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The Web of Meaning

Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe

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The Web of Meaning

By: Jeremy Lent
Narrated by: Adam Henderson
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As our civilization careens towards a precipice of climate breakdown, ecological destruction and gaping inequality, people are losing their existential moorings. Our dominant worldview of disconnection, which tells us we are split between mind and body, separate from each other and at odds with the natural world, has passed its expiration date.

Yet another world is possible.

Award-winning author Jeremy Lent investigates humanity's age-old questions - who am I? why am I? how should I live? - from a fresh perspective, weaving together findings from modern systems thinking, evolutionary biology and cognitive neuroscience with insights from Buddhism, Taoism and Indigenous wisdom.

The result is a breath-taking accomplishment: a rich, coherent worldview based on a deep recognition of connectedness within ourselves, between each other and with the entire natural world.

©2021 Jeremy Lent (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK Ecology Environment Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Philosophy Political Science Politics & Government Science Society Capitalism
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Critic reviews

"The Web of Meaning is both a profound personal meditation on human existence and a tour de force weaving together of historic and contemporary world-wide secular and spiritual thought on the deepest question of all: why are we here?" (Gabor Maté MD, author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction)

"We need, now more than ever, to figure out how to make all kinds of connections. This book can help - and therefore it can help with a lot of the urgent tasks we face." (Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?)
All stars
Most relevant
so interesting and so captivating. I will surely come back to this one again. I am completely aligned with the concept.

love the book

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this book ties in so many strands of who we are...if you believe that more is connected both within and without the I urge you to read it...as well as listen to it. life transforming....

the most important book I have read

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Wow. I found the first 3/4 quite mind boggling and hard to focus on but I finished the book feeling empowered and sacred. Not a huge fan of the reader though!

I am deeply intereconnected

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This compelling book, the winner of two Nautilus 2022 awards in the categories of “World Cultures, transformational growth and development” and “Science and Cosmology”, addresses with profound clarity how humanity’s loss of balance within ourselves and with the natural world has brought civilization to the brink of collapse. It also suggests a way out – a path of integration, recognizing our deep interconnectedness, that could lead toward a new ecological civilization. The Web of Meaning is a call for acknowledging what both our newest science and our oldest spiritual traditions (including Buddhist, Neo-Confucian and Indigenous philosophies) tell us: that we are all inextricably interconnected with one another and with nature. Development students, practitioners and scholars engaging with this book will recognise strong connections between their personal efforts to contribute to “positive changes” in the world and the reflections from the book, which might ultimately reinforce their deepest convictions and motivation.

Inspiring and enlightening

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The reader’s tone is too ‘posh old white man ‘. It’s just off somehow. I’m enjoying the rest but his voice is exhausting to listen to , spoils it.

Great text, annoying reader

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