PIONEERING THE POSSIBLE

It would be a real triumph for the leap of consciousness advocated in this book if, at the fourth nomination, Scilla Elworthy were actually to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In this brilliant and inspiring account of how to pioneer the possible through awakened leadership, she draws on a lifetime of experience as a sacred activist to show that another world is possible and that it is up to us to imagine it and bring it to fruition. The book has stellar endorsements by ambassadors, senior military figures and specifically from Anne Baring, Jean Houston and Edgar Mitchell.

It will come as no surprise to those who know her that, when at the age of 12 she saw pictures of the tanks rolling into Budapest, she immediately packed her bags to go and join in. Her mother told her that she had to get trained if she was to be of any use, which is just what has happened. Her career began in South Africa, then at UNESCO and in 1982 she founded the Oxford Research Group and later Peace Direct – in the first case she wanted to understand the decision-making process around nuclear weapons and in the second to showcase grass roots initiatives for solving conflict. At the annual gathering last year she told the story of how at a meeting at the Quaker Retreat Centre at Charney Manor she arranged for some residents to meditate in the library underneath the meeting room and how a senior official remarked that something was coming up through the floorboards!

This method highlights one of the central messages of the book, that effective outer action is based on inner work and power. Scilla defines an approach based on 'inner intelligence, on self-awareness, and thus on the ability to understand others' meaning the ability to be silent, listen deeply and work empathically. An important corollary of this approach is the need to deal with one's own anger and outrage and painfully discovering in the process that 'the moral high ground is not a useful place to stand.' Demonising the other can easily lead to an alienating self-righteousness that sabotages the entire intervention. Instead, she proposes the 'patient power' exhibited by Gandhi, Mandela and Suu Kyi. Humiliation simply increases resistance; we need to deal with our own shadow and difficult feelings.

The premise of the book is that a leap of consciousness is both necessary and possible. It brings in the balancing power of the feminine, the reality of interconnectedness and a consequent transformation of value systems. Scilla gives practical examples of individuals who have developed and inner power and put it into action. Some are well known like Desmond Tutu (Scilla worked with him and the Elders), Thich Nhat Hanh and Aung San Suu Kyi (who is a long-term meditator), while others are less celebrated but no less remarkable in addressing genocide in Congo and even two women becoming the hub of Scilla's village by re-opening the shop – before they did so they surveyed the villagers to find out what they would like to buy. These people, like Scilla herself, have presence, which she defines as 'a solidity of being that results from having one's feet firmly planted on the ground while the mind is free and fast and the heart wide open.' Such people provide a living antidote to the prevailing cynicism that poses as world-weary sophistication.

The next two chapters deconstruct current value systems and propose a shift to different norms. Scilla questions propositions such as that nature is a soulless mechanism, endless economic growth is essential, good fences make good neighbours, short-termism is fine and there is always a technical fix available. Instead she advocates a sense of wholeness and stewardship, a shift to co-operation, building trust and redefining security, the integration of masculine and feminine and the satisfaction of our need for meaning and beauty. All this is robustly argued with plenty of examples. This leads on to strategies for getting from here to there including John Bunzl's simultaneous policy, prioritising people instead of profit, nonviolent communication and revolution, transforming the treatment of women worldwide and bringing in new energy sources.

Scilla then comes back to the need for inner work – a new system implies a new consciousness. She gives 13 signposts to waking up to who we really are. These include listening to the authentic self, developing a practice of reflection, dealing with difficult feelings and using conflict as opportunity, going into the shadow, learning how to give and serve (moving from me to we), dealing with disappointment (she lists some dramatic setbacks along the way) and working out what you really want to do; also making time to do nothing, for solitary retreats in wild places where one can listen to the voice of the deep and wise self within. This approach defines the sacred activist as one 'who fuses in his or her being profound spiritual intelligence, peace and passion with a commitment to clear, wise and radical action in the world.' Scilla quotes Ben Okri's poem where he states: You can't remake the world Without remaking yourself.

The final chapters provide recipes for imagining a world that works for you and examples of green shoots coming through concrete. Here Scilla explains potential transformations in education, food and water systems, health and healing, death and dying and the possible transformation of conflict, which has been her life's work. She gives a step-by-step outline of how we can develop our own visionary power and apply it practically to an issue about which we feel passionately.

HG Wells said that the future is a race between education and catastrophe. However it has to be a special kind of education that encourages new thinking rather than conformity, an inner awakening rather than the continuation of a consensus trance. The quality of results is directly related to the quality of awareness that informs the action, in other words the expression of being in doing. We all know that our situation demands a new awareness and consequently new values and different kinds of action – it is our greatest evolutionary challenge. This passionate and highly informative book sets out an agenda for a new world, paths to pioneering the possible, with women assuming a more prominent role. As such it should be widely read, discussed and acted upon. As Andrew Harvey remarks in his afterword, our crisis could radically change us and the world we love and live in – nothing less than sacred activism will do.