Global Harmony Association

A new culture of peace, preventing wars, terrorism and poverty, is generated when a natural order of social harmony gives priority to the well-being of children, parents, and caregivers, who make up 50 to 80% of the population in any given country.These groups are basically peace-loving, and provide the social foundation for a harmonious, new culture of peace. Mahatma Gandhi wrote: "If we are ever to have real peace in this world we shall have to begin with the children."

To build a harmonious, new culture of peace and its social foundation by means of the new Global Movement “Making Children a Priority in the World"

Basic Ideas and Purposes

The traditional culture of peace, inherent in an industrial society, is a culture of balance of power and military forces. This balance is always unstable. It is directed, not on exclusion of wars, but on limiting them, or setting them aside to deter the arms race. Therefore, this culture has developed no effective actors and institutions for preventing wars and terrorism. This is confirmed by about forty modern local wars and almost daily terrorist acts.The source reproducing them is a culture and order of social disharmony of an industrial society that prioritizes money. A global information society can change our priorities and focus on harmonious peace. Modern society, in different countries, is 60 to 90% industrial and only 10 to 40% informational, but this is rapidly changing. Traditional peace is fragile and unstable, fraught with poverty, terrorism and wars, including global wars. Traditional peace is a break between wars, preparation for war, and peace on the verge of war. Therefore, it is peace that is subordinate to war, instead of peace for the sake of peace, happiness, and harmony. In the name of peace, industrial societies prepare children for war instead of for peace.

The new culture of peace is a culture of harmonious peace, arising in an information society. Its foundation is an order of social harmony, from a sustainable balance of social groups and ethnicities that give priority to children, parents and especially mothers, who carry the basic burden of care for children, and also all caregivers. These groups make up 50 to 80% of the population in different countries. They carry the basic energy of peace-loving and social harmony, and they provide the social foundation for a new culture of harmonious peace. only social harmony, creating a new, harmonious and sustainable peace, is capable of preventing wars, terrorism and poverty.

Contrast of new culture of peace with traditional, and their connection: the traditional culture of peace, inherent in an industrial society, only limits opportunities for wars and terror, but does not prevent them or poverty. The new culture of peace, arising in an information society, prevents them by means of a new social order of harmony. It is created in a new society on the basis of new priorities, actors and institutes. Whereas the traditional culture of peace is industrial, money-oriented and disharmonious, the new culture of peace is humanitarian, information-based, and harmonious. The new culture of peace qualitatively differs from the traditional, but simultaneously modernizes and strengthens it. Harmonious peace prevents wars, terrorism and poverty, while disharmonious (traditional) peace only limits them. But the new culture of peace emerges from the old, from within it. Social harmony is an integrative value in a global, information society, which unites in itself love, peace, justice, freedom, equality, brotherhood, cooperation, nonviolence, tolerance, humanism and other universal values, and prioritizes children. Harmony is the top value of oriental culture (Confucianism, Buddhism, etc.) but it did not become a priority value for industrial society. At the same time it is not alien to western culture (Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Renaissance, Leibniz, etc.). Therefore, harmony is a common value for western and eastern cultures, and can eliminate the clash of civilizations. Social harmony creates a harmonious and sustainable peace, beyond wars, terror and poverty. Harmonious peace (social harmony) begins with harmony of genders (mothers and fathers), and generations (parents and children), and continues in the population with harmony of sphere classes, through harmonious partnership.

An order of social harmony is constructed on the value of social harmony and priority of children, their parents, and caregivers, which creates a sustainable balance of social groups and ethnicities. This order is created by appropriate actors and institutes, which overcome the social origins of wars, terrorism and poverty.An order of social harmony can arise in an information society and gradually remove the social disharmony produced in industrial societies. Post-industrial society can strengthen harmonious peace through the creation of information technologies to discover, and new legal institutes to legitimize, the innately peace-loving priorities of children, parents and caregivers.The order of social harmony (harmonious peace) is a new, qualitative step in the development of civilization. It is an alternative to a global order of disharmony (traditional peace) of industrial society, constructed on priorities of money and power, which generate wars, terror and poverty. Disharmony of modern society has put it on the verge of self-destruction in wars, in weapons of mass destruction, in nuclear proliferation, in terrorism, in the clash of civilizations, in the destruction of family and the environment, in the poverty of five of our six billion human beings, in the "poverty, discrimination and neglect of children” (by definition of the UN Special Session on childhood, May 2002) who are our future. only a new culture of peace can prioritize children, parents and caregivers, and be capable of overcoming this self-destruction. The creation of a new culture of peace, on a foundation of social harmony, to prevent wars, terror, poverty and self-destruction, is impossible without this vast, peace-loving potential, which is not claimed until now.

Intuition and Science of Social Harmony:Spiritual Unity or Alienation?

Intuition and Science of Social Harmony: Spiritual Unity or Alienation?
The report on the visit to the Brahma Kumaris and Business Academy in India
October 30 – November 18, 2012
December 21, 2012

By
Dr. Leo Semashko
GHA President

Publication in languages:
English: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=545
Russian: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=566

© Leo Semashko, 2012

Organizations abbreviation and web addresses:
Brahma Kumaris - BK: http://www.bkwsu.com,
Indus Business Academy - IBA: www.iba.ac.in,
Global Harmony Association - GHA: www.peacefromharmony.org

Contents

Part 1. General characteristics of the trip and its spiritual meaning
Part 2. Brief theoretical and practical summarizing

1. How and why the GHA’s aspiration to cooperate with BK emerged
2. Intuitive and scientific knowledge of harmony: mutual complementarity
3. The necessity and insufficiency of the intuition of harmony in BK
4. The necessity and sufficiency of the unity of science and intuition
5. Intuitive and scientific spiritual harmony
6. Why not start cooperation between GHA and BK?

Part 1. General characteristics of the trip and its spiritual meaning

I have to stress that my almost three week trip to India was not tourism. Therefore the report will not be travel. Though, naturally, I was happy to be in this wonderful country for the second time and to be enriched with new, unique tourist impressions of its people, nature, temples and other sights. They will be present only in a small photo series of this report – 25 pictures (see website) as visual images of harmony. I express my heartfelt gratitude for these photos to three colleagues on the trip: Yuri Cherenkov, Viktor Tikhonov and Yana Shevchenko. But the photo series was not complete because my ten colleagues promised to send me pictures and sent only three. In this regard, I want to underline the observation that spirituality, to which the trip was devoted, as it turns out, does not eliminate irresponsibility and empty promises. This is a fact. However, the photo series limitations are more than compensated by the wonderful video "Golden Morning: Spiritual Wisdom" of the talented producer Valery Dobrov. The video is available in the GHA film library: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=252 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=812aAZyP__A. With it are other videos of spiritual harmony and mantras of harmony.

The key meaning and main content of trip were the events of two spiritual organizations in India: (1) The BK International Retreat "Golden Morning: Spiritual Wisdom in Epoch of Rapid Changes," which was held from October 31 to November 10, devoted to lectures and meditations of spiritual harmony and (2) Communication, lecture and workshop in IBA, November 12-17. These events defined the spiritual core of the trip in a wide range between intuition and science of social harmony. It covered Indian spiritual harmony from God to business. To this I will devote the second, main part of the report, the comprehension of which required a lot of time - more than a month. This part, in substance, is philosophical, concerning main issues of the knowledge of harmony.

To conclude the first part I want to express my deep gratitude to the leaders of both organizations for their warm hospitality in India. I owe my wonderful trip to Didi Santosh, head of the BK St. Petersburg branch (http://www.brahmakumaris.ru/index.php), who invited me to the retreat and showed constant attention to me. I warmly thank her, all great leaders of BK as well as the entire Russian-speaking group (about 100 people), in which the spirit of harmony prevailed.

I am also deeply grateful to the IBA leadership and professors for their cooperation and warm, caring attitude: Prof. Subhash Sharma, IBA Director, Prof. Manas Garai, Prof. Pradeep Kumar, Mr. Ritesh Jain, IBA CEO, as well as students of IBA, with whom I constantly communicated: Santosh, Siva, Srikant, Manesh, Munibaby, Tanaki, Abishek and others.

I am sincerely grateful to Prof. Surendra Pathak and Dr. Laj Utreja, Presidents of GHA departments in India and the U.S., who came specially to meet me at Mount Abu, at the BK headquarters. I express my sincere thanks to Mr. Rajanicant Verma, IASE University Adviser, who met me at the airport and brought the IBA 20 copies of the ABC of Harmony in English to me, and Prof. Sunita S. Sengupta, Delhi University, who took me to the IBA. Many thanks to all! Only your help and participation ensured high efficiency of my trip.

Part 2. Brief theoretical and practical summarizing

1.How and why the GHA’s aspiration to cooperate with BK emerged

My acquaintance with BK began in May 2012 with the participation in the meeting dedicated to the Victory Day. Then I gifted Didi Santosh the GHA program book "The ABC of Harmony" (2012: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=478). This book was also presented to almost all the leaders of BK, including the BK Administrative Head Dadi Janki in Mount Abu with another GHA book "Harmonious Civilization" (2009). At this time I bought the BK brochure "Universal Harmony" (1996, in Russian), which I read with great interest. I was very glad to read it and published it on the GHA website under the title: "Brahma Kumaris: "Universal Harmony": Masterpiece of Social Intuition" (www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=550). From this beginning of my attention and study in the BK experience, I saw a kindred spirit GHA organization that had been dedicated to the social and spiritual harmony long before the GHA. In this brochure, I saw an excellent intuitive introduction to the ABC of Harmony and an excellent expression of social harmony in all spheres of society at a high level of intuitive thinking. To create a universal and holistic harmony on Earth, the brochure proclaims the necessity of vision and knowing deep harmonious world order that was originally there, but that was violated by the historical disharmonies because of ignorance in harmony (pp. 16-17). These ideas are very important for the development of knowledge of social harmony. It found the first scientific expression in the ABC of Harmony, but it started with its ancient intuition, finding perfect expression in BK. Even then, I wrote a letter to the BK with the offer to cooperate with GHA: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=546

This letter defined an objective interest in mutually beneficial cooperation: our two organizations have the knowledge, vision and understanding of the social harmony of the two equally necessary, but different and insufficient separately cognitive sides: science and intuition, which require mutual complementarity and unity. To unify the advantages of intuitive and scientific knowledge of harmony was the deepest source of my search for cooperation between our two organizations, which embody these forms of knowledge. Therefore, when Didi Santosh kindly invited me to retreat in India, I happily agreed. This was motivated by my deep spiritual interest in BK and my appreciation of its spiritual harmony. I realized that one pure science is not enough for the knowledge and study of harmony, and that this also requires the spiritual power of intuition in the form of meditation and highest moral values that have been honored ??in thousands of years of practice of Raja Yoga, adopted in BK. For knowledge of this experience, I went on the BK retreat with a great desire and hope.

Here I was introduced to the practice of spiritual meditation in Raja Yoga, with lectures about God, the soul and the highest moral values. Almost every meditation and a lecture focused on harmony. In fact, the central concept of the Raja Yoga - peace (rest), through which it defines God, soul and moral values, is harmony, equilibrium, balance and other similar characteristics. God, soul and morality - it is harmony, and harmony – it is God, soul and moral. This is reminiscent of Plato's philosophical ideas about the Cosmos as a living God, good and harmony in the "Timaeus" and Kant's view of them. But our report - this is not a place where we can afford a deep and detailed comparison of these philosophical views and Raja Yoga. I will confine myself to a general comparison of the main forms of knowledge of harmony, at its different levels, considering what was associated with my Indian trip and sense of it.

2. Intuitive and scientific knowledge of harmony: mutual complementarity

Universal and holistic harmony exists on different levels: at the individual level of the person, at the global and local social levels of human society and on an infinite level of the Cosmos, the Universe and God. It is clear that these levels are inseparable and exist only through each other, and mutually interpenetrate, including each other. This determines their infinite complexity and inexhaustibleness of knowledge. Any knowledge of harmony is relative and limited, constantly extending, deepening and supplying in the historical process of human knowledge.

It is also natural that, for universal, holistic and infinite harmony, there is no single and absolute form of human knowledge that is necessary and sufficient for its knowledge. There are many forms of its private knowledge, necessary but not sufficient, each on its own. There are two main forms of its knowledge: intuitive and scientific.

Intuition (contemplation, flair, insight) –is the direct apprehension of truth without logical analysis based on imagination, empathy, and previous experience (Wikipedia). Intuition - is the knowledge of any event of harmony of any kind and level that does not require facts as the sole basis of knowledge and is based ultimately on historical collective experience of people. Intuition - it's primarily a sensory perception and thinking.

Science – it is theoretical systematization of objective knowledge, the basis of which is the collection of facts, their constant updating and generalization (Wikipedia). Science - is knowledge of only limited phenomena of harmony, about the circle of which a human may have the facts to confirm these phenomena, their properties and relationships. Science - is primarily the theoretical mediated knowledge and thinking. The dignity of intuition is its limitlessness and support of itself and the internal potential of knowledge. The dignity of science is in finiteness and support of the facts and of the external potential of knowledge. Science and intuition are necessary but not sufficient in any knowledge of any subject, including harmony.

Intuition covers the endless spiritual pyramids (qualities) of God, society and humanity. It aims to provide a holistic and sensuality available in images representing the infinite harmony of God (the infinite point of light in Raja Yoga), a human (the soul as the point on the person’s forehead) and society (moral values ??or good). At the level of communion with spiritual infinity, intuition unites and harmonizes people. This is its dignity and the advantage in the knowledge of harmony. But intuition does not and cannot give universally accepted, even limited, knowledge of the structure of harmony on any level: God, society or human. As soon as there is a question among people regarding understanding of their structure, there always are dissenting opinions which divide people and lead them to misunderstanding and then to enmity and war. On this side, it leaves people disharmonious and disconnected and therefore weak in knowledge and creation of harmony. Therefore, intuition is not enough, is limited in its use and requires the addition of the science.

Science is able to cover, but only partially, the spiritual pyramids (qualities) of the society, the person and his or her harmony. Infinite harmony of God, as well as the associated infinity of the soul and the highest moral values, is not available in science, which always has to deal with objects, limited facts. God and His Harmony are not available to science on a science definition. They are only available to the intuitive knowledge, the most advanced form of which is religious thought, including religious philosophy, and different beliefs, including Raja Yoga. But the infinite harmony of God, society and humanity is necessary for science as the support and symbol of its integrity, though not proven facts and the remaining by faith. God is a symbol of the highest spiritual harmony and ethics of science. This symbol is not available to science itself. Science without divine spiritual harmony loses its supreme guidance and meaning in understanding and knowledge of a limited harmony. That is why even a limited harmony of society and the person does not become a subject of science so far. Up to now there is no science or scientific theory of social and individual harmony, except tetrasociology which appeared only three decades ago, and got its perfect expression in the ABC of Harmony, in 2012.

On the other hand, science without God, without a higher spiritual harmony, integrity and ethics, is easily converted from a positive into a negative and destructive tool that we see in the industrial society and its people. Industrial science and limited mechanical knowledge does not give them knowledge of their own harmony as their most important and useful knowledge. Therefore science is insufficient and limited in itself. It requires addition and synthesis with intuition, faith and God. This conclusion led me, as a scientist, in the BK, to intuitive knowledge of the infinite divine harmony, and for its use in the form of meditation in the scientific knowledge of limited social and individual harmony. Understanding and confidence in this – it is the main thing that gave me a retreat in BK and what enriched me most as a scientist.

But not only science is insufficient. Intuition and its understanding of social harmony are also insufficient and limited in themselves, so they require addition and synthesis with science. This is particularly evident in the case of the BK representations of social and individual harmony.

3. The necessity and insufficiency of the intuition of harmony in BK

Above, we stressed the need of harmony intuition for its scientific knowledge and understanding. Now, on the basis of a brief analysis of the BK intuitive idea of ??social harmony, we will show its insufficiency, from which the logical necessity of its synthesis with the scientific knowledge of social harmony is included in the GHA, especially with the ABC of Harmony. Intuition harmony is presented in two BK books:

1. "Universal Harmony" (1996, in Russian, see above; 1995, "Harmony" in English, published here: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=540) snd

2. Brahma Kumar Jagdish Chander, Building a Value-Based, Peaceful and Prosperous Society (2000), published in English in the main fragments here: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=543. (I was happy to buy 20 copies of the wonderful brochure Harmony to give it to my friends in India). Moreover, the first book is almost entirely included in the second, so we'll only talk about it.

First, we must emphasize its undeniable merits as an intuitive masterpiece of social harmony, as the intuitive ABC of Harmony of 2000, 12 years before the GHA ABC of Harmony and as the BK intuitive sociology of harmony. For brevity, we shall call it the "BK Sociology."

The BK Sociology dignities, which determine its necessity and unity with the science (scientific sociology), are:

1.Definition of harmony as a "universal and holistic" uniting and defining any viable diversity, which is fully identical to its scientific definition in the ABC of Harmony. This provides a unity of its intuitive and scientific knowledge and understanding.

2.Definition of the existing society as a disharmonious and spiritually impoverished "Iron Age" with a priority of material wealth, which (this age) is to be replaced with the harmonious and spiritual (value-based) society as a "Golden Age" with a priority of spiritual values. The ABC of Harmony expressed a similar definition, but in scientific terms: the current civilization is industrial and disharmonious with priority on economy which is going to be replaced by harmonious civilization with priority on the spiritual culture of harmony.

3.Definition of harmony as "the Prime Value", which includes other values: love, unity, peace, justice, harmony, brotherhood, etc., which makes harmony by holistic value. A similar understanding of harmony develops in the scientific ABC of Harmony.

4.The dawning of the harmonious society/civilization or the "Golden Age" is impossible without appropriate, harmonious spirituality presented and developed in BK in Raja Yoga. Harmonious society requires, above all, harmonious divine spirituality of all people, which can be acquired only through Raja Yoga in BK. Similarly, in the ABC of Harmony, the conscious and non-violent building of harmonious civilization is impossible without the harmonious spirituality presented and developed, first of all, in the theoretical science of social harmony - in tetrasociology. Harmonious civilization requires, primarily, scientific knowledge of social harmony, which will get everyone in the schools and universities a global harmonious education through the study of the ABC of Harmony disclosing this scientific knowledge.

5.The root cause of disharmony as a negative force that generates the defects and pathologies of society is ignorance of harmony as a lack of knowledge of its infinite spiritual source - God. Similarly, in the ABC of Harmony: the main cause of disharmonious industrial civilization is its ignorance in the scientific (positive) knowledge of harmony and its neglect of this knowledge. It is expressed in the absence of this science and the inability to create one in industrial society. The social need in this science (as the ability of its development) will only appear together with the first signs of a harmonious civilization in the early 21st century, as defined in the ABC of Harmony. Only in this civilization will diversity, universality and integrity of the social harmony correspond with the diversity, universality and integrity of its knowledge, which transcends its industrial partiality and fragmentation, achieving harmony in cognitive diversity, including harmony between intuition, faith and science.

We have named only the basic, fundamental, dignities of the BK intuitive sociology that define its social need and demand unity with the science of social harmony, with tetrasociology presented and unfolded in the ABC of Harmony.

The insufficiency of BK intuitive sociology is expressed in its following qualities and definitions.

1.The main weakness and lack of the BK intuitive sociology is individualist reductionism, expressed in the fundamental thesis: "change of human changes society" or "a person who positively change, positive change society," etc. On this basis, the center of its activities, BK accomplishes spiritual transformation of personality, individual, believing it is sufficient for positive societal transformation. Such individualistic reductionism can not see specific social laws at different levels from the family to global humanity. Society and humanity are not a mechanical sum of individuals - as well as social harmony, which is not a mechanical sum of harmonious persons. Therefore, even if each individual can have positive change and become harmonious, it will not lead to a positive change in the society, to the creation of a harmonious society, to harmonious change of its other parts: families, communities, professional groups, classes and other social groups, nations, peoples, and etc. Each person can become a harmonious and peaceful, and the groups and classes of people can remain hostile, mired in wars, in social disharmony and pathology. We see this today in many facts. Individual harmony must be supplemented by social harmony in the form of a harmonious organization and order in all other parts of society: spheres, sectors, industries, businesses, families, regions, etc. This requires the special scientific knowledge presented in the ABC of Harmony.

2.The BK intuitive sociology distracts from making a single structuring, systematization and ordering of society as a social organism. It talks about society at the level of traditional everyday concepts, which lead naturally to the intuitive approach which neglects scientific analysis and theoretical generalization. The ordinary concepts of everyone are special. Hence on their level there cannot be unity in the understanding of social phenomena. Intuitive sociology does not give a clear, detailed and generally accepted answer about the structure of individual and social harmony. Intuitive understanding of the harmony leaves infinite its specific interpretation: everyone interprets it as he/she likes, in his/her own way, unlike all the others. This prevents spiritual unity of people in knowledge and use of harmony and this practically nullifies the social importance of intuitive harmony, making it weak in comparison with the powerful organizational forms of negative and destructive forces of disharmony. The intuitive sociology as a spiritual harmony loses in power and its social impact to these forces of disharmony, which remain for it as invincible within millennia.

3.The basic methods of intuitive knowledge of harmony in BK are induction and analogy, based on the endless examples. They, very often, are bright, wise and persuasive, showing dignity of the intuitive ideas. These examples make the most difficult thought accessible to the very unpretentious mind. This is the methodological dignity of intuition, which we must adopt. At the same time it is its logic lack from which we want to free.

4.Intuitive knowledge of harmony is devoid of quantitative aspects and mathematical approaches. Its scientific knowledge, in contrast, has broad mathematical approaches that are presented in the ABC of Harmony. As we know, only mathematics transforms knowledge into science, making this knowledge, by conclusive, verifiable, universal concepts, acceptable one for all. Mathematics lifts this knowledge over an infinite variety of subjective intuitive opinions.

5.The BK, as an organization of intuitive harmony and sociology which exists among the many spiritual organizations in India, develops intuitive knowledge of harmony and submits its infinite spiritual variety, the richest in the world. Nowhere in the world have we found similar spiritual wealth. This is a vivid testimony of the real advantages and power of intuitive knowledge of spiritual harmony at all levels, from the social to the individual and the divine. But the striking and the other, negative, side: these organizations exist independently of each other, not trying to find a harmonious unity among themselves to demonstrate spiritual and organizational harmony in mutual relations. Such harmony in unity could be a much strengthened social influence of spiritual harmony and its many organizations both in India and globally. The unity of spiritual organizations in India would provide the country world leadership in spiritual and interfaith harmony. However, these organizations, including BK, remain in the power of industrial law of the parts rule, not the whole, and are powerless to overcome it. So, unfortunately, the harmonious union of these organizations does not happen and we do not see even the desire for it as if a social need did not exists in it. Why?

The intuition of harmony can overcome its social weakness only by integrating the science of harmony, which represented the most developed in the GHA collective global textbook: the ABC of Harmony.

4. The necessity and sufficiency of the unity of science and intuition

The variety of harmony requires unity of diversity of its knowledge, above all the unity of science intuition. Harmony diversity is represented in its intuition, but the unity of this diversity cannot be achieved beyond that of science. Therefore, unity of harmony intuitions is possible only on the basis of common scientific understanding of harmony presented in the ABC of Harmony. This unity is necessary in equal measure for both knowledge of harmony: for intuition, and for science. Only in this unity can necessity acquire sufficiency in mutual complement.

Complementarity, integration and synthesis of science and intuition are the highest level of their cognitive harmony and integrity, and these are adequate to objective integrity of harmony. Their synthesis transforms from possibility into a social need and necessity, along with the sprouts of a harmonious civilization in the early 21st century. Science and intuition of harmony must combine their strengths and overcome their weaknesses and limitations in harmonious internal unity in this civilization to ensure its full knowledge of harmony in its various forms. Only on the basis of this integral knowledge will this civilization be able to develop itself deliberately, nonviolently, freely and the most effectively as for society and nature in a whole as and for each individual.

5. Intuitive and scientific spiritual harmony

Two types of knowledge of harmony are two kinds of its spirituality: (1) the scientific spirituality of harmony, which was first launched in the ABC of Harmony and (2) intuitive spirituality of harmony detailed in the BK texts and others. The necessary and sufficient unity of these two forms of spirituality requires the integration and cooperation of relevant organizations - GHA and BK, in which they develop. GHA recognizes the social necessity of unity for the two forms of spirituality, and also the cooperation and integration of our organizations. We have already mentioned the first offer of our cooperation. After it, we have formulated also two offers of cooperation in the GHA projects:

In the project of a new global civil movement: Peace and Disarmament from Harmony on the ABC of Harmony Base (www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=539), which was directed by the BK leaders and delivered personally during the retreat to Administrative Head Dadi Janki

In the project "Interfaith Harmony" on the ABC of Harmony basis within the Week of Interfaith Harmony established by the UN: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=541.

6. Why not start cooperation between GHA and BK?

Unfortunately, until now the GHA has not received a response to any offer of cooperation. We see the different causes of the BK alienation from the offers of cooperation, but do not lose hope that BK is aware of the strategic benefit of our proposals and projects, allowing it to raise an intuitive spiritual harmony to a new level of harmonious civilization of the early 21st century. We understand the colossal spiritual and social complexity of our cooperation, which is reflected in the complexity and imperfection of our report. For the GHA this is also not an easy process in all respects. But we are aware of its essence. Its understanding came with the help of BK and found its shape during my trip.

Presented philosophical reflections and practical conclusions are the deepest spiritual essence of my trip to the BK retreat, as well as in the IBA to India. This is the recharge of "a battery of my soul". It is extremely important for my mind and personality. In this is a unique value for me the BK retreat. But its main question of our spiritual unity or alienation remains open. It is a historical question of the unity or alienation of science and intuition, including faith, on the threshold of a new, harmonious civilization for the 21st century.

Edited by Dr. Bruce Cook, writer, USA, December 21, 2012

Leo Semashko, Ph.D.:
State Councillor of St. Petersburg; Philosopher and sociologist; Author of Tetrism as unity of Tetraphilosophy and Tetrasociology as a science of social harmony and harmonious civilization since 1976; Director of Tetrasociology Public Institute since 1993; Global Harmony Association Founder and President since 2005; Teaching experience at universities is about 20 years; Author of more 300 scientific publications, including 16 books and brochures. Initiator, Coauthor and Editor in Chief of the ABC of Harmony: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=478.
Address: 7/4-42 Ho-Shi-Min Street, St. Petersburg, 194356, Russia.
Telephone: +7 (812) 597-65-71,
Email: leo.semashko@gmail.com;
Web: www.peacefromharmony.org;
Personal webpage: http://www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=253
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Global Harmony Association expresses to the American people the deepest condolences with the murder of 20 children in the school

GHA supports canceling the second amendment to the Constitution that opens gun freedom, which seems to have turned into the right and freedom to kill everyone, even kids. This is a symptom of deeply sick society. But the weapons are only the visible surface of the mass murders in the U.S., which have become routine, almost monthly. And this trend is accelerating. (For the sake of truth, it must be emphasized, many other industrial societies are not far removed from the U.S. massacres.)

The deep reason for mass murders in the U.S. is a spiritual disharmony of American society and the state, defined by its highest industrial priorities of profit, violence and military hegemony. Industrial values steadily lead society to commit suicide, which has widely penetrated into schools and universities. In the industrial society, they transform from institutions of knowledge, education and humanism to institutions of murder, ignorance, violence and anti-humanism.

Unfortunately, in the U.S., there is no broad civic movement and awareness of positive values ??of harmony, justice and peace. It is known that war and killing begins not with weapons, but of consciousness and the mind of people. We can kill and not be unarmed.

In this regard, the GHA calls to increase the GHA-USA work towards the harmonization of society and its mindset, starting with a wide study of the ABC of Harmony (www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=478) in the educational institutions of the country. This primary mission of GHA-USA requires a fundamental reform in the department on the basis of the ABC of Harmony. Only on this basis will GHA-USA be able to consolidate a civilian force for social harmonization and humanization in the country. GHA can no longer put up with the passivity of GHA-USA and be a tacit accomplice of mass murder of kids in the country.

We have to find the will and determination to reform our work in the United States and turn the society from the mass murder leader in the world into a global harmony leader. In schools, children need to learn the ABC of harmony and not the ABC of mass murder.

Harmony instead of murders!

On behalf of the GHA Board

Dr. Leo Semashko,
GHA President
www.peacefromharmony.org
December 18, 2012
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Parry writes: "The massacre of 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut, on Friday, which followed other gun massacres in towns and cities across the country, represents the opposite of 'security.'"

Firearms murders in the US are 30 times more frequent than in Britain

The 2nd Amendment and Killing Kids
By Robert Parry, Consortium News, 16 December 12

The American Right is fond of putting itself inside the minds of America's Founders and intuiting what was their "original intent" in writing the U.S. Constitution and its early additions, like the Second Amendment's "right to bear arms." But, surely, James Madison and the others weren't envisioning people with modern weapons mowing down children in a movie theatre or a shopping mall or now a kindergarten.

Indeed, when the Second Amendment was passed in the First Congress as part of the Bill of Rights, firearms were single-shot mechanisms that took time to load and reload. It was also clear that Madison and the others viewed the "right to bear arms" in the context of "a well-regulated militia" to defend communities from massacres, not as a means to enable such massacres.

The Second Amendment reads: "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Thus, the point of the Second Amendment is to ensure "security," not undermine it.

The massacre of 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut, on Friday, which followed other gun massacres in towns and cities across the country, represents the opposite of "security." And it is time that Americans of all political persuasions recognize that protecting this kind of mass killing was not what the Founders had in mind.

However, over the past several decades, self-interested right-wing "scholarship" has sought to reinvent the Framers as free-market, government-hating ideologues, though the key authors of the U.S. Constitution – people like James Madison and George Washington – could best be described as pragmatic nationalists who favoured effective governance.

In 1787, led by Madison and Washington, the Constitutional Convention scrapped the Articles of Confederation, which had enshrined the states as "sovereign" and had made the federal government a "league of friendship" with few powers.

What happened behind closed doors in Philadelphia was a reversal of the system that governed the United States from 1777 to 1787. The laws of the federal government were made supreme and its powers were dramatically strengthened, so much so that a movement of Anti-Federalists fought bitterly to block ratification.

In the political manoeuvring to assure approval of the new system, Madison and other Federalists agreed to add a Bill of Rights to ease some of the fears about what Anti-Federalists regarded as the unbridled powers of the central government. [For details, see Robert Parry's America's Stolen Narrative.]

Madison had considered a Bill of Rights unnecessary because the Constitution, like all constitutions, set limits on the government's power and it contained no provisions allowing the government to infringe on basic liberties of the people. But he assented to spell out those rights in the first 10 amendments, which were passed by the First Congress and ratified in 1791.

The intent of the Second Amendment was clarified during the Second Congress when the U.S. government enacted the Militia Acts, which mandated that all white males of military age obtain a musket, shot and other equipment for service in militias.

The idea was to enable the young country to resist aggression from European powers, to confront Native American tribes on the frontier and to put down internal rebellions, including slave revolts. There was nothing particularly idealistic in this provision; the goal was the "security" of the young nation.

However, the modern American Right and today's arms industry have devoted enormous resources to twisting the Framers into extremist ideologues who put "liberties" like individual gun ownership ahead of all practical concerns about "security."

This propaganda has proved so successful that many politicians who favour common-sense gun control are deemed violators of the Framers' original intent, as essentially un-American, and face defeat in elections. The current right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has even overturned longstanding precedents and reinterpreted the Second Amendment as granting rights of individual gun ownership.

But does anyone really believe that Madison and like-minded Framers would have stood by and let deranged killers mow down civilians, including children, by using guns vastly more lethal than any that existed in the Revolutionary era? If someone had wielded a single-shot musket or pistol in 1791, the person might get off one volley but would then have to reload. No one had repeat-firing revolvers, let alone assault rifles with large magazines of bullets.

Any serious scholarship on the Framers would conclude that they were, first and foremost, pragmatists determined to protect the hard-won independence of the United States. When the states'-rights Articles of Confederation wasn't doing the job, they scrapped it. When compromises were needed – even on the vile practice of slavery – the Framers cut the deals.

While the Framers cared about liberty (at least for white men), they focused in the Constitution on practicality, creating a flexible system that would advance the "general Welfare" of "We the People."

It is madness to think that the Framers would have mutely accepted the slaughter of kindergarteners and grade-school kids (or the thousands of other American victims of gun violence). Such bloody insecurity was definitely not their "original intent."

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Very Important Comments
Barbara K 2012-12-16

The Second Amendment is the right to keep and bear arms, arms that were not like the weapons they have now. It does not contain the right to KILL PEOPLE.

The righties make people think we need arms for protection. What is it we need protection from? Yep, it is the ones who keep and bear weapons. They are the ones the rest of us need protection from. They try to say that "guns don't kill, people do". That is total nonsense. It is: "PEOPLE WITH GUNS KILL PEOPLE".

Guns have no other purpose, other than to kill. Automatic weapons are specifically for killing people and nothing else. There is no reason for people to have automatic weapons. They are for soldiers in wars. If one wants to shoot those, join the military. The NRA gets rich convincing people to buy weapons that they don't really need; or didn't until they now need protection from the whackos with guns.

Stop making the NRA and gun manufacturers becoming wealthy at the expense of killing someone walking down the street, or for playing music too loud to suit him, or innocent children and their teachers who haven't harmed anyone. The NRA needs to be held accountable. Duster 2012-12-16

The straw man is the idea that legislation will somehow "protect" innocent people or children. It will not.

You have but to look at news from Great Britain, which has some of the most draconian gun laws on the planet - you can go to prison for defending yourself in your own home with an unregistered weapon - to see that they have an *increasing* problem with shootings. Not only are weapons available to criminal and to the mentally unstable, but the crimes continue to occur more and more frequently. Recall that a school was shot up by an adult in Scotland not that long ago.

People CANNOT be protected from crazies - no law can do this, no degree of governmental vigilance can do this, not even your own vigilance can protect you. We walk a very fine every day between extending too much and too little trust. We are _socially_ inclined to extend trust because without it, important things breakdown.

Excess trust however makes us potential victims. Forget guns and think about the banking debacles of the last decade. That arguably harmed more people than guns in the hands of crazies could ever achieve. In fact it very likely lead to shootings, stabbings, murder and suicides in numbers that we do not care to contemplate. It simply proves the dictum that one death is a tragedy, but a million is a statistic. Also, think about the media's responsibility here. Copy cats anyone?

FDRva 2012-12-16

How about the First Amendment and Killing Kids?

The multi-billion dollar violent video game business has driven many youth crazy--while making them expert shots as well. A lot of ticking time bombs out there. But, of course, if there is one group that can out campaign donate the gun lobby--it is the Hollywood/video game axis...

This might explain the less than objective media fixation on the weapon--not the cultural madness--in which the media are massively complicit.

JH Gordon 2012-12-16

One thing missing in the debate is how, should Congress override the Constitution, would the government go about confiscating ALL the guns?

All those search warrants and with the possibility of armed resistance, it would take thousands of teams of armed searchers. It's unlikely everyone would just meekly comply with what they firmly believe is a step toward totalitarianism. How many other rights would have to be violated if a person were even suspected of harbouring a then illegal weapon? Would there be recourse for those falsely accused and invaded? Or would it fall under some marshal law concept? I'm inclined to think the right to bear arms had more to do with self protection in the early days simply because people lived in a dangerous world and protection of persons and property was primarily a personal responsibility. Is it not now?

As to a discussion of "single shot" weapons and the idea that they were less devastating, there is a problem; The author ignores the existence of blunder bus weapons, shot guns which were very popular- perhaps more so than rifles, and air-guns capable of semi-automatic discharge. Anti-self protection folks believe themselves sane; logic indicates sensible gun owners are equally sane. Were that not true, with 300 million guns around, things would be a lot different. So how would they collect ALL the guns? And where are the guarantee police can prevent rape robbery and murder using black market guns? I'll wait right here.

Vardoz 2012-12-16

More people die from gun deaths in our nation each year then have died in all the years we were in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

This level of deaths from guns has reached critical mass in our nation. This must stop. This is an outrage and the situation has reached catastrophic proportions. We need to demand strict regulations for gun ownership. Background checks and training and a limit as to how many firearms one may own and what kinds of weapons are permitted. Our children are dying because our corrupt reps think it’s OK to trade guns for lives. CALL YOUR REP AND OBAMA Nearly 100,000 people get shot every year. That's 270 people a day and 87 dead because of gun violence every day."

SMW 2012-12-16

I think it's been said clearly enough that the intent of the Second Amendment is to protect us against our own government.

However, given our government's current weaponry, how can the average American adequately protect himself against our government's war planes? So, logically speaking, the interpretation of the Second Amendment, should allow people to arm themselves with Stinger Missiles. Now, of course, there will always be some mentally disturbed individual who will use it to bring down a commercial aircraft... but is that any reason why "responsible" people should be denied their Second Amendment right.

As to those who call for more stringent mental evaluation for people who apply for assault rifles, I would suggest that the mere application to own such a killing machine should be proof enough that they failed the test.

Invitation to Discuss the GHA Interfaith Harmony Project

Dear Global Harmony Association (GHA) Members and Friends around the World:

More than 40 members of the GHA in during almost two months completed an unprecedented peacemaking and educational project of World Interfaith Harmony, including participation of 27 authors from 14 confessions and 14 countries from all continents of the world. The project contains on January 31, 30 authors’ articles, two poems and four Appendixes, including 13 paintings by Nicholas Roerich devoted to leaders of interfaith harmony. It has 123 pages in total.

Please, see project in attachment. It also is published here: www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=541.

This unique project embodies interfaith harmony not only in its content and purpose, but also in its authors and their team work and solidary cooperation. This project is purposefully dedicated to the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week, February 1-7.

We are happy to present this project to the global civil society, and to invite peace and faith-based organizations, especially the Parliament of World Religions, as well as world citizens to discuss and approve it by your agreement or disagreement with it as a whole or some of its ideas for this week until February 7, inclusively.

All of the reasoned opinion, both positive and negative, will be published in a special section of our project on our website. All authors of responses will be included as the project coauthors if they wish. The project is open to new participants on the basis of ideas and articles of interfaith harmony on the basis of the ABC of Harmony and similar books to join the authors, whom we are happy most of all. This project, we plan to publish in the future as a separate book in the six UN languages.

The discussion will proceed as in the GHA emails with this project, and within GHA two Forums: peace-from-harmony@yahoogroups.com and http://www.forum.peacefromharmony.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2049, as well as: gha@freelists.org, in which you could include without problems.

Please, invite your friends and students to actively participate in the discussion of this unprecedented project!

Discuss it in your schools, colleges, universities, training centers, and your religious communities?

Please, publish the project address on your websites, social networks and your emails!

Please, spread it actively in the global civil society, especially among the believers of different faiths in the regions of inter-religious frictions and conflicts!

This is the peacemaking meaning of the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week! This is the meaning of peace organizations and world citizens!

Best wishes in interfaith harmony,

On behalf of the authors,

Dr. Leo Semashko,
Project Editor,
GHA President,
January 31, 2013,
www.peacefromharmony.org

Global Peace Science(GPS). Resume.

Global Peace Science (GPS): The Book, its Authors and Significance. Resume.

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Global Peace Science (GPS): The Book, its Authors and Significance. Resume.

Global Peace Science (GPS): Subject’s Area Matrix.

Global Peace Science (GPS): Subject’s Area Matrix.

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Global Peace Science (GPS): Subject’s Area Matrix.