We all know that our cultures and our life on this planet now face grave dangers-  As we cross into the 21st century, and enter a Global Age where our diverse cultures and worldviews have been brought into intensive interaction in our Global Village, the crises have multiplied exponentially in all aspects of cultural life- in economics and business, in politics and ideology, in social relations across our borders, in the collisions of religions and worldviews, in our violent abuse of Nature and our Ecologies....And it is clear that we are on a dangerous course that may well be irreversible if mindful and powerful action is taken now.  Our Global Wisdom teaches us that these crises all around us are the cumulative results of centuries of dominant egocentric (dis-connective) mentality- we may call this "egomentalism".  And it is now a matter of life and death to confront these destructive habits of mind that generate fragmentation, divisions, polarations and all kinds of violence and cultural pathologies, and take personal and global responsibility for how we are using our intelligence, how we use our minds to co-create our living realities.

When we awaken to this Global Wisdom, and realize that we play a direct role in making our worlds, this gives us tremendous individual and collective power, and responsibility, to become more awakened, to remember that our true Higher Self is a dialogue being, born for Connectivity, Deep Dialogue, Compassion for our Selves and Others, across all the old borders.  Our generation must face this challenge and come together as never before in history, to co-create a powerful Youth Awakening Force across the globe, and truly ((connect)) in hearts and minds to usher in a new compassionate global civilization that works for our entire human family living in harmony with our Sacred Earth.  Our future is now in our hands and each of us can make a tremendous difference in changing our world.So ((Connectivity)) is everything- the fabric of Reality, the texture of human relations, the key to our personal and collective flourishing, and urgently needed now to turn around the destructive trends and help move humanity towards a healthful and sustainable world.  Everything is at stake, and our Youth have the power and potential to come together in deep ((Connectivity)) to help bring forth the new global culture.

Ashok Gangadean, Professor of Philosophy
Founder-Director of the Global Dialogue Institute
Co-Convenor of the World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality
www.awakeningmind.org

Ashok Gangadean in Professor of Philosophy at Haverford College (Haverford, PA) where he has taught for the past thirty five years.  He was the first Director of the Margaret Gest Center for Cross-Cultural Study of Religion at Haverford, and has participated in numerous professional conferences on inter-religious dialogue and East-West comparative philosophy.  His primary concern throughout his career has been to clarify the universal logos or common ground at the heart of human reason and rational life.  He is Founder-Director of the Global Dialogue Institute which seeks to embody the dialogical powers of global reason in all aspects of cultural life.  His book, Meditative Reason: Toward Universal Grammar (Peter Lang,  Revisioning Philosophy Series, l993) attempts to open the way to global reason, and a companion volume, Between Worlds: The Emergence of Global Reason (Peter Lang, l997) explores the dialogical common ground between diverse worlds.  His forthcoming book, The Awakening of the Global Mind  further develops these themes for the general reader.

Professor Gangadean has focused over the past thirty two years on tapping and clarifying the deeper common ground between diverse cultural, religious and ideological worlds.  In his many published essays and public lectures he has attempted to demonstrate that human reason is essentially global, dialogical, holistic and intercultural.  In his books he has attempted to demonstrate that there is a fundamental Logos or Universal Grammar underlying all cultures, religions, philosophies and ideologies.  This discovery and clarification of the fundamental Logos in human cultures, experience and life has important implications for effectively addressing the most pressing practical problems humans face today.  

While his earlier books attempt to demonstrate that human reason is essentially grounded in the fundamental Logos that is the common ground between diverse worlds, the Awakening attempts to communicate these findings to everyday people who have no background in philosophy and who urgently need to understand and cope with the profound changes we now face in the globalization of our cultures.  He is Co-Convenor of the newly formed World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality which brings eminent world leaders together in sustained deep dialogue to cultivate global vision and wisdom for the new millennium.

Dr. Gangadean has appeared on NBC News, in interviews for CNN Headline News (Comcast Newsmakers)  in the Philadelphia Region, and appeared last year in the national television series Thinking Allowed with Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove.  These two interviews on his forthcoming book The Awakening of the Global Mind continues to air in repeating cycles on the national scene.  More recently he was featured in the forthcoming series –A Parliament of Minds – produced by Michael Tobias and Patrick Fitzgerald.  This series arose from the recent World Congress of Philosophy in Boston (August l998) at which Dr. Gangadean helped convene and inaugurate the newly formed World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality.  He appears in a half-hour interview on his work and participated in a one-hour dialogue with Karan Singh, Robert Muller and Ewert Cousins. He has also agreed to host a forthcoming television series on Patterns of the Universe: Bridging Science and Spirituality, produced by Connecting Links Productions.  Gangadean became the host of “Philly Live: Your International Connection” on WYBE TV  Public Television (Philadelphia, Ch 35) every Monday night.  This live television show seeks to cultivate global dialogue on vital issues of international interest.

Gangadean recently formed his ((Awakening)) Productions to begin work on producing a six-part series for television on the narrative of his forthcoming book The Awakening of the Global Mind  Also, his book Meditations on Global First Philosophy:  The Quest for the Missing Grammar of Logos has just been accepted for publication by SUNY Press and will appear next year.