John, Lord Alderdice FRCPsych
Every so often our global community finds itself in an existential crisis. The inevitable violence accompanying such crises reflects the challenges to accepted ways of thinking and ‘being in the world’ of our different communities. Five hundred years after the Reformation shook up Christendom we are slipping into the Third Global Conflict. What were progressive ways of thinking are unpersuasive in a way not experienced since the emergence of the Enlightenment. In the midst of our profound anxiety we should remember that it is not during periods of stability that we make great leaps to new ways of understanding and relating, but rather as a result of just such crises. This is the spirit that is necessary for a humanity that can survive and thrive.