Book Proposal for “The Coming Consciousness Revolution”

Regular readers of this blog might remember my project The Coming Consciousness Revolution. (Note the previous title: The Great Mind Shift). I have previously written three posts on the topic.

In this post I am making public the book proposal. A book proposal is written for book publishers, of course, but this proposal also provides a good overview of the project to date. As stated in the proposal, I intend to interview many people as part of the book project. Not all those listed in the proposal have been contacted yet. So these names might change according to who agrees to be interviewed or not.

You can read the full PDF of the proposal by clicking on the link below, or just read the excerpts I have cut and pasted on this page.

Anthony TGMS propsal small

PS: If you wish to be kept up to date about research and developments regarding The Coming Consciousness Revolution (interviews, videos, the book project, important links to other works etc.) just email me at newsletter@marcustanthony.com, and I will send you updates every month or so.

Regards,

Marcus

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Brief Description

There is a major shift emerging in science and society which will mark a dramatic change in education, business and life itself. Just as the twentieth century was one of disconnection and alienation, the twenty-first century will increasingly be the era of connectedness.

This connectedness will not merely be technological (a trend that is now universally accepted). Another powerful connective trend which is in its infancy is the acceptance of the extended mind – consciousness that is in dynamic relationship with other people, the environment and the cosmos itself. With this dramatic shift in the understanding of mind, the human intellect will be greatly expanded by “integrated intelligence” – the successful employment of the extended mind in solving problems. The way that integrated intelligence will dramatically impact the future is the central theme of The Coming Consciousness Revolution.

This inevitable revolution in cognitive science heralds an era of almost unimaginable opportunity for those informed enough to foresee what is coming.

In The Coming Consciousness Revolution, futurist Marcus T Anthony points the reader in the direction of change, and outlines what it will mean for life, work and society in the twenty-first century.

Not just a book…

The Coming Consciousness Revolution is more than merely a book. It is a multi-tiered project which incorporates the following elements:

• Workshops and public talks. The Coming Consciousness Revolution project is taking these ideas and the practical tools to organisations and public groups around the world. Steaphen Pirie (author and change agent) will work with Marcus T Anthony on the Asian leg of the tour, which begins April 2014 in China. (e.g. see Marcus T Anthony’s 2012 TEDx talk in Hong Kong).
• The Coming Consciousness Revolution app. This app will assist people in developing their integrated intelligence by allowing them to simply and easily input intuitive prompts, and then providing feedback about how effective their intuitive decision making is. The app is being developed with the help of Alick Lau, PhD, Director of Mind and Matter Ltd.
• Radio, TV and social media interviews. I consider myself to be a confident and engaging speaker, and will be making full use of multi-media to promote the project.
• Google hangouts and social media promotions.

Overview of the Project

What will happen once the extended mind becomes widely accepted in mainstream science and society?

There is a tendency for discussions about the extended mind, ESP, clairvoyance and so on to become strongly polarised into proponents versus skeptics. While part of The Coming Consciousness Revolution will highlight the key debates, I take the view that such arguments rarely alter the worldview of the debaters, and much energy can be wasted rehashing the same issues over and over again.

The position I take in The Coming Consciousness Revolution is that the evidence from parapsychology and other fields of enquiry is now strong, and that it will only get stronger in the coming years. The data is now compelling enough to begin to ask what this shift means for all of us.

The domains

The Coming Consciousness Revolution explores developments and opportunities in many different fields and disciplines – referred to as domains. These domains include biology, physics, consciousness studies/neuroscience, computing, social media, education and learning, the arts (creativity), health and healing, business, and spirituality.

Each domain is given a chapter in Part 3 of the book, and each chapter will include the following:

• an overview of some of the most important current ideas and/or scientific developments in that domain;
• informed predictions about where that domain will most likely develop in the coming decades as the great mind shift takes more definite form;
• suggested opportunities for learning, business and personal growth in that domain;
• a list of recommended reading for those wishing to explore that domain in more detail;
• a interview at the end of the chapter with a leading thinker/practitioner within that domain.

The Book’s Purpose

The purpose of The Coming Consciousness Revolution is to create an effective bible for progressive thinkers and thought leaders who wish to be at the leading edge of the great mind shift. The book is designed to excite the thinking of the reader and open his/her mind to the wide array of possibilities and opportunities that the great mind shift will create. The cross-disciplinary nature of the book will allow the reader to glean insights from a wide array of fields of knowledge – something that is increasingly important in the modern age.

The book is particularly aimed at people who would like to seize opportunities in any of the domains covered. The Coming Consciousness Revolution is presented as a stimulus to encourage those with imagination and foresight to explore practical opportunities in business, career or life orientation in related areas.

Predictions

Prediction is notoriously difficult for futurists. In my own futures work and academic writing I have tended to avoid prediction, instead focusing upon identifying critical insights into human development.  In The Great Mind Shift I break my own general rule.

Predictions can be classified into two forms. The first and least risky are based on trends – readily observable changes that are already occurring. For example, predicting that the internet will become far more pervasive in our lives, and that human intelligence will be enhanced by it is clearly very likely. Futurists – and many laymen – can often see obvious trends even as they are developing.

However a second class of prediction relates to what futurists call “wildcards” – developments which arrive in a hurry and often take everyone by surprise. The 911 event in New York was such an event, and it changed the world dramatically. Another example from global politics and economics – where timeframes can be longer – the “sudden” rise of China over a period of only two or three decades was completely unexpected by many.

These kinds of unforeseen changes can be the most destabilising for business, society and life in general. They often involve a paradigm shift, a new way of relating to the world and knowledge itself. Wildcards can be disastrous for organisations that are not prepared for them. Few foresaw the dotcom bubble bursting just before the turn of the century, but many companies failed completely as a result.

Nonetheless, for every wildcard event there are signs which people fail to acknowledge. There are often trends and data which are ignored by almost everyone. Yet that information is often freely accessible. The reason why so many people and organisations ignore the data is because the information lies beyond the dominant paradigm and suggests a shift that is too far “outside the box” for most laymen and experts to consider feasible.

The main argument of The Comng Consciousness Revolution is that the coming change in the way we see, access and employ consciousness is one such wildcard. The book will make clear that the data and historical evidence are already here, but mainstream thinking in science, education and business is too tunnel-visioned to acknowledge it – yet. Of particular importance is what Dean Radin calls “the psi taboo”, which effectively forbids open discussion of related subject matters.

When the great mind shift arrives the implications will be as far-reaching as is possible to imagine, possibly matching the seismic shifts of the Copernican revolution, Darwin’s natural selection and the scientific enlightenment.

The Coming Consciousness Revolution is not merely about data. It deliberately pushes the boundaries of the conventional. It therefore moves beyond the known to suggest possible and probable futures in each of the domains. This includes developing likely scenarios and visions which the reader can explore as possible opportunities.

The style

The Coming Consciousness Revolution is written in reader-friendly language and in a style which will allow laymen to grasp the content and enjoy the possibilities put forward. Some of the chapters on subjects like physics and biology will contain references to recent and complex debates, but they will be reduced to their most essential nature, with references provided for those wishing to explore them in more detail.

This book is written in a different style from my recent book Discover Your Soul Template. The market here is a more “serious” one, and so the style is less flippant and the language less colloquial. Nonetheless, the writer’s voice remains friendly and relaxed. The tone is not quite as formal as my first book Integrated Intelligence (Sense Publishers, 2008). That book, which covered similar ground to The Coming Consciousness Revolution was primarily for the academic market.

One of the great challenges in writing this book will be the introduction of my personal experience with Integrated Intelligence. My intention is not to feign pretense of impartiality in the subject matter, but to be quite open with my own wide experience in living with and teaching this innate human capacity. However the book is not about me (Marcus T Anthony), but about the great mind shift itself; so personal anecdote will be minimised. Insights taken from my life, my personal meditative and contemplative practice will form part of the text, but will not dominate it.

In short, The Coming Consciousness Revolution is written for the popular market of intelligent laymen. It targets those who wish to gain a deeper understanding of frontier areas in science and philosophy, how these will affect their lives within the next few decades, and the opportunities which can be taken advantage of.

PS: If you wish to be kept up to date about research and developments regarding The Coming Consciousness Revolution (interviews, videos, the book project, important links to other works etc.) just email me at newsletter@marcustanthony.com, and I will send you updates every month or so.

Marcus