About

 Dr John Bellavance

John Bellavance has worked with NGOs and community organisations to support peace building, values education and wellbeing for 40 years. This brought him to interact with leaders and people at all levels of society. In the 1980s, he and his wife Anne worked with the African American community to fight crack cocaine. His efforts were recognised by the White House, where President Reagan sent him a letter of appreciation for his efforts to rid America of this social ill. In the early 90s he took this fight against drugs to his home country of Canada, were he was able to bring the issue of illicit drugs as a political campaign issue. 

As part this work he has studied and written about values education for 30 years. The focus of his PhD thesis undertaken at Monash University in Australia, was the role of values in human/technological interactions with a particular focus on the role of values in the use of Information Technologies by high school age children. He has been teaching Information Technology in high schools for 20 years in the areas of computer networks, programming and data analytics. John is a dynamic public speaker and an engaging teacher. 

On the left, pictured with Anne and with his four sons in Melbourne.

Living for the Sake of Others

His philosophy is to live for the sake of others. Living for the sake of others is not only good for our mental health, but also for our physical health. Love is defined as living for the sake of another. The opposite of this, is to use others for one’s own benefit. The true measure of progress of a civilisation is not only economic development, but rather its expression of love for humanity through it laws, institutions and practices. Values centred on love are broader and more enduring than value systems that focus on narrow ideologies or beliefs.

Love within the family has been the most unchanging and universal value in human history. For example, one could say that parental love for a child has been the most altruistic and unchanging value in human history. Love between husband and wife, and between siblings have been the basis for goodness, despite the fact that people have not always loved family members the way they should have. 

Rationality and moral rules are not enough for humans to act morally. Emotional Intelligence has taught us that the best decisions and behaviours combine the rational mind and the emotional mind. We may know something is right, but is love and emotions that add a further motivation act rightly. Love and a deep emotional sense of what is right is the primary motivation to act in the best interest of another, not primarily the rational mind. Love is also the basis for justice and equality because if we love someone we would not consider threating them unjustly.