Drawing on extensive research, Daniel Pinchbeck presents a compelling argument for the need for change on a global basis. The central thesis is that humanity has unconsciously self-willed ecological catastrophe to bring about a transcendence of our current condition. We are facing an initiatory ordeal on a planetary scale. We can understand that this initiation is necessary for us to evolve from one state of being our current level of consciousness to the next. Overcoming outmoded ideologies, we will realise ourselves as one unified being, a planetary super-organism in a symbiotic relationship with the Earth's ecology and the entire web of life.