Future of Western Civilization

Melanie Mortiboys interviews Dr Nicholas Beecroft on his series of interviews with visionary leaders exploring the Future of Western Civilization. Dr Nicholas Beecroft, a Military and Organizational Psychiatrist, has spent 25 years exploring the worlds of Medicine, Psychiatry, Business, International Relations and the Military. In this Series, he interviews visionary leaders to discover their inspiring, positive and practical visions for the future and challenges them with incisive questions including:

Who are we?

Where are we going?

How can we survive and thrive in this complex and competitive world?

How can we boost our cultural confidence?

Can we be patriotic, open, diverse and global at the same time?

How do we harness capitalism to get what we really want?

How do we remain free and safe whilst Islam undergoes its global awakening?

Can politics integrate the best of all shades of opinion?

How do we create Heaven on Earth?

What can our culture learn from the science of fields, energy and consciousness?

How do we make the welfare state fair to taxpayers and empowering to recipients?

How should we combine wisdom with science?

What’s unique about the West?

Is the West still best?

Can we agree upon a shared language for God, life and spirit?

How do we adapt to the rise of the East and South?

How do we preserve and renew democracy and freedom?

How do we re-legitimize the judgement of right and wrong, good and bad as the foundation of autonomy, freedom and authority?

How can we heal the wounds of our history so as to empower our present?

What is the Master Code of natural design, our psychological and cultural DNA?

What do the generational cycles of the past predict about the future?

Can Christianity rise to the challenge of materialism, secularism and Islam?

How are young Germans rediscovering healthy patriotism?

How do we bring compassion and healing back into medicine?

How do we escape the recession?

Which innovations in finance will transform our culture?

Melanie Mortiboys is a writer, artist, Pilates teacher, Bowen therapist, mother and Nicholas’ girlfriend. She has been a key catalyst of the Future of Western Civilization behind the scenes, offering her wisdom, support, encouragement and judgement throughout. She studied Drama, Film and Television at Bristol University and has since explored the world of personal development, psychology and health. She is currently working on her first novel.

“You’re not as crazy as I thought. (but you’re still wrong) Conversations between a Devoted Conservative and a Die-Hard Liberal” by Phil Neisser & Jacob Hess is an inspiring attempt by its authors to show how we can move beyond the energy sapping conflict between left and right, conservative and liberal and other political polarities. They demonstrate that at the very least it’s possible for liberals and conservatives to come to a position of mutual understanding and respect. They show that it is possible for us to integrate the best, the healthy strands of different political dimensions into an integrated whole.

Phil describes himself as a leftist and a liberal (in the American sense of the word) and Jacob is a Christian Conservative and proud Mormon. They had both grown tired of the culture wars in which the left and right have become ever more polarised, sometimes to the degree of mutual hatred and always to the detriment of America. Similar processes are found around the world. They set about the disciplined process of identifying the many subjects about which they had strongly opposing views and, one by one, they patiently listened to one another until they fully understood each other’s positions.

The subject which they found most contentious was the case for gay marriage. We took that as a case example in which each set out their view and then described the process they went through. In fact, as the interviewer, I had quite a hard job to try to stimulate any tension, emotional triggers or conflict as a way of demonstrating their positions and polarity original. This is because they’ve done such a good job of working through the issue that they can now very comfortably discuss it in a very mature, reasoned, nuanced way in which they fully respect the position of the other. They could even see some ways forward on the subject which may offer breakthrough.

I invited them to explore the challenges faced by the West, particularly Europe, as a result of high levels of immigration of Muslims at a time when Islam is going through a very turbulent phase of its adaptation to the modern world.  As a Mormon, Jacob is a member of a religious minority which is quite traditional and conservative, yet successful as living as prosperous, democratic, patriotic Americans. I asked him whether there were any lessons for Muslims in Europe as to how best to make a success of integrating into Western society without compromising their religion and values.  He said that Mormons had suffered a great deal of persecution both historically and currently and he felt that Christians and Mormons in particular have a lot in common with Muslims. If anything, he felt that globally that the fault line was not between Christians and Muslims but rather between religious people and secular people. He felt that one of the key things in enabling successful integration is to see the humanity in the person and group with which one does not agree. He gave examples of that and showed how it had softened his position on many subjects whilst still remaining true to himself and his beliefs.

I asked Phil to say how he navigates between being open,  tolerant and accepting of diversity whilst also being willing to assert some values as better than others. He draws the line at the use of coercion and violence. He believes that people should be free to live as they choose including living according to their religious beliefs but that they should not be permitted to impose those upon others. We discussed the reluctance of some of us to assert our values for fear of being accused of being racist, Islamophobic or similar.

Jacob described how he, as a Mormon, has learned to have great self-confidence in asserting his beliefs as the truth. He spent 2 years traveling around Brazil knocking on doors to share his truth. He believes that everybody should be confident to do that as well as also being free to d...

Helen Titchen Beeth is an evolutionary leader operating at the heart of Europe as a linguist and change consultant in the European Union Commission headquarters in Brussels. She is a committed European and describes herself as a student and practitioner of individual and collective evolutionary living. In practice this means that she has been learning and experimenting with ways of introducing and scaling up practices that can unleash collective intelligence in large organisations. She is part of a community called Dorpsstraat which is itself an experiment in evolutionary living. Helen describes herself as a committed European but after many years at the heart of EU institutions, she is very much a realist about the major challenges faced by the European institutions.

She believes that an old world is dying and a new one is emerging. Many of the problems we are experiencing are the death throes of old ways of being, as she puts it, rather like a rooster still running round even though its head has been cut off. We are far from having a new civilisation up and running into which we can leap but there are plenty of people experimenting and innovating.

Europe is much more than its formal institutions. Europe is its land, its people, the communities, the culture, the identities and its deep consciousness. Whilst Helen is very comfortable in many places around the world, she feels fully at home in Europe. At the same time she is both a European, very British and someone who lives on the earth. She believes that our European institutions have done their best to paper over the cracks of past conflict but there remain under the surface deep attachments to our national identities, many shadow parts and unhealed wounds.

Helen believes that the European experiment in transnational integration as an arena with potential for inventing, discovering and testing patterns that can offer humanity valuable guidance on its road to becoming a sustainable, global society. However she doesn’t wear any rose tinted spectacles and is fully aware that the whole system may well unravel and take us to a dark place. In personal terms, she walks her talk. She is investing her time and money into building a sustainable community called Dorpsstraat.

However, everything mentioned so far is superficial. Helen senses something much deeper is going on. She believes that there is a deep shift from the Piscean age to the Aquarian age- a change deep in the structure of the consciousness of our cosmos which shapes both the physical, mental and consciousness structures which we are experiencing. She senses that this is moving to a much more interconnected and flowful state. She observes that many of the structures and institutions which are currently in trouble are those based on an old parent-child model of interaction and those which are emerging tend to take self organising and peer-to-peer forms.

One of the deep shifts which she senses is the re-emergence and re-assertion of the deep feminine within us particularly, of course, in women. She doesn’t subscribe to the idea that women have somehow been passive victims in the suppression of the feminine in the last centuries. She believes that women need to show up fully in their deep feminine power and lead rather than try to occupy the space of masculine power, leaving men nowhere to go. As a mother of 2, she observes that her children are experiencing a world very far from that which she grew up in. They are exposed to hugely more influences, potential ideas, role models and opportunities. She leaves the question open as to whether or not they have leapfrogged the egocentric and ethnocentric levels of development into the world-centric level and whether or not they will miss not having a stronger, more deeply rooted national identity. She finds her children provide a mirror for her, often challenging and a source of growth.

Peter Merry is an evolutionary leader who operates at the evolutionary edge of our civilisation. He has spent many years facilitating and leading change in a variety of organisations including traditional corporates and leading-edge transitional organisations. He has been pioneering the practical application of energetics and wisdom including the new technique of systemic energy tuning.  In this interview with Dr Nicholas Beecroft, Peter lays out his big picture vision for the state that were in, the painful death of an old civilisation, and the parallel emergence of a new one. He believes that we are best off if we put our energy fully into the creation and experimental emergence of this new civilisation. There is no guarantee of a positive outcome but there are enough signs of evolutionary change to be optimistic.

Peter strongly believes in the theory of Spiral Dynamics Integral which says that people will exhibit the values system appropriate to their own developmental stage, adapted to the life conditions in which they find themselves. At the leading edge, people are beginning to understand that we are truly connected as one whole living system which includes the Earth itself. Peter says that by making this perceptual shift we more easily understand the feedback which the Earth is giving us through, for example, climate change so as to enable us to live more in tune with life itself.

He believes that there is going to be a rebalancing of consciousness towards a more natural order with healthy, conscious expressions of masculinity and femininity, healthy hierarchies, healthy boundaries within an increasingly self organising living system.  By this, he does not mean a reactionary, traditionalist revival but rather a deeper tuning in to a true nature, fully lined with the underlying natural order. A more enlightened approach to science which integrates wisdom, intuition and complexity is going to be essential in that endeavour. Peter describes how we can integrate the shadow, dark parts of our consciousness as individuals and as a whole in order to liberate our full potential.

Peter describes how he uses the technique of systemic energy tuning to work with organisations to maximise the potential through aligning closely with life force and nature. He discusses how that might be applied to harness capitalism for good. Our  world has become so complex that to take a mechanical, problem-solving, reductionist approach becomes ever more complex and difficult. He believes that, amongst others, this technique is part of the simplicity on the other side of complexity.

Peter gives his view on the healthy integration of the fast-growing Islamic population in the Netherlands. He does not agree with the ethnocentric solutions offered by Geert Wilders and other “right wing” politicians. However he believes that they provide a useful service in bringing the attention of the previously complacent post-modern political elite to the need for Holland to have a healthy identity, strong structures and conscious, world-centric strategies to make a success out of immigration whilst defending democracy, freedom and pluralism. He is optimistic that the Netherlands will provide a positive role model for other countries in this respect.

Visit Peter’s Website

Discover the world of Peter Merry – the human being, author, speaker, global activist, leader, consultant, trainer, synnervator, human ecologist, father, folk singer, theatre director, rugby trainer, husband, energy worker…

Peter wears a number of hats. In his essence, he morphs to fit the need that he feels he is being called to meet in the world today. In that context, the roles he currently plays include:

* the founder and Chair of the Center for Human Emergence, Netherlands, formed in 2005 to facilitate the Netherlands through the current transiti...

Mark Walsh is an expert on embodiment. He trains people globally on integrating their bodies into their leadership and way of life. He has done this with people across a whole range of settings from Western corporate life through to the slums of Brazil, and HIV awareness charity in East Africa and conflict resolution on the Middle East with the United Nations.

Mark believes that Western civilisation is disembodied. By that, he means that we tend to live in our heads as if our bodies were a taxi to carry around our brain. We do not have a body, we are a body. He says that really matters because being fully integrated with our body is essential for optimal health, happiness, empathy, judgement, decision-making and a successful civilisation. He traces the process of disembodied and through our history and describes how a baby, which is instinctively embodied, grows up in a world which educates it to become disembodied.

In this interview we discuss many examples of how increasing our connection with our bodies could bring substantial benefits to our way of life with some surprising examples including the financial system, medicine, education, inner-city gangs, wisdom and intuition.

Mark describes his experience of training leaders to become more embodied and how that yields benefits space for the individual and their organisation. He suggests ways in which we can stay in touch with our bodies even when spending hours at a desk or in front of the computer. He talks through the wide range of different practices from martial arts to dancing and simple breathing exercises which one can choose to increase the level of embodiment.

He gives some cross-cultural examples from his experience around the world of cultures which are much more embodied than ours and from which we could learn.

Mark gives some tips on how to use one’s body whilst making judgements and taking decisions.

If you would like to check out Mark’s work, then take a look at the websites below:

Leadership Training

Integration Training on YouTube

Follow Mark on Twitter

Embodied Operating System

Living Embodiment Conference

Mark Walsh’s bio:

Mark Walsh has dedicated his life to studying embodied training.

His experience and qualifications include:

* Bsc (Hons) Psychology (Leeds University)

* Extensive training and facilitation experience with large and small organisations in the UK and abroad, e.g. Virgin Atlantic (Sussex), Harrow Primary Care Trust (NHS London), The Institute of Development Studies (University of Sussex, Brighton) and Liberty Global (international telecoms blue-chip).

* Three years organising projects, training and conferences for the international organisation Aiki Extensions Inc. This included leadership training, stress management and conflict resolution work in the Middle East alongside the UN, in the slums of Brazil and with an HIV awareness charity in East Africa

* 15 years of aikido training and teaching on five continents and an internationally recognised black belt

* Residential training in Somatics (the study of the conscious body) and Embodied Leadership at Strozzi Institute, California, with Wendy Palmer and with Being In Movement founder Paul Linden in Ohio, USA

* Experience of training in numerous other physical systems such as yoga, tai chi, Feldenkrais, flamenco, Uzazu, tango, contact improvisation, jiu-jitsu, MMA and Five Rhythms

* Training in integral theory (Ken Wilber et al)

* Four years in the outdoor education industry, training climbing,

“Mindfulness” is becoming a fashionable buzzword. However, there’s nothing new about it. It is part of human nature itself.  Mindfulness means paying attention, with intention, to the world as it is with an attitude of equanimity. This means that one focuses one’s attention upon some of the huge array of sensations arising from within ourselves internally and as a result of our sensing the outside world. Equanimity means the attitude of neither craving pleasant sensations nor having aversion to unpleasant sensations.

To extent we have to be non-mindful in order to survive. At any time there is a vast amount of information available to us and there’s no way which we could possibly attend to it all. However, in Western civilisation we have a tendency to bias our attention towards a mind, ego, thoughts and external objects. We therefore don’t make the most of the rest of our body, our heart, gut, intuition, sensing, energetic awareness and so on. In addition, we tend to intentionally anaesthetise ourselves with television, junk food, addictions, the Internet, travel, workaholism and so on.

We are all mindful from time to time. Sometimes we are awakened by threats such as illness, accident is, threats to our physical security. We have peak experiences such as great sex, fantastic food and celebrations. Nature often brings us to be more mindful whether it be a sunset, sitting round the campfire, walking along the beach watching the  waves or playing whether child. We engineer mindful experiences on purpose such as weddings, funerals and Christmas.

There is now a lot of evidence now that mindfulness brings great benefits. For anyone who practices mindfulness, this evidence comes from the direct experience of the benefits in real life. Other evidence comes from the wisdom passed down through tradition built up over centuries or millennia such as the meditation practice in Buddhism, tai chi, Tantra and martial arts. In the last 30 years of so there’s been raft of scientific evidence of the effectiveness of mindfulness practice including mindfulness-based stress reduction which is an 8 week introductory course taught in small groups for one half day a week. This course has been shown to have profound benefits in increasing health, happiness, leadership skills, resilience, freedom, self-discipline, presence, improved eating habits, better self-mastery, reduced relapse of depression and even increased fighting ability of US Marines.

Mindfulness comes in a vast number of forms including meditations such as meditations upon the breath, body scan, heart, anger, gut, eating, sounds and visualisations. Movements can be mindful such as walking meditation, 5 rhythms dancing, martial arts and movement medicine. One can meditate upon compassion, prayer or particular intention. Energetics is mindfulness of energy and higher consciousness.  Tantra is mindfulness in the sexual and interpersonal realm. Many people use mindfulness with nature including animals such as equine facilitated learning.

Mindfulness has many clinical applications. For example, to the way in which we respond pain, anxiety, mood changes, external events and cravings have a massive impact on our clinical state. It can make all the difference between being disabled and not disabled and determine one’s quality of life.

The attached podcast is a recording of a lecture which I gave entitled “Mindfulness for Leaders and Clinicians.” in include some practical examples including breathing meditation, heart meditation, eating meditation and awareness of one’s interpersonal presence. The purpose of the lecture was to give an introduction to mindfulness to whet the appetite and to encourage people to explore for themselves.

The many links below include a huge range of different types of mindfulness practices which you can explore. Towards the bottom is a list of some of the academic research on the efficacy of mindfulness.

Joshua Gorman is the Founder and Co-Coordinator of Generation Waking Up, a global campaign to ignite a generation of young people to bring forth a thriving, just, and sustainable world. He is author of “Generation Waking Up: How A New Generation Of Young People Is Coming Of Age And Changing Our World.” He is one of the leading voices championing the paradigm-shifting role of the Millennial generation.

In this interview with Nicholas Beecroft and Hannah Mortiboys, he shares his personal story of transformation from alienation and woundedness into an inspirational leader. He shares his experience of taking thousands of young people through an empowering leadership programme which invites them to ask:

Who are we? Where have we come from? Where are we? What has to change? What do we do now?

It’s an exciting venture which is helping to reshape our shared story and empowering emerging leaders. He believes that the Millennial generation (approx 15-30 in 2012) has both some unique characteristics and also has a unique place in history, being born at the time of the first expressions of global consciousness and are coming together to rise to the many challenges which we face.

Joshua give some examples of graduates from his program who have gone on to innovate and experiment with new forms of democracy and community which he sees as part of the evolution of our culture. He believes the democracy needs to become more open and transparent. The more that people participate in decision-making, the more motivated they are to participate in the solutions.

Whilst the millennial generation are important for providing new leadership, Joshua believes that the initiatives can only succeed through cross-generational collaboration. Generation Waking Up started off in North America but has become a global network. Nevertheless, it is still weighted towards those who speak English, are educated and technologically savvy. He doesn’t think the world will change overnight but he does believe the pace of change is fast. In his work across the world, Joshua sees common threads emerging. Younger people, who are more than 50% of the global population, increasingly see themselves as both local and global in their identification.

Whilst belief systems and conditions may vary, a common thread is that emerging leaders are engaging both their hearts as well as their heads as part of the inner compass through complexity. He believes that that is fundamental to healthy outcomes. Part of the empowerment process is in healing old wounds both initial and collective which then enables people to achieve their full potential.  He gives the example of manhood and masculinity. Joshua believes that it is healthy for men to acknowledge the historical abuses of masculine power and the imbalances that that has created. He believes that we have a lot to learn from the feminine and women. He says that the healthy, empowered masculine and feminine are coming up to heal and empower one another.

Unlike some who fear a sudden collapse of the West or of American power, Joshua has a much more positive vision and understanding of where were going. He believes that America is evolving to become more leaderful, more open, more diverse and democratic and its role is in supporting and encouraging all the other countries to reach their full potential and take their place in a thriving global community in which America will remain a strong part.

If you would like to go to one of Joshua’s programs or follow his work, then visit Generation Waking Up at www.generationwakingup.org

Joshua helps to steward the work of Generation Waking Up as a whole, and is accountable for strategic planning, organizational governance, leadership & community empowerment, partnerships, Thrive Leadership & Hub program coordination, and trainings.

“I grew up in the heart of mainstream,

“Our economy indeed has the potential to transform into our vehicle, our shuttle, for reaching collective prosperity and increasing global integration.” 

Jordan MacLeod is a writer and consultant on the New Economy. He is author of New Currency: How Money Changes the World as We Know It and Founder and Partner of Cornerstone Global Associates, a Strategy Consulting firm based in London. Later this month he is leading cornerstone’s launch of a New Economics Unit focused on re-visioning and re-tooling global capitalism. Jordan is also founder and CEO of a startup software company, Strue. In this interview, Jordan puts the current economic crisis in the much bigger context of the evolution of money and financial systems throughout human history. He traces the development of money from the tribal age of barter through to the present digital age where money has been dematerialised. Jordan doesn’t claim to have a single blueprint for the future rather he has been scanning the horizon to see the evidence of our cultural evolution in action. He gives numerous examples of experimentation with new forms of currency and economic system. He gives particular focus to experiments with a method called demurrage which he believes could eliminate our compulsion for exponential growth and shift our focus towards a more co-creative and integrated society.  Jordan doesn’t believe that money or  capitalism are intrinsically bad, but rather our challenge is to revalue and reorganise the way we define money in a way which reflects our current and emerging values.  He envisions what a more self organising living system model of finance would look like and discusses the transition from the current system which would inevitably challenge existing power structures and vested interests. It could well be that the current global dominance of the US dollar may give way to a geopolitical shift to a Chinese-based currency or indeed a basket of multipolar currencies. Jordan thinks that it is more likely  that there will be some kind of bottom-up evolution of a new global currency which will better reflect the distribution of power more broadly around the globe.  He believes that this evolution of a more adaptive financial system is going to be a prime driver of our future security and way of life. He believes that the welfare system is based on entitlement in some Western countries are likely to collapse under their own weight and be replaced with something more empowering and sustainable.

Visit Jordan’s blog “New Currency”

Visit Cornerstone Global Associates

Dr Robin Youngson is an inspiring visionary and catalyst for truly compassionate, holistic, mindful and healing healthcare. Through opening himself and his own personal journey to others, he touches the heart of patients, healthcare professionals and hospital managers. As founder of Hearts in Healthcare and author of “TIME TO CARE – How to love your patients and your job” he is a powerful advocate for the transformation of healthcare.

In this interview, he draws on his frustrating experience of trying to get proper care for his daughter who had been seriously injured and admitted to hospital for 100 days. Within a few hours he went from being a senior doctor, a powerful person in the hospital system, to a disempowered advocate for good care. He describes his own journey from doctor as technician to doctor as a mindful, healer and compassionate human being.

Robin shares some of the evidence for holistic, compassionate healthcare and gives examples of where this is already happening. He discusses how he benefitted from taking a mindful approach to his own thoughts, feelings and behaviours and how that radically transformed the healthcare experience for his patients, colleagues and himself. He talks about burnout and cynicism in medical staff. He shares his challenges in trying to reform the healthcare system. He has realized after 15 years of trying that there is no point in trying to persuade people or systems to practice compassionate healthcare. Instead, he has founded a global network of early adopters, passionate advocates and practitioners of caring, healing, holistic healthcare called Hearts in Healthcare. The network enables the sharing of powerful inspiring stories, of good evidence, of techniques that work and experience in transformational change.

Read “Time to Care- How to love your patients and your job”

Visit Hearts in Healthcare 

Dr Robin Youngson

Robin is an anaesthetic specialist in New Zealand who is devoted to strengthening caring and compassion in healthcare. He is the founder of HEARTSinHEALTHCARE.com, a global social movement for health professionals, students, patient activists and all those passionate about re-humanising healthcare.

Robin was a founding member of the national Quality Improvement Committee in New Zealand and was the NZ representative on the WHO International Steering Committee for Patient Safety Solutions. He also helped launch the WHO strategy for “People at the Centre of Healthcare” in 2007. He is an honorary senior lecturer at Auckland University and is the author of the newly published book “TIME TO CARE – How to love your patients and your job”

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali is one of the leading figures in the Church of England. He was the 106th Bishop of Rochester, for 15 years which made him the first non-white Diocesan Bishop in the Church of England. Prior to that he had been Bishop of Raiwind in Pakistan, his country of origin where he had a both Christian and Muslim family background. In 1999 he was elevated to the House of Lords. He has a prodigious academic record with much research into the role of Christianity in a pluralistic world, Christian-Muslim relations and on the teaching of Christianity in the modern world. Now he is President of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue. He courageously supports Christian leadership in many parts of the world where Christians suffer persecution.

Bishop MIchael really understands the state we are in the Civilisational challenges we face and has the courage to speak the truth in the face of strong social pressure to stick to the Politically Correct hymn sheet.

In this interview, Bishop Michael addresses the State of Western Civilisation; it’s strengths; what’s working really well; the challenges we face.

He describes his positive vision for the future- his version of heaven on earth. He believes that we need a spiritual foundation for life and that we are living on past spiritual capital and that Christianity is essential to start regenerating that spiritual capital.

Bishop Michael says what he thinks of being spiritual but not religious- whether or not that is an evolutionary step towards towards a global post-Ethnic pure form of spirituality without cultural and historical baggage. Could it be that the C of E is the first post postmodern religion which provides a lead for the others in recognizing their common path and accommodating all- the first post-postmodern, Integral, Global religion? He sets out his conditions for that to be possible.

He says we need a shared story of who we are, what we believe, our values and history. He tells his version of that story and his own identity. He celebrates the strengths of Britain and talks about how he personally views the history of the British Empire and how we relate to that today. Clearly he sees Christianity as absolutely the central pillar of our history, identity, culture and values.

Bishop MIchael comments upon the muted Western reaction to the persecution of Christians around the world. Why do the Western Elites turn a blind eye?

How do we defend our freedoms, democracy and way of life from those who want to force their authoritarian and absolutist way upon us at a time when the pseudoliberal elite have made it at least taboo if not illegal to engage in debate and assert that Western or British values are better and in any case are our own right in our own country?

What’s needed to sort out gang violence and social decay? How do we restore the healthy authority of a parent, teacher, policeman, doctor etc?

Visit Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali’s Website

Bio

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali was the 106th Bishop of Rochester, for 15 years, until 1 September 2009. He is originally from Asia and was the first non-white Diocesan Bishop in the Church of England. He was appointed in 1994. Before that he was the General Secretary of CMS from 1989-1994 and prior to holding this position was Bishop of Raiwind in Pakistan. He holds both British and Pakistani citizenship and from 1999 was a member of the House of Lords where he was active in a number of areas of national and international concern. He has both a Christian and a Muslim family background and is now President of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue (OXTRAD).

Michael’s secondary education was in Pakistan. He read Economics, Sociology and Islamic History at the University of Karachi, and Theology at Fitzwilliam College and Ridley Hall,...