Call of the Time

Follow up Letter to the Call of The Time Dialouge in April 2000

April 20, 2000

Dear Friend:

As we sit down to write to you, the many hallways, stairways and grounds of the Global Retreat Centre are still echoing with your presence - the gardens, dining rooms and benches where we deepened our relationships and schemed together for the months ahead, the meditation room where we sat in silence in the predawn darkness, and the Presentation Room where we created the vessel of our shared friendship.

We came together to consider what the time is calling us to do - in particular to consider the implications of globalization. We said that we would look at both the outer experience of globalization and at our inner experience this subject evokes. The design for our time together was a mixture of plenary and small group sessions for us to share ideas, individual "check-ins" (which we were doing through to the final morning) where everyone had an opportunity to make a personal statement on what the call of the time means to them, sessions with Dadi Janki for spiritual insight, spaces for artistic reflection led by Robin Ramsay and personal reflection in journals. One of the most significant aspects of the design was the generous space set aside for silence. There were periods of silence on each of the days with a long six-hour stretch of silence on Sunday afternoon. Most of us on the field of service find our lives consumed with talking, thinking and action. We rarely have the opportunity for the kind of deep silence that allows us to be in touch with our most inner world. This time of silence was designed to provide this kind of inner space.

As we offered our thoughts into the group, many provocative ideas were shared. Uner said that true development could be achieved only through a process that places people at the center of all concerns. This process must develop human capacities and capabilities to help people release their human energies for the benefit of their own development and that of their societies. Wally offered four ideas for consideration. We came back to these ideas a number of times:

The universe as a sacred story.
The call for a new strategic spirituality.
Why do we have such difficulty translating our love into action?
How we can refresh our own spiritual foundations?

We wondered together about the quality of life around the world. Tom talked about the lives of quiet desperation in the American heartland, which stimulated a dynamic conversation, and many agreed it was a universal condition.

Dadi reminded us that the atmosphere of the world is such that our minds become busy with thoughts of the world. We have a habit of thinking even when it isn't necessary and of speaking too much. She urged us to learn to make our minds peaceful - to be introverted and to go inside ourselves so that we will not allow the external peacelessness to penetrate our inner world. She offered four areas for our self-improvement: patience, tolerance, contentment and generosity. Finally, she offered a prediction: "People will feel that they get support from you. You will become an image of support for the world."

Robin offered us Sir Lawrence Olivier from Lord of Time:

Realize the one thing you have absolute control over is your attitude. See the effect it has on those around you. For each life is linked to all life, and your words carry with them chain reactions, like a stone that is thrown into a pond. If your thinking is in order, your words will flow directly from the heart, creating ripples of love.

Sunday morning we reconvened.

Otto suggested that we are at a critical juncture of a technological revolution and a failure of our institutions. He observed that the rise in new consciousness involves three areas: (1) ecological (2) social and (3) spiritual. With all of this in the air, we moved into six hours of silence. Some of us walked, some wrote, some slept, some mused. That evening we clustered in groups with hot chocolate and cookies to review our experience.

On Monday we brought our time to a close by making requests of and offers to one another:

Jenny has invited Otto and Joe to come to Australia to help her department and others in the Australian government achieve a more values-based and entrepreneurial environment. Peter invited Jenny to join the SoL Sustainability Forum. Jenny also invited anyone who is interested in the Global Challenge Summit to get in touch with her for more information.
Lars requested that we not just be there for one another on e-mail but that we also make ourselves available when we find ourselves in the same places. He also invited everyone to deepen his or her connections through the network he has begun.
Wally said that in his role as convener of the State-of-the-World Forum opportunities may arise to organize a thematic roundtable - perhaps a thematic spiritual forum. He hopes to transform that forum into a place where those groups with capacity help those groups catalyzed by the needs that they have. He also requested that Gayatri, through the Brahma Kumaris, might convene a series of conversations based on themes raised at the UN and in so doing involve many other people in these conversations. He also expressed interest in being involved in SoL Sustainability projects in the developing world, which Peter will follow up with.
Jane hopes to be in touch with many to get ideas for the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum in June.
Maureen and Peter expressed a strong desire that we include young people in future dialogues.
Sister Mohini requested that we use the website as a forum to talk about specific powers that we might want to cultivate within ourselves.
Brian requested that we make The Call of the Time website inclusive to share ideas into the world. He also expressed a desire to include Southeast Europe and China in future dialogues. He informed the group about the Asian Business Leadership Exchange, created to promote a values-based approach to leadership. He said that they would appreciate papers, journals and articles that could be translated into Chinese.
Bawa urged as many of us as possible to make ourselves available from August 28-31 for the Millennium World Peace Summit to be held at the U.N.
Dena made a request to Dadi for drishti!
Leticia requested that in future dialogues we include the political vision. "Governments have to redefine itself, but won't go away." She hopes we can include some reform-minded politicians. She is also interested in what Jane, Jenny and Lars are talking about relative to evolving a new kind of economics. She asked to be provided with information on Images and Voices of Hope venues.
Tom said that he feels supported by angels, the unseen ones here and what each participant in the dialogue represented. This matters because there are forces of evil; when one takes a stand, you are called to address a host of issues in your moral development.
Gayatri observed that globalization brings the gift of self-sovereignty, and that this self-sovereignty is the personal foundation for a new politics.
Judy offered help to anyone interested in creating an Images and Voices of Hope conversation, and to anyone who would like a thinking partner on dialogue design.
Otto said that he has felt nearer to himself in this group than in any other group in which he has participated. He requested that in future dialogues, we have time to be in a plenary session before the silence and after, so that we can go to a deeper level.
Bea wondered aloud about what kinds of situations we can create to continue to grow and develop.
Astrid requested help from anyone who thought they could be in Geneva on June 26-30 for the World Summit on Social Development, as she would like help with a two-day panel on Values Transmission between Generations. She also offered her help to everyone interested in networking in Geneva.
Rita offered to serve as Webmaster for The Call of the Time website.
Chris observed that we experienced a microcosm of the globalization within our dialogue: globalization took place in our plenary sessions, localization took place in small groups, and individualization, which globalization forces, took place in our silent time. His wish is that we all might bring these three into our individual worlds.
Bill offered that those with networks might take advantage of his work and his experience, which he will send. He also asked for help to live the truth of what he has come to understand, rather than just explaining it to people.
Tacito offered his appreciation for these four days and a hope to be with us in the future.
Sister Jayanti offered appreciation to the design team and to Peter.
Peter requested that everyone make their dreams real.

Special mention to those of you who have been with us in the past, but who were unable to be with us for this dialogue in Oxford: you should know that we held you in our thoughts. We look forward to having you with us again. We will meet again from Thursday, April 26 through Sunday, April 29, 2001 at the Global Retreat Centre in Oxford. Kindly mark your calendars.

Finally, here some other dates to mark in your diaries:

Regional dialogues will take place in Europe, The Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia during September and October 2000. We will be getting in touch with you with the contact names for the hosts and venues for these events. Please be thinking of people you would recommend for the invitation lists.
A Call of the Time international Dialogue (for about 100 individuals) is scheduled for February 10-14, 2001 in Mt. Abu, India. Attendees will come from the regional gatherings as well as from the original dialogue group.
The original dialogue group will meet again from April 26-29, 2001 in Oxford.

Within the next few weeks, Rita will be contacting each of you to discuss ideas on how we can best utilize The Call of the Time listserv and website.

Warmest wishes and blessings to you all,

Warmest regards

Dr. Peter Senge
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and
Society for Organizational Learning (SoL)
Co-Chair, The Call of The Time Dialogues

B.K. Jayanti
Director, Brahma Kumaris International Coordinating Office, UK
Co-Chair, The Call of The Time Dialogues