Paving the Way for a Sustainable Global Future

We live in unprecedented times. We exist in a dimension with unlimited access to ancient mysteries and wisdom alongside the emergence of extraordinary scientific tools. Studying both can give us a universal overview from which there is the possibility of creating a sustainable future for humanity and our planet.

The 21st Century is a unique turning point in history in terms of technological advancement, communication and interaction on a global scale, environmental awareness and social and political change.

The 20th Century saw remarkable changes, which set the scene for the next 100 years as being the time humanity either harnesses its extraordinary power or is destroyed by it in the longer term.

How can we open our minds to embrace these massive global and universal perspectives without seeing it as a conflict between opposing forces?

Two coexisting Realms

I work in the Creative arts and the world of Psychotherapy. Ancient wisdom and scientific discovery exist as references in all of my work, regardless of its nature.

The title image represents this in several ways. Creativity is the process of absorbing ancient wisdom and building on that to produce an original expression of your own emotional and spiritual world.

The woman meditates in an ancient temple, and superimposed on the image is a technical, scientific illustration of energy within the body and how it affects the immediate environment.

I created the image by interacting with AI Art Generators. These tools use technology to combine wisdom from the past with cutting-edge tools of the present.

The AI Art controversy

Just as historical Luddites opposed the Industrial Revolution, the Musicians Union sought to ban synthesisers, educationalists resisted online learning, and healthcare professionals expressed reluctance towards adopting AI-assisted diagnostic tools. Similarly, some artists voice concerns about AI-generated art. These instances highlight an enduring pattern — a natural resistance to change that persists as part of the human condition.

The controversy around AI art arises from the fact that it began by analysing a massive dataset of images. Art, photography and everything in between that has been uploaded to the internet. Now I can enter some text and it creates an image to reflect that text.

an image of peace and harmony in colour light and texture

Some artists and photographers see it as theft of their work. Illustrators and graphic artists see their skilled jobs disappearing overnight.

I asked Chat GPT to expand on the connection between ancient wisdom and cutting-edge science in AI Art:

AI art generators represent a unique intersection of ancient wisdom, scientific progress, and technological advances. These tools leverage cutting-edge technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and machine learning, to analyze and understand patterns, styles, and themes from various sources, including ancient art and contemporary works. The combination of these technological capabilities allows AI to generate original artworks that may reflect a fusion of historical influences and modern aesthetics.

In the context of combining ancient wisdom, AI art generators can be programmed to learn from and emulate artistic styles from different time periods, incorporating elements of cultural and historical significance. This fusion of ancient wisdom with modern technology enables the creation of art that bridges the gap between tradition and innovation.

Moreover, AI art generators can offer a fresh perspective on creativity by introducing new possibilities and combinations that might not be immediately apparent to human artists. The process involves the machine learning algorithm identifying and adapting artistic features, leading to the production of novel and sometimes unexpected artistic expressions.

In summary, AI art generators represent a fascinating synergy between ancient wisdom, scientific understanding, and technological progress, offering a glimpse into the potential for collaborative creation between human and machine intelligence.¹

Where scientific language will never be sufficient.

I would defy any scientist to pin down or quantify the qualities that define the difference between a world-class Jazz musician and a professional musician who plays jazz. They get more work, but that’s not what I mean. I find more clarity when exploring ancient wisdom related to this.

Recently, I was at a local Jazz quartet gig. I went there because a couple of the musicians were known to me for a long time, and I respected their abilities. I expected a great night but had a fantastic, almost transcendental experience.

What stood out for me was that throughout the evening, the bass player and the drummer were completely connected with each other musically and energetically. The other two musicians were well-supported by them and played at a technically similar level, but I didn’t feel their connectedness in the visceral way I did with the bass and drums.

At first, I thought it was just me because I am a musician and can sense these things. However, this was the first thing my wife mentioned as we departed. Later, I checked in with three other friends who had been there, and this feeling of connectedness between the two was the first thing that was mentioned.

It was not measurable in scientific or musical terms, but members of the audience became aware of it through their experience in the moment with the musicians. In scientific terms, my observations were not evidence-based. Does that make them invalid?

The Eastern philosophies of mindfulness and the interconnectedness of everything are at work here. We witnessed musicians being connected and present in the moment, being creative and spontaneous in responding to that moment. Unmeasurable and impossible to describe in anything other than subjective, ineffable terms.

I am a writer, artist, musician and psychotherapist. When I can be present in the moment and create a connection with my audience/client, that is when the magic happens. When I am in the flow, following my instincts and intuition and allowing myself to experience freedom and spontaneity, I do my best work.

This quality of connection is what really makes a difference, not my adherence to theoretical evidence-based models in whatever world I am functioning in.

The Marvels of Modern Science

If the 20th Century saw the rise of the machine, the 21st Century is already seeing the rise of Artificial Intelligence as a significant bringer of change. As a writer, 15 years ago, I had to pay an editor to check my work before publishing. Now, my entire writing process has changed.

As I type, I have an AI spelling and grammar check going on in the background.

That red line under the text informed me a comma might be appropriate. Any misspelt words are corrected in the same way.

If I phrase a sentence clumsily, then AI makes suggestions as to how I might improve the readability of the sentence in question.

AI assisted in every step of writing this article. I roughed out a headline and ran it through a headline analyser to see if I could improve it to attract more attention. I wrote the first two paragraphs and was quite excited at getting stuck into writing the whole thing, but a brick wall to my progress immediately came up.

I could be better when it comes to structuring articles. I like to write in a stream of consciousness, which can become very messy towards the end of the process. Some articles are so chaotic they never make it to publishing.

Now, when I find myself facing that brick wall, I copy and paste what I have written into ChatGpt and ask it to map out a possible structure for my article based on those words and some specifics about my writing style.

I rarely stick rigidly to the suggested structure, but it gets me started. If I were better educated as a writer, I would have these possible structures imprinted on my neural pathways. But I’m not, and I haven’t.

There is one further step. When I finish writing this article, I may run parts of it through ChatGpt again and ask for feedback. I choose to follow suggestions or not.

Note: I have just asked for that feedback, created a second draft based on it and you are now reading the third draft. All the constructive feedback was about improving the structure of the piece.

Scientific progress in the form of AI is enabling me to enjoy and earn some money from being a writer. Several hundred people read my work every day; my ideas and creative process ultimately keep people reading. Without AI I may well have given up long ago. It eases the process, speeds things up, and allows me to tap into thousands of years of progress and development in literature without having to attend an expensive university course for four years.

Where Ancient Wisdom and Science meet.

I first worked as a therapeutic counsellor in 1985. My training lapsed, and I retrained again in 2020

In my first job in a Psychoanalytic environment, I was aware of the tension between us and those working in the behavioural sciences. I worked with severely disturbed boys and was able to observe the differences between our way of working and a nearby establishment working with a similar cohort in a completely different way.

Both claimed to be working in line with scientific research. Our boys lived in a nurturing environment where everything was designed to meet their individual needs and allow them to follow their interests and develop insight into their difficulties. The other boys were locked up under a reward and punishment system and trained to manage their problematic behaviours.

Both claimed success and cited evidence. Alongside this, I was following my interests in Humanistic Psychotherapy, which worked for me.

In the intervening years, I have explored mindfulness, meditation, and a whole raft of experiential approaches to psychology emerging more from mystical than scientific sources. Many, like Psychosynthesis, Gestalt and Person-centred therapy, are now firmly embedded in Integrative and holistic approaches to psychotherapy.

In some ways, the many branches of psychology have come together, but there is still evidence of conflict. This is most clearly seen in how the NHS uses the phrase “Evidence-based” to justify using cheaper quick-fix therapies rather than deeper-reaching long-term therapies.

“Evidence-based” has become the scientific world’s clarion call to draw everyone to their way of thinking. This seems to forget that the scientific method has only been around for 300 – 400 years, whilst mindfulness and meditation practices have been passed on globally for between 2500 and 3000 years. Is that not evidence enough of their efficacy? Does collecting ticks on a reductionist questionnaire trump those thousands of years of lived experience?

The world of psychotherapy is actively involved in finding a point of balance where both scientific and ancient wisdom approaches can coexist.

Relating to Climate change.

The climate change debate is where ancient wisdom and science finally come together. Science and industry have ploughed forward, ignoring ancient knowledge about the environment and the connectedness of all things. Now the tide has turned, and the majority of the science establishment has done their tests, thrown up their hands and said
“Oh **** They were right all along.”

The problem now is changing the whole paradigm within which we all live. It was 150 years ago that Darwin coined the phrase “survival of the fittest,” most of humanity took it to mean that they had to fight for their individual survival and could justify any means towards that end. This is a complete misunderstanding of Darwin’s meaning of the phrase. The concept of natural selection is about reproductive effectiveness, not about the survival of the individual. It is about the survival of the family, community or species.

We are faced with a dilemma where we have to sacrifice our personal comfort or habits for humanity itself to survive. Technology has driven us to this precipice, and ironically, technology is the only thing powerful enough to apply the brakes and reverse us back to a sustainable future. The voices of ancient wisdom can guide us to this place of balance where the future of humanity is in tune with the future of the planet and everything that shares it with us.

Harmonising Knowledge and Wisdom

In music, this is all about finding a point of connection for disparate musical elements. This is something you can feel as a musician. You feel the connection, tension, harmony, and separation in every moment, and then you feel the moving on to a different emotional space. This is carried along by the knowledge of the music and your instrument, its strengths and its limitations.

In my counselling room, the same thing occurs. There is a therapeutic relationship where the same process of feeling my way, being spontaneous, and being able to hold tension and anxiety is happening. I am effective as a counsellor because I am non-judgemental and present in the moment with the client, but also because I have had 40 years of questioning and exploring my own inner world in the context of modern psychological theories.

In jazz I have 50 years of experience feeling and sensing those harmonies and rhythmic journeys and it all rides on the back of the musicians that have gone before me, studied and lived in the music and passed that on through their playing.

My hope for humanity is that there are enough people connected emotionally to the heartbeat of the planet who can become guides for those amazing scientists and technologists who forge pathways of understanding across the globe and generations. Can you find this balance within yourself? Do you have the strength to show up and witness this balance for others?

Our only hope for a sustainable global future is in achieving this balance. Hearing the voices of our ancestors strengthens our connection with ourselves, each other and all living things. Using advanced AI tools to harness that wisdom and combine it with science to find a way forward for humanity that harmonises us with the physical and natural world. We must change the paradigm of life from “survival of the fittest” to something more appropriate, like “sustainability through connection.”

If you can think of a better phrase for a new paradigm, pop it in the comments below.

I finish with the words of the great jazz pianist, Herbie Hancock.

We all have natural human tendency to take the safe route — to do the thing we know will work — rather than taking a chance. But that’s the antithesis of jazz, which is all about being in the present. Jazz is about being in the moment, at every moment. It’s about trusting yourself to respond on the fly. If you can allow yourself to do that, you never stop exploring, you never stop learning, in music or in life.²

Thanks for reading to the end. Have you an example of a situation where you experience that balance between theory and intuition or Knowledge and wisdom? Use the comments box to ask any questions or share observations. Often, responses can inspire a whole new article.

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References:
1. OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com

2. Possibilities (2014) by Hancock, with Lisa Dickey, p. 2

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