Our Worldview

The winds of change are blowing! It's heartening to see more and more people and communities waking up to the negative impact of power, wealth, and status and taking action to build a fairer, more compassionate world. We believe that transformation in every sphere of life is vital and can work together to create a virtuous cycle of positive change.

But it's not just up to individuals to make a difference. We need political organizations, unions, social services, schools, mental health organizations, and religious institutions to step up and support their members and clients in engaging in political action and mutual support for self-development. Families can also play a crucial role in creating a society that's more caring and fair.

We can address the whole person and the whole society to promote a holistic, systemic transformation and build a world that values compassion and fairness and respects everyone’s essential equality. By working together, we can grow a new broad, united, democratic grassroots movement that fundamentally reforms our self-perpetuating social system.

 Embrace Core Values

These principles represent a powerful set of values for promoting positive change in the world. By advancing justice and compassion, we can work towards a more equitable and fair society. Improving ourselves and supporting each other allows us to create a stronger community and build resilience in the face of challenges. Undoing oppressive social conditioning is essential to overcoming systemic barriers that prevent people from reaching their full potential.

These principles aren't just words on paper – they represent a powerful set of values that can change the world. By embracing justice and compassion, we can work towards a more equitable and fair society. By supporting each other and improving ourselves, we can build a stronger community. By rising above oppressive social conditioning, we can overcome systemic barriers and help everyone reach their full potential.

Respect for diverse worldviews, including those who engage in spiritual growth, can strengthen understanding and a sense of unity. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, regardless of their background or circumstances. Collaboration and cooperation, not domination and submission for personal gain, must be our guiding principles. Bottom-up hierarchies that empower people at all levels of society to participate in decision-making processes are essential.

Nurturing relational equality and co-equal partnerships throughout society recognizes the importance of strong relationships and encourages mutual respect and cooperation. By supporting grassroots, broad-based, unified, independent, activist campaigns, we can empower people to make positive changes in their communities and work towards a better future.

We must ensure that everyone can meet their basic needs, participate fully in society, and fulfill their potential. Discrimination based on identity must be challenged to control harmful biases and prejudices. Finally, we need to create new structures to solidify these improvements and ensure that the progress we make is sustainable and lasting.

Form Small Teams

As envisioned here, small teams are a powerful force for change. They provide a supportive environment for individuals to share ideas and collaborate on projects that align with their shared values. They help to create a community of like-minded individuals who are passionate about making a positive impact.

Informal teams are a great way to start building a community of like-minded individuals. They form from existing relationships with friends, relatives, colleagues, or group memberships.

Formal teams involve regular meetings and provide a more structured environment. Incorporating a moment of silence and a "holistic check-in" fosters a sense of community and encourages members to share not only their activism but also their personal and social experiences.

Affiliated teams are organizations that help to amplify the movement's work and create a broader network of individuals working towards a common goal. They are even more powerful as they promote shared values and a mission beyond their immediate community.

These teams are learning communities that facilitate peer learning, self-reform, collaborative teamwork, political action, and mutual support. By encouraging members to become better listeners and speak honestly, they create a culture of accountability and authenticity.

Support Pragmatic Idealism

Pragmatic idealism recognizes the importance of both practicality and idealism in achieving meaningful change in the world. While idealism provides the vision and inspiration for a better world, pragmatism helps to ground those ideals in reality and make them achievable through incremental steps.

This philosophy recognizes that achieving meaningful change requires both the courage to dream big and the patience to take practical steps toward those dreams. It also acknowledges that the needs of all human beings must be given equal attention, and that love and solidarity are essential ingredients in the struggle for justice.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. articulated in his Six Steps for Nonviolent Social Change, guidance for how to conduct incremental nonviolent campaigns that build momentum with victories, aim for reconciliation, and cultivate the Beloved Community with other-centered solidarity.

The principles of pragmatic idealism can be a valuable guide for individuals and organizations seeking to make a positive impact on the world. By combining visionary idealism with practical pragmatism, we can create a more just, equitable, and sustainable future for all.

Cultivate Cooperation

Cooperation is essential for building strong relationships, whether at the personal, interpersonal, or political level. It involves working together towards common goals while respecting each other's needs, views, and perspectives. To cultivate cooperation, it is crucial to adopt a nonviolent approach that promotes reconciliation, empathy, and mutual respect. Collaborative problem-solving is also an important aspect of cooperation. 

At the organizational level, effective leadership can play a vital role in fostering cooperation and collaboration. The governing board can adopt written policies to guide the staff and delegate responsibility to the staff without micromanaging. 

The staff can form democratic teams that engage in collaborative problem-solving together — within the organization’s framework. Teams should be encouraged to seek unanimous consensus, but also have processes in place to allow for a super-majority when necessary. The team leader should retain the authority to make the final decision, but everyone should be encouraged to exercise leadership by voicing their opinions and contributing to the team's work.

Leaders should create an environment where everyone's voice is heard, and decision-making is a collective effort. This can be achieved by adopting democratic, bottom-up hierarchies that empower workers and members to hold their supervisors and leaders accountable. 

Cultivating cooperation requires a deep commitment to nonviolence, mutual respect, and collaborative leadership. It’s essential for building strong relationships and achieving lasting change at all levels of society.

Pursue Compassionate Action 

The Charter for Compassion is a powerful call to action, “urging us to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion.” As individuals and communities, we can cultivate empathy for the suffering of all human beings, and appreciate the diversity of cultures and religions. By working together with like-minded organizations, we can strengthen our efforts to relieve suffering and prevent it by addressing systemic issues and policies that perpetuate it.

It’s important to recognize that pursuing compassionate action requires a commitment to challenging oppressive structures and engaging in political action. As Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” This means actively advocating for policies and social structures that promote equality, justice, and compassion.

At the same time, pursuing compassionate action also involves personal growth and development. As individuals, we can strive to cultivate compassion in our daily lives, whether it's through small acts of kindness or more significant efforts to help those in need. By balancing individual and community efforts, we can create a positive cycle of strengthening ourselves and our communities and working together to create a more compassionate world.

Pursuing compassionate action requires a commitment to challenging oppressive structures and policies, while also cultivating empathy and compassion in our personal lives. By working together with like-minded individuals and organizations, we can create a more just and compassionate world for all.

Promote Holistic and Systemic Transformation

This project aims to create a more just and compassionate society that values universal moral values, mutual support, and cooperation. This involves addressing multiple issues at once, including economic and personal security, environmental concerns, and discrimination based on arbitrary identity markers.

To achieve this transformation, we propose a holistic approach that recognizes the interconnectivity of all areas of society, including cultural, social, personal, economic, environmental, and political aspects. This approach involves nurturing cooperation and partnership, as well as promoting peer learning and self-development.

Reconciliation is also seen as a critical component of this transformation, both within and among individuals, communities, institutions, and nations. By simultaneously promoting positive growth in every arena, a synergistic upward spiral can lead to more justice and compassion.

By working together towards this goal, we can create a more just and equitable world for all. As this transformation ripples through society, we envision a compassionate society that, in many respects, looks, feels, and is NEW — while retaining positive traditions and qualities from the past.

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At the community level, it is essential to foster cooperation between different groups and organizations. Collaborative initiatives that bring together diverse stakeholders can create more comprehensive and effective solutions to complex problems. Active listening, empathy, and respect for different perspectives are critical to building trust and cooperation between individuals and groups.

In conclusion, cooperation is a vital ingredient in creating a more just, equitable, and sustainable world. By cultivating cooperation at all levels, from the personal to the political, we can build stronger relationships, promote more effective problem-solving, and work towards a brighter future for all.