Program for 2003
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Theme for 2003
From Chaos to Cosmopolis

While conditions of war, famine and disease suggest a world in chaos, impermeable to
reform, a deeper current of human potential and self-conscious interdependence nurtures
the emergence of world community or cosmopolis. To imagine and explore the possibilities for world community, the Institute of World Culture is offering a variety of programs in 2003 to promote constructive dialogue on the foundations of a healthy cosmopolis and the principles of global citizenship. Speakers with diverse interests and backgrounds will explore ideas in science, religion, literature, education, architecture and social theory.

"There is an increasing awareness among individuals (among scientists and artists,civil servants, businessmen and even some politicians, and especially among the disinherited youth) that an invisible but tangible parapolitical community is coming into being."                                 —Raghavan Iyer, Parapolitics

"The post-industrial society could be one in which men set seriously to work to straighten out their relations with one another and in which they sought, not material goods, but intellectual, moral and spiritual or what might be called cultural goods. The society would be learning society. The affluence of the world will make it impossible to plead poverty as a reason for not trying to educate everybody everywhere."
— Robert Maynard Hutchins, From Chaos to Cosmopolis


Evening Talk:
The Cosmic Dance: An Intergalactic Journey
Date: January 24, 2003
Time: 7:30–9:00 pm
Place: Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California
Speaker: Mr. Russ Lewin
Using 3-D software and recent images from the Hubble space telescope, we will take a multimedia journey through our own Milky Way galaxy and beyond – exploring galaxies over one billion light years from earth. Using new technology we will visually “fly” through the universe. Many new scientific discoveries and insights will be shared.

Seminar:
Discovering the Magical in Music
Date: February 15, 2003
Time: 7:00–9:00 pm
Place: Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California
Speaker: Mr. Steven Levey
Why do some musical compositions awaken our imaginations and suggest a hidden meaning? How do some arrangements and performances successfully capture the original intent of a composer? Is self-transcendence necessary to discover the magic in musical compositions? Join us for an evening of creative listening and questioning.

Seminar:
The Influence of Climate on Religions
Date: March 15, 2003
Time: 2:00–5:00 pm
Place: Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California
Speaker: Dr. Nancy McCagney
A wealth of evidence suggests that global warming, which ended the last ice age and continues today, influenced early conceptions of the divine found in the world’s religions of the Middle East, India, China, North America and Africa. This cross-cultural and comparative study, given in a PowerPoint presentation, connects archeological records and linguistic analyses of ancient myths and texts to paleoclimatological data about climate regimes around the world for the last 100,000 years. The natural world can be seen as revealing the divine, however differently understood. Therefore, a study of ancient climates provides a pathway for understanding ancient religious ideas.

Seminar:
Photographing the Civil Rights Movement
 Date: April 5, 2003
Time: 2:00–4:30 pm
Place: Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California
Presenter: Mr. Matt Herron
Three styles of photography reveal the intense political activities of the 1960’s civil rights movement in America as well as the human challenges of daily life. Photojournalist Matt Herron, the founder and director of The Southern Documentary Project (1964), has produced a widely acclaimed record of a transforming historical movement, which he experienced personally.

Seminar:
Pilgrimages to Sacred Sites
Date: April 19, 2003
Time: 1:30–4:30 pm
Place: Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California
Speaker: Dr. Juan E. Campo
Dr. Juan E. Campo, professor of Religious Studies at UCSB, will present a seminar focusing on the significance of pilgrimage among Muslims, Hindus and Christians. How do the aims and modes of contemporary pilgrimages offer a meaningful religious experience? A PowerPoint presentation on sacred sites and Michael Wolf’s film, Hajj, will illustrate the topic.

Retreat:
Interdependence of Soul, Soil and Society
Dates: May 8 – 11, 2003
Place: La Casa de Maria, Santa Barbara, California
Four-day intergenerational retreat presented by the Institute for Reverential Ecology (IRE)
The need for, and responsibility of, humanity to revere and protect our planet with an informed sense of the interdependence of all life will be the focus of a four-day, intergenerational conference at La Casa de Maria. A dynamic panel of speakers, including Satish Kumar, Sharif M. Abdullah, Michael Lerner, Professors Nandini Iyer, Richard Falk, and Richard Applebaum, among others, will guide participants towards an understanding of the principles of reverential ecology and their relevance to practical action and social harmony. Information about events open to the general public can be found on the IRE website.

Excursion:
Ecological Communities:
A Visit to the Coal Oil Point Reserve
Date: June 7, 2003
Time: 1:00–3:00 pm
Place: Meet at Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California and carpool to Coal Oil Point Reserve located on UC Santa Barbara's West Campus
Tour guide and speaker: Dr. Cristina Sandoval
Healthy ecological communities are noted, among other things, for their diversity. Over time, plant and animal communities evolve complex patterns of co-existence that are interdependent. Remove one element from the equation of life in a particular ecosystem and the entire dynamic changes. Dr. Cristina Sandoval, director of the UCSB Natural Reserve System’s Coal Oil Point Reserve will guide us through this unique habitat and help us to understand the complexities of maintaining a dynamic balance of nature in a 150-acre urban reserve.

Founders’ Day Talk:
Emerson,"The Promise of America” and
Lincoln, "The Last Best Hope of Earth”
Date: July 5, 2003
Time: 8:00–9:30 pm
Place: Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California
Speaker: Dr. Dan McCaslin
This year the IWC Founders’ Day talk will explore the uniquely American belief in America’s promise for the whole earth and its peoples. The definition and influences of that belief will be traced to Abraham Lincoln’s desperate dedication to the Constitution of the United States blended with the lofty idealism expressed in the transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Prospects for a genuine world culture will be contrasted with a rigid world view rooted in the linked concepts of empire, hegemony and democracy.

Film:
Midsummer Night's Dream
A film adaptation of ". . . one of Shakespeare's lightest and in many
respects the most purely playful of Shakespeare's plays."
                                                 — Harold C. Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare
Date: August 16, 2003
Time: 7:00–9:30 pm (with discussion to follow)
Place: Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California
Host: Robert Moore
As to what happens in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, we can do no better than to quote Harold Goddard — ". . . dream comes full circle as Vision, an immediate conscious apprehension of an invisible world, or, if you will, transubstantiation of the world of sense into something beyond itself." How does a sense of invisible nature enhance a corresponding sense of reverence for Nature? Come see Kevin Kline's inspired performance in Micheal Hoffman's film version of the Dream, and try and find an answer. Also staring Calista Flockhart, Stanley Tucci and Rupery Everett. There will be time after the film for discussion of the major themes, including love, imagination, chaos and art.

Seminar:
Shakespeare's Cosmos
Date: September 20, 2003
Time: 2:00–5:00 pm
Place: Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California
Speakers: Mr. Joe Miller and Mrs. Renee Tillotson
What echoes of cosmic harmony can we hear in Shakespeare’s lines? What is humanity’s place in Shakespeare’s cosmos? How does the human world interact with other realms? Is human destiny directed by the stars? Which classical, renaissance and Elizabethan concepts of cosmos do we find in Shakespeare? With these ambitious questions, the Institute's theme for the year Ex Chaos Cosmopolis becomes a vibrant reality in Shakespearean drama.

Seminar:
The State of the Art of Green Building
Date: October 18, 2003
Time: 2:00–4:30 pm
Place: Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California
Speakers:
Dennis Thompson, Architect, Thompson-Naylor Architects
Dennis Allen, President, Allen and Associates Contractors
One of the central challenges of architectural design and construction today involves the development and use of methodologies, systems, products and resources that are not only benign in relation to the environment, but which may actively help to restore and sustain the energy and eco-systems of the earth. Two local experts will bring you up to date on the hot topic of green building, both locally and nationally. They will show examples of award-winning Santa Barbara green buildings and describe how green building is rapidly becoming the norm for forward-looking government and business buildings as well as homes throughout the country. Dennis Thompson has built his practice around "environmentally and socially responsible" architectural design and was the recipient of the 2001 "Green Award" for the exemplary environmental business. Dennis Allen, the creator of "The Green Parade" has won many awards for environmentally sensitive projects and was elected "Green Builder of the Year" for 2002.
Topics for discussion will include:
• The cutting edge of green building today;
• How sick buildings are driving change in traditional building practices;
• Why children learn better and faster in environmentally friendly classrooms, sick people have shorter stays in green hospitals, and workers are more productive in sustainably designed and constructed buildings; and
• The costs associated with green building.

Seminar:
Principles of Global Citizenship
Date: November 15, 2003
Time: 2:00–5:00 pm
Place: Concord House, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, California
Speakers: Dr. Carolyn Dorrance and Dr. Maurice Bisheff
  with a contribution by Dr. Gerald J. Larson,
  Professor Emeritus, Religious Studies, University of California Santa Barbara
• What principles of global citizenship could contribute to the emergence of a world community and the enhancement of human welfare?
• What modes of education, experience and self chosen action could assist in the "emergence of men and women of universal culture, capable of continuous growth in non-violence of mind and harmony of soul'?
• Are principles of global citizenship necessary to set standards for governments, corporations and international organizations?
Join us for a discussion of how individuals can act with integrity in a world of turbulent interdependence.

Special Event Performance:
The Institute of World Culture presents
Lee Stetson performing
John Muir's WINTER TALES
December 13, 2003, 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Victoria Hall 33 W. Victoria Street, Santa Barbara, CA

TICKET PRICES:
CHILDREN: $8.00
GENERAL: $12.00
RESERVED: $25.00
Seating is limited so order early.
VISA and Mastercard accepted.

Mr. Stetson recently appeared on PBS television in a conversation with Huell Howser on his program California Gold.

TO ORDER :
CALL: 805/964-4212, OR EMAIL: tickets@worldculture.org OR MAIL TO:
Ticket Sales,
Institute of World Culture, 1407 Chapala Street,
Santa Barbara, CA 93101.
Be sure to include a phone number where you can be reached and a return address where the tickets are to be mailed.

Lee Stetson, nationally renowned for his persona as John Muir, will preform at the Victoria Hall Theater for one day in December. Join John Muir for a grand romp through the western wilderness.
• Climb a wall of winter ice beneath Yosemite Falls
• Spend a perilous night on Mt. Shasta
• Descend a Yosemite Valley canyon
• Leap a dangerous Alaskan crevasse . . .
Young and old will enjoy this unique holiday event, as Santa Barbara welcomes Lee Stetson's presentation of "John Muir's Winter Tales".

Reception and Open House
Saturday, December 13, 2003
Following the John Muir's Winter Tales event at the Victoria Hall Theater, members are invited to a holiday buffet and more storytelling with Lee Stetson at Concord House.