EPISODE · May 23, 2017 · 24 MIN
The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning by Jeremy Lent
from KWMR Post Carbon Radio · host Bing Gong
The Patterning Instinct (Prometheus Books | Foreword by Fritjof Capra) is a global history investigating the different ways cultures have patterned meaning into the cosmos. From early hunter-gatherer societies to ancient Egypt to Taoist sages to the founders of Christianity and the trail-blazers of the Scientific Revolution, author Jeremy Lent reveals how various worldviews arose and shaped the course of history. He shows how values like ownership and patriarchy emerged with agriculture, and traces the rise of the European mindset of “conquering nature” as the underpinning of today’s global civilization. Lent argues that our current global environmental crisis is not an inevitable result of human nature, but is culturally driven: a product of particular mental patterns that could conceivably be reshaped. He suggests that a transformation of our dominant worldview is required to redirect our society toward a more hopeful future. Even if we can somehow avert climate catastrophe, new existential crises will inevitably arise unless our civilization fundamentally changes its core values. We can only make this change by understanding the source of these values, and the ways in which they impact our future.
What this episode covers
The Patterning Instinct (Prometheus Books | Foreword by Fritjof Capra) is a global history investigating the different ways cultures have patterned meaning into the cosmos. From early hunter-gatherer societies to ancient Egypt to Taoist sages to the founders of Christianity and the trail-blazers of the Scientific Revolution, author Jeremy Lent reveals how various worldviews arose and shaped the course of history. He shows how values like ownership and patriarchy emerged with agriculture, and traces the rise of the European mindset of “conquering nature” as the underpinning of today’s global civilization. Lent argues that our current global environmental crisis is not an inevitable result of human nature, but is culturally driven: a product of particular mental patterns that could conceivably be reshaped. He suggests that a transformation of our dominant worldview is required to redirect our society toward a more hopeful future. Even if we can somehow avert climate catastrophe, new existential crises will inevitably arise unless our civilization fundamentally changes its core values. We can only make this change by understanding the source of these values, and the ways in which they impact our future.
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The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning by Jeremy Lent
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