NEWSLETTER NO. 99
JANUARY – JUNE 2004
Dear friends and co-workers!
NEWSLETTER NO. 99
JANUARY – JUNE 2004
Dear friends and co-workers!
In the editorial of the previous newsletter, we addressed briefly the problem of the fatal misuse of money. Everywhere today, in all political and economic decisions, the present totalitarian monetary system leads to destructive results, such as over-indebtedness due to interest rates, speculation and corruption.
Our present monetary system constitutes a flagrant violation of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. It deprives millions of people all over the world from their basic human rights. It profits only a minority of people who live from speculation and capital interests, without making any contribution to the welfare of our world community. On the contrary, even wars are promoted to create, through the destruction they cause, new markets for investments. The result is: unemployment and cutting back of social structures.
This degradation of the world situation would lead to despair if loving and courageous world citizens were not already at work in many places to propose changes to our monetary system. One of the great pioneers in this area was Sllvio Gesell, who lived in the first half of the XX century. We recommend all our friends to study the extraordinary pioneering work of Silvio Gesell and his practical models of a new monetary order. His main work, The Natural Economic Order, was published in 1916.
Here are some proposals for a post-capitalistic economic order derived from Silvio Gesells natural economic order, taken from the booklet Die Welt in Umbruch – Entwurf einer nachkapitalistischen Wirtschaftsordnung (A World in Transformation – project of a post-capitalistic economic order) published by the International Association for a New Economic Order (INWO Switzerland, Germany and Austria). The author of this booklet, Werner Rosenberger, addresses the issues of private property, land reform, market economy, the role of the State in a free market economy, interest-based economy and the right to the full yield of ones work, stability without unemployment, the debt age and the interest rate mechanism, the interest rate system and the need for growth – or zero growth, employment without destruction of the environment, the problem of the Third World. The INWO proposes a reform program which shows how the capitalistic system can be converted into a post-capitalistic age. Its main characteristics are, among others: human labour is placed at the centre of economic life, money which is secured against hoarding causes interest rates to fall, freeing labour from the exploitation by capital: the land revenues due to land scarcity are paid to the community; monopolies of non-renewable energy resources and raw materials are placed under the supervision of a new UN department on Energy and Raw Materials, to be created.
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Urusvati knows that evolution must be voluntary, and cannot be forced. People refuse to understand that this basic principle applies to all aspects of evolution, and that the development of the seemingly insignificant is also part of the great cosmic evolution.
Those who ignite wars should think about the abyss into which they thrust the planet. Even a war that afflicts only a few countries promotes the destruction of the entire planet. No one thinks of war as a planetary sickness, yet one can see what improvements in life are cut short everywhere in the world by even local wars. Such convulsions are not needed when steady progress is possible.
Earthly sensations of pain fill space. Explosions shake the laboratories that work on the healing of nations. Let people think – are they not destroying something that cannot be rebuilt, that may have been built over the centuries by the Wise Ones? It is easy to destroy when one does not think on a cosmic level. But it is time to think about the harm that is inflicted on the Subtle World, and to develop a deeper understanding of the link between the worlds.
We have just said that evolution must be voluntary. Understand this broadly. Evolution is advanced not by coercion, but by human good will. Some think that evolution is propelled only by consequences. People must be participants in evolution. They must intensify good will in order to merge their accumulated power with the current of higher energies. Man cannot be indifferent to the betterment of life. Man must stay vigilant, as a guardian of progress.
It must be understood that criticism and condemnation are bad weapons. This can be seen by observing the karma of nations. Those that condemn gather heavy clouds above them. Evolution is the realisation of good. Let each one think about what he regards as good. He will at first err, and mistake his excessive ego as good will, but if he deepens his thinking he will ultimately discover within himself the true sparks of the common good.
We must not demand complicated terms and philosophising. Evolution is harmonious and simple in the beauty of goalfitness. Thus we will labor for the common good, knowing that every sincere striving for good is already an active contribution. Thus we will learn benevolence.
The Thinker used to say, If we collect only bitter herbs, our soup will also be bitter. (Supermundane III, 515)
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GROUP MEDITATIONS
Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces and Aries (Easter Festival) and Full Moon meditations with the Arcane School Group in Geneva
Taurus Full Moon meditation (Wesak Festival) with the World Service Intergroup, Brasilia, Brazil
Gemini Full Moon meditation with the Ankh Foundation, Kiev, Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS STAFF PEACE MEDITATION GROUP
01.02.200
01.02.2004 The power of habit and the power of full consciousness
13.01.2004 The law of right human relations
20.01.2004 Lost am I in light supernal, yet on that light I turn my back (keynote of Capricorn)
27.01.200 Letting in the light
10.02.2004 Peace is within us
10.02.2004 Letting in the light
02.03.2004 European fraternity
09.03.2004 International decade for a culture of peace and non-violence for the children of the world
16.03.2004 Light and peace to the Human Rights Commission
23.03.2004 Life is all
30.03.2004 Will of the soul
06.04.2004 Preparation for the reappearance of the world teacher
13.04.2004 Easter as a New beginning on all levels of life
25.05.2004 A deep look
15.06.2004 Active goodwill in global group integration
22.06.2004 Letting in the Light
29.06.2004 Planet Earth – a cosmic jewel
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IPS ACTIVITIES IN GENEVA AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
20 April to 19 May 2004 – Trip to South America
Rudolf Schneider travelled to Brazil and Bolivia to take part in the Conclave of the World Service Intergroup in Brasilia and to meet various groups in Ilhus (Bahia, Brazil), Cochabamba and La Paz (Bolivia).
23 May 2004 – Seminar on the Taitiriya Upanishad with Dr. E. Anantakrishna, Geneva
The Taittiriya Upanishad is one of the branches of the Krishna Yajurveda. The Yajurveda is the Veda that concerns the mental plane and the plan of creation. The Taittiriya Upanishad explains five aspects of creation: the Universe, light, wisdom, progeny and the soul. Each of these aspects comprises a basic polarity, a link between the pair of opposites and a linking force. In the case of wisdom, for example, the teacher and the disciple are linked by wisdom, and the force that links them is the teaching. In progeny, the mother and the father are linked by the child, and the linking force is procreation. Dr. Anantakrishna was trained in the Ancient Wisdom and in homeopathy by his father, Dr. Krishnamacharya, and in Ayurveda by his grandfather, Dr. Anantacharya. He founded Master E.K. Spiritual and Service Mission, Swethadweepam, The WTT housing colony, Chinnamushidivada, (Via) Pendurthi, Visakhapatnam 531173, A.P., India, tel./fax: +91-891-2748 679, ekdweepam@rediffmail.com.
26 May to 14 June 2004 – Trip to the Ukraine
The Ankh Foundation invited Rudolf Schneider to participate in the 4th international conference On the threshold of the new world: current models of education and health care, from 27-30 May 2004 in Kiev, organised by twelve governmental and non-governmental organisations aimed at renewing and improving various aspects of peoples life in accordance with spiritual laws and principles. About 300 persons, including healers, teachers, psychologists, representatives of local government participated. In the evening meetings were held on the problems of humanity, the New Group of World Servers, and information was shared on the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns.
Members of groups from several Ukrainian cities then participated in a camp on the Crimean mountains, where they meditated, shared ideas on planetary synthesis and the ten seed-groups, and went hiking together. Rudolf was then invited to various cities: Zaporozhie, Kherson, Odessa. In each city there were meetings with local authorities, teachers, and interviews on local television and radio.
26-27 June 2004 – International Youth Festival Dialogue of Cultures, Valdai, Novgorod Region. Organised by the Russian Chapter of Association of World Education (Moscow), Association of Foreign Students in Moscow, Institute for Planetary Synthesis/Geneva, University of Family Relations (Valdai). Sports and folkloric events, and workshops on: the role of emotions in the educational process, developing personal qualities, health is a quality of life, the art of public speaking, sound, colour and movement to create health, soul ecology, educational systems of different countries. Lida Shkorkina participated on behalf of AWE and IPS.
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GROUP CONTACTS AND ACTIVITIES
20 January 2004 – Switzerland after the federal elections; the world after the war in Iraq, talk with Cornelio Sommaruga, President of Caux – International Association of Initiatives of Change (http://www.iofc. org). The full text of his talk can be found at http://www. initiativesofchange.org.
30 January 2004 – Debate on Human Rights and womens role, chaired by Bertrand Ramcharan, Acting High Commissionner of the United Nations on Human Rights, as part of the Geneva Colloquium on The Dialogue of cultures and its contribution to peace, organised by the Centre europen de la culture, P.O.Box 81, CH-1216 Cointin/Geneva.
4 February 2004 – foundation of the association Wisdom at Work, Geneva. Wisdom at Work is an association that aims at revitalizing and sustaining the ideals that animate the UN Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As such, it supports professionals in and around the UN system in exploring the meaning of the actualization of these values in their work and in the workplace. The secretary of the association is Ms. Alisa Clarke, aclarke@ohchr.org.
5 March 2004 – INWO meeting, Geneva
The INWO (International Association for a Natural Economic Order) embraces the path of evolution. The ideas it proposes are based on the discoveries of the German-Argentinian economic and social reformer Silvio Gesell (1862-1930), whose main work, The Natural Economic Order, was published in 1916. More recently, his ideas have been further developed and adapted to our present economic situation by the economic analyst Helmut Creutz, the jurist Prof. Dieter Suhr, the architect and ecologist Prof. Margrit Kennedy, inter alia. The vision of a post-capitalistic economic order is more modern than ever today. Rudolf Schneider participated for the first time in a meeting of INWO; projects for the coming year were discussed. Contact addresses: INWO, Postfach, CH-5001 Aarau, Switzerland, tel. +41-(0)64-24.17.30; INWO Germany, Max-Bock-Str. 55, D-60320 Frankfurt 1; INWO Austria, Staudingergasse 11/12-14, A-1200 Vienna.
20 March 2004 – Conference on What Future for Our World with Heide Groll, in Musiges, France, organised by Partage International (httrp://www.partage international.ch).
3-4 April 2004 – Mind-AtOMix-Winwin Seminar, Lucern, Switzerland, facilitated by Dr. R. Matheis and organised by the Foundation Unity of all life. Developing a strategy for success in life in seven steps, leading to a strategic breakthrough into a new win-win economic and social era. Information: Dr. R. Matheis, Buobenmatt 1, CH-6003 Lucern, tel. +41-41-2104251, e-mail: info@Mindatomics.com.
1-6 May 2004 – Conclave of the World Service Intergroup (http://www.synthesis.tc), Brasilia, Brazil, on the purpose of generating a focused, conscious and deliberate intergroup effort to specifically assist the Externalisation of the Hierarchy and the Reappearance of the Christ. Seventy repesentatives of 27 Ageless Wisdom groups from 13 countries participated on group meditations and sharing. A delegation of seven WSI members was received by Frei Betto, Councillor of President Lula on the Zero Hunger Project, which aims at eliminating hunger in all its aspects. Although this project was launched in Brazil, it is worth studying in view of its application throughout the world. For further information, see the website http://www.fomezero.org.br (in Portuguese) and http://www.nourishnewbrazil.org (in English).
26 June 2004 – Annual General Assembly of Alcor Institute (5 chemin Pr-de-Lug, CH-1258 Certoux/Geneva, Switzerland, and BP 50182, F-63174 Aubire Cdex, France, e-mail: institut.alcor@free.fre, http://institut.alcor@free.fr), Geneva. The following day, Rudolf Schneider participated in a meeting of the Sponsoring Committee of Alcor Institute.
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COOPERATION WITH NGO COMMITTEES
Meeting on 15 January 2004 of the Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns in Geneva. Contact address: info@spiritualcaucus.org, tel. +41-22-738.28.88, fax +41-22-738.28.89. In New York: Diane Williams, Temple of Understanding, CSVGC, 720 Fifth Avenue, 16th, New York, NY 10019, e-mail: dmbwilliams2000@yahoo.com
Meetings of the Committee on Freedom of Religion and Belief on 10 February and 12 March 2004. The contact e-mail for the Secretary of the committee is: echappee@bluewin.ch.
NGO Forum On Health of the Conference of NGOs in consultative relationship with the United Nations (CONGO) in Geneva. On 29 January, meeting on The spiritual dimension of health. On 26 February, talk on Scaling up HIV Testing and Counselling for a Global Response to HIV/AIDS with Dr. David Miller.
14 April 2004 – Panel of the Special Committee of NGOs on Human Rights and the International Council of Jewish Women on Education for the sake of peace by Ms Adina Shapiro (Israel) and Dr. Ghassan Abdullah (Palestine), co-directors of the Middle East Childrens Association.
The CONGO held on 15 April 2004 a general briefing for NGOs on Regional Developments – Beijing +10 in Geneva.
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PARTICIPATION IN UN MEETINGS
6 February 2004 – The Realities of the PRSP Process: The Experience of Four Countries. Seminar by the World Bank in Geneva. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers is the name of a strategy developed by the World Bank to fight poverty. It is being applied in several countries, including Bosnis Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Honduras and Uganda. The case of these countries was presented during this seminar.
30 March 2004 – On the occasion of the 60th session of the Commission on Human Rights, the Information Service of the United Nations Office in Geneva held briefings by Ms. Yakin Ertrk, special rapporteur on violence against women, by Ms Gabriela Rodriguez Pizzaro, special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, and by Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people.
ENCLOSURES
World Celebrations 2005
The Three Syntheses, article on Vernadsky
Invitation to IPS General Assembly 2005
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