"Jim Garrison founded and serves as President of the Gorbachev Foundation/USA, which set the stage for the establishment in 1995 of the State of the World Forum, a San Francisco based non-profit institution created to establish a global network of leaders dedicated to creating a more sustainable global civilization.
With President Gorbachev as its Convening Chairman, the Forum convenes leaders from around the world and a spectrum of disciplines to its annual and regional conferences and has catalyzed the creation of several independent organizations.
Garrison was born in China and grew up in Taiwan. After returning to the US, he began college at Pepperdine University (1969-70), attended the University of Tel Aviv in 1972, and received a B.A. magna cum laude in World History from the Santa Clara University (1973).
He then received a double M.T.S. in Christology and History of Religion from Harvard Divinity School (1975); and a Ph.D. in Philosophical Theology from Cambridge University (1982). Garrison published his first book in 1980, The Plutonium Culture (SCM).
This was followed by The Darkness of God: Theology After Hiroshima (SCM/1982); The Russian Threat: Myths and Realities (Gateway Books/ 1983); The New Diplomats (Resurgence Press/1984); Civilization and the Transformation of Power (Paraview Press/2000); and America As Empire: Global Leader or Rogue Power? (Barrett Koehler/2004).
Jim Garrison also became President and Chairman of Wisdom University on February 2, 2005; remains President and Chairman of State of the World Forum; and is a Founding Partner in Mosaic Networks, a business development company.
The mission of the State of the World Forum is to establish a global network of leaders, citizens and institutions committed to discerning and implementing those principles, values and actions necessary to guide humanity wisely as it gives shape to an increasingly global and interdependent civilization.
The Forum seeks to achieve this mission by:
- Convening conferences designed for deep dialogue on issues of fundamental ethical importance;
- Inviting to these discussions individuals from a spectrum of disciplines and from around the world, including youth, in a spirit of collaborative inquiry and mutual respect;
- Challenging all stakeholders to transform what they have come to know about the world into constructive actions and projects;
- Building a global coalition of leaders and institutions willing to work together in an integrative manner on issues of mutual concern.
Philosphy
There is perhaps no other organization in the world that convenes more diversity at more levels than does the State of the World Forum. At all its gatherings the Forum convenes a multiplicity of individuals, including Heads of State, Nobel Laureates, social analysts, grassroots activists, business executives, scientists, policy-makers, senior military officers, politicians, spiritual leaders, artists, academicians, and many others, ensuring gender parity among speakers and the full inclusion of youth. The Forum also covers the full spectrum of human concerns, from the scientifically secular to the spiritually profound; and from the most controversially political to the most personally transformative.
The ethos of these gatherings is that at this unique transitional moment in history, questions are more important than answers, dialogue more constructive than dogma. All participants and all issues are given equal place in an atmosphere of mutual respect. The Forum promotes a heightened sense of personal and civic responsibility by exploring new models of thought, action, communication and participation. In and through the conferences it convenes, the Forum challenges its participants to transform thought into deed, dialogue into action. Forum gatherings thus consistently yield concrete results and often catalyze the development of ongoing Forum projects, called Strategic Initiatives, that address pressing global issues and forge international partnerships."
"In our globalizing and increasingly interconnected world, we must learn to listen to and hear each other, to assure that change, which is inevitable, works for the benefit of all.” Mikhail Gorbachev-President, Soviet Union (1985-1991) Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1990
For more information, please visit www.worldforum.org
Jim Garrison's Books on Amazon.com
