We are living in a moment that can feel overwhelming and disorienting as worldviews and systems crumble around us. And yet, people everywhere are waking up to the opportunity that lives within collapse to ask ourselves: What kind of world are we being called to create now?

In a recent Resilience and Possibility conversation with Jeremy Lent, this question was central as he described the core principles of an Ecocivilization and provided concrete examples of pathways forward. Jeremy’s trilogy of books—The Patterning Instinct, The Web of Meaning, and his upcoming book Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All—weave together science, history, meaning, and spiritual wisdom. They invite us to see the crises we face as the result of a worldview that is rooted in separation, domination, and extraction.

At the heart of his work is the remembrance of something ancient in humanity and urgently needed now: the recognition that we are not separate from one another or from the Earth. 

We are expressions of a living, interconnected system. This understanding is echoed in Indigenous traditions, in spiritual teachings, and increasingly in modern science. Yet so much of our culture still operates as if we are isolated individuals competing for survival in a world of scarcity. This disconnect is deliberately baked into the system and is doing what it was designed to do. It shows up as ecological collapse, widening inequality, and a deep sense of meaninglessness that many people feel in their daily lives.

Jeremy paints the picture for the emergence of an ecological civilization—a way of organizing society based on the principles of life itself. He doesn’t frame it as something far into the future, but as a direction we can begin to move toward now in the ways we relate and care for each other.

Cooperation as a Foundational Principle of Life

One of the most grounding aspects of his perspective is the reminder that cooperation is not idealistic but is actually fundamental to how life has evolved. When we look closely at the history of life on Earth, the great leaps forward did not come from competition but from collaboration. Human beings evolved through cooperation, developing empathy, care, and moral awareness because these qualities helped us survive together.

In that sense, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It is something we already carry within us. The work is not to become different beings, but to remember and reclaim what it means to be truly human.

What Will It Take for Humanity to Wake Up?

In Jeremy’s view, we do not need to elevate everyone to some higher state of consciousness. We need to help people reconnect with what is already within us—our innate care for others and our desire to leave a livable world for future generations. It is already beginning—in neighborhoods and mutual aid networks, in social movements, in bioregions and transition towns that are forming all around the world. And yet, these efforts often remain disconnected, like threads that have not yet been woven together. In this time of unraveling, Jeremy invites us to grab the threads and weave them back together into a different, more beautiful tapestry, one in which every single one of us belongs.

Islands of Coherence in a Sea of Chaos

Jeremy didn’t point to large-scale systems change as a starting point, but to something more immediate and relational. He speaks of creating “islands of coherence in a sea of chaos”—small, intentional communities where people come together to practice a different way of being, living into the principles of an Ecocivilization. These are spaces where trust is built, where people listen deeply to each other and the Earth, and where new forms of cooperation can take root.

Research shows that when people co-create their norms, hold one another accountable with care, and share a sense of purpose, these groups can endure and thrive over time. In a world that often feels fragmented, these communities become something essential: the relational fabric of a different future, and ones that will help us survive through these times.

Lent describes an ecological civilization as something that might feel surprisingly ordinary. It is a world in which people have enough, and the inherent dignity of all life is the baseline. It is a world in which communities care for one another and the land. It is a world in which life is organized around creating the conditions for a regenerated Earth.
Can you feel it calling?