"Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity's Future" was written by Duane Elgin ten years prior to this review and the following decade has only illustrated ever more vividly the need for this articulate and well researched guide.As Elizabeth Dowdeswell, former director, United Nations Environmental Program writes, "Promise Ahead is a book for the twenty-first century with a clear message: a sustainable planet is not an unreachable goal.... Elgin articulates an operating manual of possibility and hope."As the storm clouds of adversity become ever more dark and foreboding on our horizon: extremes of weather, diminishing of fuels and water, population expanding unsustainably, species extinctions, extremes of poverty and disease, political conflict and unrest -- hope we need indeed. And we need a big picture vision to support our understanding and inspire our action.Eligin offers an evolutionary model of our "human journey". Rather than brood in post-modern guilt, denial, self-contempt, or depression, Elgin reveals that we are on a Hero's Journey (Elgin worked with Joseph Campbell at SRI in decades past). As a species we are awakening in an initial phase of "separation" from Nature and approaching an evolutionary wall (Initiation), when further separation and dominance will lead only to suffering. What is needed is not a "crash", but a "bounce" (as humanity passes through the Initiation Phase by confronting the challenges presently before us) and a "return", integrating consciously with Nature and each other through self-sustaining systems and mutual cooperation and understanding.Elgin inspires us to take into account the evolutionary trends of potential that support an evolutionary bounce. Most importantly, science and deep, mystical insight reveal that we are living in a living, growing, meaningful universe rather than a dead, chaotic, random one. We are connected at every level. Now, can we awaken to this connection and start to live a new trend of voluntary simplicity, giving us choice and a much richer sense of meaning and creativity than the current trend of consumerism. Further, we now have the enormous power of communication technologies to support our connection and self-reflection, which further supports the trend toward compassion as we awaken to the suffering in our world and seek to find ways to alleviate it.We need an aware global citizenry with a shared vision of possibility and alternatives for action to take the necessary steps in the little time remaining. Elgin's books are an important set of resources for enlivening our understanding and vivifying the vision. See "Awakening Earth" for a deeper understanding of the evolutionary journey that we are on together. Read the completely rewritten "Voluntary Simplicity" to understand the importance of this quiet revolution and essential pathway. Read "The Living Universe", Elgin's latest book, to discover how this new paradigm supports a sustainable and enriched future. And, of course, read "Promise Ahead" to inspire and support our journey ahead. We are not alone. We are deeply connected and we already have everything we need to pass through the coming Initiation and surpass ourselves.