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Future Sacred: The Connected Creativity of Nature
Reveals how our survival depends on embracing complexity consciousness and relating to nature and all life as sacred
• Rejects the “survival of the fittest” narrative in favor of sacred symbiosis, creative cooperation, interdependence and complex thinking
• Provides examples from complexity studies, cultural history, philosophy, indigenous spirituality, biomimicry, and ecology to show how nature’s intelligence and creativity abound everywhere
• Documents how indigenous cultures lived in relative harmony with nature because they perceived themselves as part of the “ordered whole” of all life
In Future Sacred , Julie J. Morley offers a new perspective on the human connection to the cosmos by unveiling the connected creativity and sacred intelligence of nature. She rejects the “survival of the fittest” narrative--the idea that survival requires strife--and offers symbiosis and cooperation as nature’s path forward. She shows how an increasingly complex world demands increasingly complex consciousness. Our survival depends upon embracing “complexity consciousness,” understanding ourselves as part of nature, as well as relating to nature as sacred.
Morley begins by documenting how indigenous cultures lived in relative harmony with nature because they perceived themselves as part of the “ordered whole” of all life--until modernity introduced dualistic thinking, thus separating mind from matter, and humans from nature. The author deconstructs the fallacy behind social and neo-Darwinism and the materialist theories of “dead matter” versus those that offer a connection with the sentient mind of nature. She presents evidence from complexity studies, cultural history, philosophy, indigenous spirituality, biomimicry, and ecology, highlighting the idea that nature’s intelligence and creativity abound everywhere--from cells to cetaceans, from hydrogen to humans, from sunflowers to solar panels--and that all sentient beings contribute to the evolution of life as a whole, working together in sacred symbiosis.
Morley concludes that our sacred future depends on compassionately understanding and integrating multiple intelligences, seeing relationships and interdependence as fundamental and sacred, as well as honoring the experiences of all sentient beings. Instead of “mastery over nature,” we must shift toward synergy with nature--and with each other as diverse expressions of nature’s creativity.
• Rejects the “survival of the fittest” narrative in favor of sacred symbiosis, creative cooperation, interdependence and complex thinking
• Provides examples from complexity studies, cultural history, philosophy, indigenous spirituality, biomimicry, and ecology to show how nature’s intelligence and creativity abound everywhere
• Documents how indigenous cultures lived in relative harmony with nature because they perceived themselves as part of the “ordered whole” of all life
In Future Sacred , Julie J. Morley offers a new perspective on the human connection to the cosmos by unveiling the connected creativity and sacred intelligence of nature. She rejects the “survival of the fittest” narrative--the idea that survival requires strife--and offers symbiosis and cooperation as nature’s path forward. She shows how an increasingly complex world demands increasingly complex consciousness. Our survival depends upon embracing “complexity consciousness,” understanding ourselves as part of nature, as well as relating to nature as sacred.
Morley begins by documenting how indigenous cultures lived in relative harmony with nature because they perceived themselves as part of the “ordered whole” of all life--until modernity introduced dualistic thinking, thus separating mind from matter, and humans from nature. The author deconstructs the fallacy behind social and neo-Darwinism and the materialist theories of “dead matter” versus those that offer a connection with the sentient mind of nature. She presents evidence from complexity studies, cultural history, philosophy, indigenous spirituality, biomimicry, and ecology, highlighting the idea that nature’s intelligence and creativity abound everywhere--from cells to cetaceans, from hydrogen to humans, from sunflowers to solar panels--and that all sentient beings contribute to the evolution of life as a whole, working together in sacred symbiosis.
Morley concludes that our sacred future depends on compassionately understanding and integrating multiple intelligences, seeing relationships and interdependence as fundamental and sacred, as well as honoring the experiences of all sentient beings. Instead of “mastery over nature,” we must shift toward synergy with nature--and with each other as diverse expressions of nature’s creativity.
- GenresNature
272 pages, Paperback
Published February 12, 2019
10 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Julie J. Morley
2 books6 followersJulie Morley is an environmental educator, author and speaker on complexity, consciousness, ecology and interspecies creativity. She studied Classics at University of Southern California and Columbia University. She received her MA in Transformative Leadership from California Institute of Integral Studies, where she is currently a doctoral student. Her research focus is Interspecies intersubjectivity.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 14, 2019
This book is a MUST READ for our generation today. Future Sacred is a beautiful reminder of how we are all connected and how all things exist in in nature has sentience. It is time to change the way we perceive the world, and the way we perceive each other as well as nature and animals. Instead of working against each other with the idea that life is competition, based on Darwin’s survival of the fittest. We need to seek out ways of coexisting together. Of understanding that we are all correlated in some way shape of form. That every thing we do has an effect on every being existing on this earth. We must be more mindful of our planet and of each other. This book touches all of these topics so well and shows back in history, the ideologies that got us to where we are today and how as a society we have digressed. It also touches base on many new ideologies of reform, new ways of thinking that can shift the way we treat each other and our one and only planet.
Very great read!
Very great read!
February 25, 2019
Julie Morley's, FUTURE SACRED, is fascinating and sagely. It is a pleasure to read her beautifully written analysis of history, philosophy, sacred traditions, and science, converging in a world of interrelated harmony. With a gentle voice of compassion, and profound depth of understanding, Ms. Morley illustrates a multitude of exquisitely intricate patterns, which are found within various forms of life. She elegantly discusses the significance of the vast beauty and creativity of nature. Moreover, she clearly demonstrates the empathy, for all creatures, which is necessary to envision the changes our planet so desperately needs; in order to survive, and ultimately thrive. Highly recommended.
September 11, 2023
I think people absolutely need minimum knowledge of philosophy and psychology to be able to truly appreciate and understand this book. I consider myself knowledgeable in those areas but I still ended up enjoying the last chapters a bit more because they were less about theories and such. Hence, I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 because of the fact that it might be less accessible for some folks. Great read though!
November 20, 2023
A needed book about our univesal connectedness. Cons: Each chapter had its own literature review, and I don't care for that style, especially in a book(I also found it unnecessary within each chapter). Reads a bit like a linguistics text in some regards since the author regularly addresses the etymology of words.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews