Copthorne Macdonald
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Copthorne Macdonald is a writer, independent scholar, and former communication systems engineer. His interests include the nature of reality (including consciousness and mind), the development of wisdom, the global problematique, and the challenge of creating a sustainable future. He has written extensively in these areas, and his published writing to date includes eight books (three on aspects of wisdom) and more than 130 shorter pieces. The focus of his most recent book, Matters of Consequence, is helping the reader to attain a deeper understanding of the current human situation, adopt a positive solution-oriented attitude toward the future, and create a personal plan to help create that future. Copthorne developed the slow-scan TV system used worldwide in amateur radio, founded New Directions Radio to foster socially-relevant communication, established (and tends) a popular Internet-based compilation of wisdom-related resources called THE WISDOM PAGE, and has done extensive educational work in the field of energy alternatives and energy conservation. For ten years Copthorne was an Associate Editor and columnist for The Mother Earth News, and more recently was on the Editorial Board of Integralis: Journal of Integral Consciousness, Culture, and Science.
Recent Activity
Many Eastern texts have sought to explain the "Perennial Philosophy" view of reality. Here the author attempts it using some concepts the ancients didn't have, and discusses how two varieties of Buddhist meditation can help us internalize this view.
An integral culture is emerging that incorporates an ethics which values both the-good-of-the-whole and the well-being of individuals. It seeks to create societal institutions that allow people to develop their innate physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual potentials, and lead people to voluntarily choose an empathetic caring-based personal morality.
"High" or "superior" values are a hallmark of wisdom. They have two roles in the lives of wise people. First, they provide illuminating slants on the data of life. Second, they guide the decision-making process toward wiser decisions.
There are several varieties or "flavors" of personal wisdom. Here, Copthorne Macdonald discusses three of them as well as the back-and-forth relationship between personal wisdom and socio-cultural wisdom.
Subtitled "Some thoughts about the nature and development of wisdom," this article was first published in the 2006 book LIVING A LIFE OF VALUE.
