Humanity is beset by so much disruption that naming it has almost become a cliché: ‘I could really go for some precedented times’ as a popular meme has it. More and more people are aware of the multiple and interconnected crises that we face, yet our collective capacity to respond to them appropriately has not kept pace.
Certainly we are powerful. Our ability to harm the environment, ourselves and each other is accelerating. From the transgression of planetary boundaries to the threat of runaway technology, this kind of power places even the near future in jeopardy for billions of people.
But the capacity to dominate and destroy is not the same as the capacity to act well and in our collective best interests. That sort of capacity is both underdeveloped and increasingly under threat. The good news is that it can be consciously cultivated through practices such as mindfulness.
