The crisis is sacred. planetshifter.com conversations with Willi Paul. Guest: Jeremy Johnson, evolutionarylandscapes.com. Sponsored by sacredpermaculture.net. 6.4.11

Enjoy the conversation by clicking here!

* * * * * * *

Jeremy Johnson is a graduate student currently attending the MA program at Goddard College, with a concentration in consciousness studies. His interests are varied, but tend to focus on studying technology, evolution and mysticism. He is currently studying the dynamics between ecology, technology and the potential for an emerging planetary society. He produces evolutionarylandscapes.com. Email him at shamansun@gmail.com.

"The crisis is sacred." JJ

* * * * * * *

SHOW TOPICS

(+) The new social prima material maker = permaculture?

(+) What would you like to change in yourself or in your community the most?

(+) What is "sacred time?" What is sacred to you? How do you know?

(+) ARE THERE NEW MYTHS? WHAT ARE THE FOUNDATIONS THEMES?

(+) Can we label you a scientific "priest"? Is that a digital shaman?!

(+) Is it possible that one day the mystic will enjoin the scientific?

(+) Role of intuition? How can this be formed and transmuted across cultures?

(+) How is mythology shaping human evolution?

(+) Do you have any updated definitions or uses of alchemy?

(+) Tell me how to understand your soul.

(+) What is the role of music in your creative process?

(+) Whether crash / crashes / transitions / melt downs – how is hope working there these days?

(+) "SOUL ALCHEMY" + "INTUITION IS AN ALCHEMY" - Willi's Wonderings....

* * * * * * *

OLD MYTHS, NEW MYTHS
BY JEREMY JOHNSON
http://evolutionarylandscapes.com/?page=2

"The possibilities for the mythical model are endless." -Mircea Eliade

I was thinking today about many of the communities which are espousing the importance of myth, and the re-imagining of myths for the modern age. Some other communities scoff at myth, as mere "fantasy," but I think this downplays the important role myth plays in both secular and ancient cultures. Though dressed in another costume, our materialist age has its own myths which serve to invoke power over people. It might be that we look to scientists, not for telling us what is objectively real, but because of their myth-making power.

That sort of puts everything upside down. The scientific "priest" is not powerful because she is empirical, but because she is a myth maker.

Personally, I am often delighted to see how myths are retold unconsciously from age to age. Without meaning to, we end up retelling a story that transcends any one culture, and each particular telling of the story is a unique and organic description from that culture.

Many of the Traditions have wonderful myths that illuminate our age, perhaps more so than ever before. Alchemy can be used to understand the process of divinization in which something profane becomes something sacred. We begin with the sludge, or "prima materia," and only from a delicate process do we discover the eternal elixir.

Today we often ignore old myths because we believe they are irrelevant or antiquated. However, do we realize that we are re-forging these "ancient" myths in, say, Silicon Valley's Transhumanistculture? Ray Kurzweil's vision for a "super-human" that has transcended the limitations of the physical body has its roots deep in gnosticism - however much it is a secularized version. Then we also have theorists who espouse that myth is something that ancient people did, and that modern people need to outgrow, and yet the parallels in scientific narratives to mythical narratives are staggering. We often downplay the role of participation we play with generating our reality.

The concept of "eternal return" as described by Eliade reminds us that we are capable of remembering a sacred form of time. All religions and ages eventually do. The very retelling of myths from age to age could be considered a form of "eternal return," despite how unconscious it might be for our own time.

Sacred time moves in a circle, and through history it becomes a spiral, re-minding us that there is more to our reality than linear time.

We look to the past and think, "oh, those old myths, they are old stories and we don't need them anymore." But we don't understand, these myths apply to today because they are not "old" - they appear ancient because they come from beyond us, eternal emanations, so they appear again and again dressed in new garbs for new seasons. This doesn't mean that there is nothing "new" under the sun, (as some argue, as if "myth" is anti-evolutionary). "Eternal" doesn't mean a fixed world without ticking clocks. It is movement and stillness beyond our imagination.

Come seeking open minds and deep souls at openmythsource - reservoir FaceBook