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NECESSARY WISDOM is aptly named. It suggests conceptual tools,and gives lots of examples, for how people, nations, and "systems"(from internal to external) can transcend the binds that tie us to the past, to move into a healthy future.The book's cover shows a bridge‹-a central metaphor for moving beyond polarized ideas of right and wrong, conservative and liberal, fact and fancy, structure and freedom. In fact, Johnston explores the psyche of culture, as well of the psyches of individuals, with grace and aplomb. What the book lacks in depth is more than made up for in breadth. In fact, readers are continually asked to test Dr. Johnston's ideas‹-called "Creative Systems Theory"‹-against their own. He tells illustrative stories that explain sometimes heavily theoretical paragraphs.The tools and tales contained in this book comprise a guidebook for the future‹-not a how-to, exactly, but more a when-to, why-to, where-to, and where-not-to. He shows how to avoid traps of simplistic thinking by adopting a "third space" perspective, bridging across apparent contradictions. He brings his artist's eye, his psychiatrist¹s ear, his incisive intelligence, to questions (which he demonstrates are more important than answers) about the future.
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