New Hope for a Troubled World

Though we live in the midst of discouraging, demoralizing, and threatening events—deadlocked politicians over economic crises in the US and Europe, poverty rapidly on the rise around the world, international stalemates over measures to halt devastation of the environment—there is another story, a more hopeful story, beginning to take shape. 

There are a variety of movements and initiatives galvanized by the mounting danger to peace, prosperity and sustainability.  At the same time as we are dumb-founded at the intransigence, greed, and apparent denial of the powerful, we are inspired by the human spirit breaking through to shout, the time is now, to call it what it is and to find a better way.  

Who could have predicted that one young man’s self-immolation in Tunis could have also ignited an uprising of citizens across North Africa, risking their lives to topple three autocratic regimes so far while inspiring others in adjacent countries and even in Russia where citizens have refused to accept the results of an election which they believe to have been rigged. 

Who could have predicted that Occupy Wall Street, beginning on September 17th in New York, the heart of the 2008 global economic collapse, would have spread to hundreds of cities across the globe, bringing people together who want turn around the intensifying economic inequities experienced by a large and increasing majority of people in both developing and, so-called, developed world.

I recently had the privilege of visiting a new centre for imagining and acting toward a better future in Sopron, Hungary; it is an aspect of the work of a new organization—the World Servers Foundation—initiated by Gábor Kovács, a visionary Hungarian banker and philanthropist.  The centre is a recently restored monastery that was left as rubble after the Russian occupation, its centuries old ceiling frescoes having been cemented over. In my view, this restoration symbolizes the work of these worldwide movements, namely that of recovering the art and heart that has been obscured by an Industrial Age civilization focused exclusively on the bottom line.  This centre, as our host Gábor Karsai described it, is dedicated to reflective dialogue, working our way toward wise, collaborative and compassionate action. 

The World Servers Foundation with the leadership of Gillian Walker recently produced a powerful documentary (available through their website) illustrating the theme of this blog, that is, about creative leadership of people around the world all seeking a fundamentally new approach to engaged democracy, values-based education, leadership as service to humanity, personal and organizational transformation, and collaborative non-violent action.

I was at the monastery at the invitation of the Barrett Values Centre as a member of the National Values Assessment Coalition.  National Values Assessments are about highlighting what citizens believe to be most important about themselves and their country and about fostering fluency in speaking about values.  Such surveys have been conducted in Australia, Belgium, Bhutan, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.  The Institute led the NVA for Canada in May, 2009 (report downloadable here).  To date we are finding that personal values are consistently constructive and would generate relationship and action that would benefit local and global communities; honesty, family and friendship are in the top 10 personal values of the vast majority of these countries.

Our work as a coalition is to develop ways to promote citizen awareness of prevalent social values, and to foster the kind of dialogue that leads to values-guided action.  The National Values Assessment Coalition is another stream of thought and action that can coalesce with other movements and initiatives intended to find a path to a world of peace, prosperity and sustainability.

The Sopron Monastery was formed about the time that Columbus landed in what is now North America by a hermit who had a vision of thousands of points of light coming together to create one intense light.  This image could also represent the 21st century beginning of a similar configuration of human energy to realize a higher purpose. 

I invite you to connect with us and to share your perspective on values, values-guided action, and how we can work together to foster a better future.