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The Patterning Instinct

By: Jeremy Lent,Fritjof Capra - foreword
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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Publisher's Summary

This fresh perspective on crucial questions of history identifies the root metaphors that cultures have used to construct meaning in their world. It offers a glimpse into the minds of a vast range of different peoples: early hunter-gatherers and farmers, ancient Egyptians, traditional Chinese sages, the founders of Christianity, trailblazers of the Scientific Revolution, and those who constructed our modern consumer society.

Taking the listener on an archaeological exploration of the mind, the author, an entrepreneur and sustainability leader, uses recent findings in cognitive science and systems theory to reveal the hidden layers of values that form today's cultural norms. Uprooting the tired clichés of the science-religion debate, he shows how medieval Christian rationalism acted as an incubator for scientific thought, which, in turn, shaped our modern vision of the conquest of nature. The author probes our current crisis of unsustainability and argues that it is not an inevitable result of human nature, but is culturally driven: a product of particular mental patterns that could conceivably be reshaped. By shining a light on our possible futures, the book foresees a coming struggle between two contrasting views of humanity: one driving to a technological endgame of artificially enhanced humans, the other enabling a sustainable future arising from our intrinsic connectedness with each other and the natural world. This struggle, it concludes, is one in which each of us will play a role through the meaning we choose to forge from the lives we lead.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 Jeremy Lent and Fritjof Capra (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

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Wonderful, gripping, sweeping work

I absolutely loved this book. It covers where we as humans have come from and where we are headed. It provided for me an essential context for my thinking about the future and why we as humans have such huge difficulty navigating the issues that are right before us. A must read for those like me who have only a hazy understanding of global history and culture but are keen to understand these things so to understand the future. And Jeremy's writing style is utterly gripping, plus the book is beautifully read. I couldn't put it down.

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A Book for All to Read!

An amazing book! both factual aswell as offering deep insites and meaning into our modern lifes through the understanding of where humanity has come from.

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All of humanity should read this

A more profound read than the simarlyencompassing Sapians. With a hint of optimism for how we might mitigate the climate and ecological disaster we find ourselves in and which will only worsen if world views don't shift towards those described in this book.

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