"Creating a World That Works for All"

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"A compelling and inspirational book..."
	"...a wonderfully rich collection of insights, analyses, and possibilities..."
"...thorough and practical..."
	"...a powerful message about individual responsibility and community action that can change the world..."
"...Ingenious and inspiring new thinking..."
	"This is a no-nonsense book about vision and action!"

	We are in deep trouble. We live in a world that works for only a few. It doesn’t work for those it purports to serve. This world was created by a shift in consciousness, a shift to exclusivity. Through the practice of exclusivity, “I am separate”, we have created a soul-starved society. Exclusivity has created societal and personal problems that are fundamental, nightmarish, complex and interlocking: The Mess. The Mess leads to an inner emptiness, a hunger for the Sacred.
Paperback original, 238 pages ISBN 1-57675-062-0 CIP B-K item # 50620-300 June, 1999	However, we can change this. We can create a world that works for all. We can shift our consciousness, our compassion and our actions to inclusivity: “We are One”. Through inclusivity, we can create a world that works for all. The Mess is based on an outmoded and dysfunctional story: we can articulate and practice a new story for a new, inclusive society.

DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introductory Essay by Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic
	"Humankind today is well aware of the spectrum of threats looming over its head. ... And yet, even though we are aware of these dangers, we do almost nothing to avert them."

Preface
	In the midst of unprecedented disharmony, we have an opportunity that may not come again for another millenium: to craft a society that actually reflects our deepest values.

Introduction
	Our social and ecological statistics are telling us what we already know in our hearts: we have created a world that works for only a few. ... To change this, we must learn to act toward each other and our environment in profoundly different ways.

PART ONE: ENVISIONING AN INCLUSIVE SOCIETY

Chapter One: The Vision
	Do you feel the promise in these perilous times? Despite our many challenges, do these times feel hopeful to you in some way? Does it seem to you that something is ready to change? The hard fact is that getting to a world that works for all will take a more rigorous analysis and more sophisticated actions, both internal and external, than our current political, social, and even spiritual leaders are advocating.

Chapter Two: The Nightmare: A World on the Brink
	We are in deep trouble. We live in a world that works for only a few. It does not work for those it purports to serve. We have created a world of interlocked and mutually reinforcing problems and crises: The Mess. We each are responsible for destroying the Earth, although none of us wants to destroy the Earth. We are being destroyed by our story. However, we can change this. We have the ability to create a world that works for all.

Chapter Three: Inclusivity - Spirit and Practice
	To change our world, we need: a change in consciousness, how we think a change in compassion, how we feel toward others, and a change in actions, what we do in the world. These three changes will transform our world. We can change our society by practicing the 12 steps of inclusivity.

PART TWO: A NEW ANALYSIS FOR A NEW SOCIETY
	To create a world for all, the necessary change in consciousness is specific: from “I am separate; there is not enough for all” to “we are one; the Earth is abundant”. We have to move from the values of Breakers [exclusivity] back to the values of Keepers [inclusivity].

Chapter Four: Stop Blaming Others -- You Are the Problem!
	In order to write the script for a new society, we must empty ourselves of our outmoded beliefs. In order to understand the magnitude of the change, a new analysis is necessary. The elements of the new analysis includes: There is no one in charge Each of us creates the problems we experience Old theories will not work for new realities. We must change our values. We have to reclaim the values of the Keepers and adapt those values to a global society. Using the values of the Keepers (indigenous people who keep to the ancient ways) and the technology of the Breakers (people who break from the ancient ways), we will be able to restore balance and harmony (Menders). These groups correspond to three internal states in each of us.

Chapter Five: The Story -- How Things Got to Be This Way
	We each are enacting a story, an explanation of how things work. The story of the Breaker society is the story of our ecological, social and spiritual destruction.

Chapter Six: How the Breaker Story Maintains Itself
	A story represents a group's long-term survival strategy. If a particular story helps the next generation to make it in the world, the story is repeated, refined and enhanced. If our story is inappropriate and dysfunctional, does that mean we are stuck with it?

PART THREE: THE REVOLUTION TO INCLUSIVITY
	Menders are spiritual activists. Our work is both internal and external.

Chapter Seven: The Internal Revolution -- Feeding Your Internal Hunger
	The transformation to a world that works for all is is based on our deepest transcendent values; it is spiritual. Internally, we can develop the practices that will nurture the Mender story. These practices include: enoughness inclusive compassion reconnecting relationships

Chapter Eight: The External Revolution -- Practicing Inclusivity with Others
	Externally, how we act in the world will catalyze the shift to the Mender Era. The shifts include: politics economics spiritual Developing the Commons

Conclusion: Making the Commitment
	Each of us can make a commitment to a world that works for all.

	(for text of the Mender Pledge, click here)

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ENDORSEMENTS
FOR
“CREATING A WORLD THAT WORKS FOR ALL”

	“A compelling and inspirational book that ignites creativity and a renewed commitment to re-dream and mend a world that works for all. No other book addresses our current situation in a thorough and practical way.” Angeles Arrien, Ph.D. Cultural Anthropologist Author of The Four-Fold Way and Signs of Life		“This is a wonderfully rich collection of insights, analyses, and possibilities. It provides stimulating guidance for those of us who want to live in a world that works for all.” Margaret Wheatley Author, Leadership and the New Science Co-Author, A Simpler Way

	“Creating is a powerful message about individual responsibility and community action that can change the world. Thoughtful, provocative and compassionate, Creating should be on the bookshelf of every caring person involved in social change.” Rev. Mary Manin Morrissey Author, Building Your Field of Dreams		“Ingenious and inspiring new thinking about the personal realizations we need in order to do whatever we do, whoever we are, to make this a better world.” Ernest Callenbach Author, Ecotopia

	“This is a no-nonsense book about vision and action! I believe that both the great adventure, and the great challenge of our time, is to strengthen the link between the inner, personal transformation that many of us are engaged with our action and service in the world. Sharif Abdullah gives us insights and clear, practical suggestions for both our inner and outer work, and beautifully illustrates their all important connection. I consider it a must read for those concerned with inquiry, vision and action.” Winston Franklin President, Institute of Noetic Sciences		“Sharif Abdullah brings us the prophetic message that to change the world we must first change the way we see the world. The path to inclusivity begins with our personal spiritual awakening to the reality that all life flows from a single spiritual unity.” David C. Korten author, When Corporations Rule the World and The Post-Corporate World

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