Understanding Gregory Bateson

Noel G. Charlton has enjoyed work in commerce and industry, school teaching, small holding and house restoration in Scotland, antinuclear activism, wild species preservation, residential community life, and research and study in university and college settings. These experiences have been unified by a deep concern for the natural world and a growing conviction of the spiritual and religious significance of the whole of the living planet.

"…Charlton has taken an unusual, indeed unique, approach to the works and thought of Gregory Bateson." — Cybernetics and Human Knowing"A valuable book, primarily directed to specialists in environmental philosophy, ethics, and action." — CHOICE"This is a publishing event of the first order: an incomparably lucid exploration of Bateson's unique insights into the nature of mind and of the living Earth. Noel Charlton's book, both elegant and accessible, sheds new light on Bateson's revolutionary relevance to our time." — Joanna Macy, author of Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural Systems"The uniqueness of Bateson's thought came from its broad range and its generality. In an age characterized by fragmentation and overspecialization, Bateson challenged the basic assumptions and methods of several sciences by looking for patterns connecting different phenomena and for processes beneath structures.This book is a wonderful introduction to the key ideas of this pioneer in systemic thinking. By identifying Bateson's revolutionary concept of 'mental process,' immanent throughout the living world, as the foundation of his science and philosophy, the author is able to present Bateson's complex and wide-ranging ideas as a coherent body of thought. From the central concept of mind as immanent in nature, Charlton maintains, flow Bateson's understanding of aesthetics, his awe of the sacred, and—perhaps most importantly—his insistence on the need to develop a new ecological ethics that reconnects us with the living Earth. I highly recommend this important and inspiring book." — Fritjof Capra, author of The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems and The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living

• AcknowledgmentsSacred: A Poem1. Introduction: Gregory Bateson, the Urgency of Our Ecological Crisis and the Possibility of "Grace"2. Bateson: The Man and the Growth of His Ideas3. Mind and Bateson’s Claims4. The Evolution of Bateson’s Thought about Aesthetics: The Earlier Years5. Aesthetics, Ecology, and the Path Toward Grace6. Aesthetic Engagement and the Grace of Relatedness7. Bateson and The Sacred8. Wise Action?AppendixGregory Bateson—Table of Lifetime Events and PublicationsNotesBibliographyIndex