Dear Everyone - A Letter
Dear Everyone,
The World Peace Organism (WPO) was formed thirty years ago in response to the Vietnam War.
The single goal of the WPO is the peaceful attainment of Peace on Earth.
The WPO coordinated the site facilities and the efforts of many participants, presenting community unifying conference/festivals at Sonoma State College in California in 1970 and again in 1971. Knowledge was shared; many participants stated that their lives were transformed; new directions were forged.
These and later conference/festival experiences resulted in the WPO's The Catalyst Project, which brings to humanity a far-reaching vision and a practical technology for creative community building and cultural change. Current world conditions call not just for many but for a tremendous number of peace-centered conference/festivals around the globe, both at the community scale and on a vastly larger scale than ever before--unifying c/fs as big or even bigger than the Olympics. Most, of course, will not be nearly so large. But added together, the small, medium, and huge peace-building conference/festivals will have a powerful cumulative impact on the current course of events. And now the Internet provides a wonderful communications technology to help us spread The Catalyst Project peace-building technology around the globe. And just in time!?
Today we confront a variety of crises, any of which could result in planetary catastrophe. In addition to the continuing threats of nuclear war and ecological collapse, we face increasing world hunger, deteriorating world health, and national economies built on the arms production industry, thus inviting war upon war. We must resolve these threats and stop these cycles of warfare, since they give expression to a path that leads nowhere. A large number of unifying conference/festivals is a possibly indispensable/irreplaceable medicine for our current planetary condition.
Expressing the high possibilities of humankind right here in the rough-and-real world has long been the province of the artist/philosopher and the scientist/philosopher. Throughout history artists have made their offerings to the public in festival situations so as to awaken hearts and minds, while scientists have used the conference process to introduce their insights. By combining the conference process, with its emphasis on knowledge and understanding, with the festive experience created by the fine and performing arts, the c/f format has the potential to awaken the global community to the peaceful solutions that go hand in glove with our global problems. If understood and used, these solutions provide for a benign and sustainable future on Earth.
AS THE VISION OF "PLANET PEACE" GAINS GROUND ON EARTH, WE WILL BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH THESE PLANETARY CRISES. AS WAR-DRIVEN ECONOMIES ARE REPLACED BY ECONOMIES BASED ON PEACE, RESOURCES NEEDED TO SOLVE WORLD PROBLEMS WILL BECOME AVAILABLE.
The WPO is striving to reach its goal of Peace on Earth in the shortest possible time by spreading the word of Peace. When enough people demand Peace our leaders will be obligated to create Peace.
Great potential exists today for working and succeeding together, since the desire for peace is all but universal now. This desire is communicated powerfully and imaginatively through the arts. Popular music, for example, has tremendous alerting and awakening powers. Millions of people worldwide hear lyrics that explore problems of good versus evil, give voice to the suffering of nature, and touch the potential of planetary humankind. While popular music of earlier times dealt mainly with passion or popularity, the lyrics of today often deal with timeless issues discussed by Socrates, Christ, Buddha, Gandhi, King, and more.
Today, groups of musicians and other artists the world over are proposing that we stop our warring ways and work together, as sisters and brothers in the same human family, to create a planet of Peace and prosperity for all. Groups of scientists are doing the same. Let's bring the artists and the scientists together, for the sake of the future. Today, we can combine the festive experience created by the fine and performing arts with the growth of understanding inspired through the conference process. This conference/festival format offers an enormous potential to awaken the global community to the common problems we face and to present the message that possible solutions are available only through Peace and cooperation. Conference/festivals are a wonderful venue for creating informed heartfulness at the community and world levels.
The I Ching, or Book of Changes, states: "In the gathering together for the sacred rites the music and the splendor of the occasion aroused a strong tide of emotion that was shared by all hearers in unison and that awakened a consciousness of the common origin of all creatures."
Involvement of any kind in the World Peace Organism is a statement of commitment to a planet of Peace.
May we go our separate ways together.
David a freeman
Peacemaker
The World Peace Organism has but one goal, the peaceful attainment of Planet Peace.
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©1999 The Catalyst Project. All rights reserved. Northern Light fixes wrongs.
©1999 The Catalyst Project. All rights reserved. Northern Light fixes wrongs.