Jeremy R. Lent is a writer and the founder and president of the nonprofit Liology Institute, dedicated to fostering a worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the earth. The Liology Institute (www.liology.org), which integrates systems science with ancient wisdom traditions, holds regular workshops and other events in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lent is the author of the novel Requiem of the Human Soul. Formerly, he was the founder, CEO, and chairman of a publicly traded Internet company. Lent holds a BA in English Literature from Cambridge University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
""This fascinating, page-turning exploration of the human journey
from the stone age to the space shuttle gives us powerful new ways
to see ourselves. Deeply researched, and written with great clarity
and style, this book is also full of hope about humanity’s
possibilities in the twenty-first century.”
—Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical
Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom
“A tour de force on the biological and psychological background of
the human predicament. If you are concerned about our future, you
should know about our past. This amazing, well-documented book
should be read by every college student and every congressman.”
—Paul R. Ehrlich, author of Human Natures
“A brilliant deep dive into the history of human cultures that
brings us to today’s cultural dysfunctions that threaten the
planet. Insight, illumination, and potential ways out of the
seeming dead end that we’ve walked ourselves into. I would
recommend it!”
—Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Agent Sunlight
“In prose that is a joy to read, Lent takes us on a tour of human
history, guided by systems theory and cognitive science, to argue
for the prominence of culture and the habits of the mind in shaping
our collective destiny. If you’ve been too busy for the last twenty
years to pay attention to the big ideas about the nature of the
human animal, the engines of history, our place in the biosphere,
and the shape of things to come, Lent can bring you up to date
painlessly.”
—J. R. McNeill, University Professor, Georgetown University, and
author of Something New Under the Sun
“The Patterning Instinct is a must-read for anyone concerned about
the future of humanity. The book delves beneath the surface of
problems facing our world today to examine the dominant cultural
assumptions that lie at their root. The book thoughtfully traces
how views about human nature and the natural world in both Eastern
and Western culture have shaped history and how the emerging global
culture of connectedness and the systems view of life may hold the
key to humanity’s evolution and future survival.”
—Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch founder and president
“This breathtaking book is already a classic. With its unique
synthesis of thought history, actual historical events, and
cultural patterns, it does what no other work has achieved since
Lovejoy’s The Great Chain of Being. Lent explains in one sweeping
argument why global civilization has separated from life. And he
shows how we can find our way back into it. Lent narrates the
history of humanity’s growing alienation from a shared biosphere
and from our own feeling bodies with the suspense and art of a
novelist. It is heart-wrenching to see to what degree thought
patterns can form not only our worldview, but the actual world,
handing it over to destruction. The good message though is Lent
proves that humanity’s destructiveness is not God-given; it is, as
any cultural pattern, reversible. That is our chance.”
—Andreas Weber, author of The Biology of Wonder: Aliveness,
Feeling, and the Metamorphosis of Science
“Shell-shocked liberals and progressives are casting around to
explain the political setbacks of 2016. The Patterning Instinct
tells us that seeking answers from recent history is likely to
prove forlorn; deep-seated patterns in the way we both think and
behave have predisposed us to acting in ways that are
self-evidently irrational and against our own interests. To have
any hope of transforming this perverse and potentially apocalyptic
worldview, we will need to dig much deeper into our own history—and
this extraordinary book provides an authoritative and inspirational
guide.”
—Jonathon Porritt, environmentalist and author
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