The "global brain," the "global soul,"
and the United Religions Initiative
by Lee Penn
Summary: The concepts of the "global brain" and the "global soul"
are common currency among supporters of the United Religions Initiative (URI) and
Gorbachev's State of the World Forum (SWF) - as shown by the following quotes from
Gorbachev, Bishop Swing, and Robert Muller.
You can pass this information on freely, without restriction.
Lee Penn
The Gorbachev Foundation's "State of the World Forum" is an ally of the URI.
The Forum's glittery annual meetings in San Francisco (intended by Gorbachev to establish
"a kind of global brain trust to focus on the present and the future of our
civilization"(1)) attract the usual assortment of rich people, celebrities, former
heads of state, social reformers with a pet cause, and New Age gurus. About 750 people
attended the 1998 Forum.(2)
In his 1995 speech to the Forum, "A call for new values," Gorbachev provided
ideological direction for the members of the "global brain trust," to guide them
in developing "methods of social action and policy":
"We should take a sober and unprejudiced view of the strengths and weaknesses of
collectivism, which is fraught with dictatorship. But what about the individualism of
Western culture? At the very least, something will have to be done about its purely
consumerist orientation that emphasizes 'having' rather than 'being,' acquiring and
possessing rather than revealing the real potential of humanity. ... The search for a new
paradigm should be a search for synthesis, for what is common to and unites people,
countries, and nations, rather than what divides them. The search for such a synthesis can
succeed if the following conditions are met. First of all, we must return to the
well-known human values that were embodied in the ideals of world religions and also in
the socialist ideas that inherited much from those values. Further, we need to search for
a new paradigm of development, based on those values and capable of leading us all toward
a genuinely humanistic or, more precisely, humanistic-ecological culture of living.
Finally, we need to develop methods of social action and policy that will direct society
to a path consistent with the interests of both humanity and the rest of nature."(3)
Bishop Swing does not invoke the "global brain" concept; rather, he wishes to
call forth the "global soul" and the "global tribe." In 1995, Bishop
Swing said that the world is moving toward "unity in terms of global economy, global
media, global ecological system. What is missing is a global soul."(4) In February
1996, Bishop Swing said, "I think that as we become one global unit, we have to find
out where religion is in regard to our global tribe."(5)
Robert Muller, a former UN Secretary-General and a fervent supporter of the URI and
other New Age causes, does call upon the "global brain," and considers the UN
and the URI to be signs of its emergence. Muller said in a 1995 interview with World
Goodwill, a Theosophist newsletter issued by the Lucis Trust, "The UN is humanity's
incipient global brain. ... We still need a global heart ... and we still need a global
soul, namely our consciousness and fusion with the entire universe and stream of
time."(6)
Regarding the "global brain," Muller also has said:
"In my view, from all perspectives - scientific, political, social, economic, and
ideological - humanity finds itself in the pregnancy of an entirely new and promising age:
the global, interdependent, universal age; a truly quantum jump; a cosmic event of the
first importance that is perhaps unique in the universe: the birth of a global brain,
heart, senses, and soul to humanity, of a holistic consciousness of our place in the
universe and on this planet, and of our role and destiny in them."(7)
"In response to these challenges, in addition to the work of the UN and its world
conferences, a multitude of initiatives of people's movements (the non-governmental
organizations in the world represent 250 million people) and thinkers are springing up all
around the world, to mention but a few of them: The independent world commissions, the
peoples' assemblies parallel to the UN Conferences, the yearly State of the World Forum in
San Francisco, the United Religions Initiative, think-tanks like the Club of Rome on the
Limits of Growth, the Club of Budapest on Planetary Consciousness and the Club of Tokyo to
save the Earth and Humanity. These are all manifestations of the birth of a global brain
and consciousness to the human species, probably the most important aspect of the
phenomenon of globalization."(8)
"I hear more and more voices saying that the soulless capitalism which now rules
the world will end the same way as the second 19th century ideology, communism, already
defunct. When I hear many voices from around the world expressing concern about an event
to come, I open a file because the global brain of humanity has begun to function and to
give us the first warning signals. But as distinct from the demise of communism which has
not found a new way, we must face the above dismal hypothesis and do two things: get the
best minds of the Earth to think what can be done to avoid a catastrophe which will hurt
innumerable people; have all local communities think of the actions they will take locally
to face the consequences of the catastrophe."(9)
"I think the number of optimists has increased because of the birth of a global
consciousness. That consciousness, that global brain, is the new evolutionary phase that
will help humanity to become probably the most advanced species that has ever
existed."(10)
>From the delusions of the utopians, Good Lord, deliver us!
Footnotes; Internet document locations verified 10/25/99:
1 Mikhail Gorbachev, "Toward a New Civilization," September 27, 1995, State
of the World Forum; Internet document,
http://www.well.com/user/wforum/transcripts/keynote/gorbachev1.html, p. 1 (no longer
available on-line)
2 Telephone interview by Lee Penn of State of the World Forum staff member, February
16, 1999; she said that "700 or 800" people attended the 1998 Forum
3 Mikhail Gorbachev, "A call for new values," Internet document,
http://www.worldtrans.org/whole/gorbachev.html,pp. 1-2
4 Bishop William Swing, "What is missing is a global soul," Pacific Church
News, August/September 1995, p. 5
5 Richard Scheinin, "Bringing Together the 'United Religions': Episcopal Bishop
Begins Tour to Build Support," San Jose Mercury News, page 11E, February 3, 1996, (p.
3 of Internet printout), ellipses are in the original text
6 World Goodwill, World Goodwill Newsletter, 1995, No. 2, "Interview with Robert
Muller," Internet document, http://www.lucistrust.org/goodwill/wgnl952.shtml#muller,
p. 4
7 Robert Muller, "Foreword: Preparing for the Next Millennium;" Internet
document; p. 2; http://www.silcom.com/~origin/sbcr/sbcr012
8 Robert Muller, "2000 Ideas and Dreams for a Better World," Internet
document, http://www.lsw.org/ideas/RMideas.html, idea 548, 9 January 1996
9 Robert Muller, "2000 Ideas and Dreams for a Better World," Internet
document, http://www.lsw.org/ideas/RMideas.html, idea 731, 10 July 1996
10 Muller, Safe Passage Into the Twenty-First Century, Continuum Press (Global
Education Associates), New York, 1995, p. 97
