Spirituality

  • 55% said they had experienced a sense of the sacred in everything around them and had perceived everything as spiritually connected.
  • 95% said they believe in God or a higher spiritual consciousness, and 85% "strongly agreed."
  • 83% agreed that whether we recognize it or not, we all just want to connect to God or a higher spiritual consciousness, and 49% "strongly agreed."
  • 96% believed it is important that we attend to our own spiritual growth, and 71% "strongly agreed."
  • 86% felt a need to experience spiritual growth.
  • 33% agreed that they feel their spiritual needs are not currently being met.
  • 61% say that religion and spirituality are not the same.
  • Technology
  • Only 46% were optimistic that technology will help foster trust by increasing communication.
  • Only 37% believed that technology will take care of the environmental problems we face today.

Leadership ethics and values

  • 82% preferred that politicians hold the same moral and ethical values as they do.
  • 64% preferred that politicians hold higher moral and ethical values than they do.
  • 85% believed that the more information we have at our fingertips, the better our lives will be.

These indicators offer an inkling of the tremendous reservoir of core values and aspirations countless numbers of Americans share in common. These extraordinary findings clearly validate the intimation that within our vast diversity as a society and a culture, we are fundamentally interconnected to a degree previously unacknowledged. With this new perspective, the ramifications and possibilities are heartening as we appraise our current situations in the myriad arenas impacting our daily lives.

Open acknowledgement of our core values and higher aspirations can allow humanity to be more compassionate toward itself as it seeks to create something positive for its future. With a greater awareness of these fundamental principles, we can resolutely choose to end harmful, old practices and create something new, something that serves and nourishes our future selves, and something that will also serve us in the present.