Sovaida Ma'ani Ewing, The Alchemy of Peace

My passion for correlating the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith with the urgent needs of our planet was born when, as a teenager, I first came across this quote by Bahá’u’lláh: “Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.” I was so inspired by it that I decided to adopt the quote as the guiding principle of my life. Thus began a wondrous journey of simultaneously educating myself about the global challenges of our times and the guidance offered in the Bahá’í Writings. My purpose through these intervening years has been to find practical ways of applying the vision and framework offered by the Baha’i Writings to solving our global challenges including climate change, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, migration, financial crises, and genocide to name but a few. As a result of intensive research, I have developed a methodology grounded in the Bahá’í Writings of proposing a set of shared global ethics that nations can agree upon and demonstrating how we can apply them methodically to find practical and politically palatable solutions to our global problems. My work has further explored the next steps we can take to build collective decision-making and enforcement institutions as we work to create a new system of global governance along the lines envisioned by Bahá’u’lláh. These institutions are designed to be fit for the 21st century and beyond, and must be grounded in the system of shared global ethics that we agree upon. My work over the years has resulted in the publication of four books in the area of global governance and invitations to speak to audiences around the world with an increasing focus on university students. I have also developed and offered 5-day courses to equip university students and young adults with the mindset and tools to tackle our pressing global crises. In addition to my blog, I am currently developing a series of videos which I hope to have available on my website (www.cpgg.org) by the end of this year (2019). I have coached and mentored many students; engaging in meaningful dialogues with them has been the highlight of my work. While they are bright and engaged and completely vested in solving the looming global challenges they will inherit, they are not yet tainted with the cynicism and apathy that seems to have overtaken my generation. The future of our world will be determined by who they become and what they choose to do. Listen to Sovaida’s interview with Rainn Wilson on ‘Bahá’í Blogcast' Listen to Sovaida’s interview on ‘A Bahá’í Perspective’ podcastSee Faculty Bio