possibilities

[ian2]

Dear friends,

In The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, David Korten exposes the nature of our challenge so that we may understand the possibilities of this unique time and envision the path to a new era.

In the above sentence: does the word POSSIBILITIES refer to all the possible things, including positive things and negative things, or only positive things? The reason to ask the question is some students in paraphrasing the sentence uses opportunities for possibilities, arguing that in this particular context, the writer actually focuses on the positive things we can do to create a better world. I basically agree with this view, as I think the writer here is not focusing all the negative things that may exist in this new era. Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

Ian2

[Mordant]

In The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, David Korten exposes the nature of our challenge so that we may understand the possibilities of this unique time and envision the path to a new era.


Korten is exposing the nature of the challenge. He wants to understand the possibilities of this unique time. He also wants to envision the path to a new era.

I think he may be weighing up all the likely scenarios, good and bad, given that we have already 'taken a chunk' out of the balanced nature that we inherited. So we are not staring from zero but from a minus. Whilst he would certainly want to concentrate on the positive aspects, 'path to a new era', he needs to balance the possibilities, what will happen if we do and if we don't take action'.

'Possibilities' is a carefully chosen word because it doesn't shout 'POSITIVE' but it infers likely positive outcomes given the right circumstances. IMHO.