A Wake Up Call for Europe (guest contribution by Knut Arild Hanstad)
"He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind."
Leonardo da Vinci
A New Global Renaissance is needed!
I strongly believe that the next Renaissance is global, but Europe needs a new Renaissance on its own premises too.
As in the classical Renaissance we live in a turbulent time, invited to a creative new deal, a rebirth of creativity and capital on a higher level of human consciousness.
A new universal world-view is setting a new standard for life and business. Above all it is about human creativity and hope for a better future. The first Renaissance turned a whole world upside down. The next will do the same, why we need to rethink the very fundament for a prosperous future.
After the US election a shift in European mentality is more relevant than ever. The signals are clear. Europe has to take care of its own future.
A Universal World-View: From “I” to “We”
From humanity’s perspective the most important shift is the transformation of mindset from “I” to “We”. We must all take responsibility and leadership for the whole. It requires independent individuals and equality between male and female qualities and impact, independent of gender and culture.
What is really a shame is that 1 % of the world’s population has been allowed to control more than 50 % of the world’s total resources. The next Renaissance will release a new economy of compassion and real sharing, a new order of interaction, wealth and prosperity.
Where are the Lorenzo “Il Magnifico” di Medici’s of our time?
Not only serving their own ambitions for profit and wealth, but true philanthropreneurs who aspire to use their resources for the benefit of whole humanity?
A New Dream!
Europe is searching a new dream; liberated from shame and guilt of the traumas from Holocaust, World War II, and the controlling stupidities of our own time. We cannot accept a lost generation. Neither violence nor subservience is the answer, not naivety or indifference.
It is as we once transferred our optimism and future hope to “America”, the “New World”. Still it seems that we look for something better beyond our own hunted landscapes of past shadows. It is as Europe is clouded in grey.
A Renaissance is a rebirth, liberation from the past into a new future of hope, not despairs and lost ideals; a rebirth of faith in our own values, self-worth, skills and talents. We should reclaim freedom and true pleasure in life and work; in order to unleash a new optimism for future generations, humanity and ourselves.
This paramount shift requires fundamental changes in existing institutions, mindsets and behavior. A new global Renaissance is the contrary of fanaticism, protectionism and nationalism – of brutality, violence and terror – which is a reaction out of fear, the negative belief that we lack resources and will not survive if we do not defend old privileges and “rights”.
We all need new dreams for the future. To succeed we must co-create new dreams, collaborate and share resources, serving the whole.
Knut Arild Hanstad: Renaissance Entrepreneur; Founder of Global Renaissance Society; Author of ”Future Leadership of Creativity – towards a new Global Renaissance (2017). Founder and CEO, Global Renaissance International (NGO).