My guest today is Jeremy Lent. Jeremy has been described by Guardian journalist George Monbiot as “one of the greatest thinkers of our age”. Jeremy is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. His award-winning books, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning, and The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, trace the historical underpinnings and flaws of the dominant worldview, and offer a foundation for an integrative worldview that could lead humanity to a flourishing future. He has written extensively about the vision and specifics of an ecological civilization and is founder of the Deep Transformation Network, an online global community of over 3,000 people engaging with others in facilitating a deep transformation toward a life-affirming future on a regenerated Earth.

Jeremy says culture shapes, values shape history, and our values will shape the future. He shares a fascinating story about Christopher Columbus and Admiral Zheng that points to why Europeans came to dominate the world and spoiler alert…it has to do with the differences between what these two different cultures valued.

We talk about the universal values that indigenous cultures around the world share such as looking at other species not as separate from us as humans, but as our relatives, seeing nature as one extended family. Western science has now validated this view by finding much of the genes of all species are shared. Jeremy believes we are in the process of undergoing one of the greatest transformations in human history and our work now is to transition to an ecological civilization that deeply understands humans are just one part of the web of life.

I hope you enjoy the episode, if you do please subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app or the entangledworldpod YouTube channel.

Jeremy’s Links & Resources:

Jeremy's website

The Patterning Instinct, Jeremy Lent

The Web of Meaning, Jeremy Lent

Principles of Deep Transformation, Gaia Education

Books Mentioned:

The Tao is Silent, Raymond Smullyen

The Art of the Warrior, Sun Tzu

The Kinship Worldview, Four Arrows and Darcia Narvaez

Other Resources:

The Great Simplification Podcast, Nate Hagens

Entangled World explores our greatest, interrelated social, economic, ecological, and technological global challenges, their underlying drivers, and how a more beautiful world might emerge.

Entangled World is a labor of love, I couldn’t keep this podcast going without the generosity of my listeners and fans. Please consider making a donation at patreon.com/entangledworld.