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How Soon is Now? Sampler: From Personal Initiation to Global Transformation
Drawing on a huge range of resources and references Daniel Pinchbeck presents a compelling argument for the need for change on a global basis - it is only when we see ourselves as one planetary tribe that this change can occur. The central thesis is that humanity has self-willed the ecological crisis in order to bring about the necessary conditions for transcendence of our current state of being, by undergoing an initiatory ordeal on a planetary scale. This collective ordeal is necessary for us to evolve from one state of being - our current level of consciousness - to the next. By passing through this initiation we realize ourselves as one unified being, a planetary super-organism in a symbiotic relationship with the Earth's ecology and the entire web of life. Covering everything from energy and agriculture, to culture, politics, media and ideology, Pinchbeck's book is ultimately about the nature of the human soul and the future of our current world. He calls for an intentional and consciously designed metamorphosis of our current systems. which transform capitalist and exclusive structures into participatory, democratic, and inclusive ones, based on an integration of Eastern metaphysics, social ecology, and radical political thought. "How Soon is Now? gives us the context we need to understand the chaos and turbulence of our times." – Sting
63 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 21, 2017
120 people are currently reading
644 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Pinchbeck
88 books234 followersDaniel Pinchbeck is an American author. His books include Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, and Notes from the Edge Times. He is a co-founder of the web magazine Reality Sandwich and of the website Evolver.net, and edited the North Atlantic Books publishing imprint Evolver Editions. He was featured in the 2010 documentary 2012: Time for Change, directed by Joao Amorim and produced by Mangusta Films. He is the founder of the think tank Center for Planetary Culture, which produced the Regenerative Society Wiki.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 17, 2017
Can the human race survive? That is the question addressed by this book.
I’m not sure when I started thinking that we were doomed. Perhaps some time in the 1980s. It seemed obvious to me. We have an economic system dependent on ever-increasing levels of growth, which means ever-increasing consumption of material goods and energy, the production of which are eating away at our ecological life-support systems. Even before there was much attention being given to climate change, it was clear that we were headed toward a metaphorical cliff, and the fact that very few people, at the time, seemed to want to acknowledge it made it seem as if a solution was unlikely. Then, as now, I tried not to think about it too much, but it hung like a black cloud over my head.
Pinchbeck, after much inner-exploration with psychedelic drugs, has come to the belief that we have unconsciously brought this crisis upon ourselves as a way to motivate ourselves through the process of a dramatic metamorphosis as a species - that it is our initiation by crisis into existence as a specie organism - a fully-integrated global society. A similar idea has been expressed by Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman in their book Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future (Hay House, 2009), which he credits as an influence.
One of the problems with the ecological crisis (not to mention associated humanitarian and economic crises) is that they inspire feelings of fear and guilt in many of us. Fear and guilt can be paralysing emotions. How are we to be motivated to act? Those who would motivate us flood us with scary facts, but these just make us feel more frightened, guilty and hopeless, and so we turn off and seek some form of comfort in more materialism or superficial escapism.
What we need more than scary facts is hope. We need a vision of how something can be done. And Pinchbeck does a great job of outlining such a vision. Of course he can only sketch in the broad outlines of what is possible. He’s not a specialist in energy systems or farming or economics. He has to point us in the direction of those who can help us in these areas.
This is a consistently fascinating book. Pinchbeck’s hyperactive mind and personal, indeed sometimes confessional, approach ensure that. But I didn’t find it an easy book to approach. There is a bitter comfort in putting things in the “too hard” basket. I start to read that I should give up eating meat and minimise buying new products and a large part of me says, “Let the planet burn. Let the innocent people die. I’m not going outside my comfort zone.” And I don’t even drive a car. What is the response likely to be from those who live far outside the bounds of ecological limits? I’m reminded of Matthew 19:24 “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” There’s no room for excess baggage aboard the specie individual.
What is at the basis of this stubbornness? When faced with a challenge, sometimes we grasp it enthusiastically and sometimes we put our head in the sand. I don’t want it to be implied that I’m not a good person. That isn’t what Pinchbeck is saying, but it is how it feels. And how it feels is what matters to motivation. Why does it give us pleasure to do things which deep down we may feel we shouldn’t? Why does the rich celebrity who travels to Africa and sees people living in poverty (and does some charity work there), nevertheless live in a ridiculously ornate mansion? In our insecure state there is a kind of relief to be found in defying what our conscience tells us we should do. This is also the lure of the forbidden. Are we going to squirm in humiliation beneath the bully who says “You mustn’t!” or are we going to feel the power and release of screaming “I will!” To my mind this is the key impasse to the realisation of the kind of plan that Pinchbeck puts forward. His emphasis on the spiritual underpinnings of the transformation acknowledge this, but I think that there are aspects of this psychological dimension that need to be understood more clearly.
The cultivation of unconditional self-acceptance will need to provide the grounding for change. A fully self-accepting individual need not experience a call for a change in their lifestyle as a condemnation. It is through unconditional self-acceptance that we unleash our capacity for the love of others and thus provide a basis for true community. Without this there is a danger that a spreading cultural imperative to adopt an ecological lifestyle might manifest itself in a toxic culture of eco-shaming, equivalent to some of the examples we see today where political correctness has taken a particularly hostile form - decentralised authoritarianism in which individuals take out the frustration of self-imposed discipline by victimising anyone who doesn’t do likewise, or doesn’t appear to be doing likewise. A healing evolution has to be motivated by warm and generous feelings.
I suspect that some may be very nervous about Pinchbeck’s references to Marx and calls for a post-capitalist economic system. The problem is that we’ve seen capitalism bring us rapid technological development and an increase in material comfort for a larger proportion of the world’s population. And we’ve seen an alternative - communism - produce most of the worst horrors of the 20th Century. Capitalism’s success was riding on temporary trends. Now it’s in trouble. Can we transition to something which suits our needs better while avoiding the catastrophe that was communism? Again, I think a lot hinges on the psychological. Has capitalism worked well because it accommodates our selfishness, allowing that selfishness to be the motive engine that drives it, or is our selfishness a product of capitalism? Are we encouraged to want more and compete more because the system doesn’t foster a sense of community which would be counter-productive to it? Of course the two are not mutually exclusive, but I think new economics will be more likely to succeed if the insecurity of ego which lies at the heart of our selfishness is healed.
Pinchbeck also examines the subject of sexuality. Is our materialistic consumption partly fed by pervasive disappointment in our erotic lives? Are we meant to be monogamous? I think this is an important subject to look at. It’s been a troubled area for Pinchbeck himself. But when we repress any aspect of our being we also end up repressing our capacity for openness, honesty, spontaneity and generosity - our capacity for love. So if we are going to have a community which functions more smoothly and productiveness, it needs to be one which knows what to do about erotic desires as an alternative to repressing them. There is unlikely to be a one-size-fits-all answer to this, something which Pinchbeck acknowledges.
When it comes to spirituality, Pinchbeck really throws it all in. He even touches on reincarnation, clairvoyance, tele-kinesis and astral travel. (David Icke’s lizard men get a mention to.) This may lose him credibility in the eyes of many, but he does provide a lot of food for thought for the open-minded. Do these things seem more credible to someone who has taken ayahuasca? Maybe. Since I’m not prepared to take some of these things with a handful of magic mushrooms, I’ll take them with a grain of salt, but it is important to acknowledge that he is only presenting these things as “maybes” and the fact that he has a very open minded on these subjects doesn’t diminish the importance of the bulk of what he has to say. I think he is right that we will need something similar to the religious spirit - a shared vision of something greater than ourselves to unite and motivate us.
He places a lot of importance on the media as a possible way of generating fast change. If new trends spread like wild-fire across television and social media, why not the enthusiasm for this rescue mission along with all the information we will need to bring it about? And look at how the propaganda effort turned around U.S. society to fight World War II. It has to be said though that it is easier to appeal to our hedonism, our paranoia about germs crawling around our bathroom or our latent aggression and xenophobia, than it is to genuinely inspire us toward a community effort. We need autonomous individuals, not sheep, but with that caveat aside I think he is right that both mass and social media can provide us with the network we need to share practical skills and information as well as the kind of vision Pinchbeck provides us with in his book - one of a bright future that yet may be.
I’m not sure when I started thinking that we were doomed. Perhaps some time in the 1980s. It seemed obvious to me. We have an economic system dependent on ever-increasing levels of growth, which means ever-increasing consumption of material goods and energy, the production of which are eating away at our ecological life-support systems. Even before there was much attention being given to climate change, it was clear that we were headed toward a metaphorical cliff, and the fact that very few people, at the time, seemed to want to acknowledge it made it seem as if a solution was unlikely. Then, as now, I tried not to think about it too much, but it hung like a black cloud over my head.
Pinchbeck, after much inner-exploration with psychedelic drugs, has come to the belief that we have unconsciously brought this crisis upon ourselves as a way to motivate ourselves through the process of a dramatic metamorphosis as a species - that it is our initiation by crisis into existence as a specie organism - a fully-integrated global society. A similar idea has been expressed by Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman in their book Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future (Hay House, 2009), which he credits as an influence.
One of the problems with the ecological crisis (not to mention associated humanitarian and economic crises) is that they inspire feelings of fear and guilt in many of us. Fear and guilt can be paralysing emotions. How are we to be motivated to act? Those who would motivate us flood us with scary facts, but these just make us feel more frightened, guilty and hopeless, and so we turn off and seek some form of comfort in more materialism or superficial escapism.
What we need more than scary facts is hope. We need a vision of how something can be done. And Pinchbeck does a great job of outlining such a vision. Of course he can only sketch in the broad outlines of what is possible. He’s not a specialist in energy systems or farming or economics. He has to point us in the direction of those who can help us in these areas.
This is a consistently fascinating book. Pinchbeck’s hyperactive mind and personal, indeed sometimes confessional, approach ensure that. But I didn’t find it an easy book to approach. There is a bitter comfort in putting things in the “too hard” basket. I start to read that I should give up eating meat and minimise buying new products and a large part of me says, “Let the planet burn. Let the innocent people die. I’m not going outside my comfort zone.” And I don’t even drive a car. What is the response likely to be from those who live far outside the bounds of ecological limits? I’m reminded of Matthew 19:24 “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” There’s no room for excess baggage aboard the specie individual.
What is at the basis of this stubbornness? When faced with a challenge, sometimes we grasp it enthusiastically and sometimes we put our head in the sand. I don’t want it to be implied that I’m not a good person. That isn’t what Pinchbeck is saying, but it is how it feels. And how it feels is what matters to motivation. Why does it give us pleasure to do things which deep down we may feel we shouldn’t? Why does the rich celebrity who travels to Africa and sees people living in poverty (and does some charity work there), nevertheless live in a ridiculously ornate mansion? In our insecure state there is a kind of relief to be found in defying what our conscience tells us we should do. This is also the lure of the forbidden. Are we going to squirm in humiliation beneath the bully who says “You mustn’t!” or are we going to feel the power and release of screaming “I will!” To my mind this is the key impasse to the realisation of the kind of plan that Pinchbeck puts forward. His emphasis on the spiritual underpinnings of the transformation acknowledge this, but I think that there are aspects of this psychological dimension that need to be understood more clearly.
The cultivation of unconditional self-acceptance will need to provide the grounding for change. A fully self-accepting individual need not experience a call for a change in their lifestyle as a condemnation. It is through unconditional self-acceptance that we unleash our capacity for the love of others and thus provide a basis for true community. Without this there is a danger that a spreading cultural imperative to adopt an ecological lifestyle might manifest itself in a toxic culture of eco-shaming, equivalent to some of the examples we see today where political correctness has taken a particularly hostile form - decentralised authoritarianism in which individuals take out the frustration of self-imposed discipline by victimising anyone who doesn’t do likewise, or doesn’t appear to be doing likewise. A healing evolution has to be motivated by warm and generous feelings.
I suspect that some may be very nervous about Pinchbeck’s references to Marx and calls for a post-capitalist economic system. The problem is that we’ve seen capitalism bring us rapid technological development and an increase in material comfort for a larger proportion of the world’s population. And we’ve seen an alternative - communism - produce most of the worst horrors of the 20th Century. Capitalism’s success was riding on temporary trends. Now it’s in trouble. Can we transition to something which suits our needs better while avoiding the catastrophe that was communism? Again, I think a lot hinges on the psychological. Has capitalism worked well because it accommodates our selfishness, allowing that selfishness to be the motive engine that drives it, or is our selfishness a product of capitalism? Are we encouraged to want more and compete more because the system doesn’t foster a sense of community which would be counter-productive to it? Of course the two are not mutually exclusive, but I think new economics will be more likely to succeed if the insecurity of ego which lies at the heart of our selfishness is healed.
Pinchbeck also examines the subject of sexuality. Is our materialistic consumption partly fed by pervasive disappointment in our erotic lives? Are we meant to be monogamous? I think this is an important subject to look at. It’s been a troubled area for Pinchbeck himself. But when we repress any aspect of our being we also end up repressing our capacity for openness, honesty, spontaneity and generosity - our capacity for love. So if we are going to have a community which functions more smoothly and productiveness, it needs to be one which knows what to do about erotic desires as an alternative to repressing them. There is unlikely to be a one-size-fits-all answer to this, something which Pinchbeck acknowledges.
When it comes to spirituality, Pinchbeck really throws it all in. He even touches on reincarnation, clairvoyance, tele-kinesis and astral travel. (David Icke’s lizard men get a mention to.) This may lose him credibility in the eyes of many, but he does provide a lot of food for thought for the open-minded. Do these things seem more credible to someone who has taken ayahuasca? Maybe. Since I’m not prepared to take some of these things with a handful of magic mushrooms, I’ll take them with a grain of salt, but it is important to acknowledge that he is only presenting these things as “maybes” and the fact that he has a very open minded on these subjects doesn’t diminish the importance of the bulk of what he has to say. I think he is right that we will need something similar to the religious spirit - a shared vision of something greater than ourselves to unite and motivate us.
He places a lot of importance on the media as a possible way of generating fast change. If new trends spread like wild-fire across television and social media, why not the enthusiasm for this rescue mission along with all the information we will need to bring it about? And look at how the propaganda effort turned around U.S. society to fight World War II. It has to be said though that it is easier to appeal to our hedonism, our paranoia about germs crawling around our bathroom or our latent aggression and xenophobia, than it is to genuinely inspire us toward a community effort. We need autonomous individuals, not sheep, but with that caveat aside I think he is right that both mass and social media can provide us with the network we need to share practical skills and information as well as the kind of vision Pinchbeck provides us with in his book - one of a bright future that yet may be.
September 5, 2017
I really wanted to read this since the topics the author is trying to bring to light are important if not vital to our survival as a species.
But seriously the dude does not practice what he preaches in this book. Like I do not care about his wild sexual exploits or all of the acid his took or his private jet flights to Mexico or that he read this and that. Maybe go Eggers and say that you should skip these chapters because they are painful to read but not because you are experiencing something terrible but because the author needs to fulfill his sense of self aggrandizement and it's bad enough that when your best friend thinks to text your crap like that but you don't even know the author and seriously. Though maybe he just wrote about all of that in the book so we wouldn't take him seriously (one shouldn't discount that).
If you have something to say say it! But the author seems to be like any old American just wanting to regale you in his glory days and accomplish nothing to benefit the world if a finger needs to be lifted to do it.
But seriously the dude does not practice what he preaches in this book. Like I do not care about his wild sexual exploits or all of the acid his took or his private jet flights to Mexico or that he read this and that. Maybe go Eggers and say that you should skip these chapters because they are painful to read but not because you are experiencing something terrible but because the author needs to fulfill his sense of self aggrandizement and it's bad enough that when your best friend thinks to text your crap like that but you don't even know the author and seriously. Though maybe he just wrote about all of that in the book so we wouldn't take him seriously (one shouldn't discount that).
If you have something to say say it! But the author seems to be like any old American just wanting to regale you in his glory days and accomplish nothing to benefit the world if a finger needs to be lifted to do it.
June 6, 2017
A solid 3.5 stars. While I admire and appreciate Pinchbeck's unflinching optimism I feel that he misses the reality of human nature. I agree that there is much we can learn and adopt from tribal cultures, however, he paints broad strokes - seemingly missing the point that many tribal cultures embodied the same environment destroying practices and violence that Western civilization is practicing today.
I do agree that the problems we are facing are primarily spiritual in nature but I find that many of Pinchbeck's proposed solutions are flights of idealistic fantasy and nothing more. Of course it's hard to criticize him for it- he seems well aware of his idealism. He's right more often than he's not but he is strongest when he sticks to reality based facts. While I do believe that humanity's nature is primarily good solving the problems we've created for us will require the calamity that Pinchbeck is hoping to avoid.
All in all a fun read (as always from Pinchbeck) with good information. The author's audacity to hope and dream is to be commended.
I do agree that the problems we are facing are primarily spiritual in nature but I find that many of Pinchbeck's proposed solutions are flights of idealistic fantasy and nothing more. Of course it's hard to criticize him for it- he seems well aware of his idealism. He's right more often than he's not but he is strongest when he sticks to reality based facts. While I do believe that humanity's nature is primarily good solving the problems we've created for us will require the calamity that Pinchbeck is hoping to avoid.
All in all a fun read (as always from Pinchbeck) with good information. The author's audacity to hope and dream is to be commended.
February 16, 2017
I can see why the author chose to have Russell Brand write and introduction and Sting write a preface, but as soon as I saw the name Russell Brand I was put off, however I decided to delve deeper into the book to give it a fair chance.
Acknowledgements: "I owe my mother a profound debt of gratitude for her editorial help. I'm amazed that I continue to learn so much from her at this late stage". - Either he owes her a debt of gratitude or he doesn't, does it really need to be a profound debt? I find the author wordy and coming across as pompous through out the book. Why wouldn't he learn from his mother? are all older people useless resources? surely he should be promoting the resource of the older person given his ethos.
I'm probably just being picky but straight away he has riled me, and he continues to make me feel this way throughout the whole book.
This book has some good points about the hot topics of recycling, re-using and being mindful of the world about us in order to preserve, however it is filled with quotes from other people to bulk up the chapters. One or two here and there are good but there are just too many.
Why isn't it produced on recycled paper, in fact why has it been printed at all and not an e book instead? at least it didn't have a dust jacket - it hardly fits with the content/ethos.
I think you can gather that not only did I not like this authors writing, tone or personal thoughts. I did not like the way he presented them and he did nothing to further the cause.
I didn't find him inspiring just regurgitating.
Acknowledgements: "I owe my mother a profound debt of gratitude for her editorial help. I'm amazed that I continue to learn so much from her at this late stage". - Either he owes her a debt of gratitude or he doesn't, does it really need to be a profound debt? I find the author wordy and coming across as pompous through out the book. Why wouldn't he learn from his mother? are all older people useless resources? surely he should be promoting the resource of the older person given his ethos.
I'm probably just being picky but straight away he has riled me, and he continues to make me feel this way throughout the whole book.
This book has some good points about the hot topics of recycling, re-using and being mindful of the world about us in order to preserve, however it is filled with quotes from other people to bulk up the chapters. One or two here and there are good but there are just too many.
Why isn't it produced on recycled paper, in fact why has it been printed at all and not an e book instead? at least it didn't have a dust jacket - it hardly fits with the content/ethos.
I think you can gather that not only did I not like this authors writing, tone or personal thoughts. I did not like the way he presented them and he did nothing to further the cause.
I didn't find him inspiring just regurgitating.
November 19, 2017
Really outside the box, which is exactly what we need as we work to restore balance to our relationship with our planet. Highly recommend this book for a fresh perspective on how to solve the climate crisis.
March 23, 2017
Awesome! Well-researched, well-written, full of hope and good ideas!
February 25, 2017
So Completely Timely: A Hopeful Outlook in this Chaotic Mess of Contemporary Life
Author/journalist/philosopher/visionary Daniel Pinchbeck comes from a family of artistic parents who in the 1970s and 1980s helped open Daniel’s eyes to an alternative vision - his father was abstract painter Peter Pinchbeck and his mother, Joyce Johnson, a writer/participant in the Beat Generation. Daniel has served as a journalist for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, among other periodicals and currently is the editorial director of the Evolver Project (a global network connecting organizations and individuals working toward the health and wellbeing of Earth and humanity. The Evolver Network’s mission is to empower positive transformation of self and community through education, celebration, and co-creation). Daniel has stated ‘In my late twenties, I fell into a deep spiritual crisis that led me to the study of shamanism and psychedelic substances. My first book, Breaking Open the Head, recounted my initiation into several tribal cultures that use hallucinogens in their rituals. Over time, I became convinced of the legitimacy of the shamanic and mystical worldview held by indigenous peoples around the world.’
While the masses in this country – and globally – cringe at the enormously destructive signs of the times in leadership and environmental changes and frightening dichotomy between the haves and the have nots, Daniel Pinchbeck looks beyond the daily increasing clutter of the world today and offers insights that give hope that, in the well state words of Ira Israel ‘we can break through our current blockages, activate our social imagination, and create a post-capitalist, post-work utopia. Overcoming limited greed and self-interest, we can design a resilient global civilization that works for everyone and not just the 1%. Pinchbeck believes that we have the technical ability to live harmoniously in a new paradigm and it is only our social systems and fractured ideologies that stand in our way of accepting our role as responsible stewards of Gaia.’
Daniel focuses on the individual acceptance of the realities of now so that collectively we may evolve into a force for correcting the ecological downturn and our current political and economical broken and severely in need of change. He calls for an intentional redesign of our current systems, transforming unjust and elitist structures into participatory, democratic, and inclusive ones. His viewpoint integrates indigenous design principles and Eastern metaphysics with social ecology and radical political thought in a new synthesis.
Inspiring and challenging reading, but we who are absorbing his précis are the ones who must make the changes if we are to survive – and Daniel is convinced survival and growth are indeed feasible. This is a book that deserves or rather demands wide readership for all of us.
Author/journalist/philosopher/visionary Daniel Pinchbeck comes from a family of artistic parents who in the 1970s and 1980s helped open Daniel’s eyes to an alternative vision - his father was abstract painter Peter Pinchbeck and his mother, Joyce Johnson, a writer/participant in the Beat Generation. Daniel has served as a journalist for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, among other periodicals and currently is the editorial director of the Evolver Project (a global network connecting organizations and individuals working toward the health and wellbeing of Earth and humanity. The Evolver Network’s mission is to empower positive transformation of self and community through education, celebration, and co-creation). Daniel has stated ‘In my late twenties, I fell into a deep spiritual crisis that led me to the study of shamanism and psychedelic substances. My first book, Breaking Open the Head, recounted my initiation into several tribal cultures that use hallucinogens in their rituals. Over time, I became convinced of the legitimacy of the shamanic and mystical worldview held by indigenous peoples around the world.’
While the masses in this country – and globally – cringe at the enormously destructive signs of the times in leadership and environmental changes and frightening dichotomy between the haves and the have nots, Daniel Pinchbeck looks beyond the daily increasing clutter of the world today and offers insights that give hope that, in the well state words of Ira Israel ‘we can break through our current blockages, activate our social imagination, and create a post-capitalist, post-work utopia. Overcoming limited greed and self-interest, we can design a resilient global civilization that works for everyone and not just the 1%. Pinchbeck believes that we have the technical ability to live harmoniously in a new paradigm and it is only our social systems and fractured ideologies that stand in our way of accepting our role as responsible stewards of Gaia.’
Daniel focuses on the individual acceptance of the realities of now so that collectively we may evolve into a force for correcting the ecological downturn and our current political and economical broken and severely in need of change. He calls for an intentional redesign of our current systems, transforming unjust and elitist structures into participatory, democratic, and inclusive ones. His viewpoint integrates indigenous design principles and Eastern metaphysics with social ecology and radical political thought in a new synthesis.
Inspiring and challenging reading, but we who are absorbing his précis are the ones who must make the changes if we are to survive – and Daniel is convinced survival and growth are indeed feasible. This is a book that deserves or rather demands wide readership for all of us.
September 20, 2017
Exceptional Book! Out of the box thinking throughout. This is about the best primer on where we are in the planetary crisis, with lots of pursuits to get us through it. All without meaningless platitudes.
December 8, 2019
"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"
I found the first half of this to be poor - it was basically the constant repetition of statements along the lines of "We're doing [something bad] and we need to [do the opposite]". So much of what was said in the first half was blindingly obvious and I think Pinchbeck had his doubts as a couple of times he feels the need to remind the reader to keep interest.
The second half was more interesting but it was less grounded in empirical evidence.
In general though, there's a massive elephant in the room that Pinchbeck only briefly acknowledges before flippantly moving on: Overpopulation.
Nothing Pinchbeck suggests will ultimately be successful unless the issue of overpopulation is addressed. The 'mega catastrophe' may come later rather than sooner but it will still come. (One possibility that Pinchbeck misses is that the social organism / body politic subconsciously knows this and is deliberately engineering an ecological disaster to reduce the population)
Despite calling himself a futurist, Pinchbeck only mentions space migration at the very end of the book - and even then he's brief and vague. Surely this would be an option as a long term solution - it should have been given more consideration.
Some random thoughts:
* At the start of Part 2, Pinchbeck apologises for getting 'too academic' - but there's really nothing here that even approaches an academic level. Taking Sheldrake's Morphic Resonance theory seriously and referring to David Icke does nothing for anyone's credibility.
* Pinchbeck fails to take a broader view and consider the possibility that human extinction could be a good thing for other species. Given the horror we inflict on animals (Pinchbeck says 100 billion animals are killed each year for food) our extinction might be for a greater good.
I found the first half of this to be poor - it was basically the constant repetition of statements along the lines of "We're doing [something bad] and we need to [do the opposite]". So much of what was said in the first half was blindingly obvious and I think Pinchbeck had his doubts as a couple of times he feels the need to remind the reader to keep interest.
The second half was more interesting but it was less grounded in empirical evidence.
In general though, there's a massive elephant in the room that Pinchbeck only briefly acknowledges before flippantly moving on: Overpopulation.
Nothing Pinchbeck suggests will ultimately be successful unless the issue of overpopulation is addressed. The 'mega catastrophe' may come later rather than sooner but it will still come. (One possibility that Pinchbeck misses is that the social organism / body politic subconsciously knows this and is deliberately engineering an ecological disaster to reduce the population)
Despite calling himself a futurist, Pinchbeck only mentions space migration at the very end of the book - and even then he's brief and vague. Surely this would be an option as a long term solution - it should have been given more consideration.
Some random thoughts:
* At the start of Part 2, Pinchbeck apologises for getting 'too academic' - but there's really nothing here that even approaches an academic level. Taking Sheldrake's Morphic Resonance theory seriously and referring to David Icke does nothing for anyone's credibility.
* Pinchbeck fails to take a broader view and consider the possibility that human extinction could be a good thing for other species. Given the horror we inflict on animals (Pinchbeck says 100 billion animals are killed each year for food) our extinction might be for a greater good.
May 8, 2017
I highly recommend this book. It talks about everything from psychedelics to environmentalism to economics.
July 10, 2018
This book communicates the very struggles of this world in an effective and harrowing manner rendering it an extremely timely and thought provoking piece; I recommend all to read. Be prepared to view the world and its many faults through new eyes.
July 24, 2019
Raises great questions, but poorly written, using the first person constantly, no scholarly rigour, and annoyingly narcissistic, as the author drones on about our impending demise (true) seen through the lens of someone constantly burning huge amounts of resources partying with the well connected, expecting to see some sort of ecstasy inspired version of Jeffrey Epstein or the Great Gatsby. Nonetheless a book for our times, searching for solutions. I built a prototype community of the future model back in 1993, inspired by Kirpatrick Sales book "Human Scale", and more recently was highly influenced by E.F. Schumacher's "Small is beautiful: Economics as if people mattered. " For revolutionary theory I have been highly influenced by Ed Boorsteins: Allende's Chile: An inside view. Pinchbeck cranked this out with a thin dive into solutions. Daniel, my Burner Step Son loves you. For me, you need to take a look at "Human Scale". We need a thorough going over of solutions by subject, energy, housing, medicine, agriculture. But the good news or bad news is that book updated to 2020 technology has not been written. Good news for aspiring writers. I am only part way through the book so may be revising, and still think people ought to read it, but it should be rewritten, it comes across as a very self centered work. Put it this way this book is full of "rough diamonds". I look forward to a new book from Daniel, with proper academic research and a solid bibliography. I hope it did well enough for him to now write something that is less breezy and stream of consciousness.
June 1, 2019
Having burned through a number of climate change topic books, I have come across more than a number of books that speak only of the doom and gloom of whats to come. Example after example of what horrible things will happen to our planet and our species specifically, leading more often than not to a feeling of nihilism.
This particular book encases a level of optimism that is rare in the genre. I myself have an overall optimistic view of the future and to have that reflected back to me coupled with great practical paths forward is a refreshing treat.
Combine this book with THE UNINHABITABLE EARTH by David Wallace-Wells and I feel you would receive the complete spectrum related to climate change and its current iteration.
This particular book encases a level of optimism that is rare in the genre. I myself have an overall optimistic view of the future and to have that reflected back to me coupled with great practical paths forward is a refreshing treat.
Combine this book with THE UNINHABITABLE EARTH by David Wallace-Wells and I feel you would receive the complete spectrum related to climate change and its current iteration.
August 15, 2018
I really enjoyed Pinchbeck's 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl. This novel duplicates his incredibly visionary and impassioned spirit. A message definitely to be shared and heard. I love how "real" Pinchbeck is and all he shares is well founded and educated. Yet, by the middle of the book I really felt like I'd heard enough, almost as if I were in a 6-hour conversation and I wanted out after the first couple hours. That's largely due to the nature of the book's contents but also Pinchbeck's impassioned messianic style.
November 29, 2022
Interesting, very progressive, maybe even inspiring, yet not critical enough about the language (sometimes unnecessarily divisive) and some of the ideas, which e.g. included praising the pope while completely overlooking his hypocrisy. With more practical ideas it would sound not only less futuristic and utopian but also more feasible, otherwise oftentimes I had the feeling that we definitely could do something, but quite probably never will because the assumptions are too far fetched and too detached from our current reality.
July 2, 2020
Isn’t Daniel Pinchbeck a sexual abuser of women? I think I read many articles on this when I searched for his name. Apparently he admitted to drugging women and then sexually abusing them.
Sounds like a white Bill Cosby...
He makes money of his books still?
Why are people still supporting him?
Why is he not investigated?
White privilege?
He apologized apparently but less famous people (and BIPOC especially) go to prison for that.
Sounds like a white Bill Cosby...
He makes money of his books still?
Why are people still supporting him?
Why is he not investigated?
White privilege?
He apologized apparently but less famous people (and BIPOC especially) go to prison for that.
November 2, 2018
Comprehensive, innovative view on how we can save our earth thru a radical spiritual change. The first part of the book lists what has gone wrong and where we are headed if we continue on this path we are on. The second part outlines what it will take to save our planet...a sweeping change in the way we organize civilization in general, and our lives in particular.
November 27, 2017
Ultimately optimistic
Looks at the global ecological and inequality crises and puts forward proposals for overcoming them by pulling together many different thinkers and traditions.
Looks at the global ecological and inequality crises and puts forward proposals for overcoming them by pulling together many different thinkers and traditions.
November 30, 2017
This is the best description in book form that I know of that describes my own feelings and best understanding of the overall state of the world and how to understand our place in this moment in history.
December 11, 2021
Just another book which summs up what's wrong with the world on the very general level and gives a utopian solutions, mostly on how we should go back to 18th/19th century way of living and organizing life
March 7, 2023
The more I read the more compelling it became. Sure this utopia he describes as possible feels horribly impossible, but in many respects he is right. Nice to see it written down. If only we could break capatilisms death grip, and focus on the planet and equality.
April 3, 2022
Was more impressed with Pinchbeck's classic travelogue of interior travel, Breaking Open the Head.
February 26, 2023
Profuse. Provocative. Pronged.
January 19, 2020
Wow. An awful lot to process. This book is the closest to a one-stop-shop for a full-spectrum analysis of the world's current existential problems and how to take them on. In the year of Greta Thunberg, this book is the creme de la creme of a catalyst for action, a swan song for the anxiety-riddled masses. Readers beware, Pinchbeck doesn't hold back. He dumps the whole damn kitchen sink and then some into this book. Spent more than 10 years working on the thing. Expect to have your eyeballs stretched wide open. You'll be laid out on the gurney like the guy in A Clockwork Orange in front of the cinema screen. Only in a good way.
November 3, 2017
An important book for these times. Actual solutions are proposed. Problems are illuminated. Thank you Daniel Pinchbeck for another great read. More people need to read this, wake up and take action!
May 20, 2018
First off, the book is well-written and Daniel's opinions are documented through series of experiences which I believe most of us would agree to go through in order to see what's out there.
The enrivomental explanations are very good and, also through what I do know, I believe the author has a solid base of information. I would point out that there are a lot more emissions of concern than CO2 and sulphur dioxide.
He believes monogamy is not something we should stumble upon, also that Wilde's, Marx's and Fresco's are a mix-up where, for example, he thinks that the Venus project is a distopia rather than utopia. I ask you - why politics is something we should follow and/or be a part of us, instead of focusing on our evolution as a spiritual self? Authentic society with the political nature is fun? it's neither to be given to AI, but we are clearly wrong with the current direction.
To correct the author - Blockchain and The Venus Project would not bind together, as there is no currency-related economy there. The only drive is the resource, which is not to be evaluated money-wise. Maybe effort-wise?
Occupy movement was a much more complex series of an event, the author's few opiniated remarks are rather misleading.
Social media spread-out opinions are mostly misleading unless controlled by an objective entity, unlike a "privately held" company. The facilitators were there over the past decade, but what was improved was only the method of communication, and not the democratic decision-making and conservation.
I agree with the elite takeover, but also think that this is entirely driven by us as humanity, not an effect of the more powerful rather than one of our own lack of power.
Overall, recommended.
The enrivomental explanations are very good and, also through what I do know, I believe the author has a solid base of information. I would point out that there are a lot more emissions of concern than CO2 and sulphur dioxide.
He believes monogamy is not something we should stumble upon, also that Wilde's, Marx's and Fresco's are a mix-up where, for example, he thinks that the Venus project is a distopia rather than utopia. I ask you - why politics is something we should follow and/or be a part of us, instead of focusing on our evolution as a spiritual self? Authentic society with the political nature is fun? it's neither to be given to AI, but we are clearly wrong with the current direction.
To correct the author - Blockchain and The Venus Project would not bind together, as there is no currency-related economy there. The only drive is the resource, which is not to be evaluated money-wise. Maybe effort-wise?
Occupy movement was a much more complex series of an event, the author's few opiniated remarks are rather misleading.
Social media spread-out opinions are mostly misleading unless controlled by an objective entity, unlike a "privately held" company. The facilitators were there over the past decade, but what was improved was only the method of communication, and not the democratic decision-making and conservation.
I agree with the elite takeover, but also think that this is entirely driven by us as humanity, not an effect of the more powerful rather than one of our own lack of power.
Overall, recommended.
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