Issue 4, May 2004
(Omnipedia is a publication of the International Futures Forum)Book of the month
Towards a Wisdom Culture
David Lorimer
MATTERS OF CONSEQUENCE
Copthorne MacdonaldBig Ideas Press, 2004, 374 pp., $24.95 p/b - ISBN 0 96896187 8
In his foreword to this remarkable book, Paul Ray — co-author of The Cultural Creatives — observes that our 500-year old 'modern civilisation' shows many signs of falling apart, 'and it really does look as if a new and wiser civilisation is trying to be born, side by side with looming planetary catastrophes'. Ray calls this new movement a 'Wisdom Culture', which is not only about the content of our thinking and beliefs, but also about 'the quality of consciousness we bring to the process'. He sums up the intent of the book by saying that we ourselves must make history, which means changing our civilisation ourselves rather than taking it as given: 'first, we must envision a world worth inhabiting, and then we must work to create it'.
The book — clearly the author's magnum opus — is divided into four parts, which contain fifteen chapters of 'matters of consequence'. The four parts are Big-Picture Reality, Humanity's Contextual Reality, Personal Reality and The Future. Macdonald argues that if we come to understand the human situation 'deeply, comprehensively, and clearly, then what needs to be done — both in our personal lives and the world around us — becomes clear'. This involves us in the development of 'deep understanding', defined as a variety of wisdom in which we integrate an intellectual understanding of contextual knowledge (humanities, sciences and economics) with the intentional acquisition of self-knowledge. Macdonald thus addresses both inner and outer issues and insists, rightly in my view, that they must go hand in hand.
The first part dives straight into the nature of 'primal reality', which immediately plunges the reader into the author's thesis that 'there is an enduring absolute reality which is the ground of the universal process' (Energy, Brahman, Tao, Spirit, Being) and that there is a transient relative reality which that ground brings into existence (form, information). Thus there is both One and Many, unity and duality or diversity, implicate and explicate (David Bohm). The author then explains the development of complexity through evolution towards our current highly developed ecosystems and economies. Next there is a tour of the human mind, putting forward a model of a ground awareness analogous to the primal reality already discussed. This leads on to a discussion of cosmic purpose with an emphasis on process and adventure, even play.
Part Two looks at sociocultural systems, the world economic system and the global life system (the biosphere). The discussion here is well informed both historically and in relation to current developments, for instance how the economics of saving were transformed into the economics of consumption and the social implications of such a process. Also reported are the results of a values survey showing trends towards inner authority, subjective well-being and personal meaning, environmental sustainability over economic growth, and a growing interest in the roles of women. Finance capitalism is scrutinised and the conclusion drawn that the economy of the future must serve social needs and respect biospheric limits.
Part Three looks at the evolutionary legacy of the self and the vital role of spiritual practice in transcending it and achieving 'significant doing' on the basis that the quality of our doing can only reflect the quality of our understanding. The author places special emphasis on mindfulness meditation in this context.
The final part provides the lift-off point for the book. It is not so much a question of how to predict the future but how to create it on the basis of the insights from the first three parts. This means having a 2050 vision — a world worth creating — and generating the means of realising it by moving in that direction. Macdonald extrapolates creative trends already emerging and neatly sums up the elements of his vision in a series of sidebars that also cover changes in institutions and economic policies and indicators. This is all linked in the notes and appendices to web sites and other resources — see www.mattersofconsequence.com. The final chapter brings together personal and social aspects of transformation with ethical sensibility reflecting psychospiritual development as in the thinking of Ken Wilber and Michael Lerner. The book enables readers to gain a deeper understanding of the human situation and formulate a personal plan of action for the future.
