Manifesto for a Global Civilization

[OneBlueSky]

over twenty years ago, theologian Matthew Fox and physicist Brian Swimme got together to write this little (55 page) book . . . "In a world of chaos," say the cover notes, "they show us a vision of hope which will enable us to center our experience of the here and now into the redeeming of the world" . . . I ran across this book tonight and read a few pages, and the whole idea of "building a global civilization" as a unifying concept for the future came back to me . . . here's a short excerpt . . .

Manifesto for a Global Civilization
by Matthew Fox, theologian, and Brian Swimme, physicist
Santa Fe: Bear & Company, 1982

"Our era lures us to create the first global civilization on Earth. We are that generation that begins the creative transformation of the whole world into a single community out of the diverse peoples of the planet. The people of the seventeenth century re-created the civilization of the West into the scientific-technological era that we are leaving. The people in the thirteenth century of the Christian era recreated the West into the Christian Middle Ages. Previous to these, people were moved to create what would become the Western roots in the axial philosophic civilization of the Greeks and the axial religious civilizations of the Hebrews. So too, we as a people find ourselves in a unique moment for creating this transformation leading to the first global civilization. However monumental were the creations of the scientific civilization, or the Christian Middle Ages, or the Greek or Hebrew civilizations, none of these achievements can be used as a standard with which to measure the magnitude of the present transformation. Indeed, only by picturing the very beginning of civilization when the people of Sumer in 3500 B.C. moved out of the tribal modality of being and created the first civilization on Earth can we find a movement in history of an immensity analogous with our own.

"A civilization is a community of beings united in a common aim of creating the beautiful. In this sense, the global civilization in initiated with the expression of its overarching vision, for this is what gathers a community of humans into the task of creating a civilization. Though cultural chaos dominates the global situation of our time, the vision of what is to come can gather us into the work of creation even in the midst of collapse and confusion. The chaotic fragmentation that surrounds the globe represents the confusion that accompanies every great birthing hour. The world quails with the fear of labor, and it is the task of our generation to act as midwife to this great birthing, to assist in the cosmological movement itself by creating those forms of life and being that will usher in the era of the global civilization.

"This manifesto is an articulation of those fundamental forms of thought that are sure to characterize the global civilization in a broad fashion. It is, in intellectual form, the vision of the beautiful that is not yet actuality but that lures us as a community into the creation of ourselves and our world. As such, this manifesto is an invitation to an adventure in creating a Global Civilization which will usher in a new era in the divinization of the cosmos."

not online, so no links . . . this book is currently out of print, but used copies can be found on the net . . .

[theivoryqueen]

1. Yay! I am civilized!

I agree with the tenet of creating beauty - sustaining each other and striving for fairness in all our doctrines.

[Deja Q]

2. Global civilization = Yes. It's a nice idea... But there is one big flaw

We need to be mutual acquaintances, all of which make compromises for the total good of humanity. We may not be the best of friends with everybody, but if we convince them that they will have a say...

Of course, the moment you get a fundamentalist shithead into power (ala Hussein, bin laden, and Bush - all three of which America has helped in its past), the whole concept of mutual cooperation goes down the toilet as that leader is going to spin information and create fear and hostility. Osama, Saddam, and George have all done this. Two of the three also did it in the name of religion, reminding us that for a global civilization to work, all major religions must also concede. Do you see that happening? Of course not. Personally, organized religion is as awful as organized crime. There's nothing wrong with morals or spirituality, it's the organized religion aspect that puts people at each others' throats.