The Long Road to Peace

The Long Road to Peace

Being carried by something Greater than Ourselves Elizabeth Oldfield holds a master’s degree in theology and the arts and spent the early part of her career at the BBC in television and radio. She is an experienced communicator who appears on various platforms, including in The New York Times and BBC One. She is host of the podcast “The Sacred.” Elizabeth Oldfield lives a Christian spirituality that engages with our world. In Radio evolve we speak with her about a trust that roots us in life and allows us to grow in spirit. In an interview with evolve, she says: “Usually, there's an important thing to care about. But there's a relationship between the sense of trust in something other than myself and the way that allows a certain humility. At its best, healthy spiritual practices right sizes us and helps us to realize, we're not God. I find it a tremendous relief not to be God. And trusting that there is a deep Love that is stronger than death allows me to realize, it would be arrogant to think all of this is my problem. But something in here is mine to do. I have been created with a particular set of gifts and talents that the world needs. That full aliveness is one of the filters that we can use to work out what to do in these times when everything is burning. What can I personally rescue from the fire of modernity and take forward? And trusting. Of course, my tiny contribution is not enough, but that's not my problem, because there is something bigger to trust in.”

The Long Road to Peace – How can Trust and Solidarity be Restored?

“Peace building has been crafted by those who believed in a liberal way of putting a broken society together. That means that the outsider comes to analyze what's wrong with the country and propose short term solutions to build peace. Sustaining peace, on the other hand, posits that peace should be the starting point and the end goal. Every society, however broken it may appear, has still threads and stitches that hold it together. Therefore, if you wish to support pathways to peace, identify what is already strong, not only what is wrong. Peace becomes like a journey, like a tree. It grows from the bottom up and from the inside out. All the other mechanisms are designed to support that approach”, says Dr. Youssef Mahmoud about the approach of “Sustaining Peace”. Youssef Mahmoud worked with this approach when he served as United Nations Under-Secretary-General and led major peace operations in Central Africa. Over the course of his UN career, he held other senior leadership positions, including UN Resident Coordinator in Guyana and Director in the UN Department of Political Affairs. In our Radio evolve we speak with Youssef Mahmoud about ways to restore trust and solidarity in a conflicted world.

In Love with the Future – How can we create change through the power of imagination?

Mike Kauschke in Dialogue with Rob Hopkins In the midst of our many crises, the future can look like something to avoid or to fear. But Rob Hopkins sees the future as a field of possibility. The co-founder of the Transition Town Movement, which brings change to the concrete, local human level, sees his work for change rooted in our power of imagination. When we can imagine a new future and long for it, it will be the strongest motivator to act. He created podcasts and trainings in which he travels into the future with his guests or participants to the world people want to live in. For him this changed his attitude as an activist and made him investigate the power of a love for the future, that he explores in his new book “How to Fall in Love with the Future” Rob Hopkins says, “In my work I try to help people to imagine what a low carbon future could be like, if we take the fear out of it and cultivate a longing for it. Imagination allows us to generate longing. Longing is one of the most powerful and precious things that we have right now. As activists we often think, we just need to give people a sufficiently terrifying report and they're going to change the world. But that’s delusional. We're only going to create a different future if we long for it first.” To awaken people to this power of imagination Rob Hopkins runs “Imagination Catalyst” trainings for organizations as diverse as Balenciaga, London Marathon Group, local councils and Museum Booster. He says about this work: “We need to be able to fill people's imagination with possibility, stories, longing, desire and a belief that is about moving towards a future that's so irresistible and delicious that we have no choice. If it feels like we're being dragged away from something irreplaceable, we're not going to do it. So, we have to create that kind of longing. And that's the work of imagination, music, poetry, storytelling and art.“ In this inspiring conversation, Rob Hopkins explores the power of imagination, community, and collective vision in shaping a sustainable and hopeful future. He shares insights on how time travel, art, and diverse voices can ignite collective longing and action to address climate change and societal challenges.   www.robhopkins.net Unser Radio evolve Archiv mit über 600 Sendungen: www.evolve-world.org/radio-evolve [https://www.evolve-world.org/radio-evolve]www.youtube.com/@radioevolve7543 [http://www.youtube.com/@radioevolve7543]

Learning to be Human together – Insights from Modern Confucianism

“Confucianism is a learning civilization rather than a missionary one. The Analects by Confucius opens not with commandments or conversion, but with the delight of learning: ‘To learn and practice constantly—is this not a pleasure?’ Learning is seen as an inner fulfillment rather than a rule imposed on others. Moral influence arises from ongoing self-cultivation, allowing character itself to become a quiet source of resonance. Therefore, Confucianism is a dialogical rather than dialectical civilization. It aims for understanding rather than victory, resonance rather than domination. This outlook makes it an inclusive civilization, not a closed one, capable of coexisting with differences without erasing them”, says Jianbao Wang, Director of the Center for the Humanities and Business Ethics at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and student of the renowned philosopher Tu Weiming. In this Radio evolve we will speak with Prof. Jianbao Wang about the ethics and spiritualty of Modern Confucianism, and the relationship and differences of Western and Chinese philosophy and spiritual thinking. Unser Radio evolve Archiv mit über 600 Sendungen: www.evolve-world.org/radio-evolve [https://www.evolve-world.org/radio-evolve]www.youtube.com/@radioevolve7543 [http://www.youtube.com/@radioevolve7543]

Transformation in Community - The European Ecovillage Gathering

Ecovillages have been around for some decades, giving rise to many different communities around the world and in Europe. In many ways they provided fertile ground for new experiments in ecological farming, in living together, in decision making and dialogue and how to deal with human diversity. But many of the hopes for ecological and social change that fueled the founding of Ecovillages have not been manifested in the way many people hoped for. It seems there are various backlashes in social and ecological dimensions of Western societies. How do Ecovillages respond to this dynamic? How does this change their approach or self-understanding? What are the challenges and potentials for Ecovillages in these difficult times we are in? How can Ecovillages be places of building trust together? In Radio evolve we speak about these questions with Dario Ferraro, a project manager, facilitator, and filmmaker who divides his time between Vilnius, Lithuania, and the Torri Superiore Ecovillage in Italy. Dario is active in the European Ecovillage Network, whose annual gathering is taking place this year at the Nature Community near Regensburg with the theme “To Dare to Trust”. More information: www.ecovillagegathering.org [http://www.ecovillagegathering.org] Unser Radio evolve Archiv mit über 600 Sendungen: www.evolve-world.org/radio-evolve [https://www.evolve-world.org/radio-evolve]www.youtube.com/@radioevolve7543 [http://www.youtube.com/@radioevolve7543]