On Wednesday, February 27, the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) at George Mason University (GMU) hosted a book launch panel discussion event for Peacebuilding Through Dialogue, which the Ikeda Center developed and published in collaboration with George Mason University Press. The panel featured three contributors to the volume that live in the D.C. area: lead editor Peter Stearns, Provost Emeritus and University Professor at GMU;...
News & Blog
[February 15, 2019] Center founder Daisaku Ikeda has just released the English translation of his 2019 Peace Proposal, "Toward a New Era of Peace and Disarmament: A People-Centered Approach." As with previous proposals, it combines thematic philosophical framing with specific policy proposals and action steps. In other words, how we see the world impacts how we act in it.
Here's how the three faming themes are described in the synopsis to the proposal, ...
We have created a great way for you to engage with some of the core ideas animating our new multi-author volume, Peacebuilding Through Dialogue: Education, Human Transformation, and Conflict Resolution. In a new section of our website, you will find substantial excerpts from each of the book's thirteen chapters, as well as from editor Peter Stearns's Introduction and Conclusion and Daisaku Ikeda's Foreword. In addition to helping interested readers get a feel for the book, taken together, the excerpts present a concise, accessible overview of the subject for anyone interested in...
To be able to overcome failure, often one must transform one's view of what failure is. Is it really something to be feared? Are the consequences of failure as dire as we frequently imagine they will be? What is the relationship between success and failure? This task of re-envisioning failure was at the heart of the Center's January 25th Dialogue Nights gathering, called “Failing Forward: Making Your 2019 Resolutions Stick.” It was the first Dialogue Nights of 2019, and the tenth overall.
Our first Dialogue Nights of 2019, and our tenth overall, featured the theme "Failing Forward: Making Your 2019 Resolutions Stick." More than 50 Boston-area university students and young professionals to engage in activities and dialogues aimed at deconstructing the fear of failure that pervades society. Throughout the evening, participants engaged with thoughts on transcending failure from Daisaku Ikeda, including this one: "The worst mistake you can make is to give up on yourself and stop challenging yourself for fear of failure. Keep moving forward with a firm eye on the future, telling...
We are excited to announce our return to the publishing of multi-author volumes with the December 1st release of Peacebuilding Through Dialogue: Education, Human Transformation, and Conflict Resolution. Here's what Melanie Greenberg of Humanity United says about this "groundbreaking" book.
“This vibrant, insightful volume sheds new light on dialogue processes that serve as the DNA of peacebuilding and help bridge the chasms of deeply divided societies. The book is especially groundbreaking in its focus on the links between ‘inner peace,’ including dynamics...
Few issues today incite greater political factionalism within developed nations than the matter of refugees seeking safety within these relatively more peaceful places. For the most part, debates center on the challenges—or in the view of many, the problems—that refugees present to the receiving country. Without denying that refugees do indeed present a range of challenges, it is fair to be concerned that there is so little discussion of the actual plight of the refugees and the dire circumstances of displacement in which they find themselves. The Ikeda Center’s November 2, 2018, in-house...
When people talk about the attributes of cultures of peace, they often invoke frameworks of social justice, equity, pluralism, and human rights. This latter category is usually discussed in terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The declaration has proven especially useful for peace builders of all kinds in that its thirty articles, which clearly and specifically define the rights of all humans, help us avoid the pitfall of becoming overly abstract in our approach to the topic. All this great information notwithstanding,...
On Friday, 12/14, we celebrated our last Dialogue Nights of 2018! Just in time for the holidays, our topic for the evening was "Love: A Force Stronger Than Hate." Attendees practiced love through a paired dialogue activity where they asked each other a series of personal questions. Then in small groups, we discussed the following questions: 1) What is love to you? 2) Do you feel love is scarce or abundant in our world today? Why? 3) Do you believe we were born with the ability to love or do you believe we have to learn how to love? 4) How do you think we can cultivate...
On Friday, November 30th, we held our 14th Annual Ikeda Forum, which explored the timely theme: "How Do We Practice Human Rights? A Dialogue on Dignity and Justice in Daily Life." More than one hundred participants joined our three panelists (Catia Confortini of Wellesley College, Elora Chowdhury of UMass Boston, and Jason Goulah of DePaul University) to discuss what it means to live in dignity, what a culture of human rights looks like, and what each of us can do in our daily life to create this culture. Participants shared a number of human rights "determininations...
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Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue
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