Tag: Conflict Resolution

Just look at what this nervous lady has achieved as a peace-maker – wow!

“Anger is like gasoline. If you spray it around and somebody lights a match, you’ve got an inferno. [But] if we can put our anger inside an engine, it can drive us forward.”

How do you deal with a bully without becoming a thug? In this wise and soulful talk, peace activist Scilla Elworthy maps out the skills we need — as nations and individuals — to fight extreme force without using force in return. To answer the question of why and how non-violence works, she evokes historical heroes — Aung San Suu Kyi, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela — and the personal philosophies that powered their peaceful protests. (Filmed at TEDxExeter.)

Scilla Elworthy founded Oxford Research Group in 1982, to promote effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers and their opponents.

When Scilla Elworthy was 13, she sat in front of her television set watching as Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest. Immediately she started packing her bags. “What are you doing?” her mother said. “I’m going to Budapest,” she said. “They’re doing something awful and I have to go.” Years later, Elworthy is a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and a recipient of the Niwano Peace Prize. In 2002 Elworthy founded Peace Direct, which supports local action against conflict, and in 1982 founded Oxford Research Group, a think-tank devoted to developing effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers and their critics. Beginning in 2005 she helped set up The Elders initiative as an adviser to Sir Richard Branson, Peter Gabriel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

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TAGS; peace, peace-makers, great peace-makers, Scilla Elworthy, non-violence, non-violent communication, force, violence, anger, overcoming anger, meditation, peace activist, peace activism, dialogue, The Elders, Richard Branson, Peter Gabriel, Desmond Tutu, reconciliation, conflict, conflict resolution, Aung San Suu Kyi, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, protest, peaceful protest, bullying, disarmament, meditation, courage under fire, self-knowledge, Quakers, Friends,

How I got zapped by 3 truth-tellers in one week – one atheist, one social network site and one Saudi intellectual!

Pat Condell, the social network site MLIA (My Life is Average) and the

Saudi intellectual Abdallah bin Bakhit –

the 3 truth-tellers that zapped me in 1 week

As someone interested for half a century in truth and reality  it is unusual to discover three disparate gateways to these great human concerns in one month.

The first I have previously mentioned – Pat Condell.  That was the truth, reality and art that I found in the work of an atheist.  Beware it is strong – and you have to listen hard beyond the ‘abuse’ and anger to certain spiritual truths that are/should be preeminent in many religions – the Golden Rule, Justice, not imposing your world-view on others, hating the act (where appropriate) and not the actor etc

Pat Condell’s talks are here as MP3s and he also has a channel on YouTube.   That was surprising because that half century has led me to a broadly mystical view of reality and human reality – as say in Ken Wilber and Eckhart Tolle.

How is it that I appreciate Pat Condell so much – as someone who gathers light and inspiration from (parts of) all religions – including Islam?  Briefly, because it would be quite a long appreciation, he is energetically opposing the corruption I see in virtually all religions and, given his belief system, he is a quality of truth-teller almost entirely absent from those who inhabit religious communities.  Not only that he also (seems to) possess, in good measure, the values, qualities and attributes that so many people of religion claim to have – but don’t.  ‘Seems  to’ because even truth-telling atheists have to walk the talk – but I suppose persistence in the face of dozens of death-threats means he most definitely is walking the talk.

The second addition to truth-telling in and around the human condition came from the MLIA – My Life is Average site.  Now it would be easy to dismiss this because it is whimsical, trivial and of no great importance but I think it has struck, uniquely, a chord that belonged only to self-deprecating comedians – and its brevity, as with Twitter, is essential.  Here are four examples at random;

Today, while voting on submissions, I stumbled across a story beginning with a “today” that was not capitalized. Offended, I clicked “no”. MLIA.

Today, Billy Mays yelled at me through the TV and told me to buy Oxyclean. I yelled back at him that I wasn’t going to. MLIA.

Today, I told my friends I needed to show them a hillarious Youtube video. I played it for them and when nobody started laughing I said, “Oh this is the wrong one.” Then I pretended like I couldn’t find the right one. MLIA

Today, I made a triple-chocolate sundae and I felt fat. So I topped it off with sugar-free hot fudge and I felt like I was making healthy choices. MLIA

How can I possibly mention in the same breath great human beings and this site of small happenings in the lives and consciences of  the people on MLIA – many of them are youngsters?

Again I must be brief.  Our moral lives are in the decisions we make.  Most are minor ones, most are known only to ourselves.  Many are to defend our self-image, or the self we would aspire to – if only we were a bit more courageous.  But what of the bishops and popes and mullahs who are full of cant and deceit and pomposity, and worse still, lacking in compassion and fellow-feeling and a sense of justice?

Now in this time when many are rightly concerned about the rise and spread of extremist Islam I next want to re-tell a story about Muhammad.

One day a parent came to Muhammad to ask Him to verbally chastise their child who was prone to eat too many dates.  To the surprise of the parent, given the task was small and the child was there, Muhhammad told the parent to return the next day. On the next day the child was told not too eat too many dates.  When asked why a return that day was necessary Muhammad said that it was because on the previous day he had eaten (rather too many) dates!

The story may not be ‘true’ – but the truth of the story is true – and it would be true if it were in the tradition of Hausa people or Inuit or Jewish people.

Now I remain someone whose belief system is broadly-speaking that of a mystical humanist or humanist mystic or universalist.  However I was never zapped by three such disparate ‘tellers of truth’ in quite the same way as in this most recent week – Pat Condell, the contributors to MLIA and the third of these disparate additions to truth-telling in my life the Saudi intellectual Abdallah bin Bakhit.

From Abdallah bin Bakhit I learned the true value of secularism for religious communities – as well as what it takes to be courageous in a state of maximum suppression.  If you haven’t watched his video yet it’s here;

PS If you want to see the kind of courage it takes to be a balanced intellectual like Abdallah bin Bakhit in Saudi Arabia check this out – Kill the Owners of Satellite TV Channels, As the Law Prescribes

Posted via web from sunwalking’s posterous

Something’s Gotta Give: Islam in the West

This is an intro to the work of Dr Rachael Kohn and to a particular Australian ABC transcript – SEE end of this i.e. MY COMMENT to go to source;-0-What’s required to foster better relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in the West? Two Muslims – Irshad Manji & Mehmet Ozalp – give their points of view.

Transcript

Irshad Manji is the author of The Trouble With Islam. She calls for change in Islam to conform with the values of Western democratic societies. Mehmet Ozalp is the President of Affinity Intercultural Foundation, which recently held a conference in Sydney on “Islam and Its Relations with the Other.”MUSIC

I’ll just give you a minute or two to pretty much observe the domes, observe the calligraphy, the Qur’anic verses, the patterns on the wall and so forth, just for you to have a bit of a look, and then I’ll start hopefully explaining some of them.

Rachael Kohn: An Open Day at Gallipoli Mosque in Auburn, New South Wales.Hello, and welcome to ‘Something’s Gotta Give: What does it take for Muslims and other Australians to foster a better relationship?’ This is The Spirit of Things on ABC Radio National, with me, Rachael Kohn.

With the dress requirements there is dress requirements both for males and females. OK, and I’m just going to go through the minimal requirements for both a male and a female. The minimal dress requirement for a male is from the navel to below the knee area; that is the minimal requirement for a Muslim male. The minimal requirement for a Muslim female is exposure of hands, face and feet. Now some say don’t include feet on that list, but you do have certain areas where opinions will differ. Now for a Muslim woman, she is required when she comes to a certain age, usually the age of puberty, to pretty much dress the way that I’m dressing, to start fulfilling the dress obligations, or the dress requirements that is expected of her. OK. Now one of the sole reasons why we do it, OK, which is probably one of the most commonsense reasons, is because it’s a commandment from God.

Rachael Kohn: In the larger community, you could say there’s a stand-off between Muslims and non-Muslims. Fear, disdain and ignorance have kept both sides at arm’s length. For Mehmet Ozalp, a second generation Australian Muslim, education is the answer. We’ll hear more from him later in the program.MUEZZINRachael Kohn: My first guest goes much further, in calling for a reform of Islam itself. Irshad Manji, a Canadian Muslim visiting Australia for the Melbourne Writers’ Festival, believes that it is not only Islam, but democracy, free thought and human rights, which are at stake. When I spoke to her earlier in the year about her book, The Trouble With Islam, Irshad revealed that her life had been threatened on many occasions for speaking out as she has. I’m pleased to say there was no need for bodyguards when she came to the ABC.Irshad Manji, welcome to The Spirit of Things.Irshad Manji: Thanks for having me.Rachael Kohn: It’s great to have you back on the show again. Six months ago, your book had recently come out, The Trouble with Islam; since then I think you’ve been interviewed all over the world, I doubt if you’ve been home for very long in Toronto. How many copies has the book sold?Irshad Manji: Well there are different countries in which it’s been released. I don’t have exact sales figures for any one of those countries; things change, but I’m really happy to say that the book made it to The New York Times bestseller list in the US; it has been on the best seller list for months in Canada, which is my home country, and by this time in September, it’ll be out in 20 countries, and I’m really happy to say, if I may just throw this in as well, that the book is being translated into both Arabic and Urdu, Urdu being the major language spoken in Pakistan. Now that doesn’t mean however that it’ll be published in the Arab world. No publisher has been found to touch this book with a 10-foot pole in the Arab world. So you know, it’s young Muslims from the Arab world who have said to me, ‘Forget the publishing powers-that-be, don’t let the vision be hidebound to them. You get the book translated into Arabic, you post that PDF on your website, make it free of charge to download, and Irshad, when you do that’, they’ve told me, ‘you will get an even bigger audience than you ever anticipated, because if we can read the book in relative privacy, then that means we can read it in relative safety and start discussing these ideas in a way that we couldn’t if we had the book in our hands and were harassed for doing so.’ Very interesting point.

via abc.net.au
MY COMMENT:
Ultimately the only force that will contain extremist Islam is true Islam – and the same principle is true of all other forms of extremism.
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I wanted to share this resource – many transcripts and audio of programmes presented by Rachael Kohn for Australian ABC. This one is under the category of ‘Fundamentalism’.Go tohttp://www.abc.net.au/rn/spiritofthings/stories/2004/1188988.htm#transcriptto read the full program and to find many others.

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Why isn’t the good and glorious side of Islam featured more? – this is my reply to Taufiq who asked the question.

Taufiq Rahim has an article in the Huffington Post.

He says, “As President Obama looks to foster a new dialogue with the Muslim world, I want to give voice to an Islam that is too often ignored in the media in both East and West.”

This is my reply as someone who shares Taufiq’s hopes.

Dear Taufiq

Thanks for your fine article.

I too, as a religious humanist, am inspired by the gifts of Islam. Who can fail to be moved by Rumi, Ibn-Al Arabi, the exquisite nature of the Alhambra, not to mention all of the science that is the foundation of Western ‘civilization’.

Every day I am the beneficiary of His Holiness Muhammad’s, Revelation, peace be upon Him, and the intellectual and spiritual truths discovered by those numberless great women and men who turned to Him.

But you skate over some very inconvenient truths.

I want to encourage you – and those who sincerely think like you – to try to get the ‘moderate majority’ in Islam to stand up and eliminate the hate-filled extremists who perpetrate such atrocities as 9/11.

Even one suspects that now hundreds or thousands are working towards the next 9/11 or much, much, worse. They are poisoned in their minds and paid for by Moslems in your part of the world – Wahabism or whatever. Only for as long as the security agencies are cleverer will the planned-for atrocities not occur. It is generally agreed that it is a matter not of if but when.  (I know there is correspondingly much to be done to change the behaviour of Israel and the US.)

The extremists say they are your fellow believers. There’s the problem for non-Moslems. Is there a moderate majority? If there is why don’t they take control? Do all ordinary Moslems think the same as the extremists – and are simply less active? I know the difference between my friend who is a Quaker or my ex-neighbours who were Catholics and the crazies in the fundamentalist Christian pile. But I don’t know if there is truly a moderate majority in Islam.

I know the faith of sweet, ordinary people – of all faiths – is to be respected. I hear and believe what you say about those in;

the mountains of Tajikistan, the streets of Kabul, the alleyways of Damascus, the villages of South Lebanon, the madrasas of Uzbekistan, the towns of the West Bank, and even in corners of Riyadh.

But given what is happening in the name of Islam are they not victims just as much as the 3,000 who died in 9/11? Is such action not an insult to their faith? Are not more Moslems killed by fellow believers day after day after day? The only currency held in common seems to be hatred, all-consuming hatred. Lighten up.  En-light-en up. It would be a relief if the extremists just loved other Moslems – the same of course is true of all fundamentalists.

I share with you the desire that the fruits of Islam be recognized world-wide and the pure faith of ordinary Moslems be honoured and respected as an example to us all. I shrink from the vile hatred so many other ‘believers in the Book’ heap upon Islam.

You say;
My Islam is foremost about reason. It is about harnessing one’s capacity to understand the complexities of this world and beyond. The mind and the pursuit of knowledge are central to comprehending, to the extent that is possible, what is the divine. One also cannot make conscious decisions about right or wrong without exercising his own judgment. Blindly following the edicts of scholars, is not choosing a path except one that is not your own. When I refrain from consuming alcohol, it is not because I am backward, or uncultured. I refuse drugs because they hinder our judgment and our ability to reason, the trait that God endowed us with that distinguishes humankind from all other beings.

Bravo – no religion has given more to the modern world than the massively enhanced re-presentation of the Ancient World’s knowledge. I know that whilst Europe was literally and metaphorically in the Dark Ages parts of the Islamic world had street lighting and the first university – al hamdulillah!

You say your Islam is about the equality of women, tolerance, compassion, humility. I know all you say about these is true of the real Islam – but will the real Islam please stand up!

Equality of women, tolerance, compassion, humility? – tell that to the 74 year-old widow Khamisa Sawadi, convicted and sentenced recently to 40 lashes for meeting with her late husband’s nephew i.e. he brought her shopping! Is this the Saudi version of ‘meals on wheels’ for the elderly?

In actuality, globally, Dear Taufiq your version of Islam is a fantasy. Your version would be called, by those who dominate Islam, a Western-corrupted perversion. Wahabism rules – you don’t! That’s the world’s plight. You are a) just a minority b) part of a group unwilling or unable to become the dominant majority.Transformation lies in the activation of Islam as a 21stC religion.

It’s not about numbers its about which version of Islam dominates globally – and yours doesn’t because as yet the moderate majority, if they exist, are not willing to say, “Enough, no more!”

No one else is going to restore Islam to its rightful place other than moderate Moslems. Not even the sweet charm of Obama, let alone the insane machinations of Bush’s crowd.

The world, including most of the Islamic world, was held in sympathy for a short time because of 9/11.  Had America then raised 3,000 scholars of Islam instead of 3,000 cruise missiles, the world could soon have been at peace.

The possibility is still there – but only if moderate, modernized Islam moves to the dominant position.

What are you, and those moderate millions you refer to, going to do to ensure the good guys win?  We Kafirs will not be the ones to bring about the change from 8thC Islam to 21stC Islam.

As I write it seems as if Iran – and the rest of the world – is doomed to more craziness.

At least the US has made an effort in electing Obama.

Roger

To read Taufiq’s fine article go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taufiq-rahim/what-is-my-islam_b_214432.html

mgc

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Perennial Philosophy and Universalism – a distinction.

Sourceworld-religions-11

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Definitions

PHILOSOPHIA PERENNIS The metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man’s final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being. – Aldous Huxley

Perennial philosophy (Latin: philosophia perennis “eternal philosophy”, also Philosophia perennis et universalis) is the notion of the universal recurrence of ….. insight independent of epoch or culture, including universal truths on the nature of reality, humanity or consciousness (anthropological universals).

Concerning Universalism I make the following distinction.

To subscribe to Perennial Philosophy you almost certainly will hold a ‘pan-religious’ and inter-faith position including some theological ideas such as pan-en-theism – which holds both immanence and transcendence to be true at one and the same time true. My favourite quotation that celebrates this idea is;

“God is a circle whose centre is everywhere, whose circumference is nowhere.”

Anonymous, ‘The Book of the Twenty-four Philosophers‘ (12thC)

On the other hand a universalist in my view however can have an open and respectful mind and an open and generous heart whilst staying with her/his cultural roots.

Barack Obama (I hope) is one such example. More striking is the specificity of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s traditional Hasidic faith as compared to the Universalism of his heart and astoundingly deep insights into core mystical and eternal reality, and especially the nature of being human in the world – with others.

Either way the world has no more desperate need than an increase in the ability of people to see the oneness in, and beyond, specific belief systems – whether they do it from a truly Perennial Philosophy position or as a Universalist.

Re Gaza: “Certitude divides and diversity unifies…..We have to elevate religion above politics…..” Amen.

 

“Certitude divides and diversity unifies…..We have to elevate religion above politics…..”
“Certitude divides and diversity unifies…..We have to elevate religion above politics…..” H.R.H. Prince El-Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan BBC Newsnight 9th Feb 2006. Photo source: BBC

 Juxtapositioning creates new contexts.  Words and images are one such juxtapositioning.

I have suggested that the Finnish artist photographer Silomaki has shown new ways.

The images of the suffering of the people Gaza are currently relentless, none worse than those of parents carrying dead or  injured children.

These words came to mind – those of H.R.H. Prince El-Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan on BBC Newsnight, 9th Feb 2006, “Certitude divides and diversity unifies…..We have to elevate religion above politics…..”

The image is one of a multitude. The words are rare wisdom.

When the rockets and shells fire no more how shall we live that wisdom?  

Lead us Oh God to the ways and means!

Andrew Marr: Chomsky, the Media and Western political control

We have a free media – right?   We don’t have any kind of George Orwell 1984 thought police – right?  

Take a look at this interview from a few years ago and ask again.  Perhaps things have just got more subtle?

These clips are from an interview by the brilliant Andrew Marr when still a ‘wee lad’.  Now of course the center piece of his work is as the presenter of AM – the BBC’s Sunday morning Andrew Marr show.  It’s good – but Andrew on our behalf please don’t forget to produce stuff like you used to – programmes that dig more widely and more deeply.

Part 2;

Part 3;

What’s the difference between spirituality and religion?

What's the difference between spirituality and religion?
What's the difference between spirituality and religion?

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How do you answer the question above?

Below is how far I have got with this issue.

Spirituality is how we relate to the unknown and unknowable – to Ultimate reality – and the meaning and motivation we derive therefrom.

Our worldview, as a consequence, is how we ‘read’ the world. Our worldview includes that of which are conscious, plus that which derives from enculturation.  Becoming more fully conscious of Oneness, and acting accordingly, is our purpose.

Religion is the agreed set of relationships, teachings and customs held in common with any religious group of which one has membership.

Progress in spirituality is measured by regularly bringing oneself to account – in relation to the standards of your spirituality, world-view and religious group/s (if any).

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Etymological issues:

The English word “religion” is derived from the Middle English “religioun” which came from the Old French “religion.” It may have been originally derived from the Latin word “religo” which means “good faith,” “ritual,” and other similar meanings. Or it may have come from the Latin “religãre” which means “to tie fast.”

Doing your own research:

A very good starting point is provided by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.  See HERE

The definitions I like best from this source are;

George Hegel: “the knowledge possessed by the finite mind of its nature as absolute mind.”

Paul Tillich: “Religious is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern”

Others are;

The Religious Tolerance group tell us that David Carpenter has collected and published a list of definitions of religion, including:

Anthony Wallace: “a set of rituals, rationalized by myth, which mobilizes supernatural powers for the purpose of achieving or preventing transformations of state in man or nature.”

Hall, Pilgrim, and Cavanagh: “Religion is the varied, symbolic expression of, and appropriate response to that which people deliberately affirm as being of unrestricted value for them.”

Karl Marx: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

Don Swenson defines religion in terms of the sacred: “Religion is the individual and social experience of the sacred that is manifested in mythologies, ritual, ethos, and integrated into a collective or organization.”

Paul Connelly also defines religion in terms of the sacred and the spiritual: “Religion originates in an attempt to represent and order beliefs, feelings, imaginings and actions that arise in response to direct experience of  the sacred and the spiritual. As this attempt expands in its formulation and elaboration, it becomes a process that creates meaning for itself on a sustaining basis, in terms of both its originating experiences and its own continuing responses.”

He defines sacred as: “The sacred is a mysterious manifestation of power and presence that is experienced as both primordial & transformative, inspiring awe & rapt attention. This is usually an event that represents a break or discontinuity from the ordinary, forcing a re-establishment or recalibration of perspective on the part of the experiencer, but it may also be something seemingly ordinary, repeated exposure to which gradually produces a perception of mysteriously cumulative significance out of proportion to the significance originally invested in it.”

He further defines the spiritual as: “The spiritual is a perception of the commonality of mindfulness in the world that shifts the boundaries between self and other, producing a sense of the union of purposes of self and other in confronting the existential questions of life, and providing a mediation of the challenge-response interaction between self and other, one and many, that underlies existential questions.”

My final question – “Why are there so many religious intolerance groups?”

To read the full article by the Religious Tolerance group go HERE

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True achievement, success and happiness lie in being fully and positively human –

through our caring our creativity and our criticality –

developed via service to the communities to which we belong.

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All postings to this site relate to the central model in the

PhD. Summaries are HERE

An open letter to all who recognize Oneness

goldenrule-poster

An open letter to all who recognize Oneness

 

Dear Fellow Travellers

 

1) Like your lives my life, (in a modest way), has (for the last 45 years), been dedicated to;

 

‘the advancement of education in the consideration of the basic unity of all religions, in particular by the provision of courses to provide an understanding of the relationship of man to the universe, the earth, the environment and the society he lives in, to Reality and to God.’

 

and right now the global and local opportunities, and dangers, strike me as unparalleled.

 

2) The great challenge seems to me to concern ‘the how’ of getting wider acceptance of Oneness and oneness as in Perennial Philosophy and the The Golden Rule – raised consciousness that will positively affect decision-making in all of the vital arenas of human concern.

 

3) A great shift in consciousness is taking place.

 

The great shift in consciousness is evidenced by two events.

Firstly in just the last few years what was esoteric is now open and freely available to to all.

 

Secondly millions are responding – in some way shape or form.

 

I have in mind especially the work of Ken Wilber, Karen Armstrong and most recently Eckhart Tolle.

 

Tolle’s writing is highly accessible – in the UK most Sun and Daily Mirror readers could handle it.

 

Of course functional literacy and level of consciousness and not directly correlated! But eleven million had by Week 3 tuned in to Tolle’s course run by Oprah Winfrey – see HERE

 

….. Oprah went further with Eckhart Tolle than she has ever gone with a previous author picked for her book club. She chose to present, with Tolle, a 10-week series of “webinars” – online seminars – with one chapter of the book (which she puts on the bedside table of all of her guest rooms) discussed each week. In the first webinar, transmitted on 3 March, Tolle led Winfrey and the millions of viewers who logged on in several different countries in silent meditation; viewers were then encouraged to submit questions to Tolle via Skype. By the third week, 11 million people were logging on.

 

This surely has no parallel in the whole of humankind’s spiritual history. The course is HERE

 

Not only are ‘the books open’ but there is more than Maslow’s 2% willing a new earth.

 

The question is how can their energy be harnessed and focused for the common good – or do we have to wait until the first nuclear war, simply because those who ‘know’ can’t find ways and means to influence those who actually ‘do the doing’ and make our world as it is.

 

4) We need to be thinking ‘outside of the box’. The old ways may not be sufficient. Keeping the candles of light and hope and truth is something that the precious few have done down through the ages, but now the challenge is to shift up to a larger stage.

 

For example inter-faith dialogue may well be effete (and for some cunning PR) compared to the people who really operate at the ‘hot interfaces’ – e. g. diplomats and business-people.

 

5) Absorbing and responding to this fact seems to me to be the challenge that might bring forth balm for suffering being borne by untold millions.

 

A sufficient proportion of America has said ‘Yes we can’ but even more critical than the decisions Obama will be making over the next 4 or 8 years is how can the light of Oneness be brought into the darkened hearts of religious haters and racists. That Oneness is the Tipping Point. The

‘tipping-point’ is realization of that Oneness – and it needs more than abstract assent.

 

6) My personal experience has led me to realize that individuals need something real and living and breathing through which to connect with ‘foreign’ wisdom traditions.

 

I believed in the oneness of religions long before I came across

a) Jane Clark’s article on Ibn al-Arabi – which created for me a living connection to Islam – and

b) the Bhagavad Gita Chanted in English HERE using a text of the Bhagavad Gita in English HERE

NB Try listening to the chanting whilst reading the text – wonderful! – transporting!

These gave me a living connection to Hinduism.

 

7) Starting points:

 

Perhaps looking very closely and deeply at ‘reverse fundamentalism’ is the way to generate programmes of positive action.

 

Karen Armstrong as you probably know is being given the opportunity to raise up the principle of the Golden Rule via her ‘Charter for Compassion’ campaign see HERE

 

Perhaps making celebratory programmes free to all on the internet…..

 

Perhaps Golden Rule materials free online for Heads and school…….

 

Perennial philosophy and the ‘federal’ Golden Rule – the ‘world language’ to be taught, in addition to their own religions, so that all can communicate with those of other faiths ……

 

What do you think?

 

We who have striven to keep the candles alight have to contribute to ways and means of reaching a sufficiently wider audience to get established some of the foundations for a new earth.

 

All blessings on the further development of your work.

 

Roger

Ten ways to bridge and transcend racial and religious hatred

coexist-perennial-philsoophy-inter-faith1

 

 

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The campaign Charter for Compassion are asking for contributions for the final charter.  Here is my first draft contribution;

Compassion and Peace: ten ways to bridge and transcend racial and religious hatred

 

1 See the Golden Rule as the equivalent to a language in addition to your own – “My ‘mother tongue’ is Islam/Christianity/Buddhism etc but I also speak ‘the Golden Rule’ – so that I can be a sister/brother to peoples of all religions and none.

 

2 Implore people like Barack Obama to spend money on deepening cultural understanding – say 10% of the military budget switched to Arabic/Islamic, Chinese and Russian studies. Generate an ‘open data-base’ of experience learned.

 

3 Encourage all countries to massively increase exchange programmes.  Send everyone with a ‘We’ve got these problems how are my host country dealing with them’ pack – and require a thorrough de-briefing upon return to home country – we must see that the most important problems are held in common, and that we must pool answers.

 

4 Use the knowledge as a data-base for university and school respect for other cultures courses – instead of allowing our societies to continue falsely claiming that the mad fundamentalist minority = the reality of the whole communuity.

 

5 Get celebrity goodwill ambassadors for the GR – include business people , they have more interchange with ‘foreigners’ than any other group.  Get pop groups talking and singing about it.

 

Get Barack Obama talking about it – and Nels Mandela, and Archbishop Tutu etc.

 

6 Start teaching the Golden Rule – one school at a time – everywhere.

 

7 Generate badges, widgets and bling for websites, windows, clothing that conveys messages such as – ‘I speak oneness and diversity’. ‘We support the GR’, etc (Get some adverstising agencies working on it).

 

8 Support studies of fundamentalism – focus on ways and means antidotes and prophylactics.  The best writers on fundamentalism may not be in obvious academic fields – the best I have found is 

 

9 Look for ‘out of the box’ solutions such as brilliant comedians such as Omid Djalili and Shazia Mirza.

If you don’t like strong comedy don’t go – but I suspect that Omid, and the others have ‘lanced more religious boils’ for the general population than all of the politicians and academics put put together!

 

10 Support ways and means for deeper applications of the Golden Rule – we need courses from nursery to university epecially based on the brilliant writings and work of a) Eckhart Tolle, b) Ken Wilber and c) Karen Armstrong.

Eckhart Tolle article HERE

The Mandala Project and the SunWALK People Development model

The logo of the SunWALK PDS (People Development System) also functions as a mandala.
The logo of the SunWALK PDS (People Development System) also functions as a mandala.

The SunWALK mandala – Find out more HERE

The SunWALK mandala = a process model of education based on balancing the human spirit – as Caring, Creativity & Criticality – in community.

Caring = the ‘WE’ voice –of social knowing – related particularly to the core virtue ‘goodness’ & to ‘the Humanities’.

Creativity = the ‘I’ voice of subjective engagement via an artistic medium – related to the core virtue ‘beauty’ & ‘the Arts’.

Criticality = the ‘IT’ voice of objective engagement via Sciences & Math., Philosophy & ‘critical’ studies. It is concerned with objective knowing & the core virtue ‘truth’.

Help us make this peace-building project a success.

Find out more HERE

SEE also The Mandala Project

Good Childhood Inquiry Highlights Concern about Values Children Learn From Adults

A friend and colleague just sent information about;

Good Childhood Inquiry Highlights Concern about Values Children Learn From Adults

30 June 2008

Adults are increasingly concerned about the values children are learning from those around them, according to evidence submitted to The Good Childhood Inquiry. Two thirds (66%) of adults thought that the moral values of children today are not as strong as when they were children, according to a public opinion poll for The Children’s Society.

The poll, conducted by GfK NOP, is the last in a series called Reflections on Childhood commissioned by The Children’s Society, to complement the launch of a summary of evidence submitted to the inquiry on its sixth and final theme – values.

Professionals responding to the inquiry emphasized that children learn most of their values from adults, and expressed apprehension about how certain trends in society are affecting the values children are learning. The rise in materialism, a preoccupation with celebrity, and declining networks of support from community and extended family were all cited as negative factors. Seven out of ten polled (69%) said that community values among children today were not as strong as when they were young.

Increasing tension between adults and children emerged as a particular area of concern. Over half of adults responding to the poll (55%) thought there was more conflict between adults and children now compared to when they were young. Just a third (32%) thought that attitudes towards young people in their local neighbourhood were mostly positive.

For the full article go HERE

To be further developed.

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SEE also Learning Motivation for Success

All postings to this site relate to the central model in the PhD.

Summaries are HERE

Preventing dys-functional leadership via trust & openness

In his bookThe Five Dysfunctions of a Team:A Leadership Fable (pub. Jossey-Bass) Patrick Lencioni presents a model of what he sees as the influences that dis-empower a team, and make more or less dysfunctional.

His five factors are;

  • The first dysfunction is absence of trust amongst team members. If team members are not genuinely open with each other about their mistakes and weaknesses, it is impossible to build a foundation of trust.
  • Absence of trust creates the circumstance for the second dysfunction, fear of conflict. Teams that lack trust are incapable of fully and honestly debating issues as they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments.
  • The inability to openly discuss issues leads to a lack of commitment. If team members are unable to fully air their views, it is unlikely that they will be fully committed to the decisions of the group.
  • If team members are not fully bought into the decisions of the group, they will inevitably avoid accountability. How can they stand up and be counted on issues if they were not completely committed to them in the first place?
  • Failure to hold one another accountable creates an environment where the fifth dysfunction can thrive. Inattention to results occurs when team members put their individual needs (such as ego, career, recognition or reward) or even their division above the collective needs of the team.

Clearly trust is seen as the cornerstone of all teams. This might seem self-evident but I wonder how many organizations have systems that recognize and reward trust, openness and co-operation?

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All postings to this site relate to the central model in the

PhD. Summaries are HERE

SEE also Learning Motivation for Success