Relational Reality
* Book: Spretnak, C. Relational Reality: New discoveries of Interrelatedness That Are Transforming the Modern World Topsham: Green Horizon Books, 2011
URL = http://www.charlenespretnak.com/RelationalReality/index.html
Summary
1.
"Ms. Spretnak's eighth book, Relational Reality: New Discoveries of Interrelatedness That Are Transforming the Modern World was published in 2011. Noting that our hypermodern societies, currently possess only a kindergarten understanding of the deeply relational nature of reality, she illuminates the coherence of numerous recent discoveries that are moving the relational worldview from the margins into the mainstream. The central realization, with myriad manifestations, is that all entities in this world, including humans, are thoroughly relational beings of great complexity who are both composed of and nested within contextual networks of creative, dynamic interrelationships. Nothing exists outside of those relationships. She presents newly created relational approaches that are already transforming the way we educate our children, attend to our health, green our communities, and rethink economic activity. New analysis of the crises of modernity and bountiful new solutions are the result." (http://www.charlenespretnak.com/contact.html)
2.
"Relational Reality reveals the coherence among numerous surprising discoveries of the interrelated nature of reality. These discoveries have resulted in a new perspective that has been emerging gradually for the past several decades but has gained momentum and is now transforming every mainstream field of human endeavor. All our basic assumptions (built on the old idea that everything in the physical world is essentially separate and functions mechanistically) are being reconsidered. No longer a marginal perspective, the Relational Shift is based on the realization that all entities in this world, including humans, are thoroughly relational beings of great complexity who are both composed of and nested within networks of creative, dynamic interrelationships. Nothing exists outside of those relationships. As we try to grasp the interrelated nature of reality, emergent relational approaches are already transforming the way we educate our children, attend to our health, green our communities, and rethink economic activity. New analyses of the crises of modernity and abundant new solutions are the result." (http://www.charlenespretnak.com/RelationalReality/index.html)
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Relational Revelations
Discoveries and Emergence in the 21st Century * Ecological = Organically Interrelated = Relational * Our Checkered Past * The Relational Imperative
Chapter 2: The Relational Shift in Education and Parenting
A Snapshot of the Current Crises
The Growing Gaps in Education * The Venal and Vapid Socialization of Our Youth via the Media * School Life: In Class, Online, and Texting * Peer-Oriented “Attachment Displacement” Disorder
The Emerging Relational, Green Culture in Education
Relational Factors in Learning * An Ecoliterate, Relational K-12 Education * A College Education in Relational Knowledge * Life-long Learning and the Relational Shift
Chapter 3: The Relational Shift in Health and Healthcare
A Snapshot of the Current Crisis
The Emerging Relational Perspective in Physiology and Medicine
Interpersonal Relationships and Human Health * Dynamic Physiological Relationships within the Bodymind* Interrelatedness Between the Bodymind and Its Environmental Context
Preserving Our Deepest Relationship
The Desires of the Bodymind
Chapter 4: The Relational Shift in Community Design and Architecture
The Emerging Relational Perspective in Our Built Environment * Geometric Dominance and Organic Rebellions * Community Revitalization * Organic Architecture * Relational Building for Bodies in Nature * Eco-Effective Architecture * A Visit to Relationton
Chapter 5: The Relational Shift in The Economy
A Snapshot of the Current Crisis
The Emerging Green, Relational Economic Culture
Agriculture and Food Security * New Ways of Doing Business * Community-based Economics * Transportation * Energy * Greenhouse Gas Emissions * Other Toxins * Waste * Water * International Trade * “Development” in the “Third World”
Chapter 6: Stepping Up
Reassessing the "Field Dependence" of Women * An Example of Applying the Relational Perspective: * The Debate over the Origins of Religion * The Relational Calling
Excerpt
Discussion
Charlene Spretnak:
"Our hypermodern societies currently possess only a kindergarten-level understanding of the deeply relational nature of reality. It may seem unlikely that such advanced cultures could have missed “the way the world works,” but it was simply a matter of habit. Our cultural tendency has been to perceive the physical worlds as an aggregate of separate entities. We noticed some relationships between and among things, of course, but those seemed of marginal significance compared to what things are made of and how they function. The failure to notice that reality is inherently dynamic and interrelated at all levels – including substance and functioning – has caused a vast range of suffering: our medical system designed treatments as if our bodies were biomachines with independently functioning parts; our education systems regarded students as essentially isolate units into which learning can be implanted; our psychologists authoritatively conveyed to patients the Freudian notion that separating from core family relationships is the key to healthy maturation; and our workplaces and dwellings were designed with no inkling of the relationship between human health and natural light. Moreover, our communities have become fragmented and alienating, as the focus of modern life has largely contracted to the sphere of the Individual Consumer, a disintegration that has not been countered by support for the social fabric. Even more tragically, the entire planet is now imperilled by climate destabilization and ecological degradation, resulting from the modern assumption that highly advanced societies could throw toxic substances “away” somewhere and could exude staggeringly unnatural levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into our atmosphere without ill effect… " (Spretnak, C. Relational Reality: New discoveries of Interrelatedness That Are Transforming the Modern World Topsham: Green Horizon Books p. 1-2)
More Information
- Bio of author Charlene Spretnak