BUILDING WORLD COMMUNITY
September 21: International Day of Peace
The UN General Assembly has designated September 21 as the International Day of Peace. Millions from around the world are organizing to create practical acts of peace, while nations are called to lay down arms on that day. Last year more than 3500 events took place in 200 countries. This is the first official global celebration or holiday for all humanity. www.internationaldayofpeace.org
The Power of Film to Bring Humanity Together
On Pangea Day, May 10, 2008 sites in New York City, Rio, London, Dharamsala, Cairo, Jerusalem, and Kigali will be videoconferenced live to produce a 4-hour program of powerful films, visionary speakers, and uplifting music. The program will be broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones. Imagine watching the same film on the same day with people from around the world. Imagine a film that carries stories of what makes ordinary people laugh and cry. Imagine the power of images to bring humanity together. To be involved see www.pangeaday.org
Silent Meditations for Peace
Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, founder of The Zambuling Institute for Human Transformation and member of the Advisory Board of Kosmos, is organizing silent meditations in many cities around the world. The first one took place in Portugal. The main focus of these events is meditation, contemplation, prayer, or simply silence, aiming one’s intention at world peace. It is through the power and fullness of collective silence that the group will be able to reach every corner of the planet, eliminate violence, and open the door for world peace.
Kosmos Associates is a partner in the silent meditation in Washington, D.C. on the International Day of Peace, when Kosmos’ editor will serve as moderator for this event at the National Press Club.
www.silentpeacemeditation.com
The World Peace Prayer Society together with The Club of Budapest are executive directors of the Global Peace Meditation and Prayer Day, which launched the first event on May 20th with hundred of thousands of participants worldwide. The next Global Peace Meditation and Prayer Day is scheduled for December 22nd.
www.globalpeacemeditationprayerday.org
Universal Forum of Cultures, 2007
Kosmos will participate in the second Universal Forum of Cultures (Monterrey, 2007) with the World Wisdom Council of the Club of Budapest. UNESCO is the main partner with the Monterrey Foundation, 2007. Barcelona hosted the first Universal Forum of cultures in 2004; over 3 million visitors attended. Organized with and for civil society, the Forum will be held from 20 September 2007 to 8 December 2007. Its key themes are cultural diversity, sustainability, peace and knowledge.
United Nations DPI/NGO Conference
In September, 2007 more than 2,500 representatives of departments of public information (DPIs) non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other civil society organizations from more than 90 countries gathered at the UN in New York for the sixtieth Annual DPI/NGO Conference. Civil society organizations consider this the most important time of the year to network and establish links with global citizens from 191 countries. The selection of the theme is significant because it determines the issue upon which millions will focus during the year.
This year’s theme is climate change and its profound and decisive impact on human well-being. Several members of the Advisory Board of Kosmos will present at the Conference, which aims to provide the necessary knowledge and inspiration for participants to carry their efforts forward. The Conference offers a solutions-oriented approach designed to encourage participants to create individual action plans to address this global challenge.
Circles of Transformation
Circles of global citizens who understand their responsibility for shaping the new sustainable global civilization with compassion are proliferating in every country. Some meet to discuss current events, while others discuss videos they view together. Deepak Chopra and Diane Williams have gathered a circle of global leaders (including Kosmos) together to network and share their skills. The Brahma Kumaris hold seminal gatherings on the Call of the Times, facilitated by such luminaries as Peter Senge. Kosmos will participate in their up-coming Hope Summit for the Media this fall. The Fetzer Foundation is a key promoter of an important trend of the times: gatherings of small circles of people for participatory dialogues on spiritual and global topics, including collective responsibility for the common good.
Wise Elders Form Global Alliance
In July 2007 an extraordinary gathering of global elders of individual and collective wisdom joined Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg to form an alliance dedicated to finding solutions to global problems.
The members included Desmond Tutu, South African Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town; Jimmy Carter, former U.S. President; Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary General; Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland; and Mohammed Yunus, Nobel laureate and founder of the Green Bank in Bangladesh. British billionaire Richard Branson and rock star Peter Gabriel, who conceived the idea, gathered enough star power to create this major forum for seeking wisdom.
The elders who form this promising alliance are not restricted by political, economic, or geographic constraints. They are global citizens of moral courage. But most of all they are elders whom the world trusts.
TOWARDS DEMOCRATIC GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
Call for UN Parliamentary Assembly
“If the process of democratization does not move forward at the international level, democracy at the level of the nation-state will also diminish,” said former United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali as he commented on the recent launch of a campaign for the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. He added, “The establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations has become an indispensable step to achieve democratic control of globalization.”
The campaign, which advocates citizen representation at the United Nations, was launched in ten countries on five continents in the spring of 2007.
According to the initiators, “We are convinced that in order to cope with major challenges such as social disparity, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the threat of terrorism or the endangerment of global ecosystems, all human beings must engage in collaborative efforts.
“To ensure international cooperation, secure the acceptance and enhance the legitimacy of the United Nations, and strengthen its capacity to act, people must be more effectively and directly included into the activities of the United Nations and its international organizations…. We therefore recommend a gradual implementation of democratic participation and representation on the global level.”
It is time to hear the voice of the people in global affairs to complement those of governments. Unfortunately, there is lack of support for the UN in the USA, and thus few signatories. This is primarily caused by misrepresentation by officials and the media of the essential role the UN plays in all areas of global concern, and as the magnet that is attracting a global citizen movement.
NEW MEDIA EXPANDS GLOBAL/ KOSMIC UNDERSTANDING
The Encyclopedia of Earth
In September, 2006 Google launched the Encyclopedia of Earth as a free and comprehensive web-based encyclopedia intended for a general audience. Content spans the physical, biological, economical, and social aspects of all environmental topics, with particular emphasis on the interactions among society and the natural spheres of the Earth.
The Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE) is being created and updated by an international collaboration of scientists and other experts in all fields related to the environment via a specially adapted version of the same open-source software platform used by Wikipedia.
In August, 2007 it launched Google Sky, which aims to bring the further reaches of the kosmos into living rooms while fostering a new understanding of the universe.
Unlike other wikis, access to the Encyclopedia’s wiki is restricted to approved experts. These expert contributors then review and approve all content prior to publishing it at the free public site. www.eoearth.org
International Society for Digital Earth
Digital Earth is a visionary concept, popularized by former US Vice President Al Gore, for the virtual and 3-D representation of the Earth that is spatially referenced and interconnected with digital knowledge archives from around the planet. It contains vast amounts of scientific, natural, and cultural information for describing and understanding the Earth, its systems, and human activities.
The Digital Earth vision embraces a philosophy that any citizen of the planet, linked through the Internet, should be able to access freely a virtual world of information and knowledge resources. This philosophy supports the dream of ubiquitous education for the people of the planet. A rich convergence of technological advances, active visionaries, and recognition of the paramount need for humans to understand better the Earth and its systems comprises the history of this dynamic and exciting enterprise. Five international conferences on Digital Earth have been held in China and around the world. www.isde5.org
Free software is now available through Google to travel virtually anywhere on the earth and see the details of the terrain.
Already non-profits are getting on board to publicize their work by visually displaying the fruits of their efforts.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is showing detailed views of the human atrocities in Darfur, down to the details of villages in flames. With a click, donations can be offered to the cause.
The UN Environment Program is also using this resource to show the urgency of action needed in environmental disasters. Now one can visit and see with one’s own eyes more than what words can describe. http://earth.google.com
Wiser Earth Website A Project of Natural Capital Institute - Paul Hawken
“The social justice movement, environmental movement and indigenous movements are intertwining and morphing, and are becoming the largest social movement in the history of the world. They are, in essence, humanity’s immune response to political corruption, economic disease, and ecological degradation.
“It is the first time a movement understands that honoring the web of life is integral to addressing poverty, violence, and oppression. There are still separate movements, though. There is an environmental movement and there is a social justice movement. They are definitely coming closer, but they are not yet one.
“Globally, tens of millions are passionate to confront despair and incalculable odds to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. Now that we are so many, under so many banners, it will soon be time to come together under one flag that will force government to look after the world we love rather than looking after the profits and comforts of a few.”
Take a look at www.wiserearth.org and join the community that is addressing the central issues of the day: climate change, poverty, peace, water, hunger, social justice, human rights and more.
INTEGRAL GOES GLOBAL
At the invitation of the Values Caucus at the UN, Dr. Don Beck and Elza Malouf recently presented a Spiral Dynamics Integral Global Action Plan to a standing- room-only crowd. They demonstrated how the integral framework examines deep cultural forces and tracks perceptual processes that detect deep underlying mindsets and motives.
Dr Beck revealed his integral design to support the UN's global work, offering a Five Fold Strategy that systematically furthers the emergence of cultures and nations. He explained, "The Master code has to accommodate bands, clans, tribes, empires, nations-cultures, enterprises, geo-tribes, and a host of other value-systems and memetic priorities. Likewise, it must integrate the new knowledge on change and transformation that is seriously lacking in all other developmental models."
Dr. Beck’s strategy for the UN Global Action Plan: 1) Uncover the models and processes for global emergence through stages and sequences of development. 2) Create monitoring research technology to detect the global Value Memetic contours and early warning signs of danger. 3) Construct solutions that address the needs, wants and aspirations of people in different Value Memetic zones. 4) Overlay the many dimensions of the dynamics of change onto this data. 5) Design a macro-strategy for introducing superordinate goals into global leadership structures and decision-making domains.
Dr. Beck and Malouf then presented the practical application of the design to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. For the last two years they have been working with Palestinian leaders and young women and men to construct a scaffolding of solutions that are tailored to the various value-systems in Palestinian culture. They are designing the vision for Fatah 21with leaders from the Third Generation that holds the promise of uniting Fatah around shared values and goals and uniting the Palestinian people around the most important superordinate goal—a successful Palestinian State. From Fatah 21 to Palestine 21.
www.CHEMideast.com
--from a report by Elza Malouf
The application of the integral principles of Spiral Dynamics are now being applied in large-scale efforts in Mexico, Russia, Singapore, and other countries–while the Integral theory of Ken Wilber spreads worldwide and Kosmos Journal is disseminated on the Silk Road.
Recently Terry Patten of the Integral Institute met with spiritual leaders in Iran. He discovered a tremendous thirst for the integral worldview. One of these leaders, Muhammed Legenhausen, had already ordered all of Wilber’s books for his library. “Many young, smart, religious Muslims are interested in psychology and want to explore the interconnection of psychology and spirituality,” he said.
Others Patten met believed that the most effective way of improving relations between Iran and America was by entering into prayer together and doing so on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately, they were reluctant to implement this suggestion, as it would call too much attention to themselves.
HUMAN WELL-BEING AND PUBLIC POLICY
The Public Policy Development Office (PPDO), a new policy & research unit within the Government House in Bangkok, in partnership with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), held an international conference on Happiness and Public Policy in Bangkok in July 2007. Policy makers and civic leaders are intent on making human well-being the basis of a new development paradigm.
Since happiness is the ultimate goal of human beings, development paradigms need to reflect this goal. Economic prosperity is a material means for happiness, but development should be conceptualized also as an instrumental goal toward happiness. Higher levels of human happiness involve factors such as physical, mental, social and spiritual happiness. Public policy, therefore, plays a key role in improving conditions of happiness at all levels of society. Thus it is important that policy makers (as well as policy support units such as PPD) design a policy scheme for augmenting social happiness that measures quality of life and addresses the conditions fundamental to human physical and emotional well-being.
Thailand’s policy environment is now supportive of discussing and implementing public policies that hold happiness as a goal. Moreover, the concept of ‘sufficiency economy’ is now embraced by the current Thai government and supported by the Royal Family. The ‘sufficiency economy’ philosophy is a set of ethical and practical guidelines, locally implemented, that help navigate globalization through moderation, reason, and self-immunity as well as through knowledge and virtue.
GLOBAL PUBLIC OPINION
Key Findings of World Public Opinion
www.WorldPublicOpinion.org and Chicago Council on Global Affairs
On Globalization:
• Majorities around the world have a largely positive view of globalization and believe that international trade benefits national economies, companies, and consumers.
On Climate Change:
• There is widespread agreement that climate change is a pressing problem that poses a significant threat, though views differ on whether urgent, costly measures are needed.
On the United Nations:
• Large majorities approve of strengthening the United Nations by giving it the power to have its own standing peacekeeping force, regulate the international arms trade and investigate human rights abuses.
On US Leadership:
• Public opinion around the world rejects the idea that the United States should continue to be the preeminent world leader and prefer that it play a more cooperative role.
On China:
• Majorities around the world believe that the Chinese economy will someday grow to be as large as the US economy, but only a minority thinks this would be negative.
ACTING FROM WISDOM
What is The Most Important Global Security Issue?
According to Gareth Evans, President, International Crisis Group, those of us who want a rule-based international order must campaign for the UN Security Council to agree on guidelines for the use of force, depending upon the following five situations.
1) Whether the situation is prima facie serious enough to justify even the contemplation of force. 2) Whether the primary reason for the proposed attack is really the stated one and defensible as such. 3) Whether military action really is the last resort. 4) Whether the nature of the force proposed is proportional to the harm being stopped or averted. 5) The balance of consequences: whether the proposed coercive military intervention will do more harm than good.
