Ahimsa, or ‘non-injury’, has been the inspiration behind the non-violent movements that sprung up in India and was much in vogue during the Indian Independence struggle. Today it is in forefront of the anti-corruption call in India. K Haridas Nair relates Ahisma to the idea of Absolute Love in the fourth (and last) of our series looking at core moral values from an Eastern perspective.

Core values of Initiatives of Change

As an international fellowship open to people of all cultures, nationalities, religions and beliefs, Initiatives of Change affirms that

• in this era of globalization, an individual can be a powerful agent for positive change in society;

I am a family doctor and I see in my consulting room individuals on a one to one basis. On my desk lies a packet of tissues- because so many, when they say what is wrong, begin to cry, even though, outside the consulting room, they manage to be so composed that no one would notice anything was wrong.

Inner Governance

Love will not sustain marriage; marriage will sustain love.“ Bonhoeffer

At a wedding in July, 2004 the following advice was offered. It is a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer at his niece’s wedding. Bonhoeffer wrote from a Nazi concentration camp, prior to his hanging in April, 1945. “Love will not sustain marriage; marriage will sustain love.” Not a trendy idea, but one worth pondering.

“I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden,
Along with the sunshine, there’s got to be a little rain sometime,
When you get, you gotta give, you’ve gotta live and let live oh, oh, oh ...”

Parenting demands a lot, physically and emotionally. Thankam Viswanathan shares some of the lessons she has learned.

I spent a year in America in 1962 working for the Ohio Steel Foundry Company. I had the good fortune of working under a boss who was not only a world class metallurgist but also a very fine human being.

Step One to Remaking the World