In the previous Herescope the readers were given a glimpse of New Age activism with the introduction to the Sacred Activism Conference being presented by Wisdom University at the Lynnwood Convention Center in Seattle, Washington.
We are going to dig a little deeper and expand our view, to look at the larger role that this university and its faculty play on the world stage in the effort to transform the world.
This university does not have the name recognition as a Harvard, Princeton or Yale but in comparison on a scale of influence in the world, Wisdom University is quickly gaining ground as a recognized force of change globally.
Wisdom University, located in San Francisco, CA, was founded by former Dominican priest and spirituality teacher Matthew Fox. He is best known in the circles of New Spirituality as the author of The Coming of the Cosmic Christ. As a universalist and a pantheist he believes that God and Christ are in all things. He is the former President of the University of Creation Spirituality which has now become Wisdom University.
For more on Matthew Fox go to Lighthouse Trails Research Project at http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/matthewfox.htm.
The current President and Chairman of Wisdom University is Jim Garrison (February 2005). Garrison is also founder, President and Chairman of the State of the World Forum (formerly known as the Gorbachev Foundation/USA).
Wisdom University is the educational arm of the State of the World Forum. The university’s primary goal is to develop leadership that has been specifically trained in New Age spirituality. With Jim Garrison at the helm of WU it is easy to see the long term agenda with his continuing role at the State of the World Forum.
From the About Us page at WU:
“Sacred activism takes on specific urgency when we realize that we are living in an extraordinary period in which theological apocalypticism –the belief shared by tens of millions of American evangelical Christians, for example, that we are living in the end times – is conflating with secular apocalypticism – the fact that at any time weapons of mass destruction, ecological devastation or economic collapse could, indeed, end the world as we know it. Even as the end of the world and the coming of Jesus is preached from evangelical pulpits, scientists around the world are predicting dire repercussions from our collective refusal to deal seriously with global warming and other serious challenges.”
“In the midst of this there is something each and every one of us can do. We must deepen our spiritual awareness and refine our social commitments in an integrated act of faith and service. In a time of crisis, spirituality without activism is arid intellectualism. Activism without spirituality has effect but little depth or compassion. What is needed is a radical fusion of the two. This is why, in addition to granting degrees, Wisdom University is developing leadership training in sacred activism. Integrated as a single movement of soul and service, sacred activism can transform lives and help change the world.”
With Jim Garrison at the helm of WU and the State of the World Forum it is easy to begin to connect the dots and paint the larger picture. When Garrison was first appointed at WU in 2005 Carter Phipps made this comment in Enlightenment Magazine:
“Getting back to education, major changes are afoot at Wisdom University. Matthew Fox recently convinced State of the World Forum cofounder and political philosopher Jim Garrison to take the helm of his institution. And the new president has plans to turn Wisdom University into a cutting-edge forum for educating global leaders. We look forward to seeing how Garrison’s brilliant mind, remarkable organizational ability, and voluminous Rolodex transform this quiet East Bay institution. You heard it here first: expect big things at Wisdom U.”
The Truth:
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:3-7)
More to come. . .