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There’s an old Stephen Stills’ song, recorded by Buffalo Springfield in 1967, whose opening line is: “Something’s happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear...” The song goes on to describe an anti-establishment protest in Los Angeles at that time. But now, in the early 21st century, the words might morph into: “Something’s happening here, what it is, is becoming clear…”
What’s becoming clear is the rapidity with which the world is changing. This acceleration is demonstrated in countless ways- social, political, economic, spiritual, ecological, geological. As residents of Ecotopia, we might be more aware than most of what these significant trends look like. Needless to say, every day we witness signs of a changing world. Maybe not fast enough for some. Maybe too fast for others. But something’s happening. Something is definitely happening.
What’s happening is the emergence of a new world culture. Paul Ray, who coined the term “cultural creatives” in 2000 in his book of the same name, is calling this new cultural phenomena a “wisdom culture”. This description is both apt and compelling. The cultural creatives, brought up on anti-war songs and unified field theory, began to emerge in world culture fifty years ago and now number over 70 million adults in the United States. This community is even more numerous in Europe and around the world, surpassing the previous cultural groupings, what Ray had termed the moderns and the traditionalists. The values, beliefs and activities of this new social group are the basis of an emerging wisdom culture.
What are these values, beliefs and activities of this new culture? The emerging wisdom culture can be defined through the significant social and economic trends held as core values for this emerging demographic- ecological sensitivity, personal transformation, political independence and social justice among others. This new culture speaks to a global civilization, at once sustainable, just, non-violent, spiritually integrated and joyous.
The word “wisdom” itself is used in our society in a multitude of ways, describing everything from ancient Buddhist and Hebraic scripture to kitchen table advice from a concerned grandparent. Greek philosophy made an important distinction between a theoretical wisdom based on knowledge and experience only and a practical wisdom where that knowledge and experience leads directly to appropriate action in our day to day activity. This latter definition clearly applies to our post industrial digitally connected world and is a cornerstone of the emerging culture. We don’t have time to sit around and theorize about global warming. We have to do something, take action, but action based on a broad understanding and knowledge of what we are dealing with. Also, we know, it is non-violence which leads to peace; social justice which frees all of us; global prosperity which makes us all rich.
The emerging wisdom culture has taken a strong foothold in specific geographic locations including the Bay Area, Sedona, Portland, Seattle, Austin, Santa Monica, Asheville NC and in many other cities and isolated neighborhoods around the world. Something’s happening on a global scale. In chemistry there is the concept of solution, saturated solution and super saturated solution. This is an ideal metaphor to describe the emerging wisdom culture. First little pockets of the “new thinking” and the “new way of being” arise and grow. Then more individuals, more households and more communities begin to shift into the new paradigm. Slowly the solution, i.e. contemporary culture, becomes saturated. Then, all of a sudden, in one indeterminable moment, the saturation point is exceeded and the solution crystallizes.
We are the midwives at the birth of this new culture. We can already see the outline of what the emerging wisdom culture might look like. Something great is happening.
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