The Art of Haiku and the Soul of Peacebuilding

This talk rich in poems and stories spans seemingly far-flung topics — haiku, conflict transformation theory, the nature and uses of beauty — with an integral logic that renders them resoundingly mutually relevant. John Paul says the heart of both haiku and peacebuilding is to find simplicity on the far side of complexity: the essence. Great haiku are so rare because they put us in touch with the fullness of human experience in its simplest forms: so accessible, yet vastly revealing; riveting us in immediacy and transporting us. They also, like peacebuilding, take great force and insight from the margins — the likely unnoticed — and so both disciplines ask an unspecific openness and readiness.