The Worldwide Legacy of FRANK BUCHMAN Compiled by Archie Mackenzie & David Young CAUX BOOKS INITIATIVES OF CHANGE First published 2008 by Caux Books rue de Panorama, 1824, Caux, Switzerland; www.caux.ch and Initiatives of Change 24 Greencoat Place, London SW1P 1RD; www.iofc.org © Caux Books ISBN 2-88037-517-7 978-2-88037-517-1 Cover design by John Munro Typesetting and text design in 10.5 Sabon by Blair Cummock Printed by Biddles, King’s Lynn, Norfolk ii Contents Foreword Archie Mackenzie & David Young 7 Introduction Archie Mackenzie 9 1. How Caux began 38 Pierre Spoerri 2. France and the Expansion of Buchman’s Faith 51 Michel Sentis 3. A German Veteran remembers 65 Hansjörg Gareis 4. Hidden ingredients of Japan’s post-war Miracle 81 Fujiko Hara for Yukika Sohma 5. Human Torpedo turns Creative Consultant 87 Hideo Nakajima 6. Seeds of Change for Africa 98 Peter Hannon, Suzan Burrell, Amina Dikedi-Ajakaiye & Ray Purdy 7. Frank Buchman’s legacy in French-speaking Africa 120 Frédéric Chavanne 8. Political Dynamite in Australia 135 Mike Brown & John Bond 9. India’s Journey towards New Governance 148 V C Viswanathan 10. Ordinary Brazilians doing Extraordinary things 167 Luis Puig iii 11. Buchman’s Inspired Ideology for America 174 Jarvis Harriman, Bob Webb & Dick Ruffin 12. Clean Elections – Target for Taiwan 198 Ren-Jou Liu & Brian Lightowler 13. Frank Buchman and the Muslim World 206 Imam Abduljalil Sajid 14. Action emerges from Silence – a Russian view 219 Grigory Pomerants 15. Industry’s Forgotten Factor 229 Alec Porter with Jens Wilhelmsen, Maarten de Pous & Miles Paine 16. The Economics of Unselfishness 256 Pat Evans 17. The Media, Heralds of Hope 271 Bill Porter 18. Youth looks Back – and Forward 281 Rob Lancaster, Chris James, Bhavesh Patel, Joanna Margueritte, Yeon Yuk Jeong & Ann Njeri 19. Reconciliation comes from Change 302 Pierre Spoerri Index 313 iv Foreword he year 2008 is a significant one for Moral Re-Arma- Tment, now Initiatives of Change. It marks the 100th anniversary of Frank Buchman’s formative spiritual experience at Keswick in northern England; the 70th anniversary of the public launching of MRA in London and the holding of an important gathering at Visby in Sweden which marked a changing of gears in Buchman’s work prior to the outbreak of World War 2; and the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Asian conference centre at Panchgani in western India. Each of these events will doubtless be suitably remem- bered by different groups of people: but 2008 also seems an appropriate moment to attempt a general re-appraisal of Buchman’s life and work as seen from the perspective of the 21st century. Hopefully this will be of interest to the younger gener- ation who are now assuming positions of responsibility in Initiatives of Change but who never knew Frank Buch- man. And hopefully also, it will recall to some of the older generation adventurous chapters in their earlier lives. What follows, however, is written no less for those who may be learning about Frank Buchman for the first time. Archie Mackenzie & David Young 5 6 Introduction by Archie Mackenzie OT long ago someone in his twenties asked me: N‘Why is Frank Buchman important?’ It was not a sceptical question. Yet it betrayed a puzzlement that was not wholly surprising given that Frank Buchman died nearly fifty years ago and would be 130 if he were still alive today. I then recalled that by a curious coincidence I had been asked exactly the same question 50 years ago in London when I was working in the British Foreign Office. I also recalled that I had given a three-part answer and I now suddenly realised that I could – and would – give the same answer today. I said: first, because he diagnosed the real roots of the world’s current problems years before most other public figures; second, because he faced the consequences in his own life; and third, because he built up a world network of people just as committed as he was to living out an answer as he saw it. What was he really like? This can be analysed in detail. But my young interlocutor might have interrupted to say: ‘But what was Frank Buch- man really like?’ In this case I would have replied on the following lines. 7 THE WORLDWIDE LEGACY OF FRANK BUCHMAN Frank Buchman’s chief characteristic was his spon- taneity and warmth. He loved company and he regularly moved around with a team of people. He was no lone- ranger: nor a monstre sacré, as the French call celebrities who hog the limelight. There was a sparkle about him. It came from the way he lived. There was no bluffing. He would laugh uproariously when something amused him: but he would also keep silent for long periods as if listening to music of which other people were scarcely aware. He was skilled at reading people, discerning motives. He told one politician: ‘Mr Prime Minister, you need to learn to read people like a page of print.’ Later events proved that Buchman’s advice was well-grounded when the PM was ousted by a military coup. He had an enormous range of friendships – from roy- alty to radicals, young and old, people of all colours. And he kept his friendships despite the attempts of ill-wishers to dislodge them. He showed himself extremely sensitive to the well- being and needs of his co-workers. He loved to include them at the best seats at notable public events. Yet he was never lavish with money. His traditional birthday gift, both to women and men, was one quality handkerchief, and he used to buy them by the score, often in Switzer- land. He could be a stern boss, because of his high standards, but he was also a forgiving one. One of his assistants said: ‘Life around here is like a mixture of Christmas morning and Judgement Day.’ He was a man of faith who deeply believed that God would guide people who listened and were ready to obey. But his faith was not exclusive or combative. He would have endorsed what Mother Teresa said: ‘What we are all 8 INTRODUCTION trying to do by our work is to come closer to God. We become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are, and by being better we become closer and closer to Him. What approach would I use? For me naturally it would be a Catholic. For you it might be Hindu, for someone else Buddhist, according to one’s conscience. But I cannot prevent myself from giving what I have.’ If he were still alive today, Buchman would doubtless have moved with the times; but he would not have been shaken from his own roots. One could dissect Buchman’s character, hunting for flaws. But it would seem more profitable to look at him objectively to find things we might learn for the difficul- ties we face today. The fact is that most of us who are associated with Ini- tiatives of Change today would not be where we are but for Frank Buchman. * * * * * THE world of the 1950s, when I was first questioned about Frank Buchman, was, of course, different in count- less ways from our 21st century world with its screaming headlines on Darfur, suicide bombings, Guantanamo Bay, etc. Yet a moment’s reflection reveals that at rock-bottom there are many similarities and Frank Buchman spe- cialised in dealing with rock-bottom problems. He used to say, ‘Never forget: you can plan a new world on paper, but you have got to build it out of people.’ He realised that in the 20th century perhaps more than ever before experts of all kinds were concocting paper plans for reforming society: global plans like the United Nations; 9 THE WORLDWIDE LEGACY OF FRANK BUCHMAN regional plans like the European Union; and national gov- ernmental plans to deal with economic and social problems in every independent country. But the one common factor of all these plans was the human factor. They all depended on the response of people and their motives, individually and in groups. And yet all too often the human factor was the forgotten factor. Frank Buchman did not discover the human factor, but he zeroed in on it. He did not suggest that the human factor was the only issue that had to be dealt with. For example, he was present in San Francisco in 1945 throughout the conference which drafted the United Nations Charter and followed its proceedings with inter- est. But neither then, nor later when I was working at the UN in New York, do I ever recall him dismissing or derid- ing the organisation as a mere paper plan. He was always interested in my accounts of the latest developments in the organisation – in the ups and downs in the Security Council, in the endless speechifying in the General Assembly, and in the delays and compromises in the decision-making process. But I could see that he main- tained considerable doubts about the organisation’s prospects unless there was a much more conscious recog- nition of the complications caused throughout the edifice by the human factor and a much more committed effort by member countries, even at the cost of national pride, to deal with that factor. And history has proved him right. But Buchman’s interest did not stop there. He had committed himself totally at the age of 30, from the time of his decisive spiritual experience, to doing something about the human factor, starting in his own life.