Outlook on life and global trends

The course addresses and compares various spiritual and religious beliefs, both within the major world religions and among indigenous peoples and smaller communities. It describes and analyses comparisons between Western perspectives on worldviews and interpretations of knowledge and those expressed in non-Western societies. The course problematises how different beliefs and epistemologies influence people's behaviour and attitudes toward climate, environmental, and resource issues. It also explores societal trends in spirituality, both current and historical, and their connection to human psychological potential and development. The significance of how presence, connectedness, and states of consciousness can be used as tools in sustainability work is evaluated and assessed. The course includes various assignments involving self-reflection.