Matters of Consequence: Creatinga Meaningful Life and a World That Works (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Canadian futurist urges an understanding of... humanity's contextual reality, personal reality, and alternative futures... A very readable integration... -- Future Survey, January 2004

It's a compass as we step into an unknown land. -- Timeline, March/April 2004

a broad intellectual voyage into personal concerns such as living a creative and significant life, and societal ones -- Atlantic Books Today, Summer 2004

a mosaic of ideas that addresses our deepest concerns -- The BUZZ, July 2004

a tasty, chewy, energy-bar book designed to accelerate good thinking in new ways -- Patterns, January/February 2004 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

SELF. WORLD. COSMOS. This book of sweeping scope presents the knowledge needed to craft a wise, significant, and deeply satisfying life. It presents an illuminating tapestry of ideas that gives us key insights into our own lives and the human situation, helps us envision both an optimized personal life and a world that works for everyone, and empowers us to do what needs to be done to create them.

MATTERS OF CONSEQUENCE is a cross-disciplinary map of reality that addresses human concerns at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Among these are personal concerns such as living a creative and significant life, and societal ones such as sustainability and economic justice. The book's underlying assumption is this: If we come to understand the interior and exterior aspects of the human situation--deeply, comprehensively, clearly--then what needs to be done, both in our personal lives and the world around us, becomes clear. This integral approach is rooted in the Perennial Philosophy, in Jean Gebser and Ken Wilber's work, and in Abraham Maslow's insight that if you come to understand a situation deeply enough, you will know what to do about it. Toward this end, MATTERS OF CONSEQUENCE outlines a process for developing deep understanding--a variety of wisdom that involves the integration of broadly-based contextual knowledge (the humanities plus the sciences plus economics) with introspectively acquired self-knowledge.

The book first explores important contextual matters: the nature of physical and mental reality; the question of cosmic purpose; socio-cultural, economic, and biospheric realities; inner reality (including self-knowledge, freedom, responsibility, identity, ethical sensibility); and creating a life characterized by meaning, purpose, and significance. It then focuses on the action implications of all this. Discussions about predicting the future and creating the future provide background for considering the vision of a year-2050 world worth creating. That world is characterized by economic equity, physical sustainability, vibrant local cultures, an electronically-facilitated world culture, and sufficient time in people's lives to pursue a full, rich, life of the mind. The book concludes by introducing the reader to a variety of print, Internet, and organizational resources in support of personal efforts to develop deep understanding and live toward the vision.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 412 pages
• Publisher: Big Ideas Press (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096896186X
• ISBN-13: 978-0968961865
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,391,583 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whole Systems Thinking and Visionary Solutions, June 13, 2004

By	Martha White (Murfreesboro, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Matters of Consequence: Creating a Meaningful Life and a World That Works (Paperback)

Matters of Consequence marks Copthorne Macdonald as one of the few authors who attends to deep matters in the domains of science, humanism, and spirituality, and does so in a way that can be understood by any reader. He offers solid, viable, visionary solutions to the serious brokenness of the human condition.

People, today, seem to be divided into a few "camps," so to speak. Those who choose to live in the past have little to offer, and we can only hope that those individuals interested in consumption, power, and money will shift their perspectives as the seriousness of the human situation becomes ever more obvious. There are those who are interested only in their own personal growth and spiritual development. If they stay with it, they will mature and care for what is outside of themselves as well as what is within.

There are "progressives" who spend all their time exposing failures and wrongdoings of the moment, but never extrapolate from that to the creation of solutions. Career activists are valuable, to be sure, but some of them seem to have based their lives solely upon campaigning AGAINST something - never seeming to move forward to creation of something better.

Then we have the very few who think and feel holistically. These are the people who have real wisdom to offer. Paul Ray, author of the Cultural Creatives study, frankly states that Matters of Consequence is the one book he always hoped he would find.

It really is the most comprehensive piece of writing I have ever read - particularly between the covers of one book. Wisdom resides on every page, and his deep research, and the breadth and scope of his knowledge and vision are astonishing.

Given the truly desperate situation facing humanity today, if you read only one book this year, I honestly hope, for all our sakes, that you consider making it this one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Getting wisdom, April 29, 2004

By	John Stewart (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Matters of Consequence: Creating a Meaningful Life and a World That Works (Paperback)

`Matters of Consequence' is a wonderful guide to answering the age-old questions that confront all human beings: What should I do with my life? How should I spend my time? The book provides great resources and wise advice for discovering a larger purpose and meaning in life that will lead to positive and productive engagement with the world.

A central message of the book is that direction and purpose will come naturally to a person who acquires what the author calls `deep understanding'. To achieve deep understanding, two key ingredients are necessary. The first is knowledge of humanity's place in the cosmos and of the complex processes that impact on humanity and will determine our future. The second is self-knowledge and spiritual development. The author argues convincingly that it is only when this second essential ingredient is added that individuals will know how to respond appropriately to the great challenges facing humanity and will find the motivation and energy to do something positive about them. Knowledge alone, no mater how comprehensive and intelligent, is not enough.

Importantly, the book makes out a strong case for a spirituality that is fully and deeply engaged with the world and that will drive social and political activism. It convincingly rejects a sterile and sequestered spirituality that is disengaged from the human condition and disinterested in political and social issues.

In large part `Matters of Consequence' is a manual for achieving `deep understanding'. It provides an integrated and cutting edge survey of all the key areas of knowledge that must be mastered for a proper understanding of the human condition - the book includes wonderful syntheses of cosmological, evolutionary, socio-cultural, economic and environmental knowledge. It then integrates these with approaches to developing introspectively-acquired self-knowledge and creating a life of purpose, meaning and significance. The book concludes with a thorough examination of the key challenges facing humanity over the next 50 years and how deep understanding can be put to use to respond to these. It identifies the personal and societal transformations that we must implement. A series of detailed Appendices identify further resources that we can use as we engage with these challenges.

Despite the complexity and breadth of the issues and knowledge that the book covers, I found it effortless to read. It is written extremely clearly and simply.

I do not know anyone who would fail to learn something of significance from reading `Matters of Consequence', and who would not enjoy doing so. This is an important and timely book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, holistic, far-reaching, & "reader friendly", March 8, 2004

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Matters of Consequence: Creating a Meaningful Life and a World That Works (Paperback)

Matters Of Consequence: Creating A Meaningful Life And A World That Works by Copthrorne Macdonald is a kind of intellectual "self-help" guide to achieving a better understanding and control personal reality. From the arts of predicting and influencing the future; to learning to better understand human mentality; to the complexities of the question of cosmic purpose, and more, Matters Of Consequence is a thoughtful, holistic, far-reaching, "reader friendly" guide to framing self awareness amid the bulwark of personal responsibility. Densely informative, Matters Of consequence is also available in a hard cover edition and would make an excellent addition to any personal or community library Philosophy or Human Ecology collection.