Our cultural predicament—the array of seemingly intractable
problems that beset us, such as chronic war, terrorism, genocide,
starvation, the proliferation of disease, environmental degradation,
species extinction, animal abuse, consumerism, drug addiction,
alienation, stress, racism, oppression of women, child abuse, corporate
exploitation, materialism, poverty, injustice, and social malaise—is
rooted in an essential cause that is so obvious that it has managed to
remain almost completely overlooked.