The patterning instinct : a cultural history of humanity's search for meaning

The patterning instinct A cultural history of humanity's search for meaning

Jeremy R. Lent, 1960-

Book - 2017

"This fresh perspective on crucial questions of history identifies the root metaphors that cultures have used to construct meaning in their world. It offers a glimpse into the minds of a vast range of different peoples: early hunter-gatherers and farmers, ancient Egyptians, traditional Chinese sages, the founders of Christianity, trail-blazers of the Scientific Revolution, and those who constructed our modern consumer society. Taking the reader on an archaeological exploration of the mind, the author, an entrepreneur and sustainability leader, uses recent findings in cognitive science and systems theory to reveal the hidden layers of values that form today's cultural norms. Uprooting the tired cliches of the science-religion debat...e, he shows how medieval Christian rationalism acted as an incubator for scientific thought, which in turn shaped our modern vision of the conquest of nature. The author probes our current crisis of unsustainability and argues that it is not an inevitable result of human nature, but is culturally driven: a product of particular mental patterns that could conceivably be reshaped. By shining a light on our possible futures, the book foresees a coming struggle between two contrasting views of humanity: one driving to a technological endgame of artificially enhanced humans, the other enabling a sustainable future arising from our intrinsic connectedness with each other and the natural world. This struggle, it concludes, is one in which each of us will play a role through the meaning we choose to forge from the lives we lead"--

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Subjects
Ethnophilosophy.
Meaning (Philosophy)
Social norms.
Sustainability > Social aspects.
Human ecology.
Published
Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books 2017.
Language
English
Main Author
Jeremy R. Lent, 1960- (author)
Physical Description
569 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 457-541) and index.
ISBN
9781633882935
  • List of Illustrations
  • Formatting Conventions
  • Foreword
  • Preface: A Cognitive History of Humanity
  • Introduction: Shaping Our History
  • Part 1. Everything Is Connected
  • Chapter 1. How We Became Human
  • Chapter 2. The Magical Weave of Language
  • Chapter 3. The Rise of Mythic Consciousness
  • Chapter 4. The Giving Environment: The World of the Hunter-Gatherers
  • Part 2. Hierarchy of the Gods
  • Chapter 5. Agriculture and Anxiety
  • Chapter 6. Going Their Own Ways: Early Civilizations
  • Part 3. The Patterns Diverge
  • Western Pattern: Split Cosmos, Split Human
  • Eastern Pattern: Harmonic Web of Life
  • Chapter 7. The Birth of Dualism in Ancient Greece
  • Chapter 8. Dualism and Divinity in Ancient India
  • Chapter 9. The Search for Harmony in Ancient China
  • Chapter 10. The Cultural Shaping of Our Minds
  • Chapter 11. Pathways to Monotheism in Israel and Alexandria
  • Chapter 12. Sinful Nature: The Dualistic Cosmos of Christianity
  • Chapter 13. The Scourge of Monotheistic Intolerance
  • Chapter 14. Discovering the Principles of Nature in Song China
  • Part 4. Conquest of Nature
  • Chapter 15. "To Command the World": Metaphors of Nature
  • Chapter 16. Great Rats: The Story of Power and Exploitation
  • Chapter 17. The Enigma of the Scientific Revolution
  • Chapter 18. The Language of God: The Emergence of Scientific Cognition
  • Chapter 19. "Something Far Move Deeply Interfused": The Systems Worldview
  • Chapter 20. Consuming the Earth in the Modern Era
  • Part 5. The Web of Meaning?
  • Chapter 21. Trajectories to Our Future
  • Further Reading
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Choice Review

Lent (founder and president, Liology Institute) is self-taught in history and social science and has a background in English literature and in the high-tech world. In his book, he examines the "patterning instinct," the human drive to find meanings and connect them into systems of belief, ideology, science, and language. Pattern seeking, planning, ordinary meaning, and the meaning of life are included. Lent traces cognition and ideology from the dawn of humanity through early civilizations and the making of modern thought, with special attention to the scientific revolution. He turns to the problems of the modern world, especially the creation of technology that allows people to overconsume and endanger the planet's future. The author lists some impossible fixes and concludes that humanity needs to draw on traditional wisdom and modern systems thinking to come up with solutions. Lent is particularly fine at understanding other civilizations, from ancient Mesopotamia through the Greeks, Chinese, and Hindus. Unfortunately, as a function of trying to cover so much in one book, there are many mistakes. Most are minor, but some are serious enough to hurt the message. For anyone wanting a challenging read who is willing to do some fact-checking. Summing Up: Recommended. General and public libraries, and specialists. --Eugene N. Anderson, University of California, Riverside

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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