The Great Turning

The Great Turning
Originally uploaded by Earthworm.

Dry reading, but a good recap of Empire building and the destruction it has wrought. Heavy reference to Riane Eisler's Chalice and the Blade and to Joanna Macy and other women of note. Of the same genre as other disaster books, but with much more emphasis on how to turn things around to what the author calls Earth Community. He prescribes a cultural shift in the stories we tell, first by dropping the myth of imperial prosperity for all, as embodied in the free market system, and creating stories of cooperation and community.

Divides population into a hierarchy of consciousnes based on the concept of cultural creatives. Starting with magical consciousness of the child, the soul moves through imperial consciousness to socialized consciousness where most remain. Those who progress further gain cultural consciousness and then spiritual consciousness. It is the job of these last two to influence the swing vote of those of mainstream socialized consciousness.

Includes a thorough description of the caterpillar to butterfly transformation as an example of how transformation happens one cell at a time until those cells have a network. Lots of interesting ideas that need to be fleshed out and illustrated with real life scenarios or metaphors. Author is one of the founders of Yes Magazine.