Mission of Kosmos Associates, Inc.
Note: This text is also available in Spanish.KOSMOS is an ancient Greek term meaning the harmony and beauty of the universe wherein all parts have their place within the Whole. It signifies humanity’s alignment with the unchanging ground of being and the evolutionary organic forces of Nature. The integral approach of Kosmos Associates embraces body, mind, soul and spirit evolving in consciousness, cultures, worldviews, institutions and nations toward a new civilization.
The mission of Kosmos Associates, Inc. is to inform, inspire and engage individual and collective participation in a global shift of a higher-order consciousness, and in the transformation of our political, economic, cultural and social structures to reflect this shift. We endeavor to do this through new ways of thinking about our commonality and diversity, and through transforming and connecting the objective world of global realities and the inner world of spiritual values.
We are the first generation called to co-create a sustainable and compassionate global civilization and world community. The call has become urgent as we awaken to the radical choice: either extinction or survival with a more enlightened consciousness. We believe that the leading edge, evolutionary and inclusive integral worldview is the most comprehensive approach to personal, cultural and global transformation today, and holds the promise of shaping our emerging global civilization in a direction worthy of human dignity.
Plan of Action
- Expand visions of the possible through responding to the evolutionary impulse toward a new global civilization.
- Sensitize the heart through transformational art.
- Engage globally by co-creating the new world architecture and world community.
- Publish Kosmos Journal | An Integral Approach to Global Awakening
- Track leading edge ideas and events toward a new civilization and world community
- Co-Create International Civil Society
- Participate in The New Political Architecture Initiative and democratization of the United Nations
- Support the Earth Charter, International Day of Peace, and other global events
- Participate in global dialogues, meditations, salons, academia, partnerships and alliances
Venezuela National Symphony Orchestra
Goals
- Encourage inquiry into a shaping a planetary civilization attuned to nature and aligned with Kosmos.
- Elevate and deepen discourse and dialogue on global affairs
- Support cooperative international efforts that lead to the common good
- Deepen and strengthen the inner life and its interconnectedness to the whole
- Explore new forms of spirituality for a global era
- Deal with complexity through an Integral Worldview
- Encourage the growth of an informed Global Civil Society
- Enhance human solidarity through honoring cultural and developmental differences
Areas of Concern
- Global Agenda and Global Governance
- An Integral Worldview and Global Values
- Global Spirituality and Global Consciousness
- Global Civil Society and Global Activism
- Science and Technology
- Collective Consciousness
- Global Commons
History
In a sunny garden in Manhattan close to the United Nations, a small group met to share a common commitment to enhance the quality of life and the humanization of global relations. Among those present were Reverend Chung OK Lee, Head Minister of the Manhattan Won-Buddhist Temple and Co-President of World Conference on Religions and Peace and Nancy Roof, Co-Founder of the Values Caucus at the United Nations and later the Spiritual Caucus. We asked: What is the most pressing need of the world as we enter the 21st century? We were preparing to speak at the NGO conference in Korea that fall. Later we spent many more days together in the beauty of the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts to write and edit Visions for a New Civilization: Spiritual and Ethical Values for the New Millennium. We called ourselves Friends for the New Civilization. Later we presented the First Ethics Conference at the United Nations.
Gradually we found other colleagues with a similar concern for the welfare of our world: Patricia Mische, founder of Global Education Associates, and Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, of the World Bank. We were surprised to discover that our group represented a distinguished group of professionals in a variety of fields, including politics, economics, development, education, psychology and religion; that we were from different continents and civilizations: Europe, Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and North America; and that our religious backgrounds were diverse: Catholic and Protestant Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and the Perennial Philosophy. It was evident that race, nationality, religion and different fields of expertise presented no barriers to our coming together in common concern.
Four of us participated in a conference at Antioch College where we combined our various perspectives on international affairs with spiritual values to a resoundingly enthusiastic crowd. Later Abdul Aziz Said from the American University joined with us as we founded the Journal, Spirituality & Reality: New Perspectives on Global Issues. Nancy Roof has continued to expand the work of the Journal and its circulation as Editor in Chief since 2000 while others have contributed quality articles expressing the mission and goals of the work.
In June 2004 the Journal was renamed "Kosmos" with the subtitle, "An Integral Approach to Global Awakening" to more closely reflect the mission of Kosmos Associates Inc.
In 2009 the subtitle of Kosmos was changed to “The Journal for Global Citizens Creating the New Civilization.”
