Michael Bernard Beckwith is a world leader and teacher in the New Thought–Ancient Wisdom tradition of spirituality; the founder and spiritual director of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, California; and cofounder of the Seasons for Nonviolence. Author of A Manifesto for Peace and Spiritual Liberation, Beckwith has been honored with the Africa Peace Award, and the Humanitarian Award of the National Conference for Compassion and Justice, and more. Together with his wife Rickie Byars Beckwith, he has written lyrics and music performed by the Agape International Choir in concert venues worldwide. His chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “Forgiveness as Spiritual Liberation.”
Phil Cousineau is an award-winning writer and filmmaker, editor and lecturer, cultural observer and TV host. In addition to compiling and editing this book, Cousineau has published 26 nonfiction books, including The Hero’s Journey, The Art of Pilgrimage, Wordcatcher, Stoking the Creative Fires, and The Oldest Story in the World. He has 15 documentary film credits to his name, including the Academy Award nominated Fortever Activists, and is currently the host and co-writer of of Global Spirit, Link TV’s “internal travel” television series airing soon on PBS. Cousineau frequently lectures and teaches on many soulful topics. His preface in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “The Next Step in Forgiveness and Healing.”
Kate Dahlstedt, MA, LMHC, is codirector of Soldier’s Heart, a veterans healing program in Troy, New York. She is a psychotherapist, group facilitator, and journey guide who has been in practice for two decades. As a therapist and workshop leader, Dahlstedt specializes in grief and loss, trauma, and depression. She is an adjunct professor at Russell Sage College and a published writer. Soldier’s Heart was created in response to concern for veterans and their psychological wounds. Their goal is to prepare families and communities in supporting and healing veterans–those returning from current wars and those who fought in past wars. Her chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “Burying the Stone: Rituals and Ceremonies of Atonement.”
Katharine Dever is workshop leader, and CEO of Bonny Doon Ltd., an organization dedicated to helping individuals find their vocation. She is the author of Bettermorphosis: The Life Transformation Guide and was a featured contributor in the anthology Indigo Children: Ten Years Later. She is a professional transformation consultant who gently guides people through life changes, big and small: from financial problems to relationship issues, ultimately helping others find their purpose in life. She lives in the United Kingdom and travels and teaches internationally. Her chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “Taking the Crucial Step: Forgiving the Other and Forgiving Yourself.”
Arun Gandhi is one of nine surviving grandchildren of Mohandas and Kastur Gandhi. For 20 years he has traveled around the world speaking at universities and colleges, and sharing with youth the lessons he learned from his parents and grandparents. He is the author of A Patch of White, about life in prejudiced South Africa; M.K. Gandhi’s Wit and Wisdom; World Without Violence: Can Gandhi’s Vision Become Reality?, and, with his wife Sunanda, The Forgotten Woman: The Untold Story of Kastur, the Wife of Mahatma Gandhi. Board president of the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute, Gandhi lives in Rochester, New York. His chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “Memories of My Grandfather: Atonement the Gandhi Way.”
Douglas M. George-Kanentiio was born and raised on the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne. He is the former editor of Akwesasne Notes and a cofounder of the Native American Journalists Association, which honored him with the Wassaja Award for journalistic excellence. Formerly on the board of trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian, George-Kanentiio is author of Iroquois on Fire and is currently columnist with News from Indian Country. George-Kanentiio resides on Iroquois territory with his wife, musician and singer Joanne Shenandoah. His chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “The Iroquois Great Law of Peace: Atonement Among the Haudenosaunee.”
Diane Hennacy Powell, M.D., is a strong advocate for human rights. As founder of the psychiatric program at Survivors of Torture, International in San Diego, California, she has worked with victims of genocide, torture, sexual abuse, terrorism, postpartum depression, as well as with refugees and asylum seekers. Her clinical practice is in Medford, Oregon and Los Angeles, California. She has been on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, was a member of Salk Institute think tank, and is the former director of research for the John E Mack Institute. She’s currently on the board of the Jean Houston Foundation. Her chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “At-one-ment: Becoming Whole.”
Azim Khamisa is an activist and president of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation, which he created in response to the murder of his son. Khamisa chose the path of forgiveness and compassion rather than revenge, and his forgiveness work has reached millions through his speaking in the U.S. and internationally. His books include From Forgiveness to Fulfillment, Azim’s Bardo, and The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit. Khamisa’s work has been honored by the National Crime Victims Special Community Service Award, the Search for Common Ground Award, the international award of Building Peaceful Communities, the Freedom Heroes Award and more. His chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “After the Death of My Son: My Journey of Forgiveness and Atonement.”
Michael Lerner is an American rabbi, political activist, and editor of the progressive magazine Tikkun: A Bimonthly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture and Society. He is the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in Berkeley, California, and the author 11 books, including the 2006 New York Times bestseller, The Left Hand of God. Rabbi Lerner is the chair of the interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives whose mission is to “challenge the materialism and selfishness in American society and to promote an ethos of love, generosity, and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe.” His chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “Ten Days of Atonement.”
Richard J. Meyer is a businessman from Southern California, who after a chance meeting with Azim Khamisa, was compelled to eventually found The Atonement Project and foster a book on atonement as well as this companion website to bring inspiring stories and wisdom on the topic to more people. Meyer was moved by Mr. Khamisa’s stance that “peace can be restored no matter what has gone on before,” as atonement is a connecting thread that resonates deeply for him, complementing his spiritual background based on years of study and honoring of many great religions and traditions. He has been active in local politics and supports many causes. His introduction in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “The Revival of an Ancient Awareness.”
Michael N. Nagler has devoted his life to exploring nonviolence as an alternative to war. Professor emeritus of languages, and founder and former chairperson of the Peace and Conflict Studies program at the University of California, Berkeley, Nagler is a widely respected peace scholar and activist. The author of America Without Violence, The Upanishads, and Is There No Other Way?, Dr. Nagler is on the editorial board of The Acorn: Journal of the Gandhi-King Society. He also serves on the advisory board of Tikkun magazine and is the founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education in Berkeley, California. His chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “We Can Work It Out: Heart, Mind and Action in the Struggle for Atonement.”
Jacob Needleman is professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University, and former director of the Center for the Study of New Religions at The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He has served at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, and was adjunct professor of Medical Ethics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author and editor of many books on soul, philosophy, the world’s religions, and the meaning life, including The American Soul, Why Can’t We Be Good? and most recently, What Is God? He has been featured on the Bill Moyers’ acclaimed PBS TV series A World of Ideas. His chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “The Wisdom of Atonement.”
James O’Dea is involved in international social healing work building on several years of dialogues funded by the Fetzer Institute. He is on the extended faculty of the Institute of Noetic Sciences where he was president. The former Washington office director of Amnesty International and CEO of the Seva Foundation, O’Dea is a member of The Evolutionary Leaders Group founded by Deepak Chopra. The author of numerous published essays, his most recent book is Creative Stress. In August 2010 he was recognized with the honor of “Champion of Peace, Reconciliation and Forgiveness” by the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance. His essay in Beyond Forgiveness also serves as the book’s conclusion and is titled “Creative Atonement in a Time of Peril.”
Huston Smith is among the preeminent religious studies scholars in the United States. His work, The Religions of Man (later retitled The World’s Religions), is a classic in the field, with over two million copies sold. Other books include Forgotten Truth: The Common Vision of the World’s Religions, Beyond the Post-Modern Mind, and Why Religion Matters. His discovery of Tibetan multiphonic chanting was lauded as “an important landmark in the study of music,” and his film documentaries of Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have all won international awards. His latest book is a memoir, Tales of Wonder. His foreword in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “Atonement as a Spiritual Path.”
Reverend Heng Sure is an American Buddhist monk from Ohio. He ordained with the late Chan Master Hsuan Hua in 1976. From 1977-1979 he made a two and a half year, three steps, one bow, pilgrimage of a distance of 800 miles. He and his companion Heng Chau bowed from South Pasadena to Ukiah, California, seeking world peace. Currently, Dharma Master Heng Sure is the director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, a branch monastery of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, in Berkeley, California, where he lives and teaches on the staff at the Institute for World Religions. His chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “Buddhist Bowing and Atonement.”
Ed Tick, PhD, is a mythologist, poet, writer, educator, and psychotherapist who applies his innovative model of Post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment among war veterans. Dr. Tick is the founder and director of Soldier’s Heart in Troy, New York, and the author of the award-winning study War and the Soul; The Practice of Dream Healing: Bringing Ancient Greek Mysteries into Modern Medicine; and The Golden Tortoise: Journeys in Vietnam. Dr. Tick has been in private psychotherapy practice since 1975 and began focusing on veteran’s issues in 1979. His work with PTSD or, in his words, “loss of the soul,” is acclaimed as groundbreaking. His chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “Healing the Wounds of War: Atonement Practices for Veterans.”
Stephanie N. Van Hook is co-director of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education and a board member of the Peace and Justice Studies Association. A returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Benin, Van Hook earned an MA in conflict resolution at Portland State University in Oregon. Her interests in nonviolence and forgiveness have intersected with activists and academics working for nonviolent social change in the global peace and justice community. Her chapter in Beyond Forgiveness is titled “Talkin’ ’bout My Generation: The New Face of Atonement.”
Loading ...