The Dream of the Earth - Softcover

Berry, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0871566222 ISBN 13: 9780871566225

Publisher: Sierra Club Books, 1990

Synopsis

This acclaimed inaugural volume of the Sierra Club Nature and Natural Philosophy Library considers our ecological fate from a species perspective, the way The Fate of the Earth viewed our prospects for nuclear annihilation. Thomas Berry's seminal thesis proposes a universal "biocratic" criterion to evaluate human history, development, and activity. He contends that the validity of any human enterprise is the degree to which it enhances the universal life force.
Berry builds his case on a comprehensive review of the history of ideas, and he points toward a transformation of consciousness that is needed if we and the planet are to survive. The Dream of the Earth provides the insights, inspiration, and ethical guidance we need to move beyond exploitation or disengagement toward a transcendent vision of a restorative, creative relationship with the natural world.
Drawing upon the wisdom of thinkers from Buddha and Plato to Teilhard de Chardin and E. F. Schumacher, from ancient Chinese philosophy and Native American shamanism to contemporary astrophysics, Berry forges a balanced, deeply felt declaration of planetary independence from the sociological, psychological, and intellectual conditioning that threatens the death of nature, offering a path that will avert ecological catastrophe and move our traumatized planet toward health.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"This volume quite possibly is one of the ten most important books of the twentieth century."
--Dr. Donald B. Conroy, President, North American Conference on Religion and Ecology

From the Inside Flap:

"Beyond all my experiences with universities, literature, and wisdom traditions, Thomas Berry's work has opened the door for me to the most thrilling, over-arching, inclusivist, all-embracing and empowering perspective I have ever encountered."--Paul Winter, musician

"The Dream of the Earth provides a brilliant, integrating perspective on our responsibility to the larger Earth community."--Terry Deacon, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

About this edition

• Publisher: Sierra Club Books
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0871566222
• ISBN 13: 9780871566225
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 264