The Grand Option

The Recovery of our Oneness

In 1993, Beatrice Bruteau (1930-2014) authored Radical Optimism: Rooting Ourselves in Reality, where she suggested that "by engaging in contemplative practices, we come to know ourselves more authentically, recenter spiritual values in our lives, and find more optimism about the world."

Brutreau's book The Grand Option, The: Personal Transformation and a New Creation was published July 11, 2001. Written at the turn of the millennium, the book saw the world shifting to a global, interconnected, holistic community with a vision of a transforming, communion consciousness - a new creation - the evolutionary weaving of a new fabric of global unity.

But then on September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States. In the preface to this second edition of Radical Optimism (published October 1, 2002, one year after 9/11) Beatrice Bruteau noted: '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... We need, urgently, to consider all over again what our life is about and what values are important... We need to find our way back to the basic realities, truths, and values." Today, a quarter of a century later, her words seem even more relevant.

"In 2016, Orbis Books released Personal Transformation and a New Creation, a collection of essays by scholars examining the writings of Bruteau and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The collection was edited by Ilia Delio."

Dr. Bruteau has published twelve books and more than one hundred articles. Her essays have appeared in journals such as International Philosophical Quarterly, Cross Currents, American Vedantist, and Cistercian Studies.

Cynthia Bouregeault referred to Bruteau as an "Interspiritual pioneer who loomed large in the contemplative universe."