The moment everything changed… was it really just one moment when everything changed? Or was it a silent, invisible struggle—questioning, reflecting, enduring, shifting to try to make everything work—that finally led to the critical moment when the changes became visible and our lives were transformed forever? Many of us have experienced the uncertainty and turbulence that precede transformative shifts of consciousness in our personal lives.

Now we are collectively experiencing an extraordinary moment of history, when the natural cycles of transformation are enveloping the collective consciousness of the whole world, creating a momentous global shift.

The evolutionary process—generator of all cultures, worlds and life forms—has produced extraordinary reorganizations of life from the beginning of time. Scientists have explored the rise and fall of civilizations as they reached the tipping point of their own demise or exploded into flourishing new eras. Explorers of interior worlds have long anticipated the transformation of civilization as a natural part of evolution and human progress as we move toward harmony, cooperation and wholeness.

The global financial crisis is but a symptom, heralding an evolutionary change as big as the transition from the agricultural era to the industrial era; as mind-changing as the transition from scientific materialism, where wholes are reduced to parts, to a search for integral wholeness. It is the upcoming collapse that will lead to new values, mindsets and skillful ways to govern, create economic value and come together as a world community.

These critical times offer unprecedented opportunities to make the aspirations of billions a reality—where the quality of life matters, where there is human solidarity, reverence for nature and moral leadership—and a world of hope for each and every living being. If ever there was a time for searching deep within to generate new ideas and to be flexible and resilient, it is now.

The paradox is that just when old ways of doing things no longer work, we are discovering even greater capacities and genuine hope and creativity are bursting forth to bring in the new.

But birthing planetary civilization will not be easy. For some it will engender rage and despair. On a global level it will mean failed states increasing the potential for violence. In an era of seamless global commerce, communication and culture, we must seize the moment and offer a new way of life that is so attractive that people will find it more desirable and compelling than the old and familiar.

In this issue of Kosmos we invited contributions from thoughtful leaders on the three levels in which this transitional period impacts our lives: personal, cultural and global. We also invited pioneers to inform and engage our readers in innovative changes in education, business, economics, media, religion and culture. Iraqi and Aboriginal artists joined us to bring  their stories and aesthetic beauty. The beauty they have offered softens human consciousness and evokes the receptiveness needed for transformation.

James Quilligan is continuing a series of articles introducing the global commons with a groundbreaking article on the commons and integral capital. And Don Beck offers the last piece of a completed series of three articles published in Kosmos on global change from an integral spiral dynamics perspective.

We present the new, hopeful, emergent designs that are crafting planetary civilization, fulfilling the aspirations of every world citizen towards human security, economic prosperity, social justice, peace and solidarity.

The good news is that millions are awakening and are already engaged in the effort. Where corporate states are not working, global commons organizations are rising to claim their power to build a sustainable future for all humanity, to preserve our ecological web, and return to basic values. We, the people, are designing new institutions that reflect the aspirations of each and every world citizen.

You will find these forerunners of the new civilization in every issue of Kosmos.