Being, Belonging, Beyond: Bringing the sacred to a turbulent world with Sue Philips of Sacred Design labs

As we hover on the edge of the Great Turning, how can we find a spiritual practice that draws from the roots of who we are and yet provides the sustenance we need to help us navigate our changing world? Sue Philips of Sacred Design Labs explores the possibilities.  

Sacred Design Lab is a soul-centred research and development lab that explores and interprets the changing landscape of spiritual and community life. The Lab collaborates with divinely restless, intellectually curious and entrepreneurially practical leaders to help design and prototype the spiritual communities and infrastructure of the future, interpreting ancient best practice in the service of transformation. 

Sue Philips, one of the co-founders of the Lab says of herself that, 'I am relentlessly curious about liberating ancient wisdom to solve complex problems. I’m passionate about inspiring spiritual flourishing, designing for meaning making, and witnessing the transformation that happens when people roam around in what matters most.

My wife and I share our 30-minute “family chapel” every morning, to remember who we want to be and what we care about, and to cultivate imagination for “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.”1

I’m part business strategist, part design geek, and part monastic. On any given day I might read liberation theology, human-centered design briefs, or business school case studies. Ideally all of them side by side. I graduated from Colgate University and the Episcopal Divinity School, and taught at Harvard Divinity School, where I am a Ministry Innovation Fellow. My wife and I live in Tacoma, WA with whichever of our five children is passing through.'

As we hover on the edge of the Great Turning, increasingly, we seek a spiritual foundation that is fit for purpose in the twenty-first century. In this week's podcast, we discuss how that might come about, how we might recognise broad spiritual foundations that are universal and useful to support our connection with a numinous world.

Links:

Sacred Design Lab: https://sacred.design