This short book comprises six essays on the theme of the climate crisis and cultural change in this 21st century. Climate scientists predict that, if we don’t cut our carbon emissions drastically in the next decades, the future will be catastrophic. But this is also an opportunity for a new awareness.
Despite, or because of, the apocalyptic times we find ourselves in, we may be experiencing a breakthrough to a new era of consciousness. Along with a new interest in the world’s mystical, timeless, and perennial traditions of thought, we find ourselves moving from a materialist- to a values-based global vision. Climate change and mass extinction are crucial issues but so also are the ethical values of social justice and human rights and responsibilities. More and more people are becoming aware of the climate emergency but realise we, ourselves, also need to change our way of thinking and living fundamentally.
The essays explore themes such as the nature of ‘radical hope’, the interconnection between Western and non-Western cultural thought, the concept of identity, the phenomenon of an inner awakening today, the question of the ‘Anthropocene’ and the possibility of a new ‘Axial Age’. They also make wide reference to world thinkers and activists who have thrown light on these perennial themes.