THE STEWARDSHIP

Stewardship is the assumption of responsibility for the welfare of the world. It is the inclination which leads some part of the world to care for the whole; it is the practice of that inclination. Stewardship is the mantle under which operate all of the progressive causes ― human rights, conservation, economic welfare, government reform and oversight, education, health care, disaster relief, animal welfare, mental health, peace.

The stewardship is a perpetual institution, existing in all times and all places. It includes countless persons, working alone or working together, most without regard to their affiliation to the whole. And yet they are connected, and not merely by the common purpose which leads them all to take responsibility for the world they inhabit.

The stewardship is, first and foremost, a phenomenon of the universe. It is a force in the universe which acts to preserve the universe from harm. Primarily this takes place through the actions and due to the will of individual minds. Individuals feel the sense of responsibility; individuals act to care for the universe. The stewardship, then, is the collective of all those individuals, the cumulative effect of their actions.

Elements of the stewardship
Roles in the stewardship
Metaphors and representations
A second pole
Disputed territory ― freedom from a stewardship perspective
Transcendent rationalism ― the intellectual basis of stewardship
Stewardship sites on the internet
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Writings of the stewardship
 

© O.T. FORD