The ‘Great Work’ of Transformation: Learning That Anticipates a Symbiocene Era

Abstract

In this historical moment, we are called to the ‘Great Work’ of transformation, where we situate our way of knowing/being within the story of the cosmos, the Earth and the fate of species, including the human species. We are in the midst of an epochal shift that has many possible trajectories. How might we engage transformative learning to foster the transition from the Holocene/Anthropocene eras to an anticipated Symbiocene era, where we learn to live in symbiosis with the living Earth? This chapter first describes the ‘old stories’ of modernity and then explores the new ‘emerging stories’ of relationality from the sciences and social sciences. This includes a new story of the universe, a new story of the Earth, a new story of social change and a new story of human consciousness and learning. Together, these are foundational stories that set the context for global competences that can be pedagogically engaged. The challenge of this moment is learning to stand in a dying time, transforming our ways of knowing and being, and learning hopeful pathways toward safer, more liveable futures than our current trajectory.