Publisher's Statement
We publish stories of people, many ordinary, some famous, acting on the ideas born in deep reflection. The beliefs and values they lived and live, have had a marked effect on our world over the past hundred years.
They found the courage to delve into new ways of thinking and living, going beyond their comfort zones. Discovering, each one personally, that place within where one can find what is common to all and which can lead to healing: the fundamental experience of being loved unconditionally as well as being an integral part of the universe - a unique connection to the Inner Source that some call God.
Their uncompromising inward journey, guided by that reflection and inner Source, shaped, and shape the part they played and are playing in realising the vision of a hate-free, fear-free, greed-free world.
We invite you to explore this extraordinary record of what thousands of people found, did, and are doing.
Our allegiance as publishers is to a way of life, not to a specific human being nor to any one organisation.
Even so, our odyssey of discovery began with one person in the early 1900s. Inspired by men and women who tried to make moral and spiritual beliefs practical in both everyday life and global affairs, convinced that this would have an impact on a civilisation in crisis, Frank Buchman (who was Christian) signed on for the journey.
What he and others discovered lives on in songs, plays, films, books and, most of all, in stories. Stories of lives changed. Of tens of thousands of people across cultures, beliefs, religious faiths and countries who found a profound purpose for living. United in spirit but not members of an organisation.
We want to offer a glimpse of this legacy which has inspired, and continues to inspire, people to live and labour “for a new world”. It is an open, living archive and a forum for personal experiences.
The purpose is not to enlist or convert anyone. It is to make available the stories and the background that inspired people to choose to live in a way that would make a difference.
The following is an attempt to express the essence of this wisdom and approach as we understand it, based on our own experience, and having lived and worked with some of Buchman’s friends and confidants, as well as reading and listening to much of what is on this platform.
The core
- Longing to live a life that is relevant to the needs of the world;
- Deciding to adopt the highest ethical code you know, in order to fulfil that longing;
- Committing to apply fully to what is sacred to whatever course you have set in life. For those that have chosen a religious path such as Christianity, it would be the teachings of Christ;
- Exploring and accepting the wisdom found in the “big silence” with its inherent presence that goes by many names. It is a life-long, continuous search for guidance, often leading to transforming experiences in ourselves and others;
- Living to the highest by calibrating your inner compass, using unconditional moral standards of love, purity, unselfishness and honesty. And making them your benchmarks, or reference points, to give an objective measurement of your life and work.
The care
- Learning to put other people and their needs before our own;
- Continuous care for others and their needs is the source of discovering new truths about ourselves and society;
- Sharing suffering, fears, frustrations, shortcomings and temptations, create a common bond of humility and love – the bedrock of a new world. It is also the basis for doing things together with likeminded people;
- Providing the spiritual and physical environment where individuals can discover and deepen this life, finding a widening sense of responsibility for other people and issues. Where each one can contribute her or his experience.
The commitment
- To a personal experience of change, as the basis for social change, as it is something we can only live, not join;
- To a decision to continue on this path for life, because lasting change comes at a price.
The different ways of living out the moral and spiritual tradition being expressed here is like a great tree with branches, twigs and shoots. Some bear fruit today. Others may have withered and died.
It has lived through many storms and experienced its fair share of weathering and pain. Despite the ideals, divides between individuals and groups have opened. Sometimes there has been reconciliation and healing.
It is not for us to judge. We choose to focus on the roots and the sources that give the whole tree sustenance, and on the fruit it bears.
Many of the early expressions are from the Christian traditions, but we want to rediscover and express the “core, care and commitment” with people from many beliefs and faiths, who share their paths in life and their stories of change.
We are on a journey together to discover the elements that are universal, and to celebrate how people have made this heritage their own, with roots that are specific to their traditions and practices.
This will create a field of positive tension that will challenge each one of us to consider life from other angles, and what we do with new insights.
Our deep wish is also that this platform can provide a space for the humble sharing of personal experience that is often the beginning of healing.
As each one of us contributes to this open archive, and add our own stories, we may one day be able to look at the vast canopy of the old tree and better understand what the poet T.S Eliot meant when he wrote:
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time”.
There is no blueprint of what the new world looks like. It is in the heart of each one. The picture will be different from one person to another, but it’s in that field of tension, where individually we strive for what we believe, in light of the essence above, that we will find common ground and action. Then, when we put those pictures of the new world together, it is like a clear night full of stars; breath-taking!
Signed,
Gunnar Söderlund, publisher, with Bhav Patel, Peter Vickers, Sylvie Söderlund, Ismar Villavicencio, Leiko Fujita, Edward Peters, Rosmarie Lilliehöök, Andrew Stallybrass, Yukihisa Fujita, Lyria Normington...
Any person involved with the production of For a new world in any way are invited to sign. The actual text will only be altered (apart from typos) in consultation with all who have signed.
Some additional clarifications on the above (Editor's guidelines for Publishing):
We publish stories and reflections by or about people who have
- experienced and/or are experiencing personal change through the methodology described by Frank Buchman;
- chosen to live by the credo expressed in the publisher’s statement (above). "The core, the care and the commitment".
The stories and reflections may be from yesterday, today or still to come.
They can be anything that attempts to express the experience or a life lived. A book, a poem, a song, a painting, a sculpture, a film...
Any material that is published should have an author and/or a clearly defined source and person responsible. However, for some material there is no means of reliably identifying the author or, at times, even the date. We have taken the decision to publish it because we think it reveals something of the thinking of it's time.
The Editors reserve the right to include or exclude material without making the reasons public.
Further references:
- The mission of the owners – the foundation for a new world