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UN System Weakened by U.S. Retreats

In Human Rights, Current Events, Solidarity, Women's Rights, Conflict Resolution, The Search for Peace, United Nations, World Law, Being a World Citizen, United States, NGOs, Track II, Peacebuilding on January 12, 2026 at 7:40 AM

By René Wadlow

On January 7, 2026, the United States (U.S.) government announced that it was withdrawing from membership (and thus financial contribution) to 31 United Nations (UN) bodies and programs. According to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, these institutions and programs are “redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run and captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own.” He added, “Many of these bodies promote radical climate policies, global governance and ideological programs that conflict with U.S. sovereignty and economic strength.”

The U.S. withdrawal comes at a time when the UN as a whole (the 193 member States) is in the process of evaluating UN structures and programs (UN 80). The results of this evaluation should be presented later this year.

A good number of the programs from which the United States of America (USA) is withdrawing are based or have activities in Geneva, Switzerland. As an NGO representative to the UN in Geneva, I have interacted with many of these programs and the Secretariat members. At this time when there are real challenges in the world society, the withdrawal of the USA weakens the UN system as a whole. The representatives of Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) in consultative status will increase their activities so that the intellectual dynamics will not be weakened, but NGOs cannot fill the financial gap.

(C) Geneva Solutions

One of the bodies marked for withdrawal is the International Law Commission. A colleague from Egypt who taught international law at the University of Geneva was a leading member of the Commission and had a deep understanding of Middle East culture. Stronger respect for international law in the Middle East remains a real need.

Another institution is the Geneva-based International Trade Center where I had a good friend in the Secretariat. The Trade Center helped developing countries negotiate contracts with transnational corporations. These corporations usually have sophisticated lawyers to write contracts, not the case for many developing countries. Thus, the work of the Trade Center filled a real need.

The UN Institute for Training and Research has its headquarters in New York, but many of its activities were Geneva-based and so the Secretariat cooperated with Geneva-based NGOs. The same holds true for the UN University with headquarters in Japan but with many Geneva-based activities.

The USA is withdrawing from support for the Office of the Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, from the UN Entity for Gender Equality, and from the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict – all issues on which the Association of World Citizens has been active. The USA is leaving the UN Alliance of Civilizations at a time when cross-cultural understanding is a vital need.

Many of the UN activities which the USA is leaving have dedicated U.S. citizens in the Secretariat. I am not sure what their status will be once the withdrawal is complete.

The USA is also withdrawing from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the key instrument on climate change issues. The consequences of climate change are being increasingly felt, and U.S. action would be needed.

As I noted, the representatives of NGOs will have to increase sharply their activities in the UN bodies and programs. The challenges facing us are heavy, and constructive action is urgently needed.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

BOOK REVIEW: Jean Ziegler, “Destruction Massive: Géopolitique de la faim”

In Human Rights, Human Development, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, United Nations, Being a World Citizen, Social Rights, Latin America, Sustainable Development, Book Review on January 8, 2026 at 7:30 AM

By René Wadlow

Jean Ziegler, Destruction Massive: Géopolitique de la faim.

Paris: Editions du Seuil, 2011, 343pp.

Translated into English and published as

Jean Ziegler, Betting on Famine: Why the World Still Goes Hungry

New York: The New Press, 2013

The First Millennium Goals set in 2000 were to half poverty and hunger by 2015.

Hunger and malnutrition are major causes of deprivation and suffering. As there has been no rapid progress in reducing hunger, other goals, such as reduced child mortality and improved maternal health, have not been met either. Many years of empirical evidence point to the negative impact of hunger and malnutrition on health, education, and labor productivity.

The impact of hunger has been known for some time. Jean Ziegler pays tribute to the research and action of a mutual friend, Josue de Castro, Brazilian nutritionist and World Citizen.

De Castro had pointed out in the late 1930s that hunger in Brazil was not a fatality of nature but the result of unjust human structures. Thus, things could change with enlightened action by farmers with the help of enlightened governments. He helped to organize peasant leagues and was elected to the parliament of Brazil. He undertook visits and studies in other Latin American countries. These studies convinced him of the socio-economic causes of hunger and of their wide geopolitical impact. The Geopolitics of Hunger is de Castro’s most widely read book and serves as the subtitle of Jean Ziegler’s book as hunger remains a geopolitical issue, not simply a question of locally improved agricultural techniques.

De Castro had been the independent president of the Executive Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) from 1952 to 1955, at which time the governments decided to abolish the post of independent president. The Executive Council has been chaired by national diplomats since. While at the FAO, de Castro was invited to look at agriculture in a good number of countries. He had created in 1957 a Nongovernmental Organization, World Campaign against Hunger (Association mondiale de lutte contre la faim), ASCOFAM from its title in French. He drew on persons active in the world citizen movement such as l’Abbé Pierre, René Dumont and Max Habicht.

When I arrived in Geneva to teach at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies in September 1963, de Castro was the Ambassador of Brazil to the UN in Geneva, and I went to see him shortly afterwards to discuss development issues. Then in April 1964, the military led by General Castelo Bianco took power in Brazil. Their right-wing and brutal dictatorship lasted from 1964 to 1985. De Castro was quickly replaced as Ambassador and moved to Paris to teach and work with NGOs on hunger and agricultural issues. I saw him a number of times in Paris. He died in Paris in September 1973, aged only 65, but he left a heritage of study and action on the power dynamics of hunger and agricultural policies. Jean Ziegler, a sociologist of African societies and for a good number of years a Socialist member of the Swiss parliament, was from 2000 to 2008 the UN Commission on Human Rights’ Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Much of the research for the book was carried out with his UN team but is presented in a fiery style not found in UN reports.

Increased action to improve rural life needs to be taken quickly. As the recent UN-sponsored Millennium Ecosystem Assessment states, “Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet’s ecosystem to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted. It is becoming ever more apparent that human society has a rapidly shrinking window of opportunity to alter its path.”

However, as Ziegler points out, it is not general human activity that is causing a strain, but the human activities of the powerful, the pred$atory sharks and financial speculators. He stresses the dangers of the increasing use of ethanol and other biofuels, often without consideration of the impact of the production of biofuels on land use and food production.

Their use should be limited at present so that the consequences of their use can be studied and biofuels developed from non-food sources. Ziegler also stresses that there needs to be a detailed analysis and then action on the role of speculation in the rise of commodity prices.

Banks and hedge funds, having lost money in real estate mortgage packages, are now investing massively in commodities. For the moment, there is little governmental regulation of this speculation. There needs to be an analysis of these financial flows and their techniques of operation − the wide use of offshore banks and holdings − and their impact on the price of grains and other foods.

Ziegler also stresses relatively new dangers to a just world food system. In many developing countries, the urban elite have been buying farmland as an investment, not necessarily to increase agricultural production with improved techniques, but to resell later when prices go up. Ziegler also stresses the sale or long-term rent of agricultural lands, especially in Africa, to governments or State-related companies of the Arab Gulf States and China. Again, the land is often not used for current agricultural improvement but is held for future use or sale. Thus, rather than seeing land reform, we are seeing dangerous trends of an increasing number of landless agricultural workers.

Jean Ziegler highlights the need for cooperation among the UN system of agencies, national governments, non-governmental organizations, and the millions of food producers.

There is a need for swift, short-term measures to help people now suffering from lack of food and malnutrition due to high food prices, the systems of food distribution, and situations of violence. However, it is the longer-range and structural issues on which we must focus our attention. The world requires a holistic World Food Policy and a clear Plan of Action. A knowledge of the geopolitics of hunger is a necessary first step.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

Iran: Dark Clouds, Future Uncertain

In Being a World Citizen, Conflict Resolution, Current Events, Democracy, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, United States on January 8, 2026 at 7:30 AM

By René Wadlow

Since the “12-day war” of Israel and the USA last June, Iran has been a powder keg with unresolved political tensions, deepening economic turmoil, and rising domestic dissent. With the start of 2026, the keg has exploded. Protests have started in some 32 cities and larger towns throughout the country.

The protests were first focused on economic issues symbolized by the sharp collapse of the rial, the national money, and the inflation exceeding 40 percent. These dynamics have turned the bazaaris – the merchants – traditionally a more conservative social group, into key participants in the protests. Economic hardship has become a daily experience for a wide segment of the population.

Although the protests began with economic demands, reports from across the country indicate that slogans have increasingly shifted toward explicitly political and antigovernmental messages, including chants directed at the Iranian leadership and the political system as a whole. Universities have once again emerged as key protest centers with action by both students and professors.

(C) Time Magazine

The government led by President Masoud Pezeshkian has promised economic reforms, but there is no protest leadership with which to negotiate. The security forces have increased repression with a large number of people arrested. A number of persons have been killed. Funerals for the protesters killed have become occasions for additional protests. The repression has led the United States (U.S.) President, Donald Trump, to say, “If Iran violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

The U.S. threats in the Iran situation are very unhelpful. It is time to unlock and unload. Rather, the Association of World Citizens calls on the Iranian authorities to cease immediately the use of force against peaceful protesters and to release those arbitrarily detained. This will create space for genuine dialogue and the needed reforms for economic justice.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

BOOK REVIEW: Metta Spencer, “The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy”

In Being a World Citizen, Book Review, Conflict Resolution, Current Events, Democracy, Human Rights, NGOs, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, The former Soviet Union, The Search for Peace, Track II, United Nations, United States on January 7, 2026 at 8:00 AM

By René Wadlow

Metta Spencer, The Russian Quest for Peace and Democracy.

New York: Lexington Books, 2010, 348pp.

With the violence and tensions in Ukraine and the reactions of the USA, Russia, and NATO, some writers have spoken of a “New Cold War”. Thus, it is useful to look at how civil society representatives helped to keep lines of communication open during the first Cold War (1945-1990), in particular how Gorbachev’s advancement of democracy and peaceful foreign relations was fostered by private conversations with members of international civil society and NGOs.

There is in the Agni Yoga teachings of Helena Roerich, to which Raisa Gorbachev was particularly devoted, a line which says, “Not the new is proclaimed but what is needed for the hour.” This idea became a guideline for Mikhail Gorbachev whose new thinking was not really new. Many of us had been saying the same thing for years before, but none of us was head of state.

Gorbachev’s September 1987 address to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly was a clear call for the rule of law both domestically and internationally. He recommended greater use of the International Court of Justice and that all states accept its compulsory jurisdiction. He called upon the permanent members of the Security Council to join in formulating guidelines to help lead the way. This was a renunciation of a sixty-year resistance to the World Court that the then Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov − though an internationalist − had initiated in 1922 claiming that there could be no impartial arbitrator between the Soviet and the non-Soviet world saying, “Only an angel could be impartial in judging Russian affairs.”

Unfortunately, the United States (U.S.) State Department took the speech as a propaganda ploy to further embarrass the U.S. over the World Court’s Nicaragua litigation. Therefore, the U.S. delegation to the UN did everything it could to hinder discussion of giving the World Court a larger role and was successful in stopping any effort to expand compulsory jurisdiction.

Gorbachev did all he could to strengthen the peace-making role of the UN, leading to the successful completion of what had been seemingly endless negotiations at the Palais des Nations in Geneva concerning the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, and the very difficult negotiations, also in Geneva, between Iraq and Iran to end their war.

Progress was also made on the Vietnamese occupation of Kampuchea (Cambodia) which led to the 1992 Paris Accord. This combination of deescalation in tensions and violence in the international area and significant steps in arms control was largely due to the leadership of Gorbachev. His seven years in power (1985-1991) left the world a safer place and Russia a more openly pluralistic society. However, the common ground on which he tried to stand was constantly eroded by forces he could not control, leaving him at the end with no place to stand.

Metta Spencer, Editor of Peace Magazine and professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Toronto tells some of this story, especially through interviews with persons in Gorbachev’s inner circle as well as other participants in the fast-changing scene. She has continued her interviewing so that persons also reflect on events and trends in post-Gorbachev Russia − the Yeltsin and early Putin years.

What is most helpful to those of us interested in citizen diplomacy and who were involved in talks with Soviets on arms control is her account on how discussions with members of the Soviet Academy of Sciences’ institutes, especially the USA/Canada Institute of Georgi Arbatov and the Institute for World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) had an impact on Soviet decision-making. As Spencer notes, Gorbachev’s advancement of democracy and peaceful foreign relations was fostered by private conversations with members of international civil society. Among the Soviets who participated, some became Gorbachev’s chief advisors.

The ground for these discussions had started relatively early at the time of Nikita Khrushchev. The Pugwash meetings started in 1957, and the Dartmouth conferences led by Norman Cousins and Georgi Arbatov began in 1960.

Metta Spencer sets out clearly the core of her book. Democracy, human rights, and nonviolence are rarely reinvented independently by local citizens. Usually, they are imported from abroad and spread by personal contacts in international civil society, not by diplomats or rulers. That was the way it happened in the Soviet Union. This book describes how certain back-channel relationships with foreign peace researchers and activists influenced the Soviet Union’s brief democratization, its foreign policy and its military doctrine. She adds that transnational civil society or organizations are most helpful for they create heterogeneous relationships − those that tend to bridge society’s disparate elements. Such relationships inform and strengthen individuals who, in an authoritarian setting, face heavy pressures to conform.

Metta Spencer’s interviews with people well after the events, give a sense of necessary distance, of the strengths and weaknesses of movements and individuals.

Note

1) For a good overview of citizen diplomacy efforts with the Soviet Union, see the following listed by date of publication:

Gale Warner and Michael Shuman, Citizen Diplomats: Pathfinders in Soviet-American Relations − And How You Can Join Them (New York: Continuum, 1987)

David D. Newsom (Ed.), Private Diplomacy with the Soviet Union (Lanham, MD.: University Press of America, 1987)

Gale Warner, Invisible Threads: Independent Soviets Working for Global Awareness and Social Transformation (Washington, DC: Seven Locks Press, 1991)

Matthew Evangelista, Unarmed Forces: The Transnational Movement to End the Cold War (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999)

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

BOOK REVIEW: Deng Ming-Dao, “The Wandering Taoist”

In Asia, Book Review, Nonviolence, Spirituality, The Search for Peace on January 7, 2026 at 8:00 AM

Deng Ming-Dao, The Wandering Taoist.
New York: Harper and Row, 1986, 240pp.

This is a biography of Kwan Saihung, a Chinese Taoist ascetic master written by an American student of his in martial arts and Taoist training. Kwan Saihung was trained in a leading Taoist monastery in China in the 1930s. He left the monastery to fight the Japanese during the late 1930s. After the Communist victory in the civil war, he arrived in California where he teaches Chinese martial arts – many of which are related to Taoist philosophy.

Although Taoist sages usually speak little of themselves – the personality and outward events of life being of less importance than one’s relations to nature and the permanent patterns of life – Deng Ming-Dao has pieced together a chronological description of Kwan Saihung’s early life and training from conversations with the master. Most of the book is recounted in conversational style, which makes for pleasant reading.

“All that matters to a Taoist is that one is in harmony with nature. In one’s character, one is like heaven and earth, as orderly as the four seasons. The book Tao Te Ching clearly states that when things reach the pinnacle of their strength, they begin to grow old. (1) Therefore excessive strength is contrary to Tao. What is contrary to Tao will come to a speedy end. Thus one seeks not to build up one’s own power but to unite with the Tao. Things change but the laws underlying change remain unchanging. If one understands these laws and regulates one’s actions in conformity with them, one can then turn everything to one’s advantage.”

(1) See Arthus Waley, The Way and its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching (New York, Grove Press, 1958, 260pp)

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

BOOK REVIEW: Jean Hardy, “A Psychology with a Soul”

In Asia, Book Review, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, The Search for Peace on January 7, 2026 at 8:00 AM

By René Wadlow

Jean Hardy, A Psychology with a Soul.

London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1987, 245pp.

This is a book on the psychosynthesis system of psychotherapy developed by Roberto Assagioli.

Roberto Assagioli (1888-1974) set out a path to the Higher Self with the power of the will. Roberto Assagioli was a close coworker of both Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung. In 1910, he broke from the Freudian approach and began to develop his own psycho-spiritual model which he called psychosynthesis. He was closer in approach to Jung, but as the first translator of Freud’s writings into Italian, he is often cited as the introducer of Freudian thought into Italy.

Roberto Assagioli was an Italian psychiatrist and humanist.

A short presentation of Assagioli’s view is that “I am what I will to be”. In a sense, the individual does not have a will: rather he is a will, a directing energy, that has taken human form as an individual. The individual will-force is in some way identical to the universal will-force. Assagioli who had studied Asian thought highlighted the Chinese sage becoming one with the universal energy – the Tao.

As the individual will starts on its path toward the Higher Self, it must drop off images of its earlier self formed by experiences, memories, feelings and images of the past. Some of these self-images and experiences have been repressed and stored in the subconscious. Thus, in many cases, there is a first task of self-discovery of past experiences and emotions stored in the subconscious. Only when this is done can one deal with the current self-images and emotions which make up the current personality.

The process of dropping off current self-images Assagioli calls “disidentification”. Disidentification is needed so that a new identity emerges, one that is capable of accepting and integrating in a harmonious synthesis all the earlier emotions, thoughts, and experiences. This is why Assagioli called his approach “psychosynthesis”. It is this fresh, new personality, which Assagioli termed the “I” that can set out on the road to develop the Higher Self. This inner journey is not always easy. There is a progressive examination of the contents of the field of consciousness and the functions of the psyche. This involves a progressive movement through the preconscious, the subconscious and culminating with the higher conscious. Assagioli writes, “Spiritual development is a long and arduous journey, an adventure through strange lands full of surprises, difficulties and even dangers. It involves a drastic transmutation of the ‘normal’ elements of the personality, an awakening of potentialities hitherto dormant, a raising of consciousness to new realms, and a functioning along a new inner dimension”.

Along the way to the Higher Self, the will can be strengthened by what Assagioli calls “transpersonal experiences” and what Abraham Maslow calls “Peak Experiences”. Such experiences help to stimulate the drive toward the Higher Self. However, some of these transpersonal experiences can be short-lived and ephemeral unless they are grounded through meditation and techniques of visualization of oneself as already functioning as the Higher Self.

These techniques of creating an identity as being the Higher Self are one of the outstanding features of psychosynthesis. However, after 1936, his work became increasingly difficult both because of the growing antisemitism under Nazi German pressure on Italy and because his humanitarian activities aroused hostility from the Italian Fascist government. In 1940 he was arrested and kept in solitary confinement for a month and then kept under strict police surveillance. In 1943, he was again actively persecuted and forced to hide in remote mountain villages. He narrowly escaped twice from the Nazi soldiers who had destroyed his family’s home with dynamite.

After 1945, he increased his contacts with a wide group of spiritual thinkers from different traditions. However, his aim remained finding approaches to wholeness, realizing the full human potential, transcending contradictions and achieving enlightenment.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

Iran: Dark Clouds, Future Uncertain

In Middle East & North Africa, Human Rights, Current Events, Solidarity, Democracy, Conflict Resolution, The Search for Peace, Being a World Citizen, Social Rights, United States, NGOs, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding on January 7, 2026 at 7:30 AM

By René Wadlow

Since the “12-day war” of Israel and the USA last June, Iran has been a powder keg with unresolved political tensions, deepening economic turmoil, and rising domestic dissent. With the start of 2026, the keg has exploded. Protests have started in some 32 cities and larger towns throughout the country.

The protests were first focused on economic issues symbolized by the sharp collapse of the rial, the national money, and the inflation exceeding 40 percent. These dynamics have turned the bazaaris – the merchants – traditionally a more conservative social group, into key participants in the protests. Economic hardship has become a daily experience for a wide segment of the population.

Although the protests began with economic demands, reports from across the country indicate that slogans have increasingly shifted toward explicitly political and anti-governmental messages, including chants directed at the Iranian leadership and the political system as a whole. Universities have once again emerged as key protest centers with action by both students and professors.

(C) Time Magazine

The government led by President Masoud Pezeshkian has promised economic reforms, but there is no protest leadership with which to negotiate. The security forces have increased repression with a large number of people arrested. A number of persons have been killed. Funerals for the protesters killed have become occasions for additional protests. The repression has led the United States (U.S.) President, Donald Trump, to say, “If Iran violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

The U.S. threats in the Iran situation are very unhelpful. It is time to unlock and unload. Rather, the Association of World Citizens calls on the Iranian authorities to cease immediately the use of force against peaceful protesters and to release those arbitrarily detained. This will create space for genuine dialogue and the needed reforms for economic justice.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

BOOK REVIEW: Bill Devall and George Sessions, “Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered”

In Being a World Citizen, Book Review, Environmental protection, Human Development, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, Sustainable Development, The Search for Peace on January 6, 2026 at 8:00 AM

By René Wadlow

Bill Devall and George Sessions, Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered.

Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 1985, 267pp.

In his Small is Beautiful, Fritz Schumacher wrote, “In the affairs of men, there always appears to be a need for at least two things simultaneously, which on the face of it, seems to be incompatible and to exclude one another. We always need both freedom and order. We need the freedom of lots and lots of small, autonomous units, and, at the same time, the orderliness of large-scale, possibly global, unity and co-ordination.”

Likewise, there must be transformation both at the individual level as well as collective change. The two are closely linked. Only a whole and autonomous person can act, resist, walk away, and build something new. However, collective change is something more than the sum of individual changes. Collective change is a vision for a society. Thus, individual change and political action must go together.

One of the predicaments facing the emerging Green-ecology political movements is the need to gather enough people together to be a credible political force – which means general agreement upon a small number of basic options – while having a deep enough political philosophy so that people are not seduced by the current political parties using a few Green slogans. There is wide-spread support for reform environmentalism which aims to stop gross pollution, extensive despoliation of land, lakes, and seas, mistreatment of animals. But those who support such localized reforms may not see the need for a basic transformation of society and the system of values.

Yet we need planet-wide changes, for ecological awareness has shown us that the planet we live on is one inter-related system upon which we are all dependent. In order to survive, we must learn to work together to build a world beyond war, a society with sustainable development – which means sustainable agriculture and appropriate technology, wholistic approaches to education and health, a spiritual outlook based on reverence for life. Albert Schweitzer from his work in Africa re-launched the human-scale revolution by insisting that production ought to serve peoples’ real needs; that there must be a new relationship with nature; that solidarity must replace antagonism; and that there must be sane consumption and active individual participation in society.

The world as an interrelated system has come to be called the “Gaia hypothesis” after the work of James Lovelock and Lynn Margulies who wrote “We defined Gaia as a complex entity involving the earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, oceans and soil, the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet. Gaia remains a hypothesis, but much evidence suggests that many elements of this system act as the hypothesis predicts.” (Gaia is the first goddess of early Greek thought. From the void, neither born nor destroyed – what the Chinese call the Tao – Gaia danced forth and rolled herself into a spinning ball.)

Systems are integrated wholes whose properties cannot be reduced to those of smaller units. The systems approach emphasizes basic principles of organization. Thus, nature has an order, a pattern that as humans we need to understand, to respect, and to preserve. This order has intrinsic value and is the base of Life.

This book is an effort to outline the rich spiritual-religious-mystical component of the Green movements. The term “deep ecology” was coined in 1973 by Arne Naess, a social scientist and philosopher who has written widely on Mahatma Gandhi, nonviolence, and the Buddha. He wanted to describe the deeper more spiritual approach to nature exemplified by Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold. This is a most useful analysis of Green values. The book should be widely used for discussion and political planning.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

BOOK REVIEW: William Bloom, “The Power of the New Spirituality”

In Asia, Being a World Citizen, Book Review, Cultural Bridges, Human Development, Nonviolence, Solidarity, Spirituality, The Search for Peace on January 6, 2026 at 8:00 AM

By René Wadlow

William Bloom, The Power of the New Spirituality.

Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books, 2012, 248pp.

William Bloom who combines a long-standing interest in New Age approaches to spirituality with an identity focus in international relations (1), has written “We are in changing times. Our culture and technology are continually transforming, and the intellectual certainties of the last few hundred years are no longer secure…It is our need to find a new authenticity in our spiritual lives — to bring back fully into our consciousness — the sacred dimension of life, but we want to do this in a way that honours personal freedom and personal growth. In essence, then, we are turning to the teachings and experiences of what is called the ageless wisdom, but we are doing so with completely new attitudes”.

A key element of our changing culture is that we are discarding old religious forms and re-creating our spiritual and sacred world. Creative new attitudes, practices, and forms have been an emphasis of William Bloom. (2) As he writes, “As a teacher and author I often feel conflicted: on the one hand, I want to inspire and encourage people about their innate goodness and the wonders of creation; on the other hand, I do not want to support naiveté about the human condition. We are magnificent beings with cosmic consciousness, and yet at the same time we are also insecure and can do harm.

“Yet the current emergence and creation of a new culture is not always an easy process. It feels as if everything is being created anew. At the same time, we know that we are working with dimensions which have always been and which always shall be.”

The basis of many New Age approaches is that we live in a vast field of energy. Vibrations and atmospheres can move like waves through this field to impact others. Our thoughts, feelings and actions can cooperate with this vitality, energy and consciousness for our development and to benefit others. We find this use of energy fields in many schools of spiritual healing such as reiki, in yoga and martial arts. (3)

William Bloom sets out a three-step process for deepening and expanding our awareness, developing our hearts, and building a just, creative and benevolent world. He sets out some core skills.

The first is centering — a calm awareness, an integration of body, mind and spirit. This is best done through silent meditation, but some find music or ritual helpful. “Whatever works for you” is basically his approach. This is an approach called “mindfulness” in some Buddhist traditions and can also be helped by breathing exercises and other techniques.

The second step is to focus the heart on compassion. Visualization is one approach, such as visualizing ever wider circles of persons or places held within the field of compassion. Focusing on the Sacred Heart of Jesus is used in certain Catholic traditions.

The third step is to direct the energy field so that it is of service to others. When we are centered and heart-focused, with an encouraging psychological attitude, we create a vibration that is supportive for those around us and can be a positive influence in the wider world.

William Bloom has written a clear and helpful presentation for personal fulfillment and service to humanity.

Notes:

1) William Bloom, Personal Identity, National Identity and International Relations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993)
2) William Bloom, First Steps: An Introduction to Spiritual Practice (Forres, Scotland: Findhorn Press, 1993)
3) Barbara Ann Brennan, Hands of Light: Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field (New York: Bantam, 1990)

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

BOOK REVIEW: Baolin Wu and Jessica Riley, “Eye of Heaven”

In Asia, Book Review, Nonviolence, Spirituality, The Search for Peace on January 6, 2026 at 8:00 AM

By René Wadlow

Baolin Wu and Jessica Riley, Eye of Heaven.
St. Petersburg, Florida: Three Pines Press, 2025, 107pp.

The subtitle of this book is The Daoist Secret for Opening the Third Eye. The Third Eye is a path to awareness. Opening the third eye frees one’s mind from certain limitations. This is the reason that in Daoism the third eye is often referred to as the Eye of Heaven (The title of the book). One finds the same approach in Hinduism, where the third eye, placed just above the other two, is one of the seven main chakras, energy centers in the body, symbolized as a turning wheel. In Buddhism, the third eye represents the eye of consciousness and wisdom. The third eye is widely developed in Tibetan Buddhism where it represents the Gate of Heaven.

Dr.. Baolin Wu entered the Daoist White Cloud Monastery in Beijing as a young boy and was trained there in Daoist medical practice, especially acupuncture as well as in spiritual practices. The White Cloud Monastery is a highly respected center for the study of Daoist philosophy and medicine. He worked for many years in a hospital in Beijing and emigrated to the USA in 1990. The information on spiritual practices in the book comes from Dr. Baolin Wu. Jessica Riley is one of his current students in California, and the English style of the book is hers.

Throughout Chinese history, philosophical and spiritual beliefs have often been related to healing. Some of the Daoist schools emphasize internal alchemy, often as a way to reach longevity. Internal alchemy helps one to become aware of sexual energy and how to circulate, balance, preserve and reuse the energy so as to heal.

The book provides illustrated qigong exercises useful for relaxation but which are also preparation for the opening of the third eye. Work on the third eye and the higher states of consciousness is usually done with a master Daoist. Thus the book is no substitute for efforts with an advanced Daoist practitioner. However, it is a good introduction to the approach and its role in Chinese culture.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.