Global Shift: How A New Worldview Is Transforming Humanity (New Harbinger/Noetic Books) (co-published with the Institute of Noetic Sciences) [Paperback]

Edmund J. Bourne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2009

A remarkable change is taking place that will profoundly influence the way we see ourselves and our world. The dominant materialistic, separatist worldview-a perspective that leads individuals to value their own needs over the good of the whole-is giving way to a humanitarian-spiritual orientation. This shift will revolutionize both the way humanity interacts on a global scale and how we live on a day-to-day basis.

Global Shift, copublished with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), explores the roots of such current planetary crises as climate change, diminishing resources, poverty, and disease, and explains how a new convergence of scientific research and spiritual insight is propelling us toward a more enlightened future. It also presents a call to actions we can implement now, such as voluntary simplicity, nonviolent communication, caring for our bodies, and inclusive global thinking, that can foster personal healing and bring our lives into alignment with the needs of the planet and a conscious universe.

An essential guidebook for navigating our time.
-Anodea Judith, Ph.D., author of Waking the Global Heart and Eastern Body-Western Mind

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Publisher

The purpose of Global Shift is to describe a fundamental shift in humanity's way of viewing the world. Such a shift has been developing over the past three decades and will continue to evolve through much of the twenty-first century. The shift accompanies a profound rite of passage that the earth and its people are going through now and in the future.

In order to best understand the future and what one needs to do to change, you must first examine present problems and how they came to be. Therefore, the first part of Global Shift looks at the adverse effects of the dominant worldview, and how it has compromised our collective ability to move forward. The primary problem is that the current worldview promotes a separatism that has been encoded into many of our social and economic institutions. It has led individuals and groups to prioritize their needs over the good of the whole, to exploit others and the natural environment, and to disassociate their own well-being from that of the world around them.

However, there are scientific advances and philosophical developments that have contributed to a broader understanding of who we are and what we are capable of becoming. Global Shift also illustrates how paradigm shifts are showing up in a variety of institutional settings, and then goes on to describe personal transformational practices that readers can implement in their daily lives. There are practical and realistic ways to live a life that is consistent with enlightened values and core beliefs, such as compassion and sustainability, and that can perpetuate our potential for an evolved consciousness and way of life.

Global Shift concludes with several more practical chapters. Given the broad changes in the way we perceive the world, what actions and personal practices are consistent with this new vision? In short, how does each of us implement the new paradigm in the way we lead our daily lives? In "Transformative Practices: Aligning the Inner Self with a Conscious Universe," Bourne describes practices such as voluntary simplicity, caring for one's body, nonviolent communication, forgiveness, mindfulness, inclusive (global) thinking, and letting go that can foster personal healing, as well as bring our lives into alignment with the needs of the planet and a conscious universe.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications; 1 edition (January 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572245972
• ISBN-13: 978-1572245976
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D., has specialized in the treatment of anxiety disorders and related problems for two decades. For many years, Bourne was director of the Anxiety Treatment Center in San Jose and Santa Rosa, CA. His bestselling anxiety books, which have helped hundreds of thousands of readers throughout the world, include The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook, Beyond Anxiety and Phobia, and Coping with Anxiety.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very insightful and relevant philosophical work . . ., January 18, 2009

By 

M. K. GRAVES (Guntersville, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Global Shift: How A New Worldview Is Transforming Humanity (New Harbinger/Noetic Books) (co-published with the Institute of Noetic Sciences) (Paperback)

Dr. Ed Bourne, like many of the great psychologists of old, has crossed
that fine line between psychology and philosophy with this book. He takes
a look at all the ingredients contributing to what many consider a global
crisis in the first part of the book - and explores each thoroughly. Then,
he describes ways in which a shift in global consciousness could address
these issues - and suggests that such a shift has already begun. In the
final section, he synthesizes it all into practical recommendations for
changes each of us could make in our daily lives to contribute to this
"global shift". I personally found the book very informative, interesting,
and even inspiring. This is not a book you can sit down and read in one
day. This is a book that will both require and provoke a lot of thought
from you - long after you've read the last page. It's a book you'll likely
find yourself going back to. Truly, it's the kind of book the world needs right
now.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Overiew of Facts and Trends - And yet there is more, August 25, 2009

By 

blue jaguar (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Global Shift: How A New Worldview Is Transforming Humanity (New Harbinger/Noetic Books) (co-published with the Institute of Noetic Sciences) (Paperback)

(The rating really is 3.5 but Amazon has a very primitive rating system unlike say rottentomatoes which uses a novel concept called percentages.)

Consider this a yuppie version or a descendant of the classics Future Shock, The Third Wave, MegaTrends. This is a very well thought out book detailing the history behind, and the direction towards, some of the basic changes our society has made in the past decades. The book brings out that we are leaving cold scientific materialism in favor of something more local, balanced, personal, and intuitive. If you are looking to formulate your own views as to how society is changing this will give you a good overall perspective. The writing style is easy to follow yet not captivating. This book did not fulfill it's portent as conveyed in the title. I was looking for lots of detail around 'transforming humanity' and was left wanting.

If you have been around What the Bleep, heard about yoga, Reiki, or think globally, act locally, you will not get many new concepts out of this book. Further, the author missed major opportunities in really nailing down what it is you can do to support this global shift other than very basic things that are part of the think globally, act locally mantram. I mean so what if you shop at WholeFoods, eat some organic food, keep your body fit and so on. Those are all really good things, great things, but in themselves they do not provide or support enough global change fast enough to support humanity making the shift. You can create as much of a carbon foot print with plastics from WholeFoods or anywhere else while you are looking pretty in your yoga clothes sipping your kombucha. My point is that to make it to a global shift requires a unifying vision. And this book only helps us with brief brush strokes around what such a vision would be. Yes the book does talk about shifting our views away from nationalism to understanding we are all citizens. But there were other opportunties that were not followed through. In large part these were due to a lack of clarity on what is humanity and what are the threats extant to it.

How about questions around how the existance of eternal corporations, accountable mainly to shareholders, are grinding the planet into concrete and refuse heaps. The military industrial only thrives when there is an active threat. What to do when governments focus more on control than freedom? Should the media be involved in state propaganda? Is it even possible (at least under capitalism) for the corporate media to convey information in a unbaised way with no sub-motives when corporations and the state need each other to survive? Should disease scares such as influenza be used to prop up profits for drug companies? All of these things are going and all of them are in-human and threaten your humanity. But can you alter your lifestyle to negate or limit their effects on you. Can you see external threats as being created? Can you live without your TV and magazine subscriptions? Can you drink water instead of beer, soda/pop, the sports drink? Do you think all those drinks and most processed foods are good for you? Have you ever called out your representatives at all levels to ask them why we continue to bury the country in debt, etc. Should there be any laws saying what an adult can put into their own body or what two consenting adults should be able to do with each other? But even this is not where the core opportunities were not fully emphasized.

What would really support the global shift is a concerted effort of meditation and prayer around the idea and vision that we are a single being on this planet. And us as humans are cells on the body of the mother planet Earth. Yes, this may be too 'woo-woo' for many readers interested in the dynamics and 'FACTS' around societal change. But I'll argue that anything short of such a radical change in views (and this is as deep or deeper than Gaia hypothesis) are not going to affect us before we all choke in our own pollution.

So while the book does a very good job to bring you up to a common view of the current transformation, it missed opportunities to convey the vision of the global unified humanity. A human being is someone who's natural sense of being and unity is really what it is going to take to turn this corner and live in peace. And the final state of our utopia will require that everyone think for themselves and yet not perform unilateral actions but rather seek consensus. And possibly a government by the people and for the people is, in Lao Tzu's words, and the founding fathers vision, as small government as we can get. The opposite trend has been going on and it's going to take us to live in our humanity to counter-balance it. Humanity = human unity.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Read, June 25, 2009

By 

Maryland Gentleman (MD) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Global Shift: How A New Worldview Is Transforming Humanity (New Harbinger/Noetic Books) (co-published with the Institute of Noetic Sciences) (Paperback)

This is a well written and thoroughly researched book that the author obviously went into great lengths in order to present a full picture. The book goes to great lengths to discuss very vital issues pertaining to our lives and our planet. The first 200 plus pages takes us through a very detailed description of where we are as people and the way we need to go in order to sustain our ever depleted planet.

Some of the topics discussed are moving forward with the big challenges we face as humans and our planet. Understanding the universe, the integration of science and religion/spirituality, recognizing the unity of consciousness-that our minds are joined in one, and much more.

The last 130 pages go into actual ways we can progress forward in order to achieve the "global shift" discussed in the book. A few examples include Voluntary simplicity- taking a simpler path in life in order to "lighten our footprints on earth". The concept of unconditional love and forgiveness as the highest values in our relations with each other, letting go of clutter, living closer to nature, learning peaceful communications based on empathy, acceptance of differences the ability to compromise,ect.

After reading this book, I have to say it has helped me to understand the many of the important aspects of life that most of us do not think much about, it provides some of the steps that one can take in order to have a more meaningful, peaceful and manageable life regardless of ones situation, and thus I very much recommending reading this book, and sharing it with friends and family.