Humanity is Awakening
Humanity seems to be awakening to several realities. For one, it is becoming aware of its own existence. It was not so long ago that human beings had no concept of humanity past their own locale, family, clan, or community. Somewhere between the Agricultural Age and the Industrial Age the concept of humanity began to catch on, and today it is common to almost all humans. Of course the meaning attributed to the concept will vary from merely “ the mathematical sum of all humans”, to a species of animals, to that of the human race, and to the meaning inferred in the first sentence: that humanity is a being with its own life, consciousness, and story.
Humanity is also awakening to the fact that the choices of its members are important. We find over and over the need to self-correct. We take off in one direction only to find that the consequences of our actions bring us to the brink of extinction. When we moved into cities we found that we had to pay closer attention to sanitation or succumb to massive plagues. We found that one internal-combustion automobile posed little threat, but millions together make breathing difficult.
In spite of our poor choices, we also make some wonderful ones. We have grown in our capacity to love. We bring the power of our intellect to bear on the welfare of others and the planet as a whole. We are increasingly interested in fairness, justice, compassion, and inclusiveness. Every time we make a noble choice we find that humanity and the world becomes better, more humane.
Thus humanity is awakening to the reality that the way we live today is in some measure the result of the choices of those who came before us. Understanding the consequences of choice in a way that previous generations did not, we have a greater sense of responsibility concerning our own present choices. Instead of choosing merely the practical or expedient or deferring choice altogether, we find we must consciously choose on behalf of the world to come. We have the growing sense that we are choosing not only our future but also the future, to some extent at least, of the synthetic life we call our planet.
VISION
How do we make those all-important choices? Fortunately every generation has its visionaries. These people are not the mystics, prophets, or forecasters. These are not the ones who tell us what will, probably will, or should happen. Visionaries see possibilities and promise. Excellent visionaries see real and significant possibilities, not simply the utopian variety. The vision they see is not one to which others must be persuaded. When they show us how to see it, we instantly see it as our future. It makes a connection with some esoteric circuit in us that knows it is seeing the truth of our existence more fully revealed. A true vision points the way to our purpose for existence, and it gives a glimpse of how our lives could be if we lived in the context of that purpose. It imbues how we live with the power of why we live.
A vision, like all else in time and space, is limited. It will have its time, it will stir the activity of those it touches towards its fulfillment, and then it will fade in the face of the new vision. If there is an ultimate, all-encompassing vision, we must not be ready to see it, because we (apparently) can only see a small portion at a time. Vision inspires us to expand, evolve, and elevate; it causes us to change the way we think, what we expect, and who we believe ourselves to be. Vision reveals a light in which we can change our world and ourselves for the better. The change itself is the construction of a new step on the ladder, and from that higher step we can see farther still. The change is the seed for the new vision, and thus we grow. In it all, vision is integral to the process. It is in this light that the ancient proverb, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18) derives its meaning.
Old visions sometimes live beyond their usefulness. Looking at the world today, many are becoming convinced that humanity is at war with itself, something like an autoimmune disease a human might have. One explanation of this disorder is that we seem to be applying older, nearly used up visions in ways that are inappropriate for an increasingly interdependent, globalized humanity—a humanity waking up to itself. Segments of humanity are seeing that all others should become what their individual group is or holds dear. We have just come through a millennium where we killed great numbers of humans in the name of competing visions of religions, economic and political systems, not to mention the competing national, racial, tribal, ethnic, and gender visions.
In these confusing, often dangerous times, we need a new vision for a new humanity, and we need it yesterday. This urgency demands that we know if this vision exists, and if not how we can aid in its formulation.
The new vision is becoming visible, but certainly not in crystal clear completeness. We have a wealth of visionary thought and writing in the world today, but not one thinker or writer has resonated with of all of humanity, and for obvious reasons. Six and a half billion viewpoints create much diversity within humanity and form great barriers to anything resonating with everyone. Any visionary faces the problem of his or her own viewpoint: each is a specific gender, age, nationality, and race; each has been taught in a specific educational system, and colored by the traditions and mores of his or her own culture. All of this colors the vision regardless of how essential it is intended to be. And this coloring is a hurdle for others because each of us must work through our own unique viewpoint.
Another obstacle is that the new vision is humanity’s vision; and it may not be possible (yet) for any human to contain the vision in its completeness simply because of scale. If humanity is a great being (even if immature and only semi-conscious) living through human beings, it may be impossible for a single human to contain the vision for the greater being. How many of us truly identify with the greater being over and beyond our own individuality? This complicates the work of both the visionary and those potentially affected by the vision.
THE NEW VISIONARY: A GROUP
Many have a growing awareness that this is not a vision that an individual might contain, but it could be better seen in the visions of all the visionary humans. Like the facets on a wondrous jewel, the glint of each individual vision contributes to the beauty of the whole. Though said in their specific way, each individual vision would contain something of the essential nature of the overall vision.
The intent of the Vision Project is to call attention to this emerging vision, and to gather together a selection of visions from a diverse group of visionaries, so that the reader might have a more convenient window onto this new vision of humanity. This collection is not intended to be the new vision. It is simply an anthology of representative visions from people from many walks of life—politics, spirituality, education, economics, the arts, science, religion, business, and others. An attempt was made to get various ages, nationalities, races, and both genders to contribute. Finding visionaries from all over the world is proving difficult; most of the contributors are English speaking and from the EU and the USA.
Given the nature of the project, much of the work of seeing the new vision falls to the reader. The authors of these visions wrote wonderful pieces that the reader must take together—synthesize—in order to realize the emerging greater vision. Each of the visions in this project contain some of the essence of the emerging vision and some of the coloring of the authors. It is for the reader to see the difference and to see and correlate the essential themes of the new vision. This is a tall order for any reader, but if you are interested in the emerging vision, you are probably not just any reader.
A GREATER WINDOW
Over two hundred other visionaries were invited to write for this project. Had they been able to contribute, this work would have been that much more of a complete window from which to synthesize the vision. In searching for the visionaries, the editors read hundreds of websites. To help you get an enlarged window on the vision (as well as its implementation) we are including links to hundreds of visionaries (including the ones who could not find the time to write specifically for the project). Looking at these websites will change you and your view of the world, especially if you are now viewing the world through news portals.
Most of the authors wrote an original essay for the Vision Project on the topic A Vision for Humanity. Some of the authors were not able to prepare an original essay for the project but allowed us to use anything they had previously written.We are also including essays from some visionaries who are no longer living, but who are contributors to the emerging vision. We will indicate the source for each essay.
Two of the inclusions, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and the Earth Charter are documents with many authors. The UN Goals are a reaffirmation of the values common to the people of all nations with realistic goals to bring these values to life by the year 2015; the authors were the governments of all the nations and the document was unanimously approved at the UN in New York on September 8, 2000.The Earth Charter’s final document was also approved in 2000. This quote from the website gives some perspective:
“The Earth Charter is the product of a decade long, worldwide, crosscultural conversation about common goals and shared values. The drafting of the Earth Charter has involved the most open and participatory consultation process ever conducted in connection with an international document. Thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations from all regions of the world, different cultures, and diverse sectors of society have participated. The Charter has been shaped by both experts and representatives of grassroots communities. It is a people’s treaty that sets forth an important expression of the hopes and aspirations of the emerging global civil society.”
BRINGING THE VISION TO LIFE
This is less like a website and more like a job. By letting these visions play through our minds and hearts we open ourselves to promising, emerging possibilities, including the possibility of sensing the grandeur and synthetic beauty of the new vision. To some extent we will create the future: what each of us as individuals will become, what all of us as humanity will become, and what our planet will become. We will try to create the vision that inspires us. We will create what we think about and hold most valuable. Not one of us stands free from this awesome responsibility.
After reading these visions and the websites, one thing comes through with clarity:
SOMETHING WONDERFUL IS TRYING TO HAPPEN
We are indebted to the work of these visionaries for helping us see more clearly and more completely who we are as humanity. Thank you for raising our eyes, lifting our spirit, and pointing the way.