Will The Inner Development Goals shape a new world?
The Inner Development Goals (IDGs), a brandnew framework to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was launched in Stockholm. In this article I try to show how they can be used in our daily life and I evaluate their usability for a transformation to a truly sustainable world. Concluding that especially in the visionary part future awareness is missing and should come from the future: youth.
The journey is the destination
It took me four days of travel by train and ferry to visit the first Inner Development Goals summit in Stockholm. I was one of the few people that avoided flying to visit a summit on how to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Five categories contain twenty-three skills or qualities that, if internally developed by us humans, will help us reach the SDGs, aka become sustainable. My journey started with IDG-goal #innercompass that told me taking a flight to a conference, which intention is to reach sustainability, was a no-go.
I love water, and following that love (#followlove not an IDG yet, but maybe important. The skill to listen to your own Yes’s and No’s). My ‘No’ on 17 hours train and my ‘Yes’ on boats, let me to #StenaLine that later appeared to be one of the sponsors of the IDG’s. With #criticalthinking I investigated the sustainability of this company. Since Stena Line is seriously committed to sustainability in their primary process. Besides that I just felt this was right: #innerknowing (the ability to know without reasoning). I left in a very good mood, in a high vibration. I would call this IDG #energymanagement: the amount and quality of energy. On my way to Stockholm I set my energy towards my intention (#intentionalliving). My intention was to find out what my role could be in relation to the Inner Development Goals, and to connect with like-minded people. So I had an open, soft and cheerful, easy connecting energy, but that would change halfway the morning.
Are the IDGs actually lived, or just another bullet point?
During the event I felt a deep #appreciation for some speakers. The first one was Johan Rockström (Potsdam institute for Climate impact) who emphasized the sense of urgency with his complex scientific slides of doom. Still I felt appreciation because he has been telling his fact-based story since more than a decade, and thanks to him and his colleagues we are able to even talk about SDGs or IDGs . Maybe the lack of #optimism made us feel depressed, but he certainly showed us #perseverance on the matter. I sent him my #gratitude from the upper seats in the Concert Hall. Aftab Omer (Meridian University) led us to a deeper experience with his poems and reflections. His unspoken Weltschmerz #connected with mine. Renée Lertzmann got my gratitude and respect for being a successful pioneer and showing us her feelings on stage. I felt a deep respect for Antonia Eriksson’s #courage and #creativity that came to us via her spoken words. Curiously she got the biggest applause of all. Curious because I deducted using #sensemaking skills that her performances were not truly seen as part of the story, since she wasn’t asked for a comment afterwards, as were the (other) speakers.
It was during Phoebe Tickell’s (Moral Imaginations) “imagination” that my mood went from light to heavy and I was deeply touched. I was asked by the lady next to me – who in the imagination lived seven generations ahead – ‘How is it to live in a time where just a few people have almost all the money while a lot of people live at the same time in poverty?‘ ‘What is it like to live on earth where almost all resources are depleted and still you went on living, you weren’t able to stop it...?’ Tears ran down my cheeks. I realized that I don’t understand the world I am living in, it is like I don’t belong. I don’t get this harshness, this selfishness and I have felt like this my whole life. After the imagination we hugged, and we connected on how we found some incongruencies, #integrity-and-authenticity at the summit. So far we were the only two that had made the decision to travel low-emission. We were quite sure that speakers from the USA and Africa haven’t used trains and sailing ships to get to Stockholm. A funny incident revealed another incongruency when by accident I tried to enter the VIP-room, I was kindly sent away by gala-dress wearing panel-moderator Asa Jarskog (Inner Development Goals). We were wondering if the #inclusive mindset and intercultural competence is actually felt, or just another bullet point in the category Collaborating. I think it was Jennifer Garvey Berger (Harvard University) that most successfully integrated the IDG’s with her own work, I appreciated that extra effort. She also recognized transparency as an underlying value for #courage; using transparency on your feelings/thoughts in a relationship helps to speak up. Which I had to do a few moments later.
Be the change... the biggest challenge
When moderator Katharina Moser suggested that a movie about Costa Rica would convince us to visit the country, something snapped inside of me. I confronted her (in front of 700 people) that we need to #be-the-change-we-want-to-see-in-the-world. I spoke from my heart and she received the message at heart-level with #empathy-and-compassion. Despite her slip of the tongue, I felt she deserved my expressed #gratitude for her great work during the whole day. So I connected with her one-to-one afterwards. My #humility and her #openness and learning mindset and #vulnerability made it an impactful connection. I am sure that her #creativity and #optimism contributed to the joy and good vibes of the event.
Old and new connected by a long chain of people
As for my intentions… my role became clearer: I want to look further into the future than most and not be limited by existing ways of doing things. Old and new will be connected and that will be a long chain of different people. I might not be able to connect with every single person, but I can certainly be part of that chain.
Conclusion: only future consciousness can create a different future
The IDGs potentially can be a firm stepping stone that can make a lot of ripples on all earthy waters. It has a solid base in science and business. The summit was visited by 700+ people physically and 4.000 digitally in over 60 countries. The speakers, moderators and contributors are all people of prestige, with large networks. And maybe most importantly: the IDGs give us a common language and a global framework to refer to and will be available to anyone (open source). The manifesting capability (category Acting) is definitely high. However if the content is not truly innovative, build by a higher awareness, than the IDG framework is seriously at risk of becoming the next greenwashing tool.
But how does an eternally sustainable world look and feel like? What values are paramount and which current values need to be transformed? Without long-term orientation and visioning we cannot see the perspective we are all working towards. I feel if the IDGs would start from the end, more different ways would open up to reach their goal. But where do we find that future consciousness? How can caterpillars create a tool that will change the world into a butterfly-paradise? We need butterflies to show us where to look for; they are at the very futury end of the long chain. At the startingpoint. If the word consciousness is too vague for you; google on scientists like Philip Goff and Cristiane Morais Smith.
If my words resonate with you, please connect, leave a message, let us all know your ideas, findings, feelings. Everybody is welcome, and I specifically invite young people (adolescents, young adults) to connect if my words feel as truth. We need you. We need your bright and pure minds, we need your consciousness to shape your future with support of the transforming caterpillars (thanks to Robert Kegan). If you are born as a butterfly, you should fly. The light is above you.
Next blog: money/time/power
Next time I will write about my ideas on three ‘made-up’ constructs: money, time and power.
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