Descriptions of The IPCR Initiative
The IPCR Initiative is aware of an urgent need to build bridges and increase collaboration between diverse communities of people; both as a response to the implications of global warming, ecological footprint analysis, and the “peaking” of our finite supplies of oil—and to be proactive about individual spiritual formation, interfaith peacebuilding, and the creation of ecologically sustainable communities.
The IPCR Initiative understands that the complexity associated with building bridges and increasing collaboration between diverse communities of people, the urgent need for resolutions to a significant number of critical issues in the near future—and the seemingly chronic nature of many of the challenges of our times—suggests a need for problem solving on a scale most of us have never known before.
The IPCR Initiative believes that the nature of the “Culture Change” necessary to overcome the challenges of our times will require utilizing the best tools we have in every area of capacity building (physical, ecological, medical, spiritual, educational, social, economic, technical, political, etc).
Guidelines for Participation
In accordance with the nature of The IPCR Initiative—and due to the urgent need to build bridges and increase collaboration among diverse communities of people—it will be of the utmost importance to have some guidelines for participants to consider, so that their involvement will be most beneficial—to themselves and to others. Here are some guidelines offered by The IPCR Initiative:
1) “Do not damage the faith of anyone, in virtue and divinity. Encourage people to have that faith by demonstrating in your own life that virtue is its own reward….”1
2) “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
3) “… bring to the fore what is often hidden: how many good people there are, how many ways there are to do good, and how much happiness comes to those who extend help as well as to those who receive it.”
4) sincerely reflect the qualities of kindness and courtesy
5) demonstrate communication skills which are conducive to deepening mutual understanding and mutual respect
6) assist in developing higher common ground
7) emphasize the positive and constructive steps which are being taken, while also recognizing that we all sometimes fall short of the best we can do
8) assist in building the trust necessary for non-violent conflict resolution, healing, and reconciliation
9) illustrate the transforming power of love, understanding, and forgiveness
10) reflect an understanding of the value of silence
Ongoing Re-evalutation and Support for "Right Livelihood" and "Moral Compass"
The IPCR Initiative believes that any initiative hoping to build bridges and increase collaboration along the lines of individual spiritual formation and interfaith peacebuilding must offer a well-organized, peaceful, constructive, and ongoing building process, which results in the accumulation of more and more opportunities for people to practice spiritual wisdom in the everyday circumstances of community life.
As efforts to work towards higher common ground, such building processes will need to be built on a foundation which answers the following questions:
How can local communities arrive at practical definitions of “right livelihood”?
What local institutions would be most appropriate as commissioners and overseers of a resource guide to “right livelihood”?
How can leaders at the regional and local community level assure residents that they understand the challenges of our times, if they themselves do not participate in the very activities they advocate for overcoming the challenges of our times?
How can our communities change “the way things get done” so that more people can live in accordance with their moral convictions?
Workshops associated with The IPCR Initiative can identify, discover, create, support, and sustain comprehensive and practical answers to these questions— and provide a system by which the answers could be re-evaluated and re-stated on an ongoing basis. Therefore, it may be said that by its very nature The IPCR Initiative includes a built-in and ongoing process for re-evaluating and re-stating the “moral compass” of a community or region.
In this context, it may be helpful to consider this statement from D.T. Suzuki:
“For the soundness of ideas must be tested finally by their practical application. When they fail in this—that is, when they cannot be carried out in everyday life producing lasting harmony and satisfaction and giving real benefit to all concerned—to oneself as well as to others—no ideas can be said to be sound and practical.”2
Three Very Important Points3
In the section “IPCR Staff” of this IPCR website, this writer affirms that the most important influence in his life has been, and continues to be, Sri Sathya Sai Baba (age 81, with a main residence in Puttaparthi, India). In 1997, this writer completed a 301 page arrangement of selected quotations from “Sathya Sai Speaks” (Vol. 1-11, first U.S. editions) (discourses by Sri Sathya Sai Baba from the years 1953-1982). That document is an unpublished manuscript which has only recently been made accessible to many people by its inclusion in the website of The IPCR Initiative (www.ipcri.net). This writer hereby attributes the inspiration for the approach and substance of The IPCR Initiative, his personal capacity to see good in the efforts of people from many different faith communities and cultural traditions, and his personal faith in a positive outcome regarding the challenges of our times to close contact, over many years, with the wisdom and compassion in the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
And yet—and this is a most important point—in contrast to the outlook which claims a “right” to develop an initiative even though such efforts are felt by many as “a threat (perceived or real) to their identity, or cherished meanings, or both”; this writer would slow or discontinue the development of The IPCR Initiative in such circumstances—until such time as communication leads to better understanding, and circumstances are more mutually beneficial.4
In addition—and this is also a most important point—it is not necessary for any readers of this document, or any participants in activities associated with The IPCR Initiative, to know anything about Sri Sathya Sai Baba (the most important influence in this writer’s life), or the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, to contribute to or benefit from the work of The IPCR Initiative.
And here, as the third most important point of this section, this writer would like to affirm with as clear a statement as he can possibly make, that The IPCR Initiative encourages people, whether they are going to participate in an IPCR Initiative sponsored activity or not, to use (at no cost)5 the resources provided by The IPCR Initiative to nurture, support, and sustain community life and cultural traditions associated with the particular “frameworks” which give their lives meaning.
This writer—the founder of The IPCR Initiative—believes in affirming the above three points for the following reasons:
1) these points define an approach to interfaith peacebuilding and community revitalization which he can support with all his heart
2) the challenges of our times are such that it is essential to “bring to the fore” the real treasured wisdom of religious, spiritual, and moral traditions (i.e. there is a profound and critical need for as many people as possible to exercise as much love, understanding, and forgiveness as possible—in as many ways as possible).
3) this writer understands, by way of the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the existence of a “current”6—which can be recognized according to the degree to which one has incorporated spiritual understanding into his or her everyday thoughts, words, and deeds… or by the grace of association with profound spiritual teachings.
One of the Most Persistent Ironies in Life
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. The IPCR Initiative can help to remedy such an unfortunate irony by helping to create “caring communities”, which are defined here as follows:
“Caring communities” are communities with residents who are aware of the depth and range of the challenges of our times, and therefore do their best to take actions which will have positive repercussions on the fields of activity described by the IPCR Mission Statement goals, and on other related fields of activity (see “105 Related Fields of Activity” on homepage navigation menu).
The IPCR Initiative Encourages the Cultivation of Faith and Trust
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? The IPCR Initiative encourages participants to be up to the challenge by affirming that there are elements of faith and trust involved in responding to challenges such as those we are now facing.
For example: The IPCR Initiative believes that each person must do his or her part, and trust that the others involved will do their part. From the point of view of this writer, one of the “others” involved is the source and origin (with such names as have been ascribed to it) of all the spiritual gifts necessary to nurture, support, and sustain a peaceful and happy way of life. Do we have faith that the source and origin of all things is doing its part? Are we really doing our part? When the going gets difficult in our personal lives, will we have enough faith to continue to do our part? And will we have enough wisdom to understand that it is just as important for others to maintain their faith, as it is for us to maintain ours? This is why this section concludes by repeating:
“Do not damage the faith of anyone, in virtue and divinity. Encourage people to have that faith by demonstrating in your own life that virtue is its own reward….”1
Peacebuilding in its Most Compassionate Form
Peacebuilding in its most compassionate form is not a competitive field of activity. Viewed in this light, the most valuable forms of peacebuilding will nurture, support, and sustain the development of an infinite variety of other forms of mutually beneficial peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability initiatives. The IPCR Initiative is an effort to nurture, support, and sustain peacebuilding in its most compassionate form.
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Notes and References
1. Sri Sathya Sai Baba from Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 5, Chpt. 50, p. 277 Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust Prasanthi Nilayam India (Note: Vol. 15 contains discourses delivered by Sri Sathya Sai Baba during 1965)
2. from “Essays in Zen Buddhism” 1st Series Grove Press New York 1961 p. 317 (originally published in 1949)
3. This section, “Three Very Important Points”, is a significant part of the larger essay “Peacebuilding in its Most Compassionate Form”. It may assist the reader’s understanding of these three points to consider them in the context of that essay.
4. There is also an element of faith and philosophy in the willingness to “slow or discontinue” development of The IPCR Initiative (if necessary), which is a reflection of this writers’ interpretation of the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba—and this writers’ interpretation of the following concept: “There is an estrangement present between elements that naturally belong together. Do not try to reunify the situation with force. Allow things to return to a state of accord naturally, as they will.”] [Quote from Hexagram #38 (“Contradiction”) in The I Ching Workbook Interpretation and Commentary by R.L. Wing Main Street Books (Spi Edition) 1978
5. See "The IPCR Copyright Policy"
6. Two particular quotations [in Appendix 2 (of the essay "Peacebuilding in its Most Compassionate Form")—A) 3) and E) 7)—] may be especially helpful in appreciating this concept of a “current”. In addition, readers may also find it helpful to review the contents of footnotes #3, #13, and #21 (in that same essay). From his own personal experience, this writer offers the following: just as a glint of reflected sunlight comes from a fish which suddenly moves in the stream, so any movement in the direction of truth, virtue, love, and peace has the potential to provide a “glimpse” of this “current”-- or a way of “feeling” the good results of this “current”. Eventually (however), no matter what anyone may say on the subject, a full appreciation of this concept of “current” can only be arrived at by learning first hand—from direct experience—what spiritual wisdom is, and how to live in accordance with such wisdom in the everyday circumstances of one’s daily life. [Note: The IPCR Initiative is most interested in helping to develop well-organized, peaceful, constructive, and ongoing community building processes, which result in the accumulation of more and more opportunities for people to practice spiritual wisdom in the everyday circumstances of community life.]
