In this 2023 conversation with Justine Willis Toms, futurist Duane Elgin argues that humanity is straddling unprecedented, threshold times, and that this situational crisis involves more than just climate change: it's a whole systemic change. Yet, despite the extreme nature of our situation, we're also living in a moment of immense possibility in a sea of a living universe within a domain of aliveness, where new kinds of potentials are going to emerge. He writes "Even though it is difficult, even though your heart breaks a thousand times, we must go through this time of collective initiation in order to take our place as responsible adults collaborating in the creation of a healthy and vibrant community of all beings."
Duane Elgin is the author of many books including:
• Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness (William Morrow 1993)
• Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich (Harper 2010)
• The Living Universe: Where Are We? Who Are We? Where Are We Going? (Barrett Koehler Publishers 2009)
• Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity's Future the Living Universe (William Morrow 2000)
• Choosing Earth: Humanity's Journey of Initiation through Breakdown and Collapse to Mature Planetary Community (Revised Edition) (Duane Elgin 2022)
Interview Date: 10/20/2023 Tags: Duane Elgin, initiation, Christopher Alexander, mutual symbiosis, pocket neighborhoods, eco-villages, digital authoritarianism, digital dictatorship, electronic meetings, ETMs, electronic Town Meetings, The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Personal Transformation, Psychology, Community, Social Change/Politics, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Global Culture
