James George (September 14, 1918 – February 7, 2020) was a Canadian diplomat, political and environmental activist, author, and "spiritual seeker."[1] A founder of the Threshold Foundation and president of the Sadat Peace Foundation, he led the Friends of the Earth international mission[2] to Kuwait and the Persian Gulf to assess post-war environmental damage.[3]
George served in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War II, attaining to the rank of Lt. Commander, following which he represented Canada at the United Nations. Between 1955 and 1957 he was deputy director at the Intelligence division at the External affairs in Ottawa. He was later the Canadian deputy permanent representative at NATO in Paris from 1957 and 1960.[5] Another Canadian working at the same time at NATO was Hugh Hambleton, later revealed to have been working as a spy for the Soviet Union.
Retiring from diplomatic service in 1977, George turned his attention to ecological and spiritual issues full time. While directing Threshold Foundation he helped to found in London (1978–82), he played a leading role in the adoption by the International Whaling Commission of a moratorium on high seas whaling and to ban all whaling in the Indian Ocean and the Antarctic.[4] In 1984, he co-founded the Anwar Sadat Peace Foundation to promote peace in the Middle East, and the following year was a founder of the Rainforest Action Network.[5] More recently, he has worked to develop wind power resources in British Columbia, and has been helping to develop new technology to make the desalination of seawater more affordable.[4]
His publisher's bio describes George as "first and foremost a spiritual seeker."[9] During his years of diplomatic service, he met numerous spiritual thinking and teachers, including Krishnamurti, Thomas Merton, Yogaswami of Sri Lanka, Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Dudjom Rinpoche, and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Across six decades he has been a devoted practitioner of the Gurdjieff Work, and was a close disciple of the late Madame de Salzmann, G.I. Gurdjieff's primary student.[9] In 1968, he wrote a letter of recommendation for Yogi Bhajan on the occasion of his commencing his teaching mission in the West.[10]
Personal life
George was twice married, first to Caroline Parfitt, 1942–96, with whom he had three children: Daniel, Graham (died 2003) and Caroline Randolph (Dolphi).[4] He married Barbara Brady Wright in San Francisco on 1 January 2005, at the age of 86.[3]
In September 2007, CBC aired a short documentary about him titled "In the Spirit of Diplomacy," by independent film-maker Marco Mascarin. This piece used elements of a 1975 documentary by Paul Saltzman entitled "Saint Demetrius Rides a Red Horse: James George Leaves India."[5]
George turned 100 in September 2018 and died in February 2020 at the age of 101.[11][12]
Publications
George, James (1975). Achaemenid Orientations.
George, James; Blackwelder, Brent (10 July 1991). "Oil Fires: A Middleast Chernobyl?". Toronto Star. p. A21.
George, James (1 September 2002). Asking for the Earth: Waking Up to the Spiritual/Ecological Crisis. Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press. ISBN978-1581770902.
George, James (22 August 2009). The Little Green Book on Awakening. Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press. ISBN978-1-58177-112-1.
George, James (2016). Last Call : Awaken to Consciousness (Paperback).
^Torontonensis. Toronto: University of Toronto Students' Administrative Council. 1939. p. 418.
^"Heads of Post List : SRI LANKA". Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada. Government of Canada. 3 October 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
^"George, James (Career)". Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada. Government of Canada. 3 October 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
^ ab"James George". Barrytown/Station Hill Press. 2008. Archived from the original on 6 October 2010. Retrieved 2 April 2015.