Welcome
During International Days and major international conferences there is a special opportunity to serve in
the creation of a more unified and compassionate world.
As meditators we can symbolically stand together with all actively working in the spirit of the Charter of Compassion, and hold these events in the light of a Higher Wisdom.
Sustainable Development Goals & Climate Change
These International Days and events reflect important themes in the mobilization of energies to:
- End poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030 through practical actions to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals
- engaging people of goodwill all over the world in a common movement.
2015 United Nations International Years
- International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies
- International Year of Soils
Silence at the United Nations
The Spiritual Caucus at the United Nations gathers in the vicinity of UN Headquarters in New York (September - June) on the third Thursday every month for 30 minutes of silence followed by 30 minutes of dialogue, sharing insights and exploring ways to use an inner focus in service of the work of the UN. On the 1st Thursday of the month the Caucus invites friends to sit in silence for 30 minutes in the newly renovated Meditation Room at UN Headquarters in New York.
Please link in from wherever you are. More information at: http://www.spiritualcaucusun.org/
In October the Spiritual Caucus will gather in the UN Meditation Room on October 1st and at a venue to be decided near to UN Headquarters in New York on October 15 from 1.30 - 2.45 PM.
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October Please Hold These Events in the Light
October 1
International Day of Older Persons
Theme 2015: Sustainability and Age Inclusiveness in the Urban Environment
People are living longer. This is prompting governments and people's organisations all over the world to reflect deeply on how we can plan for future societies in which: every individual, each with rights and responsibilities, has an active role to play.
At every level of society - local communities, regional groups, peoples associations, governments and international coalitions - there is a potent focus on ways in which the wisdom, maturity, skills and heart qualities of older people can be fully incorporated into healthy communities.
www.un.org/en/events/olderpersonsday
October 2
International Day of Non-Violence
To mark the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the UN General Assembly decided that October 2nd be observed as an occasion to "disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness". The resolution reaffirms "the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence" and the desire "to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence". more
www.un.org/en/events/nonviolenceday
www.facebook.com/nonviolenceday
October 2 - 16
Action for Living Seed & Living Soil
The two weeks October 2 - 16 span the period from the Day of Non-violence honoring Gandhi's birthday to World Food Day. In recent years the Global Movement for Seed Freedom has focused its global campaigns during these two weeks. This year the movement invites people and communities everywhere to organize actions to celebrate our seeds, our soils, our land, our territories, and to create an Earth Democracy based on Living Seed, Living Soil, healthy communities and living economies. … Join us in an amazing uprising of love and care where we act as one heart, as one mind and one consciousness to say no to [the] ecocide and genocide that is no longer a theory: it is happening all around us, to every society, in every generation and to every species.
Planned actions include a Seed Satyagraha (civil disobedience) on October 2, inviting people to sign a pledge for Civil Disobedience to Protect Seeds; a 'Soil Pilgrimmage' in India from October 2 - 5 travelling from Gandhi's ashram to the center where pioneering British soil scientist Sir Albert Howard worked; and a mass march and rally in Washington DC, USA on October 16-17.
seedfreedom.info/campaign/
October 4
World Animal Day
World Animal Day, observed on the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi, was first celebrated in 1931. Since then it has become a day for remembering and paying tribute to all animals and the people who love and respect them. Events are held around the world by peoples of diverse faiths and cultures.
The mission of the day is: To raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe. Building the celebration of World Animal Day unites the animal welfare movement, mobilising it into a global force to make the world a better place for all animals. It's celebrated in different ways in every country, irrespective of nationality, religion, faith or political ideology. Through increased awareness and education we can create a world where animals are always recognised as sentient beings and full regard is always paid to their welfare.
www.worldanimalday.org.uk/
October 4 - 10
World Space Week
2015 theme: Discovery
Observed with over hundreds of events all over the world, World Space Week celebrates the contribution of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition. Every year events are held in schools around the world to observe the Week. World Space Week 2015 highlights the great era of deep space discovery that we are in. We have never learnt as much of the universe we live in as in the last decade.
www.worldspaceweek.org
www.un.org/en/events/spaceweek/
October 5
World Teachers Day
Theme 2015: Empowering teachers, building sustainable societies
Think about the role of teachers in the transition into a new era. Who are the teachers? What is required of those who teach the children and young people?
Created by UNESCO, World Teachers Day celebrates teachers worldwide. Its aim is to mobilise support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers.
www.worldteachersday.org
www.unesco.org/
October 5
World Habitat Day
2015 theme: Public Spaces for All.
Celebrated on the first Monday of October every year, the UN World Habitat Day invites us to reflect on the state of our cities and towns and what we want the cities of our future to look like.
World Habitat Day 2015 campaigns focuses on public spaces: Streets and public spaces have often been overlooked and undervalued, but are increasingly being considered the backbone of cities. Public spaces are places which are accessible and enjoyable by all without a profit motive and take on various spatial forms, including parks, streets, sidewalks, markets and playgrounds..
www.unhabitat.org
www.habitat.org
October 10
World Mental Health Day
2015 theme: Dignity in mental health
HEALERS TAKE NOTE: This is a Day to focus on the contribution all can make towards the creation of a healthy mental environment - and on the sensitive healing needed by those who suffer from mental illness in its many forms.
This year, WHO will be raising awareness of what can be done to ensure that people with mental health conditions can continue to live with dignity, through human rights oriented policy and law, training of health professionals, respect for informed consent to treatment, inclusion in decision-making processes, and public information campaigns.
wfmh.com/world-mental-health-day/
www.who.int/mental_health/
October 11
International Day of the Girl Child
2015 theme: The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030
The international celebration of this Day is yet another sign of the growing concentration on efforts to fulfill the vision of the Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child as they concern gender rights. Perhaps more than anything else this demonstrates the rising power of the feminine in human affairs.
www.un.org/en/events/girlchild/
www.unicef.org/gender/
October 13
International Day for Disaster Reduction
2015 theme: Knowledge for Life
Disaster risk reduction is about understanding our personal and environmental risks of a hazard, like an earthquake, flood, hurricane/cyclone, and landslides and finding ways to reduce this risk so that we are not affected by them, or be able to bounce back quickly if they do affect us. In 2014, 19.3 million people were displaced by natural disasters.
This year’s focus is on the traditional, indigenous and local knowledge which complement modern science and add to an individual’s and societies’ resilience.
www.unisdr.org
www.un.org/en/events/
October 15
International Day of Rural Women
First celebrated by the UN in 2008, this Day is yet another sign of the major focus on women and gender issues in global affairs. The Day has been celebrated by civil society around the world since the Beijing Women's Conference in 1995.
Rural women the world over play a major role in ensuring food security and in the development and stability of the rural areas. Yet, with little or no status, they frequently lack the power to secure land rights or to access vital services such as credit, inputs, extension services, training and education. Their vital contribution to society goes largely unnoticed. World Rural Women's Day aims to change this by bringing rural women out of obscurity at least once a year — to remind society how much they owe to rural women and to give value and credit to their work.
www.woman.ch
www.un.org/en/events/ruralwomenday
October 16
World Food Day
2015 theme: Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty
Seventy-eight percent of the one billion people in developing countries who live in extreme poverty live in rural areas. During the past 20 years social protection policies (including social assistance, social insurance and labour
market interventions)have been expanded to large numbers of the poor in developing countries BUT most subsistence producers, family farmers and landless agricultural workers still receive no assistance. They lack any saftey net to help manage their livlihoods and deal with such risks as serious weather shocks. Although agriculture plays a key role in eradicating both poverty and hunger, in these circumstances, it offers little on its own in the way of a pathway out of poverty.
www.fao.org/world-food-day/home/en/
October 17
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
2015 theme: Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination
October 17th presents an opportunity to acknowledge the effort and struggle of people living in poverty, a chance for them to make their concerns heard, and a moment to recognize that poor people are the first ones to fight against poverty. Participation of the poor themselves has been at the center of the Day's celebration since its very beginning. The commemoration of October 17th also reflects the willingness of people living in poverty to use their expertise to contribute to the eradication of poverty.
undesadspd.org/Poverty/
overcomingpoverty.org
www.un.org/en/events/povertyday/
October 23 - 28
Week of Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns, UN Headquarters, New York
Organised by the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns - NY, this annual week of events honors the anniversary of the founding of the UN. It seeks to foster the growth of a culture of peace in which "we, the peoples of the world", can address together our common challenges in a holistic, positive and transformative way.
www.csvgc-ny.org/
October 24
United Nations Day
This year's UN Day is especially significant — the organisation's 70th birthday — a day to celebrate, reflect on the past and envision the future. Iconic monuments, buildings, statues, bridges, and other landmarks across the globe will be lit up blue to celebrate the anniversary.
Hold the United Nations in the light especially on this Day marking the coming into force of the UN Charter. Visualise the General Assembly being overshadowed with higher energies of Synthesis and of the active principle of Peace. Please also hold the Meditation Room at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in the light - you will find a photograph of the room and a copy of Dag Hammarskjold's inspiring paper on the room here. Read about the Chagall Window of Peace outside the Meditation Room here.
www.un.org/un70/en
www.un.org/en/events/unday
October 24
Global Oneness Day
Humanity's Team and Association for Global New Thought invite groups around the world to celebrate UN Day, October 24, as Global Oneness Day. In May 2010, a global petition was presented to the UN, calling on this Day to be observed by the United Nations and in the same year the first Oneness Day was observed by groups from around the world. It is a day intended to inspire awareness, appreciation and celebration of life's underlying Oneness in the same way that Earth Day is intended to inspire awareness, appreciation and celebration of the earth's natural environment. A virtual event will be held on line with visionary speakers. Sign the Declaration of oneness.
www.global-oneness-day.org
October 24 - 30
World Disarmament Week
Disarmament Week has been observed by the United Nations since 1978. Member States are invited to highlight the dangers of the arms race, promote recognition of the need to stop the arms race, and increase public understanding of the urgent tasks of disarmament. NGOs organize a range of events seeking to raise public opinion and pressurize governments to act on disarmament.
www.un.org/en/events/disarmamentweek
October 27
Full Moon — Scorpio
Since ancient times human beings have honored the full moon as a time when the sacred is most accesible. It is a time of light - the moon reflects the light of the sun onto the face of the earth. In astrology this is a time when the qualities and potentials of the zodiacal sign of the sun are especially available to humanity for use in service.
During the full moon religious and esoteric groups around the world use the opportunities of this time to vizualize light and love and spiritual power flowing into humanity and strengthening all that is being done to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
www.lucistrust.org
www.worldservicegroup.com/
October 31
World Cities Day
2015 theme: Designed to live together
In 2013 the UN General Assembly proclaimed October 31st as World Cities Day, to be observed every year from 2014.
The Day is expected to promote the international community’s interest in global urbanisation, encourage cooperation among countries in meeting opportunities and addressing challenges in urbanization towards sustainable urban development.
Half of humanity now lives in cities, and within two decades, nearly 60 per cent of the world’s people will be urban dwellers … As cities grow in size and population, harmony among the spatial, social and environmental aspects of a city and between their inhabitants becomes of paramount importance. This harmony hinges on two key pillars: equity and sustainability…
urbanoctober.org
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