Unity-and-Diversity World Council

An international coordinating body devoted to linking metaphysical and New Age groups. It was originally formed as the International Cooperation Council, and it has been led for three decades by its coordinator Leland Stewart. The council seeks to coordinate cultural and religious organizations that, in their own ways, "foster the emergence of a new universal person and a civilization based on unity in diversity among all peoples." Formed to propagate ideals of unity during International Cooperation Year, it was voted into being in 1965 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Unity-and-Diversity World Council continues its work of publicizing the aims and ideas of humanitarian groups that bring together the methods and discoveries of modern science with the insights of religion, philosophy, and the arts. Much of this synthesis is concerned with developing areas of awareness in human consciousness and unorthodox healing techniques.

In its early period, the council took part in a New Age Institute directed toward public and private education. A World-View Ex ploration Seminar, formed in spring 1969, grew out of the Fifth Annual International Cooperation Festival, composed primarily of professionals from the fields of science, religion, art, education, and philosophy, who met on the campus of the California State College at Los Angeles to explore "the meaning of the new universal person and the world civilization."

In place of the magazine The Cooperator, the Unity-and-Diversity Council now issues the monthly newsletter Spectrum and also publishes a World Directory of affiliated organizations from its headquarters at 5521 Grosvenor Blvd., Ste. 22, Los Angeles, CA 90066-6915.