Beshara Magazine | Unity in the Contemporary World

Satish Kumar: Peace is Possible

Satish Kumar was born in Rajasthan in 1936, where he became a Jain monk at age nine, then left at 18 inspired by Gandhi to join Vinoba Bhave's land reform movement. In 1962, he walked over 8000 miles from India to Moscow, Paris, London and Washington delivering 'peace tea' to nuclear leaders as a plea for disarmament. He later settled in the UK and co-founded Schumacher College in Devon, and edited Resurgence and Ecologist magazine for over 40 years. Through his books, lectures and the philosophy of reverential ecology, he has spent his life arguing that peace, spiritual awareness and care for the natural world are inseparable. His new book, Peace Is Possible, was published in May 2026.

Clare Carlisle: Transcendence for Beginners

Clare Carlisle is Professor of Philosophy at King's College London, and author of the recently published book Transcendence for Beginners. For Clare, philosophy is not just an academic discipline, but about the way we choose to live our lives and conduct ourselves in the world. She is especially interested in the way that human beings can embody wisdom and goodness, and how our lives, in the way they unfold and the shape they make, reflect the whole of the cosmos. She sees the literary genre of biography as a useful way of exploring these themes, and amongst her eight published books are the acclaimed lives of Spinoza, Kierkegaard and George Eliot. She is currently President of the British Society for Philosophy of Religion, and in 2024 was invited to give the prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of St Andrews. These lectures became the source for Transcendence for Beginners.

Mark Williams: Mindfulness Meditation: Finding Peace in a Chaotic World

Professor Mark Williams is a clinical psychologist and Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford, and the co-developer of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). Originally designed to help with chronic depression, this has found wide acceptance among the general public interested in understanding the workings of the mind to bring about a greater sense of well-being and relief from the triggers that cause mental distress. Mark has also played a leading role in bringing mindfulness into mainstream clinical practice and public health, including its adoption within the UK's National Health Service. One of his more recent books that he co-authored is Deeper Mindfulness: The New Way to Rediscover Calm in a Chaotic World.

Alastair McIntosh: Riders on the Storm - Climate, Community and the Survival of Being

Alastair McIntosh is a Scottish writer, theologian, and environmental activist whose work bridges spirituality, ecology, and social change. He is also a Quaker who is deeply committed to nonviolence at every level of life. Raised on the Isle of Lewis, he draws on the deep stories of his Hebridian upbringing to explore belonging, community, and the sacredness of place. Alistair has been a key figure in Scottish land reform, contributing to movements like the Isle of Eigg community buyout and the campaign against the Harris Superquarry. He is the author of Soil and Soul and Poacher's Pilgrimage, books that blend activism with myth, imagination, and the inner life. Poacher's Pilgrimage was the subject of a Magazine article back in 2017. His latest book is Riders on the Storm, where he addresses climate science and the debates around it, and the human response required to meet the challenge.

Lisa Petersen: Somatics and the Wisdom of the Body

Lisa Petersen is a yoga and somatics educator whose work blends embodied anatomy, therapeutic practice, and spiritual inquiry. Drawing on Hanna Somatics, Body-Mind Centering, and over twenty years of collaboration with Donna Farhi, she teaches an inside-out approach to yoga that restores natural movement and deepens awareness. Lisa's method emphasizes nervous system repatterning, embodied presence, and trust in the body's innate wisdom. Through her organization Living Yoga, she leads trainings and retreats worldwide, guiding students toward integration, healing and wholeness through mindful, somatic exploration and the lived experience of breath, movement, and consciousness. Lisa offers various forms of training, both in person and online, and you can discover more about her and her teachings on her website, living-yoga.ie. You can also find Lisa on Instagram at livingyogalisapetersen.