Reimagining Humanity’s Identity

Abstract

Foreshadowing arguments from the forthcoming book, Towards a New Politics of Evolutionary Love, this article suggests that humanity is in the throws of a species-wide identity crisis, precipitated by a broadening awareness of our impending self-inflicted extinction. This growing awareness that humanity is responsible for its own fate and the fate of the planet is referred to as the second shock of existence. The second shock has spawned a great deal of discussion about the need for revolutions in technological, economic, and ecological infrastructures, yet this focus on exteriors addresses only half the picture. Comparable revolutions of our interiors must also take place—radical transformations in the very structure of our consciousness and species-wide self-understanding. This is a call for attending to the interior dimensions of the current global crises, recommending in the strongest possible terms that tremendous energy and resources be re-channeled into planning for the vast educational reconfigurations facing humanity in the coming decades.