The Gentle Art of Blessing: A Simple Practice That Will Transform You and Your World
By Pierre Pradervand (1998)
Pierre Pradervand was inspired to write this book from a deep personal experience. While volunteering in Africa with the World Hunger Project to end food problem by year 2000, he was sent away by some people in the organization’s leadership out of prejudice and hate. The deep hurt made him bitter and hateful. To overcome the nagging resentment, he tried spiritual practices, such as meditation, prayer, etc., but nothing helped. One day, while reading the Sermon on the Mount, the phrase “bless those who curse you” resonated in him. He decided to try this out. As he says: “On the spot, I started blessing the four people concerned in every imaginable way – in their health, their joy, their serenity, their finances, their family life, their work… I did it from morning till night.” He soon developed the habit of blessing everything and everyone he saw during his travels or connected with him in some way. He found that it was a healing experience both for himself and those who received them. Once, while getting ready for a talk for youth in Switzerland on the theme of “Healing the world,” he received an unprecedented “gust of inspiration,” making him write the book; it “just poured through,” “just appeared” under his pen.
Pradervand notes how blessing is an ancient practice older than religions. It wishes good to the other person. Blessing means “to wish unconditional, total, unrestricted good for others and events from the deepest wellspring in the innermost chamber of your heart… to hallow, to hold in reverence, to behold with utter awe that which is always a gift from the creator. He who is hallowed by your blessing is set aside, consecrated, holy and whole.” Years after losing his job, Pradervand met the man responsible for firing him, and it turned out to be a totally joyful reunion devoid of any bitterness. For the author, “the Sermon on the Mount and Psalm 23 are some of the most beautiful non-denominational, universal spiritual messages.” We can bless everything—the beauty hidden in material things, needy persons, as when passing a prison or a hospital, and, of course, ourselves too. Forgiveness is the precondition of blessing. The practice of blessing has sensitized him to the sufferings of fellow humans and developed in him an instinctive understanding of their needs. Sometimes it takes years to develop sincerity in our attitude while blessing.
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
by Sheryl Sandberg. (RHUK, 2013)
This book has received superb reviews. Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, provides some deep and honest insights into the questions of woman leadership in the world of today. Sandberg describes her experience as a pregnant woman struggling to balance career and family. She acknowledges the great progress in gender equality achieved by pioneering feminists. But even today, there is only about 20% of women presence in leadership positions everywhere. It is not simply male dominance that bars the way of further progress. Women too have a share in it. Women are held back partly because they hold themselves back. One key issue for working women today is the challenge of balancing work and family. As she has seen in actual experience, “blatant and subtle sexism, discrimination and sexual harassment” are still there. Statistics shows that “of 197 heads of state, only 22 are women.” Of the top 500 (American) companies, only 21 are headed by women. In politics, women hold just 18% of congressional offices. But there is much improvement in status over the past fifty years. Their salaries, compared to those of men, have improved. The solution is to negotiate like a man. While men are promoted based on potential, women’s promotions are based on past accomplishments. Lack of self-confidence and drive bars women from achieving what they can. She notes too that a successful man is better liked than a woman of the same level. Successful women leaders are not as liked as their male counterparts. Sandberg suggests that “everyone needs to get more comfortable with female leaders, including female leaders themselves.” More productive relationships are nurtured when cooperation across the hierarchy of work is encouraged. Housework and parenting are to be shared by men and women if career and family are to be balanced.
Prof Gigy Joseph
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