THE Sixth
FIVE HUNDRED IDEAS
OF
Three
THOUSAND IDEAS FOR A BETTER WORLD
-
- PART
I
- IDEAS
2501 TO 2600
-
- INTRODUCTION
-
- DECIDE
TO BE PEACEFUL
-
- Decide
to be peaceful
- Render
others peaceful
- Be a
model of peace
- Irradiate
your peace
- Love
passionately the peace
- of
our beautiful planet
- Do
not listen to the warmongers,
- hateseeders
and powerseekers
- Dream
always of a peaceful,
- warless,
disarmed world
- Think
always of a peaceful world
- Work
always for a peaceful world
- Switch
on and keep on, in yourself,
- the
peaceful buttons,
- those
marked love,
- serenity,
happiness, truth,
- kindness,
friendliness,
- understanding
and tolerance
- Pray
and thank God ever day for peace
- Pray
for the United Nations
- and
all peacemakers
- Pray
for the leaders of nations
- who
hold the peace of the world
- in
their hands
- Pray
God to let our planet at long last
- become
the Planet of Peace
- And
sing in unison with all humanity:
- "Let
there be peace on Earth
- And
let it begin with me."
-
-
- ANNEX
-
- My
Spiritual Journey
- Speech
by Dr. Robert Muller in Sao Paolo in October 1998 at a conference
- organized
by the Coalition for Religious Freedom, Falls Church, Virginia,
USA
-
- I
was born with a deep spirituality. When I was a child I looked at
the stars, at the moon, at nature and at the whole Creation as
miracles. I also considered human life to be a miracle. We spoke
German in Alsace-Lorraine at the time and I used to say: "Das
Leben ist gˆttlich, life is divine." I used this word
because it was the biggest adjective I could find.
-
- My
father could not understand it. Here was a four years old boy who
was going around saying that life was divine and who took his cap
off when he met an old person. He asked me: "Why do you greet old
people?" I answered: "Because they know so much about life."
That was my attitude as a little boy.
-
- I
couldn't understand that just across the river there were people
called Germans whom we as French people were supposed to hate.
Why were these borders between humans? We looked alike and they
had names like Muller and Schneider which were the names of my
father and mother. Why could the sun, the clouds, the birds, the
winds, the moon cross the border freely and I could
not?
-
- I
would leave the house early in the morning to go to church and
attend the mass at dawn, attended mostly by old people. There I
was fascinated by the prayers, the playing of the organ by an old
invalid and above all by the "elevation" of the host by the
priest. That represented to me the consciousness and union with
the heavens, the endless, mysterious universe and God.
-
- Then
came education. French education prohibited religious education.
This was due to the separation between church and state
established by the Revolution against the Church leaders of France
coalesced with the King and the aristocrats to exploit the people.
In Alsace-Lorraine we got a separate statute allowing religious
education, but it was voluntary, did not count for the grading and
it was ridiculized by our professors. As a result I began to
forget my spirituality, replaced by the values of French
education. My deep love for nature however persisted as well as
my respect for old people. I will never forget the death of my 80
years old grandfather at which I saw a Catholic sister hold his
hand and help him to die peacefully, praying with him and telling
him about heaven.
-
- Then
came World War II. We were refugees twice. The Nazis occupied
us. I had many adventures because I did not want to serve in the
German army. I experienced German prison. I was a partisan, a
member of de Gaulle's mountain fighters in France. I saw the most
horrible acts between two white, highly civilized countries.
There was no spirituality in all that. But there was an incident
which I have never forgotten: we had captured a group of French
people who had collaborated with the Germans. They were condemned
to death. When they were taken to their place of execution in the
woods where they had been forced to dig their graves, I saw the
men protest, throwing themselves on the ground, having to be
pulled by their legs. But there was one woman who walked in
peace, praying. When she was shot she was reciting the Hail Mary
and her last words before falling into her grave were to forgive
us. I finished her prayer and never forgot her example of deep
spirituality.
-
- When
the war was over and I returned home, I learned that my father had
spent several months in prison because I had escaped from the
Germans. He asked me what I was going to do with my life. I
replied: "I will work for peace. I do not want my children and
grandchildren to see the horrors I have seen in this war." He
said that there were no peacemakers on this planet and that I
would lose my time. But during my doctorate of law studies at the
University of Strasbourg I participated in a French essay
competition on the subject "How would you govern the world?" I
won the essay which earned me an internship with the United
Nations in an abandoned war factory near New York City. I was
hired as an official and stayed with the UN for the rest of my
life.
- The
first surprise I had at the United Nations was that they had a
meditation and prayer room and that the meetings of the General
Assembly started with a minute of silence for prayer or
meditation. I said to myself: "This is wonderful. That is
exactly what we should do when we meet among nations and people:
we should invoke spirituality to fully understand what we are
doing and pray for good results."
-
- Another
surprise was our second Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjˆld.
He came to the United Nations as a very rational economist. But
he went every Sunday to a church or meeting place of another
religion. When he died we found on the night table of his bedroom
in New York the book of a mystic Thomas Kempis. When you read his
Markings, or Journal, now published in many languages, you will
see how from a pure rationalist at the beginning he became himself
a mystic, almost in constant communion and dialogue with
God.
-
- Another
surprise to me was U Thant, the Buddhist Secretary General whose
direct aide I was for two years. He was the most deeply spiritual
person I have ever known. He once said to me: "Robert, I cannot
understand you Catholics who limit spirituality to an hour in
church on Sunday. I am a spiritual person from the moment I wake
up until I go to rest." One day I said to him: "When you receive
visitors, why don't you tell them to do something for peace and a
better world?" He answered: "How could I do that? These people
come to see me to tell me something. I must therefore open myself
to them, empty myself of my self, so that I can receive them
entirely as a human brother or sister."
-
- From
my experiences and lessons at the United Nations I decided to
write a book on spirituality recommending that all religions
should work together, with spirituality as their common values and
objective. I called it New Genesis, the Birth of a Global
Spirituality, published in several languages. Ever since that
time I have been working toward the recognition of a global,
all-human spirituality, out of which the various religions were
born, either with one God, several gods or spirits, or nature and
the Earth herself as the manifestation of the Great Spirit, or
even a deeply spiritual person doing good for the Earth and
humanity without belonging to any religion.
-
- What
is this concept of spirituality? In my view: it is very simple.
It is what I felt as a little boy. It is to receive from the
religions help to understand the mystery of the universe and time.
This is what all religions have in common. They help us, they
elevate us, while the mysteries of the universe and time have
never been resolved by the scientists, not even by Einstein. They
will always remain mysteries. Religions give us hope that there
is a spirituality, a soul in us which binds us as sentient beings
with the entire universe and time, that we are children of God,
active, living cosmic beings, each one the true miracle I felt
already to be as a child.
-
- As a
consequence I created several spiritual associations in the UN and
brought many outside spiritual associations in contact and
relation with the UN. I had contact with the Mayor of Assisi who
at my suggestion arranged for the Pope to have yearly meetings in
Assisi with the heads of other religions. I convinced U Thant to
invite the Pope to the UN and was put in charge of that visit. I
could write a whole book What the UN Taught Me About Spirituality
as I wrote What War Taught Me About Peace.
-
- The
greatest chance given to me was the invitation to be the opening
speaker of the second World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in
1993. I made a passionate appeal to the religions to create a
world organization similar to the United Nations. Why? Because
it was not sufficient for the religious leaders to meet, there was
need also for a permanent organization with an inter-religious
Secretariat to study in common all religions of the world and
their contributions to a global spirituality as we have done at
the UN for peace and other common ideals and needs of humanity.
In my view there was an absolute need for a spiritual Renaissance
on planet Earth. I also made an appeal that the Parliament of
Religions should not wait another hundred years to meet again but
should meet before the year 2000. Bishop Edmund Tutu heard me and
decided to invite the Parliament to meet in South Africa in
December 1999. Six thousand people from around the world attended
it.
-
- My
proposal to create a world organization of religions is being
implemented. The Charter of a United Religions Organization,
still called Initiative was adopted June 2000, in Pittsbough.
That organization can then help the peaceful resolution of the
several religious conflicts we still have on this planet, develop
a common modern global science of spirituality, a strategy and a
methodology of spirituality (e.g. prayer, forgiveness, sanctity,
thanksgiving, confession and so many other helpful practices). It
will create a different, better, spiritual world, with religions
united in a wonderful, non-fundamentalist diversity.
-
- There
are now many good signs of a spiritual Renaissance in the world:
the World Bank is meeting with spiritual leaders to see how
poverty in the poor countries can be healed. Harvard University
has conducted a vast survey of the contributions of the religions
to the environment and safeguard of the Earth. Secretary General
Kofi Annan will meet in the year 2000 with the leaders of the main
religions of the world. A World Commission on Global
Consciousness and Spirituality has been formed.*
-
- This
is where we stand. I will leave with you various extracts of
texts I have distributed to the Parliament of Religions at its
Chicago session. One of them describes my vision of a spiritual
world in the year 2013, twenty years after that Chicago session.
Another is a chapter on the UN and Spirituality from my Testament
to the UN published after I retired from the UN and became the
first one-dollar-a-year Chancellor of the newly created UN
University for Peace in demilitarized Costa Rica.
-
- Let
me finally report on this great experience in my life: when you
are a deeply spiritual person in the sense of doing good, working
for the great ideals of humanity, suppressing injustices, helping
the poor, the downtrodden and the helpless, you are recompensed
with untold happiness. The invisible forces of the universe make
sure of it. Extraordinary circumstances and coincidences come
your way. You take good care of your health in order to live
longer and do more good. You feel younger. You do not fall sick
nor become old. You have no time to think of it.
-
- Let
me tell you the anecdote of a beautiful coincidence. A few years
ago I got the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution of the
return of stolen works of art to their countries of origin. Each
year a number of such returns are reported. One day, during a
mission to Hungary I heard the people complain that the United
States did not return the golden crown of their beloved king Saint
Stephen. They kept it as a war memento in the cellars of Fort
Knox. It was a long difficult story but with my obstinacy I
finally obtained its return to Hungary where it is displayed in
all its glory. Later I met in California a wonderful US lady of
Hungarian origin with whom I fell in love. That was six years
after my first wonderful wife from Chile died. Barbara Gaughen
became my wife, although she is 18 years younger than I. She is
the most extraordinary companion I could expect to help me in my
efforts for peace and a better world. On 11 June 1994 she told me
that there were 2000 days left to the year 2000 and that since I
had so many ideas I should write one down every day to have a
total of them by the 1st of January of 2000. I did and as a
result four volumes of 2000 Ideas and Dreams for a Better World
are available for the year 2000. From these ideas I was able to
extract 56 pages of ideas on religion and spirituality. Well, I
have come to the conclusion that it was St. Stephen in heaven who
made us meet and get married because I got his crown returned to
his beloved Hungary! I will ask him if it was the case when I
meet him in the other world.
-
- There
is still so much to do. It is not even governments who are
responsible for the current disorders in the world. It is the
lack of spirituality, the lack of respect for God, for His
miraculous creation which I loved so much already as a child.
Please, dear friends, be the active defenders of these miracles so
that we can at long last become the paradise of peace, beauty and
happiness God and all religious leaders wanted us to become, a
true jewel in the universe. The progress I have seen achieved
since the horrible World War II gives me good hope, even
conviction that we will succeed.
-
- To
end, let me play to you in memory of my grandfather who taught me
to play it, the Ode To Joy of Beethoven on my little ten holes
harmonica. Its words written by Schiller about the brotherhood of
all humans are very appropriate to our hearts and souls at the end
of this conference.
-
- * I
have the honor of being its co-chairman with Dr. Karan Singh of
India.
-
- Ode
to Joy
-
- Translation
of Schiller's original German 1785 Version
-
- Joy,
beautiful spark of Gods,
- Daughter
of Elysium,
- We
enter, fire-drunk,
- Heavenly,
thy sanctuary.
- Thy
magic powers re-unite
- What
custom's sword has divided
- Beggars
become Princes' brothers
- Where
thy gentle wing abides.
-
- Chorus
- Be
embraced, millions!
- This
kiss to the entire world!
- Brothers
- above the starry canopy
- A
loving father must dwell.
- Whoever
has had the great fortune
- To
be a friend's friend,
- Whoever
has won the love of a devoted wife,
- Add
his to our jubilation!
- Indeed,
whoever can call even one soul
- His
own on this earth!
- And
whoever was never able to must leave
- Tearfully
away from this circle.
-
- Chorus
- Those
who dwell in the great circle,
- Pay
homage to love!
- It
leads to the stars,
- Where
the Unknown reigns.
-
- Joy
all creatures drink
- At
nature's bosoms;
- All,
Just and Unjust,
- Follow
her rose-petalled path.
- Kisses
she gave us, and Wine,
- A
friend, proven in death,
- Pleasure
was given even to the worm,
- And
the Cherub stands before God.
-
- Chorus
- You
bow down, millions?
- Did
you sense the Creator, o world?
- Seek
him above the starry canopy.
- Above
the stars He must dwell.
- Joy
is called the strong motivation
- In
eternal nature.
- Joy,
joy moves the wheels
- In
the universal time machine.
- Flowers
it calls forth from seeds,
- Suns
from the Firmament,
- Spheres
it moves far out into Space,
- Where
our telescopes cannot reach.
-
- Chorus
- Joyful,
as His suns are flying,
- Across
the Firmament's splendid design,
- Run,
brothers, run your race,
- Joyful,
as a hero going to conquest.
- As
truth's fiery reflection
- It
smiles at the seeker.
- To
virtue's steep hill
- It
leads the sufferer on.
- Atop
faith's lofty summit
- One
sees its flags unfurl,
- Through
the cracks of burst-open coffins,
- One
sees it stand in the angels' chorus.
-
- Chorus
- Endure
courageously, millions!
- Endure
for the better world!
- Above
the starry canopy
- A
great God will reward you.
- Gods
one cannot ever repay,
- It
is beautiful, though, to be like them.
- Sorrow
and Poverty, come forth
- And
rejoice with the Joyful ones.
- Anger
and revenge be forgotten,
- Our
deadly enemy be forgiven,
- Not
one tear shall he shed anymore,
- Nor
feeling of remorse shall pain him.
-
- Chorus
- The
account of our misdeeds be destroyed!
- Reconciled
the entire world!
- Brothers,
above the starry canopy
- Judge
God as we are judged.
- Joy
is bubbling in the cups,
- Through
the grapes' golden blood
- Cannibals
drink gentleness,
- The
despair of heroic brothers --
- Flies
away from your seats,
- When
the full rummer is going around,
- Let
the foam gush up to heaven:
- This
glass to the good spirit.
-
- Chorus
- He
whom star clusters adore,
- He
whom the Seraphs' hymn praises,
- This
glass to him, the good spirit,
- Above
the starry canopy!
- Resolve
and courage in great suffering,
- Help
where innocence weeps,
- Eternity
to sworn Oaths,
- Truth
towards friend and enemy,
- Men's
pride before Kings' thrones--
- Brothers,
in good and in blood,
- Crowns
to those of merit,
- Defeat
to the liars bred!
-
- Chorus
- Close
the holy circle tighter,
- Swear
by this golden wine:
- To
remain true to the Oath,
- Swear
it by the judge above the stars!
- Delivery
from tyrants' chains,
- Generosity
towards the villain,
- Hope
on the deathbeds,
- Mercy
from the final judge!
- Also
the dead shall live!
- Brothers,
drink and chime in,
- All
sinners shall be forgiven,
- And
hell shall be no more.
-
- Chorus
- A
serene hour of farewell!
- Sweet
rest in the shroud!
- Brothers
-- a mild sentence
- From
the mouth of the final judge
- of
the dead!
-
- PART
II
-
- IDEAS
2601 TO 2700
-
- INTRODUCTION
- 26
February 2000
-
- Today
for the first time in my life, in Anacortes, USA on a beach with a
beautiful view of the calm, magnificent Pacific Ocean and a dark
forested island called Beaver Island due to its shape, all this
beauty overflown by three noisy helicopters and a little airplane,
the toys of beings called humans, I was overpowered by the feeling
that I should love only God's nature and forget humans with their
crazy pursuit of endless new inventions, accumulation of goods and
wealth, and accelerating the destruction of the Earth.
-
- I
had the vision of a clear, clean, resplendent, beautiful paradise
Earth only with nature, vegetation, animals and birds, totally
devoid of humans. I saw it untouched, tranquil, peaceful,
undisturbed, floating with all its splendor in the vast universe
at the apex of its evolution.
-
- This
was the first time in my life that I had this overwhelming
feeling. Henceforth I must be even harder in my judgments of
humanity.
-
- Later
in the evening the Earth talked to me:
-
- "I'm
so glad that this happened to you, that you had this revelation
after the long observing journey of your life. Now you will
understand my loss of faith in the human race of which I was so
proud as the most evolved, advanced life form of my body. I could
never understand how humans could make so many errors and even get
to the point of now recklessly, thoughtlessly destroying
me.
-
- But
I cannot lose hope and do not want humans, my children all made of
me, to disappear. I want them to change course, to change their
values. I count very much on you to enlighten them. Please do
not give up. Do not fall into that extreme. You have always been
a man of hope. I placed you in positions to see the totality of
me and of humanity and to try the impossible. The human species
must not disappear. It still can and must become the highest form
of my evolution. I have not taken all these pains over millions
of years to make the human species the most advanced marvel on my
surface and let it now destroy me and itself. Please do not give
up your wonderful love for me and for humanity. Remember that
humans are living cells, children of mine, cosmic units as you
are."
-
- I:
- "Okay,
dear Mother, I will listen to you because mothers are always
right. They are pure love and love is the only means that can
save and fulfill us."
-
- ANNEX
- Incidents
Regarding
- the
United Nations Flag
-
- There
is a French proverb which says: "jamais deux sans trois," never
twice without a third time: Popular belief applies this in
particular to mishaps, accidents and failures of good
projects.
- The
following anecdotes show the relevance of that peoples' wisdom to
the first world organization of this planet, the United Nations
and its flag.
- In
1970, year of the twenty-fifty anniversary of the UN, when I was a
direct Aide to Secretary General U Thant, he received a telegram
from Thor Heyerdahl, the explorer and navigator, who asked him for
permission to fly the UN flag on the Ra II, a papyrus boat on
which he wanted to attempt a new ocean expedition. U Thant asked
me for my advice. I said: "Yes, by all means, give him your
permission. For the first time ever a boat will fly the UN flag
on the ocean of this planet and typically it is a paper boat, as
weak and fragile as the UN. But I have the foreboding that it
will bring bad luck to Heyerdahl whose boat will probably sink.
Evil forces never want new, good ideas to succeed and they usually
win three times before they are defeated."
- I
drafted a warm cable to Thor Heyerdahl and to his small
multinational crew for U Thant's signature, authorizing him to fly
the UN flag. A few weeks later the news was broadcast around the
world that the boat had sunk! The crew was saved but the UN flag
went down with the paper boat.
- Fifteen
years later, in 1985, I was in charge of the celebration of the
fortieth anniversary of the UN. Among the numerous initiatives
taken by the people, a group of Australian mountaineers decided to
climb Mount Everest and to plant the UN flag on it. Their leader
came to ask for permission to use the UN flag. I had to leave for
a mission on the day of his visit and I asked my Japanese
colleague Masatsuno Katsuno to receive him and to give him
permission. But I added: "For heaven's sake give him my own UN
flag which is in my office. By God's favor I am usually blessed
with luck in my undertakings. It is possible that my personal
flag will bring them better luck."
- When
I returned from mission, Katsuno told me that he had given them an
ordinary UN flag instead of mine, because he thought that my flag
should continue to bring luck to ourselves and to the UN! I
commented to him: "You will see, something wrong is going to
happen."
- Later
during the year the news was broadcast that the Australian team
had climbed Mount Everest, but there was no mention of the UN
flag. I sent the teamleader a telegram asking for a picture of
the flag floating on Mount Everest and to issue it to the press.
When the picture arrived, what did I see? The flag had been
planted upside down, the supreme discourtesy to flag protocol! I
was dismayed but not surprised. Something like that had to happen
but at least no accident had occurred to the team. I asked the UN
photolab to "doctor" the picture and redress the flag but they
refused. So I went to a private photolab and had it done for the
modest sum of sixty dollars which I paid happily. But a
mischievous colleague in the UN leaked the story to the New York
Times which was all too happy to publish the upside-down flag and
the story with its usual disparaging comments on the
UN!
-
- A
third occasion offered itself in 1990, during the forty-fifth
anniversary of the UN and tenth anniversary of the UN University
for Peace. After ten years, only 31 governments out of 160 had
ratified the University and even less had given it any money. At
my retirement from the UN in 1986, I had gladly accepted to become
its one-dollar-a-year Chancellor hoping to bring them 'chance'!
Unfortunately, since people usually pay for war and pray for
peace, I was unable to obtain for it more than a million dollars
from a Japanese philanthropist, Mr. Sasakawa. During a stay in
New York, I was asked to send to the University a set of all the
flags of nations which had ratified the University, and also a new
UN flag, their old one having weathered away. This time I decided
to wrap my own flag and to send it to them. In order to avoid a
third mishap, I placed it on the altar of the UN Meditation Room
asking for God's blessings. Were the evil forces defeated this
time? Not quite. When the flags arrived, the University was hit
by an earthquake which destroyed a good part of it. Even its
water supply was disrupted. But an ample underground source was
found and the buildings were rapidly rebuilt. With this the bad
luck of the UN flag had come to an end.
- Regarding
the sparing use of the UN flag on this planet it is a consolation
to know that its story is the same as that of the US flag which
could seldom be seen in the United States in the 19th century.
The state flags were the rule. It was not until World War I and
especially World War II that the US flag became widely used,
replacing progressively the state flags. The same will happen
with the UN flag: it merely will require time until the people
will finally recognize the oneness of our planet and of the human
family.
- You,
dear reader, can help this process accelerate. Order the UN flag
from the UN gift shop (Tel: 212-963-7700) and display it,
especially on international days proclaimed by the UN, including
the 24th of October, anniversary of the birth of the UN. Display
it at all gatherings, conferences or graduations where human
brothers and sisters from other nations are present. Follow the
example of the Europeans who display side by side the national
flag, the flag of Europe and the UN flag. US citizens could
similarly display the US flag, the flag of the Americas and the UN
flag. Governments could even innovate and adopt flags which would
have on one side the national flag and on the other side the UN
flag. It is high time that this planet and humanity be recognized
as the supreme concerns of all people.
-
- February
2000
-
- We
are now in the momentous year 2000 when a first World's Peoples'
Assembly will be held in Samoa and a UN General Assembly at the
heads of states level will look at the global problems which are
besetting the Earth and see how they could be solved.
- In
view of the "never twice without a third time" rule, I add the
following:
- The
first attempt to create an international or world government was
the League of Nations. Several governments, especially the US
which had authored the project, did not join it. This allowed
Hitler and Mussolini to get into power and led to World War II and
to the end of the League of Nations.
- The
United Nations, conceived again by the US in 1945 and located on
its soil, had many successes which I describe in several of my
books, and includes today practically all countries on Earth (189
of them). But since the end of the cold war, the US wants to
dominate and rule the world alone. It sees the UN as an obstacle,
no longer ratifies its decisions, neglects, ignores and opposes it
more and more. My dream is therefore that the story of the UN
flag be repeated: that a Charter of a new UN be written and
adopted, putting an end to the present UN thus conceding a second
victory to the evil forces. A UN Charter revision would also give
a voice to the 137 governments of the present 189 members, which
did not participate in the drafting of the 1945 Charter and of the
UN's creation 55 years ago.
-
- Soon
thereafter, under the pressure of the colossal globalization
forces besetting this planet, there will be major catastrophes
which will put an end to capitalism and to the second UN. Then,
at long last will we see a repetition of what happened to the
Confederate States of America when they were transformed into the
Federal United States, namely the birth of a proper Earth
government in the form of a Federal United World or an Earth
Government or a United Nature. Then the evil forces against the
progress of humanity will give up, having had their three
victories. The quicker this will happen, the more will be
salvaged of our beautiful Earth. These views of George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin apply fully and
prophetically today:
-
- The
primary cause of all disorders lies in the different states
governments and in the tenacity of that power which pervades the
whole of their systems.
- George
Washington
-
- Laws
and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the
human mind. As that becomes more enlightened, as new discoveries
are made and manners and opinions change, with the change in
circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with
the times. One might as well require a man to wear still the coat
which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain
forever under the regimen of their barbarous
ancestors.
- Thomas
Jefferson
-
- It
is also timely to remember in the middle of the United Nations
Decade of the Indigenous People (1995-2006) that the Great Indian
Confederacy of the Iroquois provided a model for the
transformation of the thirteen colonies into the United States of
America.
-
- "It
would be a strange thing," wrote Benjamin Franklin, "if six
nations of ignorant savages should be capable of forming a scheme
for such a union and be able to execute it in such a manner that
it has subsisted ages and appears indissoluble; and yet that a
like union should be impracticable for ten or a dozen English
colonies to whom it is more necessary and must be more
advantageous and who cannot be supposed to lack an equal
understanding of their interests."
-
- Who
is today the head of state of the stature of Benjamin Franklin,
who will make this text his own, replacing in it the words "ten or
a dozen English colonies" by "189 nations"?
-
- PART
III
-
- IDEAS
2701 TO 2800
-
- INTRODUCTION
-
- A
PEACE PLAN
-
- To
Stop War and Individual Acts of Violence and
Destruction
-
- received
by Robert Muller anonymously:
-
- The
sender has not given his name and address, because he is a man of
96 with body troubles, and a poor memory: so under the
circumstances he would not like to get involved in correspondence
about the matter.
-
- We
can think of the world as one without war as something new, an
invention. Every invention starts with just an idea, a concept, a
vision. It seems that many people have a vision of a far happier
way of living than that which we experience, and would like this
vision developed into a living reality: The reality of our global
human family living comfortably, enjoyably, fearlessly, caringly,
lovingly and happily in friendly world-wide harmony, and
cooperation.
-
- There
is no scientific law of external nature nor instinct (natural
urge) of internal human nature, which makes this aspiration
impossible. Clearly those who profit by war will be opposed to an
ethical and happy way of life run by altruists.
-
- The
market forces' money way,
- Creating
ruination,
- Loving
money from a war,
- Loving
it much more than folk
- The
system force to fight,
- Is
bound to pass away one day,
- When
the Human Family can
- With
righteous indignation
- Reject
its harmful practices
- And
quit its bad employment
- For
there we folk cannot enjoy
- The
happiness all seek
-
- A
bad system has its day,
- Such
as Dictator Communism;
- And
the greedy money way
- Which
pollutes the air we breathe:
- And
brings the miseries of war
- But
such a system will not stay
- Good
folk reject its misery
- Unhappy
people don't work well
- Economies
like slavery.
-
- When
people seeking happiness,
- Discover
it can only come
- Through
goodness in its many forms
- Not
through the vice of greed
- They
cease to go to war and kill
- Folk
who might have been good friends.
- So
then with better motivation
- Willingly
and well they work
- The
system which is fair to all
- The
Ethical Economy.
-
- We
shall be holding hands all round the world when we forget
capitalism and start working in the ethical economy of the first
Humanitarian World Government.
-
- Massive
Righteous Indignation and Suitable Action to Stop Future
War
-
- Affirmation/Autosuggestion
-
- I
shall live and let others live.
- I
shall be non-violent if not attacked.
- I
seek life without fear or hatred.
- I
wish to live in a state of no-war:
-
- That
is permanent peace; without the sorrowful effects of war on
peace-loving families; without the lunacy and futility of war,
because it cannot cure the many ills from which we suffer; without
war's cutting short the lives of human beings'; without the
dislocation of careers of survivors; without the loss to families
of their male parent; without war's subjection of women to rape;
without the pain and agony of war and lifelong incurable injury to
the bodies of many veterans; without war's colossal wastage of
materials, and its harmful effects on the environment; without the
destruction of the works of man, and the possible nuclear
destruction of all life.
-
- I
know we can eliminate war if my fellows of our global human family
will have the enterprise, courage and vision to do what I am going
to do - sign the Peace Seekers' Declaration.
-
- For
"without vision the people perish."
-
- Preamble
to the Peace Seekers Declaration
-
- We
peace seekers of our global human family differ in many ways; but
we all share at least one thing - the instinct or natural urge of
self-preservation. We all want to go on living, so why be so
foolish as to kill one another?
-
- In
the past we have been forced to do so by a powerful nation ruler,
government, or military dictator. Since nuclear weapons have come
into existence it is high time for us billions of our human family
to refuse any longer to be military slaves and kill one
another.
-
- When
a man kills others legally in war, or illegally in peacetime, he
disobeys the best moral law for human happiness, the Reciprocity
Law; namely, 'Do not do to others what you would not like done to
yourself.' Bad rulers have forced good men to disobey that law
and be bad and kill in war other members of our human
family.
-
- May
all of us human beings, in seeking happiness, at long last obey
that Reciprocity Law, and now in our billions refuse to fight in
war outside our own country. If most people refuse to fight
aggressively, i.e. outside their countries, frontiers, there could
be no war, not even one in self-defense.
-
- The
Peace Seekers Declaration
-
- The
aim of this Peace Plan, which I surely share with many others, is
to make a marvelous change for the better in the history of man
namely, to stop forever the bad practice of war.
-
- In
each nation there would be volunteer Peace Planners in every city,
town, village. The Chief Peace Planner at any place would invite
peace-seekers to come, in some order, to a central room or office
to sign 'The Peace Seekers Declaration'. Namely, that the peace
seeker agrees to sign two statements, firstly, that he or she
refuses to support in any way an external war, i.e. one to be
fought outside one's own nation, (except in the case of an
attacked friendly neighbor nation calling for help.) But
willingly support, in a suitable way, a war fought to defend the
national homeland from an attacking enemy.
-
- Secondly,
'Except in self-defense I shall not do at any time any act of
violence which injures or may injure a person or persons of our
global family, however, different from myself, even if offered a
bribe in money, a gain of some sort, a gift, anything of benefit,
privilege, honor or the like.'
-
- Each
peace-seeker would put his or her signature, whether legible or
not, on a large lined sheet of strong paper. Peace Planners would
also go from house to house to collect more
signatures.
-
- Each
nation would need a volunteer Humanitarian Peace Plan Coordinator
to whom the wide-spread Peace Planners would send their lists of
signatures.
-
- At a
certain time this national coordinator would make public the
number of peace-seeker signatures, and call for more, especially
from those who had hesitated.
-
- If a
nation had a large number of peace-seekers, its government would
be unable to go to war externally, and fight away from its
homeland.
-
- The
following is an extract from Bertrand Russell's excellent book
Political Ideals.
-
- "Few
men seem to realize how many of the evils from which we suffer are
wholly unnecessary, and that they could be abolished by a united
effort within a few years. If a majority in every civilized
country so desired, we could, within twenty years, abolish all
abject poverty, quite half the illness in the world, the whole
economic slavery which binds down nine tenths of our population;
we could fill the world with beauty and joy and secure the reign
of universal peace. It is only because men are apathetic that
this is not achieved, only because imagination is sluggish, and
what always have been is regarded as what always must be. With
good-will, generosity, intelligence, these things could be brought
about."
-
- Lord
Russell (Bertrand Russell) goes on to say that the world is full
of preventable evils which most people would like to see
prevented.
-
- Among
other things, this could be done by a World Humanitarian
Government possibly elected through a plebiscite conducted by a
union of all the world's humanitarian organizations.
- *
*
- *
-
-
- ANNEX
- Three
Samples of Ideas
-
- I
- Nuclear
Age
- Peace
Foundation
- 100
Ideas for Creating a More Peaceful World
- by
David Krieger
-
- Creating
world peace takes many forms, but surely it begins with
individuals. Here are 100 ideas for creating a more peaceful
world. I encourage you to play your part in creating peace. It
continues to be the most significant challenge of humankind, and
requires the efforts of each of us.
-
- 1.
Be generous with your smiles.
- 2.
Commit daily acts of kindness.
- 3.
Respect the Earth.
- 4.
Walk in the forest.
- 5.
Plant a tree.
- 6.
Contemplate a mountain.
- 7.
Don't pollute.
- 8.
Live simply.
- 9.
Skip a meal each week, and send $5.00 to an organization helping
the hungry.
- 10.
Erase a border in your mind.
- 11.
Teach peace to children.
- 12.
Read Chief Seattle's Letter to the US President.*
- 13.
Be honest.
- 14.
Demand honesty from your government.
- 15.
Think about consequences.
- 16.
Commit yourself to non-violence.
- 17.
Support non-violent solutions to global problems.
- 18.
Speak up for a healthy planet.
- 19.
Demand reductions in military expenditures.
- 20.
Be fair.
- 21.
Pledge allegiance to the Earth and to its varied life
forms.
- 22.
Think for yourself.
- 23.
Ask questions.
- 24.
Recognize your unique potential.
- 25.
Join an organization working for peace.
- 26.
Be less materialistic.
- 27.
Be more loving.
- 28.
Support an Arms Trade Code of Conduct.
- 29.
Oppose all weapons of mass destruction.
- 30.
Sign the Abolition 2000 International Petition.
- 31.
Work for an international ban on land mines.
- 32.
Use your special talents for a more harmonious world.
- 33.
Listen to your heart.
- 34.
Help the poor.
- 35.
Fight against militarism.
- 36.
Study the lives of peace heroes.
- 37.
Help create a community peace park or garden.
-
- *
See Annex II to ideas 2001 to 2500.
- 38.
Commemorate the International Day of Peace in your community (the
third Tuesday in September).
- 39.
Help strengthen the United Nations.
- 40.
Support the creation of an International Criminal Court to hold
individual leaders accountable for crimes against peace, crimes
against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.
- 41.
Read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and demand that
your government live by it.
- 42.
Be aware of the rights of future generations. Sign the Cousteau
Society Bill of Rights for Future Generations.
- 43.
Make decisions as though all life truly matters. It
does!
- 44.
Join an action alert network.
- 45.
Make your voice heard by speaking out for peace.
- 46.
Laugh more.
- 47.
Play with a child.
- 48.
Support health, education and the arts over more
weapons.
- 49.
Help educate the next generation to be compassionate and
responsible.
- 50.
Accept personal responsibility for creating a better
world.
- 51.
Sing.
- 52.
Write a poem.
- 53.
Organize a church service on the theme of peace.
- 54.
Learn about another culture.
- 55.
Help someone.
- 56.
Support the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
- 57.
Climb a mountain.
- 58.
Clear your mind.
- 59.
Breathe deeply.
- 60.
Sip tea.
- 61.
Express your views to government officials.
- 62.
Fight for the environment.
- 63.
Celebrate Earth Day.
- 64.
Think like an astronaut, recognizing that we have only one
Earth.
- 65.
Be constructive.
- 66.
Ring a bell for peace.
- 67.
Plant seeds of peace.
- 68.
Work in a garden.
- 69.
Change a potential enemy into a friend.
- 70.
Watch the movie Amazing Grace and Chuck.
- 71.
Share.
- 72.
Be more peaceful.
- 73.
Send a note of appreciation.
- 74.
Tell your friends how much they matter.
- 75.
Say "I love you" more.
- 76.
Don't tolerate prejudice.
- 77.
Demand more from your elected officials.
- 78.
Walk by the ocean, a river, or a lake.
- 79.
Recognize that all humans have the right to life.
- 80.
Respect the dignity of each person.
- 81.
Be a leader in the struggle for human decency.
- 82.
Watch the movie The King of Hearts.
- 83.
Send sunflowers to world leaders, and call for a world free of
nuclear weapons.
- 84.
Oppose technologies that harm the environment.
- 85.
Loose an argument to a loved one.
- 86.
Read Hiroshima by John Hersey.
- 87.
Walk softly on the Earth.
- 88.
Appreciate the power of the sun.
- 89.
Speak out for global disarmament.
- 90.
Support a stronger world order.
- 91.
Teach non-violence by example.
- 92.
Remember that "No man is an island."
- 93.
Spend time in nature.
- 94.
Boycott war toys.
- 95.
Be thankful for the miracle of life.
- 96.
Read All Quiet on the Western Front or A Time to Love and a Time
to Die by Erich Maria Remarque.
- 97.
Remind your leaders that peace matters.
- 98.
Oppose violence in television programming for
children.
- 99.
Listen to Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
- 100.
Celebrate peace.
-
- For
additional ideas on creating peace visit the Nuclear Age Peace
Foundation's Web Site at www.wagingpeace.org. We would also
welcome your ideas. All of us can make important contributions
for peace by our ideas and actions. Send your ideas to us at the
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, 1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 123,
Santa Barbara, CA 93108, (805) 965-3443, Fax (805) 568-0466,
E-mail: wagingpeace@napf. org.
-
- II
- Some
Ideas for Robert Muller from Don Tilley:
- Director,
Prairie Peace Park Lincoln, Nebraska
- "Where
children's vision come to life"
-
- 1.
Place three courses on 'Peacemaking' on website for the UN
University for Peace, for people to take and respond by e-mail:
Course #1 - How we can develop a peaceful world; Course #2 - How
you can develop inner peace; and Course #3 - How you can deepen
your friendship with others. Each course would offer a different
version for children, youth, adults and be in several languages.
These courses on Peacemaking would be funded by a philanthropic
organization. Upon completion, each participant would receive an
award of achievement that s/he has obtained the knowledge and
skills suggested in the respective course.
-
- 2. A
representative from the University for Peace or the United Nations
offers to meet with each state legislature in the United States
each year for three days to make linkages between local/state
issues to their global counterparts. For example, if the city or
state has garbage and waste problems, these problems (and
solutions) would be viewed from a global perspective -- so the
state can relate to the whole world.
-
- 3.
Parents of every baby when born be given a Peace Packet with
suggestions about how to raise the child as a Peacemaker.
Establish a website/e-mail for parents to call up to receive
counsel on how to cope with raising the child as a Peacemaker and
to see how parents in all parts of the world are sharing examples
about the rearing of their children as Peacemakers.
-
- 4.
The University for Peace or the United Nations offers a behavior
inventory in each school for each child as a rite of passage.
When child reaches 12 years of age, s/he demonstrates traits
expected of a Peacemaker: 1) able to resolve conflicts peacefully
with others, 2) able to deal with own upsetness/violent thoughts,
and 3) able to show how the United Nations helps develop a
peaceful world.
-
- 5.
Set up a model UN with youth from every nation in the world on
world-wide web and e-mail. Each month, one issue would be
presented by UN Secretariat for one hour on world television (Ted
Turner?) and radio. These youth would respond to this issue for a
week by e-mail. Secretariat would attempt to shape the responses
of youth toward solution. The recommendations of the youth would
be submitted to the Secretary General of the UN and to all media
in the world.
-
- 6.
Each state legislature mandates that each high school student
study several world problems each year and search for solutions to
these problems, while reviewing the efforts of the UN.
-
- 7.
The leaders of Habitat of Humanity receive a billion dollars each
year by governments to extend their program to great numbers.
Control would be kept by leaders of Habitat of Humanity, with no
conditions imposed beyond their current guidelines.
-
- 8.
Once every two years the world holds a world-wide celebration day
on world television to honor being alive, enjoying the wonder of
life. During this time, 'oracles' (those with special gifts as
the women from Delphi) would give prophecies -- issuing warnings,
hope and world perspective about different problems and vision on
world television.
- 9. A
parallel youth UN would be set up in New York to deal with the
same problems at the same time which the UN is facing. These
youth would serve for staggered terms of two years. They would
announce their recommendations on a regular basis. The regular UN
would consider each recommendation by the youth.
-
- 10.
A course would be set up in each high school about how to feel
loved, regardless of circumstances.
-
- 11.
Religious leaders take groups on pilgrimages to humane, successful
economic models such as the Mondragon cooperatives in
Spain.
-
- 12.
Develop a world mission statement to guide the development of the
world. The mission statement would emphasize good, participatory
management of development of the world, humane practices, and
purpose for the world. Each multinational corporation would be
expected to be guided by this mission statement and relate it to
their own mission statement.
-
- 13.
Set up weekly participatory spiritual exercises on world
television to enable people to free themselves from obsolete
myths, old roots of violence, and enter into powerful feelings of
empathy for persons throughout the whole world.
-
- 14.
Hold a year of jubilee every ten years when wealth/income would be
moved toward equity and economic democracy, in both individuals
and nations.
-
- 15.
The University for Peace/the United Nations encourage technology
to move from conquering nature to nurturing humans by providing a
number of 'devices' that enable individuals to deal with their
defensive behavior and inner problems, relationships, and
experience the world as it could become. These experiences could
replace the need to achieve and prove selves to
others.
-
- Don
Tilley, Director
- Prairie
Peace Park
- P.O.
Box 95062
- Lincoln,
NE 68509
-
- 402
466-6622(office)
- 402
795-2144 (park) (summer)
- http://www.igc.apc.org/PeacePark
- Fax:
402 466-6741
-
- III
- Continuing
the Momentum of the UN Decade of Disabled Persons
- by
Alan Reich
- President
of the World Committee on Disability
-
- March
18, 1999
-
- Dear
Robert:
-
- I am
happy to try to be responsive to your request for ideas for action
upon the celebration of the Bimillennium. I recall well our
meeting in 1983 with Secretary General PÈrez de Cuellar
when we established the Bimillennium Foundation.
-
- You
will note that some of my ideas relate to the world of disability;
others are of more general concern. Here it goes:
-
- 1.
Establish a United Nations agency of disability (your
idea)
-
- 2.
Multiply the resources of the United Nations by 10 or 20 by
conducting a serious fundraising campaign worldwide - including
schoolchildren, corporations, wealthy individuals - for all United
Nations non-political activities
-
- 3.
Establish an F. D. Roosevelt disability training center to train
volunteers to send them worldwide to exchange ideas and assist
disabled persons - a special Peace Corps
-
- 4.
Convene a United Nations disability "brainstorming" conference
lead by you to generate ideas on world action on
disability
-
- 5.
Link disabled children in developing countries with disabled
children in advanced countries through school-to-school and
sister-city programs
-
- 6.
Place a statue of UN founder Franklin D. Roosevelt in a wheelchair
at the United Nations to inspire visitors (disabled and
non-disabled alike) and show what is possible for a disabled
person
-
- 7.
Vastly strengthen and expand promotion of the F. D. Roosevelt
International Disability Award to motivate governments to pursue
full participation as called for in the United Nations World
Program of Action Concerning Disabled Persons.
-
- 8.
Establish a comparable award to recognize the United Nations
agency making noteworthy progress toward the full participation
goal of the World Program.
-
- 9.
Similarly recognize an outstanding non-governmental organization
(NGO)
-
- 10.
Have all UN agencies and recognized NGO's include disabled persons
in their leadership bodies.
-
- 11.
Establish a disability lectureship series sponsored by United
Nations information offices worldwide.
- 12.
Have the United Nations conduct an enlightened public relations
program focusing on disability to give the UN itself a more "human
face" and thus expand the awareness of how important and effective
the UN can be improving the human condition.
-
- 13.
Mount a massive program for technology for the disabled - focusing
on prostheses, electronic devices, wheelchairs, etc. - using
moneys saved from arms reduction
-
- 14.
Have UNESCO establish special prize to recognize nations for
progress in closing the education gap between disabled and
non-disabled
-
- 15.
Have the Secretary General ensure disability is prominently
included in every Administrative Coordinating Committee
meeting.
-
- 16.
Have the University for Peace in Costa Rica invite Henry Betts
(Special Emissary of the World Committee on Disability) as a guest
lecturer on the theme "It is ability not disability that
counts"
-
- 17.
Recognize through a prestigious award (perhaps through the World
Health Organization) medical scientists for great discoveries and
progress in conquering disabling conditions
-
- 18.
Have the Pope issue an encyclical on humankind and disability. (I
personally spoke with him twice about this, but he hasn't done it
yet. I'm sure he would do it for you, Robert.) On the other
hand, he did host the first-ever World Vatican Conference on
Disability - attended by 9,000 people from throughout the world -
at our request in 1991.
-
- I'll
be interested to know of your reaction to these thoughts. I'm
sure most if not all of these ideas already have occurred to
you.
-
- With
all good wishes,
-
- Sincerely,
-
- Alan
A. Reich
- President
-
- Please
dear readers, write down your own personal and professional ideas
for a better world. Innumerable ideas by many people will change
humanity for the better and save our beautiful Earth. To ideaize,
to create a world movement of ideas might be the next phase of our
evolution.
-
- Robert
Muller
-
- World
Committee on Disability
- 910
Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006 USA
- 202-293-5960
TDD 202-293-593-5968 Fax 202-293-7999
-
- PART
IV
-
- IDEAS
2801 TO 2900
-
- INTRODUCTION
-
- The
following was sent to the Christian Science Monitor by its author,
Lou Torok, an inmate at the Chillicothe, Ohio Correctional
Institution. In the note accompanying the prayer, he wrote, "This
was written after I viewed the ruins of Attica Prison in New York
State on television. It seems to me that a new defining of basic
issues is needed to bring our human problems back into
focus.
-
- A
New World Prayer
-
- I
recognize that I belong to the family of humankind
- Made
up of all human beings
- Of
every race, color, creed and ideology
- Now
living on the Planet Earth.
-
- I
understand that there can be no common good
- Without
an individual good.
- I am
responsible for myself
- And
for all human beings who share this
- Earth
with me. I know that our enemies
- Are
those among us who will not
- Join
in sharing the responsibility
- For
our common good.
- I
accept my own personal responsibility
- To
replace darkness with light
- To
replace hatred with love
- To
replace suspicion with trust
- To
replace lies and hypocrisy with honesty
- To
replace abuse with fairness
- To
replace frustration with patience
- To
replace fear with understanding
- To
replace bias, prejudice, and discrimination with
tolerance
- To
replace ignorance with knowledge
- To
replace indifference with concern
- And
to replace apathy with action.
-
- I
believe that all are entitled
- To
equal opportunities
- To
live, to grow, and to flourish
- As
human beings
- With
dignity and self-respect.
- I
acknowledge that it is far better
- To
live and work for peace
- Than
to die for peace.
-
- As a
member of the Family of humankind
- Now
living on this Planet Earth
- I
thus commit myself
- And
challenge my children
- And
their children to DO AS WELL.
-
- Lou
Torok
-
-
- ANNEX
-
- THE
EARTH CHARTER
- issued
by the Earth Council in Costa Rica after years of preparation and
world-wide consultation it was communicated on 24 March 2000 to
all governments and the media
-
- PREAMBLE
- We
stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when
humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes
increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds
great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize
that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life
forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a
common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a
sustainable global society founded on respect for nature,
universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.
Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth,
declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater
community of life, and to future generations.
-
- Earth,
Our Home
- Humanity
is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth, our home, is alive
with a unique community of life. The forces of nature make
existence a demanding and uncertain adventure, but Earth has
provided the conditions essential to life's evolution. The
resilience of the community of life and the well-being of humanity
depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere with all its ecological
systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure
waters, and clean air. The global environment with its finite
resources is a common concern of all peoples. The protection of
Earth's vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred
trust.
-
- The
Global Situation
- The
dominant patterns of production and consumption are causing
environmental devastation, the depletion of resources, and a
massive extinction of species. Communities are being undermined.
The benefits of development are not shared equitably and the gap
between rich and poor is widening. Injustice, poverty, ignorance,
and violent conflict are widespread and the cause of great
suffering. An unprecedented rise in human population has
overburdened ecological and social systems. The foundations of
global security are threatened. These trends are perilous - but
not inevitable.
-
- The
Challenges Ahead
- The
choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and
one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity
of life. Fundamental changes are needed in our values,
institutions, and ways of living. We must realize that when basic
needs have not been met, human development is primarily about
being more, not having more. We have the knowledge and technology
to provide for all and to reduce our impacts on the environment.
The emergence of a global civil society is creating new
opportunities to build a democratic and humane world. Our
environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual
challenges are interconnected, and together we can forge inclusive
solutions.
-
- Universal
Responsibility
- To
realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of
universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole
Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once
citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local
and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility for the
present and future well-being of the human family and the larger
living world.. The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with
all life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the
mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility
regarding the human place in nature.
- We
urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an
ethical foundation for the emerging world community. Therefore,
together in hope we affirm the following interdependent principles
for a sustainable way of life as a common standard by which the
conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses,
governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and
assessed.
-
- I.
RESPECT AND CARE FOR THE COMMUNITY OF LIFE
-
- 1.
Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.
- a.
Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of
life has value regardless of its worth to human
beings.
- b.
Affirm faith in the inherent dignity of all human beings and in
the intellectual, artistic, ethical, and spiritual potential of
humanity.
-
- 2.
Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and
love.
- a.
accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural
resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to
protect the rights of people.
- b.
Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes
increased responsibility to promote the common good.
-
- 3.
Build democratic societies that are just, participatory,
sustainable, and peaceful.
- a.
Ensure that communities at all levels guarantee human rights and
fundamental freedoms and provide everyone an opportunity to
realize his or her full potential.
- b.
Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a
secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically
responsible.
-
- 4.
Secure Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future
generations.
- a.
Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is
qualified by the needs of future generations.
- b.
Transmit to future generations values, traditions, and
institutions that support the long-term flourishing of Earth's
human and ecological communities.
-
- In
order to implement these four broad commitments, it is necessary
to:
-
- II.
ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY
-
- 5.
Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems,
with special concern for biological diversity and the natural
processes that sustain life.
- a.
Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans and regulations
that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral
to all development initiatives.
- b.
Establish and safeguard viable nature and biosphere reserves,
including wild lands and marine areas, to protect Earth's life
support systems, maintain biodiversity, and preserve our natural
heritage.
- c.
Promote the recovery of endangered species and
ecosystems.
- d.
Control and eradicate non-native or genetically modified organisms
harmful to native species and the environment, and prevent
introduction of such harmful organisms.
- e.
Manage the use of renewable resources such as water, soil, forest
products, and marine life in ways that do not exceed rates of
regeneration and that protect the health of
ecosystems.
- f.
Manage the extraction and use of non-renewable resources such as
minerals and fossil fuels in ways that minimize depletion and
cause no serious environmental damage.
-
- 6.
Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and,
when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary
approach.
- a.
Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible
environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or
inconclusive.
- b.
Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a proposed
activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible
parties liable for environmental harm.
- c.
Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term,
indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human
activities.
- d.
Prevent pollution of any part of the environment and allow no
build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous
substances.
- e.
Avoid military activities damaging to the environment.
-
- 7.
Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that
safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and
community well-being.
- a.
Reduce, reuse, and recycle the materials used in production and
consumption systems, and ensure that residual waste can be
assimilated by ecological systems.
- b.
Act with restraint and efficiency when using energy, and rely
increasingly on renewable energy sources such as solar and
wind.
- c.
Promote the development, adoption, and equitable transfer of
environmentally sound technologies.
- d.
Internalize the full environmental and social costs of goods and
services in the selling price, and enable consumers to identify
products that meet the highest social and environmental
standards.
- e.
Ensure universal access to health care that fosters reproductive
health and responsible reproduction.
- f.
Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material
sufficiency in a finite world.
-
- 8.
Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the
open exchange and wide application of the knowledge
acquired.
- a.
Support international scientific and technical cooperation on
sustainability, with special attention to the needs of developing
nations.
- b.
Recognize and preserve the traditional knowledge and spiritual
wisdom in all cultures that contribute to environmental protection
and human well-being.
- c.
Ensure that information of vital importance to human health and
environmental protection, including genetic information, remains
available in the public domain.
-
- III.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE
-
- 9.
Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental
imperative.
- a.
Guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security,
uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the
national and international resources required.
- b.
Empower every human being with the education and resources to
secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and
safety nets for those who are unable to support
themselves.
- c.
Recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable, serve those who
suffer, and enable them to develop their capacities and to pursue
their aspirations.
-
- 10.
Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels
promote human development in an equitable and sustainable
manner.
- a.
Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and
among nations.
- b.
Enhance the intellectual, financial, technical, and social
resources of developing nations, and relieve them of onerous
international debt.
-
- c.
Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource use,
environmental protection, and progressive labor
standards.
- d.
Require multinational corporations and international financial
organizations to act transparently in the public good, and hold
them accountable for the consequences of their
activities.
-
- 11.
Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable
development and ensure universal access to education, health care,
and economic opportunity.
- a.
Secure the human rights of women and girls and end all violence
against them.
- b.
Promote the active participation of women in all aspects of
economic, political, civil, social, and cultural life as full and
equal partners, decision makers, leaders, and
beneficiaries.
- c.
Strengthen families and ensure the safety and loving nurture of
all family members.
-
- 12.
Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and
social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and
spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of
indigenous peoples and minorities.
- a.
Eliminate discrimination in all its forms, such as that based on
race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, language, and
national, ethnic or social origin.
- b.
Affirm the right of indigenous peoples to their spirituality,
knowledge, lands and resources and to their related practice of
sustainable livelihoods.
- c.
Honor and support the young people of our communities, enabling
them to fulfill their essential role in creating sustainable
societies.
- d.
Protect and restore outstanding places of cultural and spiritual
significance.
-
- IV.
DEMOCRACY, NONVIOLENCE, AND PEACE
-
- 13.
Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide
transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive
participation in decision making, and access to
justice.
- a.
Uphold the right of everyone to receive clear and timely
information on environmental matters and all development plans and
activities which are likely to affect them or in which they have
an interest.
- b.
Support local, regional and global civil society, and promote the
meaningful participation of all interested individuals and
organizations in decision making.
- c.
Protect the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful
assembly, association, and dissent.
- d.
Institute effective and efficient access to administrative and
independent judicial procedures, including remedies and redress
for environmental harm and the threat of such harm.
- e.
Eliminate corruption in all public and private
institutions.
- f.
Strengthen local communities, enabling them to care for their
environments, and assign environmental responsibilities to the
levels of government where they can be carried out most
effectively.
-
- 14.
Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the
knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of
life.
- a.
Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational
opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to
sustainable development.
- b.
Promote the contribution of the arts and humanities as well as the
sciences in sustainability education.
- c.
Enhance the role of the mass media in raising awareness of
ecological and social challenges.
- d.
Recognize the importance of moral and spiritual education for
sustainable living.
-
- 15.
Treat all living beings with respect and
consideration.
- a.
Prevent cruelty to animals kept in human societies and protect
them from suffering.
- b.
Protect wild animals from methods of hunting, trapping, and
fishing that cause extreme, prolonged, or avoidable
suffering.
- c.
Avoid or eliminate to the full extent possible the taking or
destruction of non-targeted species.
-
- 16.
Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and
peace.
- a.
Encourage and support mutual understanding, solidarity, and
cooperation among all peoples and within and among
nations.
- b.
Implement comprehensive strategies to prevent violent conflict and
use collaborative problem solving to manage and resolve
environmental conflicts and other disputes.
- c.
Demilitarize national security systems to the level of a
non-provocative defense posture, and convert military resources to
peaceful purposes, including ecological restoration.
- d.
Eliminate nuclear, biological, and toxic weapons and other weapons
of mass destruction.
- e.
Ensure that the use of orbital and outer space supports
environmental protection and peace.
- f.
Recognize that peace is the wholeness created by right
relationship with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other
life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a
part.
-
- THE
WAY FORWARD
- As
never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new
beginning. Such renewal is the promise of these Earth Charter
principles. To fulfill this promise, we must commit ourselves to
adopt and promote the values and objectives of the
Charter.
-
- This
requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of
global interdependence and universal responsibility. We must
imaginatively develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of
life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally. Our cultural
diversity is a precious heritage and different cultures will find
their own distinctive ways to realize the vision. We must deepen
and expand the global dialogue that generated the Earth Charter,
for we have much to learn from the ongoing collaborative search
for truth and wisdom.
-
- Life
often involves tensions between important values. This can mean
difficult choices. However, we must find ways to harmonize
diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common
good, short-term objectives with long-term goals. Every
individual, family, organization, and community has a vital role
to play. The arts, sciences, religions, educational institutions,
media, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and governments
are all called to offer creative leadership. The partnership of
government, civil society, and business is essential for effective
governance.
-
- In
order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the
world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill
their obligations under existing international agreements, and
support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an
international legally binding instrument on environment and
development.
-
- Let
ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for
life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening
of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration
of life. * *
-
*
- When
I read this text aloud on Mt. Rasur, the Earth
exclaimed:
- "Dear
Robert, I cannot believe it: humanity might at long last be on the
right way! May God and the cosmic energies of the universe bless
all those who gave birth to that Charter."
-
- PART
V
-
- IDEAS
2901 TO 3000
-
- INTRODUCTION
-
- How
to at Long-last Attain Paradise on Earth
-
- When
modern technology was born it was natural that it devoted itself
exclusively to the improvement of human conditions. The Earth was
of its concern only for information, investigation and
exploitation for the benefits of humans. A second important
motive for its growth was the interest of nations which wanted to
industrialize themselves as soon and intensively as possible to
increase the well-being of their people, their power and positions
in the world.
-
- This
has continued until today with one additional factor: giant world
corporations were born with the same strong power interests as
those of nations, the two often joining forces. In addition the
Darwinian concept of competition and survival of the fittest
applied both to these corporations and to nations.
-
- It
is only in the 1970's with the sudden phenomenal growth of the
world population and its settlements, of world consumption and
transport that this situation received a serious warning: the
'environment' - in reality the whole Earth was being affected in
its airs, waters, nature and species', i.e. the 'biosphere' or
thin layer of life surrounding it.
-
- On
the eve of the year 2000, twenty-seven years after the first UN
World conference on the Environment in Stockholm in 1972 and seven
years after the second such conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992,
the situation is practically unchanged: industries, nations, big
business and investors continue on the same course, i.e. increase
profits, wealth, power and positions in the world, or were it only
because it is so difficult, risky and cumbersome to
change.
-
- As a
result, for the first time in the entire human history the Earth
is in danger of death and with it humanity too.
-
- Who
will have the courage to look this situation straight into the
face and raise a voice resonating in the entire world, provoking
revolutionary wake-ups in the current mis-evolution of the Earth
and of humanity? Our entry into a new century and millennium
offers to humanity's leaders a great opportunity and an immense
obligation to do so.
-
- When
the UN Economic and Social Council adopted in 1970 the proposal of
Sweden to hold the first World Conference on the Environment I
exclaimed to a group of Ambassadors, "From today on the world will
never be the same." Three decades later many governments,
industries and the world of finance still do not recognize the
new, fundamental changes which must take place in the evolution of
this planet.
-
- All
humanity, all its leaders, groups, communities, cultures,
religions, enterprises, professions, educators, families and
individuals must henceforth take care of the Earth, think of her
always, not misuse, not overuse, not destroy, not unnecessarily
consume her. We must love her and care for her as our greatest
capital. Perhaps this might be the turning point in human history
and civilization. We will, for the first time learn so much from
the Earth. We must let her teach us and be able, at long last, to
live in peace and harmony with her, with other life forms on
Earth, with the heavens and with each other. Wise and filled with
an incredible knowledge and new wisdom we humans must never repeat
again the errors made by our forefathers since Adam and Eve. It
will not be paradise lost, but paradise at long last understood
and regained.
-
- The
preceding requires as stated earlier in these volumes that all
basic segments of human life on Earth must be reviewed and
rethought fundamentally and with a very long third thousand years
future in view as we enter the 21st century and third millennium.
These are:
-
- a
new political system for planet Earth
- a
new economics
- a
new education
- a
new media and communications
- a
new democracy
- a
new global leadership
- a
spiritual Renaissance and inter-religious cooperation
- a
non-violent human society
- a
well-preserved planet
- a
decent well-being for all humans
- a
stabilization of the world population
- right
human settlements on the planet
- the
disarmament, demilitarization, denuclearization and global
security of the planet
- a
new science and technology
- a
new anthropology, sociology and new ways of life
- a
new human biology
- a
new philosophy, cosmology and long-term view of
evolution
- a
new world ethics and justice
- a
new world psychology
- a
new science and art of planetary management
- an
art and cultural Renaissance
-
- Such
basic future oriented reconsideration is taking place currently in
a growing number of institutions, conferences and peoples'
associations around the world. We can therefore be
optimistic.
-
- I
recommend that in addition to yearly states of the world
conferences and reports there should also be yearly long-term
thinking and future oriented conferences and reports on all the
above basic segments of human life on planet Earth.
-
- I
give an example: thanks to the UN's World Conferences on
Population and warnings against excessive growth, the world
population will be 6.1 billion in 2000 instead of the 7.3 billion
estimated in 1970 on the basis of the growth at that time. 1.2
billion people were thus not added to the human population. The
yearly increase is now 78 million against 80 million last year.
The estimate is that we will be 8.91 billion in 2050, of which
1.16 billion (a decline of 40 million from 1.2 billion) in the
rich countries and an increase from 4.7 to 7.75 billion (an
increase of 3.05 billion) in the poor countries. This is still
much too high and rapid to take care of the human factor in the
Earth situation. Hence my recommendation that the UN should hold
soonest a World Population Emergency Conference. All this
represents a case of basic rethinking of one human segment in the
fate of the Earth. And this should be done year after year for
all segments. The current yearly States of the World Report and
Conferences must henceforth be accompanied by yearly Future of the
World Reports and Conferences.
-
- I
hope that not only the United Nations and governments whose main
task it will be, but all universities, institutions, entities and
associations on Earth will take up this challenge, undertaking the
above fundamental reviews, rethinking and futurologism, thus
helping this planet to become at long last the true peaceful,
evolving paradise and success in our solar system and in the
cosmos it is meant to be.
-
- Remark:
-
- A
useful exercise would be to assemble under each of the 21 segments
the ideas and building blocks contained in these 3000 Ideas and
Dreams for a Better World born from my whole adult life as a
world and humanity servant in the first world organization of this
planet, the United Nations. This can be done easily by extracting
from Volume V, the Index of the first 2000 Ideas and the two
Indexes of the third thousand ideas (Volume VI and VII), those
ideas relevant to each segment. The result would be a significant
contribution to the building of the right future, of paradise
Earth. The actual ideas under any segment can be easily printed
out of the computer. Contact Carolyn Hawkins, my co-worker: 255-A
Elise Place, Santa Barbara, CA 93109, Tel: (805) 568-0909, Fax:
(805) 968-5081.
-
-
- An
Appeal to All Heads of States Meeting
- at
the United Nations in September 2000
-
- I
sent the following Appeal end of August 2000 to the heads of
states of all 189 member countries of the United Nations with the
following letter in English, Spanish, French or German as
appropriate:
-
- 28
August 2000
-
- Dear
Mr. Head of State,
-
- I
pray Your Excellency with all my heart to visualize how you wish
to be remembered by future generations for your proposals and
actions in the unique historic meeting of heads of state in
September 2000 at the United Nations. I took the liberty, as a
fifty years long servant of the United Nations, to express some of
my ideas and dreams in the enclosed Appeal to you.
-
- May
God inspire you and reward you
- with
lasting fame.
-
- Yours
in peace,
-
- Robert
Muller
- Chancellor
Emeritus
- Former
UN Assistant Secretary General
-
- My
Appeal to All Leaders of Nations
- for
their meeting at the United Nations in September 2000
-
- I
joined the United Nations world service in 1948 as a young man who
had been in a German Gestapo prison, a French Resistance fighter
and had seen the most horrible atrocities of war and destructions.
I came from Alsace-Lorraine, a province of France bordering
Germany, where my grandparents knew three wars and changed
nationality five times between France and Germany, without leaving
their village. I was a very pessimistic young man. If this had
happened between two highly civilized countries, how could I
expect white and black countries, communists and capitalists, rich
and poor nations, thousands of religions and ethnic groups to be
able to live together and cooperate in peace? Surely there would
be an incident which would trigger off another world war within
twenty years. Well, there was no third world war.
- In
an emptied war factory in Lake Success where the United Nations
was first located, a British delegate asked me what I was doing
there. I answered: "I came here to work for peace, because I do
not want my children and grandchildren to know the horrors I saw
in the war." He answered: "I pity you, because you will lose your
job. This organization will not last more than five years."
Well, it celebrates in the year 2000 its fifty-fifth
anniversary.
- I
was also told in Lake Success that decolonization was the priority
item on the agenda of world affairs and that it would take the
United Nations from one hundred to one hundred fifty years to
solve the problem. Well, the UN did it in forty years. I was
told the same about racism, apartheid, women's rights, human
rights, indigenous people, the cold war, and I could cite other
examples.
- I
have been involved in the creation of several new specialized
agencies and world programs in the economic and social fields,
including the world-wide United Nations Development Program where
I was one of the first two UN officials working with Paul Hoffman,
the former Administrator of the Marshall Plan. The UN listened to
me when I suggested to channel to the poor countries the surplus
foods which the rich countries used to burn, and created the World
Food Program. The World Bank listened to my idea to give
low-interest loans to infrastructure projects in the poor
countries and created the International Development Agency. When
I look at the list of the 32 UN specialized agencies and world
programs, I am astonished that I played a role in the creation of
eleven of them!
- I
have seen the UN system assemble information on practically every
aspect of our Earth and of the human family. Who remembers that
until 1952 we did not even know how many people lived on this
planet? Today a world population census takes place world-wide in
all countries in the same year. Future generations will
appreciate the statistical work and global information of the UN
as a true turning point in human history.
- Through
the United Nations I have seen the seas and oceans, the moon and
outer space be declared the commons of humanity. I have seen the
birth of first concerns for the environment, a word coined in the
UN when it convened the first world conference on the environment
in Sweden in 1972. And the UN did the same for the world's
waters, deserts, oceans, climate, atomic energy, children, women,
the aging, the handicapped, etc.
- I
entered the UN as an intern and was privileged to rise over the
years to Assistant Secretary General working directly with three
Secretaries General. When I look back, I feel that I owe the UN a
truly magical life.
- And
retirement was not the end. It turned into a 'refirement'! Three
days before I retired from the UN in 1986, after 38 years of
service, Rodrigo Carazo, the President of Costa Rica, a man whom I
greatly admire, proposed that I should become the
one-dollar-a-year chancellor of the recently created UN University
for Peace in Costa Rica of which I was his co-founder. I accepted
with delight to continue to work for a UN agency and to spend the
rest of my life in a demilitarized country to which I would give
the highest mark for its initiatives and successes at the UN: the
creation of the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights, the
Nobel Peace Prize to President Oscar Arias, the celebration of the
International Day of Peace and the world cease-fire obtained by
Costa Rica for the World Olympics and the week of the fiftieth
anniversary of the UN.
- And
how could I have ever dreamt that I would be some day appointed
member of a world commission of eminent persons on the funding of
the UN and co-chairman, with Dr. Karan Singh of India, of a World
Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality?
- And
that all borders between fifteen western European countries,
including in my hometown in Alsace-Lorraine, would be suppressed
and a European Union created?
- And
that there would be in the world 34 Robert Muller Schools
providing the right education I received from the United Nations
after the nationalistic mis-educations by France, Germany and the
United States?
- And
that the Global Peoples' Assembly meeting in 2000 in Samoa would
declare me its Lifelong President?
- Yes,
from a very pessimistic young man after World War II, I have been
transformed by the UN into an optimistic elder who believes in the
success of humanity. I am infinitely grateful to the UN for
having taught me that planet Earth is my home, that humanity is my
family and that it was worthwhile to devote my entire life with
passion, enthusiasm and faith to the great objectives for which
this Organization, a truly unprecedented, ominous meta-biological
organism of the Earth and of humanity was created. In the face of
colossal obstacles and the shortsightedness of some nations, the
UN has performed many miracles.
- And
now, as I look to the future and further progress, I am told that
proper Earth government is impossible! I make this prediction:
within twenty years we will have a proper government and
administration of planet Earth and of humanity. Why? Because the
current troubles, injustices, wastes and colossal duplications of
national expenditures, especially on armaments and the military,
of 189 nations will force us to. It is inevitable. The salvation
of this planet and survival of the human species depend on it.
Noone can for long go against evolution. Nation-states must adapt
or they will disintegrate, even the biggest one, the United
States. Unknown forces will force them to.
- During
my long world service I had this habit: whenever I receive
numerous letters from people around the world pointing at a new
challenge or necessity whose time has come, I open a file: within
a few years these signals of humanity's global brain and heart
become a major trend.
- Well,
since the 50th anniversary of the UN, my mail abounds with letters
calling for proper Earth government, a world federation of states,
proposals of other systems for a better global management of this
planet. I have therefore decided to return to the dream of my
youth, when after World War II I wrote an essay on world
government which opened to me the doors of the United Nations. At
the age of 77 I have decided to make proper Earth and human
government the last and greatest priority of my life. The Earth's
survival requires an enormously strengthened second generation
United Nations, or a UN transformed progressively into a world
union on the model of the European Union, or a United States of
the Earth on the pattern of the great precedent of the United
States. On the eve of a new century and millennium it is a matter
of life or death for the Earth and humanity.
- May
the heads of states meeting in the UN General Assembly 2000 hear
this appeal. I speak in the name of all my school-mates of the
class of 1939-40 of the LycÈc of Sarreguemines in
Alsace-Lorraine who were killed in French or German uniforms. I
plead with you, I beg you, I implore you to change the course of
the world into permanent peace, justice and well-being. God, all
the saints in heaven, all the souls of tens of millions of people,
including mothers and children killed in so many wars will thank
you. Please make the World Assembly 2000 one of the most unique,
memorable events in all human history. Please lay the foundations
for a permanently peaceful, wonderful, well administered unique
planet Earth circling in the incredible, heavenly universe of
billions of stars and galaxies.
- SO
HELP US GOD
- *
*
- Robert
Muller
-
- MY
DREAM 3000
- (Written
for the last summer solstice of the second millennium)
- 21
June 1999
-
-
- I
dream that we humans,
- the
most advanced miracle
- of
life in the universe
- will
lift our sights, hopes and dreams to the year 3000
- and
make the third millennium
- a
tremendous, unbelievable cosmic success.
-
- I
dream that all governments will join their minds and
hearts
- to
manage this beautiful Earth and its precious humanity
- in
peace, justice and happiness,
-
- That
all religions will join
- in a
global spirituality,
-
- That
all people will become
- a
caring family,
-
- That
all scientists will join
- in a
united, ethical science,
-
- That
all corporations will unite
- in a
global cooperative
- to
preserve nature and all humanity.
-
- I
believe that once and for ever,
- we
will eliminate all wars, violence and armaments
- from
this miraculous planet.
-
- I
dream that the incredible and
- growing
distance between rich and poor,
- between
and inside nations
- will
be eliminated as a blemish
- to
the miracle of life.
-
- I
dream that we will stop the destruction
- of
our miraculous, so richly endowed planetary home.
-
- I
dream that we will eliminate all lies, corruption
- and
immoral advertisements for purely monetary purposes.
-
- I
dream that we will all live
- simple,
frugal lives in order
- not
to tax unduly the precious
- resources
of our planet.
-
- I
dream that each decade and centennial
- will
be celebrated as a great
- world
wide thanksgiving for our successes.
-
- I
dream that we will succeed in making our planet
- the
ultimate success of God,
- of
the mysterious forces of the
- universe
of which each of us
- is a
miraculous, cosmic unit.
-
- I
dream that the United Nations will
- declare
a yearly World Thanksgiving Day
-
- Dear
brothers and sisters,
- dear
children, youth, adults and elderly,
- dear
spirits of all the departed
- let
us join forces in fulfilling God's loving destiny intended for all
of humanity
-
- Let
us prepare the year 3000
- as
the most extraordinary celebration
- of
our grandiose, mysterious journey
- in
the star studded heavens.
-
- Let
us make this third millennium
- a
Jubillennium filled with overflowing peace, happiness and
thanksgiving.
-
- Dr.
Robert Muller
- Chancellor
Emeritus,
- UN
University for Peace
- Former
UN Assistant Secretary General
-
- Epithets
Given to Robert Muller
- in
the second half of 1999
-
- A
pragmatic saint
- A
rare gift to the world
- A
healer of all nations
- A
world Mason
- A
man who should be speaking in cathedrals
- A
seeder of cosmic energies
- A
guide of humanity into the new cosmic age
- The
last great dreamer of the 20th century
- The
one man volcano of ideas on Mt. Rasur
- A
walking world worrier
- A
day and night thinker about the world and humanity
- The
millennium maker
- The
greatest dreamer of the UN
- One
of the greatest dreamers in the world
- A
necklace of love affairs
- For
many people, their favorite man on the planet
- The
Tolstoy of the United Nations
- An
electrifying speaker
- An
incredible fountain of global knowledge and ideas
- One
of the greatest humans inhabiting today this marvelous
planet
- We
thank God constantly for your presence in this world
- The
greatest man on Earth
- A
divine human who believes in the divinity of life
- A
fool who has still hope for humanity
- The
prophet of Mt. Rasur
- The
visionary of the UN University for Peace
- A
world center of ideas
- A
Niagara of ideas
- The
greatest dreamer on Earth
- An
active luminary
- Archangel
Rafael
- Our
planetary prophet
- A
man with a contagious passion
- An
extraordinary, incredible man
- A
man whose passions are contagious
- The
best speaker in the United States
- The
conscience of the UN
- The
mentor of international and world education
- The
optimist in residence at the United Nations
- A
global optimist
- The
man whose syndrome is the universe
- The
wise man of the UN
- The
intellectual of the UN
- A
living example of Saint Paul's rejoicing
- The
philosopher of the UN
- A
realistic idealist
- The
UN's prophet of hope
- A
fool
- A
hopeless dreamer
- An
irrealistic dreamer
- One
of the world's biggest worriers
- A
naive prophet
- A
life dedicated in service to our human family and God
- One
of the world's great spiritual leaders and teachers
- The
lone world visionary on sacred Mt. Rasur in demilitarized Costa
Rica
- A
man fully awake to his personal dreams and values and to their
fulfillment
- The
water that appears every two thousand years on Earth to inaugurate
the new age
- Mother
Teresa and Robert Muller, the two greatest persons of the 20th
century
- A
man whose relentless efforts are bringing about major changes in
the world.
- A
man to be thanked for his presence in this world's journey toward
a lasting peace
- A
speaker who uses from his tears to his harmonica to inspire and
move audiences
- The
ideal international civil servant fulfilling the wishes of Dag
Hammarskjˆld for that function
- A
man who from a life of public service was transformed into a
contemplative like Dag Hammarskjˆld
- The
man who helps to preside over the greatest coordination of the
positive the world has ever seen
- The
ideal to which all educators should aim, namely a contributor of
knowledge, ideals, dreams, concrete proposals and
emotions.
- One
of the luminaries who hold in their hands the mission to lead the
destinies of humanity through the irradiation of their
conscience
- One
of the keepers of the millennium spirit who embodied the vision
and potential of this historic moment
- A
wonderful asset to the world who has made a tremendous difference
by changing our consciousness from fear to love
- A
man who has made the most extraordinary contributions to the
intellectual, political and social life of this world
- One
of the most lively presences in this world to nourish a lasting of
greatness for the whole human race in this marvelous planetary
home
- The
man who is always in sessions of sweet silent thought in communion
with the future, the planet, humanity and the universe