In a CBC interview aired May 17th, world-renowned author, philosopher and recent winner of the prestigious Templeton Prize, Charles Taylor says that in our post-911 adversarial world the absence of meaning in the lives of young men is fertile ground for suicide bombers. “We need to look into what makes this kind of meaning vacuum,” says Taylor, “this kind of breakdown of webs of meaning that are woven into the complexities of our lives is happening all over the world… we see this massive disorientation all over the world.”

He notes, “The clash of civilization is not a reality it is a project of some people. We address this by building bridges.. finding bridges to our common problems.”
“I am really impressed with the possibility to get global issues on the agenda, like global warming. Somehow there is a shift … I feel that people are not letting governments get away from it… the fact that there has been this tremendous turn around gives me hope that we are still in the game, that there is still hope,” he observes.

The importance that civil society is playing in building bridges can not go underestimated. “not letting governments get away from it” from their responsibility to govern justly, humanely and with global leadership is coming to the forefront with the shift in the global agenda. It may feel like rolling a boulder up a steep hill… but in some corners of the world it feels like gravity is finally working in the favour of global civic society.