Dr Ervin Laszlo 

Dr Ervin Laszlo was a Hungarian-American philosopher of science, systems theorist, and classical pianist. He was the Director of the Laszlo Institute of New Paradigm Research and founder of the think-tank Club of Budapest. A child prodigy who performed with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra at nine, he traded the concert hall for a lifelong inquiry into the deepest questions of existence: How is the cosmos connected? What is consciousness? And how do we live as if we truly belong to one another and to the whole of life?

Through the Club of Budapest, which he founded to awaken planetary consciousness, and through his work on the Akasha Paradigm, Ervin insisted that we are not separate fragments in an indifferent universe, but threads in a single living fabric of information, energy, and awareness.

He wrote nearly a hundred books, advised the United Nations, and was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, yet he carried his brilliance with humility and warmth.

During his time on the IAC, a body established under the Auroville Foundation Act to provide advice and long-term support for the township's development, Laszlo championed Auroville as a practical "living laboratory" where transpersonal ideals and enlightened, sustainable living could be pioneered for the rest of the world. He frequently wrote messages of support highlighting the township as an alternative to mainstream society's destructive trends.

Dr Ervin Laszlo's message for Auroville on Auroville's 28th Anniversary, 28th February, 1996:

"Auroville, a unique experiment in international and intercultural coexistence, is one of the most hopeful indications of the practical realization of the human potential the entire world community will soon require to ensure a truly sustainable and humane future. Auroville deserves worldwide recognition as a pioneer of planetary cooperation, harmony, and understanding."