— Over the long-term history of humanity, there have been four cognitive revolutions which jumpstarted our human evolution and success.
About 70,000 years ago, primitive, stone-age Homo sapiens were beset by climate change and unable to compete successfully on the harsh African savanna. They almost became extinct.
Then our big-brained ancestors discovered art and ceremony, and presumably dance, music, and song. And these puny two-legged creatures thrived and proliferated.
It is essential to understand that it was art, not sophisticated tools and weaponry, that was the driving force behind the first cognitive revolution: the Consciousness Revolution.
Moving forward through history, we fostered the Agricultural, the Industrial, and the Computer Revolutions.
But, today, storm clouds rise on the horizon again. Climate change threatens, and we as a species, beset by anger, division, and frustration. Yes, we have the most marvelous technology imaginable. But that is not sufficient. We need a second Conscious Revolution – based on positive thinking, love, cooperation, dance, music, and art – to provide us with the human power to endure and prosper. – Writes Jon Turk
Valeria Teles interviews him — Jon Turk — the author of “Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu , The Raven's Gift: A Scientist, a Shaman, and Their Remarkable Journey Through the Siberian Wilderness — among other titles.
Jon Turk earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1971 and was nominated by National Geographic as one of the Top Ten Adventurers of the Year in 2012. Between these bookends, Jon co-authored the first college level environmental science textbook in North America, followed by 30 additional texts in environmental, physical, and earth sciences. At the same time, he kayaked around Cape Horn and across the North Pacific from Japan to Alaska, mountain biked across the northern Gobi in Mongolia, and made numerous first ski descents and first rock climbing ascents around the globe. During extended travel in northeast Siberia, Jon’s worldview was altered by Moolynaut, a Siberian shaman, and his later books reflect these spiritual journeys. Jon has published four trade books: Cold Oceans (HarperCollins), In the Wake of the Jomon (McGraw Hill), The Raven’s Gift (St Martin’s Press) and Crocodiles and Ice (Oolichan Press). Tracking Lions, Myth, and Wilderness in Samburu delves more deeply into a “mind-body-spirit” theme, supported by adventure storytelling, integrated with an anthropological view of the role of art and mythology in human development.
Meet Jon at jonturk.net
