouse gases are in correct proportion, Earth may remain habitable for life for hundreds of millions of years, a time period referred to as the Long Future. If we can end the Anthropocene Crisis by rewilding nature, euthanising the fossil fuel industry, and drawing down a trillion tons of CO2, we may enter the Verdant Age, a time when humans and the biosphere thrive in synergy deep into the Long Future. The Verdant Age is the birthright of the human race.

Spirituality offers answers to existential questions of origins, meaning, and ultimate outcomes. There are many Big Questions, but three are particularly important.

· Where did we come from?

· Why are we here?

· What happens when we die?

Where did we come from? 

What are the origins of the human race? 

To answer this, speak to cosmologists and biologists. They will tell you that our Universe formed about 13.8 billion years ago with the Big Bang. Humans arose through a long process of evolution from the first living things that formed from non-living compounds on Earth about 3.5 billion years ago. We humans and the other living things alive today are the survivors of five Mass Extinction Events. We grew here. We belong here.

Why are we here?
What is the purpose of human existence? 

Humans are here on Earth for the same reason as the trees, the bees, the whales, and the snails: to pursue our individual life goals in a manner that makes a positive contribution to the well-being of the Living Planet, our collective life support system.

What happens when we die? 

What happens to our bodies upon death? Should they exist, what happens to our spirit / soul? 

Death is like sleep forever without dreams. When we die, the organic compounds in our bodies are released into the Vitaflux (the soil, water, and the air) from where they originally came. These compounds may be revitalised by being taken up by other organisms. Vita does not hold a fixed position on the existence of an eternal soul, but evidence of one's spirit can defined by what we leave behind. If we plant a forest, our spirit can be said to reside within the trees. If we wrote books, our spirit can be said to reside on bookshelves around the world. If we spread joy and wisdom, our spirit can be said to be the fond memories and the knowledge in the people we left behind. 

The Inner Self refers to that part of each human that is private, can only be sensed by the individual, and is unique in all of us. Inner Self has three categories: 

· Personality

· Ecological Self

· Self-actualisation

Personality
Part of a full life is coming to know the unique, individual personality that we have grown into. Our personality influences the way that we are affected by experience (e.g., our response to music, movies, etc) and the choices we make on life’s journey. Some personalities innately accept the natural Earth wisdom described in this document; but for others it takes concerted effort. Personality includes the way our emotional states are triggered by stimuli.

Personality in Vita:

Resolving the climate and ecological crisis requires many different personalities. Our personality dictates the stimuli that trigger extremes of emotional state. Rage, for example, ought to be directed at the people who open new coal mines or gas fields, and not the waiter in a restaurant. Shape your personality to be effective in advancing life on Earth.

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Ecological Self
Ecological self is the manner in which our personality resonates in harmony with the biosphere, our global life support system. For most Western people, the ecological self is frail or non-existent and this is evident through their blind consumption of fossil fuels, plastics, and bad ideas.

Ecological Self in Vita 

Growing one’s ecological self connects us spiritually to our global life support system and gives us the strength and inclination to do what is necessary to protect her. Get in touch with how you interact with the biosphere. Are you advancing her, or retarding her?

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Self Actualisation
In a general sense, self actualisation relates to the realisation of one’s talents and aspirations, our ability to achieve what we want. Here, self-actualisation refers to an individual’s capacity to keep pace with the Anthropocene Crisis and act accordingly. For example, you may be well versed in recycling and worm farms, but as you learn about abrupt climate change, how are you adapting to fight it?

Self Actualisation in Vita 

Seek to live the life you want but remember your responsibilities to the biosphere. Continually strengthen your self-actualisation by learning and doing and focussing on right action. Right action is that which achieves the objective most effectively. As the climate and ecological crisis unfolds, right action will change over time. Self actualisation is innate for some people, for others it can be learned.

Higher values are those values that are strongly held, and for which one will make sacrifices to defend. There are three considerations for Higher Values: 

· Right & Wrong 

· Sacred & Profane

· Identity Fusion

Right & Wrong

Right and wrong signifies actions that either help or hinder achieving a desired state. A desirable state for human civilization is a healthy biosphere populated by healthy, happy people for millions of years into the future. How are your actions helping to advance this state?

Right & Wrong in Vita

Efforts that harm people and the biosphere are wrong, and actions that help Advance the Verdant Age are right. Of equal importance, inaction in the face of ecological collapse is wrong. If you know what is coming down the pipeline, and you are not taking action to help prevent it, this is wrong.

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Sacred & Profane

The sacred are those things that are perceived to be imbued with unique and higher qualities and values, and for which distinct rules apply. Profane is simply something that lacks sacredness, such as the everyday and mundane. Sacredness is not implicit but is granted by one’s beliefs. We can choose what we hold to be sacred.

Sacred & Profane in Vita

Places of ecological significance are sacred as are acts of personal sacrifice on behalf of the biosphere. We ought to see natural biophysical processes that underpin our life support system as sacred, and act accordingly by protecting them. Indigenous cultures and endangered species are particularly sacred.

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Identity Fusion

People can attach themselves to a cause so tightly that they experience a visceral sense of oneness between themselves and their belief. Identity fusion can be a positive or negative for the Living Planet. For example, the people who massacred the cartoonists from the French satirical comic Charlie Hebdo had fused their identity with a cause unrelated to the biosphere. On the other hand, for example, activists from Extinction Rebellion fuse their identity with a cause that is distinctly pro-environmental.

Identity Fusion in Vita

Identity fusion can be a positive thing if it helps to maintain the wellbeing of the life support system of Planet Earth and helps ones’ self-actualisation. If you are to fuse your identity with a cause, ensure that it is one that helps to Advance the Verdant Age. The highest level of identity fusion is to identify with the integrity of the biosphere and the proper function of the Earth System as these are fundamental to maintaining a planet habitable for an abundance of life and for human civilization.

Vita spiritual philosophy can be understood through seven tenets.

1. We humans and all that dwell on Earth are parts of a planet-sized life-form called Vitae-planeta or the Living Planet.

2. The Living Planet maintains the ocean, atmosphere, and land to foster an abundance of life on Earth.
 

3. Despite being a natural part of the Living Planet, today, but humans neglect our duties to the biosphere.
 

4. Greenhouse emissions and the destruction of nature threaten our race and the Living Planet.
 

5. It is our duty to fix this crisis by swiftly restoring our wounded Earth to full health.
 

6. Then, we may enter the Verdant Age when humans and the Living Planet thrive together.
 

7. For a good life before we die, advancing the Verdant Age is how we can belong to Earth.

Ending the climate and ecological crisis requires a mass-movement of people who are:

· Spiritually grounded by our Living Planet

· Advised by environmental science and reality

· Taking right action for each problem

It is believed that a quarter of the Cultural Creative people in the Western World would identify with Vita spiritual philosophy once they are made aware of it. This equates to 53 million people, or about 8% of the adult population. Prior to discovering Vita spiritual philosophy, these people are referred to as Latent Vitans. 

Vita is a feel-know-act movement to protect Earth’s life support system. If millions of people align their hearts, minds, and efforts to the wellbeing of Earth’s natural life support system it is possible to change the trajectory of human civilization away from the abyss that faces us today, and towards an enduring future.

For Vita’s feel-know-act movement to be successful, it is necessary to grow rapidly to reach tens of millions of people within a few years. While hearts and minds are important, it is action that defines the results. So, the key performance indication is radical pro-environmental behavioral change in tens of millions of people, worldwide starting today.