The Great Work: Our Way into the FutureThomas Berry is one of the most eminent cultural historians of our time. Here he presents the culmination of his ideas and urges us to move from being a disrupting force on the Earth to a benign presence. This transition is the Great Work -- the most necessary and most ennobling work we will ever undertake. Berry's message is not one of doom but of hope. He reminds society of its function, particularly the universities and other educational institutions whose role is to guide students into an appreciation rather than an exploitation of the world around them. Berry is the leading spokesperson for the Earth, and his profound ecological insight illuminates the path we need to take in the realms of ethics, politics, economics, and education if both we and the planet are to survive. |
Contents
THE CORPORATION STORY | 117 |
THE EXTRACTIVE ECONOMY | 136 |
THE PETROLEUM INTERVAL | 150 |
REINVENTING THE HUMAN | 159 |
THE DYNAMICS OF THE FUTURE | 166 |
THE FOURFOLD WISDOM | 176 |
MOMENTS OF GRACE | 196 |
Bibliography | 202 |
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Common terms and phrases
achievements basic beginning biological bioregion biosystems Cenozoic chemical components comprehensive concern consciousness considered context corporations cosmological cosmology creative cultural devastation dominant E. O. Wilson Earth community ecological economic Ecopsychology Ecozoic emerged ence energy entire environmental established European existence experience exploitation expression extensive forests forms fulfillment functioning future geography human affairs human community human presence indigenous industrial insight integral International Monetary Fund intimacy intimate John Muir Ladakh land larger life-systems living manner mode modern natural world Neolithic nomic North America North American continent numinous organic ourselves period petroleum planet Earth political present primary psychic reality region relation religious role sacred scientific sense sequence shape significant situation society species spiritual story survival sustainable technologies Thomas Berry throughout tion traditions transformation twentieth century twenty-first century understanding vast viable well-being Western civilization Western world wisdom women World Trade Organization York