An Appeal to the World audiobook

Every year about this time I look for a commencement speech or short comment about what we face and how to approach thinking about the world. This year I chose the Dalai Lama’s Appeal to the World because I saw he had remarks concerning the current President of the United States, DJT, in response to questions posed by German television journalist and author Franz Alt.Can religion help us to overcome the divisions between Americans & foreigners, Democrats & Republicans, rich & poor that are exacerbated by DJT & his policies? The Dalai remarks “Now the time has come to understand that we are the same human being on this planet..Humanity is all one big family.” It is pure misplaced confidence, even ignorance, to think America can be ‘first,’ or any other such thing. "The future of individual nations always depends on the well-being of their neighbors." We live and die together. “Religion alone is no longer sufficient,” the Dalai tells us. We need global secular ethics that can accept atheists and people of every religion. “We are not members of a particular religion at birth. But ethics are innate.” I have wondered about that in the past, and would require a fuller explanation, but generally speaking I go along with the first part: religion is learned and insufficient for ethical behavior, we already know from experience. Ethics, learned or innate, does tend to answer best those questions that might lead us away from god-like behaviors.The Dalai believes we have a wellspring of ethics within us that must be nurtured, in schools if possible. "Human development relies on cooperation and not competition." We focus too much on our differences rather than our commonalities. We all are born and die in the same way. "I look forward with joy to the day when children will learn the principles of nonviolence and peaceful conflict resolution--in other words secular ethics--at school."This sounds so completely radical, doesn't it? “Mindfulness, education, respect, tolerance, and nonviolence.” Somewhere along the line we lost our connection to ethics, inner values and personal integrity. We need to relearn these things we have bred out of ourselves. In the two visions of humankind, 1) that man is violent, inconsiderate, and aggressive, and 2) that man tends towards benevolence, harmony, and a peaceful life, the Dalai comes down in camp #2. So do I. Given the choice between the two lives, most of us will choose #2. How do we know? Suffering bothers us. “The real meaning of our life, whether with or without religion, is to be happy.” I have questioned this assertion of the Dalai’s for years, and I think he might be right after all. Unlike Christian religions which have a kind of strictness (a kind of Yankee meanness here in the USA) about them that doesn’t seem quite right somehow, the Dalai urges us to seek happiness. If that seems indulgent, remember that no one is happy alone. “Happiness is one hundred percent relational.”One thing the Dalai said that will stick with me a long time is that our enemies are our best teachers. We have the most to learn from them. Of course this is so. And patience is the most potent antidote to anger, satisfaction for greed, bravery for fear, and understanding for doubt. He has six principles that are fundamental to secular ethics: 1. Nonviolence2. Tolerance3. Accept every religion in its uniqueness4. A religious person collaborates in preserving the earth5. Patience6. Death and rebirthThe essence of all religions is love. Therefore, we must presume, if we come across religious people who are not loving, something is wrong in the teaching or in the learning. This seems clear.

Quick, impactful read. The part I loved and read several times...pages 26-28. Education of the heart..yes! It doesn't matter what religion you do or don't believe in. It is about being a good human "...love, compassion, justice, forgiveness, carefulness, tolerance, and peace...social, emotional, and ethical learning". We need more of this in our world, our homes and schools. These few pages and many others in book really spoke to me💞

AN APPEAL TO THE WORLD by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with Franz Alt doing the interviews, is a small book with a big message. In less than 100 pages His Holiness shares his latest revelations with the world. His message hopes to convey a “way to peace in a time of division.” For the most part, the book is an interview with Ph.D. Franz Alt asking the questions in his best interview manner and the Dalai Lama responding. They talk about Spirituality, the Education of the Heart, War, The Next Generation, even Mr. Trump, along the way revealing this religious leader in exile’s views on these and many other subjects. The most revealing thing in the entire book is this religious leader’s view on what is most important for the World to learn and for each individual to hold in their heart. It is not religion, it is ethics and morality. Teaching these two things, learning these two things, bringing forth these elements of our inner humanity, he feels is far more important than impressing the artificial construct of any religion upon the heart of mankind. Nurturing what we are born with, an innate need to do good, is more worthwhile than any tract or text on spirituality. God is within us all, no matter what name you give that leader, so let us find the common ground and shake off the chains that hold us back from being one world, one people. Or something like that. Short, sweet, on point, wasting no time to get to the important points, AN APPEAL TO THE WORLD is an opening salvo for humanity. The question remains, “Is humanity too selfish, ignorant, small-minded, or any of a thousand other things, to do what is truly important?” Probably.

Published in 2017 when much of the world was rife with divisions, this book consists of a collection of interviews with the Dalai Lama in which His Holiness appealed for us to put all religion aside and instead consider our common humanity, develop our secular ethics and inner values. As human beings of this world we all united in our pursuit for happiness and our desire to avoid suffering. Only through practicing secular ethics and compassion can we become more emphatic and judicious people.The book is a quick read, took me only an hour to complete it but still a profound and impactful read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I've been pondering the general ideas of Buddhism for YEARS now. I tell myself that I want to read more about the history of this philosophy, but I never decide to sit down and do so. I found this short, quick, easy read to be very profound and timely addressing some issues our world faces today (2018). I also connected to the Dalai Lama's thoughts and perspective on living a compassionate life on this Earth. I definitely need to read further on Buddhism and the Dalai Lama.

This is a short—but incredibly sweet—book by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It was published in 2017 and contains myriad great wisdom for troubled times. The Dalai Lama once told the co-author of "An Appeal to the World", Franz Alt, "I don't have any enemies, only people I haven't met yet." He has spent his life cultivating this positive attitude, and it can be found on every page of this book.Today's world is marked by division. Politicians are promoting borders rather than inclusion, economic inequality is running rampant, and religion is breeding violence. Yet the need for unity has never been more urgent, because the crises that humanity faces are affecting people all around the world. Many people have lost all hope for the future and wonder what we can possibly do to move forward.Well, they're in luck, because the Dalai Lama and Alt have created a brilliant book that is capable of watering the seeds of world peace that are already located inside of each and every one of us—even though many people do not know or believe that they exist. He reminds us that all people have two things in common—our universal pursuit of happiness and the compelling desire to avoid suffering. Finding common ground and engaging in an open dialog is an effective way to mitigate the division that we otherwise experience.One theme that the Dalai Lama repeats several times throughout the book is the concept that ethics are more important than religion. He even goes on to say, "On some days I think it would be better if there were no religions. All religions and all scriptures harbor potential for violence. That is why we need secular ethics beyond all religions." He explains that the core tenets of secular ethics are mindfulness, education, respect, tolerance, caring, and nonviolence. I was pleasantly surprised by how strongly and frequently he spoke about our need to cultivate secular ethics throughout the book.I was also happy to see that the topic of Trump was also addressed in the book. A lot of people are experiencing suffering because he is currently our President, and hopefully the Dalai Lama's words on this topic will help soothe their psychic wounds."An Appeal to the World" is already a major international bestseller, and for good reason. It's an inspirational, powerful book written by one of the most revered spiritual leaders of our time that has the potentially to truly change the world. It would probably take the average person between one to three hours to read it from cover to cover, and I highly recommend that you do.

All my reviews can be found at http://jessicasreadingroom.com~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~An Appeal to the World is literally a small book that gives quite the impact. It is 5x7 and just over 100 pages. It can very easily be held in your hand. I will admit I knew basically nothing about the Dalai Lama before reading this. I won a copy in a giveaway on Goodreads. I was glad to win it and learned some things. Among them the Dalai Lama loves laughing and has to have humor in his life! He gives his thoughts on many topics including world peace, gender equality, religion, secular ethics, and even his opinions on Donald Trump (he is not a fan.)What he says makes sense and it causes you to think. I would love to meet him and hear what he has to say and see what makes him laugh! He loves laughter, and laughter can be the best medicine.There are also sections that talk about the Dalai Lama’s life, which makes a great introduction to those such as myself who are unfamiliar with him. The only critique I have to offer is that I was under the impression that this was a book written by Dalai Lama. That was why I entered the giveaway. It is actually an interview where questions are asked and he gives his answers. I was disappointed in that. Thank you Goodreads for my copy. It was a pleasure to read.An Appeal to the World is recommended.

I believe everyone needs to read this at least once! It's short, concise, and full of much needed truth and wisdom. My complete review is at:https://youtu.be/STdGiCfJ7qg

Read this tiny book, you will be glad you did. Then, when you're done, read it again!

This book was an interesting interview with his holiness, The Dalai Lama. He stressed that it doesn't matter what religion you do or don't believe in, but more important is ethics and how people treat each other. It is important to be a good human and treat each other with love, forgiveness, compassion, justice, carefulness, tolerance and peace. Work on social, emotional and ethical learning and respect. No matter who people are or where they come from all people are human and need to be treated with compassion, fairness, love and peacefulness. We need more of this in our homes, schools and world. Less division and more cohesiveness. People need to learn and practice this everywhere to grow and prosper and to have love and compassion everywhere. I couldn't agree more.

The way to peace in a time of division. I feel like this book should be given out to every human walking this Earth. It’s a short insightful little guide, where the Dalai Lama shares his thoughts about the crisis we are having here on Earth. The way to peace is not through violence. It Is not through harming our environment, animals, and each other. How religion is forming a divide between us resulting in hate, war, and fear. This book I will hold dear to my heart and come back to In times of uncertainty.

A very short and beautiful book.The Dalai Lama is a truly inspiring human being, and his thoughts are always beautiful and reasonable. The world would be a much better place if we'd all be living by his six principles.Recommended read!