Hidden Footprints of Unity : beyond tribalism and towards a new Australian identity
This is the third of my efforts to meet the obligation I had accepted to contribute to cultural bridge-building. This book is about the inter-connectedness of mankind. It has 2 threads – the relationships between the ethnic communities in Australia; and their respective searches for God, with some peering into the Void of the Cosmos. I ride my spiritual horse to extol my ideal – the Aussie Family of Man. I find a basic or core commonality in the major religions when dogma is divested; and express the hope of a revised national identity, with new national icons identified by immigrants as well. After all, immigrants too had helped to re-shape Australia into the relatively tolerant cosmopolitan polity that it now is.
Again, the endorsements were gratifying, especially the one from the Religious Affairs Editor of ‘The Australian.’ See www.dragonraj.com. This book was also Recommended by the US Review of Books. I have dedicated this book to ‘my grandchildren – who know not the boundaries of culture or see any skin colour.’
A manuscript appraiser said this: “What a beautiful mind! Hidden Footprints of Unity is a substantial work from an intelligent and spiritually perceptive man. Arasa has skilfully navigated his way through a vast array of subjects: the ‘strange sensitivity to skin colour … the search for the Divine … the desire by some to peer into the Void … the issue of a divisive tribalism, and the imperatives of an evolving new Australian identity.’… an eminently readable memoir, uplifting, provocative and well written .”
James Murray (when Religious Affairs Editor of The Australian) said: “I find the concepts in Hidden Footprints of Unity most appealing, coming as they do from an agile mind which has managed to embrace cultures usually seen as competitive, or even enemies. This book should prove a precious contribution to mutual understanding.”
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 