Global Sense: Awakening Our Personal Power for Democracy and World Peace (an Update of "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine)

THESE are the times that try our souls. An escalating war on terrorism scares us as much as the ominous loss of our civil liberties. Too many of us believe we are powerless to change the situation. To counter our feelings of despair, we need a realistic reason to feel hope for peace and democracy. To overcome our apathy and inspire us to take action, we need to know inside that we really can make a difference in the world.

Meeting this urgent need, Global Sense by Judah Freed updates Common Sense by Thomas Paine. Advocating practical idealism born in global thinking, Freed applies Paine's reasoning to the crisis facing us today.

With wit and compassion, international journalist Freed explains how a sense of our global interactivity, our unity in community, empowers us to change the world by changing ourselves. World peace begins with inner peace. Democracy is a personal growth issue. If we are willing to accept responsibility for our freedom, he says, we truly can stop environmental destruction, renew democracy and create peace on earth.

Global Sense follows the four-part structure and logic of Common Sense. Here's an overview:

I. Where Common Sense examined the nature of civil government, Global Sense examines the nature of mindful self rule and personal democracy. Where Common Sense exposed absurdities and perils in 18th century English democracy, Global Sense exposes absurdities and perils in 21st century American democracy.

II. Where Common Sense refuted the divine rights of kings and hereditary succession, Global Sense refutes alpha male rule and the destructive habits of generational authority addiction.

III. Where Common Sense argued againstcolonists submitting to a king on a distant island, Global Sense argues against submitting to authority addiction in the world and within ourselves.

IV. Where Common Sense offered rational hope of winning the revolutionary war for independence, Global Sense offers rational hope of winning the evolutionary drive for interdependence, changing the world one day at a time by changing how we each live, love, learn, work, play, and vote.

Judah Freed's imaginative, provocative and inspiring essay deftly weaves together philosophy, history, ecology, communication, personal growth, spirituality, and politics. The evolution revolution is here.

REVIEWS:

Global Sense calls people of the world to a vision of peace and self rule. International journalist Freed makes his case that in this time of global unrest, we the people must begin a new way of thinking and acting.

— ForeWord Magazine

Freed proposes a cultural/political Big Bang. The break-through theme of this important book is that we can have both safety and liberty. In a world distracted by authority addiction, he argues, we empower each other by empowering ourselves.

— David Wann, Affluenza (from the preface of Global Sense)

We are more convinced than ever there is a hunger for this kind of integrative global perspective. I am extremely enthusiastic about the book.

— Frances Moore Lappe, Diet For a Small Planet

The book is fascinating, and certainly useful.

— Joanne Greenberg, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Freed is accurate and faithful to Paine at every turn and I thank him for that; it is rare.

— Ken Burchell, Thomas Paine Historian

Freed's theories seem moreapplicable with the onslaught of each worldwide crisis.... Global Sense weaves together history, ethics, and the battle of the sexes into a friendly, accessible inquiry into our natural rights, liberties, and responsibilities on planet earth.

— Mark Broderick, The Compulsive Reader

For those feeling fear and anger from the war on terrorism, the loss of civil liberties and the assault on the environment, Freed empowers readers with a hopeful vision of mindful self rule and personal democracy rooted in a sense of our global unity. People can change the world by changing themselves.