ABOUT · OUR JOURNEY
A relational sensemaking journey.
Photo: Tsyécelcten, Mount Robson, snow-capped above a forest and open meadow.
From December 2025 to September 2026, we listened and learned alongside 200+ people, community gatherings, and more-than-human friends.
Here is what we carried, where we went, and what we heard.
THE QUESTIONS WE CARRY
We began with questions at the United Nations.
Why does Love feel taboo in our most powerful systems? What does it mean to Love those we will never meet? Eleven questions started this journey. Turn them over slowly; they still sit at the heart of our work.
Explore the questionsA RELATIONAL SENSEMAKING JOURNEY
For ten months, we listened.
From December 2025 to September 2026, we travelled by car to learn from people, community gatherings, national and international learning spaces, and more-than-human friends: trees, mountains, ocean, bison, and birds.
200+
People we listened and learned alongside
107
one-to-one dialogues
11
Community Sharing Circles
8
Provinces travelled by car
Where we gathered, and what we asked
In each circle, we asked:
- What does Sacred Love, as action, mean?
- Where does it show up in our communities and systems?
- If Sacred Love were our organizing principle 10 years from now, what would community look, sound, smell, taste and feel like?
- What should the principles and practices of a pooled fund for Sacred Love be?
Circles were gathered in:
- Toronto
- Edmonton
- Calgary
- Lethbridge
- Saskatoon
- St. John’s
- Kentville
- Charlottetown
- Souris
- Twice virtually
We learned from activists, artists, teachers, social workers, scientists, faith and spiritual leaders, entrepreneurs, policy leaders, philanthropic and financial advisors, foundation executives, high-net-worth-individuals, and many more.
They replied, ‘Move your Self.’”
WHAT WE HEARD
Eight themes of what people and the land told us.
Many are doing spiritual work, but much of it remains fragmented, invisible, and under-resourced.
There are push-and-pull factors in naming Love and the sacred.
I understand why there might be fear with speaking openly about faith, or using the word ‘love.’ But, we cannot allow [extremists] to corrupt the intention of religion and the teachings on Love.
Understandings of Love are contracted by dominant norms, and expanded through dialogue.
…[a moment with my child] became an opportunity for me to more deeply express ‘what does love look like here’ with an intentionality that I may have otherwise not leaned into… if not for today’s discussion.
Embedding Love for systems change in philanthropy needs to be intentional.
How might we create a ritual to normalize grieving something that didn’t work? How might we bear the unbearable together, in pursuit of deepening trust with one another?
Reclaiming who is, and who can be, a philanthropist is essential for justice and liberation.
If we want ‘shared sacred flourishing’ or ‘love’ or ‘a sacred worldview’ to come to be… focus more on helping everyone realize that they are, or can be, a philanthropist. It realizes agency, power, and accountability for everyone.
Philanthropy must embody and practice the values it seeks to cultivate.
How might we find the courage to question our own biases and assumptions, and dissolve our ego?
There is appetite for Love and the sacred in the sector.
It is so incredible to be in circle with all of you and to talk about love.
Nature is a teacher for the philanthropic sector.
Once nearly extinct from these lands, the presence of the bison is now strongly felt in this Saskatoon sanctuary. Ancient beings, newly returned. A living reminder that what is emerging may sometimes be what is ancient, reawakening.
GO DEEPER
This page is a beginning. The full picture lives in our position paper.
Our paper holds the full glossary of terms, rationale and evidence for spiritual solutions, why Canada is ready, methods, findings, a model for investing in Love, local and national organizations who do Love-based work, and 14 recommendations for embedding Love into the philanthropic sector for systems change.