1.
What
inspired you to write this book?
The
inspiration for this book has been both internal and external. As my twelfth
book, it became clear that something was missing from what I was trying to say
in many of my previous books, that something clearer and more direct needed to
be said about where many of them were pointing. Having written about
storytelling, transformation, and the evolution of consciousness from the
perspective of a unitive vision, I realized I needed to be more specific about
where all this was leading. So, The Way of Unity is my attempt to make
it clear that there is a direct and necessary correlation between living
principles that will bring about unity and achieving the long-promised vision
of peace on Earth.
And, of
course, I was also inspired by external events in the world right now. There
may be nothing more needed now than remembering, reclaiming, and living by our
own natural, innate state of harmony, unity, and wholeness, as seen in both how
our body is designed to be a system of diverse cells and organs operating in
unity and harmony with each other to maintain wellness, and also in how all
heavenly bodies in the entire universe
are designed as a galactic system of diverse planets and stars each in
their designated orbit to maintain cosmic order, harmony and unity. I wanted to
illustrate the understanding that the natural order of all things is harmony,
unity, and wholeness, and that we can reflect this in our everyday
relationships by approaching everything do as an opportunity to act in ways
that bring about the betterment of the world.
2.
What exactly is it about — and who is it written for?
The Way of
Unity visualizes a
world where every person feels seen, valued, and connected, a world guided by
compassion, cooperation, and partnerships that bring about unity. This is the
basis for a unitive vision grounded in the innate harmony and wholeness of the
entire universe and the unitive nature of humanity’s spiritual heritage.
The Way of Unity is
offered as a resource and guide for a process of collaborative learning that
leads to the building of strong, vibrant communities that in turn become models
of prototypes in a cycle of renewal, regenerating systems of relationship at
all levels of society. The book is framed entirely by a unitive perspective and
built upon a set of interconnected unitive principles meant to be applied
locally to illustrate that they are inherently globally scalable and can bring
about planetary flourishing.
The book is designed to help
facilitate the development of a unitive consciousness by exploring 3 practical
steps for living into an emergent process of realizing this unitive vision.
1st
– Knowing the natural order of the universe to be wholeness and unity
Unity characterizes the hidden wholeness of the Universe. Creation
itself represents the most exact and meticulous expression of unity there is.
The Universe is a living superorganism with no boundaries between any of its
parts. The laws of Nature express observable and constant patterns which tie
all things together in an indivisible oneness. This wholistic view sees
evolution as a single great process encompassing the entire creation.
2nd – Desiring to live by unitive
principles that sustain wholeness and unity
Periodic
leaps of consciousness throughout humanity’s evolution have spawned a growing
awareness of the need for unitive principles to heal the ills of a divided
humanity. A few of these are:
1) Unitive
Justice – justice that brings about unity by maintaining
community solidarity on all levels and eliminating all forms of prejudice.
2) Unitive
Economics – economics that brings about unity by eliminating
the extremes of poverty and wealth, making prosperity for all attainable.
3) Unitive
Narratives – narratives grounded in unitive consciousness that
bring about unity by validating and supporting the unity-in-diversity of
humanity and all life.
4) Unitive
Education – education that brings about unity by seeing all
knowledge as a reflection of a greater wholeness.
5) Unitive
Relationships – relationships that maintain harmony and
balance between all beings, through relationships that bring about gender
equality, that nurture the innate potential of children and youth, that honor
humanity’s inherent diversity, and that are in harmony with nature.
6) Unitive
Global Governance – a global governance system connecting
all strata of society by the same set of organizing unitive principles that
sustain world unity.
As unitive consciousness moves closer to
becoming the norm, these unitive principles will be seen as the building blocks
for a more just and peaceful society.
3rd – Taking action to apply
those principles to restore the world to wholeness
The book offers a model of social
action initiatives founded upon applying unitive principles locally that serve
as strategies and tools that can easily be adopted in any setting. For over a
century, thousands of Baha’i communities worldwide have been building the
elements of a culture of learning to bring about unity, harmony, and prosperity
by nurturing the patterns of coherence within us.
This globally
scalable strategy follows a collaborative learning process consisting of study,
consultation, action, and reflection on action. This
learning process results in carrying out unified social action toward a common
goal, all of which is underpinned by spiritual guidance and knowledge drawn
from science. The book describes a process in which it becomes clear that
humanity is its own mycelial network, weaving its own wholeness, expanding its
circles of unity.
I wrote this book intending that it would be meaningful to a
vast majority of people because we are in such a dire need for unity and peace
in the world. It is also intended as a model for consideration by
peacebuilders, those interested in building a better world, those who already
see a global transformation underway and want to know more about what is
underlying this, how it is unfolding, and where it is all heading. It’s also
written for all those who know something very important is happening in the world
and want to be part of it, but may not know exactly how to fit in. This book
will help everyone understand why and how there is much to be done in the
global renewal process well underway.
3.
What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?
Just that –
hope! This is a book offering a unitive worldview that will provide hope,
optimism, and encouragement for a divided humanity. There is so much in the
book about the nature of the universe, the nature of reality, and the purpose
and direction of evolution that will give everyone a real reason for hope. With
everything in creation built upon recurring cycles of growth, maturity,
decline, and renewal, the book illustrates how we are in a prolonged winter
that will be followed by a spiritual springtime, or in developmental terms, a
turbulent adolescence that will be followed by an age of maturity. But to get
there, we must walk a very practical path. So, the book provides clear
strategies for building strong, vibrant, inclusive communities right where we
are and directly links this to the outcome of world peace. It also makes it
very clear what the preconditions to get there are.
Individuals
will find a great deal in the book on how to achieve inner peace by aligning
with the evolutionary impulse through our own focused spiritual practice.
Groups and communities will get much from it on achieving interpersonal peace
by being a source of social good and contributing to unitive relationships.
National and international organizations will get a great deal on building
world peace by contributing to the renewal of local, national, and global
infrastructures. The Way of Unity also comes with its own Study Guide, designed
for group and community work to help facilitate a collaborative process of
learning to discover ways of applying principles that will bring about unity.
So, it’s great for groups and book clubs to read and study together.
4.
How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?
Chapter 4 is
all about how the title came to be, because that chapter is framed by two
models found in religious studies that explain the ways of understanding the
changeless and changing nature of spiritual evolution. When we look at
all the spiritual traditions as a whole, as interconnected and related to each
other, rather than as separate from each other, we can begin to recognize a
thread of continuity between and among them that also highlights their social
and developmental differences. What my decision on the title comes down to, and
this is explained more fully in that chapter, is that we live in a time that
calls for unity on all scales and levels. Unity is both the natural outcome of
an organic process of growth and renewal and what will heal a divided humanity.
The way of unity is what most clearly represents the purpose and mission of the
most recent spiritual tradition as well, as described fully in chapter 4.
For the
cover design, I wanted something that represented the organic unity of the
natural world all around us. So, I thought of the natural wave motion that I
feel is expressive of both unity-in-motion and unity-in-diversity, to convey
the inherently dynamic and active nature of unity as well, which means real
unity is that which is maintainable under changing circumstances.
5.
What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than
run!?
Everyone has
an important story tell – and to write about – whether it is our own amazing
life, someone we know, or something that so resonates deeply with our
experience of life that we cannot not write about it. Knowing this is the first
step in the writing process, which, like a lot of other things, follows its own
pattern. The second step is having the will, or volition, to write what we know
is our story to tell. the third step is taking action on this knowledge and
volition. So, the key to becoming a successful writer, not measured by book
sales but rather by accomplishing what we know in our hearts to be ours to
accomplish, the writing itself, is being able to put Knowledge, Volition, and
Action together in a way that gets our story told and out there for
others to benefit from. It may be that having the knowledge of what our
story is that most needs to be told and shared with others is the most
important step in the process. Because as this knowledge turns into a certainty
that the story we most want to share with others is important, vital, and a
mission for us, this is what gives us the desire and the will, or volition,
to carry this out into action.
6.
What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book
publishing industry is heading?
There have
been major shifts in the book publishing world over the past decade, and
especially post-pandemic. These have all been shifts away from traditional book
publishing and marketing. This is having major ramifications not only for
getting our writing out to the public but even more so how publicity is now
handled and what markets we have to be familiar with to find the readers of
today. This is a long story, one that I’m still learning about since the
release of my newest book this year and how much has changed since my previous
one three years ago. But briefly, so much more is being done virtually and
digitally now than then. This is not only regarding eBooks, but even more so
what is happening with online publishing platforms like Substack and Medium, as
well as the proliferation of self-publishing companies. These have all
dramatically changed everything in both positive and negative ways.
On the one
hand, these have all democratized the publishing process in that anyone can now
find a relatively easy way to get their writing out there to an audience of
readers. But this has also created more competition among writers while at the
same time creating many new ways writers can find guidance and assistance in
adapting to all these changes and new opportunities. All this means that, as
writers, we have much more to keep up with and learn about to get our writing
into the best position to be found and read by those who do want to read our
writing! So, the trend for publishing our writing is clearly toward more
options in the digital world and supporting this through social media
networking.
7.
Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy
when writing this book?
One
fascinating “experience” was being born the day the first atomic bomb was
dropped on Hiroshima. As a developmental psychologist, I’ve come to recognize
that what
is happening in the world at the moment of our birth, both locally and
globally, can have a huge influence on who we become and what we think. This is
how I put it in the preface to my memoir of 1969, Year of Living Deeply:
I am an only child. Yet like every child, something within me yearns for union. Parades of celebration filled the streets
the day I was born, my mother
told me. Not for me, but for the end of one era and the beginning of
another. This was when the first atomic bomb turned a world at
war into a nuclear village.
But peace was elusive, and without realizing, my life became
a quest to find it. It was much later, when ageless archetypes
began to emerge from deep
within me, that I gradually became aware of the story my life was telling.
This is when I realized that my story is much like many others.
So, it took me into my adulthood to fully recognize
the impact of this “experience” on my life, which had become a subtle quest to
find an elusive peace, both inner and outer. I didn’t remember the story my
mother told about my birth until there came a time when my own life experience
could explain it.
But
that moment of my birth, a conflicted moment of devastation and destruction,
pain and loss, as never before experienced, also lead to protests of nuclear
weapons, that at the same time prompted spontaneous celebrations for the
promise of world peace. This created a deep, yet hidden, thread in my life,
which has only gradually become apparent for the inner and outer contradictions
it has presented me. I was unaware of how much until I started my own process of self-reflection and discovery of what was true for me during college.
Years
later, knowing my is life deeply linked to Hiroshima, as a teacher on an around
the world Semester at Sea voyage in 2002, I came full circle visiting that
sacred spot and sharing a moving moment of connection with our tour guide whose
family had survived that fateful day I was born. This lifelong influence is
also what ultimately led to my founding of One Planet Peace Forum, and the
writing of this book, The Way of Unity: Essential Principles and
Preconditions for Peace.
There are many other life experiences that contributed
to the writing of this book too, many of which are described in my memoir. But,
on the topic of this book, all eight billion of us on this planet are needed to
take our place in any of the local community engagement initiatives to global
causes and movements. We each have our own unique role to play – and story to
tell – at this critical juncture in the ever-unfolding process of bringing
about peace on Earth.
8.
How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your
writing similar to?
This is an
interesting question. Having not really thought much about describing my
writing “style” before and having written everything from non-fiction to memoir
to poetry, I’d don’t think there is a quick and easy way to describe it. I’d
have to say that I’ve tried, through much re-writing and revising in all those
genres, to be as concise, clear, and straight-forward, to make the intended
meaning as clear and evident as possible, while also occasionally letting my
thought on a particular point be stretched to its limits. So, my style includes
both very tight, finely tuned short sentences, that are meant to move the
reader right along by taking in its meaning in a nice convenient bitesize, and
also meandering thoughts and much longer sentences that may take a few readings
to digest all that is in the extended type of sentence. This may make some
sense when I say that as a young, beginning writer, many years ago, my writer
mentors included Walt Whitman, Thoreau, and Khalil Gibran. There was more than
just what they had to say that really struck me. It was as much how they said
it. I’m still hooked by their wording of what they said.
9.
What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?
As the
twelfth book that I’ve written, I’d have to say I’m pretty familiar with most
challenges writers can encounter in writing books, so I really welcomed them
all. I would also say that the scope of this subject was quite daunting. What
was most challenging was completing and finalizing an organizational structure
that not only made sense of all the research, ideas, and concepts that needed
to be covered but also deciding on what may be okay to leave out or cut way
down on a particular concept. The challenge was finding the right balance
between what was essential to say and what could have ended up as
overkill.
10.
If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?
You don’t
have to be a peace activist to want to live a peaceful life, or to be a source
of good for others. This is the one book that gives you not only a clear vision
of the big picture of the nature of the universe, the nature of reality, and
how and why all beings are meant to live in harmony, unity, and peace, but also
how we, personally and collectively, can be a reflection of this harmony and
unity in our own lives and in relationship with all others to bring about the
long-promised universal vision of peace on Earth!
About The Author: Robert Atkinson, PhD, is an
award-winning author, educator, and developmental psychologist whose work bridges storytelling, transformation, and the
evolution of consciousness with a unitive vision. His latest book, The Way of Unity: Essential
Principles and Preconditions for Peace (2025) offers a
framework and study guide for putting into action the unitive wisdom
underpinning our collective evolution. He is the author of A New Story of
Wholeness (2022), Our Moment of Choice (co-editor, 2020), Year of
Living Deeply: A Memoir of 1969 (2019), The
Story of Our Time (2017), The Gift of Stories (1995), and six other books. He
is director of StoryCommons, founder of One Planet Peace Forum, and member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle. For more info, please see:
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For
the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He
formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the
head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the
director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many
first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with
best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen,
Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard,
Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C.
Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.
His
writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s
The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs
He
hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and
has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah
Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association,
Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and
Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the
2024 IBPA Book Awards.
His
letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal,
USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester)
and The Washington Post. His first published book was The
Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook. It
was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.
Born
and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids,
and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.
You
can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum
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