Game of Gods:
The Temple of Man in the Age of Re-Enchantment
By Carl Teichrib
* The following is an excerpt from the first pages of chapter eleven.
Chapter 11
The Cult of World Order
The old world is dead. Let the new one arise from its ashes! Arise the new world order shall. – H.T. Muzumdar.[1]
World crisis and world chaos cannot be successfully handled in the absence of world authority. – Scott Nearing.[2]
“Which organization are you representing?”
“None,” I answered. “I’m individually accredited.” The gentleman’s eyebrows went up. I was an anomaly.
My surroundings were surreal: Gazing into the domed space above me, it appeared I was sitting in a giant, inverted bowl. The vast ceiling resembled something out of a science fiction movie with its saucer-like center and concentric rings of lights. Along the two sidewalls, double rows of darkened windows looked down on the milling crowd. Immediately to my front, past the two-tiered marble podium, was an iconic gold-leafed wall shimmering with the reflecting glow of overhead lights – an imposing backdrop for the enormous emblem of world unity that hung above us.
There we were, in our suits and ties, sitting together in the middle of the United Nations General Assembly Hall, surrounded by almost 1400 participants from around the world, each – with the exception of a few dozen people – officially representing a civil society organization or international agency. We had gathered under the banner of We The Peoples, the title of the UN Secretary-General’s rallying report. We had assembled to birth a new order for the new millennium.
“Do you know anybody here?” I countered, noticing my table partner was representing a governmental entity.
“No. Do you?”
Earlier in the day I had recognized a few faces behind the registration table as members of the World Federalist Association (WFA), and briefly interacted with them. “If you have any problems with your paperwork,” explained an attendant I knew to be a World Federalist, “just come back and we’ll take care of it.” With a reassuring nod he handed me some forms to fill out.
“We’re running the show.”
After passing security and entering the General Assembly I had noticed other WFA personalities lingering near the front of the great hall. These were people I had encountered at meetings in Washington DC and Chicago, but I could not honestly say I knew them. After all, I was attending the United Nations Millennium Forum (UNMF) as an independent participant.
“I recognize a few people,” I said to my companion, “but nobody I know.”
The gentleman nodded at my answer. There we were; two strangers surrounded by strangers in the symbolic nerve center of global fraternity. But in a matter of seconds I looked to be the liar.
With the words barely out my mouth, a young professional who was familiar to me as a World Federalist marched from the front of the auditorium and stopped at our desk.
“Carl, we have VIP seats up front. There’s a spot reserved for you.”
What could I say? I gathered my belongings and, under the glare of my now former table partner, made my way to the front of the General Assembly.
Establishing A New Pathway
Attending the United Nations Millennium Forum, May 22-26, 2000, was an opportunity to intimately witness how “world order” was being envisioned for the 21st century.
Setting this event apart from other UN millennial meetings was its composition. Instead of stacking the Forum with governmental representation, it was geared to “civil society” – accredited, non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This was in keeping with the UN Secretary General’s 1997 call for a “People’s Assembly.”
It is important to note that NGOs encompass a range of organizations and interests. Generally, any non-profit and non-governmental body can fit the category of NGO. This can include charity groups, faith-based and humanitarian agencies, special interest societies and associations, foundations and think tanks.
However, in the context of the international community, NGOs usually refer to civil society organizations that are accredited to the United Nations, agree with its principles, and have a stake in the global narrative. Even here differences are observable. Some groups convey a benign platform, like the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, which was accredited to the UNMF. On the other hand, entities such as Lucis Trust and the Institute for Planetary Synthesis – financial contributors to the Forum – openly frame global oneness through occult philosophy. Others work to advance political regionalism, like the Union of European Federalists and The Spinelli Group.[3] Some lobby for an even larger change; the World Citizen Foundation is one example. Another is the World Federalist Association, since renamed Citizens For Global Solutions, and its umbrella organization, the World Federalist Movement (WFM).
For our context NGOs are non-governmental pressure groups, pushing for national change to follow a prescribed global narrative. They are repositories and activators of ideas that stimulate transformation. As one NGO activist wrote: “Ideas are powerful instruments of change… Ideas precede action, they impel change in attitude and behavior and thus provide the basis for political change.”[4]
UN partnering with civil society is an important part of world order development; it allows new voices and visions to permeate into an otherwise bureaucratic environment. Moreover, many NGOs act as apostles for the world body, disseminating the global narrative into national and local dialogues. At the same time NGOs gain stature, visibility, and reach – their special interests are authenticated. It is a mutually reinforcing relationship.
Unlike governments, most NGOs are seen as detached from partisan influences and are portrayed as untainted by party politics and corporate powers. Championed by cultural influencers, a persona emerges: We hold the moral high ground.[5] The NGO community is thus upheld as an arbitrator of social legitimacy, a voice of the global conscious.
In saying the above it must be noted that mundane and practical consultations between international agencies, governments, and certain NGOs happen on a daily basis. I have friends who have been involved in this capacity, dealing with routine matters of business and diplomacy, and sometimes working through complex situations; there is need for a neutral space where multi-player concerns can be discussed and resolved. We do live in a global world, a fact that should compel national powers to seek sensible, wise, and mutually beneficial exchanges. However, the NGO-UN interplay at the United Nations Millennium Forum was geared to something more transformational, more profound – the visionary construction of futures.
We had gathered to remake the world in our image.
Game of Gods is available on Amazon.
[1] Haridas T. Muzumdar, The United Nations of the World (Universal Publishing Company, 1944), p.105.
[2] Scott Nearing, United World (Island Press, 1945), p.248.
[3] The Spinelli Group formed in 2010 as a network of parliamentarians, experts, and academics in favor of a federalist European Union.
[4] Tom Burke, “Friends of the Earth and the Conservation of Resources,” Pressure Groups in the Global System: The Transnational Relations of Issue-Oriented Non-Governmental Organizations (St. Martin’s Press, 1982, edited by Peter Willetts), p.106.
[5] It is no surprise that verbal inflation and self-congratulations are common traits in the global NGO community. Both are symptoms and byproducts of a “prevailing social vision” that is “dangerously close to sealing itself off from any discordant feedback from reality.” See Thomas Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy (Basic Books, 1995). “Prevailing social vision” and “discordant feedback” are taken from page 1. Verbal inflation refers to the overextended language that pervades politically correct speech: to take the meaning of a word and expand its historical definition to include questionable forms for the sake of political/social argument.
