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I just stumbled across some interesting theoretical and aspirational concepts. I was searching on YouTube for the concept “systems theory” and I brought up a link to a movie about Ervin Laszlo, along with Ludwig von Bertalanffy, one of the founders of General Systems thinking and philosophy.
The internet being the sort of thing it is, this then led me to the website of the Club of Budapest (founded by Ervin Laszlo), who’s goal is:
Founded in 1993, the global Club of Budapest is an informal international association dedicated to developing a new way of thinking and a new ethics that will help resolve the social, political, economic, and ecological challenges of the 21st century. With its roster of internationally renowned members the Club initiates a dialogue between different belief systems and world views in order to co-create and develop effective strategies for responsible and sustainable action with a global focus.
Further investigations led me to the World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality, which is further differentiated by goals (and political, scientific, religious/spiritual, academic and cultural celebrity !) thus:
1) Global Council on Indigenous Wisdom & Wellbeing: Leroy Little Bear, Angaangaq Lybert, Woody Vaspra, Diane Longboat, George Amiotte, Chief Jake Swamp, Judy Swamp, Vickie Downey, Joseph Rael, Nancy Maryboy, Leon Secatero
2) Global Council on Education in the 21st Century: Jane Goodall, David Scott, Helga Breuninger, Riane Eisler, Sunita Gandhi, Dee Dickinson, Fred Mednick, Usha Ballamore, Manish Jain
3) Global Council on Peace & Conflict Resolution: Desmond Tutu, Arun Gandhi, John & Susan Marks, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Elie Wiesel, Rama Vernon
4) Global Council on Spirituality & Deep Ecology: Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grimm, Brian Swimme, Duane Elgin, Wangari Maathai, Thomas Berry, Rupert Sheldrake, Jean Houston, Diane Williams
5) Global Council on Spiritual Politics & Global Citizenship: Al Gore, Dennis Kuccinich, Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Cornel West, Robert Thurman, Tu Weiming, Barbara Bernstein
6) Global Council on Personal & Planetary Security: Jonathan Granoff, Mikhail Gorbachev, Douglas Roche, James George
7) Global Council on Planetary Ethics and Values: Steven Rockefeller, Ervin Laszlo, Vaslav Havel, Mary Robinson, Bette Williams, Oscar Arias Sanchez, Hafsat Abiola, Hans Kung, Diane Williams
8) Global Council on Conscious Economies, Corporate Responsiblity and Economic Justice: William Wallin (CAUX Round Table), David Korten, Thom Hartmann, John Dalla Costa, Christopher Laszlo, Rama Mani, Theo Cosmora
9) Global Council on Interfaith Dialogue & Inter–religious Relations: Karan Singh, James Parks Morton, William Vendley, Jim Kenney, Houston Smith, Suheil Bushuri, Diane Eke
10) Global Council on Planetary Sustainable Futures: Sesh Velamoor, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Don Beck
11) Global Council on Integral Medicine & Planetary Health: John Kabat–Zinn, Daniel Coleman, Andrew Weil, Larry Dossey, Rachel N. Remen, Lewis Mehl–Madrona
12) Global Council on Frontier Science & Sustainable Technologies: John Hagelin, Yasuhito Kimura, Elisabet Sahtouris, Mark Cummings, Fritjof Capra, Fred Alan Wolf, Peter Russell, Beverly Rubik, Peter Russell
13) Global Council on Islam & The West: Dr. Seyyed Nasr, Dr. Riffat Hassan, Dr. Akbar S. Ahmed,
Dr. Michael Sells, Prince Hassan of Jordan, Queen Noor of Jordan, Dr. Omid Safi, Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer14) Global Council on the Welfare of Youth and Emergence of Youth Leadership: Dr. Nina Meyerhof, Valentin Vollmer, Juliana Hepp, Dr. Helga Breuninger
15) Global Council on the Welfare, Wisdom & Empowerment of Women: Riffat Hasan, Audrey Kitagawa, Hafsat Abiola, Wangari Maathai, Diane Williams
16) Global Council on Mindful Media: Gill Wright, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Hazel Henderson, Thom Hartman, Marcus Morrell, Sandra Hay, Ashok Gangadean, Kit Thomas
17) Global Council on Awakening Arts & Entertainment: Bono, Peter Gabriel, Steven Speilberg, Kit Thomas, Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Stephen Simon, Robert Redford
I must say that I was happily surprised to find such an organisation in existence.
The mission statement gets a little complex, as perhaps it must, but the central simple feature of:
The World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality cultivates a growing community of people from diverse cultural, religious,disciplinary and spiritual orientations to promote global wisdom, vision and values. The Commission is action oriented and acknowledges awakening consciousness and spirituality as transformative powers for the common good.
This is so thoroughly life-affirming and positive that it deserves great respect, thought, reflection and (if you can see any way that you can) commitment and participation.
RSS 
:)
If the vaster population could be torn away from their iPods, the TV’s and (let’s face it) their internets and actually develop some sort of awareness about the immensity and seriousness of the issues facing us all, then these fora would be powerful.
@ Ryan - yes... as Marx said of Religion being the Opiate of the people - these forums may well be the Crystal Meth of the elites and privileged, in some respect, but we have to support someone, somewhere or we would do as well to just end everything now. If we don’t at least try, what is the point ? I am as cynical as the next person, but things are at such a point now, globally, that even if more fora will not help, raising public awareness of the issues can not be a bad thing, surely ?
@ Grace - yes, it is just another group. It is so much easier to dismiss them than to look into it, though. The principles are great, even if there is no global awareness or activism to actually do something about them. You are right that the answers do not lie in the coagulation of yet more groups and forums, but if we could do something useful with the forums we actually have, perhaps this would be a good thing ?
