Author: Author

A mandala for our times

A mandala for our times

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Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth is the most important and inspiring new book that I have read this year. It delivers an informed and devastating critique of mainstream economic theory, and advocates a plethora of remedial alternatives, many of which are already gaining traction.

The eponymous doughnut defines the “safe and just space” between the basics of life (from the twelve UN 2015 Sustainable Development Goals) and the ecological ceiling comprising nine planetary boundaries (Rockström, J. et al. (2009) ‛A Safe Operating Space for Humanity.’ Nature, 461(7263): 472-475.). I had used the latter, which is curiously absent from Raworth’s bibliography, in my 2009 Diploma Thesis, Jungian Ecopsychology: Depth Psychology Meets Deep Ecology in the Anima Mundi and the Arc of Life.

Raworth radically redefines the goal of economics from (endless?) GDP growth to getting, and then staying, within the doughnut. Whether conscious or not, her choice of a circular image conveys wholeness and balance, and from a Jungian perspective is an archetypal symbol of the Self—the totality and ordering principle of the psyche. It will certainly appear, with permission, in my book. Meanwhile, here’s a really great animation:

New book recommendations

New book recommendations

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Two books published this year that are definitely worth reading are Defiant Earth by Clive Hamilton and Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil (full citations in Resources).

Hamilton, a Professor of Public Ethics, describes his book as “groping towards an understanding of what it means after 200,000 years of modern humans on a 4.5 billion-year-old Earth to have arrived at this point in history, the Anthropocene.” (p.vii) His call for a “new anthropocentrism” argues that unique power brings unique responsibility but, in my opinion, goes too far in rejecting the more biocentric world view of deep ecology. According to my own thesis, this is because he doesn’t take the unconscious into account. I am nonetheless in agreement with almost all of his unflinching analysis as far as it goes, and wonder whether our differences can be attributed to the old adage “If you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” In other words, Hamilton uses the tools and language of his discipline (moral philosophy), I use those of mine (depth psychology). I truly admire his courage and honesty for writing “How to finish a book like his? I don’t know; it’s too hard, too uncertain, too new.” (p.157) Perhaps my forthcoming book can help…

O’Neil, a former quant, has surely come up with one of the best titles of the year! The subtitle, “how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy” prepares the reader for a chilling exploration of the arcane world of algorithms and models, in which the latter are succinctly described as “opinions embedded in mathematics.” (p.21) This is for me a crucial observation. Among the many revelations of her survey, perhaps the most surprising and disturbing to me was her convincing demonstration that even models created with positive social intentions can, through unchecked feedback, become self-reinforcing with toxic consequences. O’Neil clearly knows her stuff, and can communicate it intelligibly. It has been said, only partly in jest, that “mathematicians assume everything except responsibility”; this book is a welcome and timely exception.

In memoriam: F. David Peat

In memoriam: F. David Peat

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One of the most inspiring and influential people in my life, F. David Peat, died on 6 June 2017, aged 79. I first encountered his writing in 1990 when a physicist colleague lent me Looking Glass Universe: The Emerging Science of Wholeness (which he co-authored with John P. Briggs). I subsequently read many of David’s books, and got to know him personally during week-long courses I attended in 2006 and 2010 at the Pari Center for New Learning which he had established in Tuscany. My awe of the “great man” melted into fondness, thanks to his friendly, warm, open, unpretentious and welcoming nature, but my admiration was undiminished.

Truly a Renaissance man, boldly and brilliantly crossing the artificial boundaries we have created between disciplines, even between work and play, David was endlessly creative and inquisitive. Our shared interest in holistic physics and Jungian psychology produced some rich interactions. He could be very funny too—his David Bohm impersonations, for example, were a treat! Somehow I hope that, wherever David has gone, he hasn’t had all his questions answered…    I miss him.

My presentations in 2017

My presentations in 2017

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I will give only two presentations this year, as completing my book manuscript takes priority.

In July 2017 I will present Strangers to Nature: Dissociation and the Anthropocene at Being Strangers to Ourselves, a conference organised by the Finnish-Estonian Group for Analytical Psychology in Tallinn, Estonia.

In September 2017  I will present Irreducible Responsibility: Applying Holism to Navigate the Anthropocene at Holism: Possibilities and Problems, an international interdisciplinary conference at the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, UK