Guiding Principles

THE MOVEMENT’S GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Starting from within, working in a circle, in a sacred manner, we heal ourselves, our relationships, and our world.

STARTING FROM WITHIN

• Human Beings Can Transform Their World
  The web of our relationships with others and the natural world, which has given rise to our problems as a human family, can be transformed.

• Development Comes From Within
  The human and community development process unfolds within each person, relationship, family organization, community, or nation.

• No Vision, No Development 
  A vision of who we can become and what a sustainable world would be like works as a powerful magnet, drawing us to our potential.

• Healing Is A Necessary Part Of Development
  Healing the past, closing up old wounds, and learning healthy habits of thought and action to replace dysfunctional thinking and disruptive patterns of human relations are necessary for sustainable development.

 WORKING IN A CIRCLE

• Interconnectedness
  Everything is connected to everything else; therefore, any aspect of our healing and development is related to all the others (personal, social, cultural, political, economic, etc.).  When we work on any one part, the whole circle is affected.

• No Unity, No Development
  Unity means oneness. Without unity, the common oneness that makes (seemingly) separate human beings into a ‘community’ is impossible. Disunity is the primary disease of a community.

• No Participation, No Development
  Participation actively engages people’s minds, hearts, and energy in healing and development.

• Justice
  Everyone (regardless of gender, race, age, culture, religion, or Sexual Orientation) must be accorded equal opportunity to participate in healing and development and receive a fair share of all benefits.

IN A SACRED MANNER

• Spirit
  Human beings are both material and spiritual. Therefore, it is inconceivable that the human community could become whole and sustainable without balancing our lives with the requirements of our spiritual nature.

• Morals And Ethics
  Without a moral foundation, ethical principles decline, and development stops. Sustainable human and community development requires a moral foundation centered on the wisdom of the heart. 

• The Hurt Of One Is The Hurt Of All: The Honor Of One Is The Honor Of All
  The basic fact of our oneness as a human family means that development for some at the expense of the well-being of others is neither acceptable or sustainable.

• Authentic Development Is Culturally Based
  Healing and development must be rooted in the wisdom, knowledge, and living processes of the culture of the people.

WE HEAL AND DEVELOP OURSELVES,
OUR RELATIONSHIPS AND OUR WORLD

• Learning
  Human beings are learning beings. We begin learning while we are still in our mother’s wombs, and unless something happens to close off our minds and paralyze our capacities, we keep learning throughout our entire lives. Learning is at the core of healing and development.

• Sustainability
  To sustain something means to enable it to continue for a long time. Authentic development does not use up or undermine what it needs to continue.      

• Move To The Positive
  Solving the critical problems in our lives and communities is best approached by visualizing and moving into the positive alternative we wish to create and building on our strengths rather than giving away our energy to fight the negative.

• Be The Change You Want To See
  The most powerful strategies for change always involve positive role modeling and the creation of living examples of the solutions we are proposing.  By walking the path, we make the path visible.