A Brief History of Kosmos Associates, Inc.

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. 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 similar concerns: Patricia Mische, founder of Global Education Associates, and Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, of the World Bank. We were a group of professionals in a variety of fields, including politics, economics, development, education, psychology and religion; we were from different continents and religious backgrounds.

Four of us participated in a conference at Antioch College where we combined our various perspectives on international affairs with spiritual values to great enthusiasm. Later Abdul Aziz Said from the American University joined with us as we founded the Journal of 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 2015 the evolving subtitle of Kosmos was changed to “Global Transformation in Harmony with All Life.”