Geneva, Switzerland, December 10-12,2003

An Inclusive Information Society: Wisdom, Vision, and Values

Communication is the foundation of society and culture. Our world is shaped by the words we express and images we create, while our attitudes and thinking are coloured by what we hear and see. We need to reflect on the extent to which our language and communication have become disconnected from the natural world and from the human self. Too often we engage in the language or fear or polluted thinking that alienates or excludes. Instead of transmitting to the world, we need to reach out and embrace the world in our thoughts and actions. Having mastered how to broadcast in quantity, it is time for a shift to quality.

To understand our present, and create the future we desire, we need a spiritual language; we must think and speak from the heart in the language of the soul – a language of trust, faith and higher values, of inner grown, love and listening. Through our thoughts and attitudes, the langue we choose and the images and stories we convey, we can all help support a shift of humanity’s consciousness away form the over-materialistic to the spiritual. The divide between the haves and have-nots and the missing link between principle and practice will not be bridged without the awareness of the spiritual dimension of the human being.

The idea of a world of informed individuals, of a society based on knowledge, is a powerful and appealing one. Knowledge gives birth to potential for change, and it was new knowledge that heralded the beginning of the industrial revolution and the dawn of the information society. But if from our world of extremes and exclusion there is to emerge an inclusive home for the human family and a culture of common values, it is the transformative potential of spiritual knowledge that must now be tapped.