Duane Elgin is no stranger to the conscious evolution movement. His 1981 classic, Voluntary Simplicity, inspired a generation of people to start to approach their lives and choices with the entire planet in mind. And since that time, he has been a tireless advocate for helping humanity awaken to a larger perspective on who we are and why we are here. In his new book, The Living Universe (2009), Elgin broadens the scope of his vision from a planetary scale to include the entire universe, proposing a new cosmology that is at once spiritually based but also informed by our scientific understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of the cosmos.
In this interview, EnlightenNext’s Megan Cater and Joel Pitney speak with Elgin about his book and the new cosmology that it articulates. Elgin, whose biography includes working with Stanford University’s famous CIA-sponsored “psychic spying” program, writing multiple popular books, and founding several nonprofits dedicated to media activism, is a veteran figure in the small but growing community of thinkers interested in both exploring consciousness and changing culture. Over the course of the conversation, Elgin explains why he thinks that starting to see the universe as a living entity rather than as a mechanical conglomeration of lifeless particles can have a significant impact on culture, and even on our personal moral choices. Citing the current global economic, social, and environmental trends, he suggests that such a shift in perspective is not only possible but necessary for humanity to move forward.
BIO
Duane Elgin is an author, speaker, educator, consultant, and media activist. For more than three decades, he has defined the cutting edge in consciousness research, in the ecology movement, and in future studies. He pioneered the “Voluntary Simplicity” movement with his now classic first book, titled by the same name, published in the 1980s. The book provided an exploration of the practical and philosophical meaning of simplicity, as well as a comprehensive overview of the precarious ecological predicament of our planet. His current activist agenda is to transform the media, particularly television, which he sees as our greatest environmental risk factor because violent and materialistic programming has a devastating effect on human consciousness and behavior. Elgin has cofounded three nonprofit organizations concerned with media accountability.
In addition to his famous Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich (1981), Elgin is the author of several other books, including Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness (1993), Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity’s Future (2000), Living Legacies: How to Write, Illustrate, and Share Your Life Stories (with Colleen LeDrew, 2001), and The Living Universe: Where Are We? Who Are We? Where Are We Going? (2009).
Elgin has worked as a senior social scientist with the think tank SRI International, where he coauthored numerous studies on the long-range future for government agencies such as the National Science Foundation. He has also worked as a senior staff member of the joint Presidential-Congressional Commission on the American Future. He has an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, an M.A. in economic history from the University of Pennsylvania, and an honorary Ph.D. for work in "ecological and spiritual transformation" from the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA.
