"The IPCR Initiative: Executive Summary 2010"

From this writer’s point of view, there is a wealth of resources relevant to responding to the challenges of our time. Unfortunately, many such resources and initiatives are not quite “coming through the mist as much as they should be”

“The IPCR Initiative: Executive Summary 2010” (80 pages) is an attempt to summarize and provide quick access to the concepts, approaches and resources identified by this writer as having the most potential to create multiplier effects of a positive nature.

Included in this post is the introduction to “The IPCR Initiative: Executive Summary 2010”, and the Table of Contents. The complete document is accessible for free, at The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative website (www.ipcri.net ) (see the “Keynote Documents” section on The IPCR Initiative website homepage). (Note: All IPCR documents are accessible for free).

I hope there are people who find the concepts, approaches, and resources of The IPCR Initiative helpful and relevant; who make use of them to create more solution-oriented employment, for themselves, and for other people in their communities; and who share the best of what they learn with others, for the greater good of the whole.

With Kind Regards,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The IPCR Initiative

Introduction to “The IPCR Initiative: Executive Summary 2010”

We live in a complex world. There are many difficult challenges ahead (for the two summary lists that The IPCR Initiative offers, see Section IV "Many Difficult Challenges Ahead").

More and more people are coming to the realization that overcoming the challenges of our times will require problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before—and that there is an urgent need to restructure our economic systems and our education systems to respond to these challenges.

There has never been a time in the course of history when both the capacity to cultivate practical wisdom and the capacity to build a positive and constructive consensus were as important as they are now. Are we up to the challenge?

From this writer’s point of view, there is a wealth of resources and initiatives relevant to responding to the challenges of our time; unfortunately, many such resources and initiatives are not quite “coming through the mist as much as they should be”.

The IPCR Initiative recognizes that even though the difficulties of the challenges ahead are unprecedented, there is also much hope; for at no other time in the course of history has so many people had access to so much in the way of time-tested guidelines, inspiring role models, and service-oriented initiatives.

We have the resources necessary to overcome the challenges of our times.

An Urgent Need for a Greater Sense of Personal Responsibility

This document, “The IPCR Initiative: Executive Summary 2010”, is an attempt to summarize and provide quick access to the concepts, approaches and resources identified by this writer as having the most potential to create multiplier effects of a positive nature.

However, (to repeat, for emphasis), there are many difficult challenges ahead. One of the items (#10) in the IPCR “Ten Point Assessment of the Most Difficult Challenges of Our Times” is as follows: “Sorting out what are real challenges and what are sound and practical solutions is becoming more and more difficult, as there is now, in many parts of the world, a multitude of ideas of all kinds coming to the fore in personal, family, community, and cultural life—all at the same time”. There is often a feeling, at least for this writer, that it is hard to get positive suggestions and ideas for potential solutions “in edgewise”.

Another difficulty which can be associated with the complexity of modern life is that many of us would like to believe there are experts “somewhere” who understand what the problems are, and who can resolve them without there needing to be any effort on our part. As we go forward from this point in time, this writer very sincerely hopes that more and more people come to the realization that the difficult challenges ahead are not something the experts will resolve while the rest of us are doing something else…. Everyone is involved when it comes to determining the markets that supply the “ways of earning a living”; and given the unprecedented nature of the challenges ahead, all of us have important responsibilities in the coming months and years ahead.

This urgent need for a greater sense of personal responsibility can be more keenly felt by considering the following descriptions of the challenges ahead…

1) There still seems to be a majority of people on the planet who do not have a clear understanding, well-grounded in personal experience, of which basic elements of community life and cultural traditions lead to mutually beneficial understandings, which lead to cycles of violence—and why it is so important for people to achieve clarity on this subject.

2) “When we attempt to build peace without being embodiments of peace ourselves, we inflict violence without even knowing we are doing so. That might be why we professionals have not been very successful in our peacebuilding efforts, especially when it comes to going beyond stopping war and transforming relationships and society.” (Dr. Hizkaes Assefa, in article “Embody Peace”)

3) “Cultures” of violence, greed, corruption, and overindulgence which have become so common that many of us accept such as inevitable. (Item #2 in the IPCR “Ten Point Assessment of the Most Difficult Challenges of Our Times”)

4) “The subject of religious education is one on which it is difficult to say anything at present without appearing to take sides in those unhappy wrangles to which there seems to be no end….”
(Prof. J. S. MacKenzie, First International Moral Education Congress in 1908)

It must be said that most of us are far from understanding why what we believe to be solutions are not working as well as we thought they might. In this kind of environment, peacebuilding work is difficult. There is much inner work that needs to be done; and many people who do not understand why there is much inner work that needs to be done.

It is in this kind of cultural and historical context that The IPCR Initiative identifies an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beings as an essential and critical element of a truly comprehensive response to the challenges of our times.

On a similar note, The IPCR Initiative is an advocate for comprehensive Community Visioning Initiatives, which can assist in maximizing citizen participation in identifying challenges, and in solution-oriented activity. Many people may think it is naïve to imagine that people from so many diverse religious, spiritual, moral, and cultural traditions can decide to come together in such a way as to not only encourage, but participate in, a high percentage of constructive thinking and constructive action in response to the difficult challenges ahead. From this writer’s point of view, such skepticism and cynicism depend for their existence on doubts as to whether it is possible for people to achieve highly advanced forms of wisdom and compassion through genuine instruction and sincere effort. Thus it is that there is a great responsibility on those people who are in any way representatives of religious, spiritual, and/or moral tradition—to demonstrate what is possible along the lines of wisdom and compassion, to provide genuine instruction when sincere efforts are being made, to contribute to the greater good of the whole, and to help restore confidence in the higher values of life.

Additional Difficulties

The IPCR Initiative has given much attention to developing concepts, approaches, and resources which can help communities of people develop a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, create a well-developed capacity to resolve even the most difficult challenges, and actualize a high level of compassion for their fellow human beings in the everyday circumstances of community life. Unfortunately, many of these concepts, approaches, and resources seem difficult to describe in simple terms, especially since there are no examples of a “constellation” of such concepts, etc having already been implemented.

In addition, there may be many readers who wonder what qualifications this writer has which are convincing enough to cause readers to explore this document further. The plain truth of the matter is I have had access to spiritual teachings which have convinced me that there is much that can be done to generate goodwill and promote peace that has not yet been done (including in my own personal realm); and I have lived most of my life at a most auspicious time: for at no other time in the course of history has so many people had access to so much in the way of time-tested guidelines, inspiring role models, and service-oriented initiatives. Having had access to this much inspiration, and being able to see very clearly how many related fields of activity could be contributing to the greater good, can it be so surprising that I have given as much attention as I could to exploring how this potential could be realized? Such are my qualifications. If I do not achieve success (in the sense of being recognized as a valuable contributor to specific fields of activity); I still have, in my own mind, the belief that I have contributed something towards the efforts of others, in the future, who will succeed.

Though the magnitude of the difficulties ahead may cause us to lose hope at times, faith helps us to believe that there will be ways forward (and if not for us, at least for many others); and if there will be ways forward (successful responses to the challenges of our times), then the more constructive questions are: how can people earn a living contributing to such responses, and how do we—individually—discover what our unique contributions will be. By exploring IPCR Initiative documents and resources, individuals and communities of people can find many different ways of answering those two questions.

… for the greater good of the whole

The IPCR Initiative is dedicated to assisting fellow human beings, wherever they may be, who are also
trying to fill in the blank in the statement below:

In the best of times, even the most profound challenges can be overcome; for in the
best of times, ____________________ is/are nurtured, supported, and sustained by
family, friends, teachers, mentors, elders, and the everyday influences of community life
and cultural traditions.

I hope there are people who find the concepts, approaches, and resources of The IPCR Initiative helpful and relevant; who make use of them to create more solution-oriented employment, for themselves, and for other people in their communities; and who share the best of what they learn with others, for the greater good of the whole.

There are many people who will be very appreciative when they find that they have an important role to play in the work ahead. Leaders should guide citizens so that they can discover how they can do their part to contribute to the greater good of the whole.

Table of Contents
(for “The IPCR Initiative: Executive Summary 2010”)

I. A Longer Introduction
II. On the Growth and Development of Societies and Culture
III. “…when groups of people have different ideas about morality and the best way to live.”
IV. Many Difficult Challenges Ahead
V. Community Visioning Initiatives for the Duration of the Emergency
VI. Problems That May Arise (when planning for, and implementing, Community
Visioning Initiatives)
VII. Persistent Ironies
VIII. The Potential of Questionnaires
IX. The Potential of “Community Teaching and Learning Centers”
X. The Treasured Wisdom of Religious, Spiritual, and Moral Traditions—
is it in the “tool box”?
XI. The IPCR Mission Statement
XII. The Contributions The IPCR Initiative Hopes to Make
XIII. Brief Descriptions of The Eight IPCR Concepts
XIV. 117 Related Fields of Activity
XV. IPCR Workshops
XVI. The IPCR Workshop Primer
XVII. The “1000Communities2” Proposal: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature
XVIII. A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative
XIX. Brief Description of “The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another” Document
XX. About The Founder and Outreach Coordinator of The IPCR Initiative

Appendix

A. The “Special Moments of Inspiration….” Book Project