Ananta Kumar Giri The Calling of Practical Spirituality Practical spirituality involves a transformation of both science and religion. In the field of religion practical spirituality emerges in varieties of transformative movements and seeking in self, culture and society which interrogate existing structures of domination and strive for a new mode of self-realization, God-realization and world-realisation. Practical spirituality seeks to transform religion in the direction of creative practice, everyday life and struggle for justice and dignity. Practice here is not just practice in the conventional sense, for example in traditions of Ameican pragmatism (cf. Aboulafia & Kemp 2002) or anthropological conception of practice as offered by Clifford Geertz (1973), Pierre Bourdieu (1971) and Jurgen Habermas (1971).

Professor Armando Cristóbal Pérez, Cuba Doctor of Political Sciences Vice-president of the Cuban Society of Philosophical Research Havana Culture as a fortress of the Cuban people’s nationality and spirituality In every historically-formed community, nationality emerges from a unique ethnical, social and cultural process. In this process, a nation evolves and builds its own State by creating its own economic and political systems. That was so until the 15th century, when the modern State was built in Western Europe and another process spread out. Politicians were who decided what, when and how, while creators were forced to shape, strengthen and develop the spiritual character of their nationality in that context. Or they revolted.

Prof. Dimitris Papadis Professor of Humanities Neapolis University Pafos WHAT TYPE OF DEMOCRACY DOES ARISTOTLE RECOMMEND? Before I attempt to address this question let me start by pointing out the six basics forms of polities that Aristotle raises. These are, on the one hand kingship, aristocracy, and politeia, and on the other hand tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy.  He considers the first three constitutions (or types of polity) to be good constitutions; whereas the other three are bad constitutions because they consist of alterations and corruptions of the first three.  The criterion of classification and evaluation is the idea of the common good: if a constitution serves the common good of a certain political community it is a good; if it does not serve the common good and it serves the interests of the few then it is bad.  

Ernst Klatte, Germany PtC-Germany: head of Dept. Economy and ETHICS Economy – Power and Ethics, Humanism and Conscience (nationalization of financing and banking system) The Power of Economics and Ethics How can regulative ethical codes be used as an economic moral compass? 1. How economics came to dominate our culture The reign of economic thinking over the cultures of the World has, today, become a tyranny; and the greedy king at its head has been welcomed all over the planet regardless of natural and cultural frontiers. Yet the culture of the “financial industry” he propagates is no longer of service to society, but only to a small number of ruthlessly selfish investors who privatise profits whilst leaving society to pick up the losses. This means that it is high time to ask questions about the border between corporate responsibility and the role of the state under the conditions of rapid globalisation. All over the world, solidarity is in danger of breaking down: solidarity between generations, between classes, between genders and between citizens and immigrants.

Prof. Dr. Heinrichs Johannes, Berlin & Duisburg; Germany Prof. Dr. of science, author – former University chair for philosophy and sociology „A New State Policy – Fundaments for the 3rd Millenium” (Basic Values – Culture – Politics – Economics A developed model of democracy, in which these value levels get their correct institutional places) 1. Among the multiple deficiencies of our existing democracies (which normally we are not used to regard as developing forms of government, but as once and for all achieved or not achieved), there are two main and principal deficiencies:  First,  the whole of society depends structurally on economics. The latter one seems to be not one level of the entire society in a serving position, but as the decisive and dominating level. All our democracies of the Western type, in their daily life, are not really based on human rights, on human dignity  and ultimate values, as they pretend to do, but on the ruling money system and its stock-markets. The money system would be a discussion of most current interest, but this is not my main topic here.

Lajpat Rai Utreja President, Global Harmony Association – USA Founder, Institute of Spiritual Healing, Madison, AL Society and Politics – A Vedic Vision   The State of Our Human Family The great Vedic dictum states, “Vasudeva Kutumbkam – We are one human family.” In the Vedic vision, we are a family, without boundaries of race, religion, culture, nation, or gender connected together through a cord of human values. We are a family comprising of parents, grandparents, and their in-laws; siblings and their in-laws; aunts, uncles and their in-laws; children and their in-laws; and just as one President Barack Obama is connected to Indonesia and Kenya thru his siblings, so are all of us from all over the world connected together through siblings and in-laws of different faiths, races and cultures.