ABSTRACT
West invites the reader to take the hand of imagination—both public and private—from the cerebral to lead imagination into the future. This invitation to consider the future of the planet and the species is essential work that requires humanity’s intellectual creativity and rigor. It is likely too late to change the course of an environmental avalanche, as the Earth’s homo sapiens live out of balance with the rest of nature. To confront the globally rising tide of fear and fear-mongering, which has cynically and deliberately fueled it, and authoritarian, regressive, and repressive reactions to it, its opposite must be tapped. This urgent call for action comes from a place of deep love for the light that lives in each and every being on this planet, to respond in a way that fundamentally changes the dialog and upends the underlying assumptions. Passion, courage, and wisdom arise uniquely from the human heart-and-mind, countering fear playing out in the political sphere in unexpected ways. West concludes with a universal benediction that is also an entreaty: whatever is done with the time that remains, the entire range of human expression and experience should be embraced using minds and hearts in concert.
