The Added Value of Spirituality in Reconnecting to the Self, Others, and Nature in Higher Education

Reforming education and especially higher education for sustainable development (ESD) has been of interest and called for by several scholars and educational practitioners in recent years. Sustainability efforts can not solely be achieved through teaching cognitive competencies; it requires a whole-systems approach to sustainability through holistic forms of education. Infusing ESD with spiritual teachings can address a gap of educating inner realms that are often disregarded in sustainability work. Subsequently, they play a vital role in value-based behaviour representing regeneration and thrivability on multiple levels. Several implied benefits were established within this qualitative, explorative research. Spiritual engagements allow people to tap into an enhanced consciousness that can include awareness and reflective practices, engagement with philosophical traditions, as well as eco-connective and somatic practices. However, the successful integration of spirituality into education requires shifts in individual and organisational attitudes towards new and alternative educational methods and a reassessment of prevalent educational and socio-cultural systems including interpersonal qualities of educators and other individuals involved. The marginalisation of non-Western and non-scientific approaches within higher education pose one of the main challenges to this. Informing Western ESD with alternative narratives, including spiritually informed teachings, was identified to be of a particular value, especially when spiritual explorations are designed as an optional, adaptive, and contextual component within educational frameworks. Hence spirituality can be a successful tool within transformative sustainability learning (TSL) by influencing inner realms and their subsequent manifestation in value-based behaviour.