Vita spiritual philosophy has five themes:

- The Golden Rule

- Life’s Big Questions

- Peak Experience

- The Inner Self

- Sacred Values

A Golden Rule is a central, guiding statement that frames all else. The world’s major religions all share a common Golden Rule. It is worded differently around the world, but Western people will be familiar with the statement: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 

The problem is that this rule ignores the Living Planet, the human life support system. This goes some way to explain why with so many religious people on the planet, the biosphere is dying. 

Vita fixes this problem with its Golden Rule: 

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

Spirituality gives answers to existential questions of origins and meaning. There are three main questions that need answering:

Where did we come from?
Humans came from a long chain of evolution from the first living things that formed from minerals, 3.8 billion years ago. We are the progeny of the survivors of five Mass Extinction Events. We belong here.

Why are we here?
We are here 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 life support system.

What happens when we die?
When we die, the minerals in our bodies are released into the soil and the air from where they came. Our entire life and death, being and unbeing, unfolds within Earth’s biosphere. To the extent that spirit or soul exist, they also reside within Earth’s biosphere. When we die, we sleep forever without being disturbed. 

Peak experience refers to those moments when you feel detached from your physical self and become entranced by an experience. When people get peak experience from nature, and not technology, they more closely bond with the biosphere. 

Awe, Wonder & Amazement:
One could find wonder and amazement in rocket launches or in the manufacturing process of golf balls, but these things don’t help align you with the nature. One should seek awe, wonder and amazement from nature as this helps align your spiritual locus with the Living Planet.

Timelessness and Flow:
There are psychological states we can enter where we become so thoroughly engaged that time passes without us realising. One could fall into a meditative state watching your underwear in a tumble dryer, or listening to your own breath, but these meditations will not anchor your spiritual locus to the Living Planet.

Alternatively, one could sense timelessness and flow in the presence of a waterfall or by watching waves rolling on a beach. Seeking timelessness and flow through interactions in natural settings helps to develop a stronger bond to nature.

The Inner Self refers to that part of each human that is private, can only be sensed by the individual, and is unique to us all. For Vita, there are three sub-themes:

Individuality:
Each individual human has a unique personality and character. Part of a full life is knowing ourselves, gaining insights into our own personality and character. Individuality influences the way that we are affected by things such as music, movies, and the choices we make in life’s journey. Individuality determines what makes us cry and laugh. While we grow into our individuality, we have the capacity to change it.

Ecological-self:
Ecological-self refers to the part that you play in nurturing the biosphere, our life support system. How do you conduct your life to enhance the well-being of the Living Planet of which you are a part? For most Western people, their ecological self is frail or non-existent.

Self-actualisation:
This is your capacity to adapt your individuality and Ecological Self to accommodate changes in the global environment. For example, as you learn about collapse, how are you growing to fight it? Self- actualisation is innate for some people, and for others it can be learned. 

Sacred values are values that are strongly held, and for which one will make sacrifices to defend. 

Right & Wrong:
In very simple terms, actions that harm people and the biosphere are wrong, and actions that help Advance the Verdant Age are right.

Note: If actions that harm people are wrong, does that mean we should not go to war? Not necessarily. A just war, fought justly is not wrong. Self-defence and preventative action are not wrong if they are proportional.

Sacred & Profane:
Places of ecological significance are sacred as are acts of personal sacrifice on behalf of the biosphere. The Japanese Shinto religion uses a red archway called Torii to denote that what lies beyond (a waterfall, a temple or grove, for example) has sacred values, and ought to be treated accordingly. Western people ought to see nature as sacred, and act accordingly.

Biosphere integrity:
A fundamental sacred value is the integrity of the biosphere as this is the life support system for our civilization.

This is to say that the integrity of the biosphere - the functioning of the global life support system - is sacred and one ought to make efforts to protect it.

Thus, omnicide – deliberate human actions that destroy swathes of ecosystems – is the breach of the most sacred of values. The perpetuation of the fossil fuel industry is omnicide, and thus a breach of Vita’s sacred values.

Furthermore, as all wildlife is sacred, the more endangered a species becomes, the more sacred it becomes, and thus the greater efforts one ought to make to save it.

Note: If wildlife is sacred, does that mean that I can’t go fishing, or cut down a tree? No. It means that you should not over-fish, or act carelessly and leave fishhooks in pelicans. You can cut a tree, but don’t cut the forest. What is importance is ecological integrity, not the individual organism, per se.