The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe

Jeremy Lent investigates fundamental human questions—Who am I? Why am I? How should I live?—by integrating findings from systems thinking, evolutionary biology, and cognitive neuroscience with insights from Buddhism, Taoism, and Indigenous wisdom. The result is a coherent worldview centered on interconnectedness within ourselves, between people, and with the natural world. Lent argues that the dominant worldview of disconnection—which separates mind from body, individuals from each other, and humanity from nature—is no longer viable as civilization faces climate breakdown, ecological destruction, and inequality. He presents an alternative framework based on deep recognition of connectedness, offering what he describes as a foundation for a new story that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on a flourishing Earth.