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C&P: I. The Transformation of the Cosmos (The Birth of the Modern Self…
C&P: I. The Transformation of the Cosmos
The Birth of the Modern Self
When did it emerge?
just over 500 years ago
framing events
Pico de la Mirandola's
Oration on the Dignity of Man
, 1486
Renaissance manifesto for the new human self
combination of Judeo-Christianism and Plato's
Timaeus
free will
man at the centre of the world
man as the maker and molder of himself
Descartes'
Discourse on Method
, 1637
Newton's
Principia
, 1682
climax
cogito ergo sum
important events/people
Leonardo
Michelangelo
Raphael
Columbus and Vasco de Gama
Luther and the Reformation
Copernicus and the heliocentric model
The Scientific Revolution
birth of the modern self at the same time as the birth of the modern cosmos
The Dawn of a New Universe
from geocentric to heliocentric
spiritual significance of the change
breakthroughs were divine illuminations & spiritual awakenings
it magnified the confidence in human reason
cosmic order was expressly created to be known by human intelligence
conflicts
it conflicted with
common sense
interpretation of the bible
principles of physics and cosmology
entire medieval world view
influenced by
renaissance humanism
neoplatornism
hermetic esotericism
christian mysticism
a new epistemology and ontology had to be formulated
Two Paradigms of History
the myth of progress
human history and the evolution of human consciousness as an epic narrative of human progress
journey from dark ignorance, suffering, and limitation to a brighter world of ever increasing knowledge, freedom and wellbeing
made possible by human reason
humanity personified as a masculine hero
emerged fully during Enlightenment, 17-18th centuries
the myth of the fall
human history and the evolution of human consciousness as problematic and tragic
narrative of humanity's fall and separation from an original state of oneness with nature and an encompassing spiritual dimension of being
schism between humankind and nature brought about under the influence of the Western mind
desacralisation and desenchantment of the world
coincided with the exploitation of nature, devastation of traditional cultures, loss of faith in spiritual realities and increasingly unhappy state of the human soul and growth of modern industrial societies
human soul seen as isolated, shallow, and unfulfulled
postmodern myth
no coherent pattern actually exists: the patterns are projections of our minds and consciousnesses
these projections are conditioned by various factors
cultural
political
economic
social
sociobiological
psychological
the pattern resides in the human subject; not on the historical object
history is a construct
Forging the Self, Disenchanting the World
worldviews create worlds
modern mind & worldview
tendency to assert a separation between
subject & object
human self & encompassing world
world is impersonal and unconscious
lacks interiority
lacks meaning and purpose
the only source of meaning is in human consciousness
primal mind & worldview
world is ensouled (anima mundi)
it communicates
it has purposes
pregnant with signs and symbols
it is a living matrix
continuity between interior and exterior worlds
participation mystique
ritual
human self is a subject among subjects
The Cosmological Situation Today