<<March 15,
2009>>
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Mr. Rene V. L. Wadlow, Editor
Transnational Perspectives
Le Passe
Fr - 07140 Gravieres, Frace
Wadlowz@aol.com
www.transnational-perspectives.org
Dear Rene:
(1) Many thanks for your wonderful essay on ÒThe Day of the Citizens of the
WorldÓ (ATTACHMENT I).
I am taking the liberty of disseminating it to our list members.
Keep in touch.
Best, Tak
ATTACHMENT I
From: Rene Wadlow <Wadlowz@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 06:01:28
EDT
To: Tak Utsumi <utsumi@columbia.edu>
Subject: World Citizens Day.
The Day of the Citizens
of the World
Rene Wadlow*
The passage
at midnight between 20 March and 21 March marks the central moment of the Day
of the Citizens of the World. It is the start of the Spring Solstice and
is celebrated in countries influenced by Persian culture such as Iran,
Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics as Navruz (Nawroz), the start of
the New Year. It is a period of renewal, of new beginnings, and a time of
recognition that we are all citizens of the world bound together in a common
destiny.
The Spring Solstice as
the Day of the Citizens of the World marks a profound regard for cycles.
Every cycle has a beginning, a middle, and an end; and nearly every cycle
is followed by another. It was this sensitivity to cycles of change that
served as the basis for the Chinese philosophy embodied in the I Ching
– the Book of Changes. In
the Richard Wilhelm translation, the text for the hexagram Fu advises ÒThis is the moment, but it is not brought
about by forceÉthe moment is natural, arising spontaneously. For this
reason, the transformation of the old becomes easyÉTherefore, it is not
necessary to hasten anything artificially. Everything comes of itself at
the appointed time. This is the meaning of heaven and earthÉThe return of
health after illness, the return of understanding after an estrangement:
everything must be treated tenderly and with care at the beginning, so that it
may lead to a flowering.Ó
The Spring Solstice is an
intrinsically meaningful cosmic-terrestrial event and at the same time serves
as a powerful symbol for the deepest processes of transformation in the
individual and collective human psyche. Wisdom consists in knowing oneÕs
place in any given cycle and what kind of action (or restraint from action) is
appropriate for that phase. What is constructive at one time may be
destructive at another.
Thus, the passage from an
international system based on States to a world society based on the vision of
world citizenship is a transition which flows naturally, without violence and
without a destruction of the old. World Citizenship is based on a broad
awareness of the ways the planet Earth is inter-related — what happens in
one part of the world or to one group of people has an impact on all others.
The Spring Solstice
— Day of the Citizens of the World — is placed under the sign of
Hermes Trismegistus (the thrice-great Hermes) who is said to have lived in
Egypt at the time of Moses. As a priest and an older man, Hermes would
naturally have taught Moses about the Light in which we live, move and have our
being. Hermes was also thought to have been the teacher of Orpheus, who
passed on the teaching concerning the order of the world to Pythagoras and
Plato. Thus, there is, in the tradition of the Alchemists, the symbol of Aurea
Catena — the Golden Chain
— an unbroken series of wise persons — women and men— from
Hermes Trimegistus to the present, a chain which also symbolizes the links
between heaven and earth.
This Aurea Catena chain is depicted in a 1488 mosaic of the Sienna Cathedral,
Italy, where we see two figures, one from the East and one from the West coming
to receive instruction from Hermes. Knowledge and Wisdom flowing toward both
the East and the West is a key symbol of world citizenship. Thus the Day of the
Citizens of the World is placed under the sign of the thrice-great Hermes.
The current
financial-economic crisis has brought the realization to many that we are all
associated in one world. The decisions of a few can have an impact on the
many. If this is true for the negative impact of financial decisions, it is
also true for positive actions. Thus the Day of the Citizens of the World
can be a day for greater awareness of the need for cooperation and mutual
action. The Day calls for individual commitment and responsibility.
*Rene Wadlow, Representative to the UN, Geneva, Association of World Citizens
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* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA
*
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.)
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