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HISTORY
Founded in Europe 1993, the global Club of Budapest is an informal international association dedicated to developing a new way of thinking and a new ethics that will help resolve the social, political, economic, and ecological challenges of the 21st century.
With its roster of internationally renowned members and creative young people, and through its National Clubs with their broad spectrum of projects and activities, the Club initiates a dialogue between different belief systems and world views in order to co-create and develop effective strategies for responsible and sustainable action with a global focus.
The idea of the Club of Budapest was developed in 1978 in a discussion between Aurelio Peccei, founder and first President of the Club of Rome, and Ervin Laszlo, systems philosopher and also member of the Club of Rome at that time. They were convinced that the enormous challenges to humanity can only be dealt with through the development of a cultural and cosmopolitan consciousness.
Based on these ideas, the Club of Budapest was founded by Dr. Laszlo in 1993. The founding city and namesake of the Club lies at the heart of Europe and is spread out over both banks of the River Danube. The successful merging of the two cities Buda and Pest is symbolized by the famous Chain Bridge. It visualizes our ambition to build bridges between generations, disciplines and cultures. Therefore, it was selected as the logo and signet for the objectives of the Club. The main essence of the global efforts lies in the initiation of dialogue.
A lot has happened since the founding year 1993. The Club of Budapest was launched in May of 1996 at an international conference in Budapest, where Yehudi Menuhin opened the meetings by conducting the Hungarian symphony orchestra, and then addressed the meeting in company with Peter Ustinov and other cultural leaders.
The Club of Budapest USA was founded as nonprofit organization in the spring of 2000 in San Francisco, California. The inaugural event was a presentation by Dr. Laszlo on the macroshift of civilization we are now in(see resources). Special guests included the Honorary Consul of Hungary, Mrs. Eva Voisin and the Creative member and sociologist Dr. Paul Ray whose research analysis uncovered what is known as the Cultural Creatives.
The Club of Budapest USA supports planetary consciousness and global understanding. It perceives itself as a builder of bridges between: science and art; ethics and economy; physics and philosophy; cognition and realization; old and young, and between the different religions and cultures of the world. The focus is the creative development of a cultural consciousness with a global perspective.
ABOUT THE CLUB OF BUDAPEST USA
The Club of Budapest USA is a nonprofit organization working to facilitate the development of global understanding so as to include all people and their relationship with the earth.
The purpose of the Club of Budapest USA is to support the development of "bridges" of communication across disciplines and cultures to facilitate the transformation to a sustainable world. The Club brings together eminent leaders and peoples of various disciplines to create new ways of thinking to find solutions to our global problems regarding the balance within human society and the resources of the planet. The Club seeks to initiate a dialogue between: science and art; ethics and economy; physics and philosophy; cognition and realization; old and young and the religions and cultures of the world and thus help develop effective strategies for responsible new thinking and action with a focus on global sustainability.
Currently, human society is in the midst of a profound transformation stemming from the growth of high technology. This transformation is occurring much faster than any previous era of human societal development. In the industrial age, society focused on industrial development without regard to human or environmental ethics. In this new age of global markets and global society, new way of thinking about our environment and ourselves are required. Human society has now realized the Earth's natural resources are limited and our current way of life is not sustainable. The time has come to make critical choices.
Our economic vitality, social equity and environmental integrity are out of balance. The measurement of human progress has now been redefined as the integration of these three concepts. For the first time in history, the future of every human being is shared in some way due to the globalization of society. Traditional, localized ways of thinking and acting are no longer appropriate and are potentially threatening. Yet, our current economic, social and "information" environment is our own creation. It is only our creativity of mind, our culture, spirit and consciousness, which enable us to participate in it and these can be broadened to create a more sustainable world. Genuine creativity engages in issues and finds pathways towards solutions. Cultivating creativity is a precondition of finding our way toward an interconnected society in which individuals, business, regions and our global family of peoples can live together in peace, cooperation and with mutual benefit.
We must now create a new vision to evolve new ways of thinking and acting that support social equity, economic vitality and ecological integrity so that our way of life becomes sustainable. It is time to catalyze the transformation to a sustainable world in this era of rapid change. We need new ethics, behaviors and life skills and values to form the foundation of our newly realized and growing interdependence. We must preserve our uniqueness and at the same time understand and embrace our interrelationships. Now that we know we must protect our natural resources, support our common humanity and our basic human needs we must evolve a new consciousness, ethic and vision of what sustainability means on a local and global scale.
Evolving new ways of thinking and acting is indeed a challenge, but not impossible. Many instruments and practices are already available. What is missing is the understanding and commitment of the people.
The Club of Budapest USA organization is dedicated to promoting and facilitating the evolution of new ways of thinking and acting for the transformation to a sustainable world.
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