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The Nobel Peace Prize of 1989 was awarded to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual and political leader. While head of the Tibetan government in exile during the Chinese occupation of his country, he has become a revered spokesperson for healing and peace in the world. In an interview with the Dalai Lama on the subject of facing the future with hope, he said:
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All we have is education. It's our only weapon, along with the example we can set. And this education, from the Buddhist viewpoint, begins with the notion of interdependence. . . . This has to be said and explained: above all, it has to be proved. . . .
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This shared awareness is essential if we want to improve, however little, our own attitude toward the world, our own relationship with it. We must overcome the isolation of our mind, we must renew our ties with the rest of the universe. Otherwise we are lost. Lost because separate. We have to show people, indefatigably, that our interest is the interest of others, that our future is the future of others. 32
The Dalai Lama went on to say that we must find a new spirituality apart from any religious dogma, one that promotes a secular morality based on the connectedness and interdependence of all life, and the cultivation of peaceful-mindedness and compassion for all. "We ought to promote this concept with the help of scientists," he said.33 We want to be part of such a movement, and this book is offered in the hope that it serves that end.
In our own experience, we have found the approach of A Course in Miracles to be one of many useful and practical tools for cultivating peaceful-mindedness.34 It says that our primary misperception in need of correction is our belief in our separation from one another. It teaches that, "A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary."35 This necessary experience refers to the experience of our connection and oneness with others. The Course tells us, just as the Dalai Lama said, that a truly wise person, no matter what the path, is one who "has seen in another person the same interests as his own."36 The acceptance of our shared awareness is, for us, the bridge between nonlocal perception and

 
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