The Aspen Institute starts from an act of faith in the humanistic tradition: one must be reflective to ensure that all human activity—political, scientific, economic, intellectual, or artistic— will serve the needs of human beings and enrich and deepen their lives. The Institute believes in the value of both the "Great Ideas" of the past as well as the importance of the sometimes inelegant and highly controversial ideas of the present. The Institute is dedicated to the fundamental educational value of dialogue for mature men and women from different nations and cultures -- intercommunications between people of comparable competence from various backgrounds and specialized fields of experience. The Aspen idea recognizes that the processes by which persons learn and develop or change their ideas are not mechanical or even purely rational. As there is a mystery at the edge of human thought, so there is a magic about human relationships, and the magic we attempt to invoke in Aspen is that of the sheer beauty of this area of the Rocky Mountains. With Erasmus, we hold that "nothing human is alien" to the inquiring purposes of the Aspen Institute. The Institute intends to be, in sum, a place of excellence and excitement where men and women of the finest qualities of mind and spirit from all walks of life in the United States and abroad can meet to learn from one another through serious discussion of and work on significant problems facing society and the greatest ideas which have been expressed throughout history and today concerning these problems.