April 14, late night - two days before the Architects of the Future Meeting 2010 started and everything was organized and ready to welcome our new architects of the future (aof), we were hit with the shocking news of the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Already next day it was clear that most of the European flights would have to be cancelled. I was quite upset but my brother Herwig, who helped me organize the meeting, comforted me by reminding me of the difficulties in 2008: "Take it easy - when you organized the last Waldzell Meeting the financial crisis broke out two weeks before the meeting was to take place. Now we are only confronted with a bit of volcanic fallout - a small reminder of earthly powers. This is far less problematic in a world where only money matters...

                So we decided not to cancel the meeting and make arrangements for the remaining aofs who had managed to catch a train or were lucky enough to reach one of the last flights going out. So on Friday 16 at noon we started the event with just four aofs while receiving the news from our main sponsor, the baumax/Essl Foundation, that they will have to cancel the Ashoka Globalizer meeting, which they had planned to host at the Hofburg in Vienna and which would have been an integral part of the AoF Meeting. Thus, in addition to the loss of most of the aofs, we also had to cope with the cancellation of an important part of the program. At this point, however, I had regained my trust that there was a reason for everything happening.

                After a beautiful, though small and silent award ceremony at the HUB Vienna with just four aofs on Friday evening, we received the amazing message that Bremley Lyngdoh, one of our aofs, who had been waiting at London airport, had taken a courageous step. He had rented a car, picked up all the aofs stuck in Oxford, Paris and Frankfurt, and was already driving to Vienna. Saturday noon after a deeply touching dialog with the Himalayan hermit Johannes Toegel, who spoke with us about keeping your heart energy-boddhicitta, the volcano proof architects of the future arrived after an 18 hours car ride - exhausted and tired, but still happy and enthusiastic. You always get rewarded when you overcome your fears and doubts!

                We were well rewarded: Saturday afternoon Mr. Essl invited all of us to the Essl Social Prize ceremony at the Hofburg Vienna were the aofs met with about 400 decision makers from economy. Next day Mr. Essl invited us to the Essl Museum, were we enjoyed the beauty and importance of art. Mr. Essl personally joined us for lunch and told us that he was very impressed by these young people who had demonstrated that they are able to overcome great problems in order to reach their goal of making the world a better place.

                Sunday afternoon another highlight awaited us at Melk Abbey. The Abbot and Father Martin had decided to honour the work of our young 'architects' by incorporating their contributions into the Waldzell Collection, which is a work of art at the library of Melk Abbey, containing the lifework of all Waldzell speakers, among which there are personalities like HH The Dalai Lama, Paulo Coelho, Isabel Allende and some world-famous Nobel Prize Laureates. This great honour was highly appreciated by the young people proving to them that their dedication to heal the world is being acknowledged.

                The following dinner with Father Martin in the deep cellar of Melk Abbey, where the famous dialogue between Abbot Burkhard and Paulo Coelho was taking place, made a successful conclusion to a day, which none of the participants will forget.

                After a fine breakfast with important leaders from the Austrian Industry, organized by the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, the AoF Meeting 2010 was concluded. Everybody went home highly enriched by the inspiring events of the meeting and with the firm conviction that the architects of the future initiative is something which matters in our world, where we are in danger to lose our values and our trust in what binds us all together.

My sincere thanks to all of you for your invaluable help.

In 2005, Waldzell started the initiative architects of the future. The architects of the future are young social entrepreneurs between 20 and 35 years from all parts of the globe. The mission of this initiative is the integration of all levels of human understanding that connects head, heart and soul within the business field. Thus, we want to contribute to a more aware society that is reflected by a humanistic approach, based upon joy of mutual giving and taking, recognizing and serving.

                Our vision is to create a worldwide network of future entrepreneurs, whose enterprises positively and sustainably influence the development of our world.  Through our initiative these ambitious young people, who originally worked as solo fighters all around the world, already form a community of global support, where they learn from each other.  Beyond that, their causes provide an inspiring model for people, who want to create something meaningful in their lives. Thus the architects of the future serve as role models of how we can find meaning in our own lives and contribute to a fairer and more peaceful world. The famous writer Paulo Coelho took over the patronage for this initiative. 

                On April 16 we celebrate our newly elected architects of the future. The party will take place at the HUB Vienna at 7 pm. If you like to join us we are happy to invite you, please register at hollauf@waldzell.org.

                From 17 to 19 April the architects of the future will meet with 25 of the most successful advanced social entrepreneurs, the Ashoka Globalizers, at the Hofburg Vienna. There they will have the chance to communicate with internationally renowned business leaders and philanthropists, who will share with them their experiences and their networks.

                Should this arouse your interest, you are welcome to join our new mentoring program. It addresses business leaders and philanthropists, who understand the enormous positive power of giving and taking by sharing their experiences and providing support to create a better world. In exchange our architects of the future will give inspiration of how to connect strong vision with an open heart and sound business.

                If you want to know more about our mentoring program, please contact us at office@waldzell.org.

  What happens when you get His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, together with an Austrian Benedictine Monk, David Steindl-Rast to look at the same question of compassion and gratefulness from their different perspectives and paths they have walked in life?  We are able to see the whole picture, that has for so long been hidden to the wider public.  This holistic understanding of critical global issues of our time, brings about an awareness of our collective consciousness and enables more and more people to find solutions through the language of the heart.

            Waldzell has created a space in which the speakers have been able to tell the `real` story about themselves, instead of just their personal persona.  This persona that is extolled by publicity, tells a different story, that of success at all costs, whereas Waldzell provides a space for the speakers to tell their story that is behind the headlines.  This is not only through their profound achievements, but also their personal spiritual journey that has guided them to have revelations along their path of success, that supported them in living more closely to their values and their inner moral code.  This in turn has led the speakers and participants of Waldzell to feel encouraged to continue living their lives in a more ethically sound way.

            By bringing together many different disciplines in one place Waldzell connects everyone through the heart and we can explore concepts of nationality, politics, religion, culture on an emotive level. On the micro level, in small groups and intimate settings, through dialogue reconciliation and understanding can be reached.  The secret lies in breaking loose from the constraints that tie us, of talks choreographed entirely by boundary images, where negotiators are locked in as spokespersons and representatives of preset counterposed categories.

        Through the interdisciplinary Waldzell dialogue, we have been able to access broader parts of everyones humanity and activate a range of other images and identities especially by facilitating some individual bonding across that boundary. The consequence is a deep restructuring on an emotive level, one that previously has been dominated by boundary and fact.

Waldzell is a place, an experience and a journey that promises inspiration through renewal. We invite people who have been making possible what once seemed impossible in arts, sciences, economy and spirituality. 

                  Waldzell offers participants the rare opportunity to journey beyond their discipline through this experience.  To network across these four elements to find renewed light through insight.  The journey through Waldzell empowers us to collectively reveal truths that have been suppressed by daily demands to face the challenges of our time.  Meeting like-minded fellows, Waldzell offers an experience to reframe ideas, co-create and give them life.

                  Waldzell has been co-creating initiatives that renew hope in our modern world.  Our growing network of participants has been exchanging ideas that give us courage to reach beyond ourselves to co-create something greater. 

The education system that we all grew up within has been catering to an Industrial and Knowledge Age rather than what is currently awakening that is a Consciousness Age of creators and empathizers. Waldzell started as a dialogue and has turned into a space that has enabled a level of creativity that is actually healing by allowing us to re-connect with each other and with the different aspects within ourselves.

                  Waldzell`s prime objective is the alignment of inner and outer values that give rise to a renewed state of mind towards ourselves and the world around us.  Waldzell dialogue has enabled participants to gain wisdom from the inside leading to inner and outer truth.  Through this method, thinking has been radically changed.  Why?  What makes Waldzell so intensely powerful?  Waldzell has been able to find again our common language of the heart through an interdisciplinary dialogue in answer to the same important questions of our time.

Welchen Stellenwert haben Utopien für uns? kunstSTOFF hat Waldzell-Gründerin Gundula Schatz, Künstlerin Renate Pittroff, Architekten Josef Wiesingerund Historiker Peter Huemer im Beisein von Kulturvernetzer Josef Schick zum Gespräch gebeten. Moderiert hat Philosoph Leo Hemetsberger

Hemetsberger: Was bedeutet für Sie „Utopie"?

Schatz: Utopien haben viel mit Träumen zu tun. Das Wesentliche für Utopien in der Wirtschaft ist, dass wir sie auch leben und nicht nur darüber philosophieren. Interdisziplinäre Ansätze sind gerade jetzt besonders wichtig, denn: Wenn Utopien von einem Einzelmenschen kommen, sind sie vom Ego gefärbt und werden daher nie die Bedürfnisse aller berücksichtigen. Wir sollten alle zusammen eine gemeinsame Utopie kreieren und umsetzen.

Hemetsberger: Wie ist das in der Kunst, wo ja Vieles von Einzelpersönlichkeiten ausgeht?

Pittroff: Bei der Kunst stellt sich die Frage: Kann sich die Utopie mit der Avantgarde in Beziehung setzen? Die Avantgarde ist wie ein Ruderer, der nicht in die Richtung schaut, in die er rudert, sondern dorthin, wovon er wegrudert. Die Avantgarde definiert sich immer aus dem, gegen das sie sich absetzen will. Ob ein Kunstwerk utopisch ist, bezweifle ich daher sehr.

The calm after the initial storm has brought forth a pertinent conference organised by social entrepreneurs Emersense and the infamous, traditional Erste bank during Prague`s EU presidency, to find mutually enriching collaborations. Banking for Social Entrepreneurship from June 19th-20th at Česká Spořitelna couldn`t have come at a better time.  Waldzell took a long anticipated trip on a train filled with eager, young social entrepreneurs representing an array of philanthropic organisations such as Ashoka, Caritas or feisty researchers and panelists compiling their final notes on the journey.  Inevitably we started chatting on the way and we could tell just from the energy generated from our initial conversations, that this was going to be one dynamic event.