Creative Systems Theory takes us beyond the mechanistic assumptions of Modern Age thought and allows us to think in ways that better reflect that we are alive—and human. It also argues that finding ways to make this kind of leap … Read More
The recent dramatic appearance of large language A.I models has further awakened conversations about the dangers as well as the benefits that accompany the contributions of artificial intelligence. The potential benefits are considerable, and I don’t wish to minimize them. … Read More
When today we ponder the future of religion, we find ourselves in a quandary that would seem to have no solution. Over the last fifty years, the number of people who identify with traditional forms of religion has steadily decreased. … Read More
Respected thinkers have lately been putting forward more dynamic explanations for the workings of conscious awareness. In each case, there is the claim that the picture presented is fundamentally new. In my book Creative Systems Theory: An Overarching Theory of … Read More
In previous posts, I’ve argued that we today confront a Crisis of Purpose. I’ve described how we need a new kind of guiding narrative and new ways of thinking if our future is to be bright. I’ve also proposed that … Read More
As I reflect on our times and our future human well-being, I keep coming back to one concept from Creative Systems Theory, what the theory calls Transitional Absurdity. It is pertinent certainly to our psychological health, and also possibly to … Read More
[I have committed to writing a short article each month the applies Creative Systems Theory and the concept of Cultural Maturity to some essential question.] Cynicism today is rampant. Few people hold positive expectations when it comes to the future. … Read More
I find the degree of cynicism that today permeates our world striking and troubling. As I psychiatrist who often works with young people, I find it particularly concerning. It is rare that a young person I work with expresses real … Read More
Three circumstances that people in the U.S. could confront in the years immediately ahead could well challenge the viability of democratic governance as we know it. Recognizing them can help us engage them with the foresight needed if they are … Read More
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine took most everyone by surprise. Pundits in the U.S had counseled that the right foreign policy approach was a pivot toward China. European countries had been confident enough in a peaceful future with Russia that they … Read More
On my YouTube channel Ask the Cultural Psychiatrist, I invite people to contribute questions where the kind of big-picture, long-term, systemic understanding that culturally mature perspective provides might be of value. In response to a segment I did on the … Read More
I feel deep concern about how, with issues of every sort, people today are dividing almost immediately into polar camps. The concern ultimately relates to something of much greater significance than just the unpleasantness of discord. Polarization is getting in … Read More
Often I write articles that apply culturally mature perspective and the ideas of Creative Systems Theory to then current front-page news topics. Culturally mature perspective’s primary contribution lies with the big picture, with bringing a long-term, systemic vantage to understanding. … Read More
I gave my most recent book Perspective and Guidance for a Time of Deep Discord the subtitle: “Why We See Such Extreme Social and Political Polarization and What We Can Do About it.” Today conflict between ideological factions has become … Read More
Over the course of the pandemic year, I launched into writing what I thought would be my culminating book, an overarching, magnum opus work on Creative Systems Theory. But as I neared the book’s completion, a dynamic that is coming … Read More
Since releasing my comprehensive work on Creative Systems Theory several months back, I have received several requests to write short pieces on topics that I touched on in the book. One topic that I’ve written about off and on over … Read More
The topic of guns and gun violence has again become front-page news as it does with each mass shooting. I’ve written about gun violence and what it will ultimately take to address it off and on in articles through the … Read More
In my recent book, Rethinking How We Think: Integrative Meta-perspective and the Cognitive “Growing Up” on Which Our Future Depends, I went into detail about the dangers of device addiction and what can be done to address this concern. Today … Read More
A major part of my task as cultural psychiatrist and futurist is to alert people to circumstances where how we respond and the perspectives we bring could have major consequences—to serve as something of an early warning system. It is … Read More
As a psychiatrist, I’ve noted a pattern over the last couple of weeks with clients (and also friends). While everyone seemed to be doing remarkably well over the early weeks of the pandemic, now I am beginning to see despondency … Read More
[This piece was written not just as a post for readers of this blog, but also for distribution to a wider audience.] As a cultural psychiatrist and futurist, I endeavor to bring big-picture perspective to major social challenges. Last night … Read More
I’ve just released a new book that blog readers should find of particular interest. Titled Rethinking How We Think: Integrative Meta-Perspective and the Cognitive “Growing Up”On Which Our Future Depends, it applies a more cognitive science approach than previous books … Read More
The word “patriarchy” today is often thrown around as if both its meaning and it implications are obvious. In fact the word has multiple meanings, and depending on which meaning we choose, the implications could not be more different. With … Read More
In my most recent book, On the Evolution of Intimacy, I start with a provocative observation. I propose that one possible result of the #MeToo movement and the like could be better communication between men and women and greater mutual … Read More
In a recent post, I observed that modern age Romeo-and-Juliet–style romantic love is not only not some ideal and end point in love’s evolution, in fact it is not even what we have assumed it to be about. Rather than … Read More
From the book’s back cover—“In no aspect of life today do we confront more rapid and easily confusing change than in the worlds of gender and intimacy. Men and women equally are left without clear guideposts for their choices. In … Read More
David Brooks is one of the writers in the political sphere that I most respect. In a recent piece, he made a dramatic observation that I think could very well be accurate and prescient. But his observation left us hanging. … Read More
The development of Creative Systems Theory has had a pivotal place my life since I was in my mid twenties. This is no less the case now as I enter my seventies. I continue to find fascination with exploring and … Read More
(This is a lengthy piece. But it is particularly important for the perspective it provides.) I formally introduced the concept of Cultural Maturity and the basic ideas of Creative Systems Theory over forty years ago. In the years since, … Read More
In my book Quick and Dirty Answers to the Biggest of Questions, I describe how Creative Systems Theory helps us address all manner of “ultimate questions”—big picture concerns that in times past have tended to leave us baffled. In other … Read More
It is not that often these days that I encounter future-related books that I read all the way through. More often the book’s point is obvious after a couple of pages and rarely is it a point that adds much … Read More
[In response to today’s extreme social/political polarization, I’ll be doing a series of articles that take front-page-news issues and address them from a big-picture, systemic perspective—from above the partisan fray. My intent with this series is not to get people … Read More
[In response to today’s extreme social/political polarization, I’ll be writing a series of articles over the next year that take front-page-news issues and address them from a big-picture, systemic perspective—from above the partisan fray. My intent with this series is … Read More
In an earlier post that looked at the concept of Cultural Maturity’s big-picture significance, I briefly described a recent recognition that provides insight important to effective culturally mature advocacy. As I’ve finished up my new three book series and begun … Read More
[The following reflections are adapted from two of my most recent books: Cultural Maturity: A Guidebook for the Future and Quick and Dirty Answers to the Biggest of Questions.] The concept of Cultural Maturity proposes that the reason many ultimate … Read More
Addressing future moral challenges will require new human capacities, capacities that before now we could not have fully understood, much less applied. In part this is because we will be confronted by new kinds of moral questions—for example, those that … Read More
I have put off commenting about presidential election politics in the U.S. both because the topic already consumes too much air time and because the larger portion of supposed debate has been trivial, and often simply ludicrous. But if what … Read More
I approach addressing the future differently than most futurists. The larger portion of people whose work addresses what may lie ahead focus on technological advancement, or perhaps on obstacles that might present themselves in our efforts to advance. The kind … Read More
Six months have now passed since the release of the last volume in my new three-book series. Working on the series has taken the larger portion of my creative energy over the past fifteen years. Finishing up has provided time … Read More
The title I’ve used for this piece might seem overly dramatic. But I will argue that it is not. I will also argue that changes happening in the world of love can help us understanding equally dramatic changes taking place … Read More
It is important to appreciate how much leadership today is changing. The picture is not all reassuring. Trust in leadership of all sorts today is less than it was at the height of anti-authoritarian rhetoric in the 1960s. Respected … Read More
One of the most significant new capacities that accompanies Cultural Maturity changes is the ability to engage limits in more sophisticated ways. Of particular importance, we become better able to recognize that some limits are inviolable. Nothing more defined the … Read More
Modern realities frequently leave people feeling at best confused, at worst cynical and hopeless. In part, this is a reaction to specific concerns—job loss with globalization, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change, and the erosion of familiar moral assumptions to name … Read More
The kind of big-picture/long-term vantage provided by culturally mature perspective stretches usual understanding in a couple of key ways. First, it commonly requires that we take into account multiple, interwoven causal factors (it challenges simple “silver bullet” solutions). Second, it … 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
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
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
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