by Elena F. Pisareva  (Wheaton: Quest Books, 2008, 113pp.)

The thirty years prior to the 1917 Russian Revolution were years filled with the discovery of Asian religious thought and practice including its more Westernized forms. In the 1870s, the Russian Tsarist empire started moving east to absorb what is today’s Central Asia. The Crimean War prevented Russia from moving toward the west, and British expansion in India made the Russians fearful of British control of Afghanistan and Central Asia. Russian troops started moving into Central Asia — the decisive battle of Tashkent was 1865. Along with troops, the Russian government sent scholars to study the way of life, and they started to write about Islam, the Sufi dervish movements, the Tibetan forms of Buddhism found in Mongolia and among other Central Asian peoples.

Along with government-sponsored scholars, there were independent individuals who went to Central Asia on a personal spiritual journey such as G.I. Gurdjieff. The reports of these finding created an interest in Asian thought among the educated elite.

At the same period, from the mid 1860s to the eve of the Revolution, wealthy Russians would spend the winter in Western Europe and sent their children to elite schools in Switzerland, Germany and France.  read more »

A Study in Synthesis (James H. Cousins, Madras: Ganesh and Co. 1934)
Book review by Rene Wadlow

A national culture is impossible without the individual creative artist; the individual artist is important and unintelligible safe in his relationship to his national culture. Where either tries to do without the other, degeneracy ensues nationally and individually…The true artist is the true patriot, speaking the language of eternity but in the vernacular of his own time and place…Where art does not rise from authentic springs, but is piped from distances by subterranean ways, it becomes troubled, muddied, and at best only reaches a dull mediocrity. But art that embodies the creative impulse of the universe, with high vision and deep emotion, in its own time and place and way, will by the force of its authenticity pass beyond these limits into universal appreciation.  read more »

Mahmoud Watad and Leonard Grob
(Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2007, 221pp.)

The authors introduce their book by writing:

“During the summer of 2004, we interviewed thirty-four Palestinian and Israeli teenagers. These teens were asked to share various aspects of their ordinary, day-to-day lives and their dreams for the future.  We chose to interview young people between the ages of twelve and eighteen as we strongly believe this is an age group that can make a difference in the world…Even after a political solution has been reached, it may still be a matter of generations before demonization of the ‘other’ — Israeli or Palestinian — is replaced by an ongoing process of humanization.”  read more »

David Rosen
New York: Arkana-Penguin, 1997, 197pp.
Book review by Rene Wadlow
  
Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) was one of those who dealt most directly with the passage of the Piscean Period to the Age of Aquarius, especially in his book Aion.  He analyses astrological imagery embodied in Zodiacal ages in order to deal with the psychological problems of this period of transition.   read more »

Published by:
Center for Social Action Through Spirituality
PO Box 601614, Sacramento, CA 95860, 2001, 223pp.
book review by René Wadlow

Mary Byles in her book on the Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi, The Lotus and the Spinning Wheel, writes

“There is a middle way between rushing in trying to effect reforms when still filled with feelings of innate hatred and ill-will and not trying to effect those reforms at all until such feelings have been killed. It will always be difficult to find that middle way, but if there is a gradual ending of one’s own desires and complete trust in a Power not self, the way will surely be found.”  read more »

Worldwatch Institute,  State of the World: 2007
(New York: W.W. Norton, 2007, 250pp.)

When international development efforts began in the late 1940s sparked by President Truman’s “Point Four” program of technical assistance, the general image of the world’s poor were the villages of India, China, Africa, and Latin America. Many development activities were linked to increased rice and wheat crops. Irrigation and better water use were issues high on the development agenda. Awareness of the growth of cities has been slow.  read more »

Zahid Shahab Ahmed and Michelle Antonette Baxter (New Delhi: WISCOMP, 2007, 102pp)

This cooperative research carried out by a young Pakistani and a young Indian, both working for international non-governmental organizations, explores how textbooks help determine political and social attitudes, especially attitudes toward India and Pakistan. Through an in-depth analysis of history and social studies textbooks from India and Pakistan, the authors highlight how certain textbooks have been modified to serve political ends.  read more »

by John Robbins, Random House, New York, 2006

Every book by John Robbins is a cause for celebration. His latest work, Healthy at 100, is a fitting sequel to his many excellent books on health, diet and human ways of living. He is best known for the best-selling Diet for a New America. Dr. Dean Ornish, the famous expert on health and cardiovascular diseases, wrote that "Healthy at 100 may be his finest work to date."  read more »

by Mary Renfrew, Chloe Fisher, and Suzanne Arms

For a baby, breastfeeding fulfills a deep biological need which builds the immune system, provides perfect nutrition, and fosters the mother-baby bond and child development.  For more than a decade, the best-selling book, "Bestfeeding," has been recognized by nurses, midwives, dotors, lactation consultants, and nursing mothers as the definitive text on breastfeeding.  The authors are experienced women who have assisted tens of thousands of mothers to breastfeed successfully and enjoy it for as long as they and their babies desire.  "Bestfeeding" is the culmination of seventy years of hands-on experience from these three dedicated and internationally respected authors.  This brand new version of the classic, with it elegant and easy-to-read design, blends academic knowledge, clinical expertise, and practical skills to educate first-time and experienced mothers as well as health workers about breastfeeding, to make it rewarding and deeply satisfying for both mother and child.  read more »

Manjrika Sewak
Multi-Track Diplomacy between India and Pakistan: A Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Security
(Published by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies
2 Elibank Road, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka, 2005, 136pp.)

Manjrika Sewek is Programme Officer of Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP), an initiative of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility created by the Dalai Lama.  Here, she is concerned with non-official forms of diplomacy -Track Two - with its key concepts of relationship, process, capacity-building, coordination, collaboration, inclusivity, diversity, and transformation.  These are concepts which are not always welcomed by governments who often consider such initiatives detrimental to the 'real work' of the diplomats following the governmental Track One.  read more »

Arthur Neslen
Occupied Minds : A Journey through the Israeli Psyche
(London: Pluto Press, 2006, 291pp.)

 “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”. W.B. Yeats’ oft-quoted “The Second Coming” seems to be the current theme song in the Israel-Palestine drama.  After the elections in the Palestinian Authority which brought a Hamas-led government to power, followed shortly by elections in Israel which reflected the wide divergence of attitudes, all sides fear that there is no “valid partner” with which to negotiate, and it is not clear what it is that is negotiable.  read more »

International Quaker Working Party on Israel and Palestine
When the Rain Returns: Toward Justice and Reconciliation in Palestine and Israel
(Philadelphia, PA: American Friends Service Committee, 2004, 326pp.)

The 9 January 2005 elections among the Palestinians to select new leadership may be a turning point in Israeli-Palestinian relations.  We must do all that we can to see that the changes are positive and help to heal the bitterness, anger, frustration and hatred which exists within Israeli-Palestinian society.  The tensions in the Middle East have been so great and so long lasting as to discourage many people of goodwill.  If people of power such as American Presidents, Secretaries of State or Secretary-Generals of the United Nations are not able to make much headway since 1947 when the "Middle East" came on the world agenda, what hope is there for efforts carried out by small non-governmental organizations even if they are led by the Spirit?  read more »

Hussein Agha, Shai Feldman, Ahmad Khalidi, Zeev Schiff.
Track II Diplomacy : Lessons from the Middle East
(Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003, 225 pp.)

Agha, Feldman, Khalidi, and Schiff have written a valuable book on non-official meetings between Israelis and Palestinians.  The authors, three academics of strategic studies and a senior journalist of military affairs have participated in some of these discussions and have interviewed others, as well as government policy makers.  Two authors, Agha and Khalidi are Palestinians, both at St. Antony's College at Oxford; two authors, Feldman and Schiff are Israeli.  This book is an important contribution to the study of Track II efforts and will be of help in planning such efforts outside the Middle East as well.  read more »

Elizabeth F. Boardman
Taking A Stand : A Guide to Peace Teams and Accompaniment Projects
(Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2005, 159pp.)

Taking A Stand joins a useful collection of books dealing with peace teams as a form of third-party crisis intervention by non-governmental organizations: Ed Griffin-Nolan Witness for Peace (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991) deals with efforts on the frontier of Nicaragua. Liam Mahoney and Luis Euguren Unarmed Bodyguards: International Accompaniment for the Protection of Human Rights (Kumerian Press, 1997) studies the efforts of Peace Brigades International especially in Central America.  Tricia G. Brown(Ed); Getting in the Way (Herald Press, 2005) is a collection of essays on individual experiences and reflections by members of Christian Peacemaker Teams.  Arthur Gish Hebron Journal (Herald Press, 2001) is drawn from his journals in Hebron, Israel also with Christian Peacemaker Teams.  read more »

Don Carlson and Craig Comstock (eds.)
Citizen Summitry: Keeping The Peace When It Matters Too Much To Be Left To Politicians
(Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1986, 396pp.)

"Whatever you do, you need courage.  Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you you are wrong.  There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right.  To map out a course of action and follow it to an end, requires some of the same courage which a soldier needs.  Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men to win them."       Ralph Waldo Emerson

Although published in 1986 at a crucial stage of the Cold War when US-Soviet relations were deadlocked before Mikhail Gorbachev was able to start putting his reforms into practice, the approach outlined in the book remains valid although "Citizen Diplomacy" or "Track Two Initiatives" would be a better title.  Track Two are citizen-based peacemaking efforts through research, dialogue, mediation, and the development of collaborative conflict-prevention strategies and mechanisms.  read more »