The Great Growing Up Book
The Great Growing Up is about an urgent collective choice: to opt for responsible adulthood over the largely adolescent ways we have been relating to one another and our planet Earth. The author demonstrates that it is not too late to create the future we all say we want for our children and our children’s children–a future that is environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just.
This book is about a change of thinking that supports a paradigm shift- from adolescent self-centeredness to adult responsibility for all life forms. Anyone willing to genuinely “grow up” can make this necessary choice.
Ever-increasing numbers of individuals today are already seeking self-actualization, growing in consciousness, and willing to take on leadership roles in bringing about the first conscious evolution of our species. This represents a somewhat invisible global movement of historic proportions.
It is not too late to create the future we all say we want for our children and our children’s children – a future that is environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just. The Great Growing Up projects this vision and shows a way for getting the global reality. It is time to grow up and assume a more mature responsibility toward each other and our planet.
“John Renesch is not only a smart man, but also a wise one. The Great Growing Up offers a conscious choice for the kind of future we want to create and the role we each want to play in bringing it about. Don’t just read this book—do it! ”
Alan M. Webber, co-founder, Fast Company magazine
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From the Book’s Introduction
What do the experts predict about the future of the world? What is the prognosis for us and the legacy we are leaving to those who follow us? That, regardless of whether is is good or bad for the human race, it will be happening much more rapidly. According to Ian Morris, Stanford Professor of Classics and History, there will be much more social development amongst our species in this century, four times as much. – for better or worse – as has taken place in the past 15,000 years!
From Chapter One
It is time to stop thinking about what might happen in the future and start thinking about what we want to happen, about what needs to occur now to bring that desired future about. This is “conscious evolution.” Many find this term a kind of oxymoron because evolution is thought of as survival of the fittest, something seemingly left to chance and random circumstance. But as we evolve as human beings we are also growing in consciousness…..
From Chapter One
It is time to stop thinking about what might happen in the future and start thinking about what we want to happen, about what needs to occur now to bring that desired future about. This is “conscious evolution.” Many find this term a kind of oxymoron because evolution is thought of as survival of the fittest, something seemingly left to chance and random circumstance. But as we evolve as human beings we are also growing in consciousness…..
About the Book
The Great Growing Up is about an urgent collective choice: to opt for responsible adulthood over the largely adolescent ways we have been relating to one another and our planet Earth. The author demonstrates that it is not too late to create the future we all say we want for our children and our children’s children–a future that is environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just.
This book is about a change of thinking that supports a paradigm shift- from adolescent self-centeredness to adult responsibility for all life forms. Anyone willing to genuinely “grow up” can make this necessary choice.
Ever-increasing numbers of individuals today are already seeking self-actualization, growing in consciousness, and willing to take on leadership roles in bringing about the first conscious evolution of our species. This represents a somewhat invisible global movement of historic proportions.
The Great Growing Up invites anyone concerned with humanity’s future to participate in this new thinking. The work of growing up is not primarily about political action-it requires no government funding, no special trainings. The work is about a change of mind; we simply begin acting like mature adults. The author points out how.
Taking the reader by the hand, Renesch presents a brief historical overview of the ideals and radical visions that informed this country’s foundation. He invites us to consider what’s been obscured, what’s been lost, and when and why? He helps us to look courageously at the choices that have led to our personal, societal and planetary dilemmas. He identifies patterns of human behavior that currently prevent making the shift in collective consciousness and pops a number of myths/beliefs we have that are no longer valid.
Finally, he details the behaviors we need to encourage and offers an optimistic option for the future despite many negative global trends. His friendly writing style encourages trust and agreement, and the vast resources of his lifelong collaboration with business persons, futures and systems experts lends strong authority to his proposals.
Inspiring, practical and thought provoking . . . The Great Growing Up challenges each of us to develop and stretch our capacities to generate a global reality that secures a preferred future ‘that works for everyone’.
Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., cultural anthropologist, author: The Four-Fold Way and Second Half of Life
About John Renesch
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All proceeds from this book go to The Pachamama Alliance
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John Renesch has been a pioneer and visionary in the search for human values based on reciprocity and relationship rather than self interest and dominance. His search has led him to the threshold of a new awareness that he aptly calls The Great Growing Up. His book is an invitation to cross that threshold and together remake the world.
In The Great Growing Up, John Renesch has given us an astute dianosis of what ails us as individuals and as a global community. He then gives us a prescription for treatment. But rather than a bitter pill to swallow, we have a recipe filled with hope for a renewed spirit.
Gregg Magrane, Ph.D., geneticist, University of California San Francisco
Have you ever wondered whether our planet is engaged in some epic transition to a better society? One where individuals, due to massive new technological and social interdependences, come to see themselves as part of a single integrated ‘organism’ or ‘global brain,’ as well as free, individual moral actors? Teilhard de Chardin called this coming event ‘Planetization’ and some foresight scholars see it as part of the natural developmental future of Earth. If we are to responsibly integrate our incredible new powers for self- and environmental change, and protect against ongoing environmental degradation and destruction, such a consciousness shift must occur. Read this sublime book, and start being the change yourself, every day. You’ll find very few routes to deeper universal insight, peace and happiness that are as direct and valuable as this book.
The Great Growing Up is packed with some of the best thinking this century has to offer about how to secure our future. The book is easy to read and will feed anybody with a hunger for change. Thought provoking, practical and inspiring.
ike Zeidler, founder, Association of Sustainability Practitioners, London
A powerful visionary beacon for our evolving humanity. John Renesch shows us how to be the change we would like to see – in humanity.
Debashis Chowdhury, author: In Our Own Image – Humanity’s Quest for Divinity via Technology
In his new book, John Renesch makes an insightful and honest assessment of our past and maps the way forward for us as a society and individuals. His call to action is both critical and timely, empowering each of us to create the world we can be proud of – unified, just and profoundly human. The wealth of information and wisdom that is contained in this book is amazing.
Julia Balandina Jaquier, Ph.D., Head of Sustainable Investment Group, AIG Investments, Zurich
The Great Growing Up invites you into inspiring, big-picture vision of a world healed by changes in how we think, work, and live as individuals. John Renesch stands with you before the mirror of time to examine what we have created through our sometimes unconscious, careless freedoms. He plants seeds of change in the process, creating a space for you to discover a deeper sense of contribution through your own personal transformation into The Great Growing Up the world badly needs.
In The Great Growing Up John Renesch has brought together an impressive range of sources to provide a readable overview of our prospects for a renewed civilization. He manages to capture the essence of many concepts and ideas and to make them accessible. You don’t need a Ph.D. to read this book – merely an open mind and a willing spirit.
Pat Lynch, Founder and CEO, Women’s Online Media and Education Network
Once again, John Renesch gives us the benefit of his accumulated wisdom and experience with The Great Growing Up. He points the way to a new vision of infinite possibilities, which is available to everyone. If you’re interested in changing the world for the better, then The Great Growing Up is a must read. You’ll be glad you did!
I welcome this important book which maps the unprecedented challenges and opportunities for humanity in this era. John Renesch, as always, is an expert guide to this phase of human development and he lays out our options with deep understanding and compassion.
Indie Book Awards
On May 19, 2013 at The Harvard Club in New York City an award was presented to The Great Growing Up: Being Responsible for Humanity’s Future by Next Generation Indie Books Awards who named the book the 2013 Grand Prize Winner for Non-Fiction. The Award was presented to San Francisco futurist and author, John Renesch, at a gala awards ceremony. Twenty five judges selected the winning book from sixty different categories.