About two thousand and five hundred years ago, Buddha gave to humanity the stalwartness to live and let live. About five hundred years after Buddha, Jesus showered its glory on the mount of limitless compassion and forgiveness. He was crucified. Karamchand Gandhi and others in different countries embraced the stalwartness to live and let live. Darkness refused to recognize it. New generation is armed with the instinct of aggression of Charles Darwin who presented nature red in tooth and claw.

            Concerned citizens of peace adorned with intellect and fortified with the drive for survival are struggling to correct the folly of the instinct of aggression. They see the drive of survival in the form of cooperation present also in nature. They know that sages discerned its illumination long before Charles Darwin found the law of the jungle that scorns cooperation. The humans who see beauty in diversity garner benefits. These concerned citizens of peace believe that tolerance is the reliable ship that will let them in the isle of symbiosis where every human can live in dignity, and prosper physically and mentally also in the valley of arts.

            This novel, The Coexistence, is based on the conviction that   no organism is an island in itself and multiculturalism is going to grow, solidifying the global village. The best course is to recognize multiculturalism as a way of life. No one can eliminate prejudices. The best is to recognize them. The novel argues that the older models of assimilation and homogenization should give way to multiculturalism. International groups encourage this model because it promotes peace. This model is easier to adopt for the nations where liberal democracies exist, including India and Canada.  The Coexistence is about world peace, focusing on live and let live.

            Stephen Gill, author of this novel, is an expressive voice of Canada, India and Pakistan.  He believes strongly in a democratically elected world government and peace through peaceful means. He has authored more than twenty books, including novels, literary criticism, and collections of poems, and has received recognitions.  Stephen Gill was born in Sialkot, Pakistan, where he passed his early childhood and grew in India. After teaching in Ethiopia for three years, he migrated to England before settling in Canada.

 

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Orientalia, India

 

April 2011