(A) ACTIVITIES

The activities of the Society include:

• Publishing a journal for scholarly studies and a newsletter Organizing meetings for presenting papers and exchanging ideas
  
• Planning and preparing an Encyclopedia of Human Ideas on Ultimate Reality and Meaning
  
• Promoting reflective, analytic, structural, and systematic research on concepts of ultimate reality and meaning
  
• Establishing an Institute for Ultimate Reality and Meaning to provide facilities for scholars from different disciplines, cultures, and countries to meet and work together.

(B) SCOPE

Reviews and research dealing with those concepts, ideas, facts, things, axioms, systems, persons, and values that people throughout history have considered:

• ULTIMATE: that to which the human mind reduces and relates everything; that which one does not reduce to anything else.
  
• SUPREME VALUE: that for which one would sacrifice everything and would not lose for anything
  
• HORIZONS: concepts and ideas that extend to the limits of human understanding; world views in the light of which humans understand whatever they understand

(C) ORGANIZATION

The Society is organized into four research divisions:

• Humanities and the Arts
• Philosophy
• Religion
• Science

In order to encourage and coordinate activities in different disciplines and fields of scholarship a member of the Society may join one or more research divisions or remain a member-at-large.

There are two support divisions - individual and corporate organized for the purpose of providing financial support for the Society.

The Society is structured separately into regional divisions in order to facilitate personal contacts and collaboration at regional meetings. The organization into regions is determined by the number and distribution of members and may change with time. The initial regional structure is

• Africa
• Asia
• Australia and Oceania
• Central and South America
• Europe
• North America

Members are encouraged to join a regional division, or to organize new regional divisions that encompass smaller areas, but may remain members-at-large.

(D) GOVERNING COUNCIL

The governing council of the Society consists of elected officers (president, vice-president, treasurer and nominating committee chairman), the most recent past-president, elected councilors (one from each research, support, and regional division, and three councilors-at-large), and officers appointed by the president with concurrence by elected members of the governing council (director of the institute, general editor, executive secretary, and meeting secretary).

Each division has divisional officers and a divisional council elected by members of the division. The president of each division serves as councilors on the governing council.

(E) MEETINGS

Biennial meetings of the society are held in August of oddnumbered years in Toronto, Canada, to provide an opportunity for members from all parts of the world to meet together and exchange ideas. These meetings consist of symposia, research sessions, and business meetings of the Society.

Symposia are organized to present topics of general interest to all members and encourage discussion and exchange of ideas between different disciplines. Research sessions are for presentation of papers that explore specific topics in greater depth and are intended for publication in the URAM journal. The affairs of the society are reviewed and newly elected officers are installed at the business meetings.

Regional meetings are organized by the division in order to supplement the biennial meeting and enable participation and exchanges of ideas without travelling long distances.

(F) URAM JOURNAL

Members and other qualified scholars may submit manuscripts for publication in "Ultimate Reality and Meaning: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Philosophy of Understanding", a refereed journal published by the Society.

(G) EDITORIAL COUNCIL

The editorial council consists of qualified scholars in relevant disciplines and subject who are responsible for reviewing manuscripts submitted for publication in the journal, maintaining scholarly standards, and encouraging research related to ultimate reality and meaning. The subjects currently covered include:

African Studies, Altaic and Uralic Studies, Anthropological Studies, Arabic Studies and Islamic Studies, Art History, Biblical Studies, Biology, Canadian Studies, Computer Studies, EnglishLiterature, Environmental Studies, Genome Studies, Hellenic and Roman Classic Studies, Hermeneutical Studies, Indian Studies, Japanese Studies, Judaic Studies, Latin-American Studies, Medieval Studies, Near Eastern Studies, Philosophical Studies, Slavic Studies, Socio-Biology, Sociological Studies, Theological Studies and Transcultural Systems Analysis.

Additonal subjects will be added as the research program develops.

(H) MEMBERSHIP

Membership is open to all who support the purposes of the society and are dedicated to maintaining high scholarly standards. Participation by individuals of all beliefs, cultures, religions, and scholarly disciplines is encouraged.

The basic annual membership fee of $27 Canadian includes a subscription to the journal and newsletter. A reduced fee of $10 Canadian is applicable to those who would otherwise be unable to join, and is offset by voluntary contributions from other members.

Membership applications and additional information may be obtained from:

Institute for URAM
P.O. Box 38
Pickering, ON L1V 2R2 Canada
Tel: (905) 839-3858, Fax: (905) 839-3387
Email: jperry@chass.utoronto.ca