If you’re inclined to help draft a Declaration of Independence, please look over the following proposed text and share your comments and suggestions with me.  Let’s celebrate our independent individuality by joining together in a community based on an interdependence that honors and preserves us all!

THE DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE

All who have affixed their names to this declaration are determined to cooperate together to create new systems of shared power and authority within enterprises, organizations and communities of all natures and purposes so as to honor the dignity and authenticity of all people.  We believe, and by this document declare, that:

¨       Every person is created equally deserving of evermore enriched freedom, joy and personal growth and with an innate passion to bring forth gifts that will create beauty, justice and well-being for all;

¨       Personal growth has the potential to continuously develop as we intentionally expand our individual and collective capacity to share the experience known as “unconditional love” as it naturally flows within bonds of love and tap into our inner reservoirs of synergy to share all we are in service to us all;

¨       Love is a natural energy indigenous to people of every gender, age, race, creed, path of life and lifestyle and fuels our commitment to the purpose of promoting the welfare of all humanity as one united life form;

¨       Steadfast, mutually faithful cooperation among us in the expression of common ideals and values in pursuit of common goals that serve the best interests of all People and Nature will free us to develop and maintain natural bonds of love as the soil in which a sustainable world is rooted and from which it draws nurture and strength as we serve as stewards of all forms of Life on this Planet;

¨       Our naturally evolving relationships will allow each of us to become freer to identify, express and enjoy our unique authenticity as gifted, responsible participants in the enterprises, organizations and communities within which we voluntarily choose to belong and serve and allow our passions to empower us for good;

¨       The resulting mutually helpful and supportive relationships formed by our commitment to our cooperative principles and practices will generate lasting benefits for the sake of ourselves, our loved ones, our communities and all Humanity and other Realms of Life within which we are an integral element by allowing each of us to exercise our gifts as optimal contributors to the collective welfare of All.

Our shared ideals and values, expressed in many ways throughout the ages in diverse cultures, religions and societies are summarized as:

¨       Each of us will continuously treat all others as we want to be treated (Golden Rule; love of neighbor);

¨       Each of us will continuously cultivate empathy, compassion and service towards all others (Tutu’s ubuntu);

¨       Each of us will continuously examine ourselves for shortcomings and opportunities to improve in character, humility, authenticity and self-expression so as to be the change in the world we want to see (Gandhi) and live lives worth living (Socrates);

¨       Each of us will continuously cultivate a relationship with the Source of Divine Love by whatever name we call It and by whatever path we cultivate it so as to rediscover and express the identity/nature in which we are created, not any lesser identity/nature into which social norms may seek to define and confine us.

Our common goal is that the best interests of all Life in every generation now on the Planet and yet to arrive will be served to the fullest extent as we conform ourselves to the highest ethical and spiritual standards known to us.  We acknowledge that this process is both creative and transformative and believe that it holds the greatest promise for healing the world through unity of purpose and oneness of mind, will and spirit.  We are determined to be true to ourselves, invest all we are and do all we can to achieve this goal by a means that is totally and radically consistent with it in belief that the means employed must express the ends desired.

To the end that our commitment and resulting thoughts, words and deeds will create the healthy, productive world of relationships we want to enjoy, we are intentionally cultivating within ourselves these character traits:

• Trust
• Honesty
• Tolerance
• Gentleness
• Joy
• Defenselessness
• Generosity
• Patience
• Faithfulness
• Open-mindedness
• Forgiveness
• Gratitude

We also pledge to communicate within all our relationships, in so far as peace permits, by the triad of healthy principles of “Trust, feel and talk about things that matter” and, when necessary, to remain gracefully silent to preserve peace with dignity and await a later opportunity to express ourselves. As we cultivate these character traits and build our relationships on the basis of graciously shared hearts, trust and power, we will release creativity to bring forth new ideas and new ways of approaching challenges that will prove viable in the long run as we welcome them nonjudgmentally and collaborate together in their exploration and implementation step by step. We believe that our personal investment in wholeness and integrity as the natural condition of every individual will bring forth a new era of peace and goodwill among all peoples of the earth. To that end we declare ourselves to be committed to cultivating wholeness and integrity in ourselves as the means by which to cultivate it person-by-person throughout the world as humanity’s oneness is revealed.

End of proposed text.  Any feedback to contribute?

Copyright Art Nicol 2014