As you know, the GDI Board meeting was postponed from its
late spring date because so many GDI projects were happening or developing
that they absorbed all our extra energies. Intense activity has not
lessened, but increased. Hence, we want to report to you, however briefly,
on the very positive developments that have taken place in the past seven
months. In the tersest possible fashion, they are the following (further
detailed information on any or all of them will be furnished upon request):
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Leonard Swidler and Ashok Gangedean as Founder-Directors of GDI lectured
on the "Relationship between Law and a Global Ethic" at the International
Senate of the Union Internationale des Avocats at the annual conference
of the Presidents of the National Bar Associations of Europe in Vienna,
February 21, 1998.
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GDI co-sponsored with Haverford College under the leadership of Ashok Gangadean
a "Peace Project" at Haverford College in February, 1998.
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IIID/GDI co-sponsored lectures on Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue on business
and ethics by Leonard Swidler, Uli Kortsch, Ingrid Shafer of GDI,
as well as Racelle Weiman at GDI's invitation, at the Evangelische Akademie
in Loccum, Germany, March 27-29, 1998.
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Leonard Swidler participated for GDI in annual conference of Academy of
Management on "The Cooperation of Business and Religion" in San Diego,
Aug 9-10, 1998.
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Through Ashok Gangadean GDI sponsored one special presentation, "Web-Delivered
Introduction to Philosophy" and three panels at
the World Congress of Philosophy, at Boston, August 9-12, 1998, on: "Critical
Reflection on the State of Global Consciousness" (Ewert Cousins, Hazel
Henderson, Robert Muller, Karan Singh), "The Future of a Global Philosophy"
(Ashok Gangadean, Shu-Hsien, Jitendra N. Mohanty, Seyyed Hossein Nasr,
Martha Nussbaum, Tsenay Serequeberhan, Robert Thurman, Tu Wei-Ming), and
"Is a Global Ethic Possible?" (Leonard Swidler, Krystyna Gorniak, Liu Shu-Hsien,
Yersu Kim, Ram A. Mall, Ingrid Shafer). Also at the World Congress
of Philosophy the newly formed World Commission on Global Consciousness
and Spirituality was inaugurated on August 10, l998.
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Since spring, 1998, a Deep-Dialogue Pilot Group has been holding highly
successful interreligious dialogues in homes approximately every six weeks.
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Leonard Swidler visited the Congo for ten days in July to present the five-pronged
GDI Project to several Ministers and other leaders. It was very well received,
and is now waiting for funding approval.
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Extensive conversations were held with WHYY-TV, the local PBS station,
about a nation-wide down-link program in the area of business, ethics
and dialogue. The GDI proposal was well received and negotiations
are proceeding.
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Leonard Swidler was approached by Sir Sigmund Sternberg of London (1998
winner of the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion) to invite GDI to
work with him to found a global organization, "Business-Faith-Dialogue"
(BFD), which will have a special relationship with GDI. BFD will gather
some of the most prestigious business leaders of the world in order to
foster ethics and dialogue in the corporate world. The organization of
BFD is proceeding apace.
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The GDI Project on the Middle East will be initiated at Haverford College
October 2-8, and will continue in 1999 in Israel.
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Extensive conversations have been held with Haverford College about relating
the College to GDI, including the co-sponsoring of an international meeting
and conference of the "Global Commission on Consciousness and Spirituality"
at Haverford College, fall, 1999.
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Detailed plans are being worked out by Howard Perlmutter, Leonard Swidler,
Ashok Gangadean and Uli Kortsch for a "Dialogue on Deep-Dialogue" to be
held at Haverford College, January 13, 1999.
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