Reading Group Guide

for

MATTERS of CONSEQUENCE
Creating a Meaningful Life and a World That Works

by Copthorne Macdonald

Why This Book?

Reading group participants tend to be intensely curious people, always on the lookout for maps that can help them explore the territory of life. Matters of Consequence is such a map, one that can help readers make sense of the evolutionary/cosmic/human situation as well as their personal lives.

This book encompasses what is really important in life, addresses our personal search for meaning and significance, and deals with humanity’s future in a positive solution-oriented way. Its underlying assumption is this: If we come to understand the human situation — deeply, comprehensively, clearly — then what needs to be one, both in our personal lives and the world around us, becomes clear. Toward this end, Matters of Consequence presents essential knowledge concerning our cosmic, global and psychological realities — things we need to know in order to live as ffectively as possible.

With a clearer picture of the human situation in hand, we are encouraged to create both a vision of our own life as we would like it to be, and a vision of a world society as we would like it to be. We are invited to see as a realistic possibility, and personally participate in, the transformation of today’s world into a year-2050 world characterized by physical sustainability, economic equity, vibrant local cultures, an electronically facilitated world culture, and sufficient time in people’s lives to pursue a full, rich, life.

The book concludes with strategies and techniques for getting from here to there, and introduces the reader to a variety of print, Internet, and organizational resources.

Author note to reading group participants:

The purpose of this book is to take you, the reader, on a wide-ranging exploration of the human situation. In doing that I share concepts, perspectives, interpretations, and explanatory schemata that I have found illuminating in my own quest for greater understanding. A number of these explanatory tools will be unfamiliar to some — yet to get maximum value from the book they need to be grasped. Herein lies the great value of reading and discussing the book as a group. Obviously, if some readers have grasped the material and some have not, discussion helps everyone to get on board.

Although it is not necessary to work through the book chapter by chapter, starting with the Introduction, that is the approach I suggest. Certainly, individual chapters are useful. But beyond that, there is a connective and explanatory thread that runs through the book — one that reveals itself when the whole book is explored. For instance, the nature of the cosmic reality explored in the first four chapters has implications for the call in the last chapter to do what needs to be done to transform ourselves and world society. And the discussion of our present social, economic, and biospheric situations in Part II of the book is intimately linked to the Chapter 14 vision of a year 2050 society that works in ways that our present society does not.

However you choose to approach the material, I wish you and your group an exciting exploration.

Suggested discussion topics and questions:

INTRODUCTION (pp. xx-xxxii)

·        What evidence is there that magic-connected assumptions, appeals, and fears have not completely disappeared?

·        If we define myth as “a traditional story that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon,” what are some examples of myth from religion?

·        What are some examples of myth from our nation’s history that help form the way we see ourselves as a nation?

·        What are your thoughts about the limitations and deficiencies of rationality? What might be added to rationality to give us a more effective way of understanding and dealing with what is going on?

THE NATURE OF PRIMAL REALITY (pp. 2-11)

·        Why should we care about the nature of primal reality?

·        Is it true that no explanation or model completely reflects all aspects of the reality it seeks to illuminate?

·        Is the meaning of information, carrier, modulation, algorithm, and energy clear to everyone in the group?

·        Does everyone understand the four points in bold on pages 9 and 10, and the ocean/wave metaphor on page 10?

THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPLEXITY (pp. 12-27)

·        Is the “hierarchy of systems” or “hierarchy of holons” perspective clear to you?

·        System theory says that systems or holons at one level “get together,” “combine,” “join,” “interconnect,” “interact,” or “communicate” to form systems at the next level of complexity. Does this mean that cooperation is essential for evolution to occur?

·        Do you think that this complexity-creating, hierarchy-of-holons process has gone as far as it can go? If not, where might it go in the future?

UNDERSTANDING HUMAN MENTALITY (pp. 28-48)

·        Why is it important for us to understand human mentality?

·        Did you understand the author’s favored explanation of mind?

·        On your own scale of plausibility, where does that explanation rank with the others that he mentions or that you might know about? Does some other explanation strike you as more plausible? Why?

THE QUESTION OF COSMIC PURPOSE (pp. 49-66)

·        When you consider what the universe has been up to for the past 15 billion years, does it seem to you that the process has certain built-in values? What might they be?

·        Do you think that the cosmos has a built-in purpose? What do you think that purpose is?

·        How do you see your personal relationship to the cosmos? As separated from it? One with it? Distant? Close?

·        Would you like that relationship to be different than it presently is?

SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT (pp. 68-91)

·        Can you give some examples of person-institution relationships that benefit both the individual and the societal institution?

·        Can you think of situations where the individual benefits but the institution (and perhaps other people) are harmed?

·        Can you think of situations where the institution benefits but component individuals are harmed?

·        What is the ideal?

·        As human society has evolved from hunter-gatherer times to the present, in what ways has life gotten better? Are there ways in which it has gotten worse?

·        Where do you think it will go from here?

·        What are your feelings about human nature? Do you agree with Ruth Benedict and Abraham Maslow that there is no single “human nature,” but rather a wide range of possible human natures that are determined largely by societal influences?

·        In our society, what would you consider the ten strongest influences we are subjected to as we develop?

·        On balance, which of these would you consider to be positive influences, and which negative?

ECONOMIC CONTEXT (pp. 92-12)

·        What is your reaction to the comments about markets on pages 99-100?

·        What are your feelings about the purpose of economic systems? Should their primary purpose be the provisioning of society? Should it be maximizing the wealth of the financial stakeholders? Some other?

·        Are you pleased with the way the economy of your country is being run?

·        What are your feelings about the existing relationship between economic power and political power?

·        Does that relationship undermine democracy?

BIOSPHERIC CONTEXT (pp. 130-149)

·        Of the various threats to the environment and the sustainability of a healthy biosphere, which issues concern you the most?

·        How would you rank the threats, from most serious to least serious?

·        If we put ourselves in the position of a person living 100 years from now who could reach back in time to influence the way we rank the threats today, in what ways might their ranking be different?

SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND OTHER BAD NEWS (pp. 151-159)

·        Regarding “evolution’s legacy” (the twelve “unhelpful” mental characteristics listed on pages 153-54), in what way is each characteristic “unhelpful?”

·        Which ones would you consider to be serious deficiencies, and which not so serious?

·        Taking the most serious problems one by one, what could we do as individuals to transcend them, or at least reduce their negative effects?

FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY, AND ETHICAL SENSIBILITY (pp. 160-167)

·        Are all ethics relative? Are they simply a matter of social convention? Or are there some ethical absolutes?

·        Does the holonic view bring some logic and clarity to this issue for you? Do you feel that cooperation is essential for things to function well, and is not an arbitrary choice?

·        Are there any other issues in this chapter that you’d like to discuss?

DEVELOPING DEEP UNDERSTANDING (pp. 168-182)

·        What is wisdom?

·        How do we develop wisdom?

·        How do you feel about the author’s suggestion to explore outwardly for relevant intellectual knowledge and also explore inwardly for intuitive understanding and clarity about how our minds work?

·        Are there any circumstances in your life where discursive thinking stops and you find yourself simply paying attention?

·        If anyone in the group has personal experience with meditation, could you share it?

·        If you were drawn to work on the kind of inner development the author talks about, what opportunities are there in your community for doing that?

·        Regarding the acquisition of relevant intellectual knowledge, what do you feel you need to learn more about? How would you go about gaining that knowledge?

SIGNIFICANT DOING (pp. 183-191)

·        Does linking the significance of our lives to the cause-and-effect ripples we create as we live make sense to you? Would it be more important to you to have people continue to remember you after you died, or to have had a positive, ripple-producing influence on things while you were alive?

·        Do we create a life purpose or do we discover one?

·        Is there one life purpose for me, or several?

·        How do I know if I’ve found it?

·        Where do I start?

·        Might a quest for deep understanding also be a helpful vehicle for discovering our life purpose?

THE ART OF PREDICTING THE FUTURE (pp. 193-202)

·        Can you give examples of how we use prediction in our daily lives?

·        Political leaders frequently make wrong predictions. Can you think of some examples, and why they turned out to be wrong?

·        What limits our ability to predict the distant future?

THE ART OF CREATING THE FUTURE (pp. 203-222)

·        Do you think that high social synergy should be a cornerstone principle in the society of the future?

·        Making societal changes can be painful. Should another cornerstone principle be equitable sharing of that pain? What mechanisms might be used for doing this?

·        As we attempt to turn the vision of a better future into reality, what personal qualities will be needed?

THE YEAR 2050 VISION (pp. 223-292)

·        Is the vision of society presented in this chapter desirable from a human standpoint?

·        If not completely so, what features are undesirable and why?

·        Do any of the recommended changes seem impossible to achieve? Which ones, and why?

·        How would your own 2050 vision differ from the author’s?

DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE (pp. 293-318)

·        Referring to Figure 2 on page 315, how do you feel about each of the figure’s six transformational task areas? Are they all important? Are some more important than others?

·        In each of the six areas, what specific actions might be attempted?

·        Would you add any new areas? Delete any?

·        Is there one or more task areas that you are personally drawn to? Why?