just a few pages in so far, but this bit stood out:
Today's threats demand that we hone a new sensibility, the capacity to recognize the hidden web of connections between human activity and nature's systems and the subtle complexities of their intersections. This awakening to new possibilities must result in a collective eye opening, a shift in our most basic assumptions and perceptions, one that will drive changes in commerce and industry as well as in our individual actions and behaviors. (p. 43)italics mine. I love this couple of sentences, and it makes sense coming form the guy who brought concepts like emotional and social intelligences to public awareness. but I have to pick on him calling this required capacity a "new sensibility," because such a cognitive ability is hardly new - indeed, it's as old as time. our ability to represent complicated interconnectivity in our minds is partly why we are the species we are today.
the trouble, of course, is this very facet of our intellectual development is being abandoned at the alter of the artifacts produced by other parts of our minds. what I mean here is that our sensitivity to ecological complexity (where "ecology" refers to our actual surroundings, tangible or abstract, manmade or natural) was developed to survive. and it has enabled us to reach the human heights we enjoy as a species.
but now we are neglecting that intelligence in favor of the fruits of industry. humans still exercise the sensibility Goleman praises but only so far as it results in gadgetry and convenience.
as I read more in the book I may find that Goleman recommends that we augment our minds through Big Data shared widely, thereby making abstract data available to our senses. perhaps if we could perceive what eight tons of CO2 looked like or felt like we'd drive less. maybe if we could envision how many sea otters became entangled in the plastic holders of 6-packs we'd observe due diligence in cutting up each cell before disposing of it.
my examples here are intentionally trite and superficial, but despite that I am not intending to argue none of it is enough. rather, I am considering that perhaps we don't need aggregated numbers and transparency campaigns. and perhaps we don't even need a "new sensibility." I think what we need--what I sure need--is to give my age-old sensibility a change to re-emerge.
I like to think about ecological restoration. how about restoring the ecology of my own mind? maybe then I will be better prepared to more responsibly inhabit the ecosystem outside of my skull.
meanwhile, I'll keep reading.
