Orientation
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 43 observations and statistics in the document “An Assessment of the Most Difficult Challenges of Our Times” (see "Basic Reference Documents" section of this website) (and other related observations which can be added as further evidence) are indicators. Readers are encouraged to consider these “indicators”—and decide for themselves which direction the indicators should go in the future if they are to go in a direction compatible with interfaith peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability.
The Mission Statement of The IPCR Initiative is an effort to list a set of goals which summarize (from this writer’s point of view) what would need to happen for those 45 “indicators” to go in a direction compatible with interfaith peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability.
Vision Statement—Part 1: A “Constellation” of Initiatives
There are many important initiatives which are critical to overcoming the challenges of our times, but which are not quite “coming through the mist as much as they should be.” The IPCR Initiative can be very helpful in exactly these kinds of circumstances, as The Eight IPCR Concepts (“Community Good News Networks,” “Community Faith Mentoring Networks,” “Spiritual Friendships,” “Questionnaires That Help Build Caring Communities,” “Community Visioning Initiatives for Peace,” “Spiritually Responsible Investing,” “Ecological Sustainability,” and “IPCR Journal/Newsletters)encourage and facilitate a “constellation” of initiatives by which the best (in the view of the participants using these processes) associated with individual spiritual formation, interfaith peacebuilding, community revitalization, ecological sustainability, etc. can bubble up to the surface, be recognized as priorities, and therefore be brought forward as appropriate recipients of peoples time, energy, and money.
Vision Statement—Part 2: The ways we “invest” our time, energy, and money
Many people can realize the wisdom of deliberately focusing the way they spend their time, energy, and money so that their actions have positive repercussions on fields of activity described by the IPCR Mission Statement goals, and the other related fields of activity (see “105 Related Fields of Activity” below). As the ancient Chinese proverb says: “Many hands make much work light.”
One of the central themes of The IPCR Initiative is
“There are countless numbers of ‘things people can do in the everyday circumstances of their lives’ which will contribute to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts, in their own communities and regions—and in other parts of the world.”
As evidence of the truth of this statement, consider the following list (which is a list of fields of activity which are in some way—or which are in many ways—related to the goals of The IPCR Mission Statement):
accountability indicators, alleviating hunger, alleviating poverty, alternative gifts, appropriate technology, barter networks, biodynamic agriculture, building civic skills, building community, car-free zones, character education, citizen participation, citizen peacebuilding, co-housing, community banks, community development, community economics, community gardens, community good news networks, community journals, community land trusts, community membership agreements, community revitalization, community revolving loans, community self-awareness, community service work, community supported agriculture, community supported manufacturing, community visioning initiatives, consensus decision making, cottage industries, creative commons, cultural diversity, development assistance, disease control, eco-classifieds, ecological architecture, ecological footprint analysis, ecological tipping points, economic conversion, edible schoolyards, emergency humanitarian aid, emergency medical assistance, energy conservation, energy descent pathways, energy farms, fair trade, faith-based educational institutions, faith mentoring, farmers markets, food co-ops, green living, green politics, green purchasing, green retrofitting, holistic health care, homesteading, identifying problems and solutions, inclusive decision-making processes, individual spiritual formation, inspiring role models, interfaith dialogue, interfaith peacebuilding, intergenerational projects, local community points of entry, local currency, locally based food processing, locally grown organic food, low impact transport systems, medical assistance, meditation, mentoring, neighborhood revitalization, non-profit human service organizations, non-violent conflict resolution, oil depletion protocol, peace studies programs, peak oil, permaculture, positive news, powerdown projects, preventative health care, questionnaire construction, recycling, relocalization, renewable resources, right livelihood, right livelihood employment listings, rural renaissance, socially engaged spirituality, socially responsible investing, solutions journalism, spiritual discipline, spiritual diversity, spiritual friendships, spiritually responsible investing, sustainable health care, vegetarian nutrition, village design, village industries, violence prevention, voluntary simplicity, water conservation, win-win conflict resolution, world population awareness, yoga, zero waste, etc.
This writer’s commentary on this list is as follows:
1) The ways we “invest” our time, energy, and money have a direct impact on the “ways of earning a living” that are available.
2) People can, one by one, decide to deliberately focus the way they spend their time, energy, and money so that their actions have positive repercussions on many or all of the 105 fields of activity listed above.
3) The result can be that there are countless “ways to earn a living” which contribute to the peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts necessary to overcome the challenges of our times.
Vision Statement—Part 3: Ongoing Re-evaluation of “Moral Compass” is Built-In
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, practical, and local community specific 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.
Vision Statement—Part 4: All of the potential can be realized
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 fully utilizing all the knowledge, tools, and resources accessible to us for the highest good possible in every area of capacity building (physical, ecological, medical, spiritual, educational, social, economic, technical, political, etc). A primary objective of The IPCR Initiative is to encourage the highest possible level of citizen participation, to increase the likelihood of achieving the highest good possible in every area of capacity building. Viewed from this perspective, The IPCR Initiative can be seen as a “constellation” of initiatives which are prerequisite ground work for high levels of citizen participation in community visioning initiatives.
Community visioning initiatives, in the past, have been organized for the purpose of maximizing citizen participation in the planning and development phases of community revitalization projects. Community visioning initiatives can be described as a series of community meetings designed to facilitate the process of brainstorming ideas, organizing the ideas into goals, prioritizing the goals, and identifying doable steps. In 1984, the non-profit organization Chattanooga Venture [Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA)], organized a visioning initiative (Vision 2000) that attracted more than 1,700 participants, and produced 40 community goals—which resulted in the implementation of 223 projects and programs, the creation of 1,300 permanent jobs, and a total financial investment of 793 million dollars.1
If even a few community visioning initiatives—of the nature advocated by The IPCR Initiative (“Community Visioning Initiatives for Peace”)—generated results similar to those achieved in Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA), people in all parts of the world—keenly attuned when it comes to matters of the heart— could be inspired to carry out similar visioning initiatives. And if many communities carried out similar visioning initiatives, and also achieved significant results, our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times could begin to accumulate at an accelerating rate.
Developing, supporting, and participating in a community or regional specific variation of an IPCR Initiative can be one step in a series of steps which contribute to the realization that we—collectively—have the resources necessary to overcome even the most profound challenges of our times. Yes, taking these kind of steps will require, by their very nature, examples of the transforming power of love, understanding, and forgiveness—and faith, discipline, and perseverance will be necessary to achieve the most beneficial results. Still—with the encouragement and support of family, friends, teachers, mentors, elders, and the everyday influences of community life and cultural traditions—all the necessary steps can be taken, and all of the potential can be realized.
In The Best of Times
In the best of times, even the most profound difficulties can be overcome; for in the best of times, whatever is needed to overcome such difficulties is nurtured, supported, and sustained by family, friends, teachers, mentors, elders, and the everyday influences of community life and cultural traditions.
Our particular moment in time of this Planet Earth could be the best of times.
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. From a 25 page brochure titled “Revision 2000: Take Charge Again”, received from Chattanooga Venture. This brochure also included a description of the 40 goals created by Chattanooga Vision 2000, a detailed description of meetings and meeting schedules, and an overview “How You Can Make A Difference,” in a question and answer format. This writer also received from Chattanooga Venture a video, titled “A Community With a Vision,” which documents the 1984 visioning initiative “Vision 2000”—and a handbook titled “The Facilitator’s Manual,” subtitled “A Step-by-Step Guide for Groups to: Brainstorm Ideas, Create a Shared Vision, Develop Plans, Make Choices.” The statistical information associated with the “Chattanooga Vision 2000” process is also cited in the following source: a detailed overview of Chattanooga community revitalization efforts in the Boundary Crossers Case Study titled “Chattanooga: The Sustainable City” , which is located at the website of the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership, at www.academy.umd.edu/publications/Boundary/CaseStudies/bcschattanooga.htm
(Accessed June 10, 2007)
