We evolved to pay less attention to the slow moving dangers that threaten our world. Luckily there are ways to overcome this handicap and be more in tune with the bigger picture.
The late cultural anthropologist Edward T. Hall argued that some of the most important aspects of culture were those that were invisible to its holders, lying below conscious awareness.
The left-hemisphere of our brain does the lion's share of the work when we think analytically. But as Hafeez Diwan tells us, those "Aha! moments" can only come when we give the left brain and its analyses a rest.
Afghan author Idries Shah collected traditional Eastern anecdotes and Teaching Stories and transmitted them in book form to the West. As Steven Nightingale tells us, his work encapsulates centuries of Sufi thought aimed at developing our latent capacities.
People with differing perspectives often consider their own takes to be the objectively correct ones. But as David Sobel explains, our biases filter-in and out the details of the realities we champion.
Humor and laughter can confer all sorts of health benefits, but as Andrew Boden writes it can also be a powerful tool that opens up a wide range of perceptual experiences and insights.
For most of us, designating cult behaviour is a black-or-white proposition. But as John Zada writes, the question is less often: ‘Is this, or isn’t this a cult?’—but more ‘how much cult thinking is present in any group dynamic?’
Our perception of time is inherently skewed by our self-centered view of life. But as Hugh McGilvery writes, while most of us may never grasp time’s true nature, there are things we can do to gain a less self-centered perspective—and which brings its own benefits.
Can we move beyond the common human tendency to think in largely dualistic terms? John Zada suggests that the wellbeing of our societies, and even their survival, may in part, depend on it.
David Sobel MD suggests that exploring wider contexts not only alters our perceptions, but also reframes more healthily how we regard ourselves in respect to the bigger picture.
Denise Winn explores new research poking holes in our cherished understanding of male and female brains—and how we embraced those notions to begin with.
Decades after Ornstein and Ehrlich published ‘New World New Mind,’ arguing the need for “conscious evolution,” Andrew Boden asks if there are any indications we are heeding their call.
Psychotherapist and journalist Denise Winn illustrates the importance of cultivating meaning in our lives: whether as a conduit for survival, well-being, or seeing the bigger picture.
Diplomat John Bell reflects on how author Idries Shah has shaped his outlook on East and West—and the fundamental questions of human nature which transcend them.
The best nature stewards, David Sobel, MD, suggests, may be those who see themselves not as intruders and interlopers, but as a crucial part of the ecosystems that they wish to protect.
When groups demand excessive conformity they negate some of their greatest assets: dissenting views and a diversity of perspective. John Zada argues that successful group decisions hinge upon ‘cognitive diversity.’
Our human story proves we know much more than we think we do, but in a different way. As Sally Mallam argues, we need to reactivate and develop this faculty now.
Stanford University’s David S. Sobel, MD, recalls an how an unexpected crisis moment shifted his mental mode from one that was more linear, to more intuitive.
Humanity needs to move beyond its narrow, survivalist impulses that are more relevant to the past, and embrace a new mode of mentation that takes into account the bigger picture.
In the late fifties/early sixties my sister and I spent summer holidays in East Africa in what is now Tanzania. My father was a British Colonial Officer in the Tanganyika Forestry Department.
