A Greater Force than the Challenges We Are Now Facing

[Stefan Pasti]

“Over the past several weeks, the collapse of confidence in financial markets has become particularly severe.”

This is a quote from Dr. Peter R. Orszag, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, (briefly, a government agency with a mandate to assist the House and Senate Budget Committees associated with the United States Congress) [quote from House Budget Committee Testimony (September 24, 2008), p. 3, 3rd paragraph; accessible at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/97xx/doc9767 ... urmoil.pdf]

We are living in very complex and challenging times. Currently, here in the United States, the crisis in the financial markets has become the challenge regarded as most in need of urgent resolution. However, there are other crises which are also in need of urgent resolutions, both here in the United States, and in other parts of the world.

There are many mixed feelings about the proposal being developed by the current United States administration, and the United States Congress. This writer feels that he has some observations and commentary to contribute to public discourse, and he urges others who also believe they have something to contribute to do so. This writer’s contribution is an approximately 3,600 word essay titled “A Greater Force than the Challenges We Are Now Facing”. The essay may be accessed for free at the website of The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative (here is the link: http://ipcri.net/images/A-Greater-Force ... ow-Fac.pdf)

As a glimpse into the main points touched on by the essay, here are the “Section Headings” and the “Concluding Comments”:


”Section Headings”

Dateline: September-October, 2008
Why Confidence is Dissipating: Yet Another Viewpoint
How We Can Know Which Institutions Are More Likely to be Solvent in the Future
Creating a Multiplier Effect of a Positive Nature: The “1000Communities2”
(“1000CommunitiesSquared”) Proposal
What are Community Visioning Initiatives?
If even a few….
Concluding Comments


Concluding Comments

“…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.”
(D.T. Suzuki, from “Essays in Zen Buddhism”)

Are our economic and financial markets based on sound and practical principles? Are our government and educational institutions being honest, responsible, and transparent about the challenges we are facing, so that we may be truly confident that our efforts will be enough to overcome the challenges of our times? Which institutions—of every kind—will be more likely to be solvent and sustainable into the foreseeable future, and which less likely?

The above mentioned “1000Communities2” proposal suggests one way in which a significant majority of people can attain a high degree of true confidence that economic and financial markets, government and educational institutions—and all other fields of activity which have a significant role in determining the quality of everyday community life—are based on sound and practical principles, and are likely to be solvent and sustainable into the foreseeable future.

Everyone is involved when it comes to determining the markets which supply the “ways of earning a living”. All of us have important responsibilities associated with resolving a significant number of very serious challenges in the months and years ahead. Communities of people can deliberately create countless “ways of earning a living” which contribute to the peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability efforts necessary to overcome the challenges of our times. We—collectively—can become a greater force than the challenges we are now facing.

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.


With Kind Regards,

Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator
The IPCR Initiative