OCCASIONAL PAPER #1
GLOBAL MIND CHANGE
Willis Harman, in the 2nd edition of his
book, Global Mind Change, asserts that “People give legitimacy
and they can take it away. A challenge to legitimacy is
probably the most powerful force for change to be found in
history…. To the empowering principle that people can
withhold legitimacy, and thus change the world, we now add
another: By deliberately changing the internal image of
reality, people can change the world. Perhaps the only
limits to the human mind are those we believe in.” (p.viii)
It is this sea change in the way we think as human beings that
we are seeking to accomplish through the peacebuilding efforts
of World Citizenship Institute International. For too long
we have believed that we can achieve peace through violence.
We cannot. For too long we have believed that might gives
us the right to satisfy our greed at the expense of others.
For too long we have believed that we are self-sufficient
entities who have no responsibility for the welfare of
others—particularly others who are far away or who do not share
our particular beliefs.
In America, it is the belief that we can achieve peace through
violence that has legitimized in our minds the senseless killing
of innocent persons in Iraq and Afghanistan in the effort to
free them from tyranny. It is this same belief that
justifies our incarceration of tens of thousands of societies
misfits, warehousing them instead of addressing their needs.
It is our pathetic belief, now centuries old that justified the
enslavement of blacks from Africa, the decimation of Native
Americans in this country, and the repression of minority groups
throughout the land—all violent actions and all wrong headed.
The violence continues today—against people of color, against
gays, against the mentally ill and against any who challenge our
assumed superiority. We desperately need a global change
of mind.
Our belief in violence extends even to the contempt with which
we relate to our environment. We believe we have the right
to exploit natural resources simply because we have the power to
do so. It does not matter, we believe, that we are
depriving even our own children of clean air, clean water, and a
bountiful harvest. In our greed we justify rape of the
environment as our inalienable right to dominate.
Stewardship of the creation is not in our vocabulary. We
desperately need a global change of mind.
Change is not easy. Change is threatening. To change
means that we must admit that we have been wrong. To change
means that we adopt a mindset of giving rather than taking.
It requires that we practice what our spiritual leaders—Gandhi,
Jesus, Buddha, Baha’u’llah, Desmond Tutu, Mohammed,
Schweitzer--to name a few—have taught us for centuries about the
sanctity of life, all life. This is not a new message.
But it is a message that has not been taken to heart, has not
been believed by a huge majority of humankind. We
desperately need a global change of mind.
Our belief that we have the legitimate right to satisfy our
greed at the expense of others is so blatantly false that it
defies rational explanation. There will be no peace on
Earth so long as there are a significant number of people who
believe that they have the right to unlimited acquisition.
Fairness, not greed, is the critical need of our day. We
desperately need a global change of mind.
We are not self-sufficient entities who have no responsibility
for others. We are not a law unto ourselves. There are no
“others”. We are all members of the same race—the human
race—and we were created for relationship. The existence
of power—military, political, physical, judicial—does not
legitimize its use for its own selfish purposes. If our
lifestyles require that we deprive those less powerful or those
unborn of a fair share of our world’s wealth, then the belief
that legitimizes those lifestyles must change. Belief in
fairness as opposed to belief in the selfish right to unlimited
acquisition is the order of the day if the human race is to
survive. We desperately need a global change of mind.
What is this needed change of mind? The World
Citizenship Creed is at least one effort to put into words a
belief that, if acted upon by a significant number of the
world’s citizens, will address all of the problems cited above.
It says…
As a citizen of the
world...
I BELIEVE in the
dignity of all humanity, that each person is a being of
supreme worth.
I BELIEVE in the wholeness of the human
race, undivided by economic, cultural, racial, sexual or
national differences.
I BELIEVE in the stewardship of life and
resources to the end that all may mutually benefit from the
earth's bounty ...that no person may have to go without food
or shelter.
I BELIEVE in the
primacy of human relationships as a person committed and
responsible to other persons, regardless of their economic
status, race, creed or nationality.
I BELIEVE in the global community,
interdependent and mutually responsible for our physical and
social environments.
I BELIEVE that we are One World and
affirm that I am a citizen of this world. My allegiance to
it and its people, my brothers and sisters, is primary over
all other political entities.
I AM, therefore committed to the
promotion and care of the whole of humanity without
partiality or prejudice and with such resources as I have at
my command, both within and without.
I HEREWITH AFFIRM
that I wish, as much as I possibly can, to base my actions
on my beliefs and thus contribute to a world where justice
and compassion rule and greed and hatred are diminished.
I have committed myself to
world citizenship and to this creed and I invite others to join
me in owning it for themselves. These are my beliefs, my
inner mandate for action, my guide to how I want to relate to
the world and all its peoples. We will see a global change
of mind for good as first one and then another and then
another--one person at a time--recognizes the need for a change
of mind and commits himself or herself to world citizenship.
We are citizens of the world. This is
the reality we must believe. If together we challenge the
legitimacy of the use of power for selfish purposes and, in its
place, advocate for the legitimacy of world citizenship, we can
change the world. May it happen quickly.
James L. Foster, Founder
World Citizenship Institute
www.worldcitizenshipinstitute.org
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Copyright 2007-2012 Peacebuilding Institute,
a non-profit voluntary association
in Knoxville, Tennessee
