by Richard Tarnas, PhD and Dean Radin, PhD

From Institute of Noetic Sciences

Ed. Note: There are few scholars in the world better equipped to evaluate where civilization is headed than eminent professor of philosophy and cultural history Richard Tarnas. In the following dialogue, excerpted and edited from the Institute of Noetic Sciences’ teleseminar series, Shifting Paradigms, IONS Senior Scientist Dean Radin talks with Dr. Tarnas about the notion of paradigm shifts and what is required for a society to make such a leap. To read a chapter from Tarnas’s book, Cosmos and Psyche, go here.

Radin: In your first book, The Passion of the Western Mind (1993), you explain the context in which we find ourselves, how we got where we are. Most people most of the time don’t think much about why they believe the things that they do and why society works the way that it does. In your second book, Cosmos and Psyche (2006), you use an enchanted view of reality, in a sense, to show why some of the aspects of traditional astrology are actually quite useful in seeing where we are and where we are going.

Tarnas: I wrote The Passion of the Western Mind as a kind of overview of the history of the Western worldview up until the late twentieth century. I wanted to try to see the larger paradigm shifts that took place and the major factors that were at work in forming our current worldview. We really can’t understand ourselves or the present without having a good grasp of the historical factors that shaped us. I love that sentence from historian Daniel Boorstein: “Trying to understand and create the future without knowing the past is like planting cut flowers.” We need a sense of our roots. The Passion of the Western Mind gives that kind of overview.

It’s particularly focused on the West, starting from the ancient Greeks, because that’s the cultural worldview that is so fundamental in shaping the global context today. For better or worse, modernity is the most powerful influence on our global civilization now, and that history goes from the ancient Greeks up through the Roman period, right through the medieval era to the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the scientific revolution, and so forth, up to the modern and postmodern periods. In my first book, I attempted to see the big picture as well as the ways in which a culture’s philosophy, religion, and science interact in any given era; it will shape the worldview, the cosmology, the notion of the divine, the notion of our understanding of the human self and its place in the universe. All these things constitute a worldview. So, in that book, I sought to understand that evolution of consciousness as well as I could.

My second book, Cosmos and Psyche, is actually the reason I wrote the first book, which served as a kind of prelude and a foundation to the second one—I’ll go into that in a second.

But perhaps we might want to engage some of the larger issues that go into paradigm shifts and why a culture seems ready or ripe for a major change of vision at a particular time? What makes a difference?

To continue reading this penetrating interview, click here.

Three upcoming IONS events:

“Conscious Aging” Telecourse

On January 18th, IONS begins its next 8-week educational program, “Conscious Aging,” facilitated by Kathleen Erickson-Freeman, IONS Elder Education Program Manager, and featuring experts in the field of conscious aging. Sessions will take place on eight consecutive Wednesday evenings from 5–7pm PT through March 7th. The course is $75 for IONS members and $235 for nonmembers (you can join for as low as $35!); low income rates are also available. To register, go here. Next on the schedule: “Buddha’s Brain: Taking in the Good” with Rick Hanson, PhD, from March 14 – May 2. More details coming soon…

Spirituality and Psychology Conference
February 17–19, 2012
Menlo College, Atherton, CA

The third biennial ATP-ITP Spirituality & Psychology Conference will bring together clinicians, therapists, spiritual guides, faith-based and healing practitioners, academics, and researchers to explore the promises and pitfalls of the spiritual path. Join keynote speakers Roger Walsh, Shauna Shapiro, Jeanne Achterberg and a host of luminaries including Jim Fadiman, Arthur Hastings, Olga Louchakova, and David Lukoff to examine the nature of spiritual illusion while we seek the wisdom and health benefits available in spirituality. Enjoy workshops, presentations, music, ritual, yoga, meditation, drumming, and social networking. For more information and to register, visit www.regonline.com/spiritualitypsychology.

Noetic Film Experience

From psi research and positive psychology to meditation, mythology, and personal transformation, IONS’ first Noetic Film Experience will have something for everyone. Join us March 9–11, 2012, at the IONS EarthRise Retreat Center where we will celebrate the power of film while sharing our experiences via panels, receptions, and Q&A with filmmakers and scientists. The lineup is coming together, and additional films just booked include The Dhamma Brothers, a powerful documentary about the introduction of meditation techniques into a high-security Alabama prison. Finding Joe, which explores the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell and his focus on The Hero’s Journey. May I Be Frank, the inspiring story of a troubled man whose life starts to change when he meets the folks at Café Gratitude. Something Unknown, considered by many to be the best film on parapsychology research ever made.

And this just in: Jean Houston will be joining us to introduce and discuss her new movie, A Passion for the Possible, premiering at the festival! Go here to register or for more information.

For sponsorship information, contact Matthew Gilbert at mgilbert@noetic.org.

There may be no more important human activity than healing social rifts between individuals, families, communities and nations. The new field of Social Healing promises to make this an ongoing activity in multiple forms with major impacts. This exciting development in the human journey promises profound change in resolving human conflict and, in fact, has already done so in many countries. We are witnessing the birth of a powerful conflict resolution tool that may well spell an end to war and the arguments leading up to it or, at the very least, may make this world a far more peaceful place through myriad forms of compassion in action.

Judith Thompson and James O’Dey are pioneers in this emergent field and Judith has written a brilliant overview that beautifully articulates the story and framework of Social Healing. I invite you to enjoy her article and if you want to know more to download the free The Social Healing Project Report available at http://www.charityfocus.org/docs/books/socialhealing.pdf

We Are Between Stories
by Judith Thompson

We live in an exciting time. As cultural historian, Thomas Berry put it: “We are between stories.” The old story — bracketed on the one side by reductionist scientific materialism, and on the other by institutional religious dogmas — is no longer able to guide us toward human or planetary flourishing. Instead, the chasms created by both science and religion, and the various social philosophies they spawned, are implicated in pushing us toward the precipitous edge upon which we now stand. At this edge we see both breakdowns and breakthroughs.

While the story of scientific materialism has been part of our evolutionary journey, it has created a map of reality — a worldview — that de-legitimized a vast portion of wisdom and experience. It placed reason over intuition, intellect over emotion, material over spiritual, objectivity over subjectivity, exteriority over interiority, and condensed this into a story that we live in a mechanistic, material world that can only be known through objective and measurable observation in which human reason reigns supreme.

Institutionalized religion upheld a story that gave male authority figures the power to interpret and mediate purported divine
laws and construct theological justifications for power over women, children, the natural world, and non-believers. While scientific and
religious stories were at odds with each other, both saw it in their interests to label metaphysical or spiritual worldviews outside their boundaries as heresy, superstition or witchcraft.

Yet ironically, science itself has now begun to step into the realm of the mystics. The “new sciences” story finds biologists and neuroscientists astounded by the hitherto unstudied capacities of the human brain and heart, indicating our ability to intentionally amplify love and compassion. It finds psychologists exploring the territory of contemplatives and revealing a map of human consciousness far beyond the individual ego-self. It finds physicists discovering that the presumed separation of observed and observer doesn’t exist.

Much like the African worldview of Ubuntu — “I am because you are” – all things exists as a communion of subjects, not an assortment of objects. The new story frames the human journey, not within the context of tribes or nations, but embedded in a constantly evolving planet and cosmos, interconnected and interdependent at every level. The implications of this framing could signal dramatic changes in
every field of human endeavor. The trends we are seeing within restorative justice, reconciliation, transitional justice, dialogue and other forms of peace practice, are evidence of new ways of addressing human conflict that are moving beyond the old dichotomies. We have chosen to name this trend social healing partly because we see an evolving paradigm that is not fundamentally hinged around the dualities of good vs. bad and right vs. wrong, but is rather inclined toward viewing human conflict through the lens of wounding and healing. Social healing, then, is not guided by revenge, retribution or punishment, but rather by the compassionate response of relating to all people — victims, transgressors and bystanders alike – as inextricably connected.

–JudithThompson, in _Social Healing Project [1]_report
Links:
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[1] http://charityfocus.org/docs/books/socialhealing.pdf

Mind Valley (http://www.mindvalley.com) is an interesting new community targeting authors seeking a publisher with a difference. You get to keep the rights to your material. They have an outstanding team that can help turn your transformational work into a book, website with SEO, and social media marketing as part of the strategy. Mind Valley also host Awesomeness Fests, gatherings that present transformational material through a non-profit with all proceeds going to the Pachamama Alliance, Lynn Twist’s organization that is helping save the Amazon rainforest and offering Awakening the Dreamer presentations around the world.

It’s here! Foster Gamble’s new paradigm film, THRIVE. Like NPD, this is a solutions oriented project. What makes this film so interesting is that it was produced by a member of the P&G empire and member of the 1% who has worked to make the company better and used his personal funds to make this powerful film. He is a great example for other legacy family members of other large companies.

Before you watch it, you may want to enjoy the interview with Foster conducted by Worldwide Tipping Point. The info on that interview and a link to view the film follow. My sense is that this fiim will do as well or better than the surprise hit What the Bleep a few years back and the great new online film distribution platform it is available on, Play It Forward, offers you the opportunity to enjoy the film and pass it along as a gift to friends you feel would really enjoy it. Please let me know your thoughts once you have viewed it.

After spending 8 years and millions of dollars to create the documentary THRIVE: What on Earth Will It Take? I am honored to have Foster Gamble on Worldwide Tipping Point today in what I believe is his first public interview since the film’s release!

So what is this THRIVE film all about? It will become quickly evident in this interview what THRIVE is hear to say, and I encourage you to check out our dialogue (and the movie) straight away!

Interestingly, Foster Gamble is a direct descendent of the Proctor & Gamble empire and I ask him some pretty pointed questions regarding his unbiased ability to shine a light on the unsustainable nature of our financial systems while obviously coming from a ‘financially elite’ family as described in the film…and his response is fascinating!

THRIVE weaves all sorts of topics, including tangible evidence of extraterrestrial life, the meaning of crop circles, and the possibility of unlimited sources of clean, non-combustible energy being accessible right now…a truth that would completely revolutionize the way human beings live on Planet Earth!

I ask Foster about his decision to include all these seemingly unrelated topics, and how this all relates to a world where we can all thrive. Again, his answers are fascinating.

In the end I find THRIVE to be a timely and relevant film, and a critically important artifact for our times. While I don’t expect all of you to agree with everything in the movie (as I am sure it will be controversial), I believe it is worth checking out and listening to our interview because THRIVE’s perspective certainly provides a few important things to consider.

In the end, it is up to ALL of us to decide how we can reach the Tipping Point and thrive together in our world…and I am looking forward to all your feedback!

Click here to screen the film and pass it along.

Another great TED talk for you.

What drives our desire to behave morally? Neuroeconomist Paul Zak shows why he believes oxytocin (he calls it “the moral molecule”) is responsible for trust, empathy and other feelings that help build a stable society.