Month: <span>January 2022</span>

League of Nations Rapprochement of Cultures.

The League of Nations and its unused Peace Army.

Featured Image: Stanley Bruce chairing the League of Nations Council in 1936. Joachim von Ribbentrop is addressing the council. By Commonwealth of Australia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

By Rene Wadlow.

28 April 1919 can be considered as the birth of the League of Nations.  The creation of the League had been on the agenda of the Peace Conference at Versailles, just outside of Paris, from its start in January 1919.  

The U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was the chief champion of the League.  The creation of such an organization was discussed from the start in January, along with discussions as to where the headquarters of the League would be set.  On 28 April, there was a unanimous decision to create a League of Nations and at the same time Geneva was chosen for its headquarters.

Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America. By Harris & Ewing, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The First decade of the League’s life.

Some of the later failings of the League were visible from the start.  Defeated Germany and revolutionary USSR were not invited to join, and the U.S. Senate turned down the invitation.  Nevertheless, the first decade of the League’s life saw a good deal in international cooperation, especially in the fields of labor conditions, health, social welfare, intellectual cooperation, and agriculture – all areas that would later be continued and developed within the U.N. system.

The first decade saw the settlement of a number of conflicts that could have led to war.  There was a wide-spread feeling that a new era in international relations had been born. However, the 1930s began with the conflicts which led to the end of the League.

Mukden Incident.

On 18 September 1931 Japan accused China of blowing up a Manchurian railway line over which Japan had treaty rights.  This “Mukden Incident” as it became known was followed by the Japanese seizure of the city of Mukden and the invasion of Manchuria.  Military occupation of the region followed, and on 18 February 1932 Japan established the puppet state of Manchukin.

Further hostilities between Japan and China were a real possibility.  The League tried to mediate the conflict under the leadership of Salvador De Madariaga, the Ambassador of Republican Spain to the League.  In practice, none of the Western governments wanted to get involved in Asian conflicts, especially not at a time when they were facing an economic depression.

The Spanish writer Salvador de Madariaga and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina José María Cantilo talked during a session of the League of Nations (1936). By Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Non-govermental organization cooperation.

Non-govermental organization cooperation with the League of Nations was not as structured as it would be by the U.N. Charter.  There were a few peace groups in Geneva which did  interact informally with the League delegations – the Women’s International League for Peace and Fredom, the International Peace Bureau, and the British Quakers were active but were unable to speak directly in League meetings.  They could only send written appeals to the League secretariat and contact informally certain delegations.

In reaction to the Japan-China tensions, Dr Maude Revden, a former suffragist, one of England’s first women pastors, influenced by Mahatma Gandhi whom she had visited in India proposed “shock troops of peace” who would volunteer to place themselves between the Japanese and Chinese combatants.  The proposal for the interposition of an unarmed body of civilians of both sexes between the opposing armies was proposed to the Secretary General of the League of Nations, Sir Eric Drummond.  

Drummond replied that it was not in his constitutional power to bring the proposal before the League’s Assembly.  Only government could bring agenda items to the Assembly.  Nevertheless, he released the letter to the many journalists then in Geneva as the Assembly was in session. The letter was widely reported.

An unarmed shock troop of the  League never developed, and China and much of Asia became the scene of a Japanese-led war.

Sir Eric Drummond circa 1918. By Bain, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The United Nations by World Citizens.

The idea of an unarmed interposition force was again presented this time to the United Nations by world citizens shortly after the U.N.’s creation at the time of the 1947-48 creation of the State of Israel and the resulting armed conflict.  The proposal was presented by Henry Usborn  a British MP, active in the world federalist and world citizen movement.  Usborn was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha (a soul force) and proposed that a volunteer corps of some 10,000 unarmed people hold a two kilometre-wide demilitarized zone between Israel and its Arab neighbors.   

Somewhat later, in 1960, Salvador De Madariaga, who had ceased being the Spanish Ambassador to the League when General Franco came to power, created in 1938 the World Citizens Association from his exile in England.

The Gandhian Indian Socialist.

He developed a proposal with the Gandhian Indian Socialist Party leader Jayapeakash Narayan for a U.N. Peace Guards, an unarmed international peace force that would be an alternative to the armed U.N. forces. (1) De Maderiaga  and Narayan held that a body of regular Peace Guards intervening with no weapons whatever, between two forces in combat or about to fight  might have considerable effect.  The Peace Guards would be authorized by the U.N. Member States to intervene in any conflict of any nature when asked by one of the parties or by the Secretary General.

Jayaprakash Narayan during his visit in Germany, 1959. By Ullstein bild, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Dag Hammarskjold who was having enough problems with armed U.N. troops in the former Belgium Congo and understanding the realpolitik  of the U.N. did not act on the proposal.  Thus for the moment, there are only armed U.N. troops drawn from national armies and able to act only on a resolution of the Security Council.

Photograph of Dag Hammarskjöld(1953). By Caj Bremer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

You might interesting to read: Dag Hammarskjold. Crisis Manager and Longer-Range World Community Builder .

Note.


1) A good portrait of Jayaprakash Narayan, a world citizen, is set out in Bimal Prasad. Gandhi, Nehru and J.P. Studies in Leadership (Delhi, Chamakya Publications, 1985)

Narayan was also one of the Indian leaders met by the student world federalist leaders in their 1949 stay in India. See Clare and Harris Wofford, Jr.
India Afire (New York: John Day Company, 1951).

Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

Here are other publications that may be of interest to you.

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Robert M. Hutchins Rapprochement of Cultures.

Robert M. Hutchins: Building on Earlier Foundations.

Featured Image: University of Chicago: Hyde Park, East 57th Street. Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash.

Robert M. Hutchins much of our current work for a more just and peaceful world builds on the thinking and efforts of earlier foundations.  An important foundation is the leading role of Robert M. Hutchins, long-time President of the University of Chicago  (l929 -1951).

University of Chicago.

Robert M. Hutchins’ father, William, was President of Berea, a small but important liberal arts college, so Robert M. Hutchins (1899-1977) was set to follow the family pattern.  He went to Yale Law School and stayed on to teach. He quickly became the Dean of the Law School and was spotted as a rising star of US education.  When he was 30 years old, he was asked to become President of the University of Chicago, a leading institution.  Hutchins was then the youngest president of a US university.

In the first decade in his post as president, the 1930s, his ideas concerning undergraduate education − compulsory survey courses, early admission after two years of secondary school for bright and motivated students, a concentration on “Great Books” – an examination of seminal works of philosophy in particular Plato and Aristotle − divided the University of Chicago faculty. 

There were strong and outspoken pro and anti Hutchins faculty groups.  Moreover Hutchins’ abolition of varsity football and ending the University’s  participation in the “Big Ten” university football league distressed some alumni whose link to the university was largely limited to attending football games. For Hutchins, a university was for learning and discussion, not for playing sports. As he famously said:

  “When I feel like exercising, I sit down until the feeling goes away.”

Committee to Frame a World Constitution in 1945.

It is Hutchins’ creation and leadership of the Committee to Frame a World Constitution in 1945 which makes him one of the intellectual founders of the movement for world federation and world citizenship. After the coming to power of Hitler in Germany in 1933 and his quick decision to ban Jewish professors from teaching in German universities, many Jewish scientists and professors left Germany and came to the USA.  Some of the leading natural scientists joined the University of Chicago.  Thus began the “Metallurgy Project” as the work on atomic research was officially called. The University of Chicago team did much of the theoretical research which led to the Atom Bomb.  While Hutchins was not directly involved in the atomic project, he understood quickly the nature of atomic energy and its military uses.  He saw that the world would never return to a “pre-atomic” condition and that new forms of world organization were needed.

Atomic Force: Its Meaning for Mankind .

            On 12 August 1945, a few days after the use of the atom bombs, Hutchins made a radio address “Atomic Force: Its Meaning for Mankind” in which he outlined the need for strong world institutions, stronger than the UN Charter, whose drafters earlier in the year did not know of the destructive power of atomic energy.

Several professors of the University of Chicago were already active in peace work such as Mortimer Adler, G.A. Borgese, and Richard McKeon, Dean of the undergraduate college.  The three approached Hutchins saying that as the University of Chicago had taken a lead in the development of atomic research, so likewise, the university should take the lead in research on adequate world institutions.  By November 1945, a 12-person Committee to Frame a World Constitution was created under Hutchins’ chairmanship.

Mortimer Adler By Courtesy Center for the Study of The Great Ideas, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Committee drew largely on existing faculty of the University of Chicago − Wilber Katz, Dean of the Law School and Rexford Tugwell who taught political science but who had been a leading administrator of the Roosevelt New Deal and Governor of Puerto Rico. Two retired professors from outside Chicago were added − Charles McIlwain of Harvard, a specialist on constitutions, and Albert  Guerard of Stanford, a French refugee who was concerned about the structure of post-war Europe.

 Rexford G. Tugwell, administrator, Resettlement Administration. Public domain.

Journal Common Cause.

            From 1947 to 1951, the Committee published a monthly journal Common Cause  many of whose articles still merit reading today as fundamental questions concerning the philosophical basis of government, human rights, distribution of power, and the role of regions are discussed.  The Preliminary Draft of a World Constitution  was published in 1948 and reprinted in the Saturday Review of Literature edited by Norman Cousins and in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists some of whom were in the original “Metallurgy Project”.  The Preliminary Draft raised a good deal of discussion, reflected in the issues of Common Cause.  There was no second draft.  The Preliminary Draft was as G.A. Borgese said, quoting Dante “…of the True City at least the Tower.”

            In 1951, Hutchins retired from the presidency of the University of Chicago for the Ford Foundation and then created the Ford Foundation-funded Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions where he gathered together some of his co-workers from the University of Chicago.

Norman Cousins Picture: Apurva Madia, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

You might interest to read Norman Cousins: A Pioneer of Track II Diplomacy.

The Preliminary Draft.

            Two ideas from The Preliminary
Draft are still part of intellectual and political life for those concerned
with a stronger UN.  The first is the
strong role of regional organizations. 
When The Preliminary Draft was written the European Union was
still just an idea and most of the States now part of the African Union were
European colonies.  The Preliminary
Draft saw that regional groups were institutions of the future and should
be integrated as such in the world institution. 
Today, the representatives of States belonging to regional groupings
meet together at the UN to try to reach a common position, but regional groups
are not part of the official UN structure. However, they may be in the future.

            The other lasting aspect of The Preliminary Draft is the crucial role that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should play.  The then recently drafted UN Charter had created a “consultative status” for NGOs, but few of the UN Charter drafters foresaw the important role that NGOs would play  as the UN developed.  The Preliminary Draft had envisaged a Syndical Senate to represent occupational associations on the lines of the International Labour Organization where trade unions and employer associations have equal standing with government delegates.  In 1946, few people saw the important role that the NGOs would later play in UN activities.  While there is no “Syndical Senate”, today NGOs represent an important part of the UN process.

Reflections.   

   Robert M. Hutchins, however, was also a reflection of his time.  There were no women as members of the Committee to Frame a World Constitution, and when he created the Center for the Study of Democratic  Institutions with a large number of “fellows”, consultants, and staff, women are also largely absent.

            The effort to envisage the structures and processes among the different structures was an innovative contribution to global institution building at the time, and many of the debates and reflections are still crucial for today. Looking at back issues of  Common Cause, the journal of the World Constitution Drafting Committee, if they are available in a university library, still has discussions of  important questions on the structures of governance.

Notes.

For an understanding of the thinking of those involved in writing The Preliminary Draft see:

Mortimor Adler. How to think about War and Peace (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944)

Rexford Tugwell. Chronicle of Jeopardy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955)

G.A. Borgese. Foundations of the World Republic (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1953)

Scott Buchanan. Essay in Politics (New York: Philosophical Library, 1953)

For a life of Hutchens written by a co-worker in the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions:

Harry Ashmore. Unreasonable Truths: the Life of Robert Maynard Hutchens (Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1989)

By Rene Wadlow, President Association of World Citizens.

Here are other publications that may be of interest to you.

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Antonio Gramsci Rapprochement of Cultures.

Antonio Gramsci: A Cultural Base for Positive Action.

Emilio J. Rodríguez Posada, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

By Dr. Rene Wadlow.

Antonio Gramsci (22 January 1891 – 24 April 1937); was an Italian Socialist; and then Communist editor ; who is best known for his notebooks of reflections; that he wrote while in prison. (1). 

 Gramsci grew up on the Italian island of Sardinia; and saw the poor conditions of the impoverished peasants there.  He studied just before the First World War; at the University of Turin at a time when industry; especially the Fiat auto company was starting.  Antonio Gramsci became concerned; with the conditions of the new industrial working class.   When the First World War started; he was asked to join a new Socialist newspaper; that had started in Turin.

1921, in part due to the Russian Revolution, the Italian Communist Party was born.  Some of the  Socialists, including Gramsci, joined the new party, and Gramsci became an editor of the Communist newspaper. In 1922, he went to Russia as a delegate of the Italian Communist Party to a convention of Communist Parties from different parts of the world.

During 1923; Benito Mussolini and his Fascist Party came to power; and quickly began a crackdown on the Communists; and other opposition movements.  In 1926; after a failed attempt on Mussolini’s life; there was a massive crackdown on Communists. Although he had nothing to do with the effort to kill Mussolini; but as a Communist deputy to the national Parliament; Antonio Gramsci was sentenced to 20 years in prison.  His health; which had never been strong; deteriorated in prison. On 27 April 1937 he died; aged 46.

Benito Mussolini in 1930. By Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Idea of Hegemony.

While in prison; he wrote his ideas in notebooks; which were censored by the prison authorities. Then; the notebooks were passed on to family members. Antonio Gramsci had to be careful; about how he expressed his ideas.  The  notebooks were published; only after the end of the Second World War; and the defeat of the Fascist government.  Thus; Gramsci was never able to discuss; or clarify his views.  Nevertheless; his prison writings have been widely read and discussed.

The concept most associated with Antonio Gramsci; is the idea of “Hegemony”.  

Hegemony is constructed through; a complex series of struggles.  Hegemony cannot be constructed once; and for all since the balance of social forces; on which it rests is continually evolving. Class structures; related to the mode of production is obviously one area of struggle – the core of the Marxist approach.  However; what is new in Gramsci; is his emphasis on the cultural, ideological, and moral dimensions of the struggle for hegemony.

Antonio Gramsci:
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

For Antonio Gramsci; hegemony cannot be economic alone.  There must be a cultural battle; to transform the popular mentality.  He asks:

 “How it happens that in all periods; there co-exist many systems and currents of philosophical thought and how these currents are born; how they are diffused; and why in the process of diffusion; they fracture along certain lines and in certain directions.”

The French Revolution.

Gramsci was particularly interested in the French Revolution; and its follow up. Why were the revolutionary ideas not permanently in power; but rather were replaced by those of Napoleon; only to return later?.  Gramsci put an emphasis on what is called today “the civil society” – all the groups and forces; not directly related to government: government administration, the military, the police.   

There can be a control of the government; but such control: can be replaced if the civil society’s values and zeitgeist (world view);   are not modified in depth.  There is a slow evolution of mentalities; from one value system to another.  For progress to be permanent; one needs to influence; and then control those institutions – education, culture, religion, folklore – that create the popular zeitgeist.  He was unable to return to the USSR; to see how Stalin  developed the idea of hegemony.

The intellectual contribution of Gramsci has continued in the work of Edward Said; on how the West developed its ideas about the Middle East. (2). Likewise his influence is strong in India; in what are called “subaltern studies” – what those people left out of official histories think. As someone noted

“ I believe firmly that the history of ideas is the key to the history of deeds.”

Notes.

1) Antonio Gramsci. The Prison Notebooks (three volumes) (New York: Columbia University Press).
    Antonio Gramsci. Prison Letters (London: Pluto Press, 1996).
2) See Edward Said. Culture and Imperialism (London: Vintage, 1994) .

Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens.

Here are other publications that may be of interest to you.

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Stringfellow Barr Rapprochement of Cultures.

Stringfellow Barr. Joining the Human Race.

Featured Image: Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash.

By Rene Wadlow.

Stringfellow Barr: 15 January 1897 – 3 February 1982)

Stringfellow Barr;  whose birth anniversary we mark on 15 January;  was a historian;  largely of the classic Greek and Roman Empire period and an active world citizen.  

He served as president of the Foundation for World Government; from its start in 1948 to its closing in 1958.  He  was president of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland (also home of the U.S. naval academy;  which turns out sailors). The aim of St. John’s; under Stringfellow Barr was to turn out well-read liberals;  who would have studied a common set of “Great Book” starting with the Greeks such as Plato.  The Great Books approach to learning developed community reading circles across the USA; very popular in the 1950s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZI0gUEzuEo

Stringfellow Barr had the good luck or a sense of the right timing to publish a short 36-page booklet; Let’s Join the Human Race in 1950. (1)  In his 30 January 1949;   Inaugural Address on becoming President of the U.S.A. Harry Truman set out four policy ideas; which he numbered as Point One to Point Four.

Presidential portrait of Harry Truman

Official Presidential Portrait. Notice the Capitol Building in the background. Truman, who was a two-term senator from Missouri and as vice-president presided over the Senate, wanted to emphasize his legislative career rather than his executive and the constitutional emphasis of the former over the latter. (1945). By Greta Kempton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. 

Point Four.

Point Four  was really an afterthought as some mention of foreign policy was needed for balance. Point Four was “a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.”

While the first three points dealing with domestic policy were quickly forgotten; Point Four caught the interest of many Americans as had the earlier Marshall Plan for Europe.  For some Americans; Point Four as the idea was called had an anti-Russian coloring.  U.S. technology to raise the standard of living of poor countries would prevent them “from going communist”.  For others; such as Stringfellow Barr;  the effort of raising the standard of living of the poor was a good thing in itself; and it should not be the task of the U.S.A. alone.

Barr  wrote “The people of the world are alone able to take on what is the main economic problem of every single national group – the problem of rebuilding their common world economy.  They can hope to do it only by the massive use of public funds.  America cannot do it for them… The nearest thing to a suitable agency that already exists is the United Nations.  And the United Nations is the nearest thing that exists only because the people of the world lack a common government.”

Citizens of the World.

Barr  called for the United Nations to create a World Development Authority: 

“calling in all neighbors from the Mighty Neighborhood.”

However;  he developed the idea in a full-length book in 1952; Citizens of the World (2).

 

He places the emphasis on hunger; which at the time was the public face of underdevelopment.  Robert Brittain’s Let There Be Bread and Josué de Castro’s;    The Geography of Hunger were among the most widely-read books by people interested in development at the time.

Josué de Castro

Josué de Castro speaks in the Chamber of Deputies, 1940. By Brazilian National Archives, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The 2015-2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Today we have a broader view of what development requires; however food and rural development remain critical issues.  The efforts of the United Nations system for development are not integrated into a World Development Authority.   There are repeated calls for greater coordination and planning within the U.N. system. The 2015-2030 Sustainable Development Goals are an effort to provide an over-all vision;  but common action remains difficult.

As Barr pointed out at the time; most of the proposals to improve the U.N. have focused their attention on the elimination of war; obviously important in the 1950s; when war between the USSR and the USA was a real possibility; highlighted by the 1950-1953 Korean War.

However; world citizens have tried to look at the total picture of the social, political and economic life of all the people of the world.

Today the focus of citizens of the world is more on the need for world-focused attitudes and policies rather than on new political structures.  Yet the vision of Stringfellow Barr remains important as we highlight his birth anniversary.

 

Notes.

1)Stringfellow Barr. Let’s Join the Human Race (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1950, 36pp.).
2) Stringfellow Barr. Citizens of the World (New York: Doubleday and Company, 1952, 285pp).

Rene Wadlow, President, Association of Citizens of the World.

Here are other publications that may be of interest to you.

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Albert Schweitzer Rapprochement of Cultures.

Albert Schweitzer: Respect for Life Against Nuclear Death.

Featured Image: Respect for life’ 1974 – (Albert Schweitzer), Deventer/The Netherlands Made by Pieter de Monchy (Hengelo 1916). By FaceMePLS from The Hague, The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Civilization is made up of four ideals: the ideal of the individual; the ideal of social and political organization;
the ideal of spiritual and religious organization; the ideal of humanity as a whole.
On the basis of these four ideals, thought tries conclusions with progress.

Albert Schweitzer  The Philosophy of Civilization.

Albert Schweitzer, whose birth anniversary we note on 14 January, was concerned with the ways that these four ideals of civilization are developed into a harmonious whole.  Late in his life, when I knew him in the early 1960s, he was most concerned with the ideal of humanity as a whole.

He had come out strongly against nuclear weapons, weapons which were the opposite of respect for life which was the foundation of his ethical values.

Albert Schweitzer

 Albert Schweitzer (14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) Bohn, 11 November 1955. By Bundesarchiv, Bild 145 Bild-00014770 / CC-BY-SA, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons.

(1)  “Man can hardly recognize the devils of his creation.   Let me give you a definition of ethics.  It is good to maintain and further life.  It is bad to damage and destroy life.  By having reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world.  By practicing respect for life, we become of the human family and our  good, deep and alive.”

For Albert Schweitzer, our sense of unity of the human family and our obligation to future generations was threatened as never before in the two World wars that he had seen. I had been active since the mid-1950s in efforts to ban testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere – a focus of anti-nuclear efforts at the time.  I had also worked with the world citizen Norman Cousins who had visited Lambaréné and had written a lively book on his exchanges  with  Schweitzer.(2)  Thus I was well received by Schweitzer at his hospital in Lambarene; and we had useful discussions. I was working for the Ministry of Education  at the time and was at the Protestant Secondary School which was a mile down the Ogowe River from  the hospital.

It was Norman Cousins, active in disarmament efforts  in the USA, who urged Schweitzer to speak out against nuclear weapons.  Schweitzer had been awared the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian efforts in Africa.  Thus he came into ever-greater contact with people working for peace.

However, he was reluctant to make statements on issues on which he was not expert. As he said to Cousins:

” All my life, I have carefully stayed away from making pronouncements on public matters. Groups would come to me for statements or I would be asked to sign joint letters or the press would ask me for my views on certain political questions.  And always I would feel forced to say no.”  

However, he went on: 

“The world needs a system of enforceable law to prevent aggression and deal with the threats to the peace, but theimportant thing to do is to make a start somewhere…I think maybe the place to take hold is with the matter of nuclear testing…If a ban on nuclear testing can be put into effect then perhaps the stage can be set  for other and broader measures related to peace.”

Norman Cousins.

This picture of en:Norman Cousins was taken from http://history.nasa.gov/EP-125/part2.htm And was probably created by NASA at the time of the panel it was taken from (1976). By See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Peace or Atomic War.

Schweitzer’s 1958 appeal “Peace or Atomic War” was an important contribution to the growing protests against nuclear testing and their fallout of radiation.  On 16 October 1963 The Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water (more commonly called the Partial Test Ban) came into force.

Today, we still need those other and broader measures related to peace and for a constant affirmation of respect for life.

It could for you to be interesting to read: Norman Cousins: A Pioneer of Track II Diplomacy.

Notes.

1) See Albert Schweitzer. Peace or Atomic War (New York: Henry Holt, 1958)
2) See Norman Cousins; Dr Schweitzer of Lambarene (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1960)
3) Also from Rene Wallow in Ovi magazine:
Albert Schweitzer: To say yes to life HERE
Albert Schweitzer: A Universal Ethic HERE
Albert Schweitzer: To turn our faces once again to civilization. HERE

Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens.

Here are other publications that may be of interest to you.

1 2 … 21

Yin and Yang Education of World Citizenships.

A Harmonious Life and the Principle of Yin and…

Featured Image: Photo by Jben Beach Art on Pexels.

Humanity’s growing desire to discover the world and the satisfaction that comes along with a deeper understanding of the world is becoming more pronounced.
This is a progressive evolution for humanity. The search for the deeper origin of the soul helps people face a future filled with uncertainty. The creation of a world citizenship education system is the synopsis of this global trend.

Everyone is now a global citizen. However, the concept of the rights and obligations of world citizenship has not yet prevailed. To turn the new generation into world citizens with healthy minds and bodies requires massive efforts and endeavors.
Throughout history, the concept of one world is already widely accepted. People are just now endeavoring to find a more harmonious way to live in this one world. All living creatures have a balancing point. Love is the way of life and the source of hope.

The wisdom of yin and yang is a powerful tool to reconcile a world in transition. God has given us life and the journey of living it belongs to each of us.

What is the true meaning of life?.

Those who are born with this understanding rank the highest. Those who acquire understanding from learning rank second. Those who engage in learning because of lack of understanding rank third One undergoes four phases of learning: unconscious
incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and unconscious competence. One may feel comfortable and safe when not conscious of his incompetence.

However, when new challenges surface or situations change, he will start feeling insecure and a sense of crisis arises out of the insecurity of being incompetent. Almost all learning undergoes the aforementioned four stages. But there is another higher level of the realization of potentiality which starts from changing within the heart. Everyone has his potential but more often than not, the light of inner wisdom is blocked by impurities.
Over the past one hundred years, countless efforts in innate ability theory, cognition theory, learning theory, personality, and social relation studies have been made about the development of a child with the ultimate goal of understanding the unknown, untapped and un-exploited part of human beings.

Whys.

The efforts have paid off by offering explanations to many of the “whys” in human life. When understanding the true meaning of life, a great sage once said: Who was I before I was born? Who am I after I am born? Another sage said that one’s present life is the
collective result of the past lives and one’s next life will be a consequence of this life. These words express the meaningof life and the responsibilities one is obligated to in life.
Only with this understanding and awakening will one start purifying and correcting the polluted Qi. This will further change and inspire the direction of qi towards a better field.

The process of correcting by doing, enlightening by correcting and continuing to improve based on the enlightened wisdom is important. This positive cycle is the path of Tao, it enlightens the world and leads us towards a brightly illuminated universe.

All things exist for a good reason.

We should all strive to truly understand ourselves and to examine and structure our future life with the aforementioned sage’s saying in mind. Who was I before I was born? Who am I after I am born? All things exist for a good reason.

The reason does not arise out of thin air, but can be attributed to a circular cycle. We should not only look at the bad side or the bright side, but treat the cause and effect in a centered and balanced way.

Correct thinking builds a mind of pure serenity, which helps us see the light of wisdom. We then know what to do next. The long and deep process is a repetition of the four stages of learning. World citizens can increase their resistance to negative thinking through this practice. Negative thinking is one of the major mental problems in the 21st century and worthy of our serious attention.

Having by Thinking.

The key to the realization of a higher level lies in the purification of heart. After the purification of heart, we will possess the capability of “having by thinking”. For example, we can have a good mood by thinking we are actually in one. Everyone has a heart. And we can install a button for happiness in our hearts. Whenever we are in a bad mood, we push the button and activate the good mood. It is easy and can be done without help from someone else. The energy of heart is strengthened and stored. When the habit becomes deeply ingrained, it will help purify our thoughts.
We must emphasize that the heart is unrestricted and free. When one is willing to practice freeing one’s heart, it does not necessarily take a long time. Leaps of advancement are not uncommon. Stephen Covey said,

“10% of life is made up of what happens to you, 90% of life is decided by how you react.”

This explains a concept of looking on the bright side of things and not being controlled by external situations. What is most important is that we must have the strength to resist being influenced by the “10% events”.
What we are doing is to achieve the full harmony of life. How should world citizens strive to improve themselves? We suggest to start with the concept that one’s present life is the result of his past lives and his next life will be a consequence of this life. Think deeply about what role we play and what we have encountered in this life.
Everything befalls us for good reasons. We will be able to predict what our future life will be like by studying the consequences of everything we did in this life.
We have to be responsible for our lives through discovering the inner world of soul and discarding external disturbances. A healthy mind and body in harmony is our respect for life. All living creatures have a foundation upon which they prosper. The world community presents itself in many different ways. History shows that our forefathers of different races left the same message – the original humanity is pure and clean. A life attitude of pureness and cleanness is to approach the origin of universe and the understanding of a real one world.

Professor Stephen Covey in his home (2010). By Sterling.morris, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Yin and Yang.

Understanding the balanced way of yin and yang helps us know the past, seize the present and prepare for the future. The highest level of the wisdom is to prevent bad things from happening and turn bad things around. If this is indeed true, then we should all start by cultivating ourselves. World citizens’ new understanding of a harmonious life and the principle of yin and yang will contribute greatly to a stable, safe, peaceful, and affluent world.

What we have to strive for is the balancing point, or the tai-ji point. We understand the importance of harmony in life and we need to use the centered way of yin and yang principle to deal with daily affairs or to govern the nation. Yin and yang works like a mirror through which we are able to see the reflections. Therefore, a man with yin yang principle is able to locate the resource of problems and find solutions. This is the working of wisdom.

We hereby advocate a deeper and proactive understanding of life in harmony and the way of yin and yang in order to have a profound balancing effect on the lives of generations to come.
The source of happiness comes from diligence, perseverance and self-assistance. The deeper meaning of consolidating the people’s will and power is to deliver recommendations for the advancement of world citizenship education in order to broaden our minds and lighten up our ways.

Author: Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze.

Here are other publications that may be of interest to you.

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Carl Rogers Rapprochement of Cultures.

Carl Rogers: Healing the Person and the State.

Featured Image: Carl Rogers Pyscologist. By VERONICA LOPEZ82, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Carl Ransom Rogers; (1902 – 1987) an active World Citizen; whose birth anniversary is 8 January, was a US psychologist and educator and a leading figure of what is often called

“The Third Wave of Psychology.” 

The first wave was Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung; and their views of psychoanalysis. 

The second wave was  the behaviorists symbolized by B.F. Skinner; and the later behavior-modification specialists. 

The third wave; often called “humanist”; has Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, and Carl Ransom Rogers as its best known figures.  Unlike Freud and Jung; who developed relatively-closed approaches; and a set of therapeutic techniques built on their theories; the humanist psychological theory; and therapies could change according to the persons being treated or the setting; in which work was undertaken.

In fact; Carl Rogers’ approach was first called “client-centered therapy”; and was based on the idea that the client (no longer called a “patient”) had within him vast resources for understanding; and accepting his dynamics of actions, attitudes, and emotions.  These resources are released in working with the therapist; (often called a facilitator).  The therapist communicates his own caring, empathy, and non-judgmental understanding.

Carl Rogers’ way of working with the people; was to bring his enormous capacity for empathy and understanding, his listening skills, and his caring for people to create a climate; in which the inner potential of the client; for growth could be realized. 

He had an unshakable belief that the person is trustworthy, resourceful, capable of self-direction, and consequently; able to modify his view of self to overcome obstacles; and pain and to become more effective, productive, and fully functioning.  

Sigmund Freud colorized portrait. By Photocolorization, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Therapeutic Relationship.

The view that clients have; within themselves, vast, untapped resources for self-directed growth; was met with rejection by many in the field of psychotherapy.  As C.H. Patterson has written in his The Therapeutic Relationship;

 “Person-centered therapy is often threatening to therapists; since it places responsibility on the therapist as a person; not on the therapist as an expert using a wide range of techniques supposedly selected on the basis of dealing; with specific client problems or diagnoses.”  

Even others within the humanist wave could be critical.  Abraham Maslow said

“Rogers doesn’t have enough sin and psychopathology in his system. He speaks of the only drive as self-actualization, which is to imply there is only a tendency to health.  Then where does all the sickness come from? He needs more theory of psychopathogenesis, fear, of resentment, of countervalues, of hostility.”

If many therapists were unwilling to follow Rogers in their therapeutic work many more individuals; who were working with people seeking growth; and the release of potentials rather than overcoming personal problems did follow Rogers’ lead. 

Jung, Carl Gustav (1875-1961). By ETH Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

One-On-One Client Centered Work.

The 1960s and 1970s saw the development of encounter groups; and a human potential movement.  Rogers’ views on the need for empathy; and unconditional positive regard was taken over by many of those who organized encounter groups.  Rogers shifted some of his activities; from one-on-one client centered work to what could be done in a group setting. 

The two foundation blocks of Rogers’ person-centered approach are:

  1. That each human being has within a growth potential or actualizing tendency.
  2. That this can best be realized if a proper interpersonal psychological climate is present.  These elements could also be used in a group setting; and many of Rogers’ views; were taken over in the training of primary and secondary school teachers.

With the experience of the positive results of encounter groups late in his life; Carl Rogers hoped that his healing techniques; could be used to help heal the deep antagonisms; within those who held responsibility for States. 

In the early 1980s; in the Soviet Union; some persons became more open to an interest; in what was being done in the intellectual life of Western countries. Carl Rogers was invited to lecture to mental health professionals in the Soviet Union. 

B.F. Skinner at the Harvard Psychology Department, circa 1950. By Silly rabbit, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Soviet Experiences.

Soviet psychotherapy had been largely in the behaviorist tradition and the heavy use of drugs; for behavior modification.  Freud and Jung were known by reputation; but not to be mentioned in polite company.  Thus; the largely unknown; but not taboo humanist approach merited being known; and Rogers was warmly welcomed.

I met Rogers on his return from the Soviet Union; when he gave a talk in Geneva on his Soviet experiences.  He had seen people; who were discovering new ideas; who had deep inner resources; but these resources had remained undeveloped during most of the Soviet period; by fear of stepping outside Communist orthodoxy.  He saw the need for follow-up both by him; and by others such as those of us meeting with him in Geneva.

Rollo May speaking at the University of San Diego (1976 – 1977). By Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Client-Centered Therapy Field.

Rogers’ peace activities; also concerned Central America and South Africa − areas torn by deep divisions; and uncertainty about the future.  His death in 1987; ended his personal ability; to carry on this peace-related approach. 

Much of Rogers’ influence today remains in the client-centered therapy field.  Most political leaders do not feel; that they are in need of help to discover new; and more satisfying personal meaning about themselves and the world they inhabit. 

Perhaps power fills all their emotional needs.  However; for those of us; who work without power for peace; the humanist psychology wave; and its emphasis on the formation of attitudes, fears, and aspirations can give us real tools for action.

Notes.

C.R. Rogers. Client-centered therapy ( Boston: Houghton-Mifflim, 1951).

C.R. Rogers. On becoming a person – a therapist’s view of psychotherapy (Boston: Houghton-Mifflim, 1961).

C.R. Rogers. Carl Rogers on encounter groups (New York: Harper and Row, 1970).

C.R. Rogers. A way of being (Boston: Houghton-Mifflim, 1980).

Rene Wadlow; President Association of World Citizens.

This is a tape of a Counselling Session between Carl Rogers and Gloria.
Carl Rogers uses Person Centred approach. Humanistic style of counselling.
This is the first part of about 5/6 videos.

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