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A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism - Reflections and Recommendations Paperback – August 1, 2017
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We are at a turning point in the history of civilization. Anyone watching the news can understand why. Our generation faces the challenges of global warming, misogyny, racism, systemic poverty, oligarchy, and more. Some believe that this will lead to a kind of fascist, environmentally ruined dystopia. Robertson Work, who has spent decades working in poverty-stricken villages and developing countries, does not believe all hope is lost.
In this revolutionary guide, Work uses his experiences with the United Nations and organizations and communities across the globe to outline the fundamentals of a compassionate civilization. He argues that it is urgent to change the way we think about society and proposes six areas of transformation to focus on:
- environmental sustainability
- gender equality
- socioeconomic justice
- cultural tolerance
- participatory governance
- nonviolence
Each of these six foundations is necessary to form the compassionate civilization Work envisions. In addition to the theoretical themes of such a society, Work shares effective leadership methods to help make this dream a reality as a movement of movements and as global-local citizens. He encourages you to become more aware of problems and possibilities around you and practice empathetic, effective social activism and care for self and others.
Anyone can make a difference. Work shows you exactly where to begin.
Endorsements:
“I strongly recommend this book for students, activists, scholars, political leaders and citizens of the world.”- Shabbir Cheema, PhD, Senior Fellow, East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
“This book is a superb work of courage and skill, practical knowhow, and the ingenious gifts of one who is sourced in spirit.” - Jean Houston, PhD, author, A Passion for the Possible
“This book deserves to be hugely influential and read by all who care for the future of Mother Earth.” - Tatwa P. Timsina, PhD, founder of the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) Nepal
“Robertson issues a hope-filled call-to-action and a roadmap for creating the compassionate civilization.”- Joy Sloan Jinks, MSW, Community Organizer, Founder of Swamp Gravy
- Print length286 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateAugust 1, 2017
- Dimensions6 x 0.65 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101546972617
- ISBN-13978-1546972617
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"This book is a superb work of courage and skill, practical knowhow, and the ingenious gifts of one who is sourced in spirit." - Jean Houston, PhD, author, A Passion for thePossible
"This bookdeserves to be hugely influential and read by all who care for the future of Mother Earth." - Tatwa P. Timsina, PhD, founder of the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) Nepal; former President, ICA International
"Robertson issues a hope-filled call-to-action and a roadmap for creating the compassionate civilization."-Joy Sloan Jinks, MSW, Community Organizer, Founder of Swamp Gravy; author of Dynamic Aging
"Rob offers us a new social philosophy which is both visionary and pragmatic, both individual and collective." - Larry Ward, PhD, Dharma teacher in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition of practice
"Work offers a compelling integral vision of compassionate civilizational transformation, while encouraging the reader to participate in co-creation." - Nancy Roof, founder, Kosmos Journal, kosmosjournal.org
"A focus on six arenas of transformation illuminates possibility in the midst of our current experience of institutional challenge and collapse." - R. Bruce Williams, international facilitator and author of More Than 50 Ways to Build Team Consensus and 12 Roles of Facilitators for School Change.
"The book is an invitation to us, the readers, to enter into a "multilogue" with the author and everyone else as we give shape to our own declarations, strategies, and action." - Terry D. Bergdall, PhD, Former President and CEO, Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), USA
"One of the best Sustainable Development and Social Activism books of 2002 - 2018" - BookAuthoritybookauthority.org/books/best-social-activism-books?t=17w3op&s=award&book=1546972617
From the Author
From the Back Cover
Robertson Work believes so. In this new guide, he documents the changes that need to happen for society to morph into a compassionate civilization that supports all people and pulls us back from the brink of environmental catastrophe. He focuses on six fundamental areas of change.
Using insight gleaned from decades in public service, Work concretely shows what a compassionate civilization looks like and shares exactly what we need to do to create such a society.
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (August 1, 2017)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 286 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1546972617
- ISBN-13 : 978-1546972617
- Item Weight : 13.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.65 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,867,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #232 in Utopian Ideology
- #2,739 in General Elections & Political Process
- #10,486 in Philosophy of Ethics & Morality
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Robertson Work is a nonfiction author, ecosystem/justice activist, founder of the Compassionate Civilization Collaborative (C3), and member of the Great Transition Network. He has published five books and contributed to thirteen others. He was UNDP principal policy adviser on decentralized governance and deputy director of the democratic governance division, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service professor of innovative leadership, and Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) national and regional director conducting organizational, leadership, and community initiatives. He has worked in over fifty countries for over fifty years, and now lives in Swannanoa, North Carolina, USA.
For ten years, he was a UN consultant, public speaker, New York University Wagner Graduate School of Public Service adjunct professor of innovative leadership, a Fulbright Senior Specialist assisting universities overseas, and a Fellow of the NYU Wagner Research Center for Leadership in Action.
Previously, Mr. Work was UNDP's principal policy adviser of decentralized governance for sixteen years at UN headquarters in New York. While with UNDP he designed and coordinated the Local Initiative Facility for Urban Environment (LIFE) operating in twenty countries and another global program, Decentralizing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through Innovative Leadership (DMIL). He also coordinated a global community of practice on decentralized governance, provided policy advice to countries worldwide, conducted research, and prepared global policy papers.
Prior to UNDP, he served in Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Jamaica, USA and Venezuela for twenty-one years as country and regional director with the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), an international NGO with UN Eco Soc Consultative status. His work of human development in fifty-five countries has consisted of the design and implementation of research, training and demonstration projects in leadership, organizational and community development, rural and urban development, NGO and project management, policy formulation and advice and group facilitation.
Mr. Work has written widely on decentralization and local governance, urban and rural development, poverty eradication and environmental improvement, the role of civil society in governance and development, capacity development, and participatory methods. His recent books include a manifesto/handbook, autobiography, poetry, speeches, and essays. In addition to NYU Wagner, he has taught at the University of the West Indies, Antioch University Graduate School of Whole System Design, the ICA Global Academy, and the Social Artistry School. He conducted his graduate studies at Indiana University and Chicago Theological Seminary and undergraduate studies at Oklahoma State University, which honored him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2003. He and his wife live near family and friends in the Swannanoa Watershed of western North Carolina.
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How do I love thee, let me count the ways. This is a big project and big vision. 1) Ours is a time of crisis and opportunity (Barbara Marx Hubbard so often said "Our crisis is a birth"); 2) Ecology, Patriarchy, Poverty, Oligarchy and Authoritarianism; Bigotry and Prejudice; Warfare and Violence; 3) An Emerging Civilization -- capable of responding....;4) Visualization and actualization of the possible...
In Chapter 3, he presents an informed review of an underlying universal ethic and practice being conceived by millions of people. Listening to each other and responding, they are jointly envisioning a vast holistic understanding connecting every level of human experience and level of governance and sector of society. Got a question? Robertson Work has probably been thinking about the answer, or talked to multiple experts on that subject, or lectured at an international conference on that theme.
How are we going to do this, when our challenges are enormous and this might be the most complex co-creative action in the history of civilization?
Buying this book is a great step in the right direction. Digest it -- make sure you understand the major themes. And look around for partners on some piece of this vision, whether large or small. We want to dovetail into a collective force for social transformation led by compassion and wisdom. We want to find all the pieces of this movement and help it coalesce into collaborative synchronization. One step at a time. So take that step.....
by Bruce Schuman for Lynne Monds
What you ask me to accomplish, Robertson Work, is impossible. I'm not David. But the Goliaths are real. Fast marching. Environmental destruction. Gender inequity. Unjust governance. Racism. Economic disparity. Violence. Fast marching.
You do not hurry as you bend for one small smooth stone. We look at it. As if being human together might have some worth, all on its own.
Your faith is in this small, smooth truth: the human heart is good.
In chapter after chapter, you invite us to find our own smooth stones. "What are your assumptions?" you ask. Is the earth for everyone, or only some? It's a simple question, but how it is answered by each person determines the ruin or redemption of the single people we are in this single creation.
"Are we intelligent animals, consumers, and producers, citizens of the state, children of God, compassionate and wise beings, a star’s way of looking at a star, consciousness of consciousness of consciousness—or are we something else? Take utmost care. From your truthful answer, flow your actions toward all people everywhere and, in fact, determine what kind of human being you are."
Work holds a word in his hand and feels its heft. Then, as if it were one of the 200 million guns in America, he field strips it--barrel, levers, grip, plunger--and shows just how the word kills. Take the word "proud."
"those with privilege and power are proud, and that pride often leads to prejudice against those without privilege and power. Many men are prideful and prejudiced against, dominant over, and harmful toward women."
Laid out before us it is not easy to argue with, not easy to miss. What Work asserts is personal, his way of seeing truth. But instead of spin, the experience feels empty of everything except, well, truth.
This beautiful book, A Compassionate Civilization, is to be shared. Read it aloud in circles, read it in groups. In one chapter, Work shares his one vow, six arenas, five actions, four practices. Put these in the center of your circle.
A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism--Reflections and Recommendations can awaken the recognition, dear David, that we are all Davids-in-becoming. Even the Goliaths.
Richard Owen Geer
The word ‘compassion’ is a challenge to those who see themselves ‘above it all’. ‘Above’ implies having the full knowledge of the good and evil of our times, and a response of either paralysis in the face of apocalyptic catastrophe or committed ignorance.
Enter characters such as Rob Work, a seventy-something white guy, husband and granddad, a committed civil servant of Earth for his entire life.
Yes, Rob provides a comprehensive analysis and description of the unnecessary suffering of our epoch: habitat degradation, 5000 years of patriarchy, systemic poverty, bought governments, the bigotry of race and tribe and wars supporting the previous five.
Yes, Rob stakes out six areas of transformation: sustainability, gender equity, wealth distribution, participatory decision-making, (electronic voting?), celebrating diversity, and non-violence.
Each of these sections authentically describe our moment and are well worth reading.
It is the second half of ‘A Compassionate Civilization’ that is truly compelling. Here, the veil is lifted! Who will catalyze this collective about-face from the abyss? How will we lead and what will we practice?
“Nothing life brings can separate us from the ecstatic gift of being alive for this precious moment. Let’s celebrate truth, beauty and love. Let’s champion justice for all. Let’s practice kindness and generosity rather than living out of fear, anger, hatred and greed. This is our chance. Let’s live our lives with abandon and passion. What do we have to lose?”
Read this spirited book. Be with the movement of movements. Let’s dance!