But these are merely observations of squalls and currents and shifting winds. Where are we headed? What’s the destination? How much progress have we made? Why are we doing what we are doing?

For me, there are three or four thought pieces that help establish our contemporary saga.

First and foremost is Thomas Berry and principles that guide our (humankind’s) voyage to Earth Community and The Ecozoic Era (.pdf), “the period when human conduct will be guided by the ideal of an integral earth community, a period when humans will be present upon the Earth in a mutually enhancing manner.”

Second are the essays and ongoing explorations that follow from Paul Raskin’s The Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead and its three possible scenarios for the future: Conventional Worlds, Barbarization, or Great Transition. (The Tellus Institute’s web site is the best place to start.)

One of the subsequent essays in the Great Transition series, Orion Kriegman’s Dawn of the Cosmopolitan (cosmopolitan meaning “citizen of the cosmos” as opposed to what Helen Gurly Brown has wrought), provides an astoundingly prescient description of the work I and other colleagues have been doing for the past three years:

A specific type of leadership is required that would have the authority and resources to convene and maintain the dialogues for developing shared visions and perspectives. A Global Citizens Movement might develop a new form of leadership – movement diplomats – that would complement civil society’s paid staff, charismatic visionaries, influential philanthropists, community organizers, and organizational heads. Trained and supported directly by organizations or communities, these diplomats would be charged with the task of building systemic coalitions. They would seek to translate the rhetoric of different factions, foster communication and find common ground. They would provoke learning in their own organizations in addition to reaching out to form alliances. Ideally, this new evolution in leadership would include core competencies of facilitation, strategic dialogue, systems thinking, and familiarity with future scenarios and the requirements of a sustainable world.

Third, I would cite an E.J. Dionne’s Washington Post column from early July titled Capitalism’s Reality Check (that has more relevance with every passing day):

The biggest political story of 2008 is getting little coverage. It involves the collapse of assumptions that have dominated our economic debate for three decades.

Since the Reagan years, free-market cliches have passed for sophisticated economic analysis. But in the current crisis, these ideas are falling, one by one, as even conservatives recognize that capitalism is ailing.

Fourth and finally, summing it up with profound eloquence, is this paraphrase from my friend and colleague Morel Fourman who says essentially that there is only one question for individuals and organizations to ask: what is the unique role we can be playing to create a flourishing future for humankind and the planet?

That’s where I think we are. Mid ocean. All hands on deck.