Awakening in a World in Unprecedented Transition

In this 2023 conversation with Justine Willis Toms, futurist Duane Elgin argues that humanity is straddling unprecedented, threshold times, and that this situational crisis involves more than just climate change: it’s a whole systemic change. Yet, despite the extreme nature of our situation, we’re also living in a moment of immense possibility in a sea of a living universe within a domain of aliveness, where new kinds of potentials are going to emerge. He writes 'Even though it is difficult, even though your heart breaks a thousand times, we must go through this time of collective initiation in order to take our place as responsible adults collaborating in the creation of a healthy and vibrant community of all beings.” 

Duane Elgin is the author of many books including:


- Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness (William Morrow 1993)
- Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich (Harper 2010)
- The Living Universe: Where Are We? Who Are We? Where Are We Going? (Barrett Koehler Publishers 2009)
- Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity’s Future the Living Universe (William Morrow 2000)
- Choosing Earth: Humanity’s Journey of Initiation through Breakdown and Collapse to Mature Planetary Community (Revised Edition) (Duane Elgin 2022)

Interview Date: 10/20/2023     Tags: Duane Elgin, initiation, Christopher Alexander, mutual symbiosis, pocket neighborhoods, eco-villages, digital authoritarianism, digital dictatorship, electronic meetings, ETMs, electronic Town Meetings, The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Personal Transformation, Psychology, Community, Social Change/Politics, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Global Culture