Overview

Dr. Sfeir-Younis’s work on education challenges the dominant paradigm that treats learning as job preparation and students as economic units. Beginning with his 2003 address to the XIII Education World Congress on spiritual dimensions of education, he has argued that true education must cultivate consciousness, compassion, and planetary citizenship—not merely produce workers for the marketplace. His provocative question “Is Education the Solution or the Problem?” exposes how universities have become sources of spiritual poverty rather than human liberation.

Through decades of teaching students from Chile to Nepal, he demonstrates that sustainable development requires conscious leadership—young people who understand their role in collective transformation, not individual advancement. His frameworks for “greening Chilean schools,” conscious sustainability leadership, and ecology for children show that education must begin with self-knowledge, connection to nature, and understanding of interdependence.

His work with incarcerated youth teaching meditation, his messages to students about “why am I a student,” and his 2024 counsel for youth of the new millennium articulate a radical vision: education as awakening, not indoctrination. True transformation requires not more degrees but deeper wisdom, not competitive individualism but collaborative consciousness, not separation from Earth but reunion with all life.

Key Publications & Teachings

• Exploring the Spiritual Dimensions of Education in this New Millennium (2003, XIII Education World Congress) – Foundational call for consciousness-centered education
• Universidades de Hoy: Fuente de Pobreza Espiritual (2006) – Today’s universities: Source of spiritual poverty—critique of commodified education
• Education For World Peace: Contributor or Deterrent? (2006) – Examining whether education builds peace or perpetuates violence
• Educación, economía ambiental y espiritualidad (2009) – Education, environmental economics, and spirituality—integrated approach
• Development as Capacity Building / Sustainable Development Leadership (2009) – Leadership education for sustainability transformation
• ¿Es la Educación la solución o el problema? (2014) – Is education the solution or the problem? Packed auditorium lecture
• Conciencia y autogestión en los líderes de hoy (2014) – Consciousness and self-management in today’s leaders
• Enverdeciendo los Colegios de Chile (2015) – Greening Chilean schools—environmental education integration
• La Sustentabilidad, una Responsabilidad Planetaria de los Jóvenes (2015) – Sustainability: Youth’s planetary responsibility
• La Espiritualidad en la Educación (2017) – Spirituality in education—systematic framework
• Entender que estamos en un mundo colectivo es la esencia de la educación del siglo XXI (2017) – Understanding we are in collective world is essence of 21st century education
• Técnicas de Meditación y Concentración para adolescentes (2018) – Meditation and concentration techniques for adolescents
• La Importancia de La Geografía en Un Currículo Educativo (2019) – Importance of geography in educational curriculum—connecting to place
• Conscious Sustainability Leadership: A New Paradigm For Next Generation Leaders (2020) – Comprehensive leadership education framework
• Ecología Para Niños (2021) – Ecology for children—age-appropriate environmental education
• Sustainability Initiatives for Management Education: A Roadmap for Institutional Integration (2022) – Transforming business education
• Spiritual Dimensions of 21st Century Leaders (2023) – Leadership education centered on consciousness
• Conscious Education for Social and Spiritual Responsibility (2024) – Comprehensive framework for transformative education
• Consejo Para Los Jóvenes de Este Nuevo Milenio (2024) – Counsel for youth of the new millennium

Continue your journey through Dr. Sfeir-Younis’s work