In episode 23 of Mutations, I talk with Jeremy Lent about his new book: The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe. Lent’s newest work proposes an integrated worldview very much in the philosophical spirit of the scholars and teachers we explore on Mutations (integral philosophy, theory,…
A Gebserian Note on the Word “Map”
There’s a diminutive, crumpled-in-the-back-pocket, food stained and salt sprayed sensual richness to this word’s history that intuitively feels of some import to us.
Notes on Designing Aperspectival Containers
This piece is an interesting permaculture/regenerative take on the 1969 Eames “Design Diagram.” I was initially struck by how it resembles the Calabi-Yau manifold I often use to illustrate the relational wholeness of Jean Gebser’s consciousness structures (archaic through integral). Many of us in the Mutations community are, in some way, working with design. We’re…
Notes in Transit
En route from New York to Tampa Bay. It was great to (finally) reconnect with my family and friends after 1.5 years of lockdown. A homecoming! New York has changed, and hasn’t. The same, but different; intermingling melancholy and triumph. Refitted subways. Towering cyberpunk architecture completed during lockdown’s interlude. Masks and sanitizer kiosks and outdoor…
Appearances: Recent, Rumored and Forthcoming
2021 has kept me busy! I’m sharing a brief note about recent appearances and what’s coming next. First: high weirdness. Artist, musician, filmmaker, podcast host and longtime integralist Stuart Davis had me on his show, Aliens and Artists for a proper metaphysical conversation on non-human intelligences. I guess I’m coming out of my weird closet….
Seeing Through the World: Integrales Forum Seminar
In Collaboration with Integrales Forum, Germany This six part online seminar provides an introduction to Jean Gebser’s life and integral philosophy; a guide through the structures of consciousness, leading us into the spiritual import of realizing integral consciousness in our present moment of cultural crisis and transformation. Special attention will also be brought to connecting…
New Course: Cohering the Radical Present
I am pleased to announce that I am offering a new virtual course. “Cohering the Radical Present: Integral Consciousness in Daily Life.” Naturally, the course will be hosted online, through a newly revamped Nura Learning (under the hood, I am using Mighty Networks for the actual course space, featuring forums, modules, etc. all in one…
Integral as Participatory and Phenomenological
I’m listening to Daniel Thorson’s conversation with Zak Stein today and feeling deeply receptive to it. Zak’s mention of McLuhan was particularly revelatory. It made me think of the loss/gain character of any new medium. New media extend us, but they also cut us off—like the car replacing the foot. Social media extends communication, but…
On Superordinate Goals and the Integral World
Recently I was asked by a reader and colleague to comment on a letter written by Dr. Don Beck, “Looking Beyond the Midterm Elections In Quest for Humanity’s Master Code.” It was written in 2018, and now, halfway through 2020, it holds a certain prescience worth commenting on and responding to at some length. Dr….
MEA Conference: Media Ecology as Remediation
Next Thursday, June 18th, I have the honor of presenting a paper at the Media Ecology Association’s annual conference. This year the theme is “Communication Choices and Challenges,” and my paper is entitled: “Media Ecology as Remediation: Marshall McLuhan and Jean Gebser in Dialogue”. My abstract is shared below: In this essay, I draw from…