The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust

We believe that the world we live in - our reality - is far too complex an entity for individuals or even individual cultures to completely grasp on their own. What this means is that there is not a 'right' way to view the world, but multiple perspectives that overlap in validity, truth, and insight. What this means is that 'outsiders' - those not in the majority, those who hold non-dominant views of our culture, times, or events - may hold essential keys to understanding our world. What this means is that indigenous cultures, women, and minorities (whether physical, political, perceptual or even spiritual), have unique views that need a place in our shared understanding, to help us complete our knowledge and our perspective. What this means is that we need to invite the voices of the silent to speak, and to give them a place to do it.

What this means is that the time has come to weave our knowledge together. Only then can we complete the picture, and construct a more accurate basis from which to assess our reality, our actions, and their far-reaching consequences.

We believe it is time for the Big Picture to take center stage. How things are connected, what different fields of endeavor have to offer each other, how consequences and actions and decisions refract and feedback, creating each other - these things and so much more must be deeply understood. In our world of specialized experts, we lack the education, training, and experience to do this solely with the infrastructure and approaches we currently have.

Our task is to offer some new avenues: toward training and education, infrastructure and understanding, and most importantly, approaches to the new world of potential before us. We ask you to join us!