Dr Shiv Talwar

Dr. Shiv Talwar is an award winning author. He was awarded a Books for Peace International Award 2020 for The Common Ground, a "masterpiece on the unity of science and spirituality".

Shiv was born in pre-partition India in 1937. Shiv moved to Waterloo, Ontario in 1966 with his wife and two children, where he still resides today. Shiv received his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Punjab University in India, Master’s from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, USA and Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. During his professional career, he taught at Thapar College of Engineering in Patiala, India and served as the Coordinator of Civil Engineering at Conestoga College in Kitchener, ON, Canada.

While growing up, Shiv's parents used to engage him in discussion on matters of spiritual, moral and ethical values when taking him on daily early morning walks. This informal introduction was nurtured further by excellent formal education in scheduled courses at school and matured later in the light of his spiritual mentor, the Late Swami Vishwatma Bawra.

Shiv was profoundly impacted by the calamitous experience of identity tribalism on religious grounds during the partition of India in 1947. He strongly believed that an end must be put to that kind of hatred forever. And it was this experience that led him on his personal quest to search for the common core spirituality that underpins all religious and scientific knowledge. A hugely monumental task, not just in terms of difficulty, but in terms of the significant impact it can have on the survival and overall well-being of Planet Earth.

Years of questioning, study, research, delving, probing, analysis, discussions, meditation and extremely deep thought has gone into his efforts. With greater understanding of how interconnected we all are, we will be better attuned to address the major issues facing the world today. It is only by changing the thought process that got us to where we are, do we have any hope for our future.

Uniquely equipped with ancient Indian wisdom and an education oriented towards problem solving, Shiv leapt from teaching one form of bridge building to another — from Civil Engineering to the concepts of Unity in Diversity and the Oneness of Planet Earth. While Civil Engineering entails closing physical gaps by applying natural science, the Oneness of Planet Earth entails closing the gaps of hearts and minds by applying spiritual science. Shiv develops, delivers and promotes contemplative education in the wisdom underlying the religious and scientific heritage of humanity to cultivate the spirit of inclusion and love for all existence.

Shiv founded and has been the president of the Spiritual Heritage Education Network Inc. (SHEN, http://spiritualeducation.org) since 2000. The three major problems facing the world today are: (1) Interreligious, rather inter-anything, bigotry and intolerance, (2) Toxic stress related mental and physical disease, and (3) The mindless exploitation of the natural resources of the planet. These are interrelated; set the stage for solving one prepares the ground for solving the others. The mission of SHEN is to propagate and cultivate social and natural harmony and a sense of belonging to a single family of existence, in other words to promote the cultivation of a feeling of unity in diversity in people.

His work is the result of his lifetime of purpose-driven search and is his contribution to raising our consciousness for the care of each other and that of the planet on which we live. Many more contributions will surely come from all directions, moving humanity towards a proactive education to cultivate unity in diversity.