Watch "Paleolithic Retrievals" here
There's still time to signup for my latest online course, "Metamorphosis." Watch Lesson I and join the class for Lesson II this Saturday.
Dear readers,
I am pleased to share with you the recording for last Saturday’s talk, “Paleolithic Retrievals.”
"Paleolithic Retrievals" offers a re-envisioned human origins story that shines a nw light on both the past as well as the future. It is by reimagining human history without the progress narrative that we can begin to see our species in a far more radical, and far more ecological light. History is intimately linked with not only the present, but the future. it is by reimagining the stories of who we are, and where we have come from, that we may open new, planetary futures, and seize the possibilities in the present for realizing them.
As you might have heard, this talk was first of a five week course entitled “Metamorphosis: Revisioning the Self After Modernity.” Class enrollment is still open. Feel welcome to watch the recording for lesson I, and if you’re still interested, register for the full course here.
This coming Saturday we leap to the Western Renaissance to see if we can render some of its ideas more ecological, more tentacular. The idea for Week II is to de-center the whole notion of a human-centered world (and how timely is it that Timothy Morton recently published this article, “Humans aren’t special, and why it matters).”
But as I argue, it is precisely when we give up our most cherished ideals about who we are, and what makes us special, that we can learn what gifts are truly ours to give back to this world.
Week II will begin with the Renaissance notion of “self-fashioning,” drawing on both Gilles Deleuze and Henri Bergson to consider the idea in further, philosophical light, before taking one more leap to the science of Gaia Theory, James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis to help us de-center this whole notion from the human world, and consider Gaia as the ultimate self-fashioner.
As mentioned, too, the course is offering a student/donation-based option. If you need that, please reach out to me. No one will be turned away from the class.
Hope to see you Saturday for Week II!