Transforming Institutions

A letter to you,

Twice a year I have the opportunity to connect with you and to
express my gratitude to those who have inspired and uplifted me on this
long journey toward planetary harmony and wholeness. Although I have not
met many of you in person, I think of you often, knowing we are
resonating to the same note. Many of you are designing and crafting
exciting projects and exploding with creative ideas. You wrote such
meaningful essays with so much caring, concern, and effective action
that my heart was full of hope for our future. We named this issue Hope
of the World because of you.

We understand that recognition of the inadequacy of our traditional
institutions is the first step toward taking that great leap into a new
era where a higher-level consciousness will be reflected in our
transformed institutions. Although we know that pervasive creative
destruction will bring in a brighter light in the long run, we are
deeply concerned for the suffering that will be endured by the most
fragile members of our global family. Sensitivity towards this suffering
spurs many of us on to make contributions way beyond what we ever
thought possible.

Again, I was full of excitement and hope as the feature articles
began to come in for this issue. It was clear that social entrepreneurs,
gone global, were bursting at the seams and implementing creative
ideas, with love, backed up by a resolute will. My hopes rose more as I
saw our youth step forward to take responsibility for creating the new
civilization. Tatiana Glad, amazed me with her ingenuity in founding The
Hub, habitats for social entrepreneurs who now flock together in major
cities to enhance one another’s innovations. Then, the brilliant Helen
Titchen Beeth spun off a casual e-mail to a group about the foundations
of systems theory that eventually became a full-scale article for Kosmos.
Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee’s idea of producing videos inquiring about the
meaning of ‘oneness’ and giving them away without charge, raised my
hopes even more for a culture of sharing. And Google Foundation’s
leader, Larry Brilliant, a veteran social entrepreneur, is now defining
what compassionate capitalism is, while materialistic values reveal
their shallowness and ‘giving’ reveals its fulfilling interior rewards.

Then there is the ‘commons’ movement, which identifies a new force in
society to protect what should be the common inheritance of all people
from the grasp of a few. It is an extension of the idea of civil society
and a clearer definition of the need to protect common resources for
the good of all humanity. It is a revelation of the current dangers of
losing such basic commons goods as the right to water to private
profiteers. James Quilligan, Kosmos Board of Directors, and David
Bollier are leading the way to civil society as a distinct third
force—the hope of the world for fair governance, economic justice and
the new civilization.

The great shift of values is expressing itself through all fields of
endeavor. Elisabet Sahtouris, our science entrepreneur, has initiated a
worldwide effort for a new evolutionary science that she calls Global
Sciencing. Barbara Fields engages us with 21st century spirituality
based on experiential knowing and spiritual activism. Philip Hellmich,
an amazing youth leader, tells an engaging story about how he maintains
inner peace while dealing with traumatic conflicts in Africa.

Kosmos is noted for carrying the message both with words and
through evocative images. In this issue we have invited some of the
most talented and innovative artists for our Galleries. Mia Hanak,
another young social entrepreneur, tells us her story of founding the
World Natural Museum. Martin Hill designs stunning natural sculptures
which demonstrate lessons learned from nature, while Anne-Marie Pochat
shares her visions of the Birth of the Worlds in stunning detailed forms
of beauty.

Rounding out this issue, we present an innovative Kosmos
seminar that took place in Bolivia, by Nila Tadich de Ossio and an
interview by Susan Cavanagh with John Schmidt about his research on
mindsets and sustainability, part of the ‘Wisdom Leaders Series’ soon to
be released on CD by Kosmos and SummitSpeak.I am inspired by
hope. I am surrounded by young and old social entrepreneurs, born to
elevate our world. Millions of people, just like you and me, are
stepping up to participate in this world-wide opportunity to create the
kind of world that inspires hope, where dignity and grace and justice
accompany our evolutionary journey. This is the call we dare to answer.