Systemic
Books
Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters, Brian Klaas
I grew up in the U.S., where I was sort of told you have to sort of just make your own path. This sort of individualist mindset, the American dream, and so on. And it's a culture that is extremely focused on control, right? … It starts to make you feel like, you know what, it's maybe OK if I don't have so much top-down control. And that's what I've internalized as a lesson from the book…. In terms of society, I think the main lesson is resilience. I think that we have the tools to give us the illusion of control more than ever before. Because we have so much predictability and stability in our daily lives that we start to think that our world is also stable. And in fact, it's the opposite. The stability in our daily lives is happening at the same time as the world is changing faster and more profoundly than ever before in human history…. So, in my view, this is something where politicians, economists, et cetera, need to understand that they are creating a world without slack, and the flukes are always going to be there. So, instead of imagining that we can have this top-down control, I think we have to have a little bit less hubris and also accept the limits of what humans can and cannot control. And I think that's true for ordinary citizens (in their personal lives) as well as for politicians who are calling the shots. [From an interview.]
The Holy Thursday Revolution, Beatrice Bruteau.
A pioneer in interspirituality and contemplative thinking, Bruteau offered a worldview that features the incomparable value of each person and the community dynamics of mutual respect and care that follows from that view. In her last book, The Holy Thursday Revolution, Bruteau addressed How the world can evolve from a culture of war and domination to one of friendship and communion. She wrote:
In saying that the domination/submission paradigm lies at the basis of many of our contemporary ills, I do not say that all of our ills can be traced to it, nor do I say that it is productive only of ill.
In fact, I hold that certain versions of it can be useful and appropriate in various limited, specific, functional situations… However, in our culture we have tended to award to the functionally dominant persons and institutions a total value of superiority, privilege, and power that has often led to injustice, damage, and suffering.
I am suggesting that domination is basic to a great many ills from which our culture does suffer and that it may be possible to replace it with an alternative paradigm that would afford some improvement. I think that each of these paradigms lies at a sufficiently deep level in our consciousness to be a unifying principle for a great many particular behaviors, and therefore if we deal with the matter on a deep level, we could thereby effect alterations in the relatively superficial attitudes and actions much more efficiently than by trying to change those feelings and events piecemeal.
Justice by Means of Democracy, Danielle Allen. A
affirms egalitarianism and criticizes domination. She proposes a “power-sharing liberalism” rooted in “difference without domination” and applies her analysis to politics, the economy, and the rest of society. Allen affirms the development of “citizens’ ability to adopt habits of non-domination in their ordinary interactions with one another.… This would permit us to establish a virtuous cycle linking political, social, and economic domains in support of the kind of human flourishing that rests on autonomy, both private and public.”
On Violence, Hannah Arendt. A review by Wade Lee Hudson.
Mahatma Gandhi : his message for mankind : a commemoration symposium, Haridas Chaudhuri; Leonard Roy Frank.
“Cultural Integration Fellowship has been celebrating the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi every year in the first week of October since 1951. A special celebration marks the centenary of Gandhi this year at San Francisco Ashram ... Beniamino Bufano, the internationally famed sculptor, exhibits in the Ashram his beautiful mosaic of Gandhi and reminisces on his thrilling participation in Gandhi's historic Salt March in 1930 ... Other speakers include Dr. Framroze A. Bode, Zoroastrian High Priest from Bombay, who was actively associated with Gandhi for sometime, and Dr. Haridas Chaudhuri, President of California Institute of Asian Studies ... The idea of this commemoration volume on Mahatma Gandhi came from Mr. Leonard Roy Frank, manager of the Continental Art Gallery in San Francisco ... The purpose of this small volume is to spotlight the unique significance of Gandhi in the history of human evolution ..."
Evolution of Integral Consciousness, by Haridas Chaudhuri.
“According to Dr. Haridas Chaudhuri, former president of the California Institute of Asian Studies, consciousness is the essential structure of the human psyche. It is the common denominator of all the levels of the human psychic structure. Consciousness is the essential structure of human reality. All that we do outside of ourselves in our human relations, social activities, or building up social, political and international structures, is ultimately determined by the dynamics of the human psyche. Chapters include: The Role of Philosophy; Integral Psychology; Quantum Theory and Consciousness; and Meditation for Integral Self-Development”
The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling, Arlie Russell Hochschild.
“About the Book: ...what occurs when emotion work, feeling rules, and the gift of exchange are introduced into the public world of work? ...roughly one-third of American men and one-half of American women hold jobs that call for substantial emotional labor. In many of these jobs, they are trained to accept feeling rules and techniques of emotion management that serve the company’s commercial purpose... an emotional laborer, such as a flight attendant, can become estranged not only from her own expressions of feeling (her smile is not "her" smile), but also from what she actually feels (her managed friendliness)..."
“…Jobs that call for emotional labor…require face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact with the public…require the worker to produce an emotional state in another person…[and] allow the employer to exercise a degree of control over the emotional activities of employees…
The imperial decision-makers [set] the informal rules to which underlings eagerly attune themselves… Their notions…will become an official culture for their top employees… It is a subtle and pervasive way of dominating…”
Sustainability and Well-Being: The Middle Path to Environment, Society and the Economy, Asoka Bandarage.
“She presents an incisive social science analysis and an alternative philosophical perspective on the needed transition from a worldview of domination to one of partnership.… Today, ‘ego consciousness’ and its ethics of individualism, domination, and competition is the driving force at the personal level as well as at the societal levels of nations, ethno-religious and gender groups, and in how humans relate to other animal and life forms….” (see review)
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, adrienne maree brown.
“Emergence notices the way very small actions and connections create complex systems, patterns that become ecosystems and societies…. Emergent strategy is how we intentionally change in ways that grow our capacity to embody the just and liberated worlds we long for…. Natural selection isn’t individual, but mutual — that species only survive if they learn to be in community…. We have transformed ourselves in a way that makes our work much more relevant as a living resistance to the dysfunctional social system in which we live…. Having community to live with is actually really crucial for human development…. Name your personal practices to each other within your group.”
The Spiritual Activist: Practices to Transform Your Life, Your Work, and Your World, Claudia Horwitz.
“Burnout is a risk for social workers, teachers, non-profit administrators, volunteers, trainers, artists, and anyone who is trying to make a difference in their world. Claudia Horwitz, who has more than fifteen years of experience working for social justice, believes that faith and spiritual practice play a vital role in the ongoing struggle for change.
The Spiritual Activist is a practical guide to individual and social transformation through spirituality and faith. It will help you to make opportunities to slow down, to build stronger relationships at home and at work, and to embrace the world around you. Horwitz shows you how to use reflection, ritual, silence, movement, and the happenings of daily life to help you find unity between your inner journeys and outer commitments. Each chapter contains:
* easy activities to help you reconnect with your core values, beliefs, and sources of strength
* questions for reflection
* resources
* stories from socially conscious leaders discussing their own spiritual life and practices.”Clash or Complement of Cultures?: Peace and Productivity in the New Global Reality, Hector E. Garcia.
"This book recommends balance between cooperation and competition in intercultural/international relations, with more emphasis on the former. To make this possible, it describes a paradigm shift and demonstrates why it is logical and how it can be attained—thus going beyond traditional legal and moral compliance. Compliance has been insufficient because morality has been significantly dismissed as a ‘soft value,’ and civil rights laws have been circumvented and frequently ineffective.
Book proposes that revolutionary changes caused by globalization require an equivalent paradigm. Interdependence inherent to globalization will not function if winning-is-the-only-thing mindset continues to prevail in U.S. and the West.
Cultural Complementarity is validated through respected principles and practices in quantum physics, education, business and economics. End chapters focus on national and international applications of paradigm. Appendices have data and suggested programs to test and implement the theory."
Creating a World That Works for All, Sharif Abdullah.
“The world is a mess. The privileged few prosper. The masses suffer. And everyone feels spiritually empty. Most people would blame capitalism, racism, or some other “”ism””. But according to Sharif M. Abdullah, the problem is not ideology. It’s exclusivity — our desire to stay separate from other people.
In Creating a World That Works for All, Abdullah takes a look at the mess we live in — and presents a way out. To restore balance to the earth and build community, he says, people must stop blaming others, embrace inclusivity, and become “”Menders””. He outlines three simple tests — for “”enoughness””, exchangeability, and common benefit — to guide people as they transform themselves and the world.” [See Donald Trump: The Triumph of Frustration, The Failure Of Vision, Shariff M. Abdullah.]
The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness, Rhonda Magee.
“In a society where unconscious bias, microaggressions, institutionalized racism, and systemic injustices are so deeply ingrained, healing is an ongoing process. When conflict and division are everyday realities, our instincts tell us to close ranks, to find the safety of those like us, and to blame others. This book profoundly shows that in order to have the difficult conversations required for working toward racial justice, inner work is essential. Through the practice of embodied mindfulness–paying attention to our thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations in an open, nonjudgmental way–we increase our emotional resilience, recognize our own biases, and become less reactive when triggered.
It is only by healing from injustices and dissolving our personal barriers to connection that we develop the ability to view others with compassion and to live in community with people of vastly different backgrounds and viewpoints. Incorporating mindfulness exercises, research, and Magee’s hard-won insights, The Inner Work of Racial Justice offers a road map to a more peaceful world.” (see review)Trump and a Post-Truth World, By Ken Wilber.
“In this provocative work, philosopher Ken Wilber applies his Integral approach to explain how we arrived where we are and why there is cause for hope. He lays much of the blame on a failure at the progressive, leading edge of society. This leading edge is characterized by the desire to be as just and inclusive as possible, and to it we owe the thrust toward women’s rights, the civil rights movement, the environmental movement, and the concern for oppression in all its forms. This is all evolutionarily healthy. But what is unhealthy is a creeping postmodernism that is elitist, “politically correct,” insistent on an egalitarianism that is itself paradoxically hierarchical, and that looks down on “deplorables.” Combine this with the techno-economic demise of many traditional ways of making a living, and you get an explosive mixture.
It is only when members of society’s leading edge can heal themselves that a new, Integral evolutionary force can emerge to move us beyond the social and political turmoil of our current time to offer genuine leadership toward greater wholeness.
A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries, By Terry Patten.
“A guide to inner work for holistic change.” (see review)
Denis Diderot’s The Encyclopedia: Selections, Stephen J. Gendzier, ed.
With forty collaborators, including writers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu, and many more contributors, the 18th Century French polymath Denis Diderot served as principal editor of the Enlightenment’s remarkable The Encyclopedia....
The Encyclopedia, which aimed to cover the whole range of human knowledge of the time, was on the cutting edge of a cultural revolution that emerged from the Dark Ages, when intellectuals had been prone to debate abstractions like how many angels could sit on the head of a pin....
Of particular relevance is the Encyclopedists’ affirmation of systemic thinking. In his Introduction to The Encyclopedia: Selections, Stephen J. Gendzler writes: “Such [cross references] were first of all intended to clarify complex subjects and to show all the relationships between things and between words, then to illuminate the truth in all areas, to demonstrate the unity of knowledge…” (see review)