Universal Principles and Action Steps from The Convergence Magazine

from Light on Light Publications

Universal Principles and Action Steps Universal Principles and Action Steps

A historic collection gathered from organizations, networks, NGO’s and thought leaders around the world

Prepared with the Education Synergy Circle of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle a project of The Source of Synergy Foundation

THE CONVERGENCE

Announcing 2 special broadcasts hosted by the Our Moment of Choice co-editors Bob Atkinson, Kurt Johnson, and Deborah Moldow, with Gregg Braden and Diane Williams of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle and Rick Ulfik of We, the World and We.net available online at VoiceAmerica! Includes discussions with 25 Evolutionary Leader authors of Our Moment of Choice and discussion of the many events and initiatives featured in this special edition e-magazine presented by Light on Light.

Universal Principles and Action Steps

A collection gathered from organizations, networks, NGO’s and thought leaders around the world

Prepared with the Education Synergy Circle of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle, a project of the Source of Synergy Foundation

Curated by Rick Ulfik

Edited by Kurt Johnson and Shannon Marie Winters

Education Synergy Circle of The Evolutionary Leaders Circle (ELs) www.evolutionaryleaders.net www.sourceofsynergyfoundation.org

Liaisons: ELs Kurt Johnson, Ken Kitatani, Jon Ramer. Members: ELs-- Kurt Johnson, Ken Kitatani, Jon Ramer, Nina Meyerhof, Domen Kocevar, J. J. Hurtak, Desiree Hurtak, Mindahi Bastida, Gordon Dveirin, Claudia Welss, Rick Ulfik, David Sloan Wilson, Elisabet Sahtouris. Additional Circle Members-- Gaston Meskins, Silke Van Cleuvenbergen, Scott Carlin, Richard Bowell, Michael Shewchuk, Kay Dundorf, Bob Jayco, Ariel Patricia, Heidi Little, Karuna, Shannon Marie Winters, Jeffrey Genung, Robert Levine, Laura George, Glen Martin, Gina Maza. Advisors—ELs Diane Marie Williams, Deborah Moldow. Circle Media Partners: Light on Light Publications and Media, Co-Creation Global, Sacred Stories Publishing and Media, We.net Trends

Graphic and layout design by David Winters

Light on Light Publications

Managing Editor, Shannon Marie Winters, Contributions Editor, Kurt Johnson, Design and Layout, David Winters, Host Editor and Media Hosting, Karuna

Citation: Johnson, K., Ulfik, R., and Winters, S.M., Eds. 2021. Universal Principles and Action Steps. New York NY: Light on Light Publications; https://issuu.com/lightonlight. This free publication is non-commercial, and for non-commercial use only. The contents included constitute either (i) fair journalistic/public educational/academic/and scholarly use, from sources universally available in the public domain (e.g. each at numerous reference and/or historical websites [and/or free access online]), or (ii) as a result of specific permissions granted to print, or reprint, what is contained herein.

The Interspiritual Dialogue Network

member of the UNITY EARTH network www.lightonlight.us

Introduction

by Rick Ulfik Founder of We, The World and WE.net

I’ve been inspired and excited to assist in bringing you this unprecedented collection of Universal Principles and Action Steps gathered from organizations, networks and NGOs around the world. They represent some of humanity’s most profound examples of collective wisdom for a peaceful, just and sustainable world.

The goal of living in a world that works for all underlies the Universal Principles and Action Steps presented in this publication. That goal has also been at the heart of my work as Founder of We, The World (WE.net) and Co-Creator of 11 Days of Global Unity (https://11daysofglobalunity.org). In fact, the 11 Global Unity Themes we developed, and their associated Action Steps, are actually designed to be a comprehensive blueprint to achieve a world that works for all.

Only since perhaps the 20th Century, as our world has entered a cosmopolitan and culturally global era, has the opportunity presented itself to bring together, all in one place, these kinds of statements, declarations, and lists of universal principles and action steps. Our curation is not complete, of course. However, we hope that this compendium, with links to sources and further-elaborated materials, is valuable to you, to begin to comprehend the emergence and scope of humanity’s highest collective aspirations - the global principles and actions needed to achieve real transformative change.

In preparing this publication we’ve taken a chronological approach, beginning with the 20th Century, and referring back to earlier times, as needed or deemed appropriate, within individual entries. This is because statements from the 18th and 19th Centuries, although some do exist, are often obsolete and inappropriate since they frequently neglected major cultural aspects and values that we take for granted today, such as ethnic and gender equality.

We hope this publication will be a useful standard reference, especially if you are engaged in the crucial work of creating peace, justice, sustainability and transformation in our world. And, perhaps it will also offer a dose of optimism that we can all use as we chart a path forward, through and beyond the global pandemic with all of its ramifications and lessons.

Welcome from the Education Synergy Circle

Kurt Johnson PhD, Co-liaison, Education Synergy Circle Contributions Editor, Light on Light Publications

Welcome! The purpose of the Education Synergy Circle of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle (ELs) is to gather persons from across the diverse meanings and activities of “Education” and discover thematic and action areas from which can emerge tangible plans toward collective “products” like discussions, conferences, events, initiatives, media and so on.

We think you will find the similarities in all these global statements concerning Universal Principles and Universal Action Steps a testament to the coherent good will and transformative vision of human beings around the world. They reflect an overall paradigm shift from orthodox extractive modernity (materialism, reductionism, and individualism) to a regenerative impulse toward wholeness, harmony, and sustainability. This shift can be discerned as the unifying thrust or entelechy in all these Universal Principles and Action Steps gathered from around the world.

The Education Synergy Circle is an “Open Circle” open to ELs and non-ELs. Currently the Circle contains nine subgroup initiatives: new advances in humanist education (ELs Ken Kitatani and Mindahi Bastida, with Scott Carlin, Gaston Meskens and Silke Van Cleuvenbergen; concepts of planetary education [ELs Gordon Dveirin with Scott Carlin]); education around the UN SDG’s (EL Kurt Johnson with Scott Carlin, Richard Bowell and Michael Shewchuk); education around Laudato Si’ (ELs Ken Kitatani, Mindahi Bastida and Kurt Johnson), education media development (EL Jon Ramer with Shannon Marie Winters and Bob Jayco); education centered on works of We.net (EL Rick Ulfik), One Humanity Institute (ELs Nina Meyerhof and Domen Kocevar), Friends of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (ELs Kurt Johnson, Rick Ulfik, J.J. and Desiree Hurtak, Alan Steinfeld and Claudia Welss), the Academy for Future Science (ELs J.J. and Desiree Hurtak); Atlas Hugged versus Atlas Shrugged thematics (ELs David Sloan Wilson, Elisabet Sahtouris, Kurt Johnson, Lynnaea Lumbard, Michael Wayne, Terry Patten with David Korten and Julie Krull); Earth Constitution (EL Kurt Johnson, Rick Ulfik with Glen Martin, Laura George, Ariel Patricia, and Gina Mazza).

The Circle sponsored a 2019 event for the United Nations NGO community at Sukyo Mahikari Center in New York City on new advances in humanist and planetary education. It has worked on this publication on Universal Principles and Action Steps since the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions where it was initially previewed online.

Welcome from the Evolutionary Leaders Circle

Rev. Deborah Moldow

Founder, Garden of Light

Director, Evolutionary Leaders Circle of the Source of Synergy Foundation

I am so excited to see the publication of these Universal Principles and Universal Action Steps, compiled in one volume! What a gift.

The Evolutionary Leaders Circle of the Source of Synergy Foundation is a community of visionaries that was formed around the core principle that humanity is in a unique position to steer its own evolution with our shared conscious intention. Our very first project was to co-create a Call to Conscious Evolution, whose concept was born at the Chopra Center in Carlsbad, California in July 26, 2008 with the following Founding Signatories:

Michael Beckwith, Joan Borysenko, Gregg Braden, Rinaldo Brutoco, Thomas Callanan, Deepak Chopra, Mallika Chopra, Dale Colton, Gordon Dveirin, Duane Elgin, Leslie Elkus, Barbara Fields, Debbie Ford, Ashok Gangadean, Kathleen Gardarian, Tom Gegax, Charles Gibbs, Kathy Hearn, Jean Houston, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Bruce Lipton, Judy Martin, Rod McGrew, Steve McIntosh, Lynne McTaggart, Deborah Moldow, James O’Dea, Carter Phipps, Wendy Craig-Purcell, Carolyn Rangel, Rustum Roy, Peter Russell, Gerard Senehi, Emily Squires, Brian Swimme, Diane Williams, Marianne Williamson, Tom Zender.

Nearly 50,000 people have now answered the Call, strengthening the collective field by adding their personal visions. Yet we have always been aware that the Challenges and Opportunities for Action outlined in the Call were built upon the wisdom many of the coauthors had encountered through various documents in this publication, such as sources of indigenous knowledge, the principles of various religious traditions and interfaith organizations, the founding documents of the United Nations, and the Earth Charter.

Yet – remarkably – no one had thought to bring together these diverse treasures of wisdom in one volume until now. But now is the time! As we look back upon the dark, transitional year of 2020, we have crossed the threshold into a new era. This opening is richly expressed by 43 members of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle in our recently published book, Our Moment of Choice

In this new time, we look to the wisdom of the past as well as the emerging revelations of the present to guide us toward the next level of human evolution. This publication will be a valuable beacon of hope to show us the way.

Welcome from Light on Light!

Rev. Shannon Winters, MS, Managing Editor Light on Light Publications

Our world shakes with turmoil and unrest, and common ground seems more difficult to find than ever before. Each day we observe chasmic separations and stark divisions. On the surface, and in the dark moments of life, it may seem that a world of justice and peace with all essential needs met for every person is no more than a dream. And, impossible to achieve. Yet, this very compendium, Universal Principles and Action Steps, a collection gathered from organizations, networks, NGO’s and thought leaders around the world, is evidence there is good reason to hope after all.

Whether secular or nonsecular in design, the light of unity shines throughout these collected principles and action steps; from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, to Universal Needs and Values, Elements of Universal Spirituality, and the Interspiritual Declaration.

Light on Light aims to nurture an engaged consciousness that fully embodies diverse beliefs—and fosters common ground for which peace is built—inspiring compassionate action. We envision a healed and restored Earth in balance with all of its inhabitants in harmony and beautiful diversity. These Universal Principles and Action Steps are not only guides to usher in peace and harmony but are a true gift for humanity. May they be a blessing to our generation and those to come.

Media Partners

The Education Synergy Circle has four e-magazine partners who have also gathered in this process

Historical Statements of Universal Principles and Action Steps

Editors’ note: Many of these initiatives involved years, if not decades, of activities that culminated in publications, and therefore, while they appear in general chronological order, please note the dates appearing with each historical statement indicate either (1) the general date of publication of the initiative or (2) the span of dates culminating in publication. All initiatives, of course, are also current.

The Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (1881–1965)

The Fundamental Principles are an expression of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement’s values and practices. They were developed based on the Movement’s experience responding to suffering and needs over the previous century. The Fundamental Principles are at once operational and aspirational. They serve both as a guide for action and as the Movement’s common identity and purpose.

Humanity. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement endeavours, in its international and national capacity, to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found. Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation and lasting peace amongst all peoples.

Impartiality. It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It endeavours to relieve the suffering of individuals, being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.

Neutrality. In order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.

The Movement is independent. The National Societies, while auxiliaries in the humanitarian services of their governments and subject to the laws of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so that they may be able at all times to act in accordance with the principles of the Movement.

Voluntary service. It is a voluntary relief movement not prompted in any manner by desire for gain.

Unity. There can be only one Red Cross or one Red Crescent Society in any one country. It must be open to all. It must carry on its humanitarian work throughout its territory.

Universality. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, in which all Societies have equal status and share equal responsibilities and duties in helping each other, is worldwide.

Source and Elaboration: www.ifrc.org/en/who-we-are/vision-and-mission/the-seven-fundamental-principles

Declaration[s] of Interdependence (1930’s–2012)

Editors’ note: Overviews of numerous Declarations of Interdependence are available online, including at Wikipedia. Of these, the most well-known to our current generation are those associated with diverse initiatives and events in 2012 by Dr. Ashok Gangadean and as promulgated also by Barbara Marx Hubbard, available online here and also here, and Dr. Jane Goodall through the version below posted for global signatories by We.net (as below), among others.

The Global Declaration of Interdependence

PREAMBLE

In acknowledgment of the many existing documents and efforts that promote peace, sustainability, global interconnectedness, reverence for life and unity, We, The World hereby offers the following Declaration of Interdependence as a guiding set of principles. It is inspired by the Earth Charter, the essential values of which represent those of the many peoples of the Earth.

DECLARATION

We, the people of planet Earth, In recognition of the interconnectedness of all life And the importance of the balance of nature, Hereby acknowledge our interdependence And affirm our dedication

To life-serving environmental stewardship, The fulfillment of universal human needs worldwide, Economic and social well-being, And a culture of peace and nonviolence, To ensure a sustainable and harmonious world For present and future generations

Source and Elaboration: WE.net/declaration

UNITED NATIONS DECLARATIONS AND INITIATIVES

(1945-current)

Because the United Nations is an international organization some of its declarations and initiatives have historical precursors dating to before the founding of the UN. For example, many of such precursors originate in statements or declarations from various European nations during the 18th-19th Century “Enlightenment” and also have general cultural foundations from these nations’ “common law.” Serving these backgrounds are assets such as the UNESCO Division of Philosophy and Ethics, especially in the context of the UNESCO Universal Ethics Project and other UNESCO activities, for instance, as “A Common Framework for the Ethics of the 21st Century,” the 30 Year Report on The Limits of Growth among others. Given these interweavings, we’ve included additional notes at the end of the UN Declarations and Initiatives.

The United Nations Charter (1945–current)

Preamble plus 19 Chapters Preamble

WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.

AND FOR THESE ENDS to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,

HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.

Source and Elaboration: www.un.org/en/charter-united-nations

The United Nations, New York City

United Nations session during the Word Interfaith Harmony week in February of each year

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1945–current; 1948)

1. We Are All Born Free & Equal. We are all born free. We all have our own thoughts and ideas. We should all be treated in the same way.

2. Don’t Discriminate. These rights belong to everybody, whatever our differences.

3. The Right to Life. We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and safety.

4. No Slavery. Nobody has any right to make us a slave. We cannot make anyone our slave.

5. No Torture. Nobody has any right to hurt us or to torture us.

6. You Have Rights No Matter Where You Go. I am a person just like you!

7. We’re All Equal Before the Law. The law is the same for everyone. It must treat us all fairly.

8. Your Human Rights Are Protected by Law. We can all ask for the law to help us when we are not treated fairly.

9. No Unfair Detainment. Nobody has the right to put us in prison without good reason and keep us there, or to send us away from our country.

10. The Right to Trial. If we are put on trial this should be in public. The people who try us should not let anyone tell them what to do.

11. We’re Always Innocent Till Proven Guilty. Nobody should be blamed for doing something until it is proven. When people say we did a bad thing we have the right to show it is not true.

12. The Right to Privacy. Nobody should try to harm our good name. Nobody has the right to come into our home, open our letters, or bother us or our family without a good reason.

13. Freedom to Move. We all have the right to go where we want in our own country and to travel as we wish.

14. The Right to Seek a Safe Place to Live. If we are frightened of being badly treated in our own country, we all have the right to run away to another country to be safe.

15. Right to a Nationality. We all have the right to belong to a country.

16. Marriage and Family. Every grown-up has the right to marry and have a family if they want to. Men and women have the same rights when they are married, and when they are separated.

17. The Right to Your Own Things. Everyone has the right to own things or share them. Nobody should take our things from us without a good reason.

18. Freedom of Thought. We all have the right to believe in what we want to believe, to have a religion, or to change it if we want.

19. Freedom of Expression. We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas with other people.

20. The Right to Public Assembly. We all have the right to meet our friends and to work together in peace to defend our rights. Nobody can make us join a group if we don’t want to.

21. The Right to Democracy. We all have the right to take part in the government of our country. Every grown-up should be allowed to choose their own leaders.

22. Social Security. We all have the right to affordable housing, medicine, education, and childcare, enough money to live on and medical help if we are ill or old.

23. Workers’ Rights. Every grown-up has the right to do a job, to a fair wage for their work, and to join a trade union.

24. The Right to Play. We all have the right to rest from work and to relax.

25. Food and Shelter for All. We all have the right to a good life. Mothers and children, people who are old, unemployed or disabled, and all people have the right to be cared for.

26. The Right to Education. Education is a right. Primary school should be free. We should learn about the United Nations and how to get on with others. Our parents can choose what we learn.

27. Copyright. Copyright is a special law that protects one’s own artistic creations and writings; others cannot make copies without permission. We all have the right to our own way of life and to enjoy the good things that art, science and learning bring.

28. A Fair and Free World. There must be proper order so we can all enjoy rights and freedoms in our own country and all over the world.

29. Responsibility. We have a duty to other people, and we should protect their rights and freedoms.

30. No One Can Take Away Your Human Rights.

Simplified Version of the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created especially for young people.

Sources and Elaboration: www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights and www.un.org/en/udhrbook/pdf/udhr_booklet_en_web.pdf

HISTORICAL NOTE

There are Important 18th–19th Century precursors to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stemming from European cultural history’s emphasis on the major concepts, enumerated by historians: (i) Natural Law, (ii) Natural and Legal Rights, (iii) Moral Universalism and (iv) Universal Law. Specifically, these precursors include the Declaration of the Rights of Man and The Citizen (France 1789, 1793) and the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (France 1791), which were widely refashioned also across South America during its 18–19th Century independence revolutions. In Europe, none of these early declarations, as published, dealt with the other major cultural issue—slavery—although there were abolitionist elements amongst all of them.

Agenda 21 “Rio Declaration” Principles (1945-current; 1992)

The Agenda 21 “Rio Declaration” Principles are part of the non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. They originated from the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992 following an earlier 1972 meeting in Stockholm and the The Stockholm Declaration (1972). The overall Rio-related document includes 351-pages divided into 40 chapters and listing 27 principles. The Principles were intertwined and highly nuanced, and each elaborated at length, even in their initial statements. An abbreviated version taken from the initial statements for each Principle is available online.

Source and Elaboration: sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/dsd/dsd_sd21st/21_pdf/SD21_Rio_principles_study_complete.pdf and sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/641Synthesis_report_Web.pdf

Evolutionary Leaders Circle members before the message at the “Isaiah Wall” across from the United Nations in New York City

The Global Movement for a Culture of Peace (1945-current; 2001-2010)

Over 1000 global organizations take part in these activities which resulted in the World Report on the Culture of Peace, which was submitted to the United Nations for its plenary discussion at the end of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010). The report provides a comprehensive view of the progress of the Global Movement since it was called for in 1999 by United Nations Resolution A/53/243. The advance of the culture of peace comes despite almost total neglect from the mass media, according to most accounts from all regions.

In UN General Assembly resolutions such as that of A/64/80 The General Assembly welcomed the efforts of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to continue the communication and networking arrangements established during the International Year for a Culture of Peace for providing instant update of developments in the global movement. This was provided for many years by the UNESCO website for International Year for the Culture of Peace. The current world information board continues to provide links to 1,196 actors in the International Year for the Culture of Peace, including 219 international organizations and 977 local and national actors. It also provides a link to details on who had gathered the 75 million signatures obtained on the Manifesto 2000 in India, Brazil, Colombia and other countries.

Up-to-date news about the Global Movement is continuously available at CPNN-WORLD

Source and Elaboration: cpnn-world.org/learn/globalmovement.htmla

Synergy Circle member Denise Scotto, Esq. (red and black), leads UN Committee discussion on the global role of women

The Eight Action Areas of Culture of Peace

1. Fostering a culture of peace through education.

2. Promoting sustainable economic and social development.

3. Promoting respect for all human rights.

4. Ensuring equality between women and men.

5. Fostering democratic participation.

6. Advancing understanding, tolerance and solidarity.

7. Supporting participatory communication and free flow of information and knowledge.

8. Promoting international peace and security.

Source and Elaboration: cpnn-world.org/resolutions/resA-53-243A.html; www.culture-of-peace.info/copoj/definition.html; and www.fund-culturadepaz.org/spa/DOCUMENTOS/Report_on_the_Decade_for_a_Culture_of_Peace.pdf

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (1945–current; 2007)

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by the General Assembly on Thursday, 13 September 2007, by a majority of 144 states in favour, 4 states joined the accord later. Today the Declaration is the most comprehensive international instrument on the rights of indigenous peoples. It establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world and it elaborates on existing human rights standards and fundamental freedoms as they apply to the specific situation of indigenous peoples.

The Evolutionary Leaders Circle facilitates an activist “Synergy Circle” dedicated to the interests of indigenous peoples and BioCultural Sacred Sites.

Source and Elaboration: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (A/RES/61/295) and additional 30 Articles following a 7 printed page Preamble and general comments.

Synergy Circle advisor Rev. Deborah Moldow, Circle member Jon Ramer and other members of the Evolutionary Leader’s Circle hosting interfaith-indigenous peoples ceremonies in Ethiopia, 2019, for the World Interfaith Harmony Week

Synergy Circle members Dr. J. J. and Desiree Hurtak working in the Amazon region

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (1945–current;

2015)

1. No Poverty

2. Zero Hunger

3. Good Health and Well-Being

4. Quality Education

5. Gender Equality

6. Clean Water and Sanitation

7. Affordable and Clean Energy

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

10. Reduced Inequalities

11. Sustainable Cities and Communities

12. Responsible Consumption and Production

13. Climate Action

14. Life Below Water

15. Life on Land

16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

17. Partnerships for the Goals

The Evolutionary Leaders Circle (ELs) facilitates an “SDG Thought Leaders Synergy Circle” including members and non-members of the ELs dedicated to discussion of the achievement of the SDG’s.

Source and Elaboration: sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

Universal Principles and Action Areas of the Baha’i International Community

(1948–2020)

The Baha’i International Community, registered with the UN as an NGO since 1948, represents the worldwide Baha’i community, whose members are a cross-section of humanity, coming from every national, ethnic, religious, cultural, and socio-economic background. Central to the work of the Baha’i International Community is the conviction that humanity, in the midst of an ongoing process of spiritual, moral, social, and scientific development, stands today at the threshold of a new stage of global connection and interdependence, with every nation, community, and person having a part to play in building a peaceful and prosperous global society.

The following spiritual principles and action areas, most formulated as statements to the UN, have their origin in the sacred scriptures of the Baha’i Faith, founded in Persia by Baha’u’llah in the mid-1800s:

1. To acknowledge the human family as one is to appreciate the essential concept of diversity.

2. Gender equality and the advancement of women is imperative to the progress of humankind.

3. Eliminating the extremes of wealth and poverty is critical to achieving economic justice.

4. Achieving racial justice and racial unity requires abandoning of all forms of prejudice.

5. Universal human rights stem from the inherent dignity of every human being.

6. The natural world is a divine trust of which we all are stewards.

7. World peace is not only possible but inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planet.

8. Humanity’s crises are global, their impacts are interconnected, and our destiny is shared.

9. Youth are protagonists of constructive change and builders of a better world.

10. Social action is service to humanity for the betterment of the world.

Sources and Elaboration: www.bic.org/focus-areas, www.bahai.org/action/involvement-life-society, and www.bahai.us/public-affairs/focus-areas

The Nine Points of Agreement Among the World’s Religions (1984–2007)

1. The world religions bear witness to the experience of Ultimate Reality to which they give various names: Brahma, Allah, (the) Absolute, God, Great Spirit.

2. Ultimate Reality cannot be limited by any name or concept.

3. Ultimate Reality is the ground of infinite potentiality and actualization.

4. Faith is opening, accepting, and responding to Ultimate Reality. Faith in this sense precedes every belief system.

5. The potential for human wholeness—or in other frames of reference, enlightenment, salvation, transformation, blessedness, nirvana—is present in every human.

6. Ultimate Reality may be experienced not only through religious practices but also through nature, art, human relationships, and service to others.

7. As long as the human condition is experienced as separate from Ultimate Reality, it remains subject to ignorance, illusion, weakness, and suffering.

8. Disciplined practice is essential to the spiritual life; yet spiritual attainment isn’t the result of one’s own efforts, but the result of the experience of oneness (unity) with Ultimate Reality.

9. Prayer is communion with Ultimate Reality, whether it’s regarded as personal, impersonal (transpersonal), or beyond both.1

1Using the most current wording, from Kurt Johnson and Robert David Ord. 2013. The Coming Interspiritual Age, Vancouver, BC: Namaste Publishing.

Source and Elaboration: The multi-decade Snowmass Inter-religious Initiative of Fr. Thomas Keating and others, as published in: Miles-Yepez, Netanel [Ed.]. 2006. The Common Heart: An Experience of Interreligious Dialogue. Brooklyn NY: Lantern Books; and at catholicnetwork.us/2019/02/17/points-of-agreement-among-worlds-religions-and-guiding-our-spiritual-traditions-through-higherlevels-of-ethical-and-moral-behavior; www.interspirituality.com/the-emerging-interspiritual-age; among many other sites online.

Benedicts Trappist Abbey, Snowmass,

to Create Peace on Earth

The Earth Charter (1987)

1. Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.

1. Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.

2. Affirm faith in the inherent dignity of all human beings and in the intellectual, artistic, ethical, and spiritual potential of humanity.

2. Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and love.

1. 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.

2. Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to promote the common good.

3. Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful.

1. Ensure that communities at all levels guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms and provide everyone an opportunity to realize his or her full potential.

2. Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.

4. Secure Earth’s bounty and beauty for present and future generations.

1. Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations.

2. 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

1. Protect and restore the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life.

1. Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans and regulations that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral to all development initiatives.

2. 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.

3. Promote the recovery of endangered species and ecosystems.

4. Control and eradicate non-native or genetically modified organisms harmful to native species and the environment, and prevent introduction of such harmful organisms.

5. 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.

6. 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.

2. Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.

1. Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive.

2. 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.

3. Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities.

4. Prevent pollution of any part of the environment and allow no build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous substances.

5. Avoid military activities damaging to the environment.

3. Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth’s regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.

1. Reduce, reuse, and recycle the materials used in production and consumption systems, and ensure that residual waste can be assimilated by ecological systems.

2. Act with restraint and efficiency when using energy, and rely increasingly on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

3. Promote the development, adoption, and equitable transfer of environmentally sound technologies.

4. 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.

5. Ensure universal access to health care that fosters reproductive health and responsible reproduction.

6. Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.

4. Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of the knowledge acquired.

1. Support international scientific and technical cooperation on sustainability, with special attention to the needs of developing nations.

2. Recognize and preserve the traditional knowledge and spiritual wisdom in all cultures that contribute to environmental protection and human well-being.

3. 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

1. Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.

1. Guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security, uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the national and international resources required.

2. 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.

3. Recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable, serve those who suffer, and enable them to develop their capacities and to pursue their aspirations.

2. Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.

1. Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.

2. Enhance the intellectual, financial, technical, and social resources of developing nations, and relieve them of onerous international debt.

3. Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource use, environmental protection, and progressive labor standards.

4. Require multinational corporations and international financial organizations to act transparently in the public good, and hold them accountable for the consequences of their activities.

Members of the Synergy Circle “tabling” to organization activism for the 2015 Paris Climate Convention

Synergy Circle members Rev. Ken Kitatani and Drs. Kurt Johnson and Richard Clugston in meetings at the 2014 Parliament of the World’s Religions, Salt Lake City, prior to the 2015 international Paris Climate Convention

3. Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.

1. Secure the human rights of women and girls and end all violence against them.

2. 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.

3. Strengthen families and ensure the safety and loving nurture of all family members.

4. 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.

1. Eliminate discrimination in all its forms, such as that based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, language, and national, ethnic or social origin.

2. Affirm the right of indigenous peoples to their spirituality, knowledge, lands and resources and to their related practice of sustainable livelihoods.

3. Honor and support the young people of our communities, enabling them to fulfill their essential role in creating sustainable societies.

4. Protect and restore outstanding places of cultural and spiritual significance.

IV. Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace

1. Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice.

1. 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.

2. Support local, regional and global civil society, and promote the meaningful participation of all interested individuals and organizations in decision making.

3. Protect the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, association, and dissent.

4. Institute effective and efficient access to administrative and independent judicial procedures, including remedies and redress for environmental harm and the threat of such harm.

5. Eliminate corruption in all public and private institutions.

6. 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.

2. Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.

1. Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development.

2. Promote the contribution of the arts and humanities as well as the sciences in sustainability education.

3. Enhance the role of the mass media in raising awareness of ecological and social challenges.

4. Recognize the importance of moral and spiritual education for sustainable living.

3. Treat all living beings with respect and consideration.

1. Prevent cruelty to animals kept in human societies and protect them from suffering.

2. Protect wild animals from methods of hunting, trapping, and fishing that cause extreme, prolonged, or avoidable suffering.

3. Avoid or eliminate to the full extent possible the taking or destruction of non-targeted species.

4. Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.

1. Encourage and support mutual understanding, solidarity, and cooperation among all peoples and within and among nations.

2. Implement comprehensive strategies to prevent violent conflict and use collaborative problem solving to manage and resolve environmental conflicts and other disputes.

3. Demilitarize national security systems to the level of a non-provocative defense posture, and convert military resources to peaceful purposes, including ecological restoration.

4. Eliminate nuclear, biological, and toxic weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

5. 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.

Source and Elaboration: earthcharter.org/discover/the-earth-charter

Barbara Marx Hubbard’s Wheel of Co-Creation (1998–2012)

The 7 S’s of Co-creation by Barbara Marx Hubbard

1. Syntony: attunement with the patterns of creation experienced as one’s own inner motivation and intuition.

2. Synergy: the coming together of separate parts to form a new whole different from, greater than and unpredictable from the sum of its parts.

3. Synchronicity: the apparent a-causal relationship among events; coincidences that could not be planned by human mind but that appear to flow from a larger and more comprehensive design.

4. Suprasex: the passion to express unique creativity, stimulated by vocational arousal, comparable to sexuality at the next level; instead of joining genes to procreate, we join genius to co-create – to give birth to our greater Self and to our work in the world.

5. Syntropy: nature’s tendency to form whole systems of greater complexity, consciousness and freedom; evolution’s tendency to optimize.

6. Spontaneity: the experience of unpremeditated action and thought that flows naturally without thinking or planning; action that is on the mark, which facilitates and coordinates life.

7. Self-creativity: the tendency in nature to organize itself; autopoesis; the inherent capacity in nature to self-organize without apparent outside manipulation, springing from the field of Universal Intelligence out of which everything is arising.

Syntony

“This term, coined by Eric Jantsch in his book Design for Evolution, described one of the ways of accessing conscious evolution, as mentioned earlier. The relationship between the cosmic design and the individual intensifies through some form of syntony or resonance. Syntony feels like guidance, intuition, or direct knowing. We do not have to figure out what to do. We know. We perform with spontaneous right action. The inner world of subjective experience and the outer world of objective reality blend and become one. We and the world “outside us” are interconnected in one larger field of intelligence. The great flashes of awareness that mystics have experienced throughout history are reinforced and normalized. Each of us becomes more attuned to the deeper patterns; intuition and intellect blend. The mystical state becomes grounded and manifested in spirit-motivated social action.” [p 173 of Conscious Evolution by Barbara Marx Hubbard (copyright 2015)].

Source and Elaboration: www.barbaramarxhubbard.com

Towards a Global Ethic

(from the 1999 Parliament of the World’s Religions)

Towards a Global Ethic: Initial Declaration, also known as the Global Ethic, expresses a shared set of core values found in the teachings of the world’s religious, spiritual, and ethical traditions. The Global Ethic, mostly drafted by Professor Hans Küng in consultation with several hundred leaders and scholars, became an official declaration of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1993. For the first time in history, representatives of all the world’s religions agreed that there are common ethical commitments foundational to each of their traditions:

• Human beings should be treated humanely

• The Golden Rule of reciprocity

• A commitment to peace and justice

These commitments can be affirmed by all persons with ethical convictions, whether they are people of faith or not. While this ethic provides no direct solution for all the problems of the world, it does supply the moral foundation for a better individual and global order.

Since it was ratified, the Global Ethic has given rise to several organizations. These include the Global Ethic Foundation, the Institute for Global Ethics, and the United Religions Initiative. Themes advanced in the Global Ethic have inspired documents such as the Earth Charter, the Charter of Compassion, a Charter of Forgiveness, A Common Word Between Us and You, and campaigns have also been launched to promote the Golden Rule.

Sources and Elaboration: parliamentofreligions.org/parliament/global-ethic/about-global-ethic and parliamentofreligions.org/pwr_ resources/_includes/FCKcontent/File/TowardsAGlobalEthic.pdf

The Nine Elements of a Universal Spirituality (1999)

Actualizing full moral and ethical capacity

Living in harmony with the cosmos and all living beings

Cultivating a life of deep nonviolence

Living in humility and gratitude

Embracing a regular spiritual practice

Cultivating mature self-knowledge

Living a life of simplicity

Being of selfless service and compassionate action

Empowering the prophetic voice for justice, compassion, and world transformation

Sources and Elaboration: Teasdale, Wayne. 1999. The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality In the World’s Religions Novato CA: New World Library. And at:www.integralworld.net/teasdale.html; www.facebook.com/notes/contemplative-interbeing/ the-interspiritual-declaration/1969670149955630; catholicnetwork.us/2019/02/17/points-of-agreement-among-worlds-religionsand-guiding-our-spiritual-traditions-through-higher-levels-of-ethical-and-moral-behavior; www.interspirituality.com/the-emerginginterspiritual-age; among many other sites online.

The Eight Needed World Shifts in Consciousness (1999–2013)

1. Appreciation of the interdependence of all realms of human life and the surrounding cosmos

2. Growing ecological awareness, with recognition of the interdependence of humankind and the biosphere, including the rights of all biological species

3. Dedication to nonviolence, with a commitment to transcend militancy and violence tied to national or religious identities

4. Embracing of the shared wisdom in all the world’s religious and spiritual traditions, past and present

5. Growing friendship, and actual community, among the individual followers of the world’s religious and spiritual paths

6. Commitment to the depths of the contemplative pursuit and the mutual sharing of the fruits of this ongoing journey

7. Creative cultivation of transnational, transcultural, trans-traditional, and world-centric understanding

8. Receptivity to a cosmic vision, realizing humanity is only one life form and part of a larger community, the universe.

Sources and Elaboration: Wayne Teasdale’s (1999) list of (the Mystic Heart, p. 4-5) as further used by The Community of The Mystic Heart (Teasdale’s colleague’s network) and published in The Coming Interspiritual Age (Johnson and Ord, 2013): www. facebook.com/notes/contemplative-interbeing/the-interspiritual-declaration/1969670149955630; catholicnetwork.us/2019/02/17/ points-of-agreement-among-worlds-religions-and-guiding-our-spiritual-traditions-through-higher-levels-of-ethical-and-moral-behavior

The Five Evolutionary Developmental Elements (1999–2013)

1. Human consciousness and heart have been evolving toward a maximum potential regarding the kind of being humans can be and what kind of an earth we can create. This has been going on since the known origin of the cosmos, as material evolution and as evolution of consciousness.

2. This is recognized in a fundamental tenant of the interspiritual vision, that the evolution of world religions has been one unfolding experience reflecting the gradual growth of human maturity. This trend is anchored in the universally unfolding experience of “unity consciousness” or “awakening,” the experience of profound interconnectedness, no separation, and the world of the heart.

3. This unity consciousness has been emerging through all the world’s spiritual traditions. Historically we have witnessed this unfolding in myriad identifiable threads in the world’s philosophies and religions.

4. This unfolding has implications for how we develop our collective skills so that this consciousness can manifest in the world in tangible skill-sets working toward global transformation.

5. This has implications for the innumerable realms and arenas of endeavor, represented by all humanity.

Sources and Elaboration: From Wayne Teasdale’s (1999) list of (the Mystic Heart, p. 4-5) as further used by The Community of The Mystic Heart (Teasdale’s colleague’s network) and as published in The Coming Interspiritual Age (Johnson and Ord, 2013). Teasdale’s major points were scattered across his inspirational (and less structured) writing style but gathered and summarized in The Coming Interspiritual Age by Johnson and Ord (2013) and at www.facebook.com/notes/contemplative-interbeing/the-interspiritualdeclaration/1969670149955630; catholicnetwork.us/2019/02/17/points-of-agreement-among-worlds-religions-and-guiding-ourspiritual-traditions-through-higher-levels-of-ethical-and-moral-behavior; www.thecominginterspiritualage.com/initiatives#TheInterspiritual-Declaration among many other places online.

The United Religions Initiative Preamble, Purpose and Principles (2000)

URI’s Preamble, Purpose and Principles are the foundational tenets of its Charter and global network.

Preamble

We, people of diverse religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions throughout the world, hereby establish the United Religions Initiative to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings.

We respect the uniqueness of each tradition, and differences of practice or belief.

We value voices that respect others, and believe that sharing our values and wisdom can lead us to act for the good of all.

We believe that our religious, spiritual lives, rather than dividing us, guide us to build community and respect for one another.

Therefore, as interdependent people rooted in our traditions, we now unite for the benefit of our Earth community

We unite to build cultures of peace and justice.

We unite to heal and protect the Earth.

We unite to build safe places for conflict resolution, healing and reconciliation.

We unite to support freedom of religion and spiritual expression, and the rights of all individuals and peoples as set forth in international law.

We unite in responsible cooperative action to bring the wisdom and values of our religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions to bear on the economic, environmental, political and social challenges facing our Earth community.

We unite to provide a global opportunity for participation by all people, especially by those whose voices are not often heard.

We unite to celebrate the joy of blessings and the light of wisdom in both movement and stillness.

We unite to use our combined resources only for nonviolent, compassionate action, to awaken to our deepest truths, and to manifest love and justice among all life in our Earth community.

Purpose

The purpose of the United Religions Initiative is to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings.

Principles

1. The URI is a bridge-building organization, not a religion.

2. We respect the sacred wisdom of each religion, spiritual expression and indigenous tradition.

3. We respect the differences among religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions.

4. We encourage our members to deepen their roots in their own tradition.

5. We listen and speak with respect to deepen mutual understanding and trust.

6. We give and receive hospitality.

7. We seek and welcome the gift of diversity and model practices that do not discriminate.

8. We practice equitable participation of women and men in all aspects of the URI.

9. We practice healing and reconciliation to resolve conflict without resorting to violence.

10. We act from sound ecological practices to protect and preserve the Earth for both present and future generations.

11. We seek and offer cooperation with other interfaith efforts.

12. We welcome as members all individuals, organizations and associations who subscribe to the Preamble, Purpose and Principles.

13. We have the authority to make decisions at the most local level that includes all the relevant and affected parties.

14. We have the right to organize in any manner, at any scale, in any area, and around any issue or activity which is relevant to and consistent with the Preamble, Purpose and Principles.

15. Our deliberations and decisions shall be made at every level by bodies and methods that fairly represent the diversity of affected interests and are not dominated by any.

16. We (each part of the URI) shall relinquish only such autonomy and resources as are essential to the pursuit of the Preamble, Purpose and Principles.

17. We have the responsibility to develop financial and other resources to meet the needs of our part, and to share financial and other resources to help meet the needs of other parts.

18. We maintain the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct, prudent use of resources, and fair and accurate disclosure of information.

19. We are committed to organizational learning and adaptation.

20. We honor the richness and diversity of all languages and the right and responsibility of participants to translate and interpret the Charter, Articles, Bylaws and related documents in accordance with the Preamble, Purpose and Principles, and the spirit of the United Religions Initiative.

21. Members of the URI shall not be coerced to participate in any ritual or be proselytized.

Source and Elaboration: uri.org/who-we-are/PPP

Interfaith gathering in the Tillman Chapel of the United Nations Church Center, New York City

Interfaith celebration during the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, 2019, at the African Union co-hosted by members of the Synergy Circle

We, The World’s 11 Days of Global Unity (2004)

11 Global Unity Themes - 11 Ways To Transform Your World

Unity

• Work to end racism and intolerance of all kinds

• Encourage healing and reconciliation between conflicting groups

• Use nonviolent forms of communication to increase connection and prevent conflict

Interdependence

• Promote Conscious Interdependence acknowledging that we are all connected through the web of life

• Expand awareness and action to protect and preserve our global commons (land, water, air, internet, DNA, etc.)

• Honor indigenous wisdom

Environment

• Protect eco-systems and biodiversity - end the Mass Extinction of Species

• Protect and provide clean water for all

• Address the Climate Crisis: from International Agreements to Local Policies

Economic Justice

• Fulfill all basic human needs: clean air, food, water and shelter

• Conduct global financial reform

• Encourage the creation of enterprises owned and run by the workers

Health

• Support holistic, integrative, proactive and preventive health practices

• Provide for universal healthcare worldwide

• Promote the connection between individual well-being and societal health

Children and Youth

• Encourage youth activism for a peaceful sustainable world

• Promote Peace/Tolerance/Conflict Resolution Education programs at all grade levels

• Advocate for the rights of the child

Women

• End violence against women

• Advocate for economic empowerment of women

• Promote women’s leadership including full implementation of UNSCR 1325 to ensure women’s equal representation at all decision-making levels

Human Rights

• End persecution in all forms

• Promote civil rights and civil liberties

• Promote Restorative Justice

Freedom

• Promote public financing of local and national elections

• End society’s usage of incarceration as a substitute for properly addressing Poverty, Drug Addiction, and Mental Illness

• Advocate for socially responsible public interest practices in all media

Disarmament

• Reduce weapons sales globally

• Abolish nuclear weapons and all WMDs

• Strengthen security through diplomacy, nonviolent conflict resolution and conflict prevention

Peace

• Work to create a Culture of Peace

• Promote the multilateral framework of the United Nations, its institutions and its legal instruments for resolving international conflicts

• Establish departments and ministries of peace around the world

Values and Guiding Principles

We, The World seeks to help usher in a new era of planetary consciousness and conscience, in which people individually and through their institutions make life-affirming choices understanding their impact on the world’s social, economic and environmental systemswhich in turn affect all life on Earth.

Principles and values include:

The Personal and Global Spheres of Life are Completely Interdependent: Each individual’s actions impact the world’s social, economic and environmental systems, which in turn affect each of us. As long as suffering exists we are all diminished. The wellbeing of each person and each form of life is essential for the complete well-being of all of us.

The Means are the Ends: We seek to reflect our goals and vision in all our actions. Ethics is our bottom line.

Nonviolence: From personal to international relations, consistent nonviolence will establish and maintain the trust necessary for a peaceful world.

In Working to Heal the Planet, We Heal Ourselves: When we heal ourselves, society benefits.

Other Core Principles: Concern For the Entire Web of Life; Holistic Approaches to Problem Solving and Prevention; Idealism; Compassion; Collaboration Not Competition; Going Beyond Blame to Recognize Our Collective Responsibility; No Effort Is Too Small To Be Recognized For Its Importance

Sources and Elaboration: we.net and we.net/11themes

The Universal Needs and Values of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) ©2005 by

Center for Nonviolent Communication

The following list of needs is neither exhaustive nor definitive. It is meant as a starting place to support anyone who wishes to engage in a process of deepening self-discovery and to facilitate greater understanding and connection between people.

We have another list that might also be of interest: a list of feelings

CONNECTION acceptance affection appreciation belonging cooperation communication closeness community companionship compassion consideration consistency empathy inclusion intimacy love mutuality nurturing respect/self-respect safety security stability support

CONNECTION continued to know and be known to see and be seen to understand and be understood trust warmth

PHYSICAL WELL-BEING air food movement/exercise rest/sleep sexual expression safety shelter touch water

HONESTY authenticity integrity presence

PLAY joy humor

PEACE beauty communion ease equality harmony inspiration order

AUTONOMY choice freedom independence space spontaneity

MEANING awareness celebration of life challenge

MEANING continued clarity competence consciousness contribution creativity discovery efficacy effectiveness growth hope learning mourning participation purpose self-expression stimulation to matter understanding

Source and Elaboration: www.cnvc.org/training/resource/needs-inventory

The Earth Constitution (2006–2021)

The Constitution for the Federation of Earth (“Earth Constitution”)

The Earth Constitution is a holistic, global vision of Earth Federation that surpasses the vision and scope of the United Nations, which is based on the sovereignty of nation-states. The Earth Constitution does not abolish national boundaries or governments, but establishes binding democratic world law with these features:

(i) House of Peoples (with 1,000 World Districts);

(ii) House of Nations (for all countries);

(iii) House of Counselors (drawn from universities around the world);

(iv) Executive Branch comprised of a five-person Presidium (from the five major continents);

(v) World Court (with binding authority to resolve international conflicts);

(vi) World Ombudsmus (to protect the rights of the people); and

(vii) Integrative Complex (administrative agencies). The Integrative Complex includes agencies that focus on planetary sustainability, military disarmament, public banking, population reduction, education, and human well-being.

Sources and Elaboration: www.EarthConstitution.world

Galvanizing the Focus: A Nuclear Weapons Convention (2008)

There is a substantial introduction, references, and action steps followed by extensive commentary.

From the Introduction: Our futures are revealing themselves to be far more intertwined than we had expected. For example, we are all threatened by dramatic man made changes to the climate and we will have to cooperate to protect this aspect of the global commons. Our economic and environmental security requires cooperation and trust. The integration of our security must now be reflected and codified in our system of international laws and norms

Our collective success in achieving the universal elimination of our greatest threat, nuclear weapons, will dramatically enhance our capacity to address all other threats. A non-discriminatory nuclear weapons convention, replete with the requisite political, legal and technical mechanisms to ensure its implementation is a necessary step.

After further introduction three steps are outlined:

A non-discriminatory, legally-binding convention would strengthen the rule of international law by several important means:

1. It would expedite the fulfillment of Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which calls for the pursuit of “negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.” Further,

a convention would strengthen the non-proliferation obligations of the Treaty, through the implementation of a robust verification regime that would be required by a global prohibition.

2. A convention would fulfill the call set forth by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in their Advisory Opinion of 1996 which identified “an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control.”

3. It would address what is arguably the NPT’s greatest shortcoming, the perception that it codifies a “nuclear apartheid” world, wherein laws are inequitably applied.

Substantial international commentary and citations follow.

Sources and Elaboration: gsinstitute.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/gsi/pubs/10_24_08_NWC.pdf

Network diagram by Synergy Circle member Jon Ramer for the diverse 2020 COVID-era online programs by the larger network

Programs on the anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Evolutionary Leaders Circle

CALL TO CONSCIOUS EVOLUTION Our Moment of Choice [2010]

We recognize that the inner and outer aspects of life evolve together. A dramatic awakening in consciousness will involve an equally dramatic shift in outward aspects of our lives. In particular, we see the following as vital opportunities for our conscious evolution, both personally and collectively:

Cultivating a Paradigm of Aliveness: We regard the universe as deeply alive and conscious by nature. In a living universe, our sense of subtle connection and participation with life around us is the basis for a compassionate and cooperative approach to living.

Educating for an Evolving Consciousness: Awakening consciousness is the foundation for all the change we seek to see in the world. We can work to elevate our capacity for conscious reflection and creative action in our personal lives as well as our collective lives as communities. We must support research and educational strategies that optimize human capacities and explore the nature of consciousness.

Restoring Ecological Balance: The balance of planetary ecosystems is fundamental to our survival. We must reverse the pollution of our global commons–the water, air and soil that nourish all life. We must encourage the proliferation of clean, renewable energy sources and expend all necessary resources toward mitigating the effects of climate change.

Encouraging Conscious Media: We must find innovative ways to use the new electronic media as the mirror of our positive evolutionary story, investing in their capacity to reach across differences of generation, culture, religion, wealth, and gender to build a working consensus about our collective future.

Engaging in Social and Political Transformation: More sustainable ways of living will require the support of a more conscious democracy and vibrant civil society from which more enlightened leaders will emerge. All individuals should be encouraged to use their gifts to create participatory, responsible and compassionate models of governance.

Working for Integrity in Commerce: Conscious businesses that are aware of the scope, depth, and long-range impacts of their actions are key to achieving sustainability. Business must become an ethical steward of the Earth’s ecology and consciously establish an economic basis for a future of equitably shared abundance.

Promoting Health and Healing: The science of mind-body-spirit health has demonstrated the profound connection between the health of a whole person and the health of the system in which he or she lives. Whole systems healing, respecting both traditional knowledge and modern sciences, must be supported in physical, social, and spiritual domains.

Building Global Community: The new story is about all of us who share this planet. Together, we can create a culture of peace that eliminates the need for armed conflict, respecting and appreciating the glorious diversity of our human family

Sources and Elaboration: www.evolutionaryleaders.net/acalltoconsciousevolution/the-call; www.evolutionaryleaders.net/ acalltoconsciousevolution/call-to-conscious-evolution; www.evolutionaryleaders.net/acalltoconsciousevolution/context-for-consciousevolution; www.evolutionaryleaders.net/evolutionary-leaders

The Charter for Compassion (2009)

• The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

• It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

• We therefore call upon all men and women to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

• We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

Source & Elaboration: charterforcompassion.org

The Elinor Ostrom Design Principles (Nobel Prize 2009)

Elinor Ostrom shared a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009 for work exploring “The Tragedy of the Commons” and elaborating how communities are successful at managing common pool resources, or not. The work demonstrates how a holistic community can be selfsustaining without one element exploiting another. The version below is from her work with evolutionary biologist Dr. David Sloan Wilson.

(1) Clearly defined boundaries. The identity of the group and the boundaries of the shared resource are clearly delineated.

(2) Proportional equivalence between benefits and costs. Members of the group must negotiate a system that rewards members for their contributions. High status or other disproportionate benefits must be earned. Unfair inequality poisons collective efforts.

(3) Collective-choice arrangements. Group members must be able to create at least some of their own rules and make their own decisions by consensus. People hate being told what to do but will work hard for group goals that they have agreed upon.

(4) Monitoring. Managing a commons is inherently vulnerable to free-riding and active exploitation. Unless these undermining strategies can be detected at relatively low cost by norm-abiding members of the group, the tragedy of the commons will occur.

(5) Graduated sanctions. Transgressions need not require heavy-handed punishment, at least initially. Often gossip or a gentle reminder is sufficient, but more severe forms of punishment must also be waiting in the wings for use when necessary.

(6) Conflict resolution mechanisms. It must be possible to resolve conflicts quickly and in ways that are perceived as fair by members of the group.

(7) Minimal recognition of rights to organize. Groups must have the authority to conduct their own affairs. Externally imposed rules are unlikely to be adapted to local circumstances and violate principle 3.

(8) For groups that are part of larger social systems, there must be appropriate coordination among relevant groups. Every sphere of activity has an optimal scale. Large scale governance requires finding the optimal scale for each sphere of activity and appropriately coordinating the activities, a concept called polycentric governance. A related concept is subsidiarity, which assigns governance tasks by default to the lowest jurisdiction, unless this is explicitly determined to be ineffective.

These core design principles were described in 1990 in Ostrom’s Governing the Commons

Sources and Elaboration: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Ostrom; www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268112002697

“Prosocial Spirituality (PS)” based on Ostrom’s

Core Design Principles and Teasdale’s Elements of a Universal Spirituality (2009–2020)

Prosocial Spirituality utilizes the integration of evolutionary science with evolutionary spirituality. The aim is to train groups in principles derived from the horizontal dimension of social and evolutionary science and the vertical dimension of universal spiritual principles that can enable both personal and group transformation.

The framework derives from five bodies of research:

Social Science

Lead Prosocial developer David Sloan Wilson worked with Elinor Ostrom for three years to generalise her core design principles approach and turn it into a practical change method.

Evolutionary Science

Modern evolutionary science provides the general theoretical framework for integrating CBS, political science and economics, and other branches of science that are typically isolated from each other.

Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS)

CBS refers to the applied study of behavior in the context of everyday life, including behavioral, cognitive, and mindfulness-based therapeutic and training techniques.

Contemplative Science

Contemplative science is an emerging field of study. The term was coined by Buddhist scholar Dr. B. Alan Wallace in his book Contemplative Science. It’s often associated with Buddhism and Neuroscience but is expanding to include many different forms of contemplative practices that the impact that these practices have on the body, mind and consciousness.

Evolutionary Spirituality

The leading edge of evolutionary spirituality is interspirituality. The term interspirituality was coined by Wayne Teasdale in his book The Mystic Heart, where he also outlined 9 Elements of Universal Spirituality that are common among the spiritual traditions.

Sources and Elaboration:

Overview of the science community.prosocial.world/the-science-ps

What is PS vimeo.com/484530646

Why PS vimeo.com/484515527

Describe a PS World vimeo.com/484508471

Ready to Change vimeo.com/434516368

30 Minute Clip vimeo.com/377447075

The Seven Elements of Interspiritual Education (2013)

1. Teaching interspirituality itself (the journey from interfaith to experiential interspirituality)

2. Teaching sacred activism (the inherent connection of being and doing)

3. Cultivating higher consciousness (unity consciousness as an actual experience)

4. Nurturing individual formation (personal maturation in authentic universal spirituality)

5. Teaching integral (the integral vision and the developmental view of history)

6. Community building (building authentic communities of all kinds)

7. Ministry development (developing interfaith and interspiritual ministry from conventional roles— in religious institutions, chaplaincy, hospice—to entrepreneurial initiatives, creating new roles for interfaith and interspiritual ministry).

Sources and Elaboration: from the curriculum at One Spirit Interfaith Seminary (New York City) and from The Community of the Mystic Heart (Br. Wayne Teasdale’s colleagues’ network) and as published in The Coming Interspiritual Age (Johnson and Ord, 2013) and at www.theinterfaithobserver.org/journal-articles/2017/10/2/the-growing-edge-of-interspirituality; www.facebook. com/notes/contemplative-interbeing/the-interspiritual-declaration/1969670149955630; catholicnetwork.us/2019/02/17/points-ofagreement-among-worlds-religions-and-guiding-our-spiritual-traditions-through-higher-levels-of-ethical-and-moral-behavior; www. thecominginterspiritualage.com/initiatives#The-Interspiritual-Declaration, among many others.

The Interspiritual Declaration (2013)

According to the references above, and many others, the “Interspiritual Declaration”, refers to the five combined statements below, originating from the dialogical gatherings and works of Fr. Thomas Keating, Br. Wayne Teasdale and their many interfaith colleagues from 1984 forward. Each has a separate entry in this Universal Principles and Action Steps publication.

The Nine Points of Agreement Among the World’s Religions

The Nine Elements of a Universal Spirituality, The Eight Needed World Shifts in Consciousness, The Five Evolutionary Developmental Elements, and The Seven Elements of Interspiritual Education

Sources and Elaboration: at www.theinterfaithobserver.org/journal-articles/2017/10/2/the-growing-edge-of-interspirituality; www. facebook.com/notes/contemplative-interbeing/the-interspiritual-declaration/1969670149955630; catholicnetwork.us/2019/02/17/ points-of-agreement-among-worlds-religions-and-guiding-our-spiritual-traditions-through-higher-levels-of-ethical-and-moralbehavior; www.thecominginterspiritualage.com/initiatives#The-Interspiritual-Declaration, among many others.

ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATOSI’ ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME (2015)

There are 246 Sections and 172 elaborated footnotes addressing issues On Care of Our Common Home

From the Introduction: My Appeal by Pope Francis

The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. Here I want to recognize, encourage and thank all those striving in countless ways to guarantee the protection of the home which we share. Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest. Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded.

I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all. The worldwide ecological movement has already made considerable progress and led to the establishment of numerous organizations committed to raising awareness of these challenges. Regrettably, many efforts to seek concrete solutions to the environmental crisis have proved ineffective, not only because of powerful opposition but also because of a more general lack of interest. Obstructionist attitudes, even on the part of believers, can range from denial of the problem to indifference, nonchalant resignation or blind confidence in technical solutions. We require a new and universal solidarity. As the bishops of Southern Africa have stated: “Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation”. All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents.

It is my hope that this Encyclical Letter, which is now added to the body of the Church’s social teaching, can help us to acknowledge the appeal, immensity and urgency of the challenge we face.

Sources and Elaboration: www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudatosi.html; www.usccb.org/offices/general-secretariat/laudato-si-care-our-common-home

Synergy Circle member Dr. Mindahi Bastida Muñoz presenting Earth-related letters from indigenous peoples to Pope Francis

United Nations dancer (“Zuleika”) holding up planet Earth at the United Nations Plaza in New York City

The Conscious Business Declaration (2016)

The Conscious Business Declaration: A New Standard for Business in the 21st Century

As a global community of business leaders, we are committed to developing the awareness and skills needed to evolve our organizations consciously in alignment with the following principles:

1. We Are One with humanity and all of life. Business and all institutions of the human community are integral parts of a single reality—interrelated, interconnected, and interdependent.

2. In line with this reality, the purpose of business is to increase economic prosperity while contributing to a healthy environment and improving human well-being.

3. Business must go beyond sustainability and the philosophy of “do no harm” to restoring the self-renewing integrity of the Earth.

4. Business must operate with economic, social, and ecological transparency.

5. Business must behave as a positive and proactive member of the local and global communities in which it operates.

6. Business that sees, honors, and celebrates the essential interconnected nature of all human beings and all life maximizes human potential and helps create a world that works for all.

7. When aligned with Oneness, Business is the most powerful engine on Earth for creating prosperity and flourishing for all.

The Conscious Business Declaration articulates essential principles that are believed will dramatically increase economic prosperity while healing the environment and improving human well-being. The Declaration aims to define a new standard for Business in the 21st century, one that will enable Business to become the most powerful engine on Earth for creating abundance and flourishing for humanity and all life on Earth.

The Declaration calls for radical shift in perspective for Business globally, one that is already shared by humanity’s leading spiritual traditions and validated by modern science. It is expressed in the first principle of the Declaration: “We Are One with humanity and all of life. Business and all institutions of the human community are integral parts of a single reality—interrelated, interconnected, and interdependent.”

Source and Elaboration: www.consciousbusinessdeclaration.org

The Fuji Declaration (2017)

Igniting the Divine Spark for a Thriving World

We, the undersigned, as individuals responsible for the future of life on Earth, hereby declare that:

• Affirming the Light of Consciousness Within All Beings

We affirm the divine spark in the heart and mind of every human being and intend to live by its light in every sphere of our existence.

• Commitment to Creating Lasting Peace on Earth

We commit ourselves to fulfilling a shared mission of creating lasting peace on Earth through our ways of living and acting.

• Intention to Live and Act on Behalf of all Life

We intend to live and act in ways that enhance the quality of life and the well-being of all forms of life on the planet, recognizing that all living things in all their diversity are interconnected and are one.

• Freeing the Human Spirit for Deep Creativity

We will continually strive to free the human spirit for deep creativity, and to nurture the transformation necessary to forge a new paradigm in all spheres of human activity, including economics, science, medicine, politics, business, education, religion, the arts, communications and the media.

• Mission to Advance a Harmonious Human Civilization

We shall make it our mission to design, communicate and implement a more spiritual and harmonious civilization that enables humankind to realize its inherent potential and advance to the next stage of its material, spiritual, and cultural evolution.

Sources and Elaboration: fujideclaration.org

Seven Universal Principles Guiding The Story of Our Time (2017)

The timeless wisdom of the world’s spiritual traditions offers a deeply thoughtful narrative of the evolution of consciousness emerging in our time that inspires hope, traces love’s unifying power, and offers a holistic perspective of human progress pointing to unity and wholeness as our ultimate destination. How we get there depends upon the principles we live by and the action we take now.

Universal principles guiding our evolutionary leap forward tell us that the need to change, grow, and evolve is the nature of life, that the nature of life is to provide a basic opposition by which we grow and evolve, and that the nature of this opposition in life is to bring about transformation, which ensures progress and evolution.

1. Consciousness is a potentiality set in motion by an organic process Now more than ever, this potential is wholly dependent upon the initiative taken to investigate reality.

2. Love is the underlying force of evolution. Love is an inherent unifying force meant to evolve personal and collective potential to its highest degree.

3. Justice maintains the inherent balance of life As the embodiment of divine order on earth, justice is the purest reflection of absolute unity possible.

4. Unity is the result of the conscious confrontation of opposing forces. Through the process of transformation, we can merge opposites into a hidden whole.

5. Reality is one, and global harmony is inevitable Since the evolution of consciousness is purposeful, world peace is a promise waiting to be fulfilled.

6. Revelation is continuous and progressive The release of spiritual energies always has been, and will be, the inspiration for the evolution of civilization.

7. Consciousness evolves toward wholeness and unity. The evolutionary impulse has all along been leading us toward cooperation and harmony.

Sources and Elaboration: Robert Atkinson (2017) The Story of Our Time: From Duality to Interconnectedness to Oneness. Delray Beach, FL: Sacred Stories Publishing. A Nautilus Book Award Winner; amzn.to/2KO9Shf; sacredstories.com/product/the-story-of-our-time; www.robertatkinson.net

PRINCIPLES OF THE INTEGRAL VISION

Ken Wilber’s Waking Up, Growing Up, Cleaning Up, Showing Up, Linking Up, and Lifting Up

forthcoming publication from the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions

One of the greatest breakthroughs in the understanding of world religion is the recent discovery that human beings have at least two quite different, but equally important, types of religious engagement. One has been understood for several centuries, is found in some form in most of the world’s great religions and can be referred to as “Waking Up.” The other is much more recent—so recent, it is found in none of the major world religions themselves—and can be called “Growing Up.”

Waking Up is generally understood to be the core of most of the great religions. It is marked by a direct religious experience of an Awakening to, or Realization of, what is said to be an ultimate Reality (Spirit, Godhead, Ground of All Being, Tao, Brahman, Great Perfection), an experience known around the world as Enlightenment, Metamorphosis, Satori, Moksha, Fana, the Great Liberation, the Supreme Identity…

…Whereas Waking Up refers to an overall process that is said to result in the ultimate transcendence of the relative, conventional self (in a selfless True Self and nondual Ground of Being), Growing Up refers to the actual development of the relative self itself—the specific stages that it goes through as it grows and develops and evolves in the conventional world.

And why is this important (especially for spirituality)? One of the most profound of the recent discoveries about this Growing Up process is that, no matter what type of immediate awareness or experience that a person has (sensory, mental, or spiritual experience), the stage of Growing Up that they are at will be the primary interpreter of that experience. And this means that no matter what state of Waking Up a person is at, they will interpret that state using the stage of Growing Up that they are at…

…There is another major dimension that, like the path of Growing Up, was only discovered in a serious way by the modern West, around one or two hundred years ago, and thus does not clearly or fully show up in any major spiritual system anywhere in the world, and that is what we call “Cleaning Up.”

Cleaning Up refers to the general processes whose discovery is…—often known as “shadow”— ...it’s important to note that Cleaning Up is a process that in itself is profoundly different from both Waking Up and Growing Up. It has different causes; it produces very different results; and it is addressed by very different practices and techniques.

…“Showing Up,” …refers to being fully open to, or showing up for, the major fundamental perspectives available in a person’s life. There are many different and equally legitimate ways to refer to these basic perspectives. The Greeks called them “the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.

…A truly comprehensive spirituality today contains a wealth of different dimensions that none of the traditional religious approaches came anywhere near understanding or including. And you can keep pointing to new areas; once I had introduced these 4 basic practices, I have seen added to them: Opening Up, Hooking Up, Lifting Up, Linking Up… The point of all of that is simply that Spirit itself continues to unfold and evolve in numerous ways in the manifest world, and any authentic spirituality needs to stay on a path of genuine inclusiveness just to keep up.

…A truly Integral Spirituality—including Waking Up, Growing Up, Cleaning Up, Showing Up, and a variety of domains yet to be discovered—will almost certainly be the religion of tomorrow.

excerpted from Ken Wilber, A TRULY “INCLUSIVE” SPIRITUALITY, pp. 22-29 in our issue: issuu.com/lightonlight/docs/the_ convergence_jan_2019

NOTE: Integral and Spiral Dynamics Integral are expressions of the integral visionary work since the original publications of Ken Wilber (Integral) and Don Beck and Chris Cowan (Spiral Dynamics) from the 1970’s forward. The original website for Spiral Dynamics is www.spiral-dynamics.com/index.htm

Sources and Elaboration: kenwilber.com; integrallife.com

User-Friendly, Well-Animated, Video Tutorial on the Principles of Integral (which, as is well known include (i) Quadrants (1st, 2nd, 3rd Person and 3rd Person Plural experience of phenomena); (ii) Zones (inner/ outer); (iii) Types (various typologies), (iv) Lines (simultaneous kinds, varieties), (v) States (short term phenomena), (vi) Stages (long term phenomena), (vii) State and Stages (Developmental Levels, Developmental History etc); integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approach/,%20new%20user-friendly%20 interactive%20tutorial

Adaptation of Ken Wilber’s Integral Principles by the UNITY EARTH network for its 2019-2020 Road to 2020 Campaign

Eight New York Times bestseller authors, members of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle (ELs) gather to discuss the new EL book Our Moment of Choice on VoiceAmerica

The 7 Principles of Conscious World Citizens (2020)

The 7 Principles of Conscious World Citizens (from the Global Center for Human Change’s Principles of Conscious World Citizens, the Essential Shift, the 17 SDG Alignments, the Conscious World Citizens Guidebook [An Urgent Plea from the Future] and the Template for Evolutionary Change) give clear guidance to the evolutionary change of our times, re-aligning what we do, how we do what we do and why we are here at this unique moment to play a new part in the evolution story.

1. As conscious citizens of our one world, our purpose is to first of all secure the sanctity of our inner ecology where a new and different future can unfold - away from the polluted state of the planet and the toxic state of the culture (The Purpose).

2. In support of this endeavor, we uphold our natural birthright permission to become a media of re-alignment and reconnection to the significant line of evolutionary growth (The Purpose and the Person).

3. Our response to the calling to live in harmony with this planet and all life here is activated through the self-chosen affirmation to play a conscious part in the growth of a new level of life (The Purpose, the Person and the Planet).

4. As Conscious World Citizens, our human significance is centered in our natural capability to support evolutionary change in the unfolding story of life and we recognize that the upholding of these principles triggers the vital insights and perceptions necessary to access a different future - from a new level (The Elevation).

5. Our human struggle to address the significant challenges we face are rooted in SEEING beyond the dualities of inequality and difference (in gender, race, color...) that can only be realized by de-attaching ourselves from the level of inveiglement we have inherited from the past and growing closer in connection and integration with higher unified fields of intelligence (Growing Up).

6. Our unique design function allows us to release into the world new natural intelligence (ideas, ways, attitudes, discoveries) that can restore and regenerate life through the integration of purpose, the person and the planet (Integration).

7. The embodiment of these principles makes of us humans a first principle in our own right, not by any claim of authority but as a conduit of connection to higher fields of intelligence serving the emergence of a new time across the fields of human endeavor (Conscious Contribution).

Source and Elaboration: consciousworldcitizens.org

The 5 R’s of a Framework of Spirituality for the Future of Naturalism (Humanism) (2020)

1. Reform what is not consistent with reality and knowledge.

2. Replace what is not working for human worth and dignity.

3. Reject what is harmful for human worth and dignity.

4. Rejuvenate life for all with a faith firmly grounded in science and secured in reality; a faith that when experienced is unshakeable, is healing, and is a source of human happiness.

5. Rejoice in the history, traditions, beauty, grace, and power from all religious traditions as we align ourselves with the unseen order for the supreme good of all beings with whom we share this Earth.

Source and Elaboration: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/zygo.12670

The International Treaty to Protect and Restore Mother Earth (2020)

Preamble

We, the Members of the Human Family speak as one, guided by the sacred teachings and spiritual traditions of the Four Directions that uplift, guide, protect, warn, inspire and challenge the entire Human Family to live in ways that sustain and enhance human life and the lives of all who dwell on Mother Earth. We hereby dedicate our lives and energies to healing and developing ourselves, the web of relationships that make our world, and the way we live with Mother Earth.

The spiritual foundation of the Indigenous world-view is the ancient understanding of the fundamental oneness and unity of all life. Therefore, all members of the Human Family are a part of the Sacred Circle of Life. Since all members of the Human Family are a part of the Sacred Circle of Life, we are all Indigenous Peoples of our Mother Earth. Therefore, every Human Being is responsible for the well-being of one another and all living things on our Mother Earth.

Whether or not the nation-states, multinational corporations, or international development agencies that surround us are willing or able to participate with us at this time, our Indigenous Peoples and Allies of the Human Family are moving dynamically forward in rebuilding and reunifying the Americas and beyond. Our actions and vision, guided by the Natural Laws and Guiding Principles inherent in our Indigenous Worldview and Legal Order, are based on an eternal and spiritually enduring foundation.

There are seven statements of Principles and sixteen Articles

Source and Elaboration: www.petitions.net/international_treaty_to_protect_and_restore_mother_earth?u=6609721&utm_source=email

David Korten’s

Finding Our Way to a Civilization Dedicated to the Wellbeing of Life (2021)

The declarations assembled in this collection document humanity’s common dream of a world of peace, environmental health, and material sufficiency for all. Each says it differently, but most are versions of a shared vision much like the one with which I grew up.

I was born in the United States during the Great Depression to a family with a struggling local business. In the years following WWII, my family’s business flourished. Largely ignorant of the dark side of U.S. history, I grew up believing that the United States was a middleclass nation and a model for a democratic world, free from extremes of wealth and poverty. I saw the Soviet Union and Communist revolutions as the major threats to that vision. And I learned during college that the revolutions I feared were fueled by the deprivations of poverty.

My understanding of the threat led to my pledge in 1959, shortly before my college graduation, to devote my life to ending poverty in the world’s underdeveloped nations. My contribution would center on management education to bring the secrets of U.S. business success to the world’s poor. I was 21 and headed to the Stanford business school to get an MBA.

I am now 83. Capitalism prevails, including in Russia and China. The gap between rich and poor is the greatest in the human experience and grows by the day, even during the pandemic lockdown. Billions of people experience daily desperation. Science warns of the irrecoverable collapse of essential environmental systems. Much of the world lives in daily fear of violence. Confidence in government has plummeted as the public recognizes that power resides with transnational corporations accountable to billionaires, not with governments democratically accountable to the people.

The declarations in this volume reveal a significant and growing clarity on the world we seek. Yet our reality moves ever further from our vision. Why? What accounts for our failure? And what must we do?

My life has been closely entwined with the emergence of insights into the answers to these questions. Focused on eliminating Third World poverty, my wife Fran and I spent most of the first 30 years of our professional careers living and working in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. During that time, I transitioned from advancing management education in service to capitalism to attempting to advance management education to counter capitalism’s consequences for people and Earth.

In 1990, in Getting to the 21st Century: Voluntary Action and the Global Agenda, I examined why, after four decades of international commitment to growing economic output to end poverty, the number of people living in desperation was increasing. My career had begun with a commitment to teach the world how to be more like the United States. I was beginning to realize that far from being the solution, the United States was a major part of the problem.

The U.S. was using its economic and military power to become the world’s dominant imperial power, supporting its transnational corporations to ruthlessly exploit the world’s labor and resources to grow the fortunes of the already rich. In 1992, Fran and I moved from Manila, Philippines to New York City. Settled in an apartment near Union Square between Madison Avenue and Wall Street, I wrote When Corporations Rule the World (1995), documenting the concentration of power in financial institutions shielded by law from accountability to the communities whose economies they dominate. I became deeply involved in the emerging global resistance movement against corporate globalization.

Realizing that resistance alone is a losing strategy, I joined those searching for a positive alternative beyond the capitalist, socialist, and communist models of centralized power. This led me to developments at the forefront of the biological sciences exploring how living beings self-organize as cooperative communities to create and maintain ever more complex and able organisms—the work of which my friend and colleague evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson so perceptively writes.

Conventional theories of management and economics center on managing money to grow more money. But money is just a number that exists only in the human mind. We are living beings whose wellbeing depends on the wellbeing of the living Earth—a truth wholly ignored by conventional economic thought. The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism (1999) explores the implications of the new biology for how we approach both economics and management.

During this exploration, I connected with Riane Eisler and her work on domination and partnership as defining modes of human organization. We dream of partnership. But the civilizations that have defined much of the past 5,000 years have supported the relationships of domination that now put humans on a path to self-extinction. Human institutions are human creations. What we have created; we can change. The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (2006) explores the history of our misdirection and the possibility for self-transformation.

In 2008, the global economy crashed. It seemed this might be an opportunity to replace a suicidal, money-serving dominator economy with a partnership economy devoted to the wellbeing of people and Earth. I spelled out that possibility in Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, which I had the memorable experience of launching on January 20, 2009 from the pulpit of the historic Wall Street Trinity Church. Looking down Wall Street, I called out to humanity to declare its independence from corporate tyranny.

In 2015 I wrote Change the Story, Change the Future: A Living Economy for a Living Earth, which spells out what growing numbers of us now believe will be required to achieve the vision of the world that is called for in the declarations in this volume. I am heartened that people around the world are beginning to speak of the transition to an Ecological Civilization.

Here are some key principles.

Life and Money: Life is our purpose. Money is a tool.

· The Community and the Individual: They depend on each other, but community comes first, as it is the basis for life.

· Rights and Responsibilities: Rights come with responsibilities to the community we depend on to secure our rights.

· Cooperation and Competition: Competition can enhance our ability to contribute; but the wellbeing of the community of life ultimately depends on cooperation.

Symptoms and Causes: Symptoms of systemic failure are clues guiding us to the sources of failure we must correct through system transformation.

Our common future depends on envisioning and living into being the culture, institutions, technology, and infrastructure of a new civilization based on partnership in service to life. Identifying symptoms of system failure, which most declarations in this collection do, is an essential step. The daunting challenge now before us is to map and navigate the transformational system changes required to actualize the dream of a future that works for the whole of the living Earth community to which we all belong.

Sources and Elaboration: a 2021 summary, as cited and linked above by David Korten, MBA, PhD

Riane Eisler’s

Key Principles of Partnership Consciousness and Action

(2021)

“ We cannot solve problems with the same consciousness that created them.”

Albert Einstein

“We need a new worldview that goes beyond secular vs. religious, left vs. right, Eastern vs. Western, socialist vs. capitalist, and so on. These old categories fragment our consciousness and ignore findings from neuroscience showing the impact of childhood and gender relations on how our brains – and hence our beliefs, feelings, and behaviors – develop. Nor do they provide the new economics, narratives, and language we need to meet the challenges we face. The real struggle for our future is between the domination configuration and the partnership configuration worldwide. Once we understand this, we can build solid foundations for a more sustainable, equitable, and caring partnership-oriented world.”

Riane Eisler

Changing Our Story: The Evidence about Human Nature

As shown by biological science (e.g., we get rewards of pleasure when we care for others) and social science (e.g., for millennia, human societies were peaceful and egalitarian, and for much of modern history, social movements have challenged traditions of domination), we have been taught false stories about human nature and human possibilities.

· Using the Partnership-Domination Social Scale: The Impact of Childhood and Gender Relations on Politics, Economics, and Values

The partnership-domination social scale shows connections between how a society constructs our primary childhood and gender relations and its politics, economics, and guiding values.

· Unpacking Domination Systems: The Foundations for Authoritarianism

In secular regimes like rightist Nazi Germany and the leftist Soviet Union or religious regimes like ISIS and the Taliban in the East and Western ones like the US rightist-fundamentalist alliance (which demonizes partnership families and scapegoats outgroups), in domination systems, authoritarian, male-dominated, punitive families are foundational to authoritarian, violent, male-dominated politics and economics.

· Recognizing Partnership Systems: Respect for Diversity and Human Rights

Supporting mutual respect, non-violence, equality, and caring in all relations, in partnership systems – whether ancient or modern, small or large – relationships, institutions, policies, and organizations are based on linking rather than ranking and, rather than on hierarchies of domination, on hierarchies of actualization where power is used to empower rather than disempower and abuse and violence are not needed to maintain or impose domination.

· Building a Caring Economics of Partnerism: Valuing and Rewarding Caring

A key action for shifting from domination systems to partnership systems is going beyond capitalism and socialism (both came out of more rigid domination times) to value and reward caring (which has been devalued as “soft” or “feminine”), starting with new metrics: Social Wealth Indicators that show the economic value of the work of caring for people, starting at birth, and caring for nature.

· Creating Whole-Systems Transformation: Nurturing Our Humanity

Joining together, we can create a partnership future that nurtures our humanity and saves our natural environment by rebuilding four social cornerstones: Childhood, Gender, Economics, and Stories/Language

Social scientist and cultural historian Riane Eisler is President of the Center for Partnership Studies, Editor in Chief of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies, and author of many books, including the international bestseller The Chalice and the Blade, The Real Wealth of Nations, and most recently Nurturing Our Humanity (Oxford University Press, 2019). For more information, please see www.centerforpartnership and www.rianeeisler.com

Sources and Elaboration: as noted and linked above by Riane Eisler

Moment of Choice

Watch the Trailer for Our Moment of Choice at www.youtube.com/watch?v=VME1WUQegQ0

The Source of Synergy Foundation recognizes that our essence is Source: a single, universal field out of which everything emerges, where we are united as one. From this place we create opportunities for Synergy that spiral out and deepens connectivity and synergistic engagement. This synergy will often serve as a catalyst to awaken our innate qualities and capacities as conscious, evolving expressions of Source. The Source of Synergy Foundation’s first endeavor was focused on deepening connectivity among individuals, organizations and efforts that were working to elevate collective consciousness. The Evolutionary Leaders Circle, which is currently made up of 185 leaders, was born out of this connectivity. United by a shared commitment to strategically engage our collective field of potential and synergize with the evolutionary community around the globe, the Circle is committed to galvanizing a global movement of collective awakening. Several powerful synergistic collaborations have flourished including a number of Synergy Circles including the Education Synergy Circle that is dedicated to creating collective offerings that embrace and support a worldview based on unity consciousness. These offerings are made available to the public and featured in media outlets such as magazines, radio and online events. It is our hope that these offerings will help to expand human consciousness, create connectivity and inspire action steps that will contribute to the creation of a just, unified and thriving world.

~ Diane Marie Williams Founder and President, The Source of Synergy Foundation