TOWN MEETING

TALK #1

INTRODUCTION: Welcome. Today is a profoundly significant occasion for this town, the nation and the globe. Today we gather to talk through the challenges of our new world and lend our creative energy to invent social proposals for the future.

I. We live in an era in which civilization is undergoing a great transition which is transforming our grasp of sociality, presenting us with an unexpected vista and demanding of us affirmation of a varied, complex world.

A. The technological and urban revolutions are overwhelming old modes and images of sociality, demanding a new society.

B. The economic, political and cultural realms now swirl into a single network of relations presently distorted by the dominance of the economic, yet being restored by a recovery of the cultural and a reempowerment of the political.

C. When, with the astronauts, we looked at the "earth­rise", we had a new vista ­ that of the total planet ­ to be dealt with by every man.

D. Every particular community, race, creed, individual is finding new affirmation and the whole becomes a complex, intricate global mosaic.

II. New forms of settlement are being invented in every local situation as

people confront and respond to this new time.

A. A new sense of community is emerging among local people as they encounter the adventure present in the midst of the structures of society and experience the rekindling of spirit.

B. A new human settlement is being built in the post­modern wilderness of urban complexity, structural confusion, fractured values and local paralysis.

C. The common people have become the social pioneers in particular localities, dealing with all problems and people in a depth way.

D. The new settlement is a rebuilding of the earth ­ each locale grasps its global relations and engages in the common struggle of the planet.

III. A great resurgence of humanity is happening in response to the new situation

of the world.

A. In the context of global society nations are being reborn, claiming the gifts of their past, as they face the challenges of the future.

B. There is a deep resolve which is a sign of the strength of the emerging consensus on a new practical vision of society.

C. Local people are awakening to the possibility of involvement in creating the response to the crises we encounter.

D. Sociological resurgence is manifest in new local initiative ­ local people inclusively planning and effectively acting for change.

IV. This Town Meeting is a manifestation of and a response to the new world.

A. Historically the Town Meeting has been a means for citizens to participate in decisions with various forms in different cultures... it is now being recovered in new form.

B. There is a perpetual dialogue in the hearts and minds of people as they confront deep questions about society's future and there is the need to sit down and talk the questions through with others.

C. These town meetings will produce a new declaration for man, ­ a declaration of the interdependence of mankind.

D. The many town meetings across this nation will result in a common articulation of future directions and a pledge of future engagement.

CONCLUSION: We couldn't have picked a better time to live than today. Ten years ago we couldn't have done what we are about to do. Today we who gather are the sign of the possibility of shaping the future of our nation.

TOWN MEETING - NEW HUMAN TALK

INTRODUCTION: A new human has emerged from the crisis in our time and a new spirit can be seen emerging out of the foundational rebirth of the global citizen.

I. The Human Crisis is the over­whelming challenge of rebuilding society in the midst of vocational collapse and experiencing meaninglessness.

A. The awe­filled challenge is to be a global citizen in the midst of the wonder, pain and constant humiliation of shaping the future.

B. The endless task of reconstructing society reveals one's cynicism of the future and sense of perpetual weakness.

C. The vocational collapse is experienced as paralysis, reductionistic expenditure, dissipated desire, and rebellious resentment.

D. The meaningless malaise increases one's lucidity, limits his perspectives, calls one's values into question, and is the basis for his suffering.

II. The New Spirit in society is observed in the new human who emerges from life

giving expenditure and concrete caring into ~ fulfilled human being.

A. The emerging human uses his wellsprings of creativity and depth insight in the everyday task of creating the future.

B. The life­giving expenditure of man transforms mundane activity into meaningful engagement by affirming the past and embracing the present.

C. The indicative care for life occurs in spite of one's own limits and desires, releasing one to experience authentic joy.

D. The human fulfillment is realized in the decision to engage in serving the world with one's unique creativity.

III. The Foundational Re­birth is the new awareness of our infinite relationships within the four great lifetimes as males or females and as rational beings.

A. The infinite relatedness of life is discovered in creating, new structural relationships in the midst of rootlessness.

B. The male/female dynamic is a creative tension present in the midst of experiencing ineffectivity of one's maleness and femaleness.

C. The four lifetimes of each individual involve shifting roles four times into different styles of engagement in the midst of experiencing weariness.

D. The new rationality is discovered when one decides his relationships and creates a story which moves beyond the experience of unfulfillent.

IV. The Global Citizen emerging today is one who is effective, tactical, corporate,

and motivated in his knowing, actions and style.

A. The effective citizen responds comprehensively by inclusively analyzing the situation and practically focusing his care on effective implements.

B. The tactical citizen perpetually creates a practical vision for the future, builds a tactical system, and writes proposals to implement that vision.

C. The corporate citizen consensus by working within the structures of society using corporate wisdom and global styles.

D. The motivated citizen functions with an inclusive story which enables him to act on behalf of the world and celebrate every dimension of life.

CONCLUSION: Practical engagement in society reveals to us today that at the depth of every relationship there is suffering, that fulfillment is only found by deciding to give one's self, that every man creates and lives out of a story which informs his service to the world in his particular community.

THE END