Hi I’m Steve McDonald, welcome to my blog. I have a deep interest in human nature and the ongoing evolution of human consciousness and I hope you’ll find this site useful for making sense of who we are becoming. If you’d like to dive deeper, please check out my podcast at Future Sense.

For most of my life I’ve been helping people cope with significant change, as a military officer, civilian rescue helicopter pilot, corporate change consultant and group facilitator. Over time my focus has expanded to include the deep patterns within us that shape our perceptions, our values and behaviours. Since 2003 I’ve studied and taught a model of human development based on the research of Dr Clare W Graves (1914-1986), which includes predictive patterns that offer insights to our future. In 2019 I wrote the foreword for The Change Code by Monica Bourgeau, which offers a great introduction to Graves’ model.

My work is currently focused on the evolution of human nature and making sense of both local and global change, as we navigate the collapse of the scientific-industrial era and the rise of what’s next. My aim is to support the emergence of more capable and more compassionate ways of being human, through education, community building and supporting personal transformation.

I work through the non-profit Aadii Mesh Foundation, a registered Taoist charity. The foundation operates the Agency for Advanced Development of Integrative Intelligence (AADII) which is a change agency, tracking and mapping global change and our changing inner nature. AADII also undertakes action research into technologies and methodologies for personal wellbeing and transformation.

In 2006 I discovered the potential of psychoactive medicines to support deep healing and personal development. In 2011 I co-founded the Australian non-profit research organisation Psychedelic Research in Science & Medicine and I’m currently serving as Chairman. Psychedelic medicines, while not for everyone, can play a critical role in awakening our multidimensional awareness and this is central to our ongoing personal development and humanity’s evolution.

I began practicing Taoist martial, healing and alchemical arts in 1999, based upon the Wudang tradition from Hubei province, China. I had the pleasure of making a pilgrimage to Wudang Shan in 2005 and I established Aadii Mesh as a formal Taoist order in 2018, to carry my work forward.

Through my paternal family line I’m a stolen generation descendent and I’m very grateful to have reconnected with my First Nations family. We are Nyarla (Powerful Owl) people of the Gooreng Gooreng language group. Our traditional land spans the Central Queensland coastline between the mouth of the Fitzroy River (north of Gladstone) and Burrum Heads, near Hervey Bay, Queensland. It runs west to Monto, Cania Gorge and Mt Perry. With hindsight I’ve realised that my interest in working outdoors, exploring plant medicines and studying the patterns of nature through Taoism were all very much influenced by my bloodline.

My other interests include hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, music and photography.

To contact me please use this form or reach out on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Thanks for dropping by!