TRANSFORMATION IN A WORLD OF RAPID CHANGE:
THE INNER STATE AND THE OUTER STATE OF THE WORLD
Created for the State-of-the-World Forum
Hilton Hotel, New York City
September 4-10, 2000
ORAL STATEMENT
We are extremely grateful for the time that has been given to us to share with you our deep concerns for the state
of the world and our understanding about what kind of actions are possible and meaningful. Together we have talked
about poverty, discrimination, the destruction of the environment, and war. If there is any conclusion on which we
can agree from this week of presentations and workshops, it is that more of the same will yield more of the same.
Even our very best intentions applied to the creation of imaginative new partnerships cannot provide us with the
radical transformation we need at this time.
Innovation in this context means looking beneath the material world to the nonmaterial causes, beyond the outer
state of the world to the inner state that generates it. It means recalling not just the treaties and pacts by
which we mandate fairness, but reflecting deeply on the universal values that are the very DNA of the human family.
Before I develop these themes, I want you to know whom I am representing.
What is the Time Calling us to do?
For some time many of us have been gathering in locations on several continents for retreat and dialogue
on the Call of the Time. We come from different vocations, spiritual paths, and ethnic backgrounds.
What we have in common is our commitment to world service and our belief that a better world is possible.
In retreat settings as far ranging as Oxford, England, Upstate New York, and Mt. Abu, India, we have
reflected individually and collectively on this question, "What is the time calling us to do?"
In many ways our focus in the Call-of-the-Time Dialogues is similar to that of the State-of-the-World Forum,
as it takes as its point of departure a conviction that things cannot continue as they have been.
What is the State of the World?
Misery has become an acceptable condition for a significant part of the world-especially for our children,
the world's future. Millions of them do not go to school. They are fighting in wars in record numbers
and dying of diseases for which there are well known cures. At the same time a small percentage of the world's
people live in unimaginable wealth and apparent insularity.
The only possible explanation for this "outer" state of the world is that the "inner" state of the world,
the world's mind, heart, and soul, has become weak and insensitive. We easily assert our rights, but fail
to accept corresponding responsibilities. Technology has enabled us to amplify the cries of the world's
people, but has not helped us to listen. We strive to become materially prosperous and yet are sliding into
spiritual poverty.
We have tried to improve the state of the world by manipulating the outer forms - trade laws, treaties,
and armed interventions. Applying the same instruments we have used before - even in different measure-will
not be adequate.
What Kind of Forum will Support the Creation of this Future World?
Any forum convened with the intention of true transformation of the world must provide us the opportunity
to quiet the roar of media and partisan diatribes so that we can experience the power of silence. In that
silence, we make contact with our essential self, our spiritual self, the part of us that recognizes God.
This point of contact awakens us to the source of our power and insight. Our vision of the world expands:
we no longer see our small part separate from the whole. We see the world community and find ourselves
guided by the universal principles that govern the seen and unseen world.
The Future is Within Us
The world of the future will be fundamentally different from the world of today. Since the inner world and
outer world are parts of the same wheel of life, for the outer state of the world to be utterly transformed,
the inner state of the world must first be transformed.
If peace is to be attained, we must start with inner peace. If social coherence is to be achieved, we must
first find inner coherence. If crime is to be eliminated, we must eradicate crime from our minds and souls.
If world stability is needed, we must start by cultivating inner stability.
It's Time for Decisive Action
For the kind of sweeping transformation we are seeking in the world, each of us must stir ourselves from the
numbing effects of a world obsessed with materialism. We must take responsibility for recovering our own inner
strength and wisdom, which happens when we link ourselves to the divine intelligence. Only then will it be possible
for us to lift up those around us:
When we look at the world with transformed vision, we will find it intolerable that there is misery anywhere
in the human family. We will demand an end
We will see globalization as something that occurs "from the bottom up." We will understand that
the world needs a new story --not "World as Business Opportunity" but "World as Unified Family."
Only when we experience this kind of total change within, will we be able to project a real vision of hope
for the world. With new eyes we will see a clear vision of the new world lying ahead - a world grounded in
truth and governed with justice, equality, and love.
WRITTEN STATEMENT
The Challenge
1. We live in a world of rapid change. The result of these changes has meant significant increases in
material welfare and economic progress-- a process of globalization which creates new forms of connectedness,
scientific knowledge and technological change for the solution to many problems affecting humanity,
and communication and transport systems to be together, in real time, with the most far away corners
of the world.
2. However, the benefits from economic progress have been uneven; it is not the reality faced by all.
Millions of people live in poverty. Many children die of diseases whose cures are well known, and a
significant part of the population remains totally marginal and with no access to even basic services
like drinking water and sanitation. These disparities are the main source of social disruption,
conflict and war in many parts of the world. These conflicts are becoming more frequent and
increasingly more brutal. Basic human rights are not respected, and decisions made in the name of democracy,
freedom, and religious values are destroying the fundamental social fiber of many communities that
see no hope for the future. Through the media, toys and other means our children are learning the most
sophisticated way to take another person's life, that it is easy to get away with it, and that it is
morally right to make decisions regarding life and death even if it means the suffering of many. We need
to remind ourselves that this is the generation of future leaders who will, one day, be at this same Forum
debating the future of humanity.
3. All of this is happening at the time when the destruction of the natural environment (ecosystems) is
reaching alarming levels, and when we see the rapid depletion of our biodiversity and the acute degradation
of the most basic habitats needed for human existence. Coupled with drastic changes in social behavior,
this has led also to the transmittal of deadly diseases that are having tremendous consequences today and
are clearly defining our future.
4. Evaluating the "state of the world" has a tremendous significance at this juncture in history.
It is a moment when we are leaving a very mixed legacy behind: hundreds of wars and conflicts, poverty
and marginalization, discrimination and racism. It is a moment when advances in material welfare are
not sufficient to enhance human life on this planet, and when we must pay increasing attention to the
non-material aspects of our existence, including our human, cultural, moral, ethical and spiritual
dimensions. These are an integral part of our "state" of existence. It is a moment when we, as
world leaders, have the responsibility to tell the average citizen on the street that we are becoming
both materially and spiritually rich/poor.
5. For some time, many of us have been gathering in locations on several continents for retreat and
dialogue on the "Call of the Time". Those involved have in common a commitment to world service and
a belief that a better world for all is indeed possible. In retreat settings as far ranging as Oxford,
England, Upstate New York, and Mt. Abu, India, we have reflected individually and collectively on this
question, "What is the time calling us to do?"
6. We are called today to honor the holistic and sacred state of human existence. We are called to
go far beyond assessments and diagnosis of the material balance sheet of the world in which we live.
We are called to act, act now, and act responsibly. We are called to understand the world as the world
for everyone here on this planet. We are called to honor the totality of existence, the fullness of life.
7. Within this context, the uniqueness of the State of the World Forum does not rest on these yearly
meetings, on just another set of deliberations, on creating more conjectures or in writing up some
smart and attractive declaration. Its uniqueness rests solely on its transformational value that
comes only as a result of embracing the state of all those in existence, in enlivening and bringing
into parity all dimensions of human existence, and in changing the direction towards a new and better
future. Many people are constantly meeting to assess the state of the world, but these meetings have
not resulted in new directions or in the betterment of humanity.
8. Experience has demonstrated that "more of the same will continue yielding more of the same." We
are at a critical juncture at which we are called on to make major structural changes. Applying the
same instruments we have used before -even in different measure-will not be adequate.
State of the World: Looking Far and Beyond
9. In assessing the State of the World, many instruments and approaches have been used in the past.
We have tried to explain why misery has become an acceptable condition for a significant part of the
world: why a quarter of the world's people live in dire poverty, 800 million are affected by malnutrition,
more than half do not have access to drinking water and sanitation, why 125,000,000 of the world's children
do not go to school, and why 45,000,000 of them are fighting in wars, why 35,000 children die every day
from diseases for which there are well known cures.
10. Most of the time, explanations given are linked to economic growth, income disparities, low availability
in the provision of services, international trade and weak integration, globalization and the asymmetric
results of technological change, the lack of employment opportunities, inadequate education systems, and
so on. Recently we have added the role of the public, private and community sectors, the lack of adequate
institutions, governance gaps at the regional and global level, lack of political commitment, insufficient
ownership and participation, and the like. But all of these seem to repeat themselves time and time again,
and it has become extremely easy to predict what most diagnoses will recommend for the citizens of this
planet. The common denominator of most assessments is the cause-effect relationship between the "outer"
aspects of human existence.
11. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that the "outer" state of the world is just the mirror
image of the "inner state" of its citizens. As the inner is the outer, this calls for new solutions to
world problems --solutions whose point of departure must be the transformation of the mind, soul, heart,
values and beliefs. The limits of 'manipulating the outer' have been reached, notwithstanding the
importance of many outer elements of our lives. Thus, if peace is to be attained, we must start with
inner peace. If social coherence is to be achieved, inner coherence is the point of departure. If
crime is to be eliminated, we must eradicate crime from our minds and souls. If world stability is
needed, we must start by inner stability. We cannot offer the "supermarket solutions" to the world
problem any longer. Peace will not be sold in these markets.
12. The inner solutions are holistic and all embracing and, therefore, when we easily assert our
rights we cannot fail in accepting our corresponding responsibilities. When technology enables us
to amplify and broadcast the cries of the world's people, it must also help us listen to people!
When we act in response to our individual interest, we must also be deeply concerned with the collective
(or public) interest -the needs of others! When we strive for material prosperity, we must also strive
for spiritual prosperity.
Transformation is The Goal: The Future is Within Us
13. The world of the future will be fundamentally different from the world of today. Thus, a static
assessment of the state of the world today may yield no meaning to the average citizen and will certainly
not contribute much to the shaping of the future. Population growth and demographic factors are one of
the many grand variables that will shape our future. Three billion people in the early fifties, six
billion people today, and perhaps double that in a few decades, is enough to wonder if the approaches
and parameters defining our future really make sense.
14. The world's structures will be different. The leading institutions of the future will have to be
truly global. The policies and practices will be totally altered to respond to the new reality. And
those who are to become leaders will have to offer a totally new form of leadership -inner leadership.
Total transformation is to take place, but not as a result of marginal changes, or marginal moves, or
marginal additions. Linearity is not any longer valid.
15. The key responsibility and fundamental need is to change ourselves first. Change will start when
we focus on our inner transformation. This is a very concrete and practical guide to changing the state
of the world in which we live. The task of transformation is as personal as it is collective, and it
is in this interaction where the best of humanity is going to manifest. In the personal we have to
reach towards the highest values and a deep respect for life in its several forms. We must love and
respect each and every one and enliven our own lives, for example, with the cultural and ethnic diversity
that is with us on this planet. Inner transformation and outer transformation are part of the same wheel
of life in all its forms and manifestations, including economics, finance and development.
A Revolution of Values: A New Mental Model of the World?
16. In moving forward we will need to define a new identity: individual, social (collective) and global.
Our choices are made in response to the values that define our identity: the world emanates from who I
believe myself to be. In this world of the "global village", it is imperative that we create in us the
identity of the "global being". We cannot establish a vision of the object (the village) without first
establishing the being/nature of the subject (ourselves). And our challenges are to decide if we will
be a partisan in a fragmented world, to define the dimensions and characteristics of a world identity,
and to find the peaceful and self-fulfilling path to move towards that identity respecting our cultural,
ethnic, religious, political, spiritual identities.
17. Institutions and organizations are no more or no less than those who belong to them. The
transformational process cannot be implemented in a vacuum. It is important to draw of the benefits
from institutions and organizations of our societies. Thus, it is important to ask. "Who is being
served by government and institutional policies?" In a world where we find a myriad of laws that are
passed and policies that are created…embargoes that are installed…and national and international treaties
that are written, it is imperative to ask ourselves For whom are these are being put together? For the
time being, we have not moved beyond the fragmented notion of Nation-States that often prospered at the
expense of the citizens who resided there. In our global village what would the role of the Nation State
be? In decision-making, institutional development, leadership and policies what would the role of the
Nation-State be? In our quest for holistic unity in economic and social progress it seems evident that
the existing boundaries will need to fall so we can be closer to improving the life and increasing the
possibilities for the human beings in families, villages, townships, and cities where they congregate.
18. In the world of the "collective" the "global," "the Planet," even the notions of ownership will
radically change. As we the human family shares trusteeship of the Earth (she is our only home), it is
imperative to understand that her well being is intimately linked to our well-being. Disturbance to her
water, her air, and her land, can only result in disturbance to everyone who lives on her precious surface.
As nation-states and multi-national corporations have begun to amass control for themselves of her minerals,
forests, fields, and oceans, they have subordinated the Earth to economics, as if the earth was in servitude
to economics. This sad mistake could effectively end the possibility of a future world.
19. What kind of globalization will best serve the world? The popular understanding of globalization
is the creation of a single world-wide economic market where the messages of high growth, high consumption
economies migrate around the world, sweeping away local specialties and instilling a single set of values.
In its wake, smaller languages and regional uniqueness disappear in the drive towards an Anglo-Americanization
of the world. There's another way to think of globalization: as the creation of a unified human family,
an unbroken link of compassion and concern. In this kind of global world, human misery in one part of the
human family must be absolutely unacceptable to the rest, and every effort should be made to restore the
health, peace, and prosperity to each part so as to insure an integrated whole.
What kind of Forums will support the creation of this Future World?
20. New fora must be convened to attain true transformation. The expertise for renewal of the world does
not reside with a handful of specialists. Just as when nature renews itself after a disaster, it does
so with the germination of thousands of seeds, bringing their forms to the renewing world, so too the
renewal of our world can only come from the dispersed wisdom of thousands of global citizens who, after
reflecting deeply, will speak and act from their inner wisdom. Therefore, we believe that any forum
that would undertake the transformation of the world must be inclusive, diverse, reflective, and dialogic.
21. Central to world transformation is listening with an acute understanding of the magnitude of our
ignorance. Humility is one of the most significant values of transformation. We must be willing to listen
to new voices - not only the educated, the people who do all of the counting, the so-called experts, but
the people who constitute what we call "the community." These are ordinary women and men in their towns,
townships and villages. This kind of listening requires different kinds of forums.
It's Time for Decisive Action
22. In light of our collective circumstances, all of us who are on the field of world service must commit
ourselves to decisive action. There is a minimum level of commitment that needs to be agreed upon if this
forum is to be successful. And these must be commitments to action, and to action now. Herewith are a few
examples of actions that the world has been waiting for too long. We all have to make sure that these happen.
Needless to say that there is a great sense of urgency on the matters listed below. The list is not intended
to be exhaustive, but as illustrative of areas where we as a collective family must act now.
We Are The Architects of Our Own Future
23. A better future for humanity is possible. Today, we posses the necessary information, resources and
instruments to live in a more egalitarian world, a world with social justice and respect for human rights,
a world that will benefit all and now. The large majority of problems need no financial resources, but
the will to change in the right direction. The big and needed transformation is within reach and we cannot
afford to miss this opportunity. We must leave a legacy of love, caring, and sharing in a nation of equals,
in a world of real progress, in a global community of seekers for the common interest. The vision of a better
world is really possible. It just demands proper leadership and commitment at all levels of decision-making.
24. We want and are ready to act now in the above-mentioned direction. Time is not in our favor. It is
becoming increasingly difficult for the poor, powerless and voiceless to keep waiting while they see their
children die of hunger and diseases. It is not only an economic challenge, but also a real moral imperative.
Our welfare and ability to transcend to higher states of human consciousness are as much individual as they
are collective. We are all interconnected and to think that "I" will do well with other in a state of desperation,
is simply a short-lived fallacy. And we are seeing this phenomenon, as the world debilitates itself as regards
to human security, peace and shared prosperity.
The decision is ours. We are the drivers of our own destiny. We are the people.
The Call of The Time Group
THE CALL OF THE TIME DIALOGUE PARTICIPANTS
These statements reflect the collective wisdom of participants of The Call of the Time Dialogues
in their personal capacities. Dialogue participants include:
Syed Hussein Alattas, President, Political Writers Club of Malaysia
STATE OF THE WORLD FORUM
Closing Plenary, September 10, 2000
We will choose new forms of leadership, choosing those
State of the World Forum, New York
September 2000
Ezequiel Ander-Egg, Executive Director, Institute of Applied Social Sciences, Spain
Brian Bacon, Chairman, Managing Partner, Oxford IPC Worldwide, China
Tom Callanan, Program Director, Fetzer Institute, USA
Rita Cleary, Founding Partner, The Learning Circle, USA
Christopher Drake, General Manager, Sassoon Securities Limited, China
Ines de Mosquera, Executive Director & Founder, Foros Tecnicos Ltd., Colombia
Lynne Franks, Founder, SeedFusion Inc., Author,UK
Pregaluxmi Govender, Member Select, National Women's Empowerment Programme, South Africa
Rod Hackney, Former President of the International Union of Architects, UK
Bea Mah Holland, Former Director of Leadership, MIT, USA
Bawa Jain, Secretary General, The Millennium Peace Summit, USA
Joseph Jaworski, Founder, Center for Generative Leadership, USA
Lars-Christer Jonson, Former Vice-President, AB Volvo, Business Consultant, Sweden
Nizar Juma, Businessman, Chairman, Aga Khan Health Services, Kenya
D.R. Karthikeyan, Director General, National Human Rights Commission, India
Uner Kirdar, Special Advisor to the Administrator, UNDP, Rtd, Turkey
Jayanti Kirpalani, Director, Brahma Kumaris International Coordinating Office, UK
Mats Lederhausen, In personal capacity only
Dena Merriam, Partner, Vice-Chairperson, Ruder Finn, USA
Jenny Morawska-Ahearn, Deputy CEO, Department of Finance and Administration, Australia
Dr. Wally N'Dow, Convening Chair, State of the World Forum, The Gambia
Jane Nelson, Director, Business Leadership & Strategy, Prince of Wales Business Leaders' Forum, UK
Tacito Nobre, Consultant, Zumble Aprendizagem Organizacional, Brazil
Thomas R. Odhiambo, Hon. President, African Academy of Sciences, Kenya
Mohini Panjabi, Representative of Brahma Kumaris to UN, New York USA
Judy Rodgers, Media & Communications Strategist, USA
Claus Otto Scharmer, Visiting Scholar, MIT, USA
Peter Senge, Senior Lecturer Sloan School of Management, MIT, Author, USA
Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, Special Representative of the World Bank to the UN and WTO, Geneva, Switzerland
Leticia Shahani, Former Senator, Philippines
Dr. L.M. Singhvi, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, India
William E. Smith, Director, Organizing for Development: An International Institute (ODII), USA
Astrid Stuckelberger, Scientist/Researcher, Swiss Research Programming on Aging, Switzerland
Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld, Founder of the, Lippe-Biesterfeld Foundation, The Netherlands
John Williams, General Manager Strategic Planning & Development, Pacific Power International, Australia