“Some of us must build bridges, when others are building walls,” I said when a man who sells flowers in our neighbourhood warned me not to go into the Muslim world. He had asked me where my travels would take me next. “To the Muslim lands of North Africa,” I said. He was shocked. “That’s dangerous. Be careful. Why are you going there?”
I told this story during a 90-minute online broadcast on The Open Heart Project founded by Susan Piver, which now has a global audience of 20,000. It was an opportunity to reflect on the huge challenges facing our global society, lead a real-time “Enlightened Society Meditation” and answer questions. One listener asked me a question that’s on a lot of people’s minds these days: “Do you find it hard to believe in the basic goodness of people when terrible things are happening in the world.”