Published: Feb. 17, 2023
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Dear Friends: I’m glad that Friends in Ukraine plan to keep hosting our weekly meetings for worship on First Days.
As I mentioned in our meeting today, I was living in a large meditation community in the United States in 1986-1989 when superpower rivalry ended and the USSR dissolved. Large meditation groups were promoted as a way to create peace at that time and seemed to have some impact. This was reported about most notably at a peace summit sponsored by the Global Union of Scientists for Peace, held in in Kyiv in June 2017. Here is a summary of some of the findings shared at the summit:
Nearly half the Conference presentations focused on what has become known as the Brain-Based Approach to Peace (BBAP), a scientific method for relieving acute physiological and psychological stress, and thereby preventing stress-driven violent, antisocial behavior on both the individual and societal levels. This successful innovation has already been officially endorsed and formally implemented in numerous countries worldwide, including 22 countries in Latin America—countries in which BBAP has been broadly implemented in public education and in the training of the national armies and militia.
from David Saunders, Bristol Area Quaker Meeting, UK (2/12/2023)