Global Caring Ethics

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Challenges facing Positive Spirit

their enemies. People loved the man. He was not preaching, just speaking from his heart. Like Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the peacemaking prophets before him, Mandela sowed a seed of loving fellowship which is the food of the growing soul. Without doubt, a lasting peace will eventually arrive in Northern Ireland, the Middle East and even Bosnia, where racial hate seems endemic. I visualise a new revitalised spiritual New Age when people will overwhelm those who hesitate in settling disputes amicably. No longer will such matters be left purely to reluctant governments with other priorities. Before the end of the 21st century, I am most optimistic that settling disputes by war will be seen as both obscene and barbaric. I can visualise museums of 2500 AD, displaying some of our war artefacts with inscriptions, ‘samples of man’s inhumanity to man, pre-New Age period... Late 20th century.’

DEPRESSION NEEDS THE POSITIVE

A MILDER FORM of depression could affect you should your husband be made redundant, and your baby go down with measles simultaneously. If all this coincides with the lawnmower breaking down, there is every reason to feel under the weather. People who are depressed, see life as being worthless, unenjoyable, and in extreme cases, unbearable. It can be caused by post-natal depression or the menopause. But more often than not, depression is brought on by loneliness or situations which create a feeling of hopelessness when everything looks bleak and miserable. Furthermore, a person in that state does not believe anything can be done about it. There are several antidotes. One effective one, is to imagine you live in a country with little food, no medical facilities, no electricity, no plumbing, with washing done at the river's edge. Dwell on this scenario for a few minutes, and then open your eyes. You might well be asking yourself, ‘what have I got to be depressed about?’ A man who lost his legs in an accident, was distraught and considered

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