From a World of Madness to a World of Sanity

About the Book

Is it possible for us to establish a Sane Society? Is each of the following a realistic goal or an oxymoron: Inspiring Education, Honest Communication, Compassionate Community, Humanistic Economics, Moral Politics, Ethical Business, and Enlightened Military. The introduction to the book quotes as follows:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world;
indeed it's the only thing that ever has.
- MARGARET MEAD (1901-1978), AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST

We rely so much on each other and are so interconnected that without a sense of
universal responsibility, a feeling of universal brotherhood and sisterhood, and
an understanding that we really are part of one big human family, we cannot
hope to overcome human suffering, let alone bring about peace and happiness.
- TENZIN GYATSO, THE FOURTEENTH DALAI LAMA OF TIBET

In part, this book is a survey of the positive news in the world. There are so many good people doing good things. The more we know about this side of things the more we empower each other and ourselves to deny programs, policies, and actions that are dishonest, uncaring, and evil.

As an early reviewer noted: This book provides a real service because it pulls together innovative thinking and approaches addressing many of the world's problems. One should read this book if one has concerns for the state and future of the world and wishes to obtain guidance as to how to get involved. Personal experiences and examples are used to highlight points being made.

Is it possible for us to establish a sane world? This book says emphatically YES! And to quote and ancient Chinese proverb: The people who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it.

Whether we are retelling history or reporting the daily news our culture seems to focus on the bad news - the wars and tragedies. Does our psychology condemn us to a fascination with destruction and disaster?

The children of the world, who will inherit what is left, deserve a good earth. I, personally, have no faith in space stations as an alternative to living on the earth. We should focus on cleaning up the mess we have here. That mess includes the pollution in our minds and hearts as well as the pollution all around us. With open minds that can hold a very broad vision and with the development of world law and equitable economic and social situations, we just might survive and thrive. A brief note on the organization of the book: I have kept the chapters short and have appended, at times, fairly lengthy references and footnotes. Whenever possible I have also appended websites where readers can acquire even more information in depth. This three-tiered approach allows readers to determine where they wish to explore.

Review

I had only started with the book, but even with just starting to go though it, I felt this was a book I wanted to recommend. I have now finished the book and I wanted to give you a short review and recommend that you go and purchase a copy.

This book is non-fiction and consists of nine chapters. It makes literal use of the Buddhism and Shambhala philosophies and teachings.

Basically the Shambhala teaching is that basic human nature can help solve personal problems and even the world's problems! How to wake up and appreciate every moment of our lives. How difficulties and obstacles do not have to defeat us.

It has been a long time since I read a book that has impacted me like this. Probably since I was in High School! It is very thought provoking and I have found that my mindset must be almost all in networking, every chapter I read reminded me of my philosophies that I have for my business.

This is not a book that you should just sit down, read and put on the shelf. This is a book that I will be using as a daily part of my personal growth for probably the rest of the year. At the end of every chapter are references and footnotes and most of these lead to more information on the web.

You know how important I think personal growth is for you to achieve success in your business. This is a book I recommend you to go and purchase and to use for your own personal growth reading. This one book is basically all you will need for a year if you use the book for further study.

It is not that the book will take a year to read, for it is less then 200 pages. But it is what I am going to use for my "study" book by further digging into depth by using the footnotes and reference pages.

I am excited about this! As I mentioned, I do a lot of reading, but this book MADE me want to go beyond just reading it. I am going to take each chapter now that I have read the book, and study the areas I want to explore even further.

I love so many parts of this book, but I will leave you with the introduction to Chapter 3 - Clear Communication.

"The point is you have to work. And that's why the propaganda system is so successful. Very few people are going to have the time or the energy or the commitment to carry out the constant battle that's required to get outside of the MacNeil/Lehrer or Dan Rather or somebody like that. The easy thing to do you know - you come home from work, you're tired, you've had a busy day, you're not going to spend the evening carrying on a research project, so you turn on the tube and say its probably right, or you look at the headlines in the paper and then you watch the sports or something. That's basically the way the system of indoctrination works. Sure the other stuff is there, but you're going to have to work to find it."

from NOAM CHOMSKY, MANUFACTURING CONSENT:NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE MEDIA

Peggy Hendricks, Associate of QuickPros and Life Force International

About the Author

Between the ages of fourteen and twenty-four, the author worked as a newspaper delivery boy, a farm hand, a truck driver, a draftsman, a shoe salesman, an insurance underwriter, a teaching assistant and researcher, a producer of children's records and a ski instructor.

Dr. Marshall was the chairman and Founder of Clear Picture Corporation (http://www.clearpicture.com/) until retirement in 2001.

George received his Ph.D. in Psychology from New York University and has held professorships in departments of psychology, management and computer science in various universities in Canada and the United states. He authored three books (all published by Prentice-Hall) on the application of information technology to problem analysis and communication and a book of children's poetry entitled This Bus is Stuffed to the Brim.

George has been a student of Tibetan Buddhism for three decades. He was born in London, England, lived for many years in the United States and currently makes his home in Nova Scotia. His two married children, both visual artists, and their spouses and one grandchild live in Holland.

Continuing passions including Shambhala/Buddhism, people, writing, music, art, skiing, sailing, golf, and absorbing projects executed with a creative team of people such as: www.totalhealthcircle.com/home.html.

He is currently working on another book of a more personal nature entitled Whatever You Are It's Good to Be.

Click here to contact the author, GEORGE MARSHALL.