James O'Dea/Cultivating A Global Culture of Peace 08/15/12

How do we genuinely and authentically build a global culture of peace? Global activist and author James O'Dea joins Julie Ann to explore the cultural, spiritual, and scientific dimensions of just this question - at a critical time on our planet.The guidance Julie Ann and James will explore - drawn from James's latest book, "Cultivating Peace: Becoming a 21st-Century Peace Ambassador," is relevant for us all - even those who have never considered themselves peacebuilders - not just for peace activists, mediators, and negotiators, but for psychologists, educators, businesspeople, and clergy - and for us, as everyday citizens.At an individual level, we may play a role as activators of peace through energy mastery - we can we can transform the energy that triggers us and model how to successfully transform unhealthy conflict in our families, workplaces, and local communities.On a community and societal level, peacebuilding creates space for healthy, deep introspection, dialogue, healing - and new vision.Peace work is about expanding the capacity of a society to embrace multifaceted identities. Democracy is the best tool we have to align individual and collective freedom, as it is nurtured and allowed to slowly and authentically evolve.James O’Dea is a renowned figure in international social healing, who integrates personal experience in the world’s violent conflict zones with insights gathered from decades of work in social healing, human rights advocacy, and consciousness studies. James was director of Amnesty International’s Washington, DC, office and is a past president and member of the extended faculty of the Institute of Noetic Sciences.