The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and in human responsibility. Without a global revolution in the sphere of consciousness nothing will change for the better in the sphere of our being as humans and the catastrophe toward which the world is headed, be it ecological, social, demographic or general breakdown of civilization, will be unavoidable. If we are no longer threatened by world war or by the danger that the absurd mountains of accumulated nuclear weapons might blow up the world, this does not mean that we have definitely won. We are still incapable of understanding that the only genuine backbone of all of our actions, if they are to be moral, is responsibility. Responsibility to something higher than my family, my country, my company, my success. Responsibility to the order of being where all our actions are indelibly recorded and where and only where they will be properly judged.

Václav Havel, playwright,
President of the Czech Republic,
from an address to the joint session of
the U.S. Congress in March 1990

More than being an inspiration as an artist, I would call this a mission statement. I’m very struck by his comment that without a global revolution in the sphere of consciousness nothing will change for the better. I firmly believe that the creative process as it manifests in art, photography, and music, can help enlarge consciousness. And, I further believe that consciousness alone is what’s needed to change the challenges that we face in the 21^st century.”