On Sunday, April 28, twenty-three of us met after the morning service to participate with George Kinder and his family in a Golden Civilization conversation.

George Kinder Returns to Continue the Conversation George will be here October 6, 2019 during and after worship to have our Golden Civilization Conversation Part II, looking specifically at how we need to reform our democracy, media, economy and leadership to create a civilization that could survive for millennia.  Many community members attended the first conversation, so please spread the word and invite guests.

For more information, please email us at unitedchurchofstrafford@gmail.com.

Below are photographs of the flipcharts we filled with ideas in April and below the photos are the typed and tweaked transcriptions of what is on the three sheets.

Notes from A Golden Civilization Conversation, Strafford, Vermont, April 28, 2019

I. Exploration: What would a Golden Civilization look like? What do you dream or long for human civilization to become?  Imagine it is hundreds of years from now and we have established the ideal society, what are its qualities?

• respect
• balance of all beings
• peaceful
• absence of fear
• people valued for their gifts
• humility
• caring
• everyone has enough
• honest money
• kindness
• radically localized, simplified
• no judgment
• everyone has education
• love
• freedom
• belonging
• green
• all in this together
• dogs
• respect for life beyond humans
• harmony with animals and nature
• good music
• voices (marginalized) have same weight
• flourishing of the arts
• rejection of force/violence
• sustainable energy systems
• no pollution
• integrity
• wisdom/vision guides us and keeps us on track
• awareness and tolerance for developmental growth
• interdependence
• compassion
• flourishing of religious institutions and tolerance for all
• happiness
• economy based on gross national happiness
• carbon back in ground
• clean abundant water
• darkness to light
• replace plastic
• enlightened leaders
• no need for insurance
• health care driven by health for all
• no misuse of drugs
• saving species
• education that passes on these values
• books
• money and corruption out of politics and business
• separation of corporate and state
• end of corporate power
• rising of cooperatives
• interdependent leadership
• no guns, no war, no weapons, no NRA, and no need for it
• equal opportunity
• listening to one another–a community of listeners, guided by listening
• diversity and inclusion
• absence of racial, gender all discrimination
• citizens are trained to be stewards of the Golden Civilization
• trained in non-violent communication
• seeing all as one
• respect for science and poetry
• work as vital
• coop banking
• clean air
• no stereotypes
• modest approach to athletics
• Earth respected

II. Vision

We reviewed that list and asked ourselves “If, as a consequence of our work together and with groups like ours all over the world, we were to bring this world into being within a generation, how would that be?”

All enthusiastically agreed it would be the best thing that could possibly happen, and the greatest achievement that any generation had ever accomplished.

III.  Obstacles: What could possibly get in our way?

A. Outer Obstacles:

• many stuck in fundamentalist developmental stage who cannot see oneness
• difference in experience and talents of humans
• our imperfections and separateness
• system exalts money, power and corporate power
• personalization of ambition and status
• system triggers negative values
• consumerism
• media, and money in media
• power and money corrupt
• narrowness of vision
• no advertising for Golden Civilization qualities
• systems are self-perpetuating and growing in power
• inadequate organizing among like-minded groups
• following the pack
• don’t have a system that unites all

B. Inner Obstacles:

• inertia
• hopelessness
• fear
• greed
• distraction
• illusion of separateness
• disconnection to inner core
• despair

IV. Actions: What are some action steps that could be taken individually, as a group or globally to overcome the obstacles and move toward a Golden Civilization now?

• Basic Income
• structured income (like military) to address inequity
• change of consciousness, facilitate this change/conversion/developmental growth
• wise leadership
• create a movement
• spiritual communities providing vision
• social marketing
• ratio of wealthiest to least well off
• get ready with the narrative when the crisis happens
• teach scientists to read poetry and poets to read science
• getting out of our echo chamber reaching across the aisle
• get money out of corporations, politics and media
• local communities living the vision
• working models

V. Personal Commitments: What are you willing to do to live into this vision and help establish the Golden Civilization in our generation?

• write more letters to politicians to put climate change front and center
• affordable housing in 4 communities
• reduce my footprint—I think before I drive
• live by the Golden Rule
• having difficult conversations with those close to me and taking steps coming out of those
• participate in related activities
• take excerpts from related books and get the ideas in the papers and on signs, esp. about the decline of the environment (like Bill McKibben’s “Falter,” Gus Speth’s books, George Kinder’s books, Jim Antal’s book)
• help create a new narrative for human civilization’s future
• continue lifting voices of color
• use social media in positive way for environment
• plant a large pollinator garden