The Earth Charter
The Earth Charter
The Earth Charter Initiative is a global movement of organizations and individuals that embrace the Earth Charter and use it to guide the transition towards a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.
Preamble
We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.
Earth, Our Home
Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life. The forces of nature make existence a demanding and uncertain adventure, but Earth has provided the conditions essential to life’s evolution. The resilience of the community of life and the well-being of humanity depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters, and clean air. The global environment with its finite resources is a common concern of all peoples. The protection of Earth’s vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust.
The Global Situation
The dominant patterns of production and consumption are causing environmental devastation, the depletion of resources, and a massive extinction of species. Communities are being undermined. The benefits of development are not shared equitably and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Injustice, poverty, ignorance, and violent conflict are widespread and the cause of great suffering. An unprecedented rise in human population has overburdened ecological and social systems. The foundations of global security are threatened. These trends are perilous—but not inevitable.
The Challenges Ahead
The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life. Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living. We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more. We have the knowledge and technology to provide for all and to reduce our impacts on the environment. The emergence of a global civil society is creating new opportunities to build a democratic and humane world. Our environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges are interconnected, and together we can forge inclusive solutions.
Universal Responsibility
To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world. The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place in nature.
We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community. Therefore, together in hope we affirm the following interdependent principles for a sustainable way of life as a common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses, governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed.
PRINCIPLES
I. Respect and Care for the Community of Life
- Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.
- Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.
- Affirm faith in the inherent dignity of all human beings and in the intellectual, artistic, ethical, and spiritual potential of humanity.
- Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and love.
- Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people.
- Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to promote the common good.
- Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful.
- Ensure that communities at all levels guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms and provide everyone an opportunity to realize his or her full potential.
- Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.
- Secure Earth’s bounty and beauty for present and future generations.
- Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations.
- Transmit to future generations values, traditions, and institutions that support the long-term flourishing of Earth’s human and ecological communities.
In order to fulfill these four broad commitments, it is necessary to:
II. Ecological Integrity
- Protect and restore the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life.
- Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans and regulations that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral to all development initiatives.
- Establish and safeguard viable nature and biosphere reserves, including wild lands and marine areas, to protect Earth’s life support systems, maintain biodiversity, and preserve our natural heritage.
- Promote the recovery of endangered species and ecosystems.
- Control and eradicate non-native or genetically modified organisms harmful to native species and the environment, and prevent introduction of such harmful organisms.
- Manage the use of renewable resources such as water, soil, forest products, and marine life in ways that do not exceed rates of regeneration and that protect the health of ecosystems.
- Manage the extraction and use of non-renewable resources such as minerals and fossil fuels in ways that minimize depletion and cause no serious environmental damage.
- Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.
- Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive.
- Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a proposed activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm.
- Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities.
- Prevent pollution of any part of the environment and allow no build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous substances.
- Avoid military activities damaging to the environment.
- Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth’s regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.
- Reduce, reuse, and recycle the materials used in production and consumption systems, and ensure that residual waste can be assimilated by ecological systems.
- Act with restraint and efficiency when using energy, and rely increasingly on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.
- Promote the development, adoption, and equitable transfer of environmentally sound technologies.
- Internalize the full environmental and social costs of goods and services in the selling price, and enable consumers to identify products that meet the highest social and environmental standards.
- Ensure universal access to health care that fosters reproductive health and responsible reproduction.
- Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.
- Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of the knowledge acquired.
- Support international scientific and technical cooperation on sustainability, with special attention to the needs of developing nations.
- Recognize and preserve the traditional knowledge and spiritual wisdom in all cultures that contribute to environmental protection and human well-being.
- Ensure that information of vital importance to human health and environmental protection, including genetic information, remains available in the public domain.
III. Social and Economic Justice
- Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.
- Guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security, uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the national and international resources required.
- Empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.
- Recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable, serve those who suffer, and enable them to develop their capacities and to pursue their aspirations.
- Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.
- Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.
- Enhance the intellectual, financial, technical, and social resources of developing nations, and relieve them of onerous international debt.
- Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource use, environmental protection, and progressive labor standards.
- Require multinational corporations and international financial organizations to act transparently in the public good, and hold them accountable for the consequences of their activities.
- Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.
- Secure the human rights of women and girls and end all violence against them.
- Promote the active participation of women in all aspects of economic, political, civil, social, and cultural life as full and equal partners, decision makers, leaders, and beneficiaries.
- Strengthen families and ensure the safety and loving nurture of all family members.
- Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.
- Eliminate discrimination in all its forms, such as that based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, language, and national, ethnic or social origin.
- Affirm the right of indigenous peoples to their spirituality, knowledge, lands and resources and to their related practice of sustainable livelihoods.
- Honor and support the young people of our communities, enabling them to fulfill their essential role in creating sustainable societies.
- Protect and restore outstanding places of cultural and spiritual significance.
IV. Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace
- Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice.
- Uphold the right of everyone to receive clear and timely information on environmental matters and all development plans and activities which are likely to affect them or in which they have an interest.
- Support local, regional and global civil society, and promote the meaningful participation of all interested individuals and organizations in decision making.
- Protect the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, association, and dissent.
- Institute effective and efficient access to administrative and independent judicial procedures, including remedies and redress for environmental harm and the threat of such harm.
- Eliminate corruption in all public and private institutions.
- Strengthen local communities, enabling them to care for their environments, and assign environmental responsibilities to the levels of government where they can be carried out most effectively.
- Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.
- Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development.
- Promote the contribution of the arts and humanities as well as the sciences in sustainability education.
- Enhance the role of the mass media in raising awareness of ecological and social challenges.
- Recognize the importance of moral and spiritual education for sustainable living.
- Treat all living beings with respect and consideration.
- Prevent cruelty to animals kept in human societies and protect them from suffering.
- Protect wild animals from methods of hunting, trapping, and fishing that cause extreme, prolonged, or avoidable suffering.
- Avoid or eliminate to the full extent possible the taking or destruction of non-targeted species.
- Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.
- Encourage and support mutual understanding, solidarity, and cooperation among all peoples and within and among nations.
- Implement comprehensive strategies to prevent violent conflict and use collaborative problem solving to manage and resolve environmental conflicts and other disputes.
- Demilitarize national security systems to the level of a non-provocative defense posture, and convert military resources to peaceful purposes, including ecological restoration.
- Eliminate nuclear, biological, and toxic weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
- Ensure that the use of orbital and outer space supports environmental protection and peace.
- Recognize that peace is the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part.
THE WAY FORWARD
As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning. Such renewal is the promise of these Earth Charter principles. To fulfill this promise, we must commit ourselves to adopt and promote the values and objectives of the Charter.
This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility. We must imaginatively develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally. Our cultural diversity is a precious heritage and different cultures will find their own distinctive ways to realize the vision. We must deepen and expand the global dialogue that generated the Earth Charter, for we have much to learn from the ongoing collaborative search for truth and wisdom.
Life often involves tensions between important values. This can mean difficult choices. However, we must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with long-term goals. Every individual, family, organization, and community has a vital role to play. The arts, sciences, religions, educational institutions, media, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and governments are all called to offer creative leadership. The partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for effective governance.
In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development.
Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.
Statement on the Unique Challenge of Nuclear Weapons
Statement on the Unique Challenge of Nuclear Weapons
This statement, developed by Jonathan Granoff of the Global Security Institute, with the supportive consultations of former Canadian Prime Minister Right Honorable Kim Campbell, General Romeo Dallaire, Senator Douglas Roche, Parliament Chairperson Elect Audrey Kitagawa, Bishop William Swing, and Kehkashan Basu, has been adopted by the Parliament of the World’s Religions in November, 2018 for release worldwide:
The destructive capacity of nuclear weapons is beyond imagination, poisoning the Earth forever. These horrific devices place before us every day the decision whether we will be the last human generation. The power to unleash this destruction is in the hands of a small number of people. No one should be holding such power over the very creation, which we regard as a sacred gift for all today and for future generations.
At present, there are over 14,000 of these devices, with hundreds on hair trigger alert. Nine nations* claim that they can responsibly pursue global security by daily making thousands of people ready to use these weapons on a moment’s notice, by relying on machines to determine whether a threat is actual or mistaken, by spending trillions of dollars in the weapons designs and deployments, by demonizing other peoples and nations, by spending vast sums to convince populations that the weapons make them safe and secure, by demonstrating a present readiness to use the weapons to deter others from acquiring them or others with them from using them first, and by threatening to use them as an exercise of aggressive political will.
This conduct is immoral, ignores the legal obligations contained in treaties and the unanimous ruling of the World Court to negotiate the elimination of nuclear weapons, and is practically unsustainable. It is claimed that the readiness to use nuclear weapons under the military doctrine of deterrence is justifiable. Such reasoning is unrealistic and flawed. The possession of nuclear weapons relies on the alleged infallibility of men and machines not to use the weapons by mistake, miscalculation, madness, or design. Such arrogance is foolish. The possession of nuclear weapons is immoral, illegal, and must be rectified by prompt action.
Scientific findings now demonstrate that if less than 1% of today’s arsenal were to be used, even in a first strike, the consequences would be millions of tons of soot in the stratosphere, which would lower the earth’s temperature, create dramatic ozone depletion, and render agriculture unable to sustain civilization. This would destroy the nation that used them first.
Such a posture is unworthy of civilization, insults the dignity of life, is an impediment to all ethical and moral norms of all the world’s religions. To ignore the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons by exalting nationalism as higher principle raises moral corrosion to unprecedented levels. The ongoing possession and threat to use nuclear weapons is a gross affront to a culture of peace and an impediment to obtaining realistic security based on protecting our planet home, eliminating poverty, and basing the conduct of nations on the rule of law.
For some nations to claim the weapons are good for them but not others violates the Golden Rule of Nations: Nations must treat other nations as they wish to be treated.
Nuclear weapons promote the culture of ultimate violence claiming implicitly that the pursuit of security by one state can rightfully place the right to existence of all future generations at risk.
The nine nations of the world placing this sword over the life of every person on the planet must change their conduct. Nuclear weapons states should take the weapons off of alert status, lower their numbers, bring the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force by ratifying it, lower the operational status of the weapons, decouple the warheads from delivery vehicles, strengthen the treaty verification and inspection institutions, expand the current nuclear weapons free zones, which make the Southern Hemisphere virtually nuclear weapons-free, and commit to explicitly accept the logic so clearly stated decades ago: “A nuclear war can never be won and thus must never be fought.”
We thus make a passionate plea to the leaders of all religions, all people of good will, and all leaders of nations both with and without nuclear weapons to commit to work to eliminate these horrific devices forever. We support the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the duty explicitly stated in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to obtain a nuclear weapons-free world. We call upon the nine nations with the weapons to promptly commence negotiations to obtain a legal instrument or instruments leading to the elimination of all nuclear weapons.
*United States, Russia (with over 90% of the weapons), China, France, the United Kingdom (Five Permanent Members of the Security Council and members of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty) and India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages.
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11.
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27.
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
The Rebel's Silhouette
The Rebel’s Silhouette
Don’t Ask Me for That Love Again
That which then was ours, my love,
don’t ask me for that love again.
The world then was gold, burnished with light—
and only because of you. That’s what I had believed.
How could one weep for sorrows other than yours?
How could one have any sorrow but the one you gave?
So what were these protests, these rumors of injustice?
A glimpse of your face was evidence of springtime.
The sky, whenever I looked, was nothing but your eyes.
If you’d fall into my arms, Fate would be helpless.
All this I’d thought, all this I’d believed.
But there were other sorrows, comforts other than love.
The rich had cast their spell on history:
dark centuries had been embroidered on brocades and silks.
Bitter threads began to unravel before me
as I went into alleys and in open markets
saw bodies plastered with ash, bathed in blood.
I saw them sold and bought, again and again.
This too deserves attention. I can’t help but look back
when I return from those alleys—what should one do?
And you are still so ravishing—what should I do?
There are other sorrows in this world,
comforts other than love.
Don’t ask me, my love, for that love again.
A Prison Evening
Each star a rung,
night comes down the spiral
staircase of the evening.
The breeze passes by so very close
as if someone just happened to speak of love.
In the courtyard,
the trees are absorbed refugees
embroidering maps of return on the sky.
On the roof,
the moon—lovingly, generously—
is turning the stars
into a dust of sheen.
From every corner, dark-green shadows,
in ripples, come towards me.
At any moment they may break over me,
like the waves of pain each time I remember
this separation from my lover.
This thought keeps consoling me:
though tyrants may command that lamps be smashed
in rooms where lovers are destined to meet,
they cannot snuff out the moon, so today,
nor tomorrow, no tyranny will succeed,
no poison of torture make me bitter,
if just one evening in prison
can be so strangely sweet,
if just one moment anywhere on this earth.
Be Near Me
You who demolish me, you whom I love,
be near me. Remain near me when evening,
drunk on the blood of skies,
becomes night, in its one hand
a perfumed balm, in the other
a sword sheathed in the diamond of stars.
Be near me when night laments or sings,
or when it begins to dance,
its steel-blue anklets ringing with grief.
Be here when longings, long submerged
in the heart’s waters, resurface
and everyone begins to look:
Where is the assassin? In whose sleeve
is hidden the redeeming knife?
And when wine, as it is poured, is the sobbing
of children whom nothing will console—
when nothing holds,
when nothing is:
at that dark hour when night mourns,
be near me, my destroyer, my lover me,
be near me.
On Elevating the Human Narrative
On Elevating the Human Narrative
Rhonda Fabian | Kosmos has been sharing about global citizenship for a long time, and I felt that, with this edition, we needed a refresher. Where are we with global citizenship now, in light of the rising nationalism in our world and the converging crises we’re facing – and especially with respect to our global commons, like air, water, and cyberspace?
Two of the most popular search phrases at Kosmos are: “What is a global citizen?” and “How can I become a global citizen?” It’s almost as if people are literally asking, “How do I get a special passport, or how do I get credentials to become a global citizen?” I think some people really think that there should be some official way to self-identify as a global citizen, and, of course, we don’t really have that. So, what can we hang our hat on? What are the practices? What are the values? What are the institutions that support this idea of global citizenship?
Judy Rodgers | All good questions…practices, values, institutions, governance. I think decisions about things like governance or institutions source from our awareness. We can’t build something if it’s outside the scope of our awareness. We can’t design a true commons if we’re in a very limited consciousness.
I think, from an awareness perspective, if we believe we’re spiritual beings—and for those who are monotheists, children of one father, one mother, one parent, one great spirit—then from that ground, the whole boundary notion becomes superfluous. That’s the ground that has to be explored in order to get to good answers on institutional solutions or governance solutions.
One of the problems that we have, has to do with our notions of ‘what is mine.’ If we are absorbed—and I think in the U.S., we are in the worst moment in terms of this—by ‘us and them’; outsiders and insiders; those who are welcome and those who aren’t – then we’re at the real nadir of our ability to understand global citizenship.
Part of it is that the man who is in office, who’s doing the clownish acts, was put there by a whole bunch of people, so he’s not alone. He speaks for people who believe that walls and boundaries and inside/outside is the truth. They believe that some people have rights and others don’t. It’s hard to talk someone out of that level of belief. It’s hard to talk someone out of that level of value.
Also, there are well-meaning people whose philanthropy still comes from, “Well, I the endowed one, am going to give you, the unfortunate one, some gift. I’m going to write you a check, or I’m going to do something for you, you poor thing.” Right? I’m congratulating myself on my insider-ness and my fortune, and I’m going to give you some crumbs so that you can feel better about what’s going on. We are so diminished in that mindset. Our hearts are so shrunken by that.
It misses the whole point. There is no ‘outsider.’ If something bad happens to that one, then something dreadful has happened to me. My own neighborhood is sullied by what happened to that one, even my global neighborhood.
So, when you talk about global citizenship, I think it has a lot to do with our attitudes. Gayatri would have talked with you about the spiritual trajectory, I would imagine, this awareness to attitude…If you don’t start with that awareness—that we truly are children of the same parent—then your attitude is bound to be compromised in some way, even if you’re feeling generous-hearted.
So, part of the promise that the UN made around the SDGs was universality, which really said, “It’s not like this generous North is now going to give the poor South the ‘truth.’ We’re going to deliver our wisdom to them so that they can ‘catch up’ with us.” That notion got removed in the SDGs, which was really a step in the right direction. And also we have been working on something with the UN about transformation as a spiritual concept.
Gayatri Naraine | [Kosmos Editor Emeritus] Nancy Roof was at one of those UN meetings. Rhonda, did you accompany her?
Rhonda | I was there as well, yes.
Judy | Okay, good. So this notion of transformation—what we’re really talking about is an inner shift. We’re not talking about more blankets delivered, or more water, fewer diseases, more vaccines. That’s not the metric anymore. You’re talking about the inner shift that allows for so many other things to happen. That’s really what we were trying to do with that conversation, and I think that’s what you’re trying to do with this issue on global citizenship. I think it’s to find new ground. Because as long as we’re only about social actions, we’re just really rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We’re not getting at anything that’s substantially going to shift anything.
So, it’s very difficult! I mean, it sounds easy to say well, “Let’s all just be brothers.” That sounds like the obvious solution, right? I don’t think it’s so easy. I don’t think it’s so easy to think of ourselves as spiritual beings, and I don’t think it’s so easy to really experience a God that truly sees each one as his precious child. But if you really feel that affinity, then that love and respect would drive everything. It would drive your practice. It would drive your values. It would drive your institutional construction. It would drive your governance. That’s transformational.
I think that’s the experience we all need. I think people tend to have that experience or some version of it when they get some kind of a wake-up call; they have a near-death experience or do something heroic. There’s lots and lots and lots of stories of people who—in certain moments—all the limitations fall away, and that vision that’s living somewhere inside of us emerges. We do something beautiful, morally beautiful, as a natural act without any preparation. The better part of us comes forward, and we do this thing, and what we find in almost every case, is that afterward, people say, “Oh, it wasn’t me. I didn’t really do it. Anybody would have done that.”
Rhonda | I think we, as a humanity, are at such a moment right now. The future hangs on our morally beautiful decisions. Everything is ripening for us to wake up—to act. My teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, always said that the first step in waking-up is actually to stop. The first step is stopping in order to see what is real, what is going on around us. This is the kind of moment we seem to be in what the Tao calls the ‘still point,’ where one can see the infinite.
Gayatri, this is a question for you. What brought you to this edge, this still point? How has the meaning of the term ‘global citizen’ changed for you as a result of your work and all you have learned?
Gayatri | I first encountered the term ‘global citizen’ when we had the Earth Summit in Rio. I think it was in 1992. It was a time when the world was focused on the environment—not just politicians and environmentalists, but artists and performers who brought the whole concept of a living Earth to people’s hearts. The Wisdom Keepers came in, representing the different faiths, and the indigenous perspective, and, of course, the UN. You had to move out of your national identity because now you were looking at trans-border consequences. Like when a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, there is a shift in another part of the world—those kinds of consequences.
I left Rio really convinced ‘I am a global citizen.’ A global citizen meant that you never looked at something in a piecemeal fashion. You always had to look at it, as far as you could see it, from a holistic perspective. It meant everyone had to come together. And then a few years later, I was at the UN listening to a head of state from Africa speak, and he opened his comments by saying, “Yes, we are interdependent. We are interconnected, but don’t touch my resources—they belong to my country.”
Artwork by Kosmos Member Noelle Imparato
“These images are inspired by the torus, a mathematical model shaped like a doughnut with a small hole at its center functioning as an axis along which fields of energy irradiate and get re-integrated in the compiling complexity of a double vortex that becomes extremely intricate as it builds onto itself layer upon layer ad infinitum. I see the torus as a mythic symbol for the interconnectedness of all life on the planet, and more specifically for the interconnectedness of all citizens of all Nations on the planet.”
So, I think from then on, this whole utopian idea, this whole kind of purity of intention in relation to our home planet, our common habitat, and all of those beautiful concepts that were used to describe ‘one world’ or the environment, got politicized for me. The divisions once again started taking precedence over the whole. I suddenly had an aversion to the word ‘citizenship’ because citizenship meant that you had to have a visa. You had to be legal. And in many countries, there were refugees coming in, and what are they?
Now, I have started understanding global citizenship from the perspective of the environment that we live in and the responsibility that the environment is asking of us, of all citizens—of the world’s citizens, not political citizens, but the world’s citizens—to change habits, to change behaviors.
You can call us global citizens or you call us a human beings. A human being is closest to what a global citizen is.
If I have that elevated consciousness, then I’m looking at all peoples of the world as a human family. I think that is where I am in terms of my thinking. I started off on high ground, and I went through a dark phase of not having faith. And now I’m back, seeing through the lens of a human being with a fuller consciousness that can bring benefit to what I see in others.
Rhonda | Thank you. That’s beautiful. I believe many of us are seeking to operate from that vantage point of elevated consciousness so we can see over the fence at what’s ahead. It’s good to love the place you come from, your heritage, but to keep in mind always that there’s a big world out there. Learn as much as you can about the things that affect people—whether it’s climate or disparity or conflict—and how they drive the migration of people, (and let’s not forget the migration of animals). Then, your actions are informed by greater understanding, and you can work effectively locally, whether you’re restoring soil, or taking care of your watershed or helping your community or children, or whatever it is that you choose to do, knowing your actions also benefit the Earth. Every hopeful action and every hopeful story helps. Do you agree?
Judy | Yes, I agree. I helped found a not-for-profit called Images and Voices of Hope, which works with media in a constructive framework. After the Newtown shootings in 2012, we began work on a new genre called ‘restorative narrative’. The idea is that no matter what has happened, no matter how traumatic or disturbing or disruptive, that the drive for resilience is fundamental in human nature all around the world. We are more resilient than not. Based on a resiliency index that the psychology community uses, between 75 and 80 percent of people will fundamentally get knocked down by difficult things, but will come back.
So, the idea with restorative narratives is to tell stories in ways that allow people to see that we’re not falling apart. It’s not just one dreadful thing, after another dreadful thing, after another. The drive for Life is stronger than these other forces. There’s also quite a bit of research on post-traumatic growth; that after traumatizing events, in the struggle to get well, there’s quite a bit of growth. People become better than they were, more tenacious, and gifts that they didn’t see before emerge.
All media play a role in this. If you amplify stories of separation and breakdown, even in your social media feeds, then the story gets harder to overcome. Eco-theologian Thomas Berry said the world needs a new story, and I feel like part of this global citizen conversation has to do with the creation of a really life-giving story. I think it’s going to have to take place in the middle of breakdown, because that’s what we have.
It’s not like we’re going to wait for all the bad things to be over, then build a resilient world. The resilience happens right in the middle of all of the heartbreak.
At Images and Voices of Hope, we are hiring coaches right now. We’ve gotten a grant from the Fetzer Institute to coach journalists and media people in different cities to write restorative narratives and we’ve got a guidebook coming online to explain how to do it. The research is very solid. The idea is to understand we are not at a place of being broken but at a place of being fundamentally resilient.
Rhonda | It’s so important, this idea we are resilient in the midst of the crisis as opposed to something that happens later. What strikes me is how we need these stories on a planetary scale. Starting anew is not something that we have to wait for. We can build the new world our hearts envision today, without anyone’s permission.
Judy | The last time we did a summit was right before the peace referendum, four or five months before. So, we had people from Columbia come in and talk about the story that was getting generated around the peace referendum and about hope on both sides of the equation.
Those of us who are in this big sector—whatever we call it, this big do-good-not-for-profit-sector we all work in—used to say, “Well, we have to do such and such to save the world.” That was always the line. “We have to sign up for this, or do that, or volunteer for this, so we can save the world.” At some point, I found myself thinking, what if it’s too late? What if these scientists are right—we’ve passed the threshold. What if it was too late to save the world?
We’d have to do it anyway because it’s the right thing to do. And because that’s who we are. You get out of bed every morning, and you do the best you can; you do the constructive act. And if it’s too late, you do it anyway because it brings benefit to you and the people around you. So, I feel like we have to improve ourselves beyond the outcome.
Rhonda | One thing we can do is to connect deeply with the story of our living Earth on a daily basis. This alone helps to elevate our consciousness, right? The more we can work on behalf of Life where we live, the more we build community, the more we build a practice of global citizenship. It is not just a set of platitudes or a list of institutions. It is not just a mindset (although that matters). It is actual practice—practices that bring us closer each day to the reality of our interbeing.
Thank you both for your insights.
The Most Important Thing
The Most Important Thing
An artist, photographer, and author, Brian Sokol is dedicated to documenting human rights issues and humanitarian crises worldwide. Since 2012, Sokol has focused on telling the stories of refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and stateless people in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. The Most Important Thing—his ongoing, long-term portraiture project—seeks to humanize and convey the dignity of individuals who have been dehumanized by conflict, government policies, and the media. This project documents first-hand testimonies from refugees, forced to flee their homes, about items they took with them. Sokol’s goal is to engender empathy and action in audiences across the lines of language, race, religion, and culture.
Brian’s work appears in publications including TIME, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He has exhibited on 5 continents and in both the New York and Geneva headquarters of the United Nations. A former Himalayan guide and wilderness ranger, Brian is happiest when at extreme altitude or latitude; he initially came to photography through a passion for high, remote places. He frequently works on various themes related to displacement, perhaps owing to the fact that he’s lived abroad for 20 years and feels himself more a citizen of the world than of any particular country.
Featured Image:
Since the day Sebastiao Manuel Garcia arrived in Congo in 1978, he has never set foot in his native Angola. A former soldier, he fled Angola when he learned his life was in danger. Unable to return to Angola due to fear of violence, he still considers it home. If he were again forced to flee for his life, the most important thing to him and his family is the Billet de Composition Familiale document. “This is a testimony that I am a refugee,” he says. “Without it, I could be arrested. Without this, my children could be expelled from here, or their mother would take them and they would become Congolese. This document proves that my children are Angolan.”
Humanizing the refugee crisis | Brian Sokol | TEDxSanDiego
There are more that 65 million people in the world today who are displaced from their homes due to conflict and persecution—more than at any time in human history. As a photographer who spent time in refugee camps and met the people who were forced from their homes, Brian Sokol underwent a personal transformation in understanding their stories, their dreams, and their humanity. It’s time we challenged our beliefs and preconceptions about the refugee crisis. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
The Most Important Thing has been adapted into performance art featuring celebrities and projected at the Cannes Film Festival. Cate Blanchett performs the poem ‘What They Took With Them’ alongside fellow actors Keira Knightley, Juliet Stevenson, Peter Capaldi, Stanley Tucci, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kit Harington, Douglas Booth, Jesse Eisenberg, and Neil Gaiman. The poem, written by Jenifer Toksvig, made in collaboration with UNHCR. features many of Brian’s photos, along with firsthand accounts from the refugees he photographed. The film urges people to sign the #WithRefugees petition to help ensure refugees have the basics to rebuild their lives—an education, somewhere safe to live, and the opportunity to work. Stand #WithRefugees, sign the petition: www.withrefugees.org.
Video courtesy UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
The Gallery
In 2013, when Seleka rebels arrived in Fideline’s village, her family hoped that they would be able to stay in Moungoumba and peacefully coexist with the armed men. A week later, this proved impossible. Fideline and other children were playing near the river when Seleka forces got into an argument with a Central African businessman. When the man refused to give his money to the gunmen, they dragged him to the village center. Fideline and her friends watched as they tied his arms behind his back, threw him facedown to the ground, and shot him twice in the back. Fideline’s father immediately decided that they had to leave.
The most important thing that Fideline was able to leave her home with are her notebooks. An excellent student, Fideline one day hopes to be a minister in her country’s government. “I couldn’t take my school bag, my shoes, or the colored ribbons for my hair,” she recalls, “but I did bring my notebooks and my pen.” Holding her history, homework, and practice books—all of which bear an image of the African continent on their covers—she says, “We have suffered so much. My father is out of work, and my mother goes to the fields all day. I want to study so that I can become someone. I want to study.”
Leila*, 9, poses for a portrait in the urban structure where she and her family are taking shelter in Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Together with her four sisters, mother, father, and grandmother, Leila arrived in Erbil five days before this photograph was taken, after fleeing their home in Deir ez-Zor, Syria. Her family is one of four living in an uninsulated, partially-constructed home; there are about 30 people sharing the cold, drafty space. Leila recalls explosions all around them for days, but the family finally decided to leave Deir ez-Zor when their neighbors’ house was hit, killing everyone inside.
The most important thing Leila was able to bring with her are the jeans she holds in this photograph. “I went shopping with my parents one day and looked for hours without finding anything I liked. But when I saw these, I knew instantly that these were perfect because they have a flower on them, and I love flowers.” She has only worn the jeans three times, all in Syria—twice to wedding parties and once when she went to visit her grandfather. She says she won’t wear them again until she attends another wedding, and she hopes it, too, will be in Syria.
*Name changed for protection purposes.
One morning in 1992, Mayengo Kabamba and his father were outside cooking while his mother and sisters were working in the fields. Several men carrying machetes arrived, dragged his father inside and murdered him, then forced Kabamba to sit in a pan of searing oil, at which point he lost consciousness. When he came to, he was in his mother’s arms as she fled with his eight siblings.
Twenty-two years later, the situation is very different in Angola. Much of his family has returned home. Kabamba, still physically and emotionally scarred by his experience, says “Personally, I don’t want to go back. But I can’t survive here alone, and all my family are returning.”
The most important thing that Kabamba will bring with him is a photograph of his pregnant girlfriend, who he will have to leave behind for now. “She can’t go with me because we aren’t married yet, and she can’t be listed as a family member. In the culture here, you can’t marry a pregnant girl. We have to wait until after the birth to begin the marriage process.”
Yusuf* poses for a portrait in an urban structure in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon on December 12, 2012. He and his family fled their home in Damascus, the Syrian capital, several months before this photograph was taken.
The most important thing Yusuf was able to bring when he fled Syria is his mobile phone. “With this, I’m able to call my father. We’re close enough to Syria here that I can catch a signal from the Syrian towers sometimes, and then it is a local call to call home from Lebanon.” The phone also holds photographs of family members who are still in Syria, which he is able to keep with him at all times.
*Name changed for protection purposes.
May*, 8, poses for a portrait in Domiz refugee camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on November 16, 2012. She and her family arrived in Domiz about one month before this photograph was taken, having fled their home in Damascus. They escaped on a bus at night, and May recalls crying for hours as they left the city behind. After traveling more than 800 kilometres, they made the final crossing into Iraq on foot. May wept again as they followed a rough trail in the cold, while her mother carried her two-year-old baby brother.
Since arriving in Domiz, she has had recurring nightmares in which her father is violently killed. She is now attending school, and says she finally feels safe. May hopes to be a photographer when she grows up. “I want to take pictures of happy children, because they are innocent, and my pictures will make them even more happy,” she says.
The most important thing she was able to bring with her when she left home is a set of bracelets. “The bracelets aren’t my favourite things,” she says; “my doll Nancy is.” May’s aunt gave her the doll on her sixth birthday. “She reminded me of that day, the cake I had, and how safe I felt then when my whole family was together.” The night they fled Damascus, May’s mother put Nancy on her bed where she wouldn’t be forgotten. But in the rush that ensued, Nancy was somehow left behind. May says these bracelets are the next-best thing to having her in Iraq.
*Name change for protection purposes.
Delivering the UN Global Goals | The Consciousness Perspective
The Seven Levels Model The largest impediment to improving the well-being of humanity is not in finding the funding to implement the Sustainable Development Goals; the largest impediment is the unwillingness of the part of the heads of state, senior government politicians, and business leaders to embrace higher order human values. They have simply not reached the stages of psychological development were these values are important to them. To understand this fully, we need to understand how people grow and develop; what needs they have at each stage of their development, and how best to provide these needs. The model I am using is called the Seven Levels Model. There are two aspects to the Seven Levels Model: the Stages of Psychological Development Model and the Levels of Consciousness Model. We grow in stages (of psychological development) and we operate at levels (of consciousness). The original Levels of Consciousness model was developed in 1996 as a tool for mapping the consciousness of individuals and human group structures, such as teams, organisations, communities and nations. Since that time, the model and associated assessment tools have been used to map the values and consciousness of more than 5,000 organizations, 4,000 leaders and 24 nations. The origins and construction of the model are explained in The Metrics of Human Consciousness and The Values-driven Organisation: Cultural Health and Employee Well-Being as a Pathway to Sustainable Performance. In recent years, I recognized that the Seven Levels Model could also be used as a framework for mapping the stages of human psychological development. Figure 1 shows the correspondence between the Seven Stages of Psychological Development and the Seven Levels of Consciousness. Under normal circumstances, the level of consciousness you operate from will be the same as the stage of psychological development you have reached. However, no matter what stage of psychological development you are at, when you are faced with a threat—what you consider to be a potentially negative change in your circumstances or situation—anything that disturbs your equilibrium by bringing up fears, you may temporarily shift to one of the three lower levels of consciousness. Alternatively, if you have a “peak” experience—an experience of euphoria, harmony or connectedness of a mystical or spiritual nature—you may temporarily shift to one of the higher levels of consciousness. When the threat or peak experience has passed, you will return to the level of consciousness that corresponds to the stage of psychological development you were at before the experience occurred. In rare situations, a peak experience may have a lasting impact, causing you to shift to a higher stage of psychological development and operate from a higher level of consciousness. Similarly a “negative” experience, if it is traumatic enough, and particularly if it occurs in your childhood and teenage years, can impede your future psychological development by causing you to be anchored, through frequent subconscious triggering of the traumatic memory, into in one of the three lower levels of consciousness. The early stages of development Between the moment we are born and the time we reach physical maturity, around 20 years of age, we all pass through the same three stages of psychological development: surviving, conforming and differentiating. What you are learning during these stages of development is how to become a viable independent adult in your cultural framework of existence. These are the stages of development where you learn to satisfy your “deficiency” needs. When you are able to satisfy these needs, you feel a sense of happiness. If, for any reason, you are unable to satisfy these needs, you get anxious and fearful. How well you master these first three stages of development will, to a large extent, depend on the degree and nature (positive and negative) of the parental programming and cultural conditioning you experienced during your infant, childhood and teenage years. If you grew up without too many negative experiences—without forming any significant fear-based beliefs about being able to meet your deficiency needs—you will naturally feel a pull towards the individuation stage of development when you reach your twenties or early thirties. The individuating stage of development begins when you are ready to let go of the aspects of your parental programming and cultural conditioning that do not reflect who you truly are—values and beliefs that no longer resonate with. At this stage of development you are seeking to find your authentic voice, to live with integrity, and become responsible and accountable for every aspect of your life. If you are fortunate enough to have had self-actualized parents, to have lived in a community or culture where freedom and independence is celebrated, where higher education is easily available, where men and women are treated equally, and where you are encouraged from a young age to express and think for yourself, the transition from the differentiating stage to the individuating stage of development will be relatively easy. However, if the contrary is true, transitioning to the higher stages of development can be full of challenges and difficulties. It requires great courage when you are living in an authoritarian parental, cultural or political environment to embrace your authentic voice and explore your potential. The later stages of development Unlike the first three stages of psychological development, the later stages of development—self- actualizing, integrating, and serving, are not thrust on you by the biological and societal exigencies of growing up and reaching physical maturity as the first three stages of development are, they emerge as a desire to want more from your life, to find meaning in your existence, and make a lasting contribution to society. These are the stages of development where we learn to satisfy our “growth” needs. The extent to which you are able to satisfy your growth needs will determine the level of fulfillment you find in your life. As a general rule, we spend the first half of our lives searching for happiness by finding ways to satisfy our deficiency needs, and if all goes well, we spend the second half of our lives searching for meaning by finding ways to satisfy our growth needs. If, due to circumstances or a particular situation you find yourself in, you are unable to meet your deficiency needs, satisfying these will take precedence over satisfying your growth needs. Stages of psychological development The seven stages of psychological development are shown in Table 1. The first column identifies the stages of development. The second column indicates the approximate age range when each stage of development becomes important. The third column describes the developmental task. The fourth column identifies the motivations and needs associated with each stage of development, and the fifth column lists the internal and external value priorities at each stage of development. The age ranges given in the second column are approximate but are generally applicable to well educated people of all races, religions and cultures. Those who are less well-educated, poor and/or live in authoritarian regimes may find it challenging to move beyond the differentiating stage of development. If you were brought up by self-actualized parents living in a liberal democracy, you may be able to accelerate your psychological development by a few years. Although this is relatively rare, it could become more prevalent as more parents self-actualize at an earlier age and more countries embrace the values found in liberal democracies. In recent years it has become increasingly noticeable that some young people find their sense of purpose and feel the impulse to make a difference in the world quite early in their lives. This does not mean they have jumped to the integrating stage of development. Their urge to make a difference usually comes from their sense of justice or need for achievement, not from empathy. They will still need to pass through the individuating and self-actualizing stages of development before they are mature enough to fully embrace the integrating stage of psychological development. Surviving The quest for security and survival starts as soon as a human baby is born. The infant child instinctively knows, through its DNA programming, how to regulate its body’s internal functioning, how to suckle, and how to signal to its parents that it has unmet physiological needs. At this stage, the infant is completely dependent on parents or care givers to meet its security and survival needs. Conforming The task at this stage of development is to satisfy the child’s need for love and belonging. The child wants to live in an environment where it feels safe and protected. The young child quickly learns that life is more pleasant and less threatening if it lives in harmony with its parents and family. Staying loyal to kin and community, adhering to rules, and participating in rituals and traditions are important at this stage of development because they contribute to the child’s feeling of belonging and thereby enhance the child’s sense of safety. Differentiating During the differentiation stage of psychological development, the child/teenager seeks to satisfy his or her need for respect and recognition. We want to be noticed by parents, family, friends, peers, gang members or teachers for our achievements. The task at this stage of development is to hone your gifts and talents or make the most of your appearance so you feel accepted and recognized as a valid member of the group, family or community which you identify with. This may involve proving yourself through participating in rites of passage. You will be seeking validation from those around you that you are a valuable member of your community. Your parents are instrumental at this stage of your development for giving you the positive feedback you need. If you fail to get this feedback, you will grow up with the subconscious belief that you are not good enough. You will feel driven to prove yourself. You will seek out groups where you feel accepted. You may become a seeker of perfection or a highly competitive employee, wanting status, power or authority so you can be acknowledged as someone important or someone to be feared. Feeling recognized and respected are our third most important human needs. If you are able to successfully transition through these first three stages of psychological development without experiencing significant trauma and without developing too many subconscious fears about your ability to meet your deficiency needs, then you will find it relatively easy to establish yourself as a viable adult in the cultural framework of your existence as long as you can find opportunities to earn a living that meets your survival needs. Individuating During the individuating stage of psychological development, which usually begins after the age of twenty, you will begin to feel the need for freedom and autonomy. The task at this stage of development is to transcend the physical and emotional dependence on your family and the cultural or religious groups you are embedded in by aligning with your own deeply held values—discovering who you really are and what you stand for at the deepest level of your being. You begin to establish your independence when you set up your own home and embrace the values and beliefs you resonate with, rather than the values and beliefs that were subconsciously programmed into you by your parents and the community and culture you grew up in. This is one of the most important and difficult stages of human development—the shift from dependence to independence. When you reach this stage of development you begin to seek answers to the question, Who am I? Understanding who you are is absolutely essential for finding fulfillment. The progress you make at this stage of development will to a large extent influence how smoothly you are able to move through the higher stages of psychological development. We only embark on the individuating stage of development after we have become reasonably proficient in meeting our deficiency needs. Self-Actualizing During the self-actualization stage of development, you begin the search for meaning and purpose—you want to fully express your unique gifts and talents. You want to know: Why am I here? What do I need to do to find fulfillment in my life? What is my true vocation? What is my calling? For most people, finding their vocation or calling usually begins with a feeling of unease or boredom with their job or chosen career; with the work they thought would bring them wealth, status or recognition in their lives. Uncovering your unique gifts and talents and making them available to the world will bring passion and vitality back into your life. You will become more intuitive and more creative. You will spend more time in a state of flow; being totally present to what you are doing, lost in your work. This can be a challenging transition, especially if the activities that now interest you are less remunerative and offer less secure employment than your job, profession or chosen career. You may feel scared or uncomfortable embarking on something new which may bring meaning to your life but may not pay the rent or put food on the table. Some people find the work they are born to do early in their lives; others discover it much later. Some spend their whole lives searching. Embracing your authentic self by living your values and finding meaning and purpose in your life is the next most important need to emerge after you have found freedom and independence. Integrating During the integrating stage of development, you will begin to feel the need to actualize your sense of purpose by using your unique gifts and talents to make a difference in the world. As you make progress, you will realize that the contribution you can make and the impact you can have in the world could be significantly enhanced by connecting and cooperating with others who share your values and purpose—people you resonate with. By collaborating with others you are able to make a bigger difference than you could on your own. This requires a high level of maturity. You must be able to recognize your limitations, assume a larger sense of identity and shift from being independent to being interdependent. Many people lack the flexibility or adaptability to make this shift. Others get lost in their own creativity. In order to cooperate with others on joint projects, you must learn how to master your emotions (emotional intelligence) and read the emotions of others (social intelligence). Collaborating with others to make a difference in the world is the next most important need to emerge after you have learned to embrace your authentic self. Serving During the serving stage of development you will feel drawn to a life of self-less service, especially if you have become financially independent or no longer depend on the income from you work for your survival. At this stage of development, you want to leave a legacy or give back to the world by alleviating suffering, caring for the disadvantaged or building a better society. The shift to a life of self-less service will affect every aspect of your life; your attitudes, your behaviours, and your values. You will uncover new levels of compassion as you become focused on the needs of others. You will feel more humility as you recognize the added value that others bring to your endeavors and the role that synchronicity plays in your life. You will also find yourself re- examining your priorities as you search to live a more balanced life. Deep down, you will begin to understand that we are all connected energetically, and that by serving others you are serving yourself. Selfless service for the benefit of humanity and future generations is next most important need to emerge after you have learned how to collaborate with others to make a difference in your world. You will find your deepest level of fulfilment at this stage of psychological development. Progression The seven stages of psychological development occur in consecutive order over the full period of our lives. If, for whatever reason, you fail to master the skills required to meet the needs of a particular stage of development, you will find yourself having to return to that stage of development until you have become proficient at satisfying those needs. We begin the journey of psychological development by learning to survive, and we complete the journey by learning to serve. If, as a global society, we really do want to build a sustainable future for humanity, there needs to be a seismic shift in the psychological development of our political leaders: A shift from a focus on “I” to “we”; and a shift in attitude from what’s in it for me, to what’s best for the common good. It is very clear we will not solve the issues we face as a global society until we experience an evolution of human consciousness. What our world leaders are failing to understand is that there is an evolutionary advantage in being able to expand your consciousness (your sense of identity) to include others—in other words, there is an evolutionary advantage in advancing your psychological development. This idea is backed up by the latest scientific research. Using game theory, two evolutionary biologists found that: Evolution will punish you if you’re selfish and mean. For a short time and against a specific set of opponents, some selfish organisms may come out ahead. But selfishness isn’t evolutionary sustainable. The world-renowned biologist E. O. Wilson expresses a similar thought: Selfish activity within the group provides competitive advantage but is commonly destructive to the group as a whole. … When an individual is cooperative and altruistic, this reduces his advantage in competition … but increases the survival and reproduction rate of the group as a whole. Wilson goes on to state: The origin of the human condition is best explained by the natural selection for social interaction—the inherited propensities to communicate, recognize, evaluate, bond, cooperate and from all these the deep warm pleasure of belonging to your own special group. The tragedy of cultural evolution, which became the successor of species evolution with the arrival of Homo sapiens, is that we have not yet learned to restrain our self-interest at the group level. Our group structures (nation states) are still trying to compete instead of cooperating. We have made the mistake of believing that the benefits of intra-group competition, such as improving the group’s fitness and performance, also apply to inter-group competition. Nothing could be further from the truth: From an evolutionary perspective inter-group cooperation is far more successful than inter-group competition. Furthermore, intra-group competition only works to a group’s collective advantage if the competition takes place within an over-arching, rule-based, cooperative environment. For example, teams which are members of a football league cooperate with each other at the level of the organisation of the league, but compete with each other according to rules which are administered by referees from the football league organisation. The same is true of the Olympic Games: Athletes from nations compete with each other within a framework of rules managed by the International Olympic Committee, members of which come from every nation. We also see this form of regulated competition between countries in the European Union and between states in the United States. For intra-group competition to work successfully, it must always take place within a framework of cooperation and shared values. These findings have significant implications for the future of our species. For cultural evolution to continue we must not only learn how to bond with each other as individuals to form group structures (nations), our group structures (nations) also have to learn how to cooperate with other group structures (nations) that have a different “tribal” identity. Without a set of overarching rules to regulate competition, we will not be able to solve the problems of humanity: the problems of humanity are global, but the entities that must solve these problems are national. The only way we are going to learn how to cooperate is by transcending our “tribal and religious” identities. E. O. Wilson calls tribalism “the exquisitely human flaw.” People deeply need membership in a group, whether religious or secular. They know that happiness and indeed survival itself require that they bond with others who share some amount of genetic kinship, language, moral beliefs, geographical location, dress code, etc. … It is tribalism … that makes good people do bad things. Millions upon millions of people all over the planet have died in conflict because of this basic human dysfunction, the source of which is our instinctive need to belong for the purpose of survival. We have to learn to transcend our ethnic and religious origins if we want to survive as a species. Wilson states: In a nutshell, individual selection [self-interest] favors what we call sin, and group selection [common good] favors virtue. The result is the internal conflict of conscience…We need to understand ourselves in both evolutionary and psychological terms in order to plan a more rational, catastrophe-proof future. Thus, as far as human beings are concerned, the solution to Wilson’s internal conflict of conscience is found in the individuation and self-actualization stages of psychological development. Only when our world leaders reach these stages of psychological development and create the conditions where their citizens can reach these stages of psychological development will we be able to make significant progress in improving the well- being of humanity.Delivering the UN Global Goals | The Consciousness Perspective
Implications for UN Sustainable Development Goals
Global Citizenship | An Emerging Agenda in Education
Global Citizenship | An Emerging Agenda in Education
Violent extremism and radicalization are among the most serious and urgent concerns in international society. They cause instability, conflict, and violence within and between countries. The so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has reached out to or recruited up to 40,000 people from 100 countries to date, many of whom are highly educated. What can international society do to prevent recruitment to violent extremism?
Comprehensive global citizenship education offers real hope toward a long-term solution by building young people’s resistance to extremist messages and narratives, and by cultivating a positive sense of identity, empathy, and inclusion.
Introduced at an early stage of child development, global citizenship education enhances mutual respect and understanding, tolerance, and cultural literacy, while substantially weakening the power of radicalized messages. A sense of belonging to the wider world community reduces susceptibility to extremist narratives and generates powerful messages for a more hopeful future.
In 2015, for the first time in the United Nations system, the emerging concept of “global citizenship” was introduced through the historic summit declaration, “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” And, in his 2016 report, Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, Former Secretary-General of the U.N., Ban Ki-moon, suggested practical and comprehensive solutions, including global citizenship education, to confront the challenge of violent extremism.
Extremist groups deal in the currency of image, reputation, and perception. Swift countermeasures are required. Training in media literacy that includes recognizing false reporting, hate speech, and cyberbullying equips students with capabilities to navigate the increasingly turbulent media waters. Interspiritual education facilitates mutual understanding and respect for others. All religious activities and practices should uphold the basic universal principles of peace, understanding, tolerance, and compassion.
Combined with interspirituality movement, global citizenship education provides a new framework for young men and women to think critically, reject grievance and hatred, and develop capacity for dialogue and tolerance. We should not leave our children unprepared to confront the increasing volume of radicalized messages, nor leave them insensible to the global challenges and realities our world faces: terrorism, inequality, climate change, and population displacement.
A Global Citizenship Curriculum
“Learning to live together” is an important principle not only in education, but in society and the international community. Promoting an ethic of global citizenship, a culture of peace, and nonviolence equips young people with tools of tolerance and respect.
A pillar of global citizenship is the empowerment of women and youth to recognize their dignity and rights, particularly the rights of adolescent girls regarding their own bodies. Due to refugee crises in many parts of the world, the number of unaccompanied children, who are particularly vulnerable to violence and violent messages, is increasing.
A global citizenship curriculum is needed by all—not only the privileged, but those in rural villages and refugee camps as well—to help restore positive identity, dignity, and self-esteem, and to provide clear information about the rights reserved for every human being by the international community. Students should learn first and foremost that every human being has the right to live in dignity, free from fear.
Understanding our interconnectedness and interdependence, as well as strategies for peaceful coexistence and reconciliation, is a recipe for building peaceful societies and “learning to live together.” The proposition that one community member’s pain is everybody’s pain is a guiding narrative.
Understanding our relationship with our planet teaches that we jointly have the responsibility to protect and care for Mother Earth. People and planet are integrally connected and cannot be separated. Our global commons—air, oceans, fresh water, and cyberspace, among others—belong to us all and should be treated as a single ecological body.
A global citizenship curriculum is concerned with dignity, human rights, media literacy, and the planet that sustains us.
A standard prototype or curriculum model that takes into account cultural differences, while focusing on building the critical skills and concepts required by all learners, is needed. Universal values as described in the Charter of the United Nations should be considered in an initial curriculum. States and local educational authorities can develop their own curriculum-based and culturally-appropriate variations on this model. Intercultural and interdisciplinary collaboration are key, with guidance from universities and academic institutes.
Critical thinking, interactive dialogues and debates, project-based learning, sports, and the arts should all be included. Learning journeys and meetings with peer groups from different cultures should be explored. Learning objectives and evaluation strategies should be developed so that global citizenship can be embedded as a formal subject in the public education systems around the world.
Avenues, an alternative school in New York, provides a curriculum called the World Course from kindergarten through 12th grade. This curriculum addresses questions about the human condition such as: How do people organize themselves? How are societies formed? How do people struggle with adversity? Why do people migrate? How do our actions, choices, and beliefs shape the world around us? Questions like these help students make sense of the world through the lens of global identity.
The private sector could invest in this area as an expression of corporate social responsibility. Corporations could—independently or collectively—envision a global or national initiative to support global citizenship from local to international levels.
While governments and education authorities drive the policies that make global citizenship in the public education system possible, civil society organizations can and should lead projects to raise awareness about, and foster, global citizenship. NGOs and civil society organizations are encouraged to form global and regional coalitions like New York-based Coalition for Global Citizenship 2030 or Helsinki-based Bridge 47 so that this goal can be realized.
There is an increasing trend in foreign policy and international politics to focus on values.
This is the time to reflect on our values and determine the best foreign policy or global compact to make this world more peaceful, more inclusive, more just, and more sustainable. As such, a values-driven vision should be the core of foreign policy now and in the future.
Global citizenship education, if it is well-connected to a values-oriented approach in international relations, could be introduced as one of the comprehensive and fundamental shifts in thinking to tackle violence, radicalization, and intolerance. In 2016, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “We want the world our children inherit to be defined by the values enshrined in the UN charter: Peace, justice, respect, human rights, tolerance and solidarity.” This is in line with what global citizenship education envisions.
Former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently launched the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens in Vienna, Austria. This organization could serve as a main platform for an international discussion on global citizenship as it clearly demonstrates that Ban Ki-moon, after ten years of service as the U.N. Secretary-General, recognizes global citizenship as an overarching goal of the U.N. agenda.
In the volatile, extreme, and unpredictable context of the 21st century, we need creative and innovative leadership, both nationally and globally. People-centered, values-driven, globally-conscious, relationship-oriented, compassion-focused, and planet-sensitive leadership with a focus on global citizenship can make our next generation real agents for change.
For Love of Place | Reflections of an Agrarian Sage
For Love of Place | Reflections of an Agrarian Sage
How do we cultivate a sense of place in an industrialized, globalizing world? Writer and farmer Wendell Berry discusses the role of agrarian values in nurturing communitarian consciousness with Tellus Senior Fellow Allen White.
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Allen White | You have written eloquently about how growing up in a farming community in northern Kentucky, where your family has lived for generations, shaped your life and work. Tell us about this experience and its influence on your life choices.
Wendell Berry | I grew up in Henry County, Kentucky, which, at the time of my birth and for a while afterward, was an agrarian county. The businesses in the towns were supported by agriculture, which they, in turn, supported. My father was a lawyer who all his life was also a farmer. He made sure that I learned farming, as well as the principles of the organization he served, the Burley Tobacco Growers Co-operative Association. By means of price supports and production controls, it maintained the small farmers of this part of the country for about six decades. Tobacco became indefensible after the Surgeon General’s report of 1965, but the principles of the Association remain right for agriculture.
My father, a principled agrarian, was concerned about having a writer for a son, afraid that I wouldn’t make enough money to feed my family. But two things happened. One was that I became gainfully employed; the other was that my writing, especially the Unsettling of America (1977), revealed to him how much I had inherited from him and how my work carried his values on into my own life and time.
Allen | Early on, you appeared to be on a cosmopolitan career track—spending a year in Italy and France on a Guggenheim fellowship and teaching at New York University. Then, in the 1960s, at age thirty, you returned to Kentucky to farm and write. Was there something about the times that prompted this decision, or do you think it was always in the cards?
Wendell | My wife Tanya and I lived two years on the West Coast, a year in Kentucky, a year in Europe, and two years in New York. As I grew up and met teachers in the schools I attended, I learned by implication, and sometimes by direct statement, that a boy raised in the circumstances of my early life couldn’t expect to amount to much. I would have to leave my home place behind. I grieved over that from my high school days, but I learned to accept and even to affirm it as the right way to go. So I just assumed that I would be an academic careerist.
Then I got invited, with the help of recommenders such as Wallace Stegner, my teacher at Stanford, to come back home and teach at the University of Kentucky. At first, we assumed that we would live in Lexington, where the university is, but we wound up living in my own home community, the home community of both sides of my family. The tumultuous political climate of the 1960s was sort of fended off by the tumult in our own lives. But, after we were settled, the tumult began to be the Vietnam War. I did, so to speak, come alive to the anti-war movement. I had to think things through very carefully then. My thinking became complex, and I began to doubt that war could be a solution to anything. I became conscientiously a pacifist, not by nature but by thought, by determination. I’m not a very pacific person. It forced my thinking back and forth, so to speak, between the public issues and my own personal life and inheritance.
Allen | You have published prolifically across genres—poetry, novels, and short stories, as well as essays on cultural criticism and environmental awareness. Do you see these as separate endeavors or part of a literary whole? Specifically, what do you see as the role of your fiction in fostering greater social consciousness?
Wendell | I have used those genres, not because I wanted to be a diverse writer, but because I needed them at various times and for various reasons. I grew up, for instance, among storytellers, and it was a fairly natural thing that I became, in fiction, a storyteller. When I began to understand how my own community was devalued in the context of the social and economic assumptions of that time, I began to need essays. I began to see that communities such as mine, and the inheritance I received from those communities, amounted really to nothing in terms of the economic assumptions of the time. Such places are still considered to be “no places.” That’s the kind of thing that I had to form myself in opposition to.
I don’t think about the readers or the influence I’m going to have on them. That would be a distraction from the work. You hope the people who build your airplane are not thinking about how it’s going to go over with an audience of some kind. People need to think about their work, their vocation. And so, when I’ve had a story to write, my aim has been to understand the story and the people in it, as well as how such a story could have happened. Not how it’s going to impress readers, whom I can appropriately honor only by writing well.
How do I see the role of my fiction in fostering greater social consciousness? That’s an interesting question because, if you’re an imaginative writer, you don’t think about how your writing is going to serve an abstraction like social consciousness. From my point of view as a story writer, a story hearer, a ponderer over stories, I’m not sure that I understand what social consciousness is. You have to offer the best thing you can. Things come to you as tasks needing to be done, and you accept them on the terms on which they’re offered and make the best work you can of it. That’s the way it has been for me.
Allen | You are a champion of “agrarian” values. What are these values, as you understand them?
Wendell | Because of questions like this, I took some care in the introduction to my latest book to write out a list of agrarian values. A shortened version would be:
- An elated, loving interest in the use and care of the land.
- An informed and conscientious submission to nature.
- The wish to have and to belong to a place of one’s own, as the only secure source of sustenance and independence.
- A persuasion in favor of economic democracy; a preference for enough over too much.
- Fear and contempt of waste of every kind, and its ultimate consequence in land exhaustion.
- A preference for saving rather than spending.
- An assumption of the need for a subsistence or household economy.
- An acknowledged need for neighbors, and a willingness to be a good neighbor.
- A living sense of the need for continuity of family and community life.
- Respect for work, and (as self-respect) for good work.
- A lively suspicion of anything new, contradicting the ethos of consumerism and the cult of celebrity.
That is my list.
Allen | You’ve been a vocal, sometimes scathing critic of industrial society. Is the mismatch between agrarian and industrial values so profound, so enduring, that there’s little hope for reconciliation? Or are there windows of opportunity where the two can be at least reconciled if not harmonized?
Wendell | We are going to have to talk about these two kinds of life and economy in order to stay on speaking terms and to have some measure of peace between them. But industrial values are exactly contrary to the agrarian values I’ve just listed. The ideal of industrialism is for people to have to purchase everything they need. In other words, the old dependence on nature and neighbors and self-employment—that basic sufficiency and self-sufficiency––are to be replaced by merchants and merchandise. We have to understand how radically these two ways of life are opposed, before we can talk about the conversation that needs to occur among us, across our division.
That division is exemplified by the history of Harry M. Caudill’s 1963 Night Comes to the Cumberlands, about coal mining in Eastern Kentucky and its local damages, which have become steadily worse ever since. That book drew the attention of the federal government, and was largely responsible for the War on Poverty. All kinds of bureaucrats and well-intentioned people turned up in the Appalachian coal fields. But while the problem of poverty was supposedly being dealt with, the land under the people’s feet was being destroyed by surface mining. Both the condition of the people and the condition of the land got worse.
Another example of the divergence between industrial and agrarian values is Walmart’s new bottling plant in Indiana, which has brought failure to a hundred small dairies in my region for the sake of administrative efficiency. Walmart would rather deal with one thousand-cow dairy than with twenty fifty-cow dairies. But the twenty fifty-cow dairies would have a much higher social value than one thousand-cow dairy.
So there is a fundamental conflict. The problem is getting the social value of the agrarian way of life recognized. Industrial agriculture’s fundamental premise is that corporate profit is the top priority.
Allen | Today, there is a surge of interest among young people in ecological farming, and a commitment of many to practice what they (and, notably, you) preach. Surely, this must warm your heart. Does it also give you hope that a great transition in the way we use and relate to the land is possible?
Wendell | Well, it is not something that in any simple way could grow into a positive thing. You raise the issue of hope, and one doesn’t want to be silly in hoping. A number of people have written to me to say, “I’m going to quit my job and start a small farm.” And I’ve written back, “Don’t do it. If you want to buy a little farm instead of a house in town, that’s fine. But you better keep your city job. And don’t bet your life on your ability to farm if you don’t already know how.”
You don’t want to discourage people, but you want to help them to think. You don’t want to be responsible for somebody quitting a well-paying job and moving to some little farm, and trying to make a living from it against the odds. The agricultural economy has almost always, from the earliest times, been slanted against the primary producers––the real risk-takers, the real workers. It’s terrible. Right here in my own county, two families of dairy farmers—third-generation, well-intentioned young people—have been essentially put out of business by Walmart. One hundred of them in this region. How cynical is it then to tell these young people, “You can be anything you want to be”?
Industrial agriculture replaced the war industries after World War II, when it was still possible to be naïve about industrialism. But rural America is in terrible shape now. And almost nobody acknowledges this. This is our country out here, the country known as the United States of America, where the farmers are going broke.
People have asked me about hope so much that I have quit speaking directly to that issue. I want to talk instead about doing the right thing. The right way, for instance, to treat a neighbor. We have had instructions on this for thousands of years. We know how to take care of a neighbor. We have the parable of the Good Samaritan. A major problem in rural America is the refusal of corporations to be good neighbors, or neighbors at all. They don’t know the word.
Allen | The US is over 80 percent urbanized and the world 55 percent (a figure projected to rise to about 70 percent by 2050). How can the agrarian values you advocate be adapted for a world where more and more people live in cities?
Wendell | For a good many years, Louisville, Kentucky, has been attempting to give a responsible answer to those of us who live out here in a well-watered, fertile landscape that could be prosperous if it were feeding Louisville. And there are people in Louisville, including the mayor, who are in favor of a regional food economy that would sustain both the city and its rural neighbors. But it’s amazingly hard to get that done. Our county judge recently reminded the mayor of Louisville that we’ve been working on this for years, and not one farmer in Henry County has been helped.
Somebody from Louisville who knew something about farming could come out here and say to a farmer, “What do you have that we could help you sell to us?” That hasn’t happened. By contrast, my daughter started several years ago what we call the Berry Center in order to keep alive my father’s advocacy for production controls with price supports. And she has started a beef-marketing program with ten local farmers. The contrast is extraordinarily suggestive to me. I think Louisville is attuned to the idea that we should do this as a big thing, whereas my daughter has mastered the necessary understanding that whatever is done has to start small. The great test is your willingness to do the local small thing that obviously needs to be done.
We could have a regional economic connection that would help us all to prosper. Martin Luther King thought that the right thing serves everybody. I think all of us who are involved in this conversation are perfectly willing to carry it on, as long as necessary, however absurdly disjointed it may become. We’re in it for good; we’re going to keep on.
But it must happen by way of conversation. People are well motivated in both places. Farmers certainly understand that they are no longer numerous enough to carry anything in their favor politically. They need city help. There are people in the city who understand the situation within limits, and those limits probably are expanding as a kind of urban agrarianism.
Allen | The concept of a “place”—a living community where individuals find the identity that can undergird a commitment to stewardship and reverence for the land—is central to your thinking. As the world grows increasingly interdependent, we all, in some sense, become citizens of a “place” called Earth. Do you see a need and possibility for forging multiple identities, or multi-level consciousness, from the local to the global?
Wendell | I don’t know any other place as carefully as I know this place, but if that amounts to anything more than a hobby, it has to mean that I honor the possibility that other people in other places would know their places as carefully as I know mine, and might be as highly motivated to defend their places as I am to defend mine. If your love for your children doesn’t enter your imagination so that you can honor other people’s love for their children, then we end up bombing children.
My little neighborhood of Port Royal is dependent on the earth. The earth is dependent on the universe. But in a way, the planet––people love to talk about the planet––is somewhat theoretical. There are millions of places on this planet that I don’t know at all. But I have to be ready, if my love and knowledge of this place has spoken to me, to receive people coming from those other places, and say, “Look, these little places need to become a common cause.” That would lead to conversation, the kind of conversation that I long to see take place. It’s imaginable insofar as we can develop the vocabulary, the way of talking, to convey our own particulars to other people.
Allen | The Great Transition seeks to advance a global citizens movement in which disparate social movements—e.g., economic justice, peace, climate, environment, gender equality—across spatial scales converge to drive the kind of systemic change you have long envisioned. Of course, while the social ferment for such change is evident, building and harnessing this movement will be a long haul. What advice would you offer those working to nurture such collective action?
Wendell | I think there is a common ground. These various movements can come together. But if they remain specialized, they can’t do that.
The issue of scale needs to be paramount, because it requires us to acknowledge our limits as human beings, as members of a species that is limited, and as individuals who are limited. If we keep trying for things that we can’t actually do, we hurt our causes, whatever they are.
People ask me, “How do you reform industrial agriculture?” And I’ve always said, “If I had the answer to that question, you’d better be scared of me because I would be Mussolini.” I don’t know how to bring about a major transformation of a huge economy, one that is essentially a global economy. I do know how to do certain small things. I could be a decent neighbor to my neighbor, for instance. If I work locally, as my children are doing, there are certain things I could learn to do that are small in scale, but promising.
The conversation we need requires all the disciplines. All of them. Wes Jackson and I have talked at length about the departmentalization of the intellectual structure of, say, a university and how you might get beyond that. You could do it by starting a conversation.
Suppose you took a bunch of people out of their departments and had them sit down here on the bank of the Kentucky River, and asked a simple question: “What has happened here?” You couldn’t answer that question in a department. First, you know you are going to need a chemist, if you haven’t included one already. You are going to need a geologist or a historian. You may need somebody who understands the traditional music of these country communities. Who knows?
Then you could go on to the question: “What ought to happen here?” You have reformed the specialized structure, you see, simply by asking a necessary question. But these people have to be capable of talking to each other, so they can’t speak in that jargon that the specialists have learned to speak in order to remain specialized. Local people would hear about it and begin to take part. And the pressure that would come onto the conversationalists, you see, would shift it in the direction of place-based knowledge. “Come, friends, let us sit down together. Not in a lecture hall, not in a laboratory, not in a political forum. Here on the banks of the Kentucky River, let us sit down together and see what went on here. What’s going on here now? Why is it the way it is now? What do we want?”
Special thanks to Tellus Institute and the Great Transition Initiative (GTI) for this interview. Tellus Institute was established in 1976 as an interdisciplinary, not-for-profit research and policy organization aiming to bring scientific rigor and systemic vision to critical environmental and social issues. Tellus has partnered with hundreds of organizations, notably the Stockholm Environmental Institute.
The Great Transition Initiative is an online forum of ideas and an international network for the critical exploration of concepts, strategies, and visions for a transition to a future of enriched lives, human solidarity, and a resilient biosphere. By enhancing scholarly discourse and public awareness of possibilities immanent in these troubled times, and by fostering a broad network of thinkers and doers, it aims to contribute to a new praxis for global transformation.
Being and Becoming in a Field of Resonance
Being and Becoming in a Field of Resonance
Featured Image:
“Being and Becoming in a Field of Resonance,” is an installation of 20’x6’x4.5.” The 16 Indiana Ash wood boxes hold 56 graphite drawings on translucent drafting film, with LED lights composed for each figure behind the drawings. The installation was exhibited at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, (IN) 2015. The titles tell the story; among them are: Entering the Mystery; Entering the Planetary Body; Ornaments of Spirit; What Are We Doing? Oil Disaster Anguish; Embracing the Light and the Dark in the Infinite Sea of Energy.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Art is my way of life. It is how I understand myself and others, explore ideas, celebrate Life, and join in the cultural dialogue about the challenges we face and the emerging new story.
My work has always been about energy: mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, from the subtle to the destructive.
I watch the sky, and all of nature’s changing colors, look at art, read, take pictures and clip photographs, collect post cards, make sketches and notes… I choose my format and materials but, before the empty surface on which I work, I let go of planning and open to what comes out. What arrivals feels both familiar and strange. I feel I am following, more than choosing and must then work to integrate and offer what has come.
In 2010 I was prepared for another summer doing watercolors of the Etruscan vase shapes I had been using for years. The language I had developed of interior, exterior, and boundary, crossed by the energy of mark and color, gave me endless space, the limitations were a doorway.
Then the Gulf Deepwater Horizon oil spill began. Surrounded by the beauty of the Umbrian landscape where we were living, each day I checked to see if the Earth’s black hemorrhage into the blue waters had been stopped; Gaia was bleeding. Broken hearted, my anger and despair overwhelmed my ability to use the rainbow of colors on my palette.
Stopped in my tracks, the confrontation returned me to black and white with the important greys between. I worked on plastic drafting film, a product of the oil we all use and endangering life in the Gulf. With a single figure in each rectangle, standing, like my vase paintings, they kept coming, as did the spill. Later, adding light and narrative, then taking the figures into the digital world allowed me to combine traditional drawing with new possibilities.
This body of work was my means of coming back to Life, emerging in a new way, transformed by my own shadow and light, and by the shadow of what our human activities are doing to the planet, the evolution by chance of the past, and the light of our enormous potential to choose conscious evolution and a new story today and every day.
This work has given me the great pleasure of collaboration. Ezra and Jason Dufair: initial digital development; Mitch Jozekowski: Indiana Ash boxes, James Long: continued digital development; Dan McClannen of Redipix.com and the constant support, problem solving and patience of my husband, painter, Al Pounders, made this installation possible. I am forever grateful for all they had to offer and for the use of wonderful NASA, NOAA, and other government agency photographs.
– Loren Olson
Being and Becoming in a Field of Resonance
digital print of graphite on drafting film drawing with LED lights, printed and assembled by Dan McClannen. Photograph: Dave Mason.
Opening Heart to Heart, Center to Center, We Know We Are One with Our Living Earth I and II, Opening 1-8
graphite on drafting film, LED lights, 18.5×45.5×4.5” each, photograph: Dave Mason
Unfolding as the Universe Unfolds, Unfolding 1-11
Graphite on drafting film, LED lights, 18.5×78.5×4.5” photograph: Dave Mason
Embracing the Light and the Dark in the Infinite Sea of Energy, Embracing 1-5
Graphite on drafting film, LED lights, 18.5×37.5×4.5” photograph: Dave Mason
Entering the Planetary Body & We Are Stardust I
Entering the Planetary Body, 11×17” | graphite on drafting film, digital scan
Entering the Planetary Body, 11×17” | graphite on drafting film, LED lights
We Are Stardust I: Entering the Planetary Body with NASA photo All that Glitters | ESA/Hubble & NASA acknowledgment: Gilles Chapdelaine
Entering the Planetary Body
Graphite on drafting film, LED lights, 18.5×12.5×4.5” photograph: Dave Mason
We Are Stardust II with Light and Shadow I and II
Embracing V: graphite on drafting film, digital manipulation, composite with: “Under the ‘Wing’ of the Small Magellanic Cloud: NASA/CXC/JPL-Caltech/STSch.
Eagle Nebula Series I #11
2016 graphite drawing: Embracing V on drafting film, digital manipulation and composite with Eagle Nebula Messier 16: NASA, ESA, & the Hubble Heritage Team with All that Glitters: ESA/Hubble & NASA acknowledgment: Gilles Chapdelaine