That is the uncommon school we want. Instead of noblemen,
let us have noble villages of men and women.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden
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THE CONCORD NOBLE AWARD FOR PEACE distinguishes itself, we suggest, in that it addresses the essential prerequisites of peace. That is: What will it take for us, humanity, to actually achieve peace — if such an age-old promise is not to be relegated to the realm of wishful thinking alone…? This column offers a deeper glimpse at the vision that lies behind (or within) the award.
The Concord Noble Award for Peace will be presented annually by interested citizens in the community of Concord to an individual in each of the 3 sectors/spheres cultural, political, economic that constitute our “body-social,” society. These are individuals, who have dedicated their lives to fostering an understanding, as noted, of the essential prerequisites for peace in and for our time. Peace not as an often fleeting hope or ideal alone. Rather, peace as a promise that waits to be affirmed, once its cornerstones are firmly established in, we suggest, that dynamically balanced, threefold understanding of society that has informed the ages.
At the heart of that understanding lies the recognition that health in society, the “body-social,” no less than in the individual, the “body-individual,” arises when each sector or sphere is able to act in accord with its guiding principles — both independently and interdependently. Dis-ease and imbalance arise when one sphere/sector, such as the economic (business) imposes itself upon another, such as politics. Thus the perennial issue of campaign finance reform.
“Three is All.”
Pythagorus
This threefold recognition goes back to the ancient vision of the Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva), moving westward through the Gold, Silver, and Bronze castes of Plato’s Republic and the French ideals of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.
Such a threefold vision of society has informed the ages right up to our Founding Fathers’ Declaration of Independence with its testimony to principles of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness . . . , as well as the writings of Concord’s celebrated authors, including the “Sage,” himself. In his American Scholar Address, Emerson spoke of man- thinking, man-feeling, man-doing, the man of action. This threefold vision was taken up subsequently by President Eisenhower in his aspiring “Middle Way” program, guided by the principles of: i) freedom and opportunity for all men; ii) the golden rule of right relationships; and iii) economic interdependence or shared prosperity. Principles that would become realities, as we awaken to their promise.
Behind these principles, as they have sought to guide each outer sphere/sector of society — cultural, political, and economic — are their indispensable inner correlates, as given voice by the Founding Fathers of the Iroquois Confederation:
1) Spiritual power in the individual, “body-individual,”provides the basis for authority (virtue-based) in the Cultural Sphere, the “Body-Social.”
2) Righteousness in the individual, “body-individual,” provides the basis for justice in the Political or Rights Sphere, the “Body-Social.”
3) Health in the individual, “body-individual,” provides the basis for Peace or Brotherhood in the Economic Sphere, the “Body-Social.”
The “Three Twin Principles” of the Iroquois Confederation have found contemporary revelation in three of our most All-American of institutions:
1) The 4-H Clubs: head-heart-hands –– balanced, working together — equals health;
2)The Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts with their emphasis on: body, mind, and spirit; and
3) The 12-Step programs, whose celebrated success lies in the recognition of the threefold nature of illness: physical, emotional, and spiritual.
The principles have been further elaborated through the exemplary work of the Institute of Cultural Affairs, which for the past fifty years has been enacting a vision of threefold urban renewal in Chicago.
The health spoken of in the foregoing is revealed in our very language, the “currency” we use: The Middle English term “welthe”, which served as the origin for the word “wealth”, signifies a condition of “well being”.
Such a vision of a balanced and duly ordered society, “body-social”, reveals its fruits in the words of “The Sage of Concord”.
“If you have a nation of men who have risen to that height of moral cultivation that they will not declare war or carry arms, for they have not so much madness left in their brains, you have a nation of lovers, of benefactors, of true, great and able men. Let me know more of that nation; I shall not find them defenseless, with idle hands swinging at their sides. I shall find them men of love, honor and truth; men of an immense industry; men whose influence is felt to the end of the earth.” ~
Ralph Waldo Emerson, War, 1838
A further glimpse of the Concord Noble Award for Peace follows:
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For more information, contact: Daniel Nygong at info@concord-ium.us