Friends, David Korten has a new book coming out in May. Based on the description, below, that I got off his website, I'm very eager to read it - wish I could get an early copy somehow. It is clear from his table of contents that our thinking goes on parallel tracks. I wrote him about this, observing that there is a path out there, and it seems only one: it's a matter of discovering it, not inventing it. I was impressed with his response: So true. It is about discovering what in someways has always been right there in front of us, but remains obfuscated by the false stories by which we have come to live From the end of the TOC: Part V: Birthing Earth Community 19. Leading from Below 20. Building Consensus 21. Liberating Creative Potential 22. Change the Story, Change the Future Grassroots-based harmonization: an idea whose time has come? rkm http://cyberjournal.org -------------------------------------------------------- http://davidkorten.com/Books/greatturning.htm The Great Turning is a work of amazing scope and depth. This is a wise and much needed book that shows we can create cultures where our enormous human capacities for joy, caring, and cooperation are realized. - Riane Eisler, author of "The Chalice and the Blade" I love this book! David Korten has done it again - created a masterpiece of big-thinking to help us find our way in this death-or-life historical moment. With fascinating analogies, intriguing stories and eloquent analysis, Korten draws in the reader. He then emboldens us to believe that we can trust and cultivate the best in the best in ourselves and, despite the lateness of the hour, choose life. - Frances Moore Lappé, author "Hope's Edge and Democracy's Edge" David Korten's classic bestseller, When Corporations Rule the World, was one of the first books to articulate the destructive and oppressive nature of the global corporate economy. Now, ten years later, Korten shows that the problem runs deeper than corporate domination-with far greater consequences. In The Great Turning, Korten argues that corporate consolidation of power is merely a contemporary manifestation of what he calls "Empire": the organization of society by hierarchies of domination grounded in violent chauvinisms of race, gender, religion, nationality, language, and class. The result has been the same for 5,000 years, fortune for the few and misery for the many. Increasingly destructive of children, family, community, and nature, the way of Empire is leading to environmental and social collapse. The Great Turning makes the case that we humans are a choicemaking species that at this defining moment faces both the opportunity and the imperative to choose our future as a conscious collective act. We can no longer deny the need nor delay our response. A mounting perfect economic storm is fast approaching. A convergence of climate change, peak oil, and the financial instability inherent in an unbalanced global trading system will bring an unraveling of the corporate-led global economy and a dramatic restructuring of every aspect of modern life. We cannot avoid the unraveling. We can, however, turn a potentially terminal crisis into an epic opportunity to bring forth a new era of Earth Community grounded in the life-affirming cultural values shared by most all the world's people and eloquently articulated in the Earth Charter. The Great Turning is an essential resource for those who understand this need and are prepared to engage what Thomas Berry calls the Great Work. It cuts through the complexity of our time to illuminate a simple, but elegant truth. We humans live by stories. We are held captive to the ways of Empire by a cultural trance of our own creation maintained by stories that deny the higher possibilities of our human nature-including our capacities for compassion, cooperation, responsible self-direction, and self-organizing partnership. Changing our future begins with changing our stories. A work already underway, it ultimately calls out for the participation of every person on the planet. The Great Turning points the way to the inspiring outcome within our reach. ________________________________ Table of Contents Prologue: In Search of the Possible Part I: Choosing Our Future 1. The Choice 2. The Possibility 3. The Imperative 4. The Opportunity Part II: Sorrows of Empire 5. When God Was a Woman 6. Ancient Empire 7. Modern Empire 8. Athenian Experiment Part III: America, The Unfinished Project 9. Inauspicious Beginning 10. People Power Rebellion 11. Empire's Victory 12. Struggle for Justice 13. Wake Up Call 14. Prisons of the Mind Part IV: The Great Turning 15. Beyond Strict Father Vs Aging Clock 16. Creation's Epic Journey 17. Joys of Earth Community 18. Stories for a New Era http://davidkorten.com/Books/greatturning.htm Part V: Birthing Earth Community 19. Leading from Below 20. Building Consensus 21. Liberating Creative Potential 22. Change the Story, Change the Future ________________________________ Earth Community Dialogues There is a rapidly growing awareness that the era of cheap oil is ending, climate change is real and deadly, and the relentless corporate drive to export jobs and technological capacity in the pursuit of quick profits is a path to national suicide. By the day, more people are realizing that business as usual is over and that the politicians in control in Washington, DC are too busy lining their own pockets to notice. If leadership is to be found, it must come from people working together from the bottom-up to reclaim and rebuild family and community life and restore environmental health. The possibilities for such leadership are far greater than the nation's bitter political divisions might suggest. Eighty-three percent of Americans believe that as a country we are focused on the wrong priorities. Substantial majorities of both conservatives and liberals want to see greater priority given to children, family, community, and a healthy environment. In short a substantial majority of Americans feel out of step with the way things are going and embrace the foundational values of Earth Community. We are captive to self-limiting stories that deny the possibility of any alternative to humanity's current suicidal path. To change course, we must step forward to break the silence, end the isolation, and change the stories that frame the national political discourse. Our collective behavior will change as our collective stories change. No matter how small the individual voice, it can contribute to changing the national conversation, and thus our politics and our direction,. Groups and individuals across the country are taking the initiative to engage conversations of growing scope to address the imperative and opportunity now before us. These conversations take many forms and go by many names. They share in common, however, an underlying commitment to turning an impending crisis into an opportunity to create a world that affirms the deeper values most humans share. Each contributes to a growing Earth Community Dialogue and a redirection of humanity's course.