Don Edward Beck, Christopher Cowan
1996 Blackwell Publishing
Probably the definitive work on Clare W. Graves ‘Levels of Existence’ theory. The theory itself is nothing short of astonishing, insightful, thought provoking, challenging and hopeful. It goes way beyond any personality profiling to explain the link between the life conditions that we face and how we evolve our thoughts, feelings, values and beliefs.
This is the second time I have read this book and while the book itself is patchy (some parts speculative, others impenetrable) overall the book is incredibly important. Start with Sections 1 and 3 and then decide if you want to work through Section 2. It is a wonderful antidote to the stream of authors (Jarrod Diamond, Chris Patton, Thomas Homer-Dixon etc.) who are able to list the problems we face (climate, political, economic) and yet leave the reader with a sense of being overwhelmed and powerless.
This book shows us the tools that we already have and where we will find the tools we need to effectively deal with the problems that we face and to evolve as we do so. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is in a position to play a part, no matter how seemingly small, in solving the complex problems that we face as a planet.
