We’re not thinking big enough.

When we assess the world around us – where we are, where we’ve been, how we got here and where we’re going – we’re not considering events in a large enough context. Discussions regarding what’s happening on this planet tend to be framed in terms of the social and cultural constructs which happen to be relevant in this twenty-first century.

There’s nothing wrong with that; but the human race is now in a position to be more realistic about which of its world’s features are transient and which are enduring; and about what is actually real and what’s only real in our heads. I’m of the view that once we start assessing the world in that way we’ll find that our deliberations become more productive and our conclusions less provincial.

It’s very difficult to find a context in which to talk about this kind of thing, which is why, in this book, I use a story as my vehicle – a true story about an adventure around the world, which sets out an interpretation of that world.

The features of that interpretation are as follows:

Instead of thinking about the dynamic of current affairs in terms of the time frames that appear to be of most immediate relevance (for example post-1989, post-War or post-Industrial Revolution), think about it in terms of the biggest time frames about which one has information.

Instead of thinking about what’s happening around you from the point of view of an animal on the surface of a planet that is having the experience of being alive, think about it from the outside: as a species of animal having a collective experience. Then start from first principles.

What is real? What appears to be true? How might we interpret what is happening?

I’m not going to sanitise the human experience. Being realistic about what’s going on is going to make it seem more, not less, sublime. But we need to put ourselves in context and think big.

Really big.

Next: Writing the Travel Diary >