The IPCR Community Journal #2

An Introduction to The IPCR Community Journal #2

Welcome to The IPCR Community Journal #2.

The IPCR Community Journal #2 is a place where people who would like to assist the efforts of The IPCR Initiative (and people working along similar lines) can contribute constructive comments, resource recommendations and links, relevant news, and suggestions—and to relate relevant personal experiences.

I also invite people who would like to assist the efforts of The IPCR Initiative to visit The IPCR Community Journal, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ipcri/

There are two main differences between this "Community Journal #2" and the yahoo group "Community Journal":

1) This "Community Journal #2" is more informal-- posts in this "community journal" are not going to be quoted or excerpted for use in the "Highlights from The IPCR Community Journal" section of the IPCR website, as with the yahoo group "IPCR Community Journal"
2) The "blog" formatting here allows for extensive links, which are included to encourage a wide range of discussion.

I will be posting commentary, references to resources, and other information relating to The IPCR Initiative here. However, I encourage readers to think of this "Community Journal" as a kind of open forum, where they may respond with comments related to the post I have made, or simply make their own constructive, responsible, and courteous comments. I hope this approach is useful to the efforts of the visitors to this site.

Here is a basic overview 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 is an accumulation of documents, resources, and observations brought together to support the propositions that we—collectively—have both the need, and the potential, to be

a) much more organized and deliberate about “… bringing 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.”
b) much more multifaceted and participation-friendly in our approaches to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability
c) much more resourceful in the use of the accumulated storehouse of wisdomand “embodied energy” which is now accessible to us.

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 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. 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 the goals listed in the IPCR Mission Statement, and on many or all of the “105 related fields of activity”. As the ancient Chinese proverb says: “Many hands make much work light.”

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 thedepth and range of the challenges of our times, and therefore do their bestto take actions which will have positive repercussions on the fields ofactivity described by the IPCR Mission Statement goals, and on otherrelated fields of activity.

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 peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecologically sustainability initiatives. The IPCR Initiative is an effort to nurture, support, and sustain peacebuilding in its most compassionate form.

For a more complete understanding of The IPCR Initiative, and the resources provided by The IPCR Initiative, please visit the website of The IPCR Initiative, at http://www.ipcri.net/.

With Kind Regards,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The IPCR Initiative

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Community Visioning Initiatives "For the Duration of the Emergency"

(or: how to sort through all this, and arrive on the same side, so we can help each other)

We now live in very complex times, with challenges ahead which will certainly require unprecedented solutions. The challenges ahead will require unprecedented solutions because these challenges include, but are not limited to: the economic crises, global warming, peak oil, resource depletion, an ever increasing world population, global inequities, cultures of greed, corruption, and overindulgence, a marginalization of the wisdom associated with religious, spiritual, and moral traditions, and insufficient understandings of which basic elements of community life and cultural traditions lead to enduring peace and which do not.

Given the nature of complex societies, it is understandable that many of us would like to believe there are experts “somewhere” who understand how we got into this, and must therefore know how we can get out of it. However, this writer very sincerely hopes that more and more people are coming to the realization that the difficult challenges ahead are not something that 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.

Unfortunately, sorting out what our responsibilities are—or sorting out what the real challenges are, 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.

Somehow or other, we need to sort through all this, and we need to do so in a way that helps us to realize how much we need to be learning so that we can be part of the solutions… and how much we really need to be on the same side, helping each other.

One suggestion which could assist in bringing many solutions to light at the local community level is a 161 page proposal by this writer titled “1000Communities2”. “1000Communities2” (“1000CommunitiesSquared”) advocates for Community Visioning Initiatives, “Community Teaching and Learning Centers” with ongoing workshops, and “sister community” relationships, as a way of generating an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times.

For readers who would like to explore this idea further, this writer has created more than 5 different introductions to the “1000Communities2” approach. Three of these “introductions” are included in the Fall, 2008 issue of The IPCR Journal/Newsletter (http://ipcri.net/images/The-IPCR-Journal-Newsletter-Fall-2008-B.pdf ). One of those introductions is titled “A Greater Force than the Challenges We Are Now Facing” (http://ipcri.net/images/A-Greater-Force-than-the-Challenges-We-Are-Now-Fac.pdf ). Another one of those three “introductions” is titled “The ‘1000Communities2’ Proposal: Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature”. This “introduction” is also part of an “Educational Materials Outreach Package”, which is accessible for free, and which is located at the bottom of the homepage of The IPCR Initiative (at http://www.ipcri.net/ ). The most comprehensive introduction to the “1000Communities2” proposal was written in December, 2008 and is titled “Transitioning from Less Solution-Oriented Employment to More Solution-Oriented Employment”(http://ipcri.net/images/Transitioning-from-Less-Solution-Oriented-Employment.pdf ).

We are in need of innovative and imaginative solutions.

In 1984, the non-profit organization Chattanooga Venture [Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA)] organized a Community 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. (for source references, see p. 9 of the “1000Communities2” proposal, at http://ipcri.net/images/1000Communities2.pdf )

If even a few of the kind of Community Visioning Initiatives described in the “1000Communities2” proposal generated results similar to those achieved by the Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA) Visioning Initiative, people in all parts of the world—keenly attuned when it comes to resolving challenges which require urgent solutions at all levels of society— could be inspired to carry out similar Community Visioning Initiatives. And if many communities carried out similar initiatives, and also achieved significant results, our collective capacity to resolve the challenges of our times would surely begin to accumulate at an accelerating rate.

There is much which leaders could be asking from the people who respect their leadership, both as a matter of civic duty, and as a matter of necessity; and 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.

Even now, as you are reading this, truly inspiring contributions of genuine goodwill are being generated in a variety of ways—and in a variety of circumstances—by countless numbers of people in communities around the world. A combination of Community Visioning Initiatives, “Community Teaching and Learning Centers” and “sister community” relationships can bring to light the many truly inspiring contributions of genuine goodwill in your community and region, and contribute much to the building of “close-knit” communities of people… communities with a healthy appreciation for each others strengths, communities with a well-developed capacity to resolve even the most difficult challenges—and communities which demonstrate a high level of compassion for their fellow human beings.

[Note: In light of the urgent need to increase collaboration between diverse communities of people, anyone may access all IPCR documents (including the above mentioned 161 page “1000Communities2” proposal) for free, at the website of The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (at http://www.ipcri.net/ )].

With Kind Regards,

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

Thursday, January 31, 2008

New Links Section for IPCR Website

The IPCR Initiative has added a new 30 page “Links” pdf document to the IPCR Website (see the “top of page” navigation, at www.ipcri.net).

There are 24 categories of links included in the document. There is also information, often from the “About Us” section of the “links” website, which may help readers appreciate the “link” as a useful resource. Hopefully, the categories chosen, and the more-than-brief introductory information provided about the links listed, will help readers see more of the connections between different elements which are part of the same “big picture”.

People who would like to make suggestions for links to add to this list are encouraged to do so. Please direct such suggestions to Stefan Pasti [at stefanpasti@ipcri.net (or by way of information provided in the contact section of the IPCR website at www.ipcri.net)].

With Kind Regards,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The IPCR Initiative

Sunday, January 20, 2008

I welcome any comments....

I welcome any comments, recommendations, suggestions, etc. which will help The IPCR Initiative-- so that it can be a most useful resource in these challenging times.

With Kind Regards,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The IPCR Initiative