Here is a comprehensive document of Foundation history, then a few representative expressions and social outcomes from the collective insights, creativity, and cooperation of hundreds of grassroots citizens with an eye on a shared future that benefits all.

 

The Journey

    The Foundation's five-minute film for the 21st century reminds us that we are the first people to know — the first generation to see and understand — that our Universe began more than 13 billion years ago.
    It is about the awe of the journey and each citizen's responsibility for our future.

A Walk Through Time:
From stardust to us

    A Walk Through Time experience, online and in book form, offered a scientific understanding of the evolution of life on Earth.
    It's author, Dr. Sidney Liebes, professor of physics and Hewlett Packard senior scientist, led other Foundation volunteers to put this story on the Web as a rich and deeply meaningful context for identifying and addressing the most critical issues of our shared future.

Together We Can
1985

    This 15-minute archival video describes the historic roots, principles, and thousands of Beyond War participants who cooperated to respond to the threat of global nuclear catastrophe.
    Building an effective movement spanning oceans, the women, men, and youth communicated about the obsolescence of all war in this nuclear age, our interdependent lives on this one planet, and the discoverable process for changing our modes of thinking that begins with ones' personal decision.

The Beyond War Award
1983-1990

    The annual Beyond War Award honored the great efforts of individuals, groups, and nations as humankind moved to build a world beyond war.
    The Beyond War Movement of the 1980s, based on the San Francisco Peninsula, had over 24,000 active members in twenty-three states and internationally, understanding that war had become obsolete and all conflicts must be resolved without violence.
    Volunteer citizen-educators hosted thousands of "Interest Evenings" and hundreds of "Orientation" meetings in living rooms and classrooms across the United States, and in Canada and Germany.

Breakthrough:
Emerging New Thinking
1988

    In 1987, Beyond War was building a global citizens' movement to raise awareness of the threat posed by the mentality of war in the nuclear era.
    The Foundation brought together over 30 Soviet and American scholars to co-produce and simultaneously publish Russian and English editions of Breakthrough: Emerging New Thinking — Soviet and Western Scholars Issue a Challenge to Build a World Beyond War.
    This historic publication was one event that marked not only the end of an era but also the foundation for a profound change in the way we understand the planet as an interdependent system.

Building a Common Future:
The Israeli-Palestinian
Framework for a Public Peace Process
1991

    Beyond War, partnering with Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation, answered the request of Israeli and Palestinian citizen-leaders to gather them at the Foundation's center in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
    In a historic breakthrough, together they created the first signed, although non-binding, document that defined a mutually agreeable settlement and forever clarified that any government success required popular, sustained citizen engagement and creativity to model the future.

    Beyond War and Stanford again cooperated to assist influential moderates in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Nagorno-Karabakh region in a non-governmental public peace process of face-to-face reconciliation.
    It was a step and model for resolution of their eight year conflict and its more than one million displaced persons.
    In Winter 1992, both the Armenian and Azerbaijani Ambassadors to Moscow requested the involvement of non-governmental organizations to find creative solutions to their apparently irreconcilable conflict and war.

 

Bless Man
1971-1976

    BLESS MAN in the early 1970s depicted in pageantry the beauty and wisdom of creation, increasing consciousness of humankind, and coming together of the races, nations, and religions for the good of all.
    Original music, dance, costumes, banners, and symbols enriched this public celebration that coincided with United Nations Human Rights Day, December 10th.
    To communicate the unity of humankind, over a thousand women, men, and youth of the Creative Initiative Foundation volunteered their amateur talents and imaginations, including for creations of the hand-sewn flags of 148 nations adorned the lobby and stage of the 3,000-seat Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco.

    THIRTEEN was a theatrical affirmation of the ageless way to life at its cooperative best which has been taught by all the spiritual greats.
    It depicted in art forms -- music, dance, symbol, and dialogue - a way toward reconciliation of the opposites, and a decision to resolve conflicts without violence.
    The creative, cooperative efforts of 1000 people have produced this play - each person using his talents and energies where they were most needed.

    The Creative Initiative Foundation of the 1970s was a diverse community of people dedicated to bringing about the cooperation of the races, the religions, and the nations for the well-being of all humankind.
    Mostly in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, families and individual participants were also working across the U.S. and in Canada.
    These are some of the symbols that emerged from and inspired the women, men, and youth of this learning community and beyond.

    This 163-page volume contains useful contemporary insights and ancient wisdom, compiled under the guidance of Foundation co-founder Harry J. Rathbun, Professor of Law and Engineering, Stanford University.
    The intention was to outline principles which govern the process by which individuals, and subequently communities, reach the highest they can become.

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