What an interested few weeks it has been yet again. As if transformation was so inevitable now that radical changes and shifts have become necessary. Maybe we have now fully engaged on the alchemical path. There appear to have been lots of fire references around me lately... calcinatio, the first stage in alchemy: The man burned early at burning man, another friend has appendicitis, my friend's house burned to the ground... Pretty amazing. Even more beautiful and amazing has been the response of people to my friend's situation. Apart from some precious personal items, her and her daughter lost pretty much everything in the fire. I put a call out to people and complete strangers have shown love and support beyond anything I would have imagined. My friend, like myself, has a hard time receiving and asking for help (isn't it funny how many of us suffer from that?? ;-)). Being in a situation like her current one, is not leaving her with much choice in that regard and she has found herself flooded in a tidal wave of love, support, kindness. Time for solutio, the dissolving, the loss of ego in oneness. Allowing is a big part of that. Curious to see what sublimatio will bring ;-)
okay... FINALLY got around to a) putting together a PowerPoint deck for my thesis, b) present my thesis and record it, c) combine my recording of the presentation with the PowerPoint slides, and d) post it to YouTube (I had originally recorded straight to YouTube, but screwed up the sound, thus the extra steps). The quality of the pictures is pretty crappy. Live and learn. Didn't have the patience to redo the whole thing, so this is what it is for now. There will be a better version at some point. For now, this will be transcribed and will serve as the basis for my thesis, as well as the book I am planning entitled "Who is creating Your Reality?". Enjoy!
Watching my friend Eric Matthies' movie "The Matrix Revisited" where he features the philosophy and science of the Matrix movie trilogy. One of the thoughts it sparked was whether anyone has ever built a robot based on the four-fold body, i.e. a robot with four different circuit boards, one for the physical (governing internal processes and serves as the "OS"), one for the emotional (spatial movement and recognition of objects/advance and retreat dynamics), one for the intellectual (visual/auditory processing and intelligence) and one for the spiritual (relationships and processes), and then have them interact on some levels similar to how we as humans interact between our different bodies... hmmm.... Might be fun ;-)
So much to say. Just moved into a new and amazing space (pictures coming soon). Am now surrounded by 300 other artists creating all day. The space will also serve as the headquarters for the Center for Conscious Creativity, and there will be more on all that coming soon as well (we are about to redo the entire website and structure...). It's brewing all over...
For now, I am off to Peru for an international conference on Shamanism... Should be interesting ;-)
Here another paper I wrote recently on the story of Cinderella. While most fairy tales have been butchered into meaningless "childproof" drizzle, they are still deep rooted myths and in their origin contain powerful archetypal principles that can help us understand ourselves, our thoughts and emotions, our own personal stories, and life as a whole (e.g. the in the original frog king, the princess never kissed the frog, but instead threw him against the wall with all her might - much more interesting psychologically). Been studying with Jonathan Young over the last weeks (who worked with Joseph Campbell and started his archives), which has been quite fascinating. Really reminded me of the power of myth. Gave me quite a different view on myth and fairy tales and really reminded me, how we all live out archetypal patterns. What fascinated me most about Cinderella apart from being a typical story of transformation, again fitting with the process of transformation Arthur Young so aptly described, was the parallels to both the Quabala as well as also Buddha's life... Read on to find out more ;-)
Another paper I wrote lately taking further the concept of "Demystify-Remystify". Based on a chapter on mysticism in a book I was reading for my masters program in transformational psychology, this paper explores the concept of demystifying reality in overcoming spiritualism with a scientific (materialist) approach, and overcoming materialism with openness toward the mystic experience. Enjoy!
Sri Aurobindo was one of the sages of the last century whose philosophy will provide increasingly useful in the world we live in. His approach was marked by synthesis. As we enter the 21st century, we see dualism everywhere around us. It nearly seems that dualism has been stretched to the max, especially when one considers political or socio-economic factors. Synthesis is desperately needed. Nearly all philosophies are either materialistic or spiritualistic. Either they embrace life and the ego/body, or they deny it. Neither is particularly satisfactory explanation for life. Following is a paper I wrote recently on Materialism and Spritiualism, and on how Sri Aurobindo's philosophy provides an approach to overcoming the two.
thought 
What an interested few weeks it has been yet again. As if transformation was so inevitable now that radical changes and shifts have become necessary. Maybe we have now fully engaged on the alchemical path. There appear to have been lots of fire references around me lately... calcinatio, the first stage in alchemy: The man burned early at burning man, another friend has appendicitis, my friend's house burned to the ground... Pretty amazing. 
