A Manifesto

All caregivers are called upon to recognize both the pain and beauty in this world and to help move society towards an “Ideal City”. Beauty is the aesthetic by which healers can care for their patients.

The book proclaims three manifestos for healing:

•Healing a Violent World. Healers of every type are called on to reduce the pain of human suffering by working towards a non-violent, empathetic world.
•Healing the Healer. Those who give care to the suffering patient in turn suffer themselves, and this manifesto asks that healers recognize their vulnerability, and to engage in conversation to help them towards diminishing the pain that they feel.
•Healing Power of Justice. Justice needs to be recognized as the pathway to healing. Justice is a powerful force for human and social transformation and its pursuit is both intense and often tragic.

These three manifestos, together with the sentiments of poetry that intersperses them, are published here to awaken your sense of healing.

This book is published in partnership with the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma (HPRT) which has pioneered the health and mental health of survivors of mass violence and torture, refugees, and traumatized communities worldwide over the past four decades.