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Glen T. Martin

Radford University, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Emeritus

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Glen T. Martin, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Founder of the program in Peace Studies at Radford University in Virginia, USA. He is President of the World Constitution and Parliament Association (WCPA) and the Earth Constitution Institute (ECI), organizations that sponsor the Constitution for the Federation of Earth. He travels and lectures worldwide on behalf of the Earth Constitution and the philosophical foundations of emerging world law, as well as on behalf of WCPA projects such as sessions of the Provisional World Parliament and the development of a World Court system. He has received several international peace awards, including the GUSI Peace Prize International in Manila, Philippines, 2013. He has published hundreds of articles in popular as well as academic venues. He is author or editor of fourteen books, including his well-known book, Millennium Dawn: The Philosophy of Planetary Crisis and Human Liberation (2005) and his book on the global environmental crisis The Earth Constitution Solution: Design for a Living Planet (2021). His newest book is Human Dignity and World Order: The Holistic Foundations of Global Democracy (2024). The WCPA/ECI website can be found at www.earthconstitution.world where people can register as global citizen voters within their own World Electoral District. At this site, you can join our mailing list and become part of our movement for holistic transformation of our broken world system. Martin's personal website and blog is found at www.oneworldrenaissance.com.
Address: Glen T. Martin
Dept. Philosophy and Religious Studies, Box 6943
Radford University
Radford, Virginia, 24142, United States

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Papers by Glen T. Martin

True Unity within the Diversity of Humanity

This article moves from Wittgenstein's linking of the mystery of Being with the ethical dimension... more This article moves from Wittgenstein's linking of the mystery of Being with the ethical dimension to a parallel linking in the work of Kant. It argues that awareness of this "Absolute Mystery" is the basis for the real unity of humanity as this is featured in the Earth Constitution. The "infinite dignity" of each is identical with the whole that shines through each. The Constitution embodies this ascent to a fundamental awakening by humanity.

Faith, Hope, Love--and Human Evolution: Symbolic Functions of the Earth Constitution

This paper defines "faith" as openness to reality and describes the ways in which hope and love f... more This paper defines "faith" as openness to reality and describes the ways in which hope and love flow from this openness. It places this process within the context of cosmic evolution and argues that our role in the cosmos is to be aware of, and enhance, this cosmic evolutionary process. Finally, the paper shows the ways in which the Constitution for the Federation of Earth serves as a symbol and inspiration for our participation within this process.

Holism and Transformative Love in the Earth Constitution

Holism and Transformative Love in the Earth Constitution

Emergent Holism from "I" to "We" A Key Role for the Earth Constitution

This brief article opens by asking if there is any hope for humanity, given the present state of ... more This brief article opens by asking if there is any hope for humanity, given the present state of the world. It answers by reviewing what many thinkers have called the "Second Axial Age" in which the emergence of the individuated “I” from the First Axial Age” now becomes aware that we can move from an ego-bound orientation to cosmic consciousness. We also see now that cosmic consciousness implies a “We” that emerges on a higher level of awareness. Thinkers are cited who maintain this progression. The key step to this “HigherWe” is then identified as the Earth Constitution which transfers “sovereignty” to the whole of humankind, thereby facilitating and solidifying the emergence of a holistic We-consciousness and hence a peaceful and free global civilization.

Love, Hate, and the Earth Constitution

The universe is one interrelated, holistic reality. This is the central message of science going ... more The universe is one interrelated, holistic reality. This is the central message of science going back more than a century. Humanity is also one holistic reality. This is but a corollary of the central message of science. However, our economic and political institutions do not reflect these truths. They foster hate and fragmentation rather than love as fostered by the Earth Constitution.

Custodians of the Cosmic Gift of Freedom

A self-aware being does not need to be an egoistic-ethnocentric being. Our minds are full of imag... more A self-aware being does not need to be an egoistic-ethnocentric being. Our minds are full of images. These images inform and swirl around an incessant inner chatter that is organized according to its innumerable illusions, obsessions, and fantasies. Our minds overflow with ceaseless images, mythological images, including obsessive verbal repetitions, defining our robot-like existence as we continue blindly on the path of endless misery and eventual self-annihilation. We have constructed our identities, full of emotion, through such repetitions and compulsive images. In consequence, the world around us manifests itself in a giant chaos of conflicting, incommensurable fantasies, giving us a world disorder that approximates, literally and figuratively, a war of all against all. This paper describes the human relation to freedom as well as the role of the Earth Constitution in protecting and promoting freedom.

The Earth Constitution and Dimensions of Freedom

This article describes four dimensions of freedom: ontological, inner, ethical, and social-politi... more This article describes four dimensions of freedom: ontological, inner, ethical, and social-political. It argues that these are holistically inseparable and deeply related with one another. It attempts to show that this freedom requires actualization at the level of world democracy under the Earth Constitution and that any separation of the "spiritual" from the social-political is mistaken.

The New Holistic Consciousness and Human Unification Two Dimensions of One Self-Realization

The Constitution for the Federation of Earth provides a pattern for the actualization of our comm... more The Constitution for the Federation of Earth provides a pattern for the actualization of our common human potential as human beings. That potential includes our participation in the holism of the logos (or cosmically grounded intelligence). It includes our common moral foundation of universal human dignity, and our common need for preserving, regulating, and regenerating our planetary ecosystem with all its subsystems that include human economics, politics, and technics. This paper argue that the emergence of a new holistic consciousness in human beings is directly tied to the economic and political changes articulated by the Earth Constitution. Political unification is a necessary complement of consciousness transformation.

Logos, Spirit, and Fullness/Emptiness: Attempt at a Sacred Secularity fostering Democratic World Law

Human beings are gifted with speech. Speech is the vehicle, the carrier of the logos, the order, ... more Human beings are gifted with speech. Speech is the vehicle, the carrier of the logos, the order, the reason, the intelligibility of the cosmos. This article reveals humans as microcosm reflecting logos, spirit, and Fullness/Emptiness. It shows that these dimensions are empirically grounded and how they lead to the moral demand for democratic world law under an Earth Constitution.

Philosophical and Spiritual Foundations of Today's World Democracy Campaign: Some Personal Reflections

A group of organizations that support the Earth Constitution have initiated the World Democracy C... more A group of organizations that support the Earth Constitution have initiated the World Democracy Campaign (WDC). This broad group is organizing a "Provisional World Parliament (PWP)" that initiates Provisional World Government (PWG) in India. This paper lays out some of the philosophical and spiritual foundations behind this important movement.

Great Power Rivalry Endangers Humanity's Future The Only Credible Solution a New Human Unity

This article reviews the history of great power rivalry since the Second World War. It focuses o... more This article reviews the history of great power rivalry since the Second World War. It focuses on the rise of Russia under Putin and recent rise of China to challenge the US hegemony. It shows that this rivalry of militarized, warring, nation-states has by and large ignored the cascading collapse of the climate. It argues that we must unite politically and economically or make ourselves extinct. It describes the World Democracy Campaign currently under way to transition the world to a global democracy under the Earth Constitution.

Opposing the Race to Climate Destruction and Nuclear War The World Democracy Campaign to Unite Humanity

Climate disasters are happening everywhere on Earth with increasing regularity. The threat of nuc... more Climate disasters are happening everywhere on Earth with increasing regularity. The threat of nuclear holocaust increases daily. There are worldwide citizen's movements to try to establish a just, peaceful, and sustainable world system. But none have succeeded. The World Democracy Campaign launched to build movement toward the Provisional World Parliament in December 2025 is qualitatively different. This paper explains why.

The Ukraine and Gaza Debacles in the Light of Ecological Overshoot

This paper describes the dynamics of the "overshoot" in which human beings are experiencing shrin... more This paper describes the dynamics of the "overshoot" in which human beings are experiencing shrinking resources and growing climate disruption heading toward some inevitable collapse of the world as we now know it. It shows how but Ukraine and Gaza fit into this model regrading what is happening to our planet today. It emphasizes that the Earth Constitution can take us out of the current nightmare that appears to be heading toward global disaster.

Human Normalcy as the Best Hope for Humanity

I am a normal human being and not a pathological monster." The question of the genocide in Gaza i... more I am a normal human being and not a pathological monster." The question of the genocide in Gaza is as simple as that says Caitlin Johnstone in a May 6 article about how uncomplicated the question about the genocide in Gaza really is. It is not a matter of being a "good person," she declares, it is a

The Destruction of Human Civilization by Israel and the USA

The essence of human civilization points to the rule of democratically legislated laws designed t... more The essence of human civilization points to the rule of democratically legislated laws designed to protect freedom, justice, and keep the peace. Due process of law arises from our common human dignity and constitutes a basic meaning of planetary civilization. This article shows that the histories of Israel and the USA are predicated on an anti-civilizational violence that is today manifest in globalized war that remains directed at the very foundations of human civilization. It concludes by showing that this world system can be redeemed to one of dignity and the rule of law by ratifying the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

The Utopian Horizon of Objective Human Values

Academia Letters, Dec 29, 2020

During the 20 th and early 21 st centuries human beings are emerging out of an era that began wit... more During the 20 th and early 21 st centuries human beings are emerging out of an era that began with early modern science. There has been a fundamental paradigm-shift from the &quot;materialistic&quot; cosmology implicit in early modern science to a &quot;holistic&quot; cosmology implicit in the work of Einstein and subsequent quantum theory. Early modern science, culminating in the &quot;Newtonian Paradigm&quot; conceived of the world in mechanistic terms, as &quot;bodies in motion.&quot; It assumed that laws of gravitation, universal causal determinism, and atomistic composition of all matter gave us a complete account of the &quot;reality&quot; of the universe. i

A Buddhist Response to Institutional Violence

BRILL eBooks, 1999

The I, the WE, the IT and the Third Estate

Academia letters, Dec 10, 2021

Transformative Philosophy: a study of Sankara, Fichte, and Heidegger

Metaphilosophy, Oct 1, 1986

True Unity within the Diversity of Humanity

This article moves from Wittgenstein's linking of the mystery of Being with the ethical dimension... more This article moves from Wittgenstein's linking of the mystery of Being with the ethical dimension to a parallel linking in the work of Kant. It argues that awareness of this "Absolute Mystery" is the basis for the real unity of humanity as this is featured in the Earth Constitution. The "infinite dignity" of each is identical with the whole that shines through each. The Constitution embodies this ascent to a fundamental awakening by humanity.

Faith, Hope, Love--and Human Evolution: Symbolic Functions of the Earth Constitution

This paper defines "faith" as openness to reality and describes the ways in which hope and love f... more This paper defines "faith" as openness to reality and describes the ways in which hope and love flow from this openness. It places this process within the context of cosmic evolution and argues that our role in the cosmos is to be aware of, and enhance, this cosmic evolutionary process. Finally, the paper shows the ways in which the Constitution for the Federation of Earth serves as a symbol and inspiration for our participation within this process.

Holism and Transformative Love in the Earth Constitution

Holism and Transformative Love in the Earth Constitution

Emergent Holism from "I" to "We" A Key Role for the Earth Constitution

This brief article opens by asking if there is any hope for humanity, given the present state of ... more This brief article opens by asking if there is any hope for humanity, given the present state of the world. It answers by reviewing what many thinkers have called the "Second Axial Age" in which the emergence of the individuated “I” from the First Axial Age” now becomes aware that we can move from an ego-bound orientation to cosmic consciousness. We also see now that cosmic consciousness implies a “We” that emerges on a higher level of awareness. Thinkers are cited who maintain this progression. The key step to this “HigherWe” is then identified as the Earth Constitution which transfers “sovereignty” to the whole of humankind, thereby facilitating and solidifying the emergence of a holistic We-consciousness and hence a peaceful and free global civilization.

Love, Hate, and the Earth Constitution

The universe is one interrelated, holistic reality. This is the central message of science going ... more The universe is one interrelated, holistic reality. This is the central message of science going back more than a century. Humanity is also one holistic reality. This is but a corollary of the central message of science. However, our economic and political institutions do not reflect these truths. They foster hate and fragmentation rather than love as fostered by the Earth Constitution.

Custodians of the Cosmic Gift of Freedom

A self-aware being does not need to be an egoistic-ethnocentric being. Our minds are full of imag... more A self-aware being does not need to be an egoistic-ethnocentric being. Our minds are full of images. These images inform and swirl around an incessant inner chatter that is organized according to its innumerable illusions, obsessions, and fantasies. Our minds overflow with ceaseless images, mythological images, including obsessive verbal repetitions, defining our robot-like existence as we continue blindly on the path of endless misery and eventual self-annihilation. We have constructed our identities, full of emotion, through such repetitions and compulsive images. In consequence, the world around us manifests itself in a giant chaos of conflicting, incommensurable fantasies, giving us a world disorder that approximates, literally and figuratively, a war of all against all. This paper describes the human relation to freedom as well as the role of the Earth Constitution in protecting and promoting freedom.

The Earth Constitution and Dimensions of Freedom

This article describes four dimensions of freedom: ontological, inner, ethical, and social-politi... more This article describes four dimensions of freedom: ontological, inner, ethical, and social-political. It argues that these are holistically inseparable and deeply related with one another. It attempts to show that this freedom requires actualization at the level of world democracy under the Earth Constitution and that any separation of the "spiritual" from the social-political is mistaken.

The New Holistic Consciousness and Human Unification Two Dimensions of One Self-Realization

The Constitution for the Federation of Earth provides a pattern for the actualization of our comm... more The Constitution for the Federation of Earth provides a pattern for the actualization of our common human potential as human beings. That potential includes our participation in the holism of the logos (or cosmically grounded intelligence). It includes our common moral foundation of universal human dignity, and our common need for preserving, regulating, and regenerating our planetary ecosystem with all its subsystems that include human economics, politics, and technics. This paper argue that the emergence of a new holistic consciousness in human beings is directly tied to the economic and political changes articulated by the Earth Constitution. Political unification is a necessary complement of consciousness transformation.

Logos, Spirit, and Fullness/Emptiness: Attempt at a Sacred Secularity fostering Democratic World Law

Human beings are gifted with speech. Speech is the vehicle, the carrier of the logos, the order, ... more Human beings are gifted with speech. Speech is the vehicle, the carrier of the logos, the order, the reason, the intelligibility of the cosmos. This article reveals humans as microcosm reflecting logos, spirit, and Fullness/Emptiness. It shows that these dimensions are empirically grounded and how they lead to the moral demand for democratic world law under an Earth Constitution.

Philosophical and Spiritual Foundations of Today's World Democracy Campaign: Some Personal Reflections

A group of organizations that support the Earth Constitution have initiated the World Democracy C... more A group of organizations that support the Earth Constitution have initiated the World Democracy Campaign (WDC). This broad group is organizing a "Provisional World Parliament (PWP)" that initiates Provisional World Government (PWG) in India. This paper lays out some of the philosophical and spiritual foundations behind this important movement.

Great Power Rivalry Endangers Humanity's Future The Only Credible Solution a New Human Unity

This article reviews the history of great power rivalry since the Second World War. It focuses o... more This article reviews the history of great power rivalry since the Second World War. It focuses on the rise of Russia under Putin and recent rise of China to challenge the US hegemony. It shows that this rivalry of militarized, warring, nation-states has by and large ignored the cascading collapse of the climate. It argues that we must unite politically and economically or make ourselves extinct. It describes the World Democracy Campaign currently under way to transition the world to a global democracy under the Earth Constitution.

Opposing the Race to Climate Destruction and Nuclear War The World Democracy Campaign to Unite Humanity

Climate disasters are happening everywhere on Earth with increasing regularity. The threat of nuc... more Climate disasters are happening everywhere on Earth with increasing regularity. The threat of nuclear holocaust increases daily. There are worldwide citizen's movements to try to establish a just, peaceful, and sustainable world system. But none have succeeded. The World Democracy Campaign launched to build movement toward the Provisional World Parliament in December 2025 is qualitatively different. This paper explains why.

The Ukraine and Gaza Debacles in the Light of Ecological Overshoot

This paper describes the dynamics of the "overshoot" in which human beings are experiencing shrin... more This paper describes the dynamics of the "overshoot" in which human beings are experiencing shrinking resources and growing climate disruption heading toward some inevitable collapse of the world as we now know it. It shows how but Ukraine and Gaza fit into this model regrading what is happening to our planet today. It emphasizes that the Earth Constitution can take us out of the current nightmare that appears to be heading toward global disaster.

Human Normalcy as the Best Hope for Humanity

I am a normal human being and not a pathological monster." The question of the genocide in Gaza i... more I am a normal human being and not a pathological monster." The question of the genocide in Gaza is as simple as that says Caitlin Johnstone in a May 6 article about how uncomplicated the question about the genocide in Gaza really is. It is not a matter of being a "good person," she declares, it is a

The Destruction of Human Civilization by Israel and the USA

The essence of human civilization points to the rule of democratically legislated laws designed t... more The essence of human civilization points to the rule of democratically legislated laws designed to protect freedom, justice, and keep the peace. Due process of law arises from our common human dignity and constitutes a basic meaning of planetary civilization. This article shows that the histories of Israel and the USA are predicated on an anti-civilizational violence that is today manifest in globalized war that remains directed at the very foundations of human civilization. It concludes by showing that this world system can be redeemed to one of dignity and the rule of law by ratifying the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

The Utopian Horizon of Objective Human Values

Academia Letters, Dec 29, 2020

During the 20 th and early 21 st centuries human beings are emerging out of an era that began wit... more During the 20 th and early 21 st centuries human beings are emerging out of an era that began with early modern science. There has been a fundamental paradigm-shift from the &quot;materialistic&quot; cosmology implicit in early modern science to a &quot;holistic&quot; cosmology implicit in the work of Einstein and subsequent quantum theory. Early modern science, culminating in the &quot;Newtonian Paradigm&quot; conceived of the world in mechanistic terms, as &quot;bodies in motion.&quot; It assumed that laws of gravitation, universal causal determinism, and atomistic composition of all matter gave us a complete account of the &quot;reality&quot; of the universe. i

A Buddhist Response to Institutional Violence

BRILL eBooks, 1999

The I, the WE, the IT and the Third Estate

Academia letters, Dec 10, 2021

Transformative Philosophy: a study of Sankara, Fichte, and Heidegger

Metaphilosophy, Oct 1, 1986

Consciousness, Truth, and the Overcoming of Nihilism

Consciousness, Truth, and the Overcoming of Nihilism Emergent Human and Cosmic Holism, 2023

Relativism, nihilism, skepticism, and deconstructionism all share doubt about the existence of tr... more Relativism, nihilism, skepticism, and deconstructionism all share doubt about the existence of truth and the ability of human beings to actualize the truth. Today these forces remain very powerful and are destructive of human civilization. Complete repudiation of truth is very different from the reasonable skeptical stance that is fundamental to the pursuit of truth. Together these extreme positions represent nihilism: the will to destruction, to nothingness, to death and the negation of life: "if nothing is true, then everything is permitted." These attitudes

Birth of a New World Order in 2023

Birth of a New World Order describes the two world orders that have dominated our planet since 19... more Birth of a New World Order describes the two world orders that have dominated our planet since 1945, the first a contest between two incommensurable ideologies, the USSR and the USA. After the collapse of the USSR, the paper describes a second world order under the USA drive for "full spectrum dominance" over the entire planet. But the Ukraine War is a turning point, and we are about to enter a third world order corresponding to the failure and unmasking of the USA's drive to world domination.

The Complementary Realities of Time and Timelessness: Civilizational Reason and the Quest for Incarnation

This paper considers the relation between the dimension of temporality that applies to human cons... more This paper considers the relation between the dimension of temporality that applies to human consciousness as well as to physical reality with the dimension of timelessness pointed to by "mystics" like J. Krishnamurti. It introduces the notion of "Civilizational Reason" to characterize the temporality of human awareness and history, and it attempts to articulate why this temporality includes an "incarnational imperative." We have a moral imperative to try to incarnate the values that appear on our human "utopian horizon." The Constitution for the Federation of Earth conforms exactly to this imperative for the 21st century.

The Utopian Horizon of Objective Human Values

During the 20 th and early 21 st centuries human beings are emerging out of an era that began wit... more During the 20 th and early 21 st centuries human beings are emerging out of an era that began with early modern science. There has been a fundamental paradigm-shift from the "materialistic" cosmology implicit in early modern science to a "holistic" cosmology implicit in the work of Einstein and subsequent quantum theory. Early modern science, culminating in the "Newtonian Paradigm" conceived of the world in mechanistic terms, as "bodies in motion." It assumed that laws of gravitation, universal causal determinism, and atomistic composition of all matter gave us a complete account of the "reality" of the universe. i

DIVINE-HUMAN SPIRITUALITY AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF HUMANKIND Quotations from Great Thinkers, with Commentary

This paper quotes from a number of thinkers concerning the evolution and development human spirit... more This paper quotes from a number of thinkers concerning the evolution and development human spirituality. It includes my commentary for each of the quotes. It builds a picture of our human civilization and the growth trajectory imperative for our future. It culminates with quotes from Zen scholar Masao Abe concerning "the sovereignty of mankind," showing that spiritual development points toward recognizing the sovereignty that is embodied in the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

The Earth Constitution and Our Divine-Human Destiny Integrating the United Nations toward Our Common Human Future

Here we are in Kuala Lumpur, in the year 2022, 13.7 billion years from the beginning, products of... more Here we are in Kuala Lumpur, in the year 2022, 13.7 billion years from the beginning, products of a 13.7billion-year evolutionary upsurge become conscious of itself in us. World philosophy day celebrates the immense collective wisdom of humankind. Our bodies are made of energy from the sun, our sun was born at the heart of our Milky Way Galaxy, and our galaxy emerged from the cosmic ground of being that exploded into existence 13.7 billion years ago. Our lives, our planet, our sun, our galaxy, and the cosmos are all gifts of God. In World Philosophy Day we celebrate these gifts of God. This paper shows the ways in which human being must unite under the Earth Constitution in order to actualize and celebrate these gifts of God.

India's Role in the New Story of One Humanity

Human beings are creatures of drama, of stories, of mysteries, tragedies, and comedies. We imagin... more Human beings are creatures of drama, of stories, of mysteries, tragedies, and comedies. We imaginatively recount the past through stories of gods and goddesses, of heroism and cowardice, of struggle, overcoming, terror, and hope. We envision the future through our stories as well, the dramas of the past always point to a future. We all live in a perpetual present moment, situated between an ever-moving past and an ever-evolving vision of the future that comes alive with meaning as we imagine our life-stories, our national stories, and our stories of humanity-our past, present, and future. By what story can we account for the present and future that our world is facing today? Climate collapse is happening all around us. The world is on the brink of World War Three. The chaos of the global pandemic is only compounded by the chaos of flooding and droughts and wildfires caused by a collapsing climate. Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Bangalore have been facing immense flooding while other parts of the world face unprecedented wildfires, droughts, and loss of croplands. This paper describes the initiatives that India needs to make as a global leader of non-aligned nations toward creating a decent world system of humanity.

Freedom, Law, and the Earth Constitution

Humankind has experienced a paradigm-shift of momentous proportions in the 20 th and 21 st centur... more Humankind has experienced a paradigm-shift of momentous proportions in the 20 th and 21 st centuries. This is the shift to holism. Science has understood that the entire universe is a single, integrated whole and encompasses ever descending wholes within wholes. The Cosmos is a whole, our galaxy is a whole, our solar system is a whole, our planetary ecosystem is a whole, and humanity is a whole. This paper shows the holism of law and uses this holism to clarify the concept of a "free nation." To have truly free nations requires ratification of the Earth Constitution.

"Total Liberation" The Union of Spirituality and Critical Social Theory

This paper reviews the stages of growth for persons and societies and argues that both spiritual ... more This paper reviews the stages of growth for persons and societies and argues that both spiritual growth and development of critical social theory are required for human liberation. It defines both these concepts and shows their necessary interface in the contemporary world. It argues that the Earth Constitution provides a framework for both forms of growth and hence for "Total Liberation."

The Personalism of Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and the Earth Constitution

Leo Tolstoy was one of the great Russian writers and thinkers of the late 19 th century. His book... more Leo Tolstoy was one of the great Russian writers and thinkers of the late 19 th century. His book, written later in his life, called The Kingdom of God Is Within You arrived in South Africa in English translation in the year of its publication, 1894. Its intended recipient was Mohandas K. Gandhi, a young lawyer struggling to defend the Indian community of South Africa (who were considered "non-white" by the apartheid government of that country). The book's revolutionary impact on Gandhi is well-known. It effected a major change in Gandhi's life and was a key influence that made him into a Mahatma (a "great souled" one).

The False Dilemma of Unipolar vs Multipolar World Systems

A common distinction in today's mainstream debate concerning our world-system is between the idea... more A common distinction in today's mainstream debate concerning our world-system is between the idea of a "unipolar" world system versus a "multipolar" world system. It is common for those who study international relations to characterize the USA as having been at the center of a unipolar world system for some decades. During the Cold War it was also said that the world system was "bipolar," divided between two superpowers. However, in the first decades of the 21 st century, countries such as China, Russia, India, and Brazil have been growing in power while the economic and military domination of the USA has been diminishing. There is much talk about an emerging "multipolar" world and what this might mean for the future. What is the relation of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth to these mainstream discussions?

Ukraine, Global War, Empire

I find it bizarre that I should feel the need to write about this subject—yet again. Over and ove... more I find it bizarre that I should feel the need to write about this subject—yet again. Over and over, I have pointed out the nature of the integrated global war, domination, and exploitation planetary system. I have been doing this since the 1980s—during my entire career—and still most people do not get it. It does not sink in. Yet this global system impacts everything—right down to our daily lives struggling with scarcity of resources—from healthcare to housing to education to food—that is built into our system.
This article shows how the war in Ukraine fits into this system.

What's in it for Me? Why should I support the Earth Constitution

Ratification of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth often appears "utopian" when people ... more Ratification of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth often appears "utopian" when people are first exposed to the idea. Why is it that so many people have not yet heard of the idea? Why is this a new thought to many people, even though it has been around for a very long time? Why does it seem unrealistic? This is because the media of the world, and the media gate-keepers, benefit from the current unjust and fragmented world disorder and want to keep it that way. Like the rich and powerful, and like the giant, imperial nationstates, the media do not want us to know about the "Earth Constitution Solution.

The concept of Federation in CFE

The federal principle at the heart of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth involves a par... more The federal principle at the heart of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth involves a paradigm shift from the outdated “Newtonian” atomistic ontology that assumes the world is composed of independent parts that may or may not unite with one another while retaining some portion of their “independent part” status to the contemporary “Einsteinian” holistic ontology in which parts and wholes are aspects of one interdependent and inseparable, multileveled reality. Given the current apparent death-wish of humanity refusing to make this paradigm-shift necessary to survival, the Earth Constitution, in my view, offers a true beacon of redeeming light within the darkness and ignorance of our present civilization. This paper articulates these ideas.

The Earth Constitution and Human Liberation

The authors of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth were clearly interested in human libe... more The authors of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth were clearly interested in human liberation. I knew some of these authors personally and can testify to their passion to "serve humanity" in this way. The focus on human liberation is quite obviously the conceptual energy behind the Earth Constitution for the entire document presents a systematic design for achieving the objectives outlined in its opening article: ending war and securing disarmament, protecting universal human rights, diminishing social disparities, and protecting our planetary ecosystem. In my books and articles to date I have often argued that the twin dominant institutions of today's world-global capitalism and the system of militarized sovereign nation-states-systematically block and derail all efforts at human liberation, including those embodied within the Earth Constitution. The Constitution transcends both these institutions, the first by placing global economics in the hands of the democratically elected representatives of the people of Earth in the World Parliament who are constitutionally required to frame economics to serve the common good. It also transcends the second-militarized sovereign nation-states-by placing them all under a federated government with a democratic World Parliament dedicated to actualizing all the fundamental ideals summarized in Article 1 of the Constitution. The Earth Federation government emerges in charge of establishing and maintaining a liberated regime that is beyond the reach of any and all sovereign nations: peace, planetary prosperity, universal human rights, and a protected planetary environment. One of the greatest contemporary philosophers, Jürgen Habermas, in his inaugural address of 1965, published in his seminal book Knowledge and Human Interests (1971), shows that the human quest for knowledge presupposes a human quest for liberation. One of our inescapable human interests in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding is transformation of our problematic condition of ignorance, violence, hate, fear, fragmentation, injustice, and systematic distortion to a condition of happiness, goodness, truth, and deep mutual understanding. Habermas writes:

Nation-states, Nationalism, and the Common Good

The Constitution for the Federation of Earth includes within the World Parliament a House of Nati... more The Constitution for the Federation of Earth includes within the World Parliament a House of Nations. But the Constitution never defines the concept of "nation." It merely says that each national government shall appoint or elect delegates to the House of Nations according to its own procedures. This presupposes that a nation has a "government," at least to the extent of some legitimate authority who can appoint or elect delegates to represent the nation in the House of Nations.

"You Have to Name the System"

Well-known critical thinker of late capitalism, Frederick Jameson, ends his powerful book, Postmo... more Well-known critical thinker of late capitalism, Frederick Jameson, ends his powerful book, Postmodernism: Or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, with this imperative that derives, he says, from the positive "utopian" insights of the late 1960s: "You have to name the system." I take this to mean that the postmodern deconstructionism claiming "There is no Truth" crushes thought and obliterates our ability to conceptualize our human situation in ways that might lead to our survival and flourishing on our precious planet Earth.

The Absolute Moral Demands of Our Utopian Horizon

There is no definite and valid ideal model of a world, there is only a general abstract principle... more There is no definite and valid ideal model of a world, there is only a general abstract principle of harmony and diversity, and the principle can be realized in all sorts of widely divergent ways. The same is true of human life. There is an ideal of harmony and intensity of experiencing, harmony both within each individual and among individuals, but there is no definite code of manners that is the uniquely right way of realizing this ideal. On the contrary, no ideal can be applied without creative particularization…. Charles Hartshorne [1] This quotation from a well-known 20 th century thinker correctly identifies the relation between the ideal and the real. My contention in this short paper is that the fundamental structures of our human existential situation place absolute moral demands on us for transcendence and transformation in the direction of harmony, integration, and ever-greater unity in diversity. For many years now I have been naming these demands "practical-utopian." This same insight into the relation between the ideal and the concrete particulars of our lives identified here by Hartshorne also comes from many other 20 th century thinkers, such as Errol E. Harris [2], Ken Wilber [3], or Erich Fromm.[4] In this article I want to review the structural features of our human situation that give rise to this demand and focus on the Earth Constitution [5] as a key modality for satisfying the imperative for unity and transcendence.

The Charter of Global Ecological Responsibilities: Affirmation and Critical Analysis

The Charter of Ecological Responsibilities: Affirmation and Critical Analysis

The Charter of Global Ecological Responsibilities is being promoted worldwide to the UN, to gover... more The Charter of Global Ecological Responsibilities is being promoted worldwide to the UN, to governments, to media organizations, and to the public. I personally helped with the writing of the Charter as part of the Children Now committee that developed it. I also helped with its promotion by narrating a two-minute audio advertisement featuring the Charter [1]. The Charter is concise, directed, and powerful in its focus. In this presentation, I would like to go over certain key features of the Charter and ask the question about what else must change, what must be the civilizational background, the structural changes, if these features are to be actualized.

The Great Transition Requires an Earth Constitution

This paper shows why the Earth Constitution is a key element in the "great transition" to a susta... more This paper shows why the Earth Constitution is a key element in the "great transition" to a sustainable, peaceful, and just future for humanity. The transition goes beyond the Constitution, to be sure, but the Constitution itself is a necessary tool for effecting the next step, the key structural transformation that makes possible future progress.

THE MAKING OF THE CONSTITUTION FOR 'THE FEDERATED STATES OF EUROPE'

by Leo Klinkers and Glen T. Martin

The Making of the Constitution for 'The Federated States of Europe', 2022

This book contains a federal constitution for Europe, an explanation of the constitution and four... more

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