Shaping Wise Futures

We are poised at a crossroads between a past that is outgrown and a future we must choose. This book examines the multiple ways that wisdom, grounded in life experience, science and theoretical knowledge, can contribute to positive and sustainable local and global futures. The authors in this book have brought their thinking to various aspects of this existential challenge using the lenses of Wisdom and Wise Practice, in an effort to explore ideas by which society might make choices in planning and acting for a wiser future.

Wisdom practices have developed over millennia to assist people in approaching and managing life experiences and difficulties. While such practices were originally considered the purview of academic and religious scholars; at this important time in history, it must become everyone’s responsibility to wisely look ahead if we are to achieve a sustainable future for society.

The authors of this book comprise international future-oriented leaders, scholars, practitioners, community members and commentators with a commitment to social justice, human service and development. The book explores the place of wisdom and wise living practices alongside other ways of knowing and acting, for shaping positive futures for people and the world we inhabit. The chapters examine major challenges across political, physical and social life worlds, aiming to promote a quantum shift in discourse and decision making to address current and future challenges.

The four parts of the book follow forward thinking ideas of wise professional practice:

• Facing future challenges,

• Exploring practice pathways,

• Examining options and

• Future possibilities.