Kazakhstan, the largest country at the very heart of Central Asia, has launched an initiative supported by the Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbaev and endorsed by political, public, and religious leaders from more than 35 countries. This initiative aims to organize the World Forum of Spiritual Culture (WFSC) annually.
This year the World Forum of Spiritual Culture took place in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan; 500 participants were invited from 71 countries to work together from 17 – 21 October 2010 in this beautiful city.
The organisers of this ongoing event sought to draw attention of the global community to the ethical- and values crisis of the modern human civilization, and find the answer to the question of existential importance: should it be humanity’s spiritual destiny to survive collectively by means of building a just, sustainable and peaceful world community?
Marina Bakhnova Cary, ECI Secretariat coordinator for activities in the Eurasian region, suggested that the ethical vision of the Earth Charter shared by hundreds of thousands of individuals, communities and organisations worldwide, can be the answer.
In her speech she stressed that in order to achieve this aspiration, a further development in the evolution of humanity’s ethical and spiritual consciousness must happen. This means, we need to work out, through a constant dialogue, an agreement on a core of fundamental values adequate to the challenges that are facing humankind. Existing spiritual challenges could be only solved by a global community that is grounded in an ethos of multilateral cooperation and collaboration, and which asserts a strong global partnership role to ensure that the benefits of globalization are spread fairly around the world.
The work of the Forum was organised through discussions held at the 8 working groups: Spiritual Culture and its impact on the development of the human civilization; Social and moral responsibility of power; Spiritual Culture and mass media; Education in the third millennium: family, school, society; Global Strategic Initiative; Ideological and philosophic foundation of the modern worldview; Interfaith dialogue; Innovations: new ideas, new concepts; art as the key instrument of spiritual transformation.
Ms Bakhnova Cary participated in the work of several working groups. She presented the integrated vision of the Earth Charter as an ethical framework which can bring together diverse (and sometimes, conflicting) spiritual and ethical ideas expressed by the participants representing different organizations, ethical schools and worldviews.
Among the points of discussions there, also brought by ECI Affiliate in the Russian Federation Vladimir Zakharov, were:
Support and develop collaboration with the Earth Charter International Initiative; Draw attention to the essential importance of universally shared global values as the ethical framework for sustainable development; Integrate the work of the WFSC into the Rio+20 preparatory process; Underscore the key role of shared values in facing global challenges; Develop regional international collaboration based on shared values of the Earth Charter.