Gregg, yes, I feel there's a very promising convergence afoot. John's recent conversation with Rich Blundell was one of the main reasons I was inspired to make public two of the meditations I do with one of my classes (which I shared to the TOK list last week). I believe what I have been teaching for many years covers very closely the territory Rich and John explored in that conversation -- the 1st- and 3rd person (participatory and objective) approaches to Big History, but also much else that is in convergence. And I shared the meditations to the TOK list because of their obvious, to me, relation to the inner/out dynamics of the coin and the tree that you have been exploring. Specifically, since 2007, I have been teaching a course called Paradigms of Consciousness, which combines living systems theory; philosophy of mind; autopoietic cognitive science (Varela/Maturana/Thompson); Big History/new cosmology; indigenous wisdom; some aspects of quantum theory, carefully handled; the practice of holistic dialogue (Bohmian and other); creative myth-making; and philosophical-phenomenological inquiry as a means of addressing the fundamental fragmentation and disconnection of our modern way of being. This course is a foundational one for our whole program, which overall includes multiple courses that go into each of these facets in even more depth. I don't mean to suggest at all that what John is doing, or what you are doing, is not new and ground-breaking in very important ways -- I think you both have great contributions that people need to attend to -- but I do feel that I've already been working in my classes for 15 years on presenting a particular convergence of elements and themes that are getting a lot of emphasis in these recent conversations. That's one reason why I'm so attracted to both of your bodies of work. But I also sometimes burst a little with excitement, wanting to say, "Yes! yes! I've been taking my students to these places for a good while now," very specifically with an aim to address the current psychocultural crises in which we find ourselves enmeshed. On Sun, Mar 27, 2022 at 6:52 AM Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi TOKers, > > > > Just wanted to highlight the latest Voices with Johnny V episode, where > John welcomes Rich Blundell: > > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.youtube.com_watch-3Fv-3DCfbqaj5Gxyo&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=VVuSeivWKLTAoI_HzOA1PHJNP83Fba59DcKDZ5tnYWE&s=O7OBin7J0dg-g08TvWwgLZkr79dvzoasMWxzdMvd8fA&e= > > > > I found this episode interesting because Rich is an ecologist who starts > with Big History and then does the “journey inward” so to speak and arrives > at a participatory inside-out/outside-in view of the world. And he reached > out to John to build that bridge. From a UTOK vantage point, Rich IS > pointing to us being properly aligned via the Tree and the Coin. > > > > So, just so that we are clear: The Tree of Knowledge System gives us the > proper Big History descriptive metaphysical ontological scientific > naturalistic behavioral position that properly frames the levels and > dimensions of complexification. It “fixes” the normal big history view, > which posits eight complexification thresholds, leading to a ninth. > > > > As this article makes clear > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__drive.google.com_file_d_1jitwSMNzeDY6R-2DDAAsOr1yplcf-2Du7nYN_view&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=VVuSeivWKLTAoI_HzOA1PHJNP83Fba59DcKDZ5tnYWE&s=GTJ5FRJRHEMgwzxQCJo119v1Qqm8D5n41LQpVV49Lgg&e= > > (and made even clearer in a chapter in my current book), the standard Big > History frame is not adequate for a holistic philosophy because it CLEARLY > fails to even see, yet alone resolve, the problem of psychology. And, it > also fails to realize that complexification is a function of both levels of > part-whole-group across scale AND different dimensions of complexification > networked together by information processing/communication systems that > make the shift form chemistry to biology different and “more” than the > shift from physics to chemistry (which remains within the Matter > dimension). Here is the relevant vision logic: > > > > With that picture of big history corrected, we can now shift from the > vantage point of natural science to the vantage point of each of our unique > particular psyches. Specifically, we can experience the field of our > awareness as material entities, organisms, animals at the > animal-mammal-primate level (i.e., pleasure pain, mind’s eye, > attachment/relational heart), and person (justifying ego-persona) and > transpersonal-spiritual dimension (5th joint point, Elephant Sun God as > iconic of right relation to transcendent wisdom). > > > > This brings us back directly to Brendan’s mythopoetic narrative and > metamodern spirituality which we shared last week and generated this symbol: > > The point is that we are in an Energy-Information Complexification Web > that we can see now both from the vantage point of (a) the psyche > (subjective), (b) natural science (objective), (c) transjective pragmatism > and (d) relational-intersubjective (create common ground into social > construction/justification systems in context). This is iQuadratic Aspect > Monism: > > > > > > We have the right frame at our finger tips. The problem is now a problem > of translation and bridging. > > > > Big hug to all, > > Gregg > > > > > > ___________________________________________ > > Gregg Henriques, Ph.D. > President of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration > (2022) > > Professor > Department of Graduate Psychology > 216 Johnston Hall > MSC 7401 > James Madison University > Harrisonburg, VA 22807 > (540) 568-7857 (phone) > (540) 568-4747 (fax) > > > *Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity.* > > Check out the Unified Theory Of Knowledge homepage at: > > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.unifiedtheoryofknowledge.org_&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=VVuSeivWKLTAoI_HzOA1PHJNP83Fba59DcKDZ5tnYWE&s=Njn6E_yIucnMzYyvnI7QWdAu0ZwDgwOiIFIikkmHe0s&e= > > > ############################ > > To unsubscribe from the TOK-SOCIETY-L list: write to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] or click the > following link: > http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1 > ############################ To unsubscribe from the TOK-SOCIETY-L list: write to: mailto:[log in to unmask] or click the following link: http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1