Re-imagining the Anthropocene by Examining Sustainability Culture Through the Lens of Paradox

Abstract

In this Critical Reflection I seek to re-imagine the Anthropocene and its ecological crisis though a change of basic narrative from logic to paradox. Based on the proposition that the concept of culture plays a crucial role in understanding the sustainability crisis, I propose that the narrativization of the meaning of culture, as it plays its role in sustainability, may need to be changed in order to better serve the purpose of understanding our experienced Anthropocenic life situation. After discussing how the perspective of traditional logic is failing us in this quest, I examine the ideas of paradoxical lifeworlding and the Buddhist philosophical construct of the Two Truths Doctrine. I argue that the concept of living in the space between two paradoxical truths may form a better way of imagining how and why we can create a belief system that allows us to live and work sustainably. Finally, I discuss humankind’s next sustainability challenge.