While we need to change our worldview fast, it probably
won’t change fast enough to continue warranting a monthly newsletter,
so I will be switching to a bi-monthly format, less frequently
but just as importantly.
Daniel Quinn Offers Me a Warning on Teaching Novels
Those who perused the first issue of Cosmopathy will remember
that I had written Daniel Quinn, author of Ishmael and the principal inspiration
of this project. Although I had written him in 1992 when he was far less
known and he responded, I wandered from my hope that he would actually
write back this time. “Thanks for getting in touch again. It’s
always a pleasure to have a report on the long-term effects my work has
had on a reader. As you’d expect, every initiative aimed at worldview
change has my endorsement, and yours sounds very ambitious and well organized.”
Interestingly enough though, instead of delving into the themes that
contaminated me with a new worldview perspective, our first and only topic
of discussion was the business of publishing teaching novels. “I
have to say that I get the impression that you regard finding a mass-market
publisher for your proposed novel as a mere detail that will fall into
place almost automatically once it’s written. I might share your
optimism (if that’s what it is) if you were proposing to write a
mere entertainment — a murder mystery or a thriller — but in
the world of mass-market publishing an openly didactic novel is the hardest
sell there is.”
So can I sell my book on a mass-market? My strategy was actually reinforced
by our discussion. I plan on writing my fiction novel with all themes
included. If the story is compelling enough then my gamble is that a mass
market publisher will pick it up. The book won’t be as openly didactic
as Ishmael; entertainment must be a primordial objective. But if
too much is invested in entertainment, will there be enough left over
for teaching?
Maybe the market will be amenable to a teaching book when mine comes around.
In the meantime, I keep Daniel’s warning strategically positioned
in my mind: “There is plenty of room in the marketplace for teaching
books (educational publishers put out thousands of them annually),
but there is virtually no market for teaching novels. Visit a book
store and see if you can find one!”
I received another email this month from the Upper
Similkameen Indian Band in British Columbia, Canada. They are opening
an interpretive center near an old gold mine. The band wants to train
interpretive guides to interpret the clashing of two worldviews in this
historic movement. The Worldview Change Project attracted their attention
and they asked for help. Perhaps the Worldview Change Project can offer
concrete benefits even sooner than I had expected.
Thomas Kuhn has made one of
the most concrete contributions to worldview change, though he may not
have seen it that way. In his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
(University of Chicago Press, 1962, third edition) he proposed a theory
for the changing of paradigms in science. A science historian at MIT,
Kuhn reviewed many great transitions in science — Copernican revolution
and the transformation from phlogiston theory to oxygen theory of combustion,
to name just two. He illustrated the phases that a theory goes through
before becoming the predominant paradigm in science. John Sterman, one
of the inspirators of the Worldview Change Project, and director of the
System Dynamics Group at MIT, actually took the historian's book and converted
the theory into a formal model, illustrating that the theory holds up
even under dynamic review (Technological Forecasting and Social Change
28: 93-122, 1985).
Very briefly a new idea emerges to challenge existing conventional wisdom,
trying to answer a perplexing, anomalous question resistant to normal
science’s (that is, a science based on the existing paradigm) explanation.
If the idea catches on, it could eventually rise up to be the next wave
of normal science, crushing — rather than stepping on the shoulders
of — the previous paradigm. Then eventually a new anomaly arises,
turns into crisis, results in a revolution, and a new paradigm takes over
once again. It is a must read for anyone interest in science, evolving
ideas, and of course, worldview change.
At
the beginning of the month, I met with Ted Halstead in Washington, DC.
He is founder and president of the New America Foundation. This non-profit
offers fresh perspectives on American policy debates. One of its main
strategies is through a highly competitive and prestigious fellowship
program. I was initially attracted to the fellowship as a means of working
on the Worldview Project, but later learned that one must already have
solutions well developed before joining. In any event, Ted, a Dartmouth
classmate and accomplished author, suggested that a strategy I pursue
in order to publish my book is to publish several showcase articles
in top-named publications such as the Atlantic Monthly as a stepping
stone. It does seem like a wise way of testing the waters and moving
closer to a book contract.
Akin to strategy, I have determined for the time being to create time
for this project by working as a consultant, switching between writing
and consulting, back and forth.
When I started out with this book, I thought I was going
to read simply about a deeper understanding of our current worldview.
I had no idea that this book would pull me into a realm I had never though
to wander before. I had always erred on the side of the skeptic when it
came to paranormal phenomena including extra-terrestrial issues. I reasoned
that the universe is so big and it would take so long to get here, why
would an alien ever care about Earth?
But after I began reading about the book, it occurred to me that I had
not really thought about what a new worldview might look like, even one
that promotes sustainability. Mark Woodhouse applies the objectivity of
an academic to topics that many people routinely dismiss out of hand.
He presents evidence for paranormal phenomena — clairvoyance, channeling,
alternative health, out-of-body experiences, reincarnation, and extra-terrestrial
encounters. During the time I was reading the book, I talked with many
people along the way, realizing that far more people than I ever realized
have had paranormal experiences (dreams coming true, encounters with spirits,
visions, others). As I read, I realized and pieced together what I had
known all along: that people have been reporting and integrating such
phenomena into their lives for 1000s of years. Indigenous cultures live
spiritual lives since humanity was born.
Woodhouse talks about the many streams of New Age and New Paradigm thinking.
He even ties together his own metaphysical explanation of the world where
consciousness and energy are two sides of the same unity (energy is what
the unity appears on the outside while consciousness is looking at the
universe from the inside so to speak) across a Great Chain of Being, with
multiple levels of consciousness. As a person becomes more consciously
aware, he or she can participate on more levels of this Great Chain. Woodhouse
shares a number of manifestations of sacred geometry in the book, one
image of which Marisol and I took as our logo for our matrimonial
celebration in May.
While the book requires an open mind, a person’s either denying the
content or entertaining it (and I don’t necessarily mean believe
it) gives a real-world experience into the power of coming up against
the boundaries of a worldview. I only lament that I have an open mind
to this kind of thinking but have never had a paranormal experience. At
least, not consciously.
Plan B
Lester Brown’s latest book in an intense and short fashion outlines
the major problems contributing to a bubble economy. We are overpumping
aquifers and a food crisis of major proportions is on the horizon. Brown
reviews the major technologies with great promise and what needs to be
done to put them in action before it is too late. In a sense, it outlines
actions that need to take place, most likely as a precursor to a major
changing of worldview.
Systems
Thinking and The Systems Thinker. This web offers some basic definitions
and considerations about what is systems thinking. It is a great place
to start for someone starting in systems thinking.
“Cosmopathy”
is the pathology of worldviews, whereby a person suffers from competing
worldviews or the need to change worldviews because
the gap between the worldview’s beliefs and perceived
reality cause a breakdown, a condition which the Worldview Change Project
aims to help.Cosmopathy
is distributed to those interested in the progress of the WCP.Your name can be added or deleted by submitting
a request to the author.
