Charles Eisenstein On ‘Life, The Universe, and Everything’

BOSTON/Jamaica Plain – Yes, the headline is meant to evoke Douglas Adams, the late British writer who summed up life’s mysteries with a single number: 42.

I’m not saying author, philosopher and activist Charles Eisenstein offers a magic number or a magic bullet for the planet’s ills. But after hearing his presentation at the Jamaica Plain Forum on Sunday, I think I can summarize his thesis succinctly.

Think and act more like a child.

Put another way: listen to the advice from writer E.B. White who said “always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”

Allow the possibility, says Eisenstein, that water is more than just one atom of Oxygen merged with two atoms of Hydrogen; that a river “knows where it’s going.”

That the sun is not just a huge ball of burning gas…like a child, entertain the notion that the warm glowing disc in the sky has a personality and a purpose.

The result, he theorizes, induces a healthier outlook on the planetary ecology and human’s role within it.

I freely admit that I’m barely doing Eisenstein justice here. So you just have to listen. His presentation – recorded in the Sanctuary of the first Unitarian Church in Jamaica Plain as part of the Jamaica Plain Forum series of platform speakers – is divided into two parts, approximately the same length.

His new book is called, “The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible.”

OMB Audio: Charles Eisenstein, recorded Sunday, January 26, 2014 (Jamaica Plain Forum Coordinator, Greg Buckland, makes the introduction)
[part 1: 28:24] [part 2: 34:28]

Web Resources:
Jamaica Plain Forum: http://jamaicaplainforum.org/
Charles Eisenstein: http://charleseisenstein.net/