A Global Transformation Reading List

Here is a more extensive world transformation list from Claude:

Bohm, David. Wholeness and the Implicate Order. Routledge, 1980. Explains Bohm’s theory of undivided wholeness, where all things are enfolded into an implicate order and the explicate order we perceive is unfolded from it. Introduces concepts like implicate and explicate order, holomovement, and undivided wholeness.

Capra, Fritjof. The Web of Life. Anchor, 1996. A seminal work applying systems thinking to ecology and life itself. Capra elucidates the principles of ecology, showing how all living systems share a fundamental interdependence and are woven into the cyclical processes of nature.

De Chardin, Pierre Teilhard. The Human Phenomenon. Sussex Academic Press, 1999. The culminating work of the Pierre Teilhard de Chardin synthesizing his ideas around the unfolding of evolution as an interdependent cosmic process converging towards an “Omega Point” of maximum complexity/consciousness. Key ideas include the noosphere and Christogenesis.

Elgin, Duane. Promise Ahead. HarperCollins, 2000. Elgin envisions a future “ecozoic” society in harmony with ecological realities. He explores new models for sustainable living, voluntary simplicity, and the transition towards what he terms an “earth community.”

Goswami, Amit. The Self-Aware Universe. Tarcher Perigee, 1995. Goswami draws insights from quantum physics to reveal a self-aware universe that transcends the assumptions of materialistic science. He discusses non-locality, monistic idealism, and how consciousness creates physical reality.

Grof, Stanislav. Realms of the Human Unconscious. Souvenir Press, 2012. Grof explores non-ordinary states of consciousness and cartographies of the psyche revealed through his work with holotropic breathwork and psychedelics. Key ideas include psychedelics, spiritual emergencies, and perinatal and transpersonal domains.

Harman, Willis. Global Mind Change. Knowledge Systems, 1998. A foundational text exploring the need for a profound shift in human consciousness and worldviews to address global crises. Harman outlines the foundations of a new paradigm of interconnectedness.

Huxley, Aldous. The Perennial Philosophy. Harper & Row, 2009. Huxley’s classic book identifying the universal truths found across the world’s mystical traditions and wisdom teachings — what he terms the “perennial philosophy” of humankind’s divine reality.

Korten, David. Agenda for a New Economy. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009. Korten envisions an economy based on life values and real-wealth generation centered on people and nature rather than money and extraction. He outlines an agenda for transitioning to a living economy.

Laszlo, Ervin. The Systems View of the World. Hampton Press, 1996. A pioneering work explicating the implications of systems thinking across multiple domains, showing how a systemic view transcends reductionism and fragmented worldviews.

Lovelock, James. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford University Press, 2000. Lovelock’s seminal work proposing the Gaia Hypothesis, which views the Earth and its living systems as a self-regulating, homeostatic super-organism maintaining conditions favorable for life.

Maharshi, Ramana. The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi. Shambhala, 2019. A collection of Ramana Maharshi’s teachings on self-inquiry and the nature of consciousness and Being. Key ideas include atma-vichara and the concept of the “I-I.”

Maturana, Humberto and Varela, Francisco. Autopoiesis and Cognition. Reidel, 1980. Introduces the theory of autopoiesis — Maturana and Varela’s biologically-grounded model for how living systems are operationally closed, self-producing, cognitive entities coupled with their environments.

Meadows, Donella. Thinking in Systems. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008. An essential primer on systems thinking principles like feedback loops, stocks/flows, leverage points and more. Meadows provides tools for understanding complex systems across domains.

Russell, Peter. The Global Brain. Tarcher, 1983. Russell presents the visionary idea of the emerging “global brain” arising from increases in communications, travel, and economic/cultural globalization. He discusses implications for a new planetary consciousness.

Sahtouris, Elisabet. EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution. iUniverse, 2000. Sahtouris views life and evolution through the lens of living systems theory, revealing inherent cooperation and”dance” within and between all living beings in service of Gaia-system health.

Sheldrake, Rupert. The Science Delusion. Coronet, 2012. A biting critique of scientific reductionism and materialistic dogmas, as Sheldrake explores evidence for phenomena unexplained by conventional models like morphic fields, the sense of being stared at, and more.

Swimme, Brian. The Universe is a Green Dragon. Bear & Company, 1984. Swimme poetically renders the evolutionary “universe story” and cosmic genesis from the big bang, revealing the profound interconnectedness of all existence in an ever-complexifying unfolding.

Todd, John and Todd, Nancy Jack. From Eco-Cities to Living Machines. North Atlantic Books, 1994. The Todds lay out models and case studies for ecological design systems like living machines, bioshelters and eco-cities — designed by imitating processes and closed-loop patterns found in nature.

Tolle, Eckhart. A New Earth. Penguin, 2005. Tolle expounds perspectives for personal and societal transformation by bringing more presence into relationship with the interconnected now. Key ideas are presence, the pain-body, and ending identification with form.

Washburn, Michael. The Ego and the Dynamic Ground. SUNY Press, 1995. Washburn integrates Western and Eastern perspectives in a model of the ego emerging from and ultimately re-immersing with the dynamic ground of Being. Traces the dynamics of transpersonal development.

Wilber, Ken. A Theory of Everything. Shambhala, 2001. Wilber synthesizes ideas from science, philosophy and world wisdom traditions into an overarching “theory of everything” — mapping waves and streams of existence across domains like matter, life, mind and spirit.