Part 4 – Generative Insights

Section 1

The Sages Code: Twelve Transformative Noetic Essentials

I am developing a curriculum based on the 12 points listed below. I

envision this course to be the core philosophy regarding the positive

personal potentials vis-a-vis a noetic approach to human life. Any

comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

1. Play

2. Wonder

3. Gratitude

4. Beauty

5. Joy

6. Optimism

7. Reason

8. Purpose

9. Harmony

10. Compassion

11. Generosity

12. Spirituality

1)         Play: A Serious Puzzle

The first item in my list of twelve transformative noetic essentials is

the notion of play. I find play to be a difficult essential to define.

Commonly, much is included in play such as ruthlessly competitive

sports, aggressively pursued games, and activities which involve

struggles for dominance or deceptive activities.

For me play is a pursuit which lacks obsessive agendas or tightly

structured strategies. For me play is a condition of delight involving a

number of people or even solo enjoyment of nature. Fun and

relaxation are the essentials of play; a delight in the common place

and an intuitive appreciation of social warmth and natural wonders.

I could only generate a short list of books supporting this notion. I

would appreciate additional suggestions.

- The Spell of the Sensuous, by David Abram

- Music Lesson, by Victor L. Wooten

- The Hand, by Frank R. Wilson

2)         Wonder: How, Why

Wonder is the number two transformative noetic essential in my list of

twelve. Wonder is a quality of the human condition which drives the

curiosity which expands human culture. This curiosity can be cosmic

in nature or deeply personal.

I have chosen a literature base for wonder, which explores the

miraculous and the mysterious from cosmology to consciousness. I am

listing five diverse books which if read in sequence explores the full

dimension of human curiosity. And they are:

- The Fifth Miracle, by Paul Davies

- Nature Via Nurture, by Matt Ridley

- The Ape and Sushi Master, by Frans de Waal

- Peripheral Visions, by Mary Catherine Bateson

- Spectrum of Consciousness, by Ken Wilber

3)         Gratitude: A Self-Vitalizing Essential

Gratitude is the third in my list of twelve transformative noetic

essentials. Western culture, through its Christian traditions, has

through the century confused the concept of gratitude with

bargaining, pleading, triumphalism and an array of negative baggage.

I am attempting in this offering to approach gratitude in a self-

vitalizing and multi-dimensional mental, emotional profile. I have

created a graphic entitled Seven Mental/Emotional Polarities to give

shape to my understanding of gratitude.

Gratitude is the culmination of emotional insight and enlightened

comprehension regarding gratitude as the ultimate self-vitalizing

mental/emotional profile.

Seven Mental/Emotional Polarities

Self-Poisoning

Profile

Self- Vitalizing Profile

Anger Self-Awareness

Fear Self-Confidence

Ignorance Enlightenment

Self-Doubt Self-Esteem

Resentment Joy

Guilt Tranquility

Greed Gratitude

The list of five books approach this subject with the above points in

mind. They give depth and perspective to my graphic.

- Doubt and Certainty, by Tony Rothman and George Sudarshan

- Becoming Animal, by David Abram

- A Passion for the Possible, by Jean Houston

- Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman

- My Stroke of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor

4)         Beauty Will Save the World

Recently, I entered twelve transformative noetic essentials as a base

configuration for a course on the transformative dimensions of the

noetic realm. The fourth item in the list is beauty. That concept does

stir fundamental and crucial notions about the human condition.

Writers such as David Abram and Oliver Sacks, beautifully explore the

interplay of noetic and biotic forces. Frequently the terms biosphere

and noesphere are used to express the same idea as the biotic and

noetic realm.

A powerful Russian literary tradition evoked by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

and reinvigorated by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, proclaims the

transformative power of beauty and beauty's ultimate capacity to be a

force of salvation for human kind. I invite contributions to this

discussion.

5)         Joy – Happiness

Number five in my list of twelve transformative noetic essentials is the

notion of joy. Joy, happiness, exuberance are conceptually intertwined

as a state of being. Unfortunately, this noetic essential is easily

sabotaged by hidden angers and crippling fears. Obsessions and

ephemeral guilt are likewise poisonous to joy. If these negative

emotions can be flushed from your consciousness, then joy can be

released in a tide of healing and buoyant noetic transformations.

I have selected five particularly valuable books for developing and

understanding of joy, happiness, exuberance. I would recommend

these books be read in the order in which they are presented for the

sake of continuity.

- Dancing In The Streets, by Barbara Ehrenreich

- The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner

- The Happiness Hypothesis, by Jonathan Haidt

- Happy for No Reason, by Marci Shimoff

- Exuberance, by Kay Redfield Jamison

6)         Optimism: Hope, Creativity, and Positive Intuition

In my profile of twelve transformative noetic essentials, number six is

Optimism. Without doubt, one of the most healing and generative

forces possessed by the human mind is the capacity for optimism.

Optimism suffuses creativity, hope, and positive awareness.

Learning to use subconscious resources for maximizing the

transformative power of optimism is crucial. The list of books

presented below provide a wealth of insight for creatively using the

subconscious mind. The eight books, when read in sequence, move

from subconscious resources to active and concrete everyday

behaviour.

- How To Enjoy Your Life In Spite of It All, by Ken Keyes, Jr.

- Peace Is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh

- The Knack of Using Your Subconscious Mind, by John K. Williams

- Your Maximum Mind, by Herbert Benson

- The Act of Creation, by ARthur Koestler

- Treat Yourself to Life, by Raymond Charles Barker

- Head First, by Norman Cousins

- Positive Living and Health, by The Editors of Prevention  Magazine

7)         Reason: Logic, Empiricism, Science, Knowledge, Wisdom

Number seven in my list of transformative noetic essentials is

Reason.I have connected reason with such intellectual pursuits as

logic, and wisdom. All of these interwoven ideas listed in the title are

supportive of the human quest for cultural enrichment and technical

accomplishments.Reason needs to be appreciated as a historical

dynamic as well as an epistemological accomplishment. The noetic

realm is energized by reason and constuctively builds civilization.

The eight books listed below, when read in sequence, explores reason

and the corollary concepts mentioned in the title. Many more books

could be added to the list, yet these eight are extraordinarily brilliant

and thorough.

- The Dream of Reason, by Anthony Gottlieb

- Ingenious Pursuits, by Lisa Jardine

- Science, Order, and Creativity, by David Bohm and F. David Peat

- Return to Reason, by Stephen Toulmin

- Towards a New World View, by Russel E. Di Carlo

- Intellectual Capital, by Thomas A. Stewart

- From Knowledge to Wisdomm by Nicholas Maxwell

- A Passion for Wisdom, by Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M

Higgins

8)         Purpose – Leadership

The eighth transformative noetic essential I have listed as Purpose. It

seems reasonable to me to link purpose with leadership.

All human endeavours, whether small scale personal matters, or

massive scale national issues, are all fed in a healthy state by creative

purpose and constructive leadership.

I have selected seven books relevant to this topic which I will list in a

sequence for building a coherent approach to purpose and leadership.

- The Power of Four, by Joseph Marshall III

- Making Waves and Riding the Currents, by Charles Halpern

- Leading with Kindness, by William Baker and Michael O'Malley

- Leadership and the New Science, by Margaret Wheatley

- Managing for the Future, by Peter Drucker

- Microtrends, by Mark Penn

- The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

9)         Harmony: From the Personal to the Global

For at least two and a half millennia, Taoism has energized Oriental

culture with the theme of harmony vis-a-vis humanity with nature vis-

a-vis the personal with the communal. In recent generations, western

intellectuals have borrowed from the east to enrich the west. This

process has been troubled with the cross currents of war and civil

disturbances of every kind.

Now more than ever the west needs to ingest harmony as an ethos

and build personal as well as communal life on the energy of harmony.

The books listed below build on this line of thought, from the personal

to the global.

- Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl

- Love Is Letting Go of Fear, by Gerald G. Jampolsky

- No Boundary, by Ken Wilber

- The Roots of Coincidence, by Arthur Koestler

- The Phenomenon of Man, by Teilhard de Chardin

- The Book of Balance and Harmony, by Thomas Cleary

- Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu

- Speeches That Changed the World (Jesus of Nazareth, Mohandas K.

Ghandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. (I have a dream)), by Simon

Sebag Montefiore

- Civil Society in Question, by Jamie Swift

10)       Compassion: Empathy, Civility, Respect, and Tolerance

In my list of twelve noetic transformative essentials, compassion is

number ten. For untold centuries, Buddhism has focused on

compassion as a central theme . For well over a century, western

thought has been borrowing from eastern philosophical streams.

Recently, compassion has become a mainstream line of social analysis

and even scientific research. Many concepts are woven together

related to compassion. I believe compassion is the most active

perception of such ideas, however, there are more passive

conceptions such as tolerance.

I have chosen seven books which develop this line of thought in North

American culture. If read in sequence as presented, these seven books

provide a powerful shift in the view of the human condition with

potential salvational implications for the future.

- Born for Love, by Maia Szalavitz and Bruce Perry

- Born to be Good, by Dacher Keltner

- The Age of Empathy, by Frans de Waal

- The Empathic Civilization, by Jeremy Rifkin

- Wired to Care, by Dev Patnaik

- A Paradise Built in Hell, by Rebecca Solnit

- The Moral Landscape, by Sam Harris

11)       Generosity: A Necessary Essential for the Successful Evolution of the Noosphere

No essential in the noetic realm (noosphere) is more crucial than

generosity. Humanity is hard wired for sharing as a necessary

condition for human survival from the origins of homo sapiens over

100,000 years ago to the civilized order of contemporary urban life.

The literature base chosen for this essential consists of 4

anthropologists, 2 economists and 3 historians of religion. Whether

the subject is paleoanthropology or massive nation states, all authors

chosen provide powerful arguments for the role of generosity as the

essential necessary for human survival in any environmental or

organizational context.

The previous essential, compassion, linked with this essential,

generosity, characterize the caring and sharing necessary to the

noetic realm even though many scientists may fail to appreciate this

reality.

Without sharing and caring there is no humanity.

- Origins, by Richard E. Leaky

- Women's Work, by Elizabeth Wayland Barber

- When God Was a Women, by Merlin Stone

- The Way of the Shaman, by Michael Harner

- The Spirit of Shamanism, by Roger N. Walsh

- A Seat at the Table, by Huston Smith

- The Invisible Heart, by Nancy Folbre

- Systems of Survival, by Jane Jacobs

- Buddha, by Karen Armstrong

12)       Spirituality: The Interplay of the Human Mind and the Divine Realm

Spirituality, the twelfth and last of the transformative noetic

essentials, is a realm of inquiry which brings the entire profile into

focus.

This noetic essential stimulates an inquiry into five of the most

important questions which need to be addressed by any civilization.

1) What is the nature of the cosmos?

2) What is a truly healthy relationship with the environment?

3) What is a generative and vital ethical framework for any civil

order?

4) What is an intuitive and insightful understanding of oneself?

5) How does the human mind engage with the metaphysical

dimensions of mind with the mystical essence of spirit?

The twelve books presented below attempt answers in an organic and

multidimensional manner to these fundamental questions. The

interplay of science and religion, and a rich understanding of history

as well as a thorough appreciation for cultural anthropology, help to

conclude this profile in a thoughtful and clarifying manner.

- The 5th Miracle, by Paul Davies

- The Physics of Immortality, by Frank J. Tipler

- Belonging to the Universe, by Fritjof Capra  & David Steindl-Rast

- The Great Transformation, by Karen Armstrong

- Gnosis, by Kurt Rudolph

- Essays on World Religion, by Huston Smith

- Shamanism, by Shirley Nicholson

- States of Grace, by Charlene Spretnak

- Peace, Love & Healing, by Bernie S. Siegel

- Gaia & God, by Rosemary Radford Ruether

- An Altar in the World, by Barbara Brown Taylor

- The Best Buddhist Writing, by Melvin McLeodSection 2

Personal Action – Pragmatic Philosophy

IntroductionThe four items in this package are intended to give a rich resource base for discussion groups, formal or informal. Across North America discussion groups are forming around the problem of bringing the philosophy into everyday life. Socrates advocated this approach two thousand four hundred years ago, and the need now is greater than ever.

Socrate's Cafe: Refinement of Ethics, Expansion of Insight, Enrichment of Wisdom (Part 1)

Socrates Cafe: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy by Christopher

Phillips (W. W. Norton & Company, 2002)

Description: A modern-day Socrates takes to the road to bring

philosophy back to the people. Journalist-turned-philosopher

Christopher Phillips is on a mission: to revive the love of questions

that Socrates once inspired in ancient Athens. With great charisma

and optimism, he travels around the country, gathering people to

participate in Socrates cafes in bookstores, senior centers, elementary

schools and universities, and prisons. In this accessible, lively

account, Phillips recalls what led him to start his itinerant program

and recreates some of the most invigorating sessions. Harvard

psychiatrist Robert Coles praises the "morally energetic and

introspective exchanges with children and adults from all walks of

life," which come to reveal sometimes surprising, often profound

reflections on the meaning of love, friendship, work, growing old, and

other large questions of life. Phillips also draws from his own

academic background to introduce us to the thought of philosophers

through the ages. Socrates Cafe is an engaging blend of philosophy

and storytelling.

A Passion for Wisdom: A Very Brief History of Philosophy by

Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins (Oxford University Press US,

1998)

Description: Readers eager to acquire a basic familiarity with the

history of philosophy but intimidated by the task will find in A Passion

for Wisdom a lively, accessible, and highly enjoyable tour of the

world's great ideas. Here, Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins tell

the story of philosophy's development with great clarity and

refreshing wit.

The authors begin with the most ancient religious beliefs of the east

and west and bring us right up to the feminist and multicultural

philosophies of the present. Along the way, they highlight major

philosophers, from Plato and the Buddha to William James and Simone

de Beauvoir, and explore major categories, from metaphysics and

ethics to politics and logic. The book is enlivened as well by telling

anecdotes and sparkling quotations. Among many memorable

observations, we're treated to Thomas Hobbes' assessment that life is

"nasty, brutish, and short" and Hegel's description of Napoleon as

"world history on horseback." Engaging, comprehensive, and

delightfully written, A Passion for Wisdom is a splendid introduction

to an intellectual tradition that reaches back over three thousand

years.

Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption are Undermining America by Arianna Huffington

(Random Houseof Canada, 2003)

Description: Who filled the trough? Who set the table at the banquet

of greed? How has it been possible for corporate pigs to gorge

themselves on grossly inflated pay packages and heaping helpings of

stock options while the average American struggles to make do with

their leftovers?

Provocative political commentator Arianna Huffington yanks back the

curtain on the unholy alliance of CEOs, politicians, lobbyists, and Wall

Street bankers who have shown a brutal disregard for those in the

office cubicles and on the factory floors. As she puts it:

“The economic game is not supposed to be rigged like some shady

ring toss on a carnival midway.” Yet it has been, allowing corporate

crooks to bilk the public out of trillions of dollars, magically making

our pensions and 401(k)s disappear and walking away with

astronomical payouts and absurdly lavish perks-for-life.

The media have put their fingers on pieces of the sordid puzzle, but

Pigs at the Trough presents the whole ugly picture of what’s really

going on for the first time—a blistering, wickedly witty portrait of

exactly how and why the worst and the greediest are running

American business and government into the ground.

Tyco’s Dennis Kozlowski, Adelphia’s John Rigas, and the Three

Horsemen of the Enron Apocalypse—Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and

Andrew Fastow—are not just a few bad apples. They are

manifestations of a megatrend in corporate leadership—the rise of a

callous and avaricious mind-set that is wildly out of whack with the

core values of the average American. WorldCom, Enron, Adelphia,

Tyco, AOL, Xerox, Merrill Lynch, and the other scandals are only the

tip of the tip of the corruption iceberg.

Making the case that our public watchdogs have become little more

than obedient lapdogs, unwilling to bite the corporate hand that feeds

them, Arianna Huffington turns the spotlight on the tough reforms we

must demand from Washington. We need, she argues, to go way

beyond the lame Corporate Responsibility Act if we are to stop the

voracious corporate predators from eating away at the very

foundations of our democracy.

Devastatingly funny and powerfully indicting, Pigs at the Trough is a

rousing call to arms and a must-read for all those who are outraged by

the scandalous state of corporate America.

Dark Age Ahead by Jane Jacobs (Random House of Canada, 2005)

Description: A dark age is a culture's dead end. In North America, for

example, we live in a virtual graveyard of lost and destroyed

aboriginal cultures. In this powerful and provocative book, renowned

author Jane Jacobs argues convincingly that we face the coming of our

own dark age.

Throughout history, there have been many more dark ages than the

one that occurred between the fall of the Roman Empire and the dawn

of the Renaissance. Ten thousand years ago, our ancestors went from

hunter-gatherers to farmers and, along the way, lost almost all

memory of what existed before. Now we stand at another monumental

crossroads, as agrarianism gives way to a technology-based future.

How do we make this shift without losing the culture we hold dear—

and without falling behind other nations that successfully master the

transition?

First we must concede that things are awry. Jacobs identifies five

central pillars of our society that show serious signs of decay:

community and family; higher education; science and technology;

governmental representation; and self-regulation of the learned

professions. These are the elements we depend on to stand firm—but

Jacobs maintains that they are in the process of becoming irrelevant.

If that happens, we will no longer recognize ourselves.

The good news is that the downward movement can be reversed.

Japan avoided cultural defeat by retaining a strong hold on history

and preservation during war, besiegement, and occupation. Ireland

nearly lost all native language during the devastations of famine and

colonialism, but managed to renew its culture through the steadfast

determination of its citizens. Jacobs assures us that the same can

happen here—if only we recognize the signs of decline in time.

Dark Age Ahead is not only the crowning achievement of Jane Jacob's

career but one of the most important works of our time. It is a

warning that, if heeded, could save our very way of life.

Zeno and the Tortoise: How to Think Like a Philosopher by

Nicholas Fearn (Grove Press, 2002)

Description: For those who don't know the difference between

Lucretius's spear and Hume's fork, Zeno and the Tortoise explains not

just who each philosopher was and what he thought, but exactly how

he came to think in the way he did. Nicholas Fearn presents

philosophy as a collection of tools—the tricks of a trade that, in the

end, might just be all tricks, each to be fruitfully applied to a variety

of everyday predicaments. In a witty and engaging style that

incorporates everything from Sting to cell phones to Bill Gates, Fearn

demystifies the ways of thought that have shaped and inspired

humanity—among many others, the Socratic method, Descartes's use

of doubt, Bentham's theory of utilitarianism, Rousseau's social

contract, and, of course, the concept of common sense. Along the way,

there are fascinating biographical snippets about the philosophers

themselves: the story of Thales falling down a well while studying the

stars, and of Socrates being told by a face-reader that his was the face

of a monster who was capable of any crime. Written in twenty-five

short chapters, each readable during the journey to work, Zeno and

the Tortoise is the ideal course in intellectual self-defense. Acute,

often irreverent, but always authoritative, this is a unique introduction

to the ideas that have shaped us all.

ocrate's Cafe: Refinement of Ethics, Expansion of Insight, Enrichment of Wisdom (Part 2)

Infinite Life: Seven Virtues for Living Well by Robert Thurman

(Souvenir Press Limited, 2006)

Description: In Infinite Life, Columbia University professor and

bestselling author Robert Thurman invites us to examine our

assumptions about living and dying and to take into account the

possibility that not only are our lives not meaningless, they have

tremendous impact. He asks us to consider that instead of having one

shot to get it right for either oblivion or eternity, we might indeed

have an infinite past and future. And if that is the case, if we are

evolving over infinite time, then every action in our lives has infinite

consequences for ourselves and others. Therefore, we must take

responsibility in the present for our actions and their effects—we must

live our immortality now. But balanced against that tremendous

responsibility is the opportunity for a life of infinite joy, infinite

connection with other beings, and infinite power to do good.

There is no escaping the facts that our thoughts create actions and

that our actions affect others around us in ways we cannot see or

predict. The ripples of every impulse last long after we are gone.

Following the ancient teachings of the Buddha, Infinite Life introduces

seven Buddhist virtues for carefully reconstructing body and mind in

order to reduce the negative consequences and cultivate the positive

in our lives. Thurman shows us how to let go of our rigid sense of

"self" and experience full satisfaction with ourselves, others, and our

world. He invites us to take responsibility for our actions and their

consequences while reveling in the knowledge that our lives are truly

infinite. Infinite Life is the ultimate guidebook to understanding our

place in the universe and realizing how we can personally succeed

while helping others.

A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity

and Islam by Karen Armstrong (Random House of Canada, 1994)

Description: Why does God exist? How have the three dominant

monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—shaped and

altered the conception of God? How have these religions influenced

each other? In this stunningly intelligent book, Karen Armstrong, one

of Britain's foremost commentators on religious affairs, traces the

history of how men and women have perceived and experienced God,

from the time of Abraham to the present.

The epic story begins with the Jews' gradual transformation of pagan

idol worship in Babylon into true monotheism—a concept previously

unknown in the world. Christianity and Islam both rose on the

foundation of this revolutionary idea, but these religions refashioned

"the one God" to suit the social and political needs of their followers.

From classical philosophy and medieval mysticism to the Reformation,

the Enlightenment, and the modern age of skepticism, Karen

Armstrong performs the near miracle of distilling the intellectual

history of monotheism into one superbly readable volume, destined to

take its place as a classic.

Belonging to the Universe: Explorations on the Frontiers of Science and Spirituality by Fritjof Capra, David Steindl-Rast,

Thomas Matus (HarperSanFrancisco, 1992)

Description: In this remarkable work, bestselling author Capra and

Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk renown for making fresh sense of

Christian faith, share insights into how science and religion seek to

make us at home in the universe. A remarkably compatible view of the

universe.

The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Harper

Colophon, 1975)

Description: Pierre Teilhard De Chardin was one of the most

distinguished thinkers and scientists of our time. He fits into no

familiar category for he was at once a biologist and a paleontologist of

world renown, and also a Jesuit priest. He applied his whole life, his

tremendous intellect and his great spiritual faith to building a

philosophy that would reconcile Christian theology with the scientific

theory of evolution, to relate the facts of religious experience to those

of natural science.

The Phenomenon of Man, the first of his writings to appear in

America, Pierre Teilhard's most important book and contains the

quintessence of his thought. When published in France it was the

best-selling nonfiction book of the year.

The World We Want: Virtue, Vice, and the Good Citizen by Mark

Kingwell (Viking Books, 2000)

Description: More and more, as the globe turns into a billboard for

corporate propagation, the nature of citizenship is becoming skewed.

For the cellphone-brandishing inhabitants of a world carved up into

markets and territories determined by production and consumption,

transcending the traditional boundaries of nation-states, what does it

mean to be a citizen?

In The World We Want, Mark Kingwell explores the idea of citizenship

in the current post-national context, arguing that old ideas of civic

belonging, historically tied to blood, belief, and law, need to be

reconceived. What happens to political responsibility in an age of

fractured identities, global monoculture, and crumbling civic

nationalism? How do we make sense of a situation where the uniform

spread of cola, television, and market rationalism is accompanied by

resurgent ethnic hatreds?

Kingwell traces the idea of citizenship from its roots in ancient Greece

to the contemporary realities of consumerism and cultural banality. It

is these voices from the past that provide the much needed context for

the conflicts and confusions of the present day.

It is obvious that we cannot simply adopt past models of citizenship

that are heavily based on exclusion and nationalism, but Kingwell

argues that it is too early to give up on citizenship altogether. We

need a new model of citizenship, he writes, one based on participation

as opposed to bloodline, constitution, or religion—one that will give

voice and structure to our longing to be part of something larger than

we are.

Adventures of Ideas by Alfred North Whitehead (Free Press, 1967)

Description: The title of this book, Adventure of Ideas, bears two

meanings, both applicable to the subject-matter. One meaning is the

effect of certain ideas in promoting the slow drift of mankind towards

civilization. This is the Adventure of Ideas in the history of mankind.

The other meaning is the author's adventure in framing a speculative

scheme of ideas which shall be explanatory of the historical

adventure.

The book is in fact a study of the concept of civilization, and an

endeavour to understand how it is that civilized beings arise. One

point, emphasized throughout, is the importance of Adventure for the

promotion and preservation of civilization.

Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977 by Michel Foucault, Colin Gordon (Random House of

Canada, 1980)

Description: Michel Foucault has become famous for a series of books

that have permanently altered our understanding of many institutions

of Western society. He analyzed mental institutions in the remarkable

Madness and Civilization; hospitals in The Birth of the Clinic; prisons

in Discipline and Punish; and schools and families in The History of

Sexuality. But the general reader as well as the specialist is apt to

miss the consistent purposes that lay behind these difficult individual

studies, thus losing sight of the broad social vision and political aims

that unified them.

Now, in this superb set of essays and interviews, Foucault has

provided a much-needed guide to Foucault. These pieces, ranging

over the entire spectrum of his concerns, enabled Foucault, in his

most intimate and accessible voice, to interpret the conclusions of his

research in each area and to demonstrate the contribution of each to

the magnificent—and terrifying—portrait of society that he was

patiently compiling.

For, as Foucault shows, what he was always describing was the

nature of power in society; not the conventional treatment of power

that concentrates on powerful individuals and repressive institutions,

but the much more pervasive and insidious mechanisms by which

power "reaches into the very grain of individuals, touches their bodies

and inserts itself into their actions and attitudes, their discourses,

learning processes and everyday lives."

Foucault's investigations of prisons, schools, barracks, hospitals,

factories, cities, lodgings, families, and other organized forms of

social life are each a segment of one of the most astonishing

intellectual enterprises of all time—and, as this book proves, one

which possesses profound implications for understanding the social

control of our bodies and our minds.