At our historical juncture, the global/planetary nature of our contemporary challenges and their possible solutions are obvious. That is, the personal, social, and natural worlds are increasingly appearing as deeply interconnected. Survival of the human species and survival of all of nature becomes, then, a joint enterprise. Neither contemporary religious dogmas nor hegemonic science, omitting consideration of personal and social values, can provide our much-needed global awareness and sense of responsibility. Yet, with our contemporary technology we have assumed the awesome responsibility of stewardship of the Earth. It is a time when the future of all life on Earth is in human hands, and that in itself implies a need, greater than at any other time in human history, for a deeper awareness – a deeper sense both of the self and the interconnectedness of all living things.
Sustainability, the urgent challenge of our times, confronts the awesome question about the possibilities of life as we know it for future generations. Such monumental task invites us to explore at depth the fundamental belief systems, values and institutions that shaped the contemporary emergencies; most importantly, it summons us to suggest an array of strategies for a sustainable world – rooted within an emerging Wholistic consciousness paradigm: social, personal and transpersonal. Such a paradigm draws from a wide pool of sources (such as human potentials, social sciences, new sciences: sciences of consciousness, quantum physics, brain research, biofeedback and body/mind, shamanism, transpersonal approaches and simply truly human caring).