Created 01/01/2012 10:38:11 AM

The latter half of the twentieth century has seen a slowly growing recognition that coercive power can backfire disastrously. We are therefore being forced to find new ways to continue the human journey. Robert Theobald (1999) reminds us that we cannot do what is vital for our survival without a very different level of commitment to ourselves, to others and to ecological systems.

In a multicultural world, we need to concentrate on the subjects that have brought us together. According to Theobald (1999), humanity has lived within three story lines in its history and is now moving into a fourth. The first supported the lifestyle of hunting and gathering cultures. Human beings survived through close observation of natural forces.

The second story provided the underpinnings for the agricultural era. Agricultural societies learned how to herd animals and cultivate crops. The land was to be used to produce and could be altered for this purpose.

The third story developed as people leaned that understanding the way the world worked could be the basis for wealth and power. Attention moved to the innovators, the organizers and the entrepreneurs. Priests and kings failed to keep up with the changing times and saw their power decay. Democratic governments became dominant for they were more adaptive.

The fourth story is based on the belief that humanity is living through the most radical shift in its history. It has to learn how to manage the essentially unlimited productive and destructive power it has accumulated if it is to avoid destroying much of life on earth. In this story, Economics will remain a critical part of our systems but it will be recognized that the emergent issues lie elsewhere.

Theobald warns: “If we are to make the required shifts, we shall have to learn to think in new categories that challenge the understandings and behaviors humanity has developed over thousands of years.”

The key point with Theobald finding is that Story Four shares truths with each of the three previous story lines. From Story One it takes the recognition that humanity can only survive if it lives within the constraints imposed by ecological forces, although the understandings must now necessarily be more complex. From Story Two, it takes the importance of individual actions in changing the world. However, it no longer sees this type of behavior as being limited to a few heroes and heroines but being the responsibility of all of us. From Story Three it derives the potential of knowledge to create a better world but understands that it can only be reached with radically different socioeconomic and political systems.

Reference:

Theobald, R. (26 September, 1999) The fourth story: Seeing the world from a profoundly different view. A Presentation for “Visions for A New Century,” University of Canberra. Retrieved http://www.resilientcommunities.org/fourth_story.htm