For anyone who’d like to talk about the 2018 Jean Gebser Society conference which took place over the weekend in Boulder, CO—or talk meta about Cosmos, Infinite Conversations, Life, God, the Ecological-Social-Spiritual Crisis, the Universe, or whatever is on our minds—I will be on the line at the usual time. I can do 90 minutes today, but everyone else is welcome to stay on as long as they like.
Related potential topics could include: Time and space, architecture and place; quantum / field / cosmic poetics; brainwave states and integral consciousness; satori vs samadhi; Aurobindo, Wilber, Steiner, Trungpa, Watts (cross-grains); the I CHING and NATURE; Beat poetry; East/West philosophy and spirituality; communion with trees…
I appreciate the recordings made available through live streaming. Thanks for allowing this to happen @Jeremy. Hoping to see Kerri Welch’s presentation added to the list, if possible.
Nice presentation by the three of you @hfester, @Geoffreyjen_Edwards and @madrush; thanks for letting us be a part of the process…wondering if the train rolling by before you begin your Mad Rush reading was part of the landscape or your added sound? That train transcends time…and perhaps space.
Hope to attend this recap for the first hour or so.
It was my fault. The original time I put into the invitation had it wrong. @Michael_Stumpf pointed this out and I corrected it pretty quickly, but not before the disinformation got out, unfortunately! Thanks for popping in, I will post the video soon, and look forward to catching up next time.
Thanks, Douglas! And thanks Marco for adding this virtual component to the conference… Glad you could all plug in. Loved what you, Heather, and Geoffrey added to the third day. Really connected things for me.
@hfester, would love to follow up with you on some of those literary resources on lit. and the fourth dimension.
Absolutely, Jeremy. It’s become something of a fascination. It seems the fourth dimension was hugely influential for writers/artists at the time, including Dostoyevsky (if I’m remembering correctly) and some other surprises (maybe Tolstoy?). I read about it in Lachman’s book on PD Ouspensky. Interesting that Gebser takes a dim view of Ouspensky’s work, but Lachman seems to be praising him. At any rate, I was exploring whether Ouspensky’s understanding of the fourth dimension was part of the fourth way teachings. I didn’t get to finish that exploration fully. But, it seems that Lachman has explored the fourth dimension in the arts more and could be another good resource. I thought Gebser was a bit unfair to Ouspensky, lumping him summarily into the magic/mythic realm.
Wish I could do the Lachman course (very much–I’ve read quite a few of his books in a short period of time and have discussed this with @johnnydavis54 some), but it’s not in the budget right now. If you have the option to add an enthusiastic scholarship student, let me know. (And, I understand the costs are there for a reason and that you may not be able to do that–fine too.)
Re: Gebser and Ouspensky, yes, which is too bad but something Gebser does do here an there (unfair dismissals of particular authors… I think Virginia Woolf was another one).
We can certainly ask Lachman this question. I am sure he would have an interesting answer.
And at any rate, yes, I’m really curious about this trend in literature (even Proust’s madeleine, or Bergson’s duration, which heavily influenced Teilhard and later Deleuze). Interested in exploring much further.
Thanks for sharing the information, Heather, as i am a big fan of his. Maybe I can get it together to do another course. Another really good book on this subject is by art historian, Linda Henderson, who digs deep into the weird stuff. It has been on my shelf for years but I have avoided it like a fattening desert. I have this idea that I have to eat my vegetables first. As we are completing The Life Divine I feel I have had enough fiber in my diet. I used to have a sense of overwhelm whenever I started to delve into the theories of the fourth dimension, as I suffered from a profound math phobia. The sight of algebra made me quesy but I did have a brief period in high school when the veil briefly lifted and I liked geometry. Then the veil came down. The last few years I have done remedial work in that area and to my delight I can follow meta-logic with pleasure. The veil has lifted again. It would be really good to read the Henderson book, as the weather turns chilly, with good cognac. I imagine this will compliment Lachman’s study really well.
Hi @johnnydavis54, speaking of time, it was good seeing you last year at the Gebser conference.
Thanks for the book recommendation. It would be great, as one possible forward-thinking project, to compile a “time irruption” resource of academic and literary materials related to the fourth dimension, time, etc. This book being amongst them.
(And, I understand the costs are there for a reason and that you may not be able to do that–fine too.)