Director of
The Wisdom Page & The Center for Future Consciousness 
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Wisdom Page Updates
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This Month's Highlights
April, 2015
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Included in this month's issue of Wisdom and the Future: |
Video Editorial:
The Psychology of the Future
Tom Lombardo
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This month's issue of Wisdom and the Future once again offers a multimedia experience, presenting contributions from diverse modes of human expression, including the artistic, scientific, scholarly, poetic, lyrical, and mythic. There are items inspired and informed by physical cosmology and futurist science fiction; there are personal essays on wisdom, enlightenment, and the psychology of self-improvement; there are thoughtful reflections on the nature of wisdom and its component virtues; and all told, there are three videos, ranging in length from a two minute hyper-accelerated thrust through creation to a one hour presentation on future consciousness, wisdom, and the evolution of the mind.
There are new contributors to the newsletter, including Mark Ridinger, Jake Mitchell, and Christopher Ebbe, as well as regular contributors, including Lee Beaumont, Walter Moss, and Debashis Chowdhury.
I've also included information on my three events at the World Future Society conference in July, 2015, as well as the latest issues of the Journal of Futures Studies, University of Chicago Wisdom Research, and the Club of Amsterdam.
So to begin, here is my editorial, in video form: The Psychology of the Future. This talk builds upon previous articles and editorials included in Wisdom and the Future.
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Virtue of the Month
The Good
Lee Beaumont
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"Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people."
Dennis Prager 
We began this series by defining moral virtue as "excellence in being for the good" without defining good. This month we explore the meaning of good. Behavior that increases human well-being is good. Perhaps the golden rule captures this concept most succinctly: "Treat others only as you consent to being treated in the same situation." A good place to start is to "First, do no harm." Act on what you have learned from this course and be only for the good every day. Practice the virtues explored in this course every day.
This concludes our exploration of moral virtue. I hope the course has been valuable to you; please let us know.
Next month we begin a new series where we focus on what matters!
"The omission of good is no less reprehensible than the commission of evil."
Plutarch
"That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful."
Ninon de L'Enclos
"You cannot hold on to anything good. You must be continually giving - and getting. You cannot hold on to your seed. You must sow it - and reap anew. You cannot hold on to riches. You must use them and get other riches in return."
Robert Collier
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The course includes Instructions for contacting the instructor. In addition, the Wikiversity platform encourages your participation in improving the course. Comments on each page are welcome on the accompanying "Talk" page, accessed via the "Discuss" tab.
We want to hear from you.
If you are interested in participating in a forum of active students to discuss assignments and share your thoughts, please let us know and we will work to provide a space for that. Also, we would like to be able to provide conscientious students a completion certificate at the end of the course, but we have not yet decided how best to assess completion. What are your ideas?
We certainly hope you continue to enjoy this tour of the virtues.
Leland Beaumont
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The Rise of the Wisdom Worker -
Mark Ridinger
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"A new class of worker is beginning to emerge and supersede the knowledge worker. This group is distinguished not only by their ability to think with reason, but also with creativity, intuition, and emotional intelligence. In short, they possess an amalgam of the skills and dimensions that define human exceptionalism and wisdom, in a word, as the most esteemed human quality, seems to be the term best suited to encompass this dynamic. By using the term "wisdom worker" as opposed to say creative worker or imaginative worker, suggests that we are now, at last, using all dimensions of consummate human ability." So writes Mark Ridinger, MD (who describes himself as a physician, polymath, innovator, and provocateur-in-residence at the Evolved Generalist) in his essay from the Huffington Post (February 18th, 2015). Read the Entire Essay. Also see Mark's website: The Evolved Generalist - Musings on Creativity, Insight, Mindfulness, and Wisdom. |
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Book Review: A God that Could be Real
by Nancy Abrams
Lee Beaumont
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" This is one of the most intriguing books I have read in some time. It shows us a way forward toward a coherence that transcends the divisive religious doctrines that deny the well-established truths of the universe and the sterile scientific models that ignore or dismiss the power of spirituality." Lee Beaumont Read the book review. See the website on the book: A God that Could be Real. |
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Wisdom and Humility
Walter Moss
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"Many wisdom scholars list humility as one of the important values associated with wisdom. It is the opposite of arrogance and vanity and is linked to many other wisdom values." Another thoughtful and well-researched essay by Walter Moss, one of the members of The Wisdom Page Advisory Board. Read Walter's new essay. Also see Walter's other excellent essays on Wise Values, including love and the transcendental.
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Video - Last and First Men: Introduction - Dennis Morgan
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Dennis Morgan, a futurist colleague, friend, and teacher of futures studies in Korea, has as one of his hobbies the creation of interesting and unique videos. In this video, with cosmic, astronomic visuals and accompanying ethereal music, Dennis offers an eerie and somber reading of the introduction to Olaf Stapledon's mind boggling two billion epoch of the future history of humanity, Last and First Men. I believe Dennis in this video captures some of the profound depth and vast expansiveness of this novel. Immerse yourself in the Video -- get taken away. "...our aim is not merely to create aesthetically admirable fiction. We must achieve neither mere history, nor mere fiction, but myth. A true myth is one which, within the universe of a certain culture... expresses richly, and often perhaps tragically, the highest aspirations possible within a culture."
Olaf Stapledon from Last and First Men
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Thoughtful Life Blog Essays
Jake Mitchell
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Wise thoughts and advice on wisdom, knowledge, information, self-awareness (becoming awake), future consciousness, and "Chasing the Habit Rabbit Down the Hole" "All the knowledge in the world doesn't make anyone wise... In my life, I've been chocked full of information and knowledge." A new contributor to The Wisdom Page, Jake Mitchell weaves together thoughts on life and self-enlightenment on his blog "Thoughtful Life." Included below are a series of short thematically connected essays from his blog, introducing his perspective on life, as well as some comments on The Wisdom Page and the Center for Future Consciousness. Read Jake's Essays. Also, have a look at Jake's website: Thoughtful Life Blog. |
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What I Believe: An Idealist Deals with Reality Christopher Ebbe
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As Christopher Ebbe, another new contributor to The Wisdom Page states at the beginning of this essay, "My goal as a person and a psychologist is to provide people with the means to perceive reality reasonably accurately, to have pleasant feelings and emotions as much of the time as is reasonable, to feel good about themselves much of the time and have a good relationship with themselves, to have some gratifying relationships with others, and to function effectively, so that they can reach their goals." Read Christopher's Essay. Have a look at Christopher's Website: Live Wisely, Deeply, and Compassionately |
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Video:
From Beginning to End in Two Minutes
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A superb, accelerated video of the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to contemporary human society in two minutes. Filled with an intense and rapid flow of images, and accompanied by pulsating inspirited music, it is a video to watch more than once. Watch the Video.
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Dimension-Information-Energy Map of the Universe - Debashis Chowdhury
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As Debashis Chowdhury, an Advisory Board member of the Center for Future Consciousness, states in his introduction to this new article, "Having a map available can be very useful if we would like to locate where we are, and chart a path to where we would like to go. We are lucky to have an excellent map of the Universe that we can use to chart our journeys. Knowing the path we would like to take, and the length of the journey, should help us provision Spaceship Earth for the long haul."
A repeated contributor to The Wisdom Page, Debashis Chowdhury offers a different kind of essay from what is normally published in The Wisdom Page: His paper is informed by contemporary physics and cosmology, and contains within it a number of graphic representations of his ideas (with some elementary mathematics included). His goal in this paper is nothing less than outlining the cosmic possibilities for the evolution of intelligence (including human intelligence) within the future of the universe. A real trip.
Read the Essay. |
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Master Course on Science Fiction
at the WFS Convention -
Tom Lombardo
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"Terrific," "Concise, super well organized, very broad, excellent," "Great! Neuron blowing!" "Immensely informed, articulate presentation," "Great passion of knowledge and subject matter," "Extremely comprehensive...much food for thought."
Participant comments on Science Fiction Course
This year at the World Future Society Convention in San Francisco, I will be presenting again my one day "Master Course" in "Science Fiction: The Evolutionary Mythology of the Future." The date and time for the course is Friday, July 24, 2015, 8 am to 3:30 pm. The conference runs from July 24 to July 26; see the website for details. You can register for the course and/or the conference at the above website. The course description is: Science fiction is the most visible and influential form of futurist thinking in contemporary popular culture. It is the evolutionary mythology of the future, providing dramatic narratives of the future that both frighten and inspire us. This course provides a comprehensive overview of the history of science fiction from its beginnings in ancient times through the Golden and Silver Ages, the New Wave, Cyberpunk, Steampunk, and contemporary cosmic fiction. The course will guide participants through science fiction literature, film, art, and fandom as a way of life, and consider how science fiction has both influenced our visions of the future and been influenced by the ongoing evolution of modern society, science, philosophy, and technology.I will also be leading a panel discussion on "Futures Studies and Science Fiction," (with Jose Ramos and Linda Groff as panel participants), as well as giving a presentation on "Foresight and Science Fiction." The complete schedule for the conference with times and days for the above two events will be out shortly. |
University of Chicago
Conversations on Wisdom - Howard Nusbaum
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From the University of Chicago Wisdom Research Network:
Read an interview with Howard Nusbaum on Wisdom.
"Howard C. Nusbaum is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. As a cognitive psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist, his research interest in wisdom expands to learning, attention, working memory, categorization, consolidation, and language... He recently combined his passion for teaching and interest in wisdom through the development of an undergraduate course in the fall of 2014 on Understanding Wisdom. "
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Journal of Futures Studies
New Issue - March 2015
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The new issue of Journal of Futures Studies (March, 2015, Vol. 19, No. 3), from Tamkang University, Jose Ramos, Managing Editor, is now available for viewing.
View the entire new issue. Especially note the article on "Healing Ourselves and Healing the World: Consumerism and the Culture of Addiction." |
Club of Amsterdam Futurist Newsletter
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The Club of Amsterdam under the direction of Felix Bopp has an excellent online newsletter. This month's issue (April, 2015) has interesting short essays on the "Urban Anthropocene" and "In Search of Utopias."
View Club of Amsterdam Website. |
Archive Pages for Center for Future Consciousness and Wisdom Page
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From the fall of 2012 to the spring of 2014, I published two newsletters: the revitalized and redesigned
Wisdom Page Updates and Futurodyssey (the monthly publication of the
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That's it for this month
A new video on the psychology of the future, as well as videos on Last and First Men and the evolution of the universe (cosmic stuff). Also cosmic in scope is Debashis Chowdhury's article on the potentialities for the evolution of intelligence in the universe. As the final lesson in the online virtues course, we have the question of the good: What is it and how do we pursue it? There are, as well, essays on the living wisely and deeply, the wisdom worker, the relationship of wisdom and humility, pursuing self-awareness, and psychological research on wisdom. There are new issues from the Journal of Futures Studies and the Club of Amsterdam. And finally, there is an announcement with the registration link for my course on "Science Fiction: The Evolutionary Mythology of the Future."
Tom Lombardo
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