Something's afoot in the United States, and Canada, and Australia, and Europe, and Asia and Africa -- all over the world. Increasing numbers of people are saying they want a different life than that being offered by industrial-era society. Paul Ray, in his 1977 Integral Culture Survey: A Study of the Emergence of Transformational Values in America says that as much as 25% of populations in industrial countries are looking for a better way of life.

Why?

Forces are coming together to shift dynamics in very dramatic ways. There is a growing split between the rich and the poor not only within countries both developed and undeveloped but also, of course, between them. There is a huge increase in population over the last century, which when coupled with production increases, has led to shortages of land, water and clean air. There is growing evidence that global warming and climatic instability, evidenced this year by the number of severe fire and flood problems around the world, threaten current human habitation patterns in significant ways. New forms of nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry are threatening humanity and both nation state rivalries and terrorism create continuing anxieties

There is an economic crisis as our reliance on economic growth and affluence collides with changing personal commitment and ecological realities. There is a social crisis as growing poverty and growing wealth co-exist on the same planet. There is a moral crisis as our ability to feel outrage about the state of the world is buried by our busyness and statements from economists and politicians that "we have no choice." There is an ecological crisis as fish stocks are overconsumed, fires burn out of control, forests diminish, land erodes. And there is, above all, a spiritual crisis as we lose sight of our real goals and substitute instant gratification in place of a search for true meaning.

At the same time, the seeds for change are growing. More and more people are beginning to examine the ways in which they are living their lives. Those of us doing so are saying that we want less stress and more time. We're saying we want to have a positive impact on the global environment rather than a destructive one. Many are being drawn to a new emphasis on building healthy relationships and towards exploration of spirituality.

We are looking for a new way to live -- a more resilient way of life.

There is no consensus about what the future holds. Douglass Carmichael from Shakespeare and Tao Consulting outlines five broad scenarios:

• Long Boom: technology and the economy expand the world into a world wide highly distributed silicon valley economy, growing at 6% a year for the next twenty five years. Things are basically fine now -- and keep getting better.
• Decay: problems occur, but no social consensus. We are unable to get any new social or economic direction, and with lack of investment in infrastructure, we just wind down in an entropic decay
• Neo Feudalism: the nation state withers in importance and national governments fad into the background. Multinationals like Microsoft, Intel, Shell, Citicorp get stronger as power shifts towards the few big companies. People, who organize locally for barter, trade, production.
• Discontinuity and recovery: infrastructure suffers major breakdown, with attendant violence, disease, wealth shift, and change in the major leaders, a great break in the current continuities, and the immediate (slow or fast) rebuilding in new directions.
• Global Mind Change: many people question the direction of modern life, and look for what creates real quality: not an avoidance of technology, but its proper life enhancing use. People focus on community, quality of life, relationships, and human value across the life cycle.

In the course of any day our actions are guided by thoughts that come out of bits and pieces of each of these worldviews. As a result, many of us feel our lives are fragmented and brittle. And lots of us are talking about how to do something to gain a sense of wholeness and peace with these conflicting worldviews and resulting actions.

People are talking about significant social change in community meetings, church gatherings, clubs and associations, business meetings, educational seminars and when they gather as friends and neighbors. While many may believe in the "long boom" in one part of their life, they find it unsatisfying and unfulfilling in other parts.

These discussions are isolated with few easy means to connect success stories, ideas and resources -- and to reconnect people with each other so they can become a learning community and act to improve their lives.

The developers of this project believe that a forum is needed which focus attention, brings people together, provides opportunity for dialogue, and engenders a commitment for action at many different levels. We believe that the theme of resilience is the basis for creation of that forum. Robert Theobald argues that "resilience is the ability of systems to cope with shocks and to bounce back." Enduring ecological systems are inevitably resilient, coping with climatic and other shocks. One core issue today is that personal, family, community and socioeconomic systems have become more brittle during the industrial era: restoring this resiliency is therefore a critical challenge."

The notion of resiliency is found in Families Studies Literature related to both individuals within families and families themselves. Individuals first learn resilient behaviors and attitudes within families. Because families are the smallest and most vital social unit of a society, the abilities of families to teach and practice resiliency is the key to community resilience. At issue is their ability to do so when confronted with the global crises driving change. Communities, who have undergone severe challenges due to natural disasters, economic downturns, extensive immigration and outmigration, and crimes such as the murders of school children, are vulnerable and struggling to find ways to prevent and respond. Such situations make for opportunities for exploring different ways of life -- ways that address the bigger picture and potentially could transform life in those communities.

Theobald goes on to say that he "believes that the primary challenge is to break down the barriers which have developed in our styles of thinking and action. This has allowed us to see ourselves as separate from each other, from other organizations and institutions and from nature. The truth is that we are all intimately connected in a web. Learning how to understand this different way of seeing the world is the basic challenge of our time. This learning can be achieved in many different ways. People can take very practical steps that will unite those currently separated through community gardens and farmers markets. Others will want to support dialogue between groups that have different agendas. Still others will support efforts to develop images and language which make the new world now being birthed more understandable."