#50: Re-Enchanting the Western World View with Richard Tarnas

To honour the milestone 50th episode, I’m joined by Richard Tarnas, a renowned historian and archetypal cosmologist. August 8th is the peak of the astrological event known as the Lion’s Gate Portal. The Sun (in Leo) aligns with Sirius, Orion’s Belt, and Earth. Simultaneously, Orion’s Belt aligns with the Pyramids of Giza. Ancient Egyptians revered Sirius, the “spiritual star,” and associated it with gods Osiris and Sopdet. Each year the rising of Sirius marked the flooding of the Nile.

As author of The Passion of the Western Mind and Cosmos and Psyche, Richard is the ideal guest to mark the occasion. He is the founding director of the graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He teaches courses in the history of ideas, archetypal studies, depth psychology, and religious evolution.

For ten years he lived and worked at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, studying with the likes of Stanislav Grof, Joseph Campbell, and James Hillman, later serving as Esalen’s director of programs and education.

In re-enchanting the Western worldview, Richard traces the historical and cultural roots of the modern mind. Although much was gained, much was lost, including the ensoulment of the cosmos, and a sense of participation with higher forms of intelligence.

Is civilisation experiencing a mythological fall from grace due to human hubris? Is global chaos a symbolic manifestation of humanity’s descent into the underworld? How can a new worldview support spiritual transformation, sense-making, and flourishing on a global scale?

Before we begin, one more special announcement: Richard is one of a number of contributing authors, including myself, for the new volume by the Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Sciences: The Playful Universe: Synchronicity and the Nature of Consciousness. The book is released late August, with an online symposium scheduled for the 26th or 27th September.

Resources

• Richard’s Website.
• Article: Introduction to The Playful Universe: Synchronicity and the Nature of Consciousness.
• Article: Is The Modern Psyche Undergoing a Rite of Passage?
• Epilogue of Passion of the Western Mind.