Issue No. 74, March/April 2004
(Timeline is a publication of the Foundation for Global Community)Matters of Consequence
Review by Mac LawrenceIn his new book, Matters of Consequence, author Copthorne Macdonald extends this invitation to the reader: “Have you heard the quiet pleading of future generations to leave them a world worth inhabiting? Action is needed, but in today’s ultracomplex world, the only action that has a chance of succeeding is action guided by a deep understanding of the human situation and a broadly compassionate heart. In the pages to come, join me in exploring the human reality, the deep-understanding approach, and where all that might lead us.”
The world has changed, Macdonald says. Humanity needs help. We know more than we ever did about where we come from, what kind of beings we are, what we’re doing right, what we’re doing wrong. His theme: “The better we understand what is really going on—intuitively and rationally—the better we can guide our own lives and the more we can benefit our world.”
In his book, Macdonald covers a huge range of subjects to help us gain the new worldview he believes the future demands. Understanding is key, he emphasizes. “Those who understand deeply end up influencing others. On the one hand, their clear-seeing is infectious. On the other, those who see are inclined to act. Some become leaders—perhaps political leaders, enlightened corporate leaders, or leaders of private-sector organizations involved with aspects of the world problematique. Others become communicators and teachers—writing, creating art, or becoming involved in existing organizations—and in those ways, attempt to share their understanding with others.”
Though Macdonald writes in a relaxed style when the subject permits, overall the book requires concentration. As he warns in his introduction, “No author wants their readers to give up on a book because they get bogged down in some section of it; I certainly don’t. If you get frustrated because you’re not understanding something, please move on to the next topic. Then, after reading all or most of the book, go back to the material that caused you trouble and try reading it again. With the additional context acquired from reading what you do understand, it might now make much more sense.”
It’s obvious why Macdonald warns his reader when you begin chapter one, “The Nature of Primal Reality.” At first, it didn’t seem clear where the author was going as he moved rapidly from Einstein and quantum theory, to Hindu teachings and quotes from the Kabbalah, to computers and algorithms. But one soon realizes that all these subjects are there to help appreciate the many different perspectives of reality. One also soon realizes that Matters of Consequence is, as the author says, an exceptionally wide-ranging book.
Macdonald’s own life has been wide-ranging. In the pre-Internet 1970s, he developed a slow-scan television system that allowed amateur radio operators to transmit pictures over long distances using their short-wave voice communications equipment. Realizing that this worldwide voice-and-picture capability could be used for personal growth and societal change, he founded New Directions Radio. More recently, Macdonald established The Wisdom Page, an Internet-based compilation of wisdom-related resources. As an engineer, he has worked extensively in the field of energy alternatives and energy conservation, has been a Project Manager at Westinghouse, Director of Research at Vidcom Electronics, and Manager of Electronic Design at Ball Brothers Research Corporation. Macdonald has authored seven books and more than 100 articles and reviews, and is currently on the editorial board of Integralis: Journal of Integral Consciousness, Culture, and Science.
In the author’s own words, his book presents “the amazing picture of where we are today—as a universe and a species—and where we are heading....Part I discusses the nature of physical and mental reality and the question of cosmic purpose. Part II focuses on three close-to-home realities: the sociocultural, the economic, and the biospheric. Part III looks at our inner lives: self-knowledge, freedom, responsibility, identity, developing ethical sensibility, and creating a life characterized by meaning, purpose, and significance.”
In Part IV Macdonald deals with the future and answers the question, “Where must we go from here?” His hope and vision for a world in the year 2050 “is characterized by economic equity, physical sustainability, vibrant local cultures, an electronically facilitated world culture, and sufficient time in people’s lives to pursue a full, rich life of the mind.” We now know enough, he maintains, that this vision is not a naïve one, but one achievable if we work toward it.
To produce a book of this scope, Macdonald has obviously read widely—the bibliography lists some 300 books and articles he used as source material. Throughout, he presents the ideas, views, and theories of key people, adds background and relevant facts, and offers interpretations of his own that he believes fit best with how things really are.
Macdonald also includes some choice quotes, such as this from author Ken Wilbur: “If you identify only with you, you will treat others narcissistically. If you identify with your friends and family, you will treat them with care. If you identify with your nation, you will treat your countrymen as compatriots. If you identify with all human beings, you will strive to treat all people fairly and compassionately, regardless of race, sex, color, or creed. If your identity expands to embrace the Kosmos [Wilbur ’s term], you will treat all sentient beings with respect and kindness, for they are all perfect manifestations of the same radiant Self, which is your very own Self.”
To pique the reader, Macdonald often asks questions such as, “What is consciousness, how did it arise from matter, how is it involved with brain function, what are the contributions of science and philosophy to the mind-body problem?” In the chapter, “The Question of Cosmic Purpose,” Macdonald asks, “Why something rather than nothing? Is there a cosmic purpose? Is evolution heading somewhere?” In discussing the subject of the environment we live in, he explores the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere, and talks about the food situation, resource extraction, humanity’s wastes, global warming, the ecological footprint, species problems.
In the chapter titled “Self-Knowledge and Other Bad News,” Macdonald lists twelve unhelpful characteristics our cobbled-up brain/mind system creates for each person as a mental model of reality, some of which, he notes, are serious distortions and outright lies. Though troublesome at times, he believes most unhelpful characteristics can be transcended, or at least lessened, through various psychological/spiritual practices, which the author then covers in the following chapter, “Freedom, Responsibility, and Ethical Sensibility.” The last part of the book is devoted to developing deep understanding (“The quality of our doing can only reflect the quality of our understanding”), how we can both predict and change the future, and an upbeat 90 pages detailing Macdonald’s vision for the year 2050 and “doing what needs to be done.”
Paul Ray, an expert on culture and values, writes in the Foreword to the book that, as a college student, he had searched through whole libraries without finding adequate answers to basic questions like what’s really important in life and what really matters in the world. Ray notes that he has finally found what he so long sought in Matters of Consequence. “Get it. You need it,” he advises. “Between these two covers is a model of responsible inquiry into many of the big questions that we really need to encounter, whether as youths or adults, not only for our own personal benefit, but for the good of our civilization. At the level of our own personal inquiry, this is a tasty, chewy, energy-bar book designed to accelerate good thinking in new ways, not one of those castor-oil books that some desiccated scholar would insist we need for our own good. It’s a compass as we step into an unknown land.”
