Publication Date:July 30, 2005 Shipping:Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Promotion:Save $10.00 when you spend $50.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout.Terms and Conditions Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
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Majmudar's Fresh SlantJanuary 6, 2006 4 out of 4 found this review helpful
By way of disclaimer, I want to declare myself as a fan of James Fowler's and his Stages of Faith work, around which Uma Majmudar structures her study of Mahatma Gandhi. Several years ago, it was my extreme good fortune to take Fowler's "Dynamics of Identity and Faith" course at Emory University, where Ms. Majmudar lectures on religion. I recall that Jim Fowler cited precious few people as exhibiting the ultimate stage of faith - Universalizing Faith (Stage 6.) As Ms. Majmudar says, these "are actively involved human beings who are willing to sacrifice themselves on the altar of truth, love, and justice." The Stage 6 characteristic that struck me the most was that such human beings could actually experience the world as one universal neighborhood, with no religious, racial, ethnic, national, gender, or tribal divisions whatsoever. Like many others, I'm distressed that our world seems to be going in the opposite direction, fueled by fundamentalism, nationalism and evangelism.
When pressed for examples of people with Universalizing faith, Fowler pointed to Gandhi and only a couple of others. It wasn't until meeting Ms. Majmudar and reading her book that I began to understand why. She did prodigious research and then a superb job of correlating Gandhi's personal development to Fowler's stages of faith. Of course, Gandhi progressed across this spectrum at a very accelerated rate relative to the vast majority of mortals. This book helps us understand that Gandhi's superhuman discipline and personal courage propelled him on that path. By the end of his life, he was able to "submerge his ego-self into God," and Ms. Majmudar sufficiently documented how for the reader.
Many of us long for Gandhi-like government leaders who are able to transcend the limitations of their political parties and other constituencies for the sake of the greater good. He did not set out to be a world-class leader with a lasting legacy. If he had, he likely would not have generated such remarkable change in India. As the author finally observes: "Gandhi's true greatness lay more in his inner conquests than in his outer political victories."
Gandhi was able to truly live into his own adage to "be the change you want to see in the world," repeatedly risking his life. Such personal sacrifice seems like an archaic notion. Still, the optimist in me finished this book dearly hoping that other true leaders will appear. And Gandhi's life challenged me to strive for my "highest self" to dominate my weak self some of the time so as to be some small part of the change I want to see in the world.
