Five Insights about Global Transformation from the Kosmos Study, Connecting for Change

Last year, Kosmos commissioned a communication research study to better understand an emerging global movement and how groups within the movement could connect effectively. Led by Kosmos Digital Editor Rhonda Fabian and Jen Horner, PhD, both alumni of the Anneneberg School for Communication, the study was shared widely with the Kosmos community and remains one of the most-read features on our…

Seeing Wetiko: On Capitalism, Mind Viruses, and Antidotes for a World in Transition

It’s delicate confronting these priests of the golden bull They preach from the pulpit of the bottom line Their minds rustle with million dollar bills You say Silver burns a hole in your pocket And Gold burns a hole in your soul Well, uranium burns a hole in forever It just gets out of control. – Buffy Sainte-Marie, “The Priests of the Golden Bull”1 What if we told you that humanity is…

Connecting for Change: Insights from an Emerging Global Transformation Movement

“The present convergence of crises–in money, energy, education, health, water, soil, climate, politics, the environment, and more–is a birth crisis, expelling us from the old world into a new.” ~ Charles Eisenstein You might say it is the dark night of the planetary soul. Here we are in the midst of an ecological nightmare some are calling irreversible. The weight of war and human suffering…

Ecosophy: Nature’s Guide to a Better World

Storytelling The most exciting and beneficial things I believe happened to humanity in the past century were physicists’ recognition that “the universe is more like a great thought than like a great machine”1 and astronauts lifting far enough from Earth to see, feel and show us how very much alive our planet is. Those events led to a wonderful sea change from the older—and rather…

World’s First Successful ‘Rights of Nature’ Lawsuit

Setting the Stage In January of 2007, Richard and I went on a wonderful vacation to Vilcabamba, Ecuador, famous as the Valley of Longevity. Shortly before returning to the US, purely out of curiosity, we went to see a farm that was for sale: ‘semi-abandoned, overgrown with weeds, in a pretty location on a river.’ Within 30 seconds on this land, I was utterly overwhelmed by its beauty and…

Sharing the World’s Wealth and Power

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from…

Haiti’s ‘Sin’ of Resistance

"Numerous reports and pictures of what’s happening in Haiti would have one believe that the Haitian people are incapable of running their own country and that an intervention from the “international community” is necessary. However, clarity comes by way of understanding history; history explains why, as Frederick Douglass said, Haiti has not yet been forgiven."

Understanding Sudan through the Eyes of a Mother and Novelist

"Decades of conflict have left Sudan in a state of crisis, with millions displaced and facing starvation. The global community's indifference allows the war to persist. It impacts everything. Every waking moment of our lives is now just about this. There is a contrast between North and South Sudan. It’s not just about what happened during colonial times, or what happened during independence. It…

Reestablishing Kinship with All Life in a Time of Chaos

"This powerful being, so seldom seen by most of us, leaves us breathless. I look at the faces, each one with huge smiles of pure joy. “Did you see that? Did you see that?” The sky, the sea, the birds, the humpbacks, all create a symphony of beauty and connection that captures us fully and completely. Everything exists only in this time, this place."

Inner Dimensions of Systems Transformation

At both individual and societal levels, it’s possible to develop the cognitive, emotional, and relational capacities to better comprehend and navigate complexity. Wisdom traditions have long advocated the societal benefits of cultivating heart and mind, and contemporary research is beginning to catch up. Science shows that adults develop psychologically throughout life, that practice can…