This year, the John Templeton Foundation has selected love — one of Sir John Templeton’s core values — as a key organizational priority.
Love is remarkable for so many reasons. Sir John explored the concept at length in his book Pure Unlimited Love. In it, he says,
“Love, at its highest and unlimited level, requires nothing in return. Unlimited love loves simply for the sake of loving. It doesn’t seem concerned with what or whom it loves, nor with whether or not love is returned."
Love is also one of the key values that connects the John Templeton Foundation with the Fetzer Institute, which has also served as our co-funder for the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. On January 31, Bob Boisture, President and CEO of the Fetzer Institute, visited the Foundation’s offices to join Heather Templeton Dill for a wide-ranging conversation on love.
During the discussion, Heather Templeton Dill asked Bob Boisture about the unique, love-oriented mission statement of the Fetzer Institute:
“So the mission of the Fetzer Institute is ‘helping to build the spiritual foundation for a loving world.’ You led the effort to arrive at this mission statement. How did you decide that this new language captured Fetzer’s core mission and goals, and why the emphasis on love — which is not a concept that you hear in the mission statement’s of many nonprofits?”
Boisture responded, “Love is in our DNA. So this was a collective discernment process. Our prior mission statement had also mentioned love. It was, ‘Raising awareness of the power of love and forgiveness in the emerging global community.’ It was a post 9/11 mission statement. But as we worked with that mission for a little more than 10 years, we realized that yes, we’re committed to love, but what we’re really committed to is the deep spiritual wellsprings of love.”
Visit the website to learn more about the Fetzer Institute’s mission, work, and the legacy of their founder, John E. Fetzer.
