I’ve created this blog to offer an alternative perspective on what’s happening in the world right now and what might happen in the future.  As the old saying goes, we live in interesting times!  On one hand we’re starting to see major change in both natural systems (eg Earth’s climate) and social systems (eg financial markets).  On the other hand the speed of technological development has never been faster and we’re on the verge of some major breakthroughs in areas such as biotechnology, alternative energy, understanding natural systems and understanding human nature.  I suspect that the answers to many emerging global problems are already known to some, but are yet to be appreciated by mainstream societies.

As I write, George W Bush has just issued a warning to Americans that their ‘entire economy is in danger’.  If you’ve been following the markets you might have been as perplexed as I was, when a day or two ago he simply offered to write a cheque that would fix it all.  This simplistic thinking, which is evident at the highest levels of leadership in many cases, is no longer adequate to solve complex, large scale problems.

I’ve just (this morning) finished reading a book by the President of The Arlington Institute, John L Petersen, which summarises what he sees as emerging threats to global civilisation.  John also talks about the technological breakthroughs occurring and offers advice on how we might better prepare to meet some very significant challenges over the next few years.  His book is called A Vision for 2012 and I recommend it as an excellent summary of the challenges that we’re likely to face globally.  From my own perspective, some of the major issues will relate to water, food, healthcare and education.

My work as a change agent relies heavily on a whole-of-system perspective, as well as ongoing enquiry into human nature itself.  I’m thankful for the work of Ken Wilber (Integral Theory) and for Professor Clare W Graves‘ research into the dynamics of human nature and change.

As we sail into what seems to be a brewing global storm of intermeshing, complex problems, our capacity to cope will be determined by our ability to access, and to practically apply, the highest levels of awareness and understanding (you could say ‘consciousness’).  Dealing with surface level symptoms won’t be enough.  We will need the depth of insight to sense the invisible, underlying patterns of change that are at work.  This is no small ask, but it’s both possible and necessary to deal with what lies ahead.

In future posts I’ll write about the underlying patterns of change I’m seeing and discuss how a deeper understanding of human nature might help us navigate the future.