Anthropology Commons^™

Mandala: On The Logos Of Place, Michael Schwartz

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Suddenly, during the night, one awakens while dreaming – aware that this is a dream. The “rules” of action, reaction, and of form itself are not that of the waking state – one might leap in the air and fly, transform one’s body into any number of forms, reach up in the sky and grab the sun and clouds, pulling them to the side, bringing forth a canopy of moon and stars. The entire scene, in the lucid dream, has a heightened sense of radiance and joy, vitality and freedom.

Imagine this sense of lucid dreaming is occurring right here …

Remembering The Future: Wild Time And The Cosmic Imagination, Arabella Thaïs

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Entropy – the Second Law of Thermodynamics – is generally held to prove “time’s arrow”: that time is linear and unidirectional, and that the universe is following this trajectory. This paper presents a preliminary exposition into a new, integral ontology of time in which time is hyper-dimensional, non-linear and flows in both directions. This is supported through trans-disciplinary praxis at the intersection of aesthetics, cosmology, quantum mechanics, and chaos theory. The metaphysical implications of reverse causality are investigated, and confer a teleological universe that is coherent with the paradigm of an intelligent, self-realising cosmos in which beauty is a fundamental …

Rudolf Bahro's Invisible Church, Parton, Glenn

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

The Doctrine Of The "Mysterious Female" In Taoism: A Transpersonalist View, Tortchinov, Evgueni A.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Jean Gebser The Invisible Origin Evolution As A Supplementary Process, Translated By Theo Röttgers

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Jean Gebser Foreword To Eastern Wisdom And Western Thought: A Comparative Study In The Modern Philosophy Of Religion, Saher, P. J.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Inner And Outer Realities: Jean Gebser In A Cultural/Historical Perspective, Combs, Allan

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

On The Nature Of Consciousness And Reality: An Overview Of Jean Gebser's Thoughts On Consciousness, Feuerstein, Georg

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

From Homeland Earth; A New Manifesto For The New Millennium, Morin, Edgar

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Now that the fantastic adventure begun in the 15th century has come to an end, the shout of Columbus’ lookout man takes on at last a planetary meaning: Land! Land!¹ Even up to 1950-1960, we were living on a misapprehended Earth, on an abstract Earth. We were living on the Earth as object. By the end of this century, we discovered Earth as system, as Gaia, as biosphere, a cosmic speck—Homeland Earth. Each one of us has a pedigree, a terrestrial identity card. We are from, in, and on the Earth. We belong to the Earth which belongs to …

The Evolution Of The Culture Of Enterprise, Laszlo, Ervin

Journal of Conscious Evolution

At the top echelons of contemporary business, managers are becoming concerned with the unsustainability of the way companies now operate. A transformation of basic business strategies appears more and more indicated. For such transformation to be effective, the culture of the enterprise--the goals it pursues and the vision of these goals entertained by managers and collaborators--needs to change. Consequently there is a growing questioning of the viability of the typical culture of today's enterprise, and a search for more functional and timely concepts for creating anew and more timely cultural pattern.

Transpersonal Psychology And The Paradigm Of Complexity, Kelly, Sean M.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Death And Resurrection: Enlightenment And The Body Of Light, White, John

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Enlightenment or God-realization is not purely a psychological event. Bodily changes also occur, most dramatically in the higher phases of enlightenment. In the final phase, according to esoteric teachings in various sacred traditions and hermetic schools, the body is alchemically changed from flesh into light, becoming immortal. This transubstantiated body is called different names, such as resurrection body, light body, solar body and diamond body. This presentation looks at the phenomenon from a cross-cultural and evolutionary perspective. It then focuses on Christianity as a sacred tradition whose purpose is to enable people to develop through the resurrection of the body …

Chi Kung Facilitates Integral Growth: An Empirical Investigation, Arnold, C., Bruggerman, E., Kim, H., Combs, A.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Chi Kung Facilitates Integral Growth: An Empirical Investigation C. Arnold, E. Bruggerman, H. Kim, & A. Combs[1]

Swiss cultural philosopher Jean Gebser (1949/1986) proposed a theory of the evolutionary development of structures of consciousness that describes the common ways people living in different periods of history interpreted reality and constructed their worldviews. These included four major structures corresponding to four historical epochs, an archaic, magic, mythic, and mental structure which remains dominant today. Citing changes in art, literature, and scientific during the 20th century, Gebser also proposed the emergence of a forthcoming fifth structure, that he termed integral consciousness.

The …

Internal Alchemy, With Michael Winn, Published In "The Empty Vessel"

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Alchemical Transformation: Consciousness And Matter, Form And Information, Peat, F. David

Journal of Conscious Evolution

There has grown up, relatively recently, a nucleus of interests called ìconsciousness studiesî in which physicists and mathematicians, as well as neuroscientists and psychologists, attempt to discover the origins of ìconsciousnessî within the brain. A variety of approaches are employed, some based upon neural networks, others that argue that consciousness must have a quantum mechanical basis, or involve self-organization arising out of non-linearity. A common thread is a certain sense of optimism that ìthe question of consciousnessî will yield its secrets in the same way as, for example, the genetic code or sub-atomic matter. I must confess that I find …

Transition To Transcendence: Franklin Merrell-Wolff's Mathematical Yoga, Baruss, Imants

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Mathematicians--those who develop new mathematics--spend much of their time proposing the existence of mathematical constructions whose existence they then proceed to try to prove from the mathematics that has already been developed. Following that, they often try to prove that those mathematical constructions are unique, that there are no other constructions with the same characteristics. In practice, it is often easier to prove the uniqueness of a mathematical construction than its existence, so a mathematician may proceed by first proving uniqueness, as though the mathematical construction existed, and then using clues from the uniqueness proof to prove existence. I want …

The End Of Death? Conscious Life In Global Cyberspace, Purdy, Michael

Journal of Conscious Evolution

In The Ever-Present Origin, Jean Gebser, in talking about the magical structure of consciousness[1], states: "All directing implies a consciousness process" (EPO 49). And so to die is to become not consciousness, to lose the power to direct, ultimately to lose control over our own destiny. Being only human, and realizing that death is often more real than an afterlife that we cannot experience while alive[2], we actively fight any loss of control-we fight the passage to death. In that directedness, the glimmerings of which began with magical consciousness, and that came to full awareness …

A General Introduction To Integral Theory And Comprehensive Mapmaking, Saiter, Sean M.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

While attempting to keep to the larger vision of integral studies as a whole I shall be proposing a rudimentary outline of an underlying assertion primarily based upon the works of Ken Wilber, Jean Gebser, Don Beck and Christopher Cowan (based on the work of Clare Graves), and Mark B. Woodhouse. Robert Kegan, Howard Gardner, James Mark Baldwin, Susan Cook-Greuter, and Carol Gilligan are influences working in the background.

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when trying to understand integral studies as a field is that a fundamental, underlying message in Wilber's, Graves', Beck's, Gebser's, and Woodhouse's …

Dreamscapes: Topography, Mind, And The Power Of Simulacra In Ancient And Traditional Societies, Paul Devereux

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Dream content can be influenced by external sounds, smells, touch, objects glimpsed with half-open eyes during REM sleep, and somatic signals. This paper suggests that this individual, neurologically-driven process parallels that experienced collectively by pre-industrial tribal and traditional peoples in which the land itself entered into the mental lives of whole societies, forming mythic geographies—dreamscapes. This dreamtime perception was particularly evident in the use of simulacra, in which the shapes of certain topographical features allowed them to be presented in anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, or iconic guise to both the individual and the culturally-reinforced gaze of society members. This paper further indicates …

Shamanic Cosmology As An Evolutionary Neurocognitive Epistemology, Michael Winkelman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The biological foundation for a shamanic epistemology is indicated by the cross-cultural distribution of a shamanic cosmology derived from knowledge obtained during altered consciousness. These special forms of consciousness involve integrative brain conditions that access ancient ways of knowing, expressive systems which have evolutionary roots in the communicative and social processes involved in animal displays or rituals. These were augmented over the course of hominid evolution into expressive and mimetic activities that provided a basis for significant epistemological expansions of consciousness exemplified in shamanic out-of-body (OBE) experiences. These manifestations of consciousness involved new modes of self and processes of knowing, …

Dream-Spirits And Innovation In Aboriginal Australia’S Western Desert, Robert Tonkinson

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Among the Mardu Aborigines, dreams (kapukurri; jukurrpa) may carry at least the same weight as the events of waking life. ‘Travelling’ in dream-spirit form enhances the possibility of revelations both dangerous and enlightening. In the Australian case, a major cultural dilemma is to accommodate and rationalize an inevitable dynamism when the dominant ideology is one of timelessness and stasis. Two key cultural symbols, the Dreaming and the Law, still substantially shape worldviews and behaviour of the Martu people, who live in the remote Western Desert region. Much of my focus is on a category of popular, largely public contemporary ritual …

Understanding Bohm’S Holoflux: Clearing Up A Conceptual Misunderstanding Of The Holographic Paradigm And Clarifying Its Signifigance To Transpersonal Studies Of Consciousness, Mark A. Schroll

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Throughout the past 31 years transpersonal anthropologists and transpersonal psychologists seeking a scientific language to discuss anomalous phenomena and the farther reaches of human nature (or to invoke a discussion of ultimate reality, universal mind or cosmic consciousness) have referred to the holographic paradigm, the conceptual origin of which is directly related to David Bohm’s implicate order theory. In 1982 and 1984 Bohm discussed the holographic paradigm’s limitations (and more specifically his concept of holomovement) to accurately represent his implicate order theory, suggesting instead the more precise conceptual reference holoflux; yet the limited publication of this correction has not been …

The Ethno-Epistemology Of Transpersonal Experience: The View From Transpersonal Anthropology, Charles D. Laughlin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper introduces the topic of ethno-epistemology with regards to transpersonal experiences. The distinction between polyphasic and monophasic cultures is introduced and the interaction between a society’s world view and individual transpersonal experience is explained using the cycle of meaning model. A link to philosophical work on “natural epistemology” is made and the importance of the “projectability” of cultural theories of experience is discussed. The individual contributions to this special section of the journal are introduced.

Dreaming And Reality: A Neuroanthropological Account, Charles D. Laughlin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In what sense is dreaming real to people of different cultures? How do they come to conclude that dreaming is real, and how do they use dreams to expand their knowledge and control of real events? The reader is introduced to dream anthropology and shown that there are universal patterns to how dreams are experienced, expressed, and used by societies. The distinction between monophasic and polyphasic cultures is described, the latter being the majority of societies that consider dreaming as being in some sense real. Neuroscience supports the notion that there is a natural realism behind the experience of reality …

The Self: A Transpersonal Neuroanthropological Account, Charles D. Laughlin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The anthropology of the self has gained momentum recently and has produced a significant body of research relevant to interdisciplinary transpersonal studies. The notion of self has broadened from the narrow focus on cultural and linguistic labels for self-related terms, such as person, ego, identity, soul, and so forth, to a realization that the self is a vast system that mediates all the aspects of personality. This shift in emphasis has brought anthropological notions of the self into closer accord with what is known about how the brain mediates self-as-psyche. Numerous examples from the ethnography of the self are given, …

Belief Is Not Experience: Transformation As A Tool For Bridging The Ontological Divide In Anthropological Research And Reporting, Bonnie Glass-Coffin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

For more than a hundred years, anthropologists have recorded stories of beliefs in other-than-human sentience and consciousness, yet we have most frequently insisted on contextualizing these stories in terms of cultural, epistemological, or ontological relativism. In this paper, I ask why we have had such a hard time taking reports of unseen realms seriously and describe the transformative role of personal experience as a catalyst for change in anthropological research and reporting.

Shamans As Healers, Counselors, And Psychotherapists, Stanley Krippner

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Shamanic models of healing, counseling, and psychotherapy differ from Western models in that

they emphasize closeness to the natural world as well as to one’s body and life’s spiritual dimensions.

Shamanic practices reflect the ideals of harmony and knowledge. In shamanism, there is no division

between “mind” and “body,” hence what Westerners refer to as “mental illness” is seen as part of

the total client being treated by a shaman, a perspective that often includes the client’s family,

community, and the world of “spirits.”

Transpersonal Effects Of Exposure To Shamanic Use Of Khoomei (Tuvan Throat Singing): Preliminary Evaluations From Training Seminars, Vladislav Matrenitsky, Harris L. Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Khoomei is a Tuvan Siberian shamanic practice involving overtone throat singing. One hundred eighty-one Western participants completed questionnaires after attending Khoomei seminars, asking about the following: motivation of people to learn shamanic throat singing; self-perception at the levels of body, energy, and mind before-and-after the seminar; feelings and sensations from practicing throat singing; transpersonal experience during throat singing; experience of inner vibrations from listening to the singing; and general state and feelings after seminar. In general, most participants reported many benefits from attending the seminars, although a few reported mild negative effects (e.g., dizziness and sadness). Of particular interest are …

Shamanism In Cross-Cultural Perspective, Michael Winkelman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This article reviews the origins of the concept of the shaman and the principal sources of

controversy regarding the existence and nature of shamanism. Confusion regarding the

nature of shamanism is clarified with a review of research providing empirical support for a

cross-cultural concept of shamans that distinguishes them from related shamanistic healers.

The common shamanistic universals involving altered states of consciousness are examined

from psychobiological perspectives to illustrate shamanism’s relationships to human nature.

Common biological aspects of altered states of consciousness help explain the origins of

shamanism while social influences on this aspect of human nature help to explain …

Postmodern Trickster Strands In Shamanic Worlds, Jürgen W. Kremer

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This essay explores socio-philosophical meanings of shamanic cultures and practices and

their affirmation and revival. What is their potential significance for humanity’s future? I

argue that shamanism engages humans in practices that put us potentially at the center of

our creativity and creative visioning. The trickster figure, a pervasive indigenous presence,

so often seems pivotal in this process and this pervasively male figure plays an important

part in this regenerative interpretation of postmodernism; in fact, postmodernism can be

understood as trickster. Just like the trickster, the nature of postmodernism is ambiguous.

I explore this ambiguity and suggest that shamanic practices …