Beyond Civilization: The World's Four Great Streams of Civilization : Their Achievements, Their Differences and Their Future

Beyond Civilization first produces a definition of civilization which applies to all civilizations and differentiates them from their precivilized predecessors. This is followed by an in-depth comparative study of Western, Indian, Chinese and Mesoamerican civilizations revealing the distinctive mental structures which created their unique styles and modes of thought. Ranging from the high realms of mythology, philosophy and art to the more mundane levels of law, physical discipline and sex, the author gives the 'why' of practices formerly treated only as curious eccentricies. Finally, arguing that civilization is a system of the past in the process of being replaced, the author explores the kind of mind which will creat the next stage in human social evolution: The Postcivilized Mind.

Keith Chandler did his undergraduate work in philosophy and literature at Washington University and his graduate work as a Woodrow Wilson fellow at the University of Chicago. Like his early mentor, Gerald Heard, he chose to be a private general scholar rather than an academic specialist, allowing his mind to range over many fields of knowledge, seeking a comprehensive viewpoint that often eludes the specialist. From 1970 to 1998 he made his home in Jamaica where he created a pioneering batik textile industry along with his late wife, Muriel, one of the foremost batik artists in the Western world. During that time he also continued his research and contributed articles to widely varying journals. In 1998 he left Jamaica and made his home in Miami.