Climate Compassion
CLIMATE ACTION
Trajectories to Our Future: What Will We Choose?
Trajectories to Our Future with Jeremy Lent,
Author of The Patterning Instinct
Thursday, August 31, 2017
North Berkeley (RSVP for address)
6:30pm Potluck
7:00pm-9:00pm Salon
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RSVP here
Join us for a salon to discuss the ideas in the last chapter of The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning by Jeremy Lent.
Trajectories to Our Future proposes three possible scenarios: collapse, techno split, or sustainable flourishing. In this interactive salon, we’ll discuss these scenarios, how we got here, and how we can co-create future flourishing. Although Jeremy’s book sets the frame - Culture Shapes Values - Values Shape History - How Will Our Values Shape the Future? - the answer will emerge from our shared human intention and action.
Recommended but not required: Read the last chapter of The Patterning Instinct.
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Jeremy will be happy to engage in discussion about any part of the book, so bring your questions.
About The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning
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With rigorous scholarship and deep insight, Lent investigates how different cultures have made sense of the universe and how their underlying values have changed the course of history. From the first farmers to Chinese sages to the trailblazers of the Scientific Revolution, he shows how humanity’s unique instinct to pattern meaning into the cosmos has constructed the world we live in today. Lent argues that foundational elements of Western thought have led us to a crisis of sustainability where civilization’s very survival is at stake. “We need to understand the underlying mind-set that has brought us to this place,” he says. “Only then can we consciously shape our values to create a sustainable future of shared human dignity and flourishing.”
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Praise:
“A tour de force on the biological and psychological background of the human predicament. If you are concerned about our future you should know about our past. This amazing, well-documented book should be read by every college student, and every congressman." – Paul R. Ehrlich, author of Human Natures.
“A must-read for anyone concerned about the future of humanity. The book delves beneath the surface of problems facing our world today to examine the dominant cultural assumptions that lie at their root. [It] thoughtfully traces how views about human nature and the natural world in both Eastern and Western culture have shaped history and how the emerging global culture of connectedness and the systems view of life may hold the key to humanity’s evolution and future survival.”
—Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch founder and president
Host: Elizabeth Ferguson, Ph.D.
Elizabeth is a facilitator and educator in the practices of resilience and wellbeing. Combining the wisdom of psychology, contemplative science, internal martial arts and neuroscience, she offers an approach to leadership that weaves self-compassion, social justice, and community building.