Willing commutes us to the belief that a situation can be changed by us. Wishing admits we believe that we cannot change something. She makes a distinction between wishing and willing. We can be peaceful even in the demands of contemporary life, because what is really pressuring us is the insistence of our own demands. Radical Optimism presents deeply religious practices all within the context of ordinary demands of life for example, if we were to make a list of our activities and then ask ourselves whether we really need to do each of them we might be amazed at what we could strike from the list. She encourages a spirit of optimism, and observes that most of the spiritual life is a matter of relaxing, of being still and open.
The chapters on leisure, stillness and meditation form the strength of the book and are presented as effective forces that confront evil. We need to find our way back to the basic realities, truths, values.' The book focuses on leisure stillness meditation the finite and the infinite sin and salvation the heart of Jesus, root of reality the communion of saints and Trinitarian manifestation. We need, urgently, to consider all over again what our life is about and what values are important. In the preface to this second edition of Radical Optimism (first published in 1993) Beatrice Bruteau notes, 'There are terrorists abroad in the world with dreadful weapons in their reach, and there is a System in place in the world which-almost unnoticed-has gained control of the fundamentals of life food, jobs, welfare, security, health and safety measures.
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