This book is the first yet published to examine in detail the teachings on enlightenment in the world's great spiritual and... More > philosophical traditions. It is based on over 30 years of teaching and research experience on the part of the author, an expert in comparative global philosophy and peace research. It is intended to help lay the foundations for a global pluralistic civilisation at peace with itself in which each person alive can develop their own spiritual awareness in a world free from dogmatic imposition. < Less

This crucial work documents the history of the peace education community in its attempts to generate the institutions of... More > learning which can advance scholarship and understanding for peace, in a world riven with violence and terror. Mainly narrating developments from 1945-2001, the appendices give a glimpse of early decades of peace education work, dating back to the 1820's, with the founding of the University of London, where much of the work was first researched. < Less

This is the third volume of Thomas Daffern's Colected poems and covers writings from 2005 to 2008 written in diverse places worldwide.

THE 4TH VOLUME OF THE COLLECTED POETIC WORKS OF THOMAS DAFFERN COVERS HIS OUTPUT BETWEEN 2008 AND 2010 AND INCLUDES POEMS... More > WRITTEN IN GREECE, ISRAEL, PALESTINE, SLOVENIA, FRANCE, IRELAND, BRITAIN AND ELSEWHERE. < Less

This volume documents a crucial period of the author’s life in London and the UK, working on a peace studies project at... More > the University of London and its follow through phase, during the first Gulf War. Having been elected as coordinator of International Philosophers for Peace in Moscow in 1990, it was with a growing sense of unease and dismay that he witnessed the breakdown of international relations both in the Middle East and the Balkans region. The International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy was launched during this time to try to marshal the world's leading minds in the cause of conflict resolution and peace-making, and inter-philosophical dialogue, at a critical time in our planetary history. This work documents in full the story of these developments. < Less

This essay considers the complex ways in which religion and literature overlap. It is written by someone deeply involved in... More > the practice of literature, as a poet of many years, as well as a teacher and academic specialist in the history and philosophy of religions, especially in relation to peace and conflict. This succinct essay is the fruit of some 30 years of deep reflection and thought on a subject of profound importance to the direction humanity chooses to guide our lives today and in the future. Many of the great religions of mankind are based on texts - how are we understand their relative merits and significance ? What criteria can we use ? Ethical or Aesthetic ? Religions also use analogy and metaphor to express their versions of truth, as does poetry and literature - but do religion and literature share a common understanding of truth, or differ in their expectations ? < Less

Towards a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Middle East has two main purposes, firstly to explain the background... More > behind the launching of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Middle East in 2008, and secondly to give something of the theoretical framework in which this project is being based. Unusual among peace institutes worldwide, the work of the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy is dedicated not to the political or military or even economic aspects of peace building, although all such are important – but rather to the causal and metaphysical level of peace building – the building of peace in the collective imagination, the collective will and the collective intelligence of mankind’s warring tribes, nations and religions. It is concerned with the psychological healing and philosophical reconstruction of mankind’s inner life, alongside the outermost socio-economic factors. < Less

This thesis contributes to the intellectual history of the period from 1945-2001 in the specific regard of the search for... More > peace, among selected groups of intellectuals, academics and thinkers, during the cold war epoch. It concerns itself both with the quest for peace in relation to that complex, global, bipolar conflict, and also more generally. It examines this search in 4 specific fields of knowledge, namely historiography, philosophy, religious studies and theology, and psychology. The thesis also highlights a methodological lacuna that emerged during the course of the research. It was felt that a new meta-historical discipline, transpersonal history, might assist the work of trying to make sense of our epoch and, particularly, provide a useful historical special sub-discipline, which might hopefully help shed light on the causes of religious and inter-cultural conflicts, and their possible resolutions, in the post 9/11 world. < Less

This epochal study is the first attempt to create a biographical dictionary of the lives and works of selected transpersonal... More > thinkers in the 20th century. Ranging widely across disciplines, the work includes philosophers, historians, psychologists, educators, artists, psychohistorians, religious experts, theologians, Christians, Sufis, Kabbalists, Buddhists, Hindus, humanists, mystics all of whom have shown an interest in trying to understand the spiritual or transpersonal side of human nature. Many of the leading Jungian thinkers of modern times are listed here. The work seeks to provide reference material for the development of a new sub-field of history, proposed by the author, namely "transpersonal history." < Less

This 2nd volume of poetry represents the author's poetic oeuvre covering a more recent time span, from the 1990's to 2005,... More > and covers a wide ranging attempt to articulate the mysteries of existence. The poems are a testimony to the living power of the Muses as inspirers and guardians of insight and wisdom, to harness our ability of seership and higher knowing in the struggle for planetary peace and wisdom in a time of confusion and tragedy. The author believes that it is time for the poets of the world to stand together and raise their combined voices in inspired warning and guidance, to give hope and vision and courage to all those working for peace and social and civil justice, for an end to persecution, oppression, poverty and violence of every kind. It includes a sequence of poems entitled A Shropshire Lass, which are a conscious re-invocation of A.E. Houseman's A Shropshire Lad in a more contemporary key. < Less