Book Description

Our planet is engaged in a struggle for survival, as critical issues impact it in alarming ways. The earth's ecological breakdown is outpacing our efforts to save it. The warming of the atmosphere caused sea levels to rise and submerge Venice, Italy in 2019. The food supplies we grow do not sustain us, and three-quarters of the world suffers from malnutrition, starvation, or lack of a potable water supply. Familiar species are decimated to extinction, or to the verge of it. The threat of nuclear war has increased to the extent that the Doomsday Clock has reached 100 seconds to midnight. Civil liberties are eroding worldwide, as authoritarian states impose brutality and increased restrictions on them. The world unites in a crescendo of protests over often deadly policing policies that affect people of color and peaceful activists. Those who disclose their gender identity are often faced with violence and intolerance. This book is written for a global audience that is caught up in a powerful indisposition to change, and for a planet in crisis. Its goal is to promote world peace, social justice, and restoration of Earth's natural habitats. These ideals are achievable by elevating our global consciousness through a world of healed individuals. The prayers in Prayer Book for Our Planet emphasize healing of self, and embody classical principles of recovery. They juxtapose divisive rhetoric and prejudice with world communal gardening, global peace and prosperity. Watson calls upon IBM's supercomputer by that name to solve world hunger, homelessness and disease for 820 million people by 2025. The prayers attack Earth's environmental and societal ills at their root causes, and offer reasonable solutions to them. The message they convey is that God created and sustains the universe, and that He must occupy a central place in our lives for personal and planetary healing to occur. Prayer Book establishes God's presence among us in a venerable way. We know that through the persistent efforts of an inspired few, much good has been done in the world. I hope to inspire many others to action. The prayers are interspersed with scriptural tenets and secular quotes, from Darwin to Gandhi, Aristotle to Shakespeare, and the Book of Genesis to Albert Schweitzer. The wisdom of spiritual leaders including Jesus Christ, St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis, and the Dalai Lama, is echoed in the book. The mission of Prayer Book for Our Planet is to generate a world of committed individuals that embody a new spiritual awareness, one that promotes world peace, ecological restoration, and equality of mankind.