The Deep Roots of Sustainability
Eva M. Kras
International Society for Ecological Economics, 44 Corkstown Road, Ottawa, ON K2H 5B4 (Canada)
Abstract
The Western world, since the Scientific/Industrial Revolution has valued highly the capacity of our logical and analytical minds as well as the economic success which has been credited to this thinking. This has resulted in what appears to be a discrediting of the deeper consciousness of the human mind, that is, our intuition or inner Wisdom or spirituality (in its broadest sense), as this wisdom cannot be measured in scientific terms. Many scholars now believe that this situation (accepting only the measurable knowledge which comes from the logical mind), has created much of our human disconnect with our natural world and our human linkage with the Earth, resulting in the ecological breakdown we are now experiencing.
The following paper focuses on the deep roots of our dilemma. This involves in many cases the discovery or “rediscovery” of some deeply rooted values located in our deeply seated unconscious mind (inner self or consciousness), and our rethinking about the nature of humanity and how we are interconnected with Nature. This process is opening up new ways of thinking about the deep capacities humans possess, and the importance of drawing from both the conscious logical mind as well as the deeply rooted unconscious areas of the mind (our inner self). As a result we are gradually rediscovering some of these deeply held “universal” values, where both areas of the mind (logical and consciousness) are needed to fully comprehend them and transform them into practice. These emerging values appear to be gradually providing a new basis for policies and actions to deal with our present environmental, social and economic crisis.
Are we on the threshold of finding some commonly held deep universal values that could result in new positive approaches to our common challenges in Sustainability for our planet?
Keywords:
sustainability, values, philosophical roots, transformation, ethicsReferences
ANDERSON R.C., Confessions of a Radical Industrialist, McClelland & Stewart, 2009.
Google Scholar
BENTLEY T., JONES D.S. (Eds.), The Moral Universe, Demos, 2001.
Google Scholar
BENNIS W., On Becoming a Leader, Perseus Publishing, 2001.
Google Scholar
BERRY T., Dream of the Earth, Sierra Club Books, 1988.
Google Scholar
BERMAN M., The Reenchantment of the World, Cornell University Press, 1981.
Google Scholar
BOULDING K., Beyond Economics: Essays on Society, Religion and Ethics, University of Michigan, 1968.
Google Scholar
BROWN L., Eco-economy: Building an Economy for the Earth, W.W. Norton & Co., 2001.
Google Scholar
CAPRA F., The Web of Life, Harper Collins, 1996.
Google Scholar
CAMPBELL J., The Power of Myth, Doubleday, 1988.
Google Scholar
CLUB of Budapest, http://newciv.org/Clubof Budapest.
Google Scholar
COUNCIL for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, Toward a Global Ethic, Chicago, 1993.
Google Scholar
COVEY S., Principle Centered Leadership, Simon and Schuster, 1992.
Google Scholar
COVEY S., The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Free Press, 1989.
Google Scholar
DALAI LAMA, Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart, Harper, 1995.
Google Scholar
DALY H., Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics, 1992.
Google Scholar
DANDAVATE M., Gandhi’s Human Touch, Gandhi Foundation, India, 1996.
Google Scholar
DAVIS E., Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information, Serpent’s Trail, 1999.
Google Scholar
DOUTHWAITE R., The Growth Illusion, Council Oak Books, 1993.
Google Scholar
EINSTEIN A., Einstein The Human Side, eds. Dufas H., Hoffman B., Princeton University Press, 1979.
Google Scholar
EINSTEIN A., Religion and Science: The World As I See It, Philosophical Library, 1949.
Google Scholar
EINSTEIN A., The Expandable Quotable Einstein, ed. Alice Calaprice, Foreward by F. Dyson, Princeton University Press, 1996, 2000.
Google Scholar
EDWARDS D., Free to Be Human, Green Books, 1995.
Google Scholar
ELGIN D., Global Consciousness Change: Indicators of an Emerging Paradigm, Millennium Project, San Anselmo, California, 1997.
Google Scholar
ETZIONI A., The Moral Dimension: Towards a New Economics, The Free Press, New York and London, 1988.
Google Scholar
FREIRE P., The Politics of Education: Culture, Power and Liberation, Bergin and Garney Publisher, West-port CT, USA, 1985.
Google Scholar
GANDHI M., An Autobiography, or The Story of my experiments with truth, first published by Navajivan Trust in 1927. This edition printed and published by Jitendra T. Desai, Navajivan Mudranalaya, Ahmeda-bad, Indian, 2006.
Google Scholar
GOLDSMITH E., The Way: An Ecological Worldview, Shambhala Publishers, 1993.
Google Scholar
GROF S., The Cosmic Game: Exploration of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness, State University of New York Press, 1998.
Google Scholar
HABERMAS J., The Future on Human Nature, Polity Publishers, 2003.
Google Scholar
HARMAN W., Global Mind Change, Barrett-Koehler, 1998.
Google Scholar
HARMAN W., Higher Creativity: Liberating the Unconscious for Breakthrough Insights, Tarcher/Putnam, 1984.
Google Scholar
HENDERSON H., Beyond Globalization: Shaping a Sustainable Global Economy, Kumarian Press, 1999.
Google Scholar
HUXLEY A., The Perennial Philosophy, Harper Brothers, 1945.
Google Scholar
Robert, K., The Natural Step Story: Seeding a Quiet Revolution, New Society Publishers, 2002.
Google Scholar
KAMANETSKY M., The Invisible Player: Consciousness at the Soul of Economic, Social and Political Life, Park St. Press, 1999.
Google Scholar
KING U., The Spirit of the Earth: Reflections on Teilhard de Chardin and Global Spirituality, Paragon House, 1989.
Google Scholar
KORTEN D., The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, Barrett-Koehler, 2006.
Google Scholar
KORTEN D., The Post Corporate World, Barrett-Koehler, 1999.
Google Scholar
KRAS E., The Blockage: Rethinking Organizational Principles for the 21st Century, American Literary Press, 2007.
Google Scholar
KRAS E., Management in Two Cultures, Intercultural Press (now Nicolas Beasley Press), 1995.
Google Scholar
KRAS E., Modernizing Mexican Management, Editts Publishing (now Two Eagles Press), 1994.
Google Scholar
KUMAR S., You Are Therefore I Am, Green Books, 2002.
Google Scholar
KUMAR S., Path without Destination, Green Books and William Morrow, 1992.
Google Scholar
LASZLO E., Macroshift, Barrett-Koehler, 2001.
Google Scholar
LASZLO E.., Worldshift 2012, McArthur & Co.,Canada, 2009.
Google Scholar
LASZLO E., The Choice, Tarcher/Putnam, 1994.
Google Scholar
LASZLO E., 3rd Millennium: The Challenge and the Vision, Gaia Books Ltd, 2000.
Google Scholar
LOVELOCK J., The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is fighting back, and how we can still save humanity, Alan Lane Publishing, 2006.
Google Scholar
LOVELOCK J., Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, Oxford University Press, 1979.
Google Scholar
MASLOW A., Towards a Psychology of Being, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1968.
Google Scholar
MASLOW A., Religion, Values and Peak Experiences, Penguin Books, 1970.
Google Scholar
MCGILCHRIST I., The Master and his Emissary: the divided brain and making of the Western World, Yale University Press, 2010.
Google Scholar
MITCHELL E., The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut’s Journey through the Material and Mystical Worlds, Putnam Press, 1996.
Google Scholar
NORGAARD R., Development Betrayed: The End of Progress and a Coevolutionary Revisioning of the Future, Routledge, 1994.
Google Scholar
ORR D., Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Post Modern World, Suny Press, 1992.
Google Scholar
ORR D., Earth in Mind, Suny Press, 2004.
Google Scholar
PARLIAMENT of the World’s Religions, Declaration Toward a Global Ethic, Editorial Committee of the Council to the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Chicago, 1993.
Google Scholar
RUSSELL P., From Science to God: The Mystery of Consciousness and the Meaning of Light, Sausalito, Peter Russell, 2000.
Google Scholar
SCHUMACHER E.F., This I Believe ,Green Books, 1997.
Google Scholar
SCHUMACHER E.F., Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, Abacus, 1974.
Google Scholar
SEN A., East and West: the Reach for Reason, in: The Moral Universe, Demos, p.19-33, 2001.
Google Scholar
SHELDRAKE R., FOX M., Natural Grace: Dialogue on Science and Spirituality, Green Books, 1996.
Google Scholar
SODERBAUM P., Understanding Sustainability Economics: Towards Pluralism in Economics, Earthscan, 2008.
Google Scholar
TUTU D., No Future Without Forgiveness, Rider Publishing, 1999.
Google Scholar
UNITED NATIONS, The Earth Charter, United Nations Earth Council, 1997.
Google Scholar
UNITED NATIONS, The Universal Ethics Project, UNESCO Division of Philosophy and Ethics, Paris, 1997.
Google Scholar
UNION of Concerned Scientists, formed 1969, MIT.
Google Scholar
WACKERNAGEL M., REES M. & R., Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth, New Society Publishers, 1995.
Google Scholar
WALSH R., Essential Spirituality, John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
Google Scholar
WEBER T., Gandhi as Disciple and Mentor, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Google Scholar
WEBER T., Conflict Resolution and Gandhian Ethics, Gandhian Foundation, 1991.
Google Scholar
WORLD Values Survey, Values Change the World, Multi-country (46) publication, 2009.
Google Scholar
Authors
Eva M. KrasInternational Society for Ecological Economics, 44 Corkstown Road, Ottawa, ON K2H 5B4 Canada
Statistics
Abstract views: 20PDF downloads: 13
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
