by Been thinking about transformational change, which led me to thinking about myths. Myths is used here in the sense of Sohail’s CLA foundation level (above it are the levels of worldviews, trends & systems, and the top level litany or headlines). Successfully challenging a myth would seem to lead to transformational change by definition, since myths are the foundational stories about “the way things are.” If you change the way things are, you’ve made a transformation.
Here is my first candidate and where it stands:
| Myth | The Challenge | Current state |
| The Earth is made for man: The Earth is here for us to use and we needn’t worry about its abundant bounty | The challenge to it was nicely laid out by Daniel Quinn in Ishmael and the emerging alternative was Gaia. | This challenge is clearly in play today and one could argue is at the heart of the debate about the future of the environment |
| Source: Andy Hines |
As futurists I think our first task is to understand the myths and challenges in order to help us understand the future. We don’t necessarily have to pick sides, but rather understand the nature of the potential change ahead. As presented here, there is obviously an element of the “old” being challenged by the “new.” Andy Hines
[…] is the fourth entry in a mini-series (first “Earth was made for man;” second “Work is essential to human nature;” third “Essence of human […]