Subtle Activism: The Inner Dimension of Social and Planetary Transformation

by David Nicol

Explores whether consciousness-based practices like meditation and prayer can contribute to social change.

Genres: Spirituality, Psychology, Activism

246 pages, Hardcover

First published August 26, 2015

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not my "cup of tea." My book group will be discussing it soon, so I gave it a good try, reading about 2/3 of it. Because this is not a readily available book, my excuse for stopping was that I had to pass the copy along to another reader. To be truthful, I didn't care much about finishing it. The focus of the book is that when many people, at the same time, meditate/be thoughtful about a concern of wide importance, change can be brought about. This is too simplistic a summary, of course. The author presents scientific evidence that this can and does happen. It is rather fuzzy science. I am too much of a skeptic about this to be persuaded. The writing style is not easy to read, for me anyway. Long, complicated sentences make the reading dense for me. Subtle activism is too subtle for me.

[Elizabeth Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the good fortune to write a positive review of this book for David as it was just coming out, that was published in both Kosmos journal online and Archai journal in print. The book is well-researched and full of fascinating facts that will give pause to hard-posed materialists about cause and effect. Its shortcoming is its "New Age" focus, i.e. he writes extensively about the positive effects of meditation, but not traditional prayer. However, the gap gives room for other researchers interested in the same topic of supra-material cause and effect.

My original review: https://www.kosmosjournal.org/news/bo...