New Zeland - the Blueprint for Global Change

With just four million people in a land of green surrounded by the blue Pacific Ocean, I’ve come to believe we are small enough and contained enough to create effective and exceptional change in terms of finding new solutions and new ways of living – a virtual living blueprint of a new kind of world that could eventually be shared with other countries. Kimberley Paterson puts forth her case for the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’ as the example of a community living from the heart and a country thriving, economically, ecologically – and above all, spiritually. Chances are you know New Zealand for its spectacular scenery, award winning wines (Cloudy Bay), fine food, cutting edge fashion (Karen Walker, Trelise Cooper), music (Crowded House), sport (All Blacks) or even quirky humour (Flight of the Concords). It’s the home of Lord of the Rings films, of the Whale Rider movie, it's where model Rachel Hunter and actress Anna Paquin were born; home of an unusual flightless bird, the Kiwi, and a population who go by the same name who are intrepid travellers to the four corners of the earth from their relatively isolated island home. We’ve got some pretty savvy business people, global reaching educationalists and brilliant scientists and, of course, gifted the towering Sir Edmund Hillary to the world who reached the highest peak (Mt Everest) with one of the humblest egos. Maybe you know our history as the first country to give women the vote ... or how we stood up to much mightier powers than ourselves to say no to visits by nuclear powered ships (we’re all pretty proud of that). Often New Zealand pops up like a fantasy destination in a television programme or book (a John Grisham novel) as though we are the ultimate escape destination and to come here means you drop off the edge of the known world. New Zealand is all this ... and much more. As a journalist and author who has been writing about the unfolding spirituality of New Zealand for more than 20 years, I’ve also come to see that we are a country that might have a special spiritual mission. I believe New Zealand could be a blueprint for global change.

by ks
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