PART X

Chapter 7: The Culture of Holos

Moving toward a civilization of Holos is not merely an option: it is a survival imperative. Fortunately it is not feasible, nor is it unprecedented. The kind of shift it entails is part of the evolution of human societies, an evolution that began with the mythic civilizations of the Stone Age, continued with the theocratic civilizations of the archaic empires, and moved to the human reason-based civilizations initiated by the ancient Greeks. Now the reign of Logos is drawing to a close: the short-term rationality underlying the currently dominant form of civilization produces more heat than light – more negative social, economic, and ecological consequences than positive, humanly desirable outcomes.

The time has come for a further shift: from a civilization of Logos to a civilization of Holos.

Reaching a civilization of Holos means a transformation that is not unique in history, but faster than any transformation in the past. Because of the speed with which today’s Macroshift is evolving, many people have not caught up with it: to them a Holos civilization appears utopian. Yet there are others for whom a holistic culture is already the norm. And these people are more numerous than we may think.

The rise of a new culture

In many societies an intensely hopeful culture is surfacing. It is made up of people who are rethinking their preferences, priorities, values, and behaviors, shifting from consumption based on quantity toward selectivity in view of quality defined by environmental friendliness, sustainability, and the ethics of production and use. Lifestyles hallmarked by matter- and energy-wasteful ostentation are shifting toward modes of living marked by voluntary simplicity and the search for a new morality and harmony with nature.

These changes in values and behaviors, though generally dismissed or underestimated, are both rapid and revolutionary. They are occurring in all segments of society, but most intensely at the margins. Here a number of grassroots movements are opting out of the mainstream and are reforming themselves. These groups are barely visible since for the most part their members go about their business without trying to convert others or call attention to themselves. They underestimate their own numbers and lack social cohesion and political organization. Yet the more serious and sincere of these emerging cultures merit recognition. Unlike in esoteric sects, members of these cultures do not engage in antisocial activities, indulge in promiscuous sex, or seek isolation. Rather, they try to rethink accepted beliefs, values, and lifeways and to strike out on new paths of personal and social behavior.

Such shifts in the culture of a growing number of people must be taken seriously. Dismissing and distrusting all people who do not accept the current system of values and the associated worldviews and lifestyles is naïve and indiscriminate. It is true that some alternative cultures are escapist, introverted, and narcissistic, but the more serious have a genuine core of values and priorities that is highly promising for a positive outcome of the Macroshift. Dismissing them would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

An emerging culture in the United States

In the United States, at the center of the industrialized world, a hopeful subculture is in rapid growth. This is the surprising conclusion of a series of opinion surveys carried out by organizations and individuals keen on tracing the evolution of the thought and action of Americans.

California’s Institute of Noetic Sciences found that the changes that occur in America’s hopeful subculture include the following shifts in values and behaviors:

v The shift from competition to reconciliation and partnership

v The shift from greed and scarcity to sufficiency and caring

v The shift from outer to inner authority (from reliance on outer sources of “authority” to inner sources of “knowing”)

v The shift from mechanistic to living systems (from concepts of the world modeled on mechanistic systems to perspectives and approaches rooted in the principles that inform the realms of life)

v Perhaps most significant of all, the shift from separation to wholeness – a fresh recognition of the wholeness and interconnectedness of all aspects of life and reality.

An important shift is occurring in the area of consumer behavior. In her book Megatrends 2010 Patricia Aburdene traced the rise of what she calls “conscious capitalism,” a trend that appears in the market as conscious, or values-driven, consumption. By the turn of the century the market in the United States for values-driven commerce had reached $230 billion (The New York Times called it “the biggest market shift you have never heard of”). According to Aburdene, conscious consumers – often referred to as LOHAS (lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) consumers – make up a rapidly growing segment in five sectors of the economy:

v The sustainability sector, including ecologically sound construction, renewable energy technologies, and socially responsible investments

v The healthy living sector, appearing in the market as demand for natural and organic foods, nutritional supplements, and personal care

v The alternative healthcare sector, comprised of wellness centers and complementary and alternative medical services and health care

v The personal development sector, made up of seminars, courses, and shared experiences in the body-mind-spirit area

v The ecological lifestyle sector, appearing in the form of demand for ecologically produced, recycled, or recyclable products, as well as ecotourism

The Fund for Global Awakening implemented a survey aimed at elucidating the shared values and beliefs held by people from diverse backgrounds. Carried out in the framework of the In Our Own Words Research Program, the survey distinguished eight “American types.” It found that 14.4% of the 1600 respondents – selected so as to represent a cross section of American society – are centered in a material world, whereas 14.2% are disengaged from social concerns, 12.1% embrace traditional values, and 10% are cautious and conservative. These make up half of the U.S. population: the conservative, traditional half. Another 11.9% seeks to connect to others through self-exploration, 9.4% persists through adversity, 11.6% seeks community transformation, and 16.4% works for what the survey defines as a “new life of wholeness.” These make up the more creative and at least in part change-oriented half. Among them those who seek community transformation and work for a new life of wholeness make up 28% of the people. This segment manifests the values, the vision, and the beliefs that could shift U.S. society toward a holistic civilization.

The above findings match the results of a survey carried out in the late 1990s by public opinion researcher Paul Ray. Ray called the significantly forward-looking and open segment of American society the “cultural creatives.” In his surveys this segment contrasts with another subculture in America: the “traditionals,” who opt out of the mainstream by harking back to the seemingly ideal conditions of bygone times. They make up 24.5% of the U.S. population: 48 million adults, coming from a variety of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, with family incomes in the relatively low range of $20,000 to $30,000 per year, due among other things to the diminished income of the many retirees among them.

The factor that identifies the cultural creatives is less what they preach than what they practice, for they seldom attempt to convert others, preferring to be concerned with their own personal growth.
The common thread among the members of this emerging subculture is their holism and their preference for natural whole foods, holistic health care, holistic inner experience, whole system information, and holistic balance between work and play and consumption and inner growth.
They view themselves as synthesizers and healers, not just on the personal level but also on the community and the national levels, even on the planetary level.
They aspire to create change in personal values and public behaviors that could shift the dominant culture beyond the fragmented and mechanistic world of the moderns.
Twenty years ago the cultural creatives made up less than 3% of the total but at the turn of the century they totaled over 50 million people – and their numbers are growing.
A survey carried out in late 2005 by the Italian branch of the Club of Budapest found that about 35% of Italians live and act as cultural creatives.
Similar figures are coming to light in surveys in other countries of Europe, as well as in Japan, Australia, and Brazil.

When members of the emerging holistically thinking and acting culture awaken to the fact that they are more numerous and widespread than they think, they will get organized. They could then achieve the kind of social, economic, and political weight that could make them into a major agent of change – a main driver of the shift from a civilization of Logos to a civilization of Holos.

Chapter 8: Evolution, Not Extinction!

A Call From Fiji

Adi Da, a New York-born world-renowned hermit living on a remote island of Fiji, has issued an urgent call for change and transformation in the human world. He has recognized the threat of extinction and is calling for evolution. He asks that people come together to create a world united in its determination to achieve peace and sustainability and discover the unity that is basic to all things in the cosmos.

Quantum Shift in Global Brain Part 10