As Above, So Below: A Brief Sketch of Ideas Concerning Reproductive and Creative Self-Similarity

The central principle of alchemy, “As above, so below; as below, so above”, is explored in the context of complexity science.  It is found that there are many qualitatively different kinds of self-similarity, unfolding successively out of each other by a process of continual recursion or self-involvement.  Each level of self-similarity is found to correspond quite directly to the different realms of nature: the mineral, plant, animal, and human realms.  The movement is one from outwardness to successively more inward capacities.  The whole movement itself from outward to inward is ultimately found to turn back upon itself in a grand recursion, pointing the way to what Steiner referred to as sense-free thinking and an experience of self-as-other, a kind of humanity squared.  It’s a wild ride, but worth the journey.

Rudolf Steiner and Sri Aurobindo: An Introductory Comparison

This essay explores similarities and differences between the profound contributions of two of the modern world’s most important spiritual figures: Rudolf Steiner and Sri Aurobindo Ghose. As an introductory work, I offer summary comparisons of their philosophical, cosmological, and spiritual worldviews, attitudes towards human development and stages of growth, personal biographies, and their lasting contributions to the world. Although I am more familiar with Steiner’s work, these two towering figures stand in remarkable general agreement with respect to their core values and pictures of human and cosmic development.  Both offer a spiritually-based view of an evolving cosmos within which the continuously developing human being has a profound and important place, a multi-leveled and complex picture of cosmic involution/evolution that is compatible with a modern scientific understanding of evolution, an integrated view of the different aspects that make up a human being, and practical insights concerning how humans can take up their own self-transformation for the benefit of all.  Despite a number of less consequential differences, when taken together Steiner and Aurobindo offer a uniquely thorough and practical integral view of the cosmos and the human beings’ place within it that weaves together the most profound wisdoms from both the East and the West.

Quantum Mechanics: To Understand or Not Understand; that is the Superposition

This essay explores the relationship between everyday experience and quantum mechanics.  Does an understanding of quantum mechanical principles have an effect on an average person’s life?  Do we even understand quantum mechanics, and if so, does such an understanding change our lived epistemology?  Or must our epistemology be forever locked to the scale of experiences that occupy our normal experiences of the world?  Both sides of the issue are explored.

Patterns in Process: Transdisciplinarity as a Background for Working with an Archetype of Transformation

This essay explores the topic of my potential dissertation inquiry by situating it within the framework of transdisciplinarity.  A number of questions are addressed: 1) the nature and importance of my topic, 2) examination of resources and the dominant disciplinary discourse connected with my topic, 3) how my topic might be framed from a cybernetic/complex approach, 4) a critical examination of my assumptions, beliefs, and position with regards to my topic, and 5) the extent to which my topic leads me along a process of creative inquiry.

The Elements as an Archetype of Transformation: An Exploration of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire

Master's Thesis, Consciousness Studies, JFK University, 2008

I propose that the alchemical cycle of the four elements Earth, Water, Air and Fire provides a useful and exact analogue for the processes of transformation of a wide variety of types, and as such can be considered an archetype.  The elemental cycle is a potent symbol for a transformative, qualitative language (logos) which has the potential to guide human consciousness towards lawful, holistic engagement with essentially any phenomenon.  When worked consistently, the elemental cycle leads us beyond ‘everyday’ modes of cognition to what could be called Imaginative, Inspirative, and Intuitive modes cognition.  In these modes, thinking no longer takes place ‘about’ a phenomenon, but ‘with’, ‘through’, and ‘within’ phenomena.  The elemental cycle provides a content, a method, and self-regulating feedback mechanisms for working with transformation, and can help engender a consciousness that can fruitfully dialogue with the interiority of the world by making it explicit.  Its power lies in its ability to act as a template and guide for the structuring of human consciousness; it is a tool which makes available a coherent, archetypal patterning which can help guide and transform a human consciousness in healthy and practical ways.  By making available new modes of consciousness, it helps us learn to see ourselves and the world in ways that allow for greater creativity and flexibility when faced with difficult or problematic situations. At the same time it illuminates and connects us with phenomena – both outer and inner – that might otherwise pass our notice.

This essay comprises a detailed study of the nature of the elements and the elemental cycle, through which it is hoped the reader may gain a solid enough foundation to work experimentally with the elemental cycle independently if desired.  Therefore, the cycle is introduced via a brief phenomenology of the individual elements, which are then connected, compared, and brought together to form a complete picture of the cycle.  The breadth of applicability of the cycle is then explored through a series of specific instances that also serve to illuminate the qualities of the cycle itself.  A report on third-party work with the elemental cycle provides complementary and contrasting experiences, while an in-depth review and application of the cycle to the nature of images opens up the complexities and demonstrates the recursive, self-generating quality of the cycle.  Lastly, an introductory series of practical steps and specific exercises, advice, and questions for each elemental stage is provided to help the reader use the cycle independently.

When Minds Won't Stay Put: A Review of Andy Clark's Book Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension

This essay critically reviews Andy Clark’s new book Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension, in which he argues that there are circumstances in which the mind, properly considered, is found to supervene on not only the brain, but the body and the external environment as well.  This review summarizes Clark’s major contributions to this viewpoint for the general reader, then raises a few critical points that help to contextualize Clark’s claims, aims, and methods, while highlighting the book’s strengths and weaknesses.

The Spiritual Matrix – An Anthroposophical Reading, Or: This Essay Is The Red Pill

Part 1, Part 2 yet to be written

This essay explores the Matrix trilogy of movies from the perspective of spiritual science.  Close attention is paid to the actual events in the "text" of the movies, with an eye towards illuminating features concerning the major characters and plot elements in a coherent, symbolic, and mythological perspective.  In particular the movies are shown to be uniquely understandable from the perspective of Steiner's anthroposophical insights concerning human evolution.

Physics, Metaphysics, and a Whiteheadian Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: An Exploration

Undergraduate Thesis in Philosophy at the Colorado College

Whitehead died during the flurry of new discoveries from the quantum mechanics in the mid 1920's.  He did not explicitly incorporate the new vision of the universe that was beginning to emerge from the scientific realm, but what if Whitehead were alive well into the 1990's?  How would Whitehead deal with the radical shifts in worldview brought by the quantum mechanics - and in particular, the experimental verification of Bell's Inequality by Alain Aspect in the 80's?  This essay attempts to explore these questions within a larger discussion concerning the relationship between physics and metaphysics.

Waking and Dreaming: Illusion, Reality, and Ontology In Advaita Vedanta

How do you know you are awake, and not just dreaming you are awake?  The question is harder to answer than you may at first guess.  This essay explores the question from the perspective of Advaita Vedanta, most specifically in reference to the Mandukya Upanishad with both Gaudapada's karikas and Shankara's commentary.

Sleep and Dreams in Anthroposophy

An exploration of the stages of sleep, and the difference between waking and dreaming.  The essay relates modern brain studies to anthroposophical insights to provide a unique perspective on sleeping and dreaming.

The Cosmology of the Integral Yoga

This paper contextualizes the need for holding a cosmological worldview, using the works of Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry as a foundation, then explores detailed and specific connections to the cosmology presented by Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga as an illuminative example.

Reflections on the Reflexive Universe

A brief introduction and summary of Arthur Young's major work: The Reflexive Universe.

Contemporary Life and the Esoteric Path of Anthroposophy

An brief treatment of how the path of self-development offered by anthroposophy fits into contemporary Western life.  I offer a brief contextual introduction, look into gurus and teachers, and explore anthroposophy in regards to its alternate name, spiritual science.

Ibn al-‘Arabī and the Oneness of Being

An introduction to the difficult but central Sufi concept of  wahdat al-wujūd.