The next frontier of sustainability is the human being.

In Eric Anthony Jones's work, Human Sustainability means preserving human dignity and developing the capacities within the human being. It asks whether people can keep their agency, judgment and relationships as technologies and systems grow more powerful. Deloitte uses the same term for what organizations create for people; Eric's use begins with the person.

Eric Anthony Jones, known publicly as Ruler In Peace™, is the founder of The Peacemakers Movement™. The Home page states his thesis:

"Human Sustainability means preserving human dignity and developing the capacities within the human being. The work begins with Morning Fire™, a daily practice."

— Eric Anthony Jones

The About page gives the fuller form:

"Human Sustainability means preserving human dignity and developing the capacities that help us exercise agency, discern truth, regulate ourselves, make moral choices, and sustain meaningful relationships."

— Eric Anthony Jones

"The question is not simply whether humanity can survive technological change. It is whether we can preserve our humanity through that change—and remain capable of peace when peace becomes difficult."

— Eric Anthony Jones

"Before we ask a human being to lead, decide, create, relate, or govern increasingly powerful tools and systems, there is a more immediate question: what condition is the human being in?"

— Eric Anthony Jones

In an unpublished reflection, Eric asks the question underneath the whole idea: "What are we sustaining if the human being inside the system becomes unsustainable?" And: "What happens when something created to serve human beings becomes so important that the human being becomes secondary to the thing?"

The term "human sustainability" is also used in workplace research. Deloitte's 2024 Global Human Capital Trends report defines it as "the degree to which the organization creates value for people as human beings, leaving them with greater health and well-being, stronger skills and greater employability, good jobs, opportunities for advancement, progress toward equity, increased belonging, and heightened connection to purpose." That definition measures what an organization creates for people.

Eric's use starts with the person: dignity, and the capacities a human being can develop. The Home page says: "Human capacity is not merely something to measure. It is something we can develop." The two uses are compatible, but they ask different questions. Eric does not claim ownership of the term.

Human Sustainability is not a claim that inner work fixes outer hardship. Eric's reflection is direct about it:

"The fact that a hungry person can still love does not make hunger acceptable."

— Eric Anthony Jones

"Human resilience should never become evidence that unjust conditions do not need to change."

— Eric Anthony Jones

"We must improve the conditions in which human beings live while refusing to reduce human beings to their conditions."

— Eric Anthony Jones

"I do not want to tell somebody struggling to survive that the answer is Morning Fire™."

— Eric Anthony Jones

Self-determination research supports looking at both sides. Ryan and Deci (2000) argue that people's growth and well-being depend on social conditions that support their needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness.

Across The Peacemaker's Passage™, Eric is examining nine human capacities: "mindful awareness, regulation, perception, truthfulness, dignity, judgment, relationship, agency, and contribution." He describes them as an inquiry in development, not a finished taxonomy.

The Home page names the starting point: Morning Fire™, a daily practice and structured 30-day reset ($197 one-time enrollment). The weekly inquiry continues in REMAIN CAPABLE — Weekly Intelligence.

Deloitte's 2024 definition measures the value an organization creates for people. Eric Anthony Jones's use begins with the person: preserving human dignity and developing capacities such as agency, truthfulness, regulation and judgment.

Human Sustainability does not mean telling people who are struggling to practice harder. Eric writes: "The fact that a hungry person can still love does not make hunger acceptable." Conditions must improve, without reducing people to their conditions.

On the Home page: "The work begins with Morning Fire™, a daily practice." Morning Fire™ is a structured 30-day reset with a $197 one-time enrollment.

Whether we can preserve our humanity through change, and remain capable of peace when peace becomes difficult, is the question REMAIN CAPABLE — Weekly Intelligence takes up each week. Issue 001 is free to read before you decide whether to become a Founding Reader ($5 a month).