ODea - Cultivating Peace: Becoming a 21st-Century Peace Ambassador

Acclaim for Cultivating Peace

This is one of the most important and profound books of our time. In luminous prose, the great visionary activist James ODea communicates the ideals and practices of peace in ways that summon a spiritual and social evolution. At once both tough and tender, this masterpiece is the finest map I know to the transformation of self and civilization. If you read only one book this year, this is it!

Jean Houston, founder of the field of Social Artistry

This marvelous book has the potential to grow peacebuilding to the point that every school, every business, and every community incorporates these principles. James ODeas life experience and skillful writing make peacebuilding personal and accessible. He shows us that cultivating peace is not just what UN diplomats or professional mediators do. Its a vital part of each of our lives.

Mark Gerzon, best-selling author of Leading Through Conflict and Global Citizens

ODea liberates our imagination about peace; his insights enrich the field of conflict transformation.

Abdul Aziz Said, Professor of International Relations, American University, and founder, International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program

This brilliant manifesto weaves science, spirituality, and social healing into a practical peace roadmap for us all.

Deepak Chopra, author of Peace Is the Way

The peace movement, and what Kenneth Boulding called the much broader movement toward peace in human consciousness, has long been fragmented, without a compelling and unifying narrativeand therefore is much less effective as a cause than is implied by the power of the truths it contains. James ODeas book is an important contribution toward the articulation of that narrative, especially bringing out the many inner components of peacebuildingthe only place from which peace can really come.

Professor Michael Nagler, cofounder of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at UC Berkeley, founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence, and author of The Search for a Nonviolent Future

James ODea is a modern-day prophet who has journeyed further than anyone I know in search of the ways of peace. He is both a consummate scholar and an unwavering activist whose lifework has been in service of a peaceful world. In his brilliant new book, Cultivating Peace, he tells the real and deep truth about what peace really is and what it takes to bring it forth in todays troubled world. This book is ODeas long-awaited magnum opus, a wise and unprecedented guide to the social healing that our world urgently needs now.

Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money and cofounder of the Pachamama Alliance

This superbly written and seminal guide to peacemaking by the brilliant and visionary James ODea reveals a profound truth: peacemaking is a two-way, transformational process that begins in our own hearts. Cultivating Peace is so packed full of nuggets of wisdom for both self-transformation and spiritual activism that it should come with a warning: read this book only when youre prepared to heal yourself and everyone around you.

Lynne McTaggart, international best-selling author of The Intention Experiment and The Bond

James ODea is indubitably one of the most evolved souls on this planet. He can advise others on how to become a global peace ambassador because he is one himself. The spread of his message worldwide is one of the key preconditions of creating a peaceful transformation worldwideand in time.

Ervin Laszlo, renowned systems theorist and founder of Global Shift University

Dont dismiss James ODea as a simple zealot for peace. Instead, he is a sophisticated ambassador for a new humanity and world system. Cultivating Peace is a wise and warmhearted book that is seasoned by years of firsthand experience in the reality of human conflict. ODea invites us to change our collective story, awaken to a global consciousness, and envision the great work of deep reconciliation as the foundation for a promising future.

Duane Elgin, author of Voluntary Simplicity, The Living Universe, and Awakening Earth

James ODea penetrates to the soul level where the source of love lives. By recognizing and loving that universal essence of being within us, no matter who we are, he reveals and heals the violence. He provides us with a path that each of us can follow to heal ourselves and the world. I find that every moment I spend with him is precious and brings peace to my soul.

Barbara Marx Hubbard, renowned evolutionary leader and author of Conscious Evolution and Birth 2012 and Beyond

Shift Books

PO Box 151117 San Rafael, CA 94915
www.shiftmovement.com

Copyright 2012
By James ODea

Cover design by Stevee Postman

Interior book design by Carla Green

All rights reserved. This book is protected by copyright. No part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011943614

ISBN: 9780984840717

Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

ODea, James.

Cultivating peace : becoming a 21st century peace ambassador / James ODea

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

LCCN 2011943614

ISBN 9780984840717

1. Conflict management. 2. Peace-building. 3. Peace. I. Title.

HM1126.O34 2012

303.69
QBI12-600077

First printing April 2012

Printed in the United States of America on recycled paper

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To two ambassadors of peace:

Michael A. Singer and Abdul Aziz Said

I would like to begin with well-deserved recognition to Byron Belitsos, who has launched Shift Books in collaboration with the Shift Network. Byron is erudite, visionary, and passionate. The combination of these skills leads to exacting and masterful editing that any author who works with him is privileged to experience. I am also grateful for the Zen-like precision of Karen Seriguchi whose editing skills are without equal.

I also wish to acknowledge Stephen Dinan for his visionary leadership in founding the Shift Network and managing its growth so successfully. Stephen holds a vision of planetary transformation that is both audacious and coherent. I am grateful to be a part of the Shift Networks trailblazing journey. Some of the original material in this book comes from teaching a course for the Shift Network called The Path of the Peacemaker and from being the lead faculty of its sixteen-week-long Peace Ambassador Training, which has trained close to five hundred peace ambassadors in over thirty countries. The staff at the Shift Network who organize and skillfully steer these trainings are exceptional peacebuilders themselves. I would like to recognize the whole team, especially Emily Hine and Philip Hellmich.