The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another

Attached to this post is a pdf file of a 35 page paper titled “The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another”.

In this post, I have included the “preface” and the Table of Contents of that paper (see below).

As with many of my recent posts here at this worldpulse.com journal, this paper is a part of my current work-in-progress.

I encourage readers of this paper to offer any comments, suggestions, recommendations, etc. Also, if readers have any questions, I encourage them to ask the questions. There is much that can be learned in an environment which encourages positive and constructive communication in a safe environment—and the WorldPulse community has together created both a most useful format—and a most respectful and safe environment—for positive and constructive exchange.

One of the most persistent ironies in life is that with so many opportunities to provide real assistance to fellow human beings—and with the potential for such assistance to result in happiness “to those who extend help as well as to those who receive it”—there are still many, many people in this world who cannot find a “way to earn a living” providing such assistance.

I believe there are countless number of “things” people—in all parts of the world—can do to remedy that deficiency.

With Kind Regards and Best Wishes,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative

[Below is the “preface” and Table of Contents of the paper “The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another”.]

Brief Description

There are countless number of “things people can do in the everyday circumstances of their lives” which will contribute to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability in their own communities and regions—and in other parts of the world. Unfortunately, many of these “things”—in the forms of actions and initiatives (solution-oriented activity)—are not quite “coming through the mist as much as they should be”. This paper—“The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another”—provides both an introduction to the potential of Community Visioning Initiatives, and an introduction to the potential of The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative. These two approaches can inspire, support, and integrate many different initiatives at the same time, and thus create “constellations” of initiatives which can bring many of the countless numbers of “things” mentioned above “through the mist” and into the light.

This paper has been written, and is being shared, at a time when more and more people are coming to the conclusion that there is a need for problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before. Even if much disagreement remains about the nature of the challenges ahead, the potential described in this paper—associated with Community Visioning Initiatives, and The IPCR Initiative—can be actualized to such a degree that significant gains can be made in many fields of activity. Thus, while we—collectively—may not know for sure what era is coming to an end, and what era is dawning, for some time yet to come, this writer believes that there are ideas and resources enough for such a dawning to occur—and this paper is an effort to provide evidence in support of that belief.

Stefan Pasti
Leesburg, Virginia (USA)
October 25, 2009

Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
Needed: Problem Solving on a Scale Most of Us Have Never Known Before……………………. 1
The “1000Communities2” Proposal…………………………………………………………………… 2
Community Visioning Initiatives—maximizing “citizen participation in identifying
challenges, and in solution-oriented activity”………………………………………….................... 3
“Community Teaching and Learning Centers”—A Special Form of Community Education…..... 4
“Sister Community” Relationships—“… common ground associated with increasing .
compassion for our fellow human beings….”………………………………………………….......... 5
Education Systems in Times of Crises………………………………………………………………. 6
Community Visioning Initiatives, Job Fairs, and the “Just Transition” to More
Solution-Oriented Employment………………………………………………………………………… 9
Problems That May Arise (in preparing for, and implementing, Community Visioning
Initiatives)…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13
On the Importance of Preliminary Surveys……………..…………………………………………….. 15
The Treasured Wisdom of Religious, Spiritual, and Moral Traditions—is it in
the “tool box”?................................................................................................................... 17
The IPCR Initiative—Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature……………………………... 18
Opportunities for Local Newspapers to Contribute Valuable Community Services………………. 20
Concluding Comments………………………………………………………………………………….. 21

Notes and Source References…………………………………………………………………………. 23

[End of Post]