These are dark times—and yet, there is cause for hope. In the most optimistic reading of our times, the shadows within which we huddle represent the end of an era and the clearing away of the outlived old for something new and unexpected.
But this understanding requires a greater grasp of historical perspectives and a wider philosophical horizon than most of us suffering through the present moment can lay claim. Despite my doctorate from Vanderbilt in the History and Critical Theory of Religion, I am not one of them. I cannot begin to reason my way back towards the light. But I have two tools at my disposal that give me cause for hope.
The first is my faith. My work, as epitomized in Older, Wiser, Fiercer and The Making of an Old Soul, captures the voice of hope honed not despite but through an embrace of reality. Spiritual practice has worked for me on a personal level in my acceptance of the truth of aging so applying the same spiritual principles to the daily news represents an organic expansion beyond the personal to current events. But I have sensed that still, there’s something more. This cannot be only an opportunity to find some spiritual relief in a world that has catapulted off the cliff to its dreaded and inevitable conclusion.
The second tool takes the next step, plunging deep into the realm of historical epochs and universal archetypes to find hope. This enlarged perspective is delivered by the latest book by philosopher Grant Maxwell, our son, for Routledge Press: Integration and Difference. Maxwell is one of a new generation of philosophers attempting to rectify the divisiveness of modernity, the way we were taught it in the sixties and which still holds sway today.
Calling upon 13 of the philosophers that comprised our core curriculum in the sixties and beyond, Maxwell charts an inspired path through Spinoza, Derrida, Hegel, Nietzsche, James,Whitehead, Jung and more to uncover in the ashes of the modern era the embers of a more promising future.
Writes Deleuze and Derrida scholar Vernon W. Cisney “Inspiring in its ambition, staggering in its breadth, and powerful in its originality…this book reminds us why Maxwell is one of today’s most original thinkers.”
Just published, the book is a top seller in the category of newly published books on philosophy. You can learn more and order your copy at Amazon. Click HERE
