We are, today in the midst of an era of radical reformulation in the role of humans. It is a transition which spans all aspects of human life from the inner soul of the individual to the political organization of the planet. It involves transformation in our religion, our technologies, our education, our family relationships, our industries and our communities. The transformation we are going through is the fact of history, not a utopian dream, not an academic study, not a plan of government, not a promise of politicians. The transformation is not fully, if at all, under control. We may be recognizing only portions of it. It may be the result of man's heedless destruction of the planet's resources. Or, it may be the next step in the universe's creation.

This paper will not explore in-depth the indicators which point to the conclusion that the world is on the threshold of a bright new age. The paper will only explore some of the implications this New Age will have for World Government. It is, however, necessary to set the framework and the context into which the discussion of government must fit.

The renewal happening around us has many roots and many names. The "Environmental Movement” in the USA was initiated by books such as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in the 1957 (1). The common ownership movement in Britain was given impetus with the transfer of ownership of the Bader works to the workers (2); in France Jacques Ellul's The Technological Society (3) brought on a re- evaluation of technology; Eric Daman's The Future in our Hands (4), in Norway, initiated a major reexamination of First World/Third World relationships. The Consumer Association of Penang in Malaysia (5), Co-cop in Bolivia (6), the Gandhi Peace Foundation in India (7), the Tasor Women's Group in Ghana (8), and the Eco- development Centre in Paris (9) are only a few of the independent actions which indicate a deep-seated and global desire for change.

The theories of quantum mechanics and relativity have laid a philosophical base for this global transformation. As physicist David Bohm demonstrates in Wholeness and the Implicate Order (10) the shift from Newtonian to modern physics necessitates a change in our mode of thought from one of atomism and fragmentation to one of wholeness and continuum. The notion that individuals and parts of the universe have separate existence's if an illusion. It is to some extent necessary for humans to divide things up, and to separate them, so as to reduce certain problems to manageable size. But, Bohm argues, we have let fragmentation become our dominant approach to life. We separate our thinking into desperate disciplines. Religion, art, science, work, leisure, are all put into separate unrelated categories. This proclivity to divide and subdivide leads ultimately to negative, destructive, and unreal results. In modern physics it is recognized that the Newtonian, mechanistic and fragmentary, view of the universe is valid only within certain limited domains. Once we go beyond those domains closer to reality each particle or individual becomes part of a continuum reaching to infinity. It is Bohm's belief that the new view of the unity of the universe is effecting world culture just as it is effecting modern science and our general mode of thought.

The search for wholeness and rejection of fragmented lives was marked in the 1960's by billows of smoke rising from the riot rocked cities of Amsterdam, Newark, London, Washington, Tokyo, San Fanscisco and Paris. During the 1970's the concerns of the counterculture moved into the mainstream of acceptable society. Studies such as the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth (11) made even the most academic scholars look out of the windows of their ivory towers; stagflation sent shivers of fear through all ruling capitols of the world; the energy crunch forced every household to recognize the need to reappraise our social forms. Now, in the 1980's, the many small beginnings and the many independent actions in all parts of the world are beginning to coalesce into a single network for transformation.

The current situation as well described in a recent best selling book, The Aquarian Conspiracy by Marilyn Ferguson (12). The Aquarian Conspiracy, according to Ferguson, is a conspiracy among people who seldom know one another. They are nonetheless conspiring in that each recognizes the turnabout in the consciousness which is bringing about the radical change in our culture. She notes that the unspoken beliefs of people change long before they publicly concede the transformation. We are, thus, still mouthing conviction in bygone mores and paradigms while we already live by different principles.

James Robertson in The Sane Alternative, delineates some of the paradigm shifts needed and taking place (13). "Wealth”, for example can no longer be counted in stocks and bonds, mansions a

nd limousines. The wealthy person is coming to be the one least dependent on the fragile economic-social system for his=or her livelihood and well being. "Work” can no longer be defined only in terms of hours away from home and financial income. More and more people are mixing recreation with employment to combine self-sufficiency with self realization. Dogmatic "Religion” is giving way to personal spiritual transformation; "Professional” services are being replaced by personal relationships; and, established "government” is being bypassed as communities and individuals dominate social innovation.

Chilean, Gustafo Lagos, ties this age of transition and wholeness, to World Government in The Revolution of Being, one of a number of articles with decentralist themes from the World Order Models Project (14). He contends that "the revolution of having” has failed to bring either justice or happiness. The future world system must be based on a cultural and spiritual transition from "having” to "being”. It is his belief that the world culture based on fragmentation and accumulation is being replaced by one of unity and faith in human beings.

It would be illusory and hypocritical to talk of a major cultural and spiritual revolution with out recognizing that it will be neither sustained nor effective without a major structural change in the formal social, economic and political system by which we are governed and by which we govern. It would be equally illusory to speak of a future world government without recognizing the unalterable transformation in human thought and in human being now in progress. To speak sensibly of World Government we must recognize that formal "government” is merely one part of a complex of informal and formal "government”.

Each of us is governed and governs by many forces. Physical forces hold us to the earth; biological forces dictate what we need to survive physically; inner spiritual forces determine our requirements for meaningful life; and, social forces govern our associations with other people. Families, churches, employers, schools and technologies are all part of the system of governance. Each influences what we can do and how we can influence the behavior of others. Government is only one element in this system of governance. Government is only necessary, and only effective, when some other element of governance is ineffective.

Current discussions of world order are premised on the omnipotence of the nation-state. they seldom recognize the full range of forces that are part of the system of governance. In fact, the nation-state system of World Governance is an invention of a few European rulers within the last 200 years. It was spread from a small sector of the earth to the rest of the world by the force of arms, the dogma of a religion shaped to do its bidding, and an economic-industrial system which relied on it for control and protection.

World order based on the nation-state assumes that the resources and the people within a political boundary are the inalienable property of that nation-state. Leaders within each nation-state gain control through some competition that eliminates opposition. Once in power, and in order to maintain power, they must strive to maximize their nation's share of the world's resources. They are entrapped in a competitive world system. Though recognizing a degree of economic inderpendance, no nation dares recognize its political interdependence. The fact that all persons have stake in programs and policies which distribute the world's resources is given no voice. Nor is the selection of national/world leaders open to all those effected by the choice. Each nation-state is accepted to be politically supreme,m autonomous and independent regardless of the effect its government's actions have on people outside or even within, its border

There is nothing inalienable or permanent in this European invented form of government. The study of history, even European history, reveals many alternative political systems. In fact, history shows that the societies with the least bureaucratic and hierarchical structures have had the greatest stability over time. many of these societies are based on precepts that are much more in line with the emerging new age than the precepts of the nation-states. Consider, for example, the Native American system of governance.

END Part 1 - See Part 2

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