Coined by peace research pioneer & sociologist Elise Boulding, the “200 year present” means thinking of the fleeting present moment with full awareness of the effects of our present actions. If one considers the lifespans of the oldest and the youngest individual alive at any given time one gets a period across the “past,” “present,” and “future,” of approximately 200 years. This perspective encourages a long-term commitment to all of life in which we acknowledge that the past is still with us in its effects and that all aspects of the present moment — all our thoughts and actions — will determine the future.

When Martin Luther King, Jr. admonished us to “rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented culture to a person-oriented culture,” he hit upon the essence of the current 200 year awareness, which demands that we shift from materialist view of the human being to a consciousness-based view that embraces the unity of life across time.