Thirty years ago, I wrote an article titled: A New meaning for Love.” It described how love, in our time, is changing in fundamental ways. Although I’ve written numerous books and articles since, no piece has been more often cited. … Read More
Never in the history of the species has looking directly at death been an option. It would have stretched us beyond what we could tolerate. This picture is beginning to change, and the implications are profound. A new maturity in … Read More
In my new book, Cultural Maturity: A Guidebook for the Future, I argue that the climate change “debate” is over. The reason is not the preponderance of scientific evidence. Rather it is simple systemic risk assessment. I also describe how … Read More
There is no more important question when it comes to the future than whether we can keep from blowing ourselves up. Given today’s ready availability of weapons of mass destruction and how often conflict dominates the evening news, it can … Read More
In his new book, Cultural Maturity: A Guidebook for the Future, psychiatrist and futurist Charles Johnston argues that the climate change “debate” is over. The reason is not the preponderance of scientific evidence. Rather, it is simple systemic risk assessment. … Read More
Trust in leadership of all sorts today is less than it was at the height of anti-authoritarian rhetoric in the 1960s. We could easily assume—and people have argued—that this modern lack of confidence in leadership reflects something gone terribly wrong—broad … Read More
Trust in leadership of all sorts today is less than it was at the height of anti-authoritarian rhetoric in the 1960s. We could easily assume—and people have argued—that this modern lack of confidence in leadership reflects something gone terribly wrong—broad … Read More
The place where today we witness the most striking lack of inspired leadership is also where we might appropriately most hope it would thrive: in the halls of government. Confidence in governmental leadership today is embarrassingly and frighteningly low. U.S. … Read More
The place where today we witness the most striking lack of inspired leadership is also where we might appropriately most hope it would thrive: in the halls of government. Confidence in governmental leadership today is embarrassingly and frighteningly low. U.S. … Read More
The concept of Cultural Maturity and other contributions of Creative Systems Theory represent not just fresh thinking, but a fundamentally different kind of idea than we are accustomed to. Appreciating how this is so helps highlight what makes these notions … Read More
When we look to medicine’s future, we tend to think in terms of technological advancements such as exotic transplant surgeries and gene-centered treatments. But in the long term, some very different kinds of concerns become pivotally important. In an earlier … Read More
The origins of the ideas on which this blog is based are worth taking time with if for no other reason than that they make a fascinating detective story. But they are worthy of our attention, too, because they have … Read More
I divide news into three broad categories. Much of what gets put forward as news—such as the latest if-it-bleeds-it-leads sensationalism—isn’t really news at all. There is also news that effectively informs, but is concerned primarily with events of short-term consequence. … Read More
According to CBS News, in 1983 companies spent $100 million marketing to kids. Today that figure is closer to $17 billion. I find the fact that we can find this situation acceptable deeply disturbing. Somehow we comfortably make the leap … Read More
I was invited recently to comment on how our cultural narrative—the stories we tell—has evolved over time, and how it continues to evolve today. It is a great topic, and one that makes a particularly accessible entry point for understanding … Read More
The most readily understood evidence for the importance of Culturally Maturity is the kind we find with “Front Page News” posts on this site: Culturally mature perspective makes essential challenges of our time more understandable and addressable. But there are … Read More
This interview with a quite remarkable young woman is pertinent here because it illustrates culturally mature sensibility expressed by someone who grew up in an early cultural stage context. Note how both what she says and how she says it … Read More
The news media confront some of the most critical challenges when it comes to Cultural Maturity’s needed changes. We should appropriately be able to count on them to alert us to our time’s essential questions, to engage us in the … Read More
“Freedom” can be an inspiring word. But it is also a word we must use with great caution — especially when “freedom” is used as a rallying cry. Just where freedom is best thought to lie is more often than … Read More
The place we witness the most striking lack of culturally mature leadership today is also where we might appropriately most hope it would thrive: in the halls of government. At some level we recognize this is the case even if … Read More
It would be nice if being an advocate for culturally mature understanding and action were easier than it is—-if suggestions put forward were more often immediately celebrated and readily grasped. A few reflections on just what makes such advocacy the … Read More
When it comes to culturally mature understanding, one of the most essential recognitions can also initially be particularly hard for people to get their minds around: the simple fact that intelligence has multiple aspects. Culturally mature systemic perspective requires that … Read More
Adapted from “The future of Art” in Cultural Maturity: A Guidebook for the Future (With An Introduction to the Ideas of Creative Systems Theory) The concept of Transitional Absurdity (a formal notion within Creative Systems Theory) describes how, when Modern … Read More
Charley, A terrific piece, including the two most persuasive frames for everyone——across the political/ideological spectrum——to ponder: risk assessment/Russian roulette …
I had a rich conversation recently with a close friend and colleague about climate change and how the challenges it presents relate to Cultural Maturity. They relate in a couple of key ways. First, Cultural Maturity’s changes will be key … Read More
When a major new policy debate hits the front-page news, people invariably begin asking me what, precisely, culturally mature policy would look like. It is a perfectly good question, but as framed, it also often misses the particular kind of … Read More
Physicist Stephen Hawking recently proposed that artificial intelligence, as it comes to ever more exceed the processing speed of human intelligence, will, with time, be our undoing. Others, including Tesla’s Elon Musk have seconded the warning. Are the dangers as … Read More
When it comes to evaluating the ultimate significance of the concept of Cultural Maturity and the application of a creative frame, no question is more important than just how they fit into the larger story of human understanding. I’ve addressed … Read More
While I repeatedly draw on the analogy between personal second –half-of-life maturity and the tasks of our time in making the argument for Cultural Maturity, I am careful to emphasize that personal maturity and “growing up” in this species sense, … Read More
As a psychiatrist whose life’s work has focused on addressing major cultural issues, I’ve listened carefully to people’s attempts to make sense of recent terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States. While the best of thinking has addressed important … Read More
There is no more important question when it comes to the future than whether we can keep from blowing ourselves up. Given today’s ready availability of weapons of mass destruction and how often conflict dominates the evening news, it can … Read More
Thirty years ago, psychiatrist and futurist Charles M. Johnston wrote an article titled, “A New Meaning for Love.” It described how love, in our time, is changing in fundamental ways. Although Dr. Johnston has written numerous books and articles since, … Read More
Never in the history of the species has looking directly at death been an option. It would have stretched us beyond what we could tolerate. Psychiatrist and futurist Charles M. Johnston argues that a new maturity in in our relationship … Read More
The last, most leadership-focused book of my new three-book series is now out of my hands and off to the publisher. (It is also the longest of the three. This final volume, Cultural Maturity: A Guidebook for the Future, is … Read More
It is important to recognize a kind of confusion that can come when first encountering the concept of Cultural Maturity. It can have people either be attracted to the notion for wholly wrong reasons, or dismiss the concept because they … Read More
Excerpted from Hope and the Future: Culturally mature perspective confronts us with a realization that has striking implications not just for how we think about who we are.: The Modern Age picture of individuality—in which we have taken appropriate pride—reflects … Read More
Confronting terrorism is an arena in which the modern West can and must apply culturally mature leadership. A culturally mature response to terrorism, executed well, results not just in effective defense policy, but a modeling of mature and creative leadership … Read More
[I wrote this post early on in Barack Obama’s presidency. I keep it on the site because its leadership observations remain pertinent and percent.] I’m often asked what I think of Barack Obama’s leadership—how well I think he is doing, … Read More
Trust in leadership of all sorts today is less than it was at the height of anti-authoritarian rhetoric in the 1960s. We could easily assume—and people have argued—that this modern lack of confidence in leadership reflects something gone terribly wrong—broad … Read More
Excerpted from Hope and the Future Because Whole-Person/Whole-System relationship requires that we reincorporate projections, it also requires us to revisit how we think about human identity. Being an individual must now involve more fully recognizing and holding the whole of … Read More
Cultural Maturity’s cognitive changes bring fresh perspective to every realm of understanding, from the arts to the hard sciences. But most obviously significant is how culturally mature perspective challenges us to rethink domains of understanding that have to do specifically … Read More
The concept of Cultural Maturity highlights how the critical tasks before us as a species require that we think and act in newly sophisticated ways. We can appreciate this challenge by noting how often today’s essential questions demand that we … Read More
This post helps clarify the concept of Cultural Maturity by taking a quick look at how it compares and contrasts with other views of our long-term future. In my upcoming book, Cultural Maturity: A Guidebook for the Future, I divide the … Read More
I think the conversations about privacy, information access, and terrorism over the next few years (and more) will have much to teach us. Right now, as often as not we are seeing unhelpful polemics. Big picture, this is how I … Read More
We can think of all the various “crises” of our time as aspects of a single, more encompassing crisis of story—in the end, a crisis of purpose. The guiding stories we have known and lived by—the American Dream, progress’s promise of … Read More
The idea of a needed new human maturity—especially when filled out with Cultural Maturity’s more detailed observations—is unusual as much for the specifically developmental kind of concept it represents as for its particular conclusions. This difference is key to how … Read More
A notion with implications as dramatic as those we find with the concept of Cultural Maturity requires good evidence. In my writing, I draw on four kinds of supporting evidence. None provides proof. But together they paint a compelling picture. … Read More