How to measure progress in the 21st century?

A quote from Thomas Moore’s book, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, leads Nate Bettger to contemplate, "The marks of a progressing civilization". He includes Moore’s view, "An enchanted ecology comes into being when our concern for the environment goes beyond materialistic elements in nature and culture: to children rather than machines, trees rather than excessive paper products, and home rather than shelter."

Bettger asks, "What does our society claim as proof of our progression? Happiness is something more than self-satisfied, self-interested, and self-serving. It something greater than an innocent or unaware naivety." He is working to build "relationships in Bend, Central Oregon, and across the United States to connect people to what is happening in an emerging and evolving paradigm and with those who are seeking to follow God and live more authentically in the transforming presence of the divine."