Morris Berman and William Irwin Thompson are both cultural historians of amazing but also somewhat forgotten import. Much of my own background in exploring 2012 themes comes from reading both over the years, especially Thompson’s work (and, by the way, his books are not easy to find these days…which tells us...what?)
Berman wrote several groundbreaking works including the “Re-enchantment of the World” and “Coming to Our Senses” (and thanks to Howard Rheingold for pointing me towards his work). "Coming to Our Senses" is, among other things, a brilliant deconstruction of the suppression of the Divine Feminine over the course of history.
Re-enchanting the world and moving “back to the future” are both phrases that resonate for me with respect to the 2012 themes that Annette Farrington and I are exploring in our work at The Emergence Project. Life in the downwards spiral of the Kali Yuga, the last in a succession of Hindu world ages, has become decidedly grim although there are beautiful creative flashes to be found everywhere in the green shoots of the new paradigm poking through.
So at least part of the work ahead is indeed to find ways to re-enchant and restore vibrancy and creativity to our cultural life as well as a sense of magic and mystery to our appreciation of the universe vs the grey overlay of technocratic reductionalism that we’ve come to experience (and unfortunately in many cases accept) as the status quo. The current predicament reminds me of this poem from Whitman:
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts, the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the learned astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
-- Walt Whitman
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Perhaps the greatest theme that I don't see explored in cultural venues regarding the 2012 shift is how the non-dual aspect of the Mayan culture affects their vision and their message.
ReplyDeleteHow do we explore the messages they present while groking the understanding that this culture did not see itself as separate from the very reality they lived within?
Given that the majority of modern day humans have not been conditioned to a non-dualistic reality, our task is very difficult. Many presenters are advocating exploring hallucinogenic means to pierce the veils of separateness. This is a good beginning for some, but it is tricky and does not eradicate the very essence of the separation, an immature ego that is obsessed with its own survival.Isn't it interesting that so many of the modern day interpretations of 2012 are apocalyptic?
For me the first step into a non-dual reality is to see the world like a story or play of consciousness. The Mayans posted their interpretations on story boards. Hmmm?
-- Ravindra Walsh