The Great Work: Our Way into the Future |  | Author: Thomas Berry
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 116,137
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 241
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0609804995
Dewey Decimal Number: 909
EAN: 9780609804995
ASIN: 0609804995
Publication Date: November 14, 2000
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Amazon.com Review
The future can exist only if humans understand how to commune with the natural world rather than exploit it, explains author and renowned ecologist Thomas Berry (The Dream of the Earth, The Universe Story). "Already the planet is so damaged and the future is so challenged by its rising human population that the terms of survival will be severe beyond anything we have known in the past." This may make him sound like a scolding, doomsday prophet, but Berry is an optimistic soul, hopeful that humans will rise to the challenge of cherishing the natural world in the third millennium. "Our future destiny rests even more decisively on our capacity for intimacy in our human-Earth relations." Berry predicts. From this premise, Berry reveals why we need to adore our blessed planet, while also examining why we are culturally driven toward exploiting nature. Because Berry has a science background as well as a spiritual orientation (he is the founder of the History of Religions Program at Fordham University), he brings a balanced and fresh voice to social ecology. Even though he writes for the masses, Berry is by no means a lightweight--chapters include "Ecological Geography," "The Extractive Economy," "The Corporation Story," and "Reinventing the Human." --Gail Hudson
Product Description
Thomas Berry is one of the most eminent cultural historians of our time. Here he presents the culmination of his ideas and urges us to move from being a disrupting force on the Earth to a benign presence. This transition is the Great Work -- the most necessary and most ennobling work we will ever undertake. Berry's message is not one of doom but of hope. He reminds society of its function, particularly the universities and other educational institutions whose role is to guide students into an appreciation rather than an exploitation of the world around them. Berry is the leading spokesperson for the Earth, and his profound ecological insight illuminates the path we need to take in the realms of ethics, politics, economics, and education if both we and the planet are to survive.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 "The Great Work"--a great book! May 5, 2000
G. Merritt (Boulder, CO)
83 out of 85 found this review helpful
Thoreau. Muir. Leopold. Today I am adding Thomas Berry to this list. He will be remembered as the spokesman for our planet as we entered the new millennium. In this book, Berry insightfully writes, "without the soaring birds, the great forests, the sounds and coloration of the insects, the free-flowing streams, the flowering fields, the sight of the clouds by day and the stars at night, we become impoverished in all that makes us human" (p. 20).
"The Great Work" is a collection of 17 deep-ecology essays followed by a comprehensive, 32-page bibliography of "source materials." In his essays (which address, among other things, the environment, economics, politics, and education), Berry encourages us to reflect upon our human role amidst the "wonder" (p. ix) and "magic" (p. 20) of the Earth, "the garden planet of the universe" (p. ix), and move with great effort from our "devastating exploitation" of the planet to a more "benign presence" (p. 7). In one essay, "The Earth Story" (Chapter 3), Berry examines our integral human role on the 4.6-billion-year-old, "radiant blue-white, . . . privileged" planet Earth (pp. 21-22) that hangs in a 14.6-billion-year-old universe. In each essay, Berry encourages us to reexamine our relationship with the Earth--"to dream again"(p. 47), because we are now living in a "moment of grace" (p. 196) as we move into the twenty-first century, which enables us to "be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner" (p. 3). Reading this book could change the way you live your life.
G. Merritt
The last Great Work , maybe. February 1, 2001
34 out of 34 found this review helpful
This may be the great summary work of Thomas Berry. It is historically up to date, as befits a great historian of religion, science and the Earth. The assessment of the present is realistic to any who appreciate what we have lost. He projects into the future from the past as far as can be seen and hoped. That is a very long distance indeed on both ends. The next stage is dependent on human choice to a large extent. The assessment of where we are and what we have done/accomplished is rather grim and realistic from a geophysical standpoint but is hopefull in its projections for Earth going forward, according to Thomas. Thank you, Thomas Berry, for this perhaps last published summary work.
One of the two or three most important works I've read January 7, 2003
Mike Meyer (Gilroy, CA United States)
41 out of 45 found this review helpful
Most people who love the Earth and fear its demise will relate to and devour this book. You may labor at times, but the fruit is abundant. You'll understand more clearly the deep causes in our cultural evolution that have put the Earth at risk. The solution is an immense undertaking, but Berry reminds us there's hope, and that we aren't alone. The human community, and more importantly, the larger life/Earth/Universe community, is available and at work, in us. How can it not be, when it was those communities from which we came? The developing universe, as Berry writes. When you adequately understand the causes of the problems, when you can identify them both outside and within, you move in a better direction. Berry provides an un-numbered, un-listed direction, one that is heard with more than the rational mind. Yet, he articulates better than I could have imagined. He gives an immense hope and guides toward that most important of all energies at this time, the psychic energy necessary for confronting and walking forward, for preparing oneself for real action, real work. That is a big thing. If you have wrung your hands at the seeming impossibility of correcting the wrongs done to the Earth, read this book. Berry doesn't give you concrete things to do, his words work into your creative area, your reflective mind, your spirit.
The folks who reacted negatively in review of this book missed the point or had other expectations. They almost kept me from purchasing The Great Work. I'm glad I bought it. It's one of the two or three most important works I've read.
Spelling Out A Dire Need For Change April 21, 2005
Bugs (Los Angeles, Ca.)
16 out of 19 found this review helpful
This review is long, and my apologies, but this book is potent and spells-out what is one of the most important subjects of the 21st century- our drifting from physical reality and responsibilities and the need to wake-up and realize this dilemma and how we can accomplish that possible , but daunting task. Thomas Berry does this with eloquence and wisdom here and this is truly, a "Great Work"! Thank you, Mr. Berry!
In his earlier book, "The Dream of the Earth", Thomas Berry so eloquently stated the need for humanity to realize what a beautiful foundational life-support gift we have in planet Earth and the need to treat it with the profound sense of respect and good stewardship it deserves and needs in to order to provide a healthy life-sustaining platform.
An understanding of the dynamics of Earth's resource cycles and regulatory systems can teach us how to live sustainably and regeneratively- most importantly, carrying that understanding into the formation and dissemination of religion, politics and economy.
We see God's handy-work, i.e., the blue prints and operating system for Earth through the dynamics of Nature's regenerative, life providing bounty and we then see what is required to maintain this perfect system. Indeed, we are entering the "Eco-zoic" faze of our existence- the realization and implementation of an ecologically sustainable reality.
So how could Berry top that beautiful piece of work? Almost ten years after "The Dream", he comes out with "The Great Work", a powerful and compelling continuation of the earlier theme of a beautiful Earth with attentive humans at the helm and with proper stewardship, only now with an exacting historical dialogue of how the Earth formed, settled and eventually became a biological life-support system and where we, as humans have lost our original awe and respect of God's creation through the many distractions of living in a human only, "civilized" and complex material world, forgetting our interconnectedness to all life.
This separation has culminated in an insane, parasitic and cancerous existence not only for us humans, but for all life on this planet. Isn't it curious that cancer of our bodies is one of our biggest worries and nemesis? Mass over-population, pollution, unsustainable resource use and habitat destruction have left us in a burn-out, dire mess. Our sense of economy is no "economy" at all, rather a predatory take all shark frenzy fully supported by governments through corporate purchase and manipulation and misguided `human only' pseudo-religious zealotry.
An un-Godly, reckless "Manifest Destiny" attitude of anthropocentric endeavors has been prevailing since the industrialization of our societies exploded on the human scene, blinding us with delusions of superiority, yet to the detriment of our shared and threatened environment.
Exactly in the middle of this fine book, is a chapter called
"Ethics and Ecology". Here, Berry relates our combined human sense of making like nothing is wrong on spaceship Earth (a closed-loop eco-system) with a parallel to the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. A course was set and could not be deviated from, regardless of the warnings of known dangerous icebergs ahead. An attitude that the Titanic was a perfect, fool-proof and unsinkable human manifestation prevailed.
The Titanic parallel underscores our misguided human notions that we can control Nature and that we are on a safe course in our activities on Earth. We see our creation of the Titanic (the micro), but not the big picture (the macro), i.e., Nature along with it's icebergs, etc., but especially, the need for our attention to it's requirements for a safe, healthy existence.
As Berry states, our "extractive" (exploitive, parasitic) economies have become "terminal" economies (dead-end) and need to be reformulated to sustainable/regenerative economies for the continuation and enjoyment of life- only in a more sane and quality existence.
For those that don't think it can be done, it would be educational to look at the turn-around of attitudes and subsequent successes of corporations that have been able to wake-up to what sustainable/regenerative/eco-friendly formats offer in terms of long lasting, profitable returns, let alone peace of mind. A good outline of that can be seen in the book, "Natural Capitalism" by Hawken and Lovins.
Further, religions need to continue with their return to the inclusion of all Creation and away from the current deviation of anthropomorphism. Understanding the dynamics and importance of interconnectedness with all of God's Creation is a matter of survival now and should not be interpreted as "Nature Love" vs. "Biblical Dogma". It's all one reality. Berry gently opens our eyes to this!
The consideration of an all-inclusive creation- man and nature in harmony instead of man vs. nature- both created by God to coexist, is also touched upon in the 'great work' of Chet Raymo's books "Skeptics and True Believers", sequealed by his "Climbing Brandon"- in a sermon by Saint Columbanus, there is in part: [Those who wish to know God, he says, "must first review the natural world."]. Indeed, a good place to start!
There is a good bibliography in "The Great Work" that provides a multitude of resources for further research and education on sustainable awareness and consciousness.
don't trust the negative reviews- read it for yourself July 23, 2009
moonjuice (malkuth)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
this is not a conventional review. its really an attempt to counter some of the ill informed negativity about this book that is starting to appear. This is such a great book that is upset me to read that someone was almost put off by the few negative reviews.
Really I'm almost surprised there aren't more negative and aggressive reviews of this book considering it is so uncompromisingly critical of everything most people are (willingly or unwillingly) reliant upon right now - in western society at least. I can only assume its because the book has not yet reached the readership it deserves
The beauty of what has been written in the negative reviews on here, though, is that they perfectly illustrate the attitude Berry is concerned with. We have a christian who decries Berry's work as 'godless, biocentric, new age' highlighting berry's criticism of the orthodox Judeo-Christian tradition; of its role in the separation of 'spirit' and 'matter' resulting in a human mind isolated from its natural environment. And so, as proof, here we have someone is far more concerned about Berry's catholic credentials and adherence to an abstract theology than our continued adaption and survival on this planet.
western science is by no means exempt from playing a part in this disconnection and alienation. Whilst orthodox religion has taken 'spirit' as the rime reality and abandoned the physical world around us as evil fallen or illusory science has gone in the other direction and taken the 'material world' as the only reality whilst abandoning spirit. Both are in a mess because 'matter' and 'spirit' are different aspects of one thing. they need to be together- so berry argues convincingly. And hence you get on the other side 'pragmatic environmentalists' who only want to know about practical action plans and statistic- they do not want to hear about the grand vision- that's just pompous'!
Again Berry's point throughout is that the 'gazing at the stars in wonder' - the 'mythic' component is not a nice aesthetic luxury for us to have whilst we get on with the business of turning the wheels of the economy and being 'realistically hard headed'- or whilst we be 'practical environmentalists' and busy ourselves with installing passive solar heating panels. This 'wonderment' is a radically necessary adaptive behavior- a reconnection with reality in all its aspects - and Berry's warning is that if we do not manage to foster it amongst ourselves in a real and dynamic way then we have no future to speak of.
That is a stark and frightening proposition and in many ways, none of us want to hear it because it is going to involve eating some humble pie. ie we don't want to hear that we are in that much trouble that we are about to terminate a geological era and we don't want to hear that we have become alienated and disconnected from reality (especially some environmentalists don't)
So we have someone who argues that Berry's harsh and almost universal critique of modern industrial society means he must have 'psychological issues'. yes of course- that must be it! he can't cope with industrial society so he's trashing it! Even better is the assertion that Berry's position is 'anti human'. Which is to think that what makes us human is the achievements of industrial society rather than the quality of our lives and lived experience. That to criticize the industrial project of economic growth which has lasted for 200 years is to criticize the human which has been around for 100's of thousands of years. its a common and insidious tactic.
Elsewhere there is unease that we are being asked to step down from our position on top of the evoutionary pile by Berry- an astonishing interpretation. 'should dolphins and chimpanzees also step down?' the reviewer rhetorically asks. No because dolphins are not causing the mass-scale degradation of their own habitat by devotion to an abstract ideal and (as far as we know) do not go around telling themselves how they are the 'top of the evolutionary pile'!
Rather than filling up this concise work with facts and figures he gives extensive references to the direct sources (criticized in negative reviews as 'name dropping' and a 30 page bibliography of further reading (which includes works that are antagonistic towards his view). From there you will have enough facts and figures to last you a few decades. But no, some people want it all given to them and given to them in a book under 200 pages long where the focus is clearly stated as a summary of the general path of our way into the future- and inspiration for it.
Of course Berry is well aware that there will be incredible opposition to the birth of this earth/universe-centered paradigm. Many people are still far too financially and emotionally attached to the dream of technological domination of the earth; with the human mind isolated, alienated but privileged above everything else. iIn fact all of us are essentially attached to it right now whether we like it or not.
but the change is beginning to gather pace already. people are slowly beginning to re-connect everywhere in a multitude of ways. Depending on your level of thinking right now you will either see that as positive or as the threat of a new 'dangerous new ideology' because right now that will be the only way you can interpret what is happening.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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