Transition to a Sustainable Civilisation
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The New Paradigm Journal in conjunction with The Global Citizens For Peace aims to create a platform which mobilises youth, talent and creativity in developing a more participatory and equal World? We need to get on side, some of the world's great innovators and social entrepreneurs who are creating a more equal and participatory world, and ask them to be on a panel, which would assess the great social and environmental and political achievements for societal well-being, environmental sustainability and international peace occurring in Australia and in the world at large. We need your help, your vision and your participation to create this panel, a web site and a TV show, which will focus on these themes, thereby educating the public as to the best projects they can create for the well-being of all of Australian and Global society. Humankind has reached a state of development in which old modes of thinking and behaving threaten to destroy our civilization.
THE CRISIS OF VALUES AND ATTITUDES ON THE PLANET Humankind has reached a state of development in which old modes of thinking and behaving threaten to destroy our planet. This is becoming patently obvious to people of all political and religious persuasions. We are living through a global crisis in which only a profound revolution can save us from total self-destruction. Those of us who are dedicated to the preservation of life must play a prominent part in this revolution, which calls for a substantial change in our manner of thinking. Thomas Kuhn introduced the idea that science functions
under the control of a paradigm. For centuries science has been
guided by a paradigm based on the intellectual achievements of Newton
and Descartes, who saw the world mechanistically and reductively,
with its division of inside and outside, subject and object. This
has been overturned by the work of Einstein and his theory of relativity,
the atomic physicists and others who have discovered laws that don't
fit the old paradigm. The new paradigm which is emerging takes into
account the observer as well as the thing observed, and the fact
that the two cannot be separated. There cannot be objective knowledge
without a knowing subject: what we see must be relative to and influenced
by where we are and who we are. In human affairs, objectivity on its own does not work because it contradicts what it means to be a human being. A human being is not an object. He or she is not only a thinking but a feeling person with emotions, values, hunches, intuitions, sensitivities which have a tremendous influence on what they do and how they perceive the world. He or she is both an individual, alone in their own private world, and also a member of a particular society; and, in turn, that society belongs to a wider community, the human family, with which every individual shares common experiences and aspirations and a common global environment.
We have to re-evaluate ourselves as the prime
cause of the problems we are facing, and rediscover the profound
value inherent in every single human being. This is something that
the United Nations conferences, as yet, have not really addressed.
Education, knowledge and wisdom are very powerful
tools for the survival of humankind. The more thought we put into
our survival, the more solutions we will get. An open dialogue is
the key to our success because it addresses differences, difficulties
and barriers, and creates co-operation. Although the media tend to sensationalize destruction, exploitation, greed and sexuality, there is a way in which the media can, in fact, exalt ecological culture, peace and the values associated with this. "Ultimately, this Earth can be saved from mankind only if people are prepared to live with nature, rather than upon nature. We have been taught that this world, and all plants and creatures thereon, were created for man's use: that he was given dominion over all other forms of life and that he must go forth and multiply. It is now clear that if he follows that belief his extinction is inevitable. Therefore, his whole relationship with Earth, with nature, must change rapidly. But relationships between individuals or between man and his environment are intellectual and of the spirit, rather than of material gain or loss." A substantially new manner of thinking is required integrating all sciences and creating a holistic approach which takes into account the inextricable relationship between life and all phenomena. Such a science needs to integrate scientific materialism and consciousness and requires a profound change in human values and attitudes.
Our main proposal is therefore: To ask the UN, including especially UNEP, UNESCO and UNCSD and the governments of the world, to support ideas and proposals on developing and putting into practice, new informational and educational policy based on the new scientific and intellectual paradigm, to develop and establish new educational programs for different national, social and age groups. Such programs would be established under the aegis of the UN (directly or under UNEP & UNESCO) institutions, governments and industrial organisations. These proposals concern education, information policy and science based on the new way of thinking that we may prevent the potential global crisis.
Economic, Social and Political State of Affairs Ten years after the Rio Earth Summit, we are still far from the prevention of a global ecological catastrophe and the creation of a solution to urgent ecological, social, economic and political problems which affect billions of people. No visible and substantial results have been achieved. We currently live in a global political system, which has changed from the polarisation of USA vs USSR to a monopolar order completed after September 11th. The monopolar system is not sustainable by definition. The process which is known today as globalisation is a mono-polarisation. A genuine globalisation is the transformation of our globalised world to a cooperative, united, human family. Our world faces a global threat - the danger of ecological catastrophe, which threatens equally every human being, every nation and every social group. The contradictory interests of a multitude of cultures and nations often camouflage and confuse the problems we are facing, because the information is not available through the mass-media.
The Global ecological threat is apparent in numerous known and unknown phenomena to the extent that we are on an extinction curve, more pronounced than at any time since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The world has been converted in an instant of time from a wild natural state to one in which human beings one of an estimated 10 million species of organisms are consuming, wasting, or diverting an estimated 45% of the total net biological productivity on land, and using more than half of the renewable fresh water. In a matter of a hundred years, we have altered substantially the characteristics of the land, the freshwaters of the Earth, and the seas. We are driving a major proportion of the species which are fundamental for our continued existence, to extinction. Klaus Toephler, Director of the UN Environment program, Nairobi, Kenya in the United Nations Environmental Study 2002 Report states, 'the Planet is poised on a precipice, and time is running out for making tough, economic and political choices that can pull it back from disaster.' This report, made by contributions from more than
1,000 scientists associated with UNEP shows that within 30 years:
The Military Industrial Complex No threat is greater than the threat of nuclear war. There are still between 40,000-50,000 nuclear warheads in the world today - enough to destroy 60 times the Earth's population. In addition to India and Pakistan, 15-20 developing countries will have nuclear capability in the next 10 years. For a fracture of arms spending, (over $1trillion dollars annually), sanitation and clean water could be supplied to all the deprived peoples of the world. Wide spread diseases could be prevented and schooling and medicine provided. The global military complex which has emerged for the defense of nations and people has become more dangerous that the threat it should prevent. If only a fraction of the financial and scientific resources it consumes were used to prevent the potential ecological catastrophe a sustainable civilisation could be built.
The domination of the pharmaceutical industry
in the health system ignores nutritional, environmental, preventative
and lifestyle management of illness through health promotion. Due
to inequities in global health care, a child dies of avoidable disease
every three seconds. The global community faces morbidity from the
growth of AIDS, a resurgence of other infectious diseases such as
Hepatitis, and Malaria, particularly in the developing world.
Modern society with its excessive emphasis on commercial return, economic growth, wealth and material success, subordinates and distorts peoples minds, mentalities and ultimately, real needs. The people are victims of surrogate values and needs forced on them by informational and economic sub-systems of society. Our survival has to be seen from on overview of planetary sustainability and transboundary environmental issues. The old system that says we have to dominate, cultivate fear, and exploit in order to survive, is no longer tenable. A positive change in new world outlook requires the cultivation of genuine human values and the acknowledgement of the interconnectedness and interdependence between humans, the natural environment and the Universe. The cultivation of Self knowledge, self esteem and spiritual growth, would lead paradoxically to a reallocation of consumer resources, conservation of nature and new, more sustainable, technological and scientific advances.
The global crisis is symptomatic of the inadequacies of our social values. Ethical and moral value systems have not evolved properly to keep up the balance with our growing material needs and technological inventiveness. We are living through a civilisation crisis in which only a profound social epiphany leading to a paradigmatic shift, unlike any other in history, can save us from total self destruction. The environmental problems that we face are because humankind does not see itself as a species, whose role is as a subsystem of the biosphere. Humanity's role is, in our opinion, to develop a deep understanding and wisdom based on our alignment with the Universal Laws and the co-evolution of human society with nature. Our basic requirement is for ecological peace and health which means a complete shift of the paradigm involving science, education and health to a complete understanding of humanity and its relationship with the cosmos.
The Loss of Values and
the Loss of Dreams The most underused and misused resource on the planet is the human mind. Although we may have finite natural, ecological resources, we have one infinite resource, which is the human mind and spirit. This may be the only resource which will save our planet. The famous Russian scientist and Academician, Dr Vladimir Vernadsky, in the first half of the 20th Century, saw the future of humanity linked to a model of reality called the Noosphere, which is a noetic science of consciousness and the world of inner experience. The noetic science, reappraises the nature of the human being and its relationship with the cosmos, integrating western science with eastern wisdom. The root problem is that our social life and our economic and technological development is grounded in the old, but still predominant paradigm based on the intellectual achievements of Newton and Descartes, who saw the world mechanistically and reductively. This has been overturned by the work of Einstein who showed that the new paradigm is based on the relationship and connection with the thing observed. What we see must be relative and influenced by what we are, how we are and where we are. The old paradigm works well for mechanisms and technology, but does not work when we try and understand consciousness and psychosocial issues. Tolstoy, in War and Peace, said 'the highest wisdom has but one science, the science of the whole -the science explaining the whole of creation and man's placement'. The measures aimed at
preventing ecological catastrophe and transition to sustainable
development, whether it be technological, economic and or ecological,
will be doomed to failure unless we free ourselves from the old
scientific, intellectual paradigm. It is no wonder that our young people are worried and often angry. Their lives are changing, but they feel there is no future, as they feel there is nothing left. Our young people nowadays grow up so quickly due to the influence of the media, particularly television. The destructive influence of mass media on the developing psyche of children and teenagers has a deleterious effect on the creation of the integrated personality. Parental care is lost as parents go out to work under the increasingly stressful working environment. In this situation, they are not able to substitute money, property, social status, and material needs with the creation of values. The New Paradigm Integrating Spirituality and Science Einstein, 50 years ago, said 'if humanity is to survive, there has to be a substantially new manner of thinking.' He also said 'A human being is part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences in himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison for us restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature.' Vaclav Havel, echoed this statement when he became President of Czechoslovakia, stating that there needs to be a massive change in consciousness if humankind is to survive. The root problem is that although we have made great leaps in technological science, and our physical knowledge has expanded, our development, is based on an inadequate understanding of the world generally, as well as of human beings and human life. Our science serves technological development, but it is incapable of predicting the consequences of the interaction of technology with nature. The new vision of reality
requires us to review our origins, the nature of evolution and the
basic cause behind the need of healing for the individual, society
and the global civilisation We have to reevaluate ourselves and
our mode of development as the prime cause of the problems we are
facing. In this respect, the new frontier is the new paradigm which is the new spirituality that encompasses a consciousness of oneness where all of life on Earth is connected and not separate. The great Copernican revolution of the 21st Century is to realise the nature of universal consciousness spirit and soul. Great inventions, great thought and creativity come from a higher order of intelligence and consciousness. Education, in our view should be based on this concept of human potential and the hidden abilities within all human beings. Particularly we would emphasise the power of the sub-conscious and conscious mind and the ability of the individual to find expression in a unique and whole way. A new ethos implies a belief in universal abundance actualised by the creative potential of human minds. The key to this abundance is the creation of a new kind of non-polluting energy, which gives humanity the opportunity to meet all of humanity's needs. Our civilization is changing rapidly. As a result, we are entering the so called post-industrial or the information society. The computer information and technological revolution now occurring should be accompanied by new ways that actualise the global mind and vastly enhance the creative potential and access to freedom for all humanity. Now is the time that millions of people need to awaken to their sense of truth, freedom, co-operation and connectedness with all of life - an expression of connected humanity. What is needed, we believe, is a new science that can integrate the mind and its abilities with the whole phenomenon of human productiveness, technology and the environment. This means that we have integration instead of fragmentation into the various subjects that are taught in universities, which are differentiated and separated into various disciplines. This means that we produce graduates versed in the whole phenomenon of life. This is possible because science already has come to a new level of understanding of the new paradigm. This paradigm should become the basis for new education systems, new information policies, and a means to building relationships between people, nations, social groups etc. Education, in this sense, is giving to people throughout the planet an understanding of what they have in common despite their races, religions, ideologies, cultures, traditions, beliefs and spiritualities - enabling them to realise their backgrounds, their origins and potential and individual destinies within the common ground of human life and existence. Openness is a prerequisite of education. It is also the prerequisite of communication. New forms of communication are needed, involving the media, which will help to educate people by enabling them to realise the depth and power of the human spirit and the ability of people to heal themselves and to create peace. Our aim is to promote a dialogue to impact human consciousness on a deep and profound level. "All that man has here in multiplicity is
intrinsically One. Here all blades of grass, wood and stone, all
things are One. This is the deepest depth. And thereby am I completely
captivated". Meister Eckhart (1260-1327) To ask the UN (including the UNEP, UNESCO,
UNCSD and other bodies:
To call all the World's scientists to take
part in developing the intellectual basis for forming a sustainable
civilization. To ask all educational
organisations of teachers of all levels and professors to
support our ideas and aims in order to create educational programs
based on new paradigm for distribution among families, schools and
universities which has at its highest priority, the integration
of the human being with the family of humanity, civilization, planet
earth, and the cosmos. In this respect, we particularly wish to
study and understand the role of ecology in economics, psychosocial
issues and cross cultural issues in order to enhance relationships
between nations, cultures, creeds and religions. To ask all medical doctors and health professionals to support a form of medicine which is integrative, health giving and gives individuals the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives and the opportunity to arrest the development of degenerative disease or prevent it altogether. To ask business and community
groups to consider our proposals in developing a new
sector in the market: on ecologically sound production, primarily
in food and medicine, placing emphasis on organic foods, sustainable
agricultural practices and cellular and herbal medicines. A new sector for the solution of our global problems would also include education (training courses), publications, centres designed specifically for health promotion, preventative health, self care, ecological education and spiritual development. Our children need oxygen, water, food, trees and grass and a sustainable environment more than material possessions in order to thrive. To appeal to the young people of the world to seek unity within diversity, cohesion where there is fragmentation and resolution where there is conflict. We ask them to take on the responsibility for this brilliant jewel of our planet and seek to acquire a deep and abiding passion and knowledge for life itself. A profound cultivation of true civilisation requires a broad and deep understanding of the nature of humanity, earth, the cosmos and the culture of their nation and all nations. It requires a profound love and respect for all peoples and the living biodiversity of nature itself. To ask governments to
support our concerns and ideas and to establish appropriate state
institutes, to initiate programmes aimed at focusing on scientific
activities as a matter of urgency on:
We feel that if these
major principles and directions are instigated we may be able to
prevent the global catastrophe to which we are currently headed.
France Armenia Ethiopia Cameroon, Central Africa Bangladesh
Indonesia Australia
United Kingdom
Canada
Nigeria Malaysia
----------------------------------------------------------------------- DR MICHAEL ELLIS MBBS MRCP DCH MACNEM NPAA BA (Hons) Dip Grad (Nutr Med) Dr Ellis is an English trained doctor with over
20 years of general practice both in the UK and in Australia. As well as his medical qualifications, Dr Ellis also has an Honours Degree in Literature, Arts. Philosophy and Social Psychology. Michael has been practicing Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism for 25 years and teaches this Buddhism in Melbourne He is the editor of the Australian Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist Newsletter which is distributed worldwide. Dr Ellis is a prolific writer and author. Dr Ellis founded and convened an international conference - Conference Earth: Humanity and Planet Earth - 2001 and Beyond. This conference was held at and supported by Melbourne University on 17-19 November 1995 with 400 delegates, 50 workshop leaders and 10 international speakers attracting national media coverage. This series of Mindquest Conferences is now supported by the Research Institute "The Centre For Change" founded by Dr Ellis. He convened a Critical Mass seminar on 'The New Spirituality' in April 2002 at Swinburne University. Other speakers included Prof Avni Sali, Dr Bob Phelps, Dr Sarah Crome, Ms Sue Barton and Dr Desmond Berghofer. Dr Ellis has a keen interest in the plight of the ordinary GP and is concerned about creating a more sustainable future for both doctors and the community. Because of this, he established The Medical Renaissance Group in Australia in 2001, which is sponsored by Dr Ian Dettman, Director of Biological Therapies. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DR PAVEL KASYANOV. PHD. DIP ENGINEERING (Hons), DOCTOR OF ECO SCE DIP Dr Kasyanov is President of the Russian Society
for Ecological Economics Member of the working group "Natural and Other Material Resources Management" under the Presidential Commission on Powers Sharing between Federal and Regional Authorities (2001-2002); personal responsibility: reform of the forest resources management. Other areas of his interests and activities he participated:
REFERENCES Agni Joga Volumes 1-14, Samara,
1999 (in Russian) Balint, Michael., The Doctor,
His Patient and the Illness, Pitman Press, 1987 Wilson, Robert Anton., Cosmic
Trigger, Falcon, 1988 Australian Conservation Foundation ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Michael Ellis
DR PAVEL KASYANOV. PHD. DIP ENGINEERING (Hons), DOCTOR OF ECO SCE DIP Dr Kasyanov is President of the Russian Society
for Ecological Economics (RSEE), former Director of the Centre for
Preparation and Implementation of International Projects on Technical
Assistance (Moscow), and formerly headed a subdivision at Economic
Department of Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental
Protection. Dr Kasyanov participated in developing a number of State documents, including Draft of the State strategy of Sustainable Development (1997), Draft of the Concept of the State Policy of natural resource use (1997), National Environmental Action Plan (for Russia) as well as some regional and sectoral environmental action plans (1997-1999), Decree "On privatization of the environmentally unfavorable enterprises" (1995). He has over 40 publications on the issues of sustainable development, linkage between consciousness and the social need structure, environmental economics such as pollution charges, user fees, taxation; natural resource economics; environmental management, environmental actions planning. He participated in a number of international conferences, working groups and projects, organised by OECD, EEC UN, UNCTAD, UNEP, WB, WWF. In particular he was a co-ordinator (for NIS and CEE counties) of the UNEP Natural resource valuation Project. (1995 -1997). Member of the working group "Natural and Other Material Resources Management" under the Presidential Commission on Powers Sharing between Federal and Regional Authorities (2001-2002); personal responsibility: reform of the forest resources management. |