This Week: From Integral Time to Weird Macbeth
Join me this Friday for a talk on Integral Life, and read about J.F. Martel’s new class.
Dear readers,
I was honored to receive an invitation from Integral Life to present a two-part introduction to Jean Gebser. Session one will be this Friday at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET.
Here’s a description of what I’ll be covering in both sessions and a link to the Zoom call:
Always-Already Shaped By Tomorrow: The Integral Way of Jean Gebser
“In this two part introductory series, participants will explore a brief — if experiential — journey through the structures of consciousness, discovering how they continue to live in and through us and our world.
In part two, we will turn to Gebser’s unique transmission of integral consciousness, drawing from contemporary examples of art, culture, and philosophy to help illustrate the emergence of “integral time.” It is through living this integral mode of time that we can begin to cohere the complexity of our Anthropocene present and wayfind towards habitable tomorrows.”
I’m appreciating the title (thanks, Nomali), which riffs on Ken Wilber’s “always already” phrasing from The Eye of Spirit (1997). With the added suggestion that we are always already shaped by tomorrow, we are catapulted into the koan-like temporal riddle of integral consciousness. This is what I have found ceaselessly compelling (not to mention challenging) about Gebser’s work: the emergent integral worldview is coeval with a dramatic re-structuring of modern time-consciousness. But how can we effectively approach this paradox?
By effective, I mean approaching it in such a way that it becomes more than a mere philosophical riddle? How might we learn to actually embody, live this new mode of integral time? One method, I am proposing during these calls, is to start identifying the ever-increasing ways that this new time is already living us in the conditions of our complex present. It is through the practice — and the work — of consciously engaging with these conditions that they cease to be merely conditions; they become invitations to participate and embody integral futures.
So, yes, tomorrow shapes us! But that is only a beginning: we, in turn, must learn to co-shape tomorrow.
Session 1 will be Friday, February 10th @ 11 am PT / 2 pm ET, with Part 2 on February 24th at the same time.
These two sessions will be something of a primer, an introduction to the annual Gebser course starting on March 7th.
“Seeing Through the World: Integral Consciousness and The Ever-Present Origin” is a nine week course that will feature weekly lectures, a syllabus, Q&A and complementary collective presencing sessions.
Registration rates are now on a sliding scale, so one will be turned away (see the course page for more details about student rates).
Weird Macbeth
Another exciting course announcement for March: my friend, J.F. Martel, is returning to host a new class on my platform: “Macbeth: The Weird, the Imaginal, and the Time of the Possible.” It starts on Tuesday, March 14th and will run for six sessions.
“Reading the play as an act of prophecy, the course will attempt to locate, within the otherworld of Macbeth, the seed-crystal of modern enchantment.”
J.F.’s classes continue to be deeply engaging and uniquely complementary with the other integrative philosophy coursework offered on the platform. I have no doubt that this will continue to be true for Macbeth.
New in February for Patreon
Mutations patrons just received a 30 minute reading (and commentary) I recorded on Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age. If you’re a patron, you can access that audio podcast right here.
Tomorrow, February 8th at 9:30 am PT / 12:30 pm ET is the first of two monthly community calls. Patrons on all tiers receive access to these calls.
Beyond Patreon: I will be rolling out an optional subscriber tier to this newsletter in the coming weeks. This will (mostly) overlap with Patreon offerings (audio recordings, Q&A call announcements, early access to new writing). After hearing from some of you, I’m keen to begin offering alternative — and, hopefully, more accessible — ways to stay in touch and engage as a community. Thank you, everyone, for your enthusiasm and support!
That’s it for now. Thanks everyone. See some of you on Friday’s call.
~J