The World Wisdom Council

"The World Wisdom Council has been convened by the Club of Budapest in cooperation with the World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality in the conviction that the paramount requirement in this age of discontinuity and transformation is to recognize that, through the development of a new dimension of consciousness, the world can be constructively changed by women and men wherever they live and whatever their interests and lot in life.... It seeks to cultivate wisdom as the highest priority for our time through various means, including the posing of some fundamental and far from obvious questions that bring into prominence glaring inconsistencies, paradoxes, dysfunctions and pathologies in our individual, institutional, and cultural milieus. It affirms that our mindset, and the way we use the many facets of our mind, shape the reality of the world around us."

On December 20, 2004 the Council released The Budapest Declaration — "Wisdom at the Tipping Point: Shifting to New Thinking and a New Civilization." It is a document well worth reading that at one point says:

"We conclude that the question is no longer whether a fundamental change is coming, but whether the change will be for the better or for the worse, when it will be coming and at what price. The sooner we pave the way to positive change, the less traumatic will be the transformation and the smaller its human, economic and ecological cost. All of us now share the responsibility of realizing that we live at the tipping point of contemporary civilization and for recognizing that informed thinking and responsible acting are needed to bring us to the threshold of a civilization that is truly peaceful and sustainable."