Ed Elkin sent me this, and it was so delicious to me — as it could be delicious to you — and so timely, that I want to send it back out: http://www.yourchoiceforchange08.org/index.php?d=c3V6YW5uZSB0YXlsb3I=
Another subject: Thanks for the GREAT responses to my title request for my movie, which I'm still sifting through. If more of you are going to give me ideas, the time is NOW. Also, if anyone has any leads to possible funding for marketing my movie, please put me in touch.
One response had something in it that kicked me back to something I periodically trot out and try to float, which also is timely now. As ideas are being offered to the Obama administration, how about it getting behind a revival of The Twilight Club? Throughout the last century, it was an enterprise where leaders of thought came together with the intention of countering the moral decline of society by bolstering spiritual and ethical awareness. It's one of the great treasures of our history, and yet virtually no one has heard of it. If I had clout, it's what I would try to launch. If anyone has the power — and some of you on this list do — I would become your enthusiastic helper.
Here's some material that's been written about The Twilight Club:
Some of the members: Rudyard Kipling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Darwin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Walt Whitman, Edwin Markham, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas J. Watson, Rudyard Kipling, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Louis Tiffany, Walter Russell.
Their conviction was that world peace, harmony and unity would only come about through the brotherhood of man. They were convinced that a person's moral creed could not remain as words and platitudes, but must be translated into action. Building on this idea, they formed The Poets' Code of Ethics, intended as a worldwide moral code that related strictly to how people acted towards each other, the ethical nature of the code being based on the concept of service to others and to the world…
Andrew Carnegie strongly advocated the necessity of spreading the seeds of culture, morality and ethics. He promised to endow millions for educational purposes-particularly through building libraries. He also organized the Authors' Club, providing a house on 34th Street in New York, entirely free of charge providing that each member of the club agreed to write something every year that had a direct bearing on and reference to the moral code of ethics.
Out of this visionary effort came the Scout movement. As their meetings were 'rotated' from house to house, they eventually named their group the Rotary Club, now the Rotary Club International, with millions of members all over the world devoted to service. Other service clubs followed, such as the Kiwanis and the Lions.
Others inspired by the Twilight Club vision, such as Edwin Markham and Sophie Irene Loeb, worked to bring about change in social conditions, such as the elimination of sweatshops, compulsory education and child labor laws. Eugene Grace, president of the Bethlehem Steel Company, and Adolph Ochs, owner of the New York Times, worked to establish advertising censorship. Thomas J. Watson and Walter Russell campaigned for the elimination of the caveat emptor practice of business, which eventually led to the establishment of the Better Business Bureaus.
After the war years, Thomas J. Watson, head of International Business Machines, became inspired by the ideals of the ethical movement organized by Herbert Spencer, wanting the business world to practice these principles. He offered to pay all expenses necessary for the club activities. He, Walter Russell and Edwin Markham decided to stress culture as well as ethics, since culture stems from the arts, for World War one had caused a drop in cultural growth and patronage of the arts. They decided to call this extension of the Twilight Club, The Society of Arts and Science. Taking leadership, Thomas J. Watson and Walter Russell-who lectured for twelve years to IBM employees on better business practices-worked with others, such as Francis Sisson, from the banking, business and legal world, to uplift the standards of industry, law and justice.
From: Jeffrey Glover [jsg365@hotmail.com] Wonderful info – who knew? You did & thanks for sharing it – what a good idea…I would attend if and when! From: Barbara Marx Hubbard [bmh@evolve.org] The Twilight Club is a great idea! From: Monica Roleff [monr@smartchat.net.au] Fantastic, Suzanne, totally agree. I hope somebody gets behind it. Great stuff, that group of wise folks. From: Joyce Kovelman [ASOUL1@aol.com] Very open and interested in a Twilight for 21st C. club. Note the first one – was for Men only. Let's see what kind of response you get. It also reminds me of the Limits to Growth from the Club of Rome about 30 years ago and the group that Lazlo is in (Club of Hungary – I think). This is a way to get things a rolling and it would be interesting if we got some support or recognition from Obama's group too. To Joyce from Suzanne It's Club of Budapest which morphed into the World Shift Network
http://www.worldshiftnetwork.org/action, but none of that has had comparable legs to the Twilight Club. Lazlo, however, is on our wave length. I'd love to schmooze with him about what to do.
From: Paul Cash [Paulrcash@aol.com]
Thanks, Suzanne, for sending this. For now I have no way to do anything other than sympathize and dream with you . . . but I very much appreciate having the info.
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