The Ascent of Humanity (2007) is Charles Eisenstein‘s first novel. It has, over-graciously, been published both in print (for meager profit) and online (free and dauntingly open).

Preamble

• About.
• Introduction.

Contents

1. The Triumph of Technology.
   1. Gee Whiz—The Future!
   2. Utopia Postponed.
   3. The Addiction to Control.
   4. From Separation to Boredom.
   5. From Boredom to Anxiety.
2. The Origins of Separation.
   1. The Biological Origins of Self.
   2. Fire and Stone.
   3. Labeling the World.
   4. Mathematics and Measure.
   5. Keeping Time.
   6. Images of Images.
   7. The Marvelous Case of the Piraha.
   8. Cultivation and Culture.
   9. The Machine.
   10. Religion and Ritual.
   11. The Playful Universe.
3. The Way of the World.
   1. The Scientific Method.
   2. My Personal Age of Reason.
   3. Masters of the Universe.
   4. The Quest for Certainty.
   5. Reducing Reality.
   6. The Ghost in the Machine.
   7. The Origin of Life.
   8. Alone in the Universe.
4. The Conversion of Life into Money.
   1. The Realm of Me and Mine.
   2. Alone in a Crowd.
   3. The Anonymous Power.
   4. Social Capital.
   5. Cultural Capital.
   6. Natural Capital.
   7. Spiritual Capital.
   8. Time, Money, and The Good.
   9. The Economics of Other.
   10. Interest and Self-Interest.
   11. The Crisis of Capital.
5. The World under Control.
   1. The Total Depravity of Man.
   2. The Winners and the Losers.
   3. Life and Death.
   4. Yes and No.
   5. The Pressure to Break Free.
   6. Molding Minds.
   7. The Great Indoors.
   8. Life under Contract.
   9. The War on Germs.
   10. The War on Suffering.
   11. Life in a Playpen.
6. The Crumbling of Certainty.
   1. The End of Objectivity.
   2. Truth without Certainty.
   3. Order without Design.
   4. The Nature of Purpose.
   5. The Purpose of Nature.
   6. Life without a Replicator.
   7. The Community of Life.
   8. The Genetic Plenum.
7. The Age of Reunion.
   1. The Convergence of Crises.
   2. The Currency of Cooperation.
   3. The Restorative Economy.
   4. The Age of Water.
   5. Technologies of Reunion.
   6. Work and Art United.
   7. Back to Play.
   8. The Medicine of Interbeingness.
   9. The Spirit of the Gift.
   10. Storyteller Consciousness.
   11. In Love with the World.
8. Self and Cosmos.
   1. Human Nature Restored.
   2. The Fall.
   3. The Perinatal Matrix.
   4. The Gaian Birthing.
   5. Eulogy and Redemption.
   6. At Play beside the Tower.

Related

2007-11-02

The Ascent of Humanity (—essay)

Copyright

© 2007 Charles Eisenstein.

Contribution

If you enjoyed this jostling, online read, Raiazome jolly encourages a slim donation (or three) to Charles’ payment page. Certainly, we’d both like to see fewer Transformational Weight Loss-style treatises from him, in the floundering future! (Fling him an e-mail — at least — if you transformationally found this weighter treatise, The Ascent of Humanity, to be a worthwhile, time-writhing trip. We’re sure he’d like your sharing.)