Mike Abkin's Blog (6)

Yes, it’s true! The National Peace Academy  – “where peacebuilders go to grow” – is three years old this month, and we are celebrating with the launch just this weekend of a brand new, sleek, spectacularly redesigned website. Check it out, and enjoy.

I envision a world of local, resilient, adaptive communities who are networked in a web of interdependence with other local, resilient, adaptive communities all around the world. That global linking provides for macro-level resilience and adaptivity to complement the micro-/local-level resilience and adaptivity.

Read more...

I was in Los Angeles this past weekend for the 50^th reunion (!) of my North Hollywood High School class of 1961. Classmate Jack recounted how, about 10 years ago, he phased out of his general surgery practice and into the field of functional medicine. It was as if he’d worked himself out of a job in surgery as he’d begun treating his surgical patients à la functional medicine and found that in so many cases they no longer needed surgery.

It dawned on me that functional…

Continue

I cried "the day the music died" (how many of you are old enough to remember that?), and I cried watching this demonstration of a heartland American community coming together in joy and harmony – a demonstration of a culture of peace.

The economic situation -- gloomy? Or perhaps actually hopeful?



As Lao-Tzu is reputed to have said, "If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading." Which heading are we following?



Gross domestic product. Genuine progess indicator. Global peace index. Gross national happiness. Which is most reflective of our social and economic well being and progress?



For… Continue

Earth quakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, uprisings of the oppressed, nuclear meltdowns, global economic and financial collapse. Of historic proportions, all around the world, and all virtually in the blink of an eye.

And what of peace? In this revolutionarily evolutionary, topsy-turvy world turning upside down, what can peace mean? What is the role of peacebuilding in such a world? How do we go about it and make it practical in our daily lives, no matter who we are or…

Continue