Bill Sharp: A Bahá’í Perspective on The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision

The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision, by scientists Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi, is a compilation of material about the limits of our approach to knowledge, an embrace of a wholistic, systems approach to understanding reality, and its application to the pressing problems, environmental, economic, and political, that define this challenging century. It was studied by members of the Agricultural Working Group over a period of several months. I am deeply indebted to this group for their input in developing this presentation.
The objective of the book is eco-literacy, and it gives an in-depth outline of the state of that literature roughly a decade ago. It addresses the pressing issue of climate. Two questions emerge. The first is what has been accomplished in climate mitigation over the last decade or so? Has there been real progress? The second is how does a system view of life coincide with the Bahá’í Revelation? Particularly, what does it have to say about our engagement in dialoging with others and what we can contribute, our society-building power, to the emerging challenges of this century?
The conclusion focuses on Bahá’í principles related to the tillage of the soil, a village agrarian response; the small and resilient community and its economy. This includes consideration of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ‘Adasiyyah project.

Bill Sharp is co-founder and Director of Transition Centre (TC), a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation https://transitioncentre.org/. The mission of TC is to promote and develop an integral model for local, self-reliant and sustainable economies and communi­ties. Rural Resilient Hub, a rural revitalization model, is a project of TC. He is the project lead for the development of the Borsodi Community University, which provides educational and training support for small communities. He has worked to restore the Borsodi legacy as a cornerstone of community revitalization.
Bill spent a career as a planner and project manager with experience in government, business, higher education (college professor and academic administrator), and nonprofits (several startups). These include founding board member and environment lead for Arizona Interfaith and founding board member of Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light. His focus has been community and economic development.
Bill is an author, speaker, and workshop leader. His academic achievements include a B.Sc. in Public Management with a two-year pre-engineering program and a minor in History, and an M.A. in sociology with a focus on community leadership development and additional graduate work in community develop­ment and business management.