As Jung prophesied, an epochal shift is taking place in the contemporary psyche, a reconciliation between the two great polarities, a union of opposites: a hieros gamos (sacred marriage) between the long-dominant but now alienated masculine and the long-suppressed but now ascending feminine.

…. But why has the pervasive masculinity of the Western intellectual and spiritual tradition suddenly become so apparent to us today, while it remained so invisible to almost every previous generation? I believe this is occurring only now because, as Hegel suggested, a civilization cannot become conscious of itself, cannot recognize its own significance, until it is so mature that it is approaching its own death.

Today we are experiencing something that looks very much like the death of modern man, indeed that looks very much like the death of Western man. Perhaps the end of man himself is at hand. But man is not a goal. Man is something that must be overcome and fulfilled, in the embrace of the feminine.

RICHARD TARNAS is a cultural historian and professor of philosophy and depth psychology whose first book, The Passion of the Western Mind became both a bestseller and required reading at many universities. A graduate of Harvard University, he is the founding director of the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness graduate program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. He is also adjunct faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California, and was formerly director of programs and education at Esalen Institute. His recent book is COSMOS AND PSYCHE.  He is a speaker at the Prophet’s Confernce in Vancouver, July 23-25.

2012 TIPPING POINT – The Prophets Conference Vancouver