A New Sacred Story

We are in the early days of a significant social change.

The institutions that have traditionally upheld a vision for the common good have abdicated their honored roles in exchange for financial gain and the preservation of their own perceived status. With too few exceptions, government, the media, and religion have failed to honor the interests of those on the margins. 

Many Media organizations and their front men have caved to financial pressures and the influence of those in power. The face of journalism is now less like that of a trusted parent and more like that of a clown in the midst of a severe psychotic break! 

Religion, while ferociously holding onto some long past image of itself as THE moral authority in society, has revealed itself to be no more moral than any other group, and in many instances less so. The harboring of active pedophiles, the protection of church officials via the church’s self-proclamation of special status, the oppression of men and women for their marital choices or God-given sexual orientation, the ongoing characterization of women as something less than human, the promotion of nationalism as more important than serving those in need, images of an insecure and vengeful God, and the blind eye given to issues of poverty, disease, and world peace by many institutional religions, while spending millions campaigning for shifts of opinion on matters of human sexuality, all the while enjoying a tax fee status, have all led to a deterioration of trust in religion.  

And not that Government hasn’t always been structurally well suited for corruption, but the out-of-the-shadows practice of lies, deception, pay-offs, hypocrisy, and blatant disregard for the American Constitution and the citizenry it is designed to serve, that have been demonstrated in recent years have contributed to the deterioration of trust in our American government.      

The Business community has always had its examples of those whose vision is limited to the balance sheet and personal wealth with little or no regard to the actual contribution their business makes to employees, customers, or the world. But compensation packages among many senior executives that rob their companies of flexibility, their employees of a fair share, and the customer of real value have added impetus to this emerging social shift that has grown weary of this out-of-the-closet greed.   

In the midst of this deteriorating trust and increasing sense of irrelevance for the institutions that traditionally have upheld a vision for the common good, there is an emerging culture whose adherents seem to recognize “making the world a better place,” to be a matter of personal responsibility. The idea that one voice can make a difference is not just a cute idea suited only for storybooks and feel-good movies. There is a growing culture of innovators who tend to think with both half of their brains that regard loyalty to political, religious, or social labels as out-of-date and just plain silly. What matters more than the “victory” of one religious sect over another, or one political party over another, or one point of view over another, is social harmony, tolerance, dialogue, hope, and justice for all, however naïve that concept may sound in our era of cynicism.  

Evidence for this emerging Renaissance can be found among spiritual leaders and historians, social entrepreneurs, business leaders who embrace a vision of doing good and doing well, scientists breaking new ground in virtually every area of research, artists and designers, athletes, social workers, teachers, and medical professionals, crowds of new investors who realize that a healthy and bright future depends on a healthy and bright future for all humankind and all life, and people from every age, ethnicity, nation, socio-economic strata, and creedal background on earth.  

A new Sacred Story is emerging rooted in optimism about a global future, a conviction that we cannot operate in the “me-centered” ways we have, and a serious commitment to personal responsibility in beginning this process of new life and hope for all life. 

The more effectively this story is told, the more accessible it is, the more organizations that discover their role in this emerging story, the more profound our movement towards social harmony becomes. The center for sacred story aspires to be one of many voices participating in the telling of this sacred story.