The Intellectual Case for a Sacred Movement

The Case for Sacred Love: A Vision for Shared Flourishing in a Fractured World

In moments of quiet reflection, many of us sense a deep longing — stemming from a faint memory of a wholeness we once knew or dreamed about, now obscured by the noise and division of daily life. This sensation, though difficult to name, speaks to something ancient in us. It whispers of a world where people and the planet are in harmony — where dignity, compassion, and care define how we live together. At the Fetzer Institute, we believe this longing points toward a truth: that we are meant for something more. We are sacred beings in a sacred reality. And Love — Sacred Love — is the energy that binds us to each other and to the Sacred Mystery at the heart of all things.

Today’s world, for all its technological advancement, has become scarred by the jagged edges of fragmentation. Societal imbalances at every scale — ecological destruction, political polarization, economic injustice — are symptoms of a more profound illness. It is a rupture between us and what is most meaningful and sacred in this precious life. A wound that causes us to live as if we are separate. From each other, from the Earth. From the greater mystery of life, itself. But across the world’s great spiritual traditions, we find a shared conviction. That reality is multidimensional, love is real, and flourishing is meant to be shared.

Wholeness Lost — and the Path Back

In his recent work, Dr. William Vendley — Vice President of World Religions and Spirituality at the Institute — articulates a sweeping cosmological and moral vision grounded in Sacred Love. At the center of his thought is the concept of Sacred Mystery, known by many names across the world’s faiths: God, Brahman, the Tao, Wakan Tanka, the One, the Luminous Void. While no single symbol or tradition can exhaust the meaning of this reality, Dr. Vendley affirms that humans across cultures have found their way into relationship with the Sacred through diverse but resonant paths.

This relationship, however, has been frayed. In our modern context, many have forgotten not just the language of the Sacred, but the experience of it. The consequences are visible, from disconnection to despair and a loss of shared purpose. As Vendley writes, the path to healing requires that we recover the experience of Sacred Mystery and recommit ourselves to the wholeness that emerges from it. That wholeness is not just individual; it is relational. It is what Dr. Vendley and others have called “Sacred Shared Flourishing” — a vision in which all members of humanity flourish together. Not in spite of one another, but because of one another.

At the heart of this wholeness is Love. That is what gently demands our collective recommitment.

Sacred Love: The Dimension that Connects

Sacred Love, as defined throughout Fetzer’s work, is not simply a feeling or sentiment. It is a dimension of Sacred Mystery — a force that connects us with the Sacred and through it, with each other and the Earth. Love is the means by which Sacred Mystery unites the community of being with itself. It is expressed in the compassion of a parent, the eros of lovers, the solidarity of neighbors, the care for creation, and the yearning for justice. 

While Sacred Love is the source of every soul-deep, life-affirming connection, it is not sentimental. It is a moral and spiritual force. It calls us not only to feel strongly, but to act courageously. It calls us to recognize the sacredness of others, even those with whom we disagree. It asks us to reject domination, apathy, and fear — and to live in solidarity with the whole web of life.

Love is also the wellspring of all other virtues. Justice, humility, courage. And it is through Love that we begin to become the kinds of people and society capable of shared flourishing.

Why This Matters Now

This reorientation around Sacred Love is not just a spiritual ideal. It is an urgent practical need.

We face multiple interconnected crises: a climate emergency, growing inequality, democratic backsliding, cultural fragmentation, and rising violence. These are not only political or technical challenges. 

They are spiritual ones. 

They reflect a way of being in the world that has severed itself from Sacred Mystery and from the sacredness of others.

When we treat the Earth as an object rather than a living, sacred reality, we degrade it — and ourselves. When we see our fellow humans as competitors or threats rather than kin, we unleash destructive cycles of fear, exploitation, and harm. The result is not only suffering, but a pervasive sense of despair. Many no longer believe a better world is possible.

But a sacred worldview offers a different story. It reminds us that we belong to one another. That the Earth is not a commodity, but a communion. That our differences can be honored within a deeper unity. And that Love is not weakness — it is the highest power we can wield.

A Complementary Vision: Spiritual and Scientific Ways of Knowing

To build this new story, we need more than goodwill. We need a new way of seeing. For centuries, the modern world has privileged materialist endeavors and a scientific lens. While this has brought many benefits, scientific reasoning disconnected from spiritual insight leads to fragmentation. We see the parts but lose the whole.

Fetzer proposes a more integrated vision — what some call “binocular vision” — in which the spiritual and scientific ways of knowing work in tandem. The scientific method helps us understand the structures of the world, while spiritual traditions help us understand its meaning. 

Science gives us tools. Spirituality gives us purpose.

Together, they offer a fuller picture of reality and a more effective foundation for social transformation.

Imagining a Different Future

What might the world look like if we built it on Sacred Love?

We might see politics marked by compassion and mutual respect, even across differences. Education systems that cultivate not only intellect, but also character. Economies rooted in mutual flourishing rather than extraction. And we might see people of all faiths and no faith standing together in a shared commitment to love, justice, and the sacred dignity of every being.

This is not a utopian dream. It is a practical, grounded vision rooted in the moral imagination of our traditions and in the lived experience of millions around the world. It is already being enacted by collaboratives of religious and spiritual leaders, scientists, artists, activists, and everyday citizens who believe that another world is not only possible, but necessary.

The Invitation

The case for Sacred Love is not an argument to be won. It is a call to remembrance — a call to reawaken the dream of wholeness that lives in each of us. It is an invitation to walk a path, in our own way, toward a deeper experience of the Sacred and a renewed commitment to the flourishing of all.

You don’t have to share a single tradition or belief system to join. Sacred Mystery meets each of us where we are. The only requirement is a willingness to love.

And that, in the end, is the most powerful idea of all.