Tag Archives: Culture

The Archetypal Influences of Film: Revelations from the Collective Unconscious and Interdimensional Realities

Humanity is faced with serious decisions. Will it follow the dangerous path toward transhumanism, or will we commit to the unfolding of a greater intention: the discovery of a more meaningful power, purpose, and truth within each one of us, the call to Individuation? Carl G. Jung discovered unifying themes, regardless of whether they came from a hidden tribe in the Amazon, African desert, or a major world religion and called it the Collective Unconscious. He named specific Archetypes manifesting from this realm. This Archetypal journey is Alchemical in nature as described in ancient writings by early Alchemists and Mystics. Mystics have always pointed toward an inner process leading us to spiritual individuation and unity. Ultimately, this is a psychospiritual quest. Along this journey we can be motivated by archetypal influences of compassion and fierceness. As we assimilate these initiatory qualities, we come nearer to the knowing of the authentic spiritual power within us. Many modern movies and television series are doing a better job of illustrating this journey than most religious traditions. The battle between good and evil (what benefits compared to what destroys or prevents consciousness and related development) is real as are the images and stories of interdimensional realities expanding our understanding of new possibilities. They manifest via media and entertainment forms. The themes and messages are influential at both conscious and unconscious levels, preparing people for the end of an old paradigm and the beginning of the next. The threat of Transhumanism is addressed in this article as it moves humanity away from the work of individuation (Carl Jung) and Self-Actualization (Abraham Maslow). The emphasis toward wholeness includes love and human feeling. Transhumanism, focused on efficiency through artificial intelligence, is a threat to the path of becoming an authentic, courageous and compassionate human being. Thus, movies and series depicting superheroes, aliens, portals, and alternative realities are rapidly increasing at a time when many people have lost direction. This article supports their messages.

Ancient Egyptians measured the first hour, and changed how we related to time

Dr Robert Cockcroft is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at McMaster University. Dr Cockcroft became a faculty member at McMaster in 2020. He completed his undergraduate degree in astrophysics at University College London (UK) and earned his Masters and PhD also in astrophysics at McMaster. He held postdoctoral positions in ancient Eygptian astronomy working with Dr Sarah Symons, and pedagogical research at the MacPherson Institute (then MIIETL). In 2016, he was hired by Western University as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and as one of the two core faculty members in the then-new Western’s Integrated Science Program (WISc), before ultimately returning to McMaster. Dr Cockcroft’s current work focuses on science education, literacy, and communicating science to the general public.

Dr. Sarah Symons is a Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Science, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Her research in history of astronomy concentrates on interpreting astronomical texts and instruments from ancient Egypt and investigating how the night sky was perceived, explained, and depicted. She is the editor of the ancient Egyptian astronomy database, an online resource for scholars, and co-edited Down to the Hour: Short Time in the Ancient Mediterranean with Kassandra Jackson Miller in 2019.

Why the future might not be where you think it is

Ruth Ogden is Professor of the Psychology of Time, Liverpool John Moores University.

“I have been an academic at Liverpool John Moores University since 2009. My research explores all aspects of how people experience the passage of time. I am particularly interested in understanding why time passes more quickly during some activities and more slowly during others, and how significant changes in life and society affect temporality.”

Good things come in threes

Florian Coulmas is Professor of Japanese Society and Sociolinguistics at the IN-EAST Institute of East Asian Studies at Duisburg-Essen University. He has published numerous books, including ‘An Introduction to Multilingualism’ (OUP, 2017) and ‘Writing and Society: A Introduction’ (Cambridge University Press, 2013). In 2016, he was awarded the Meyer-Struckmann-Prize for Research in Arts and Social Sciences. For the past three decades he has served as Associate Editor of the ‘International Journal of the Sociology of Languages’, during which time he has observed the steadily increasing use of the concept of identity in both general and scholarly publications. His book, ‘Identity: A Very Short Introduction’, was published in February 2019.

Friday essay: how the West discovered the Buddha

Philip C. Almond is Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland.
Philip Almond is an historian of religious thought who has been engaged in the study of religion for over fifty years. He has done so, not as a believer in any religion, but as an agnostic who is nonetheless committed to the belief that an understanding of religion and religions is crucial to our understanding of the past and the present.
His book ‘The Devil: A New Biography’ (London and Ithaca: I B Tauris and Cornell University Press, 2014) is available in paperback. His book, ‘The Afterlife: A History of Life After Death’ has been published by I B Tauris and Cornell University Press in 2016. His book: ‘God: A New Biography’ was published by I B Tauris in 2018.
‘The Antichrist: A New Biography’ was published by Cambridge University Press in 2020.
‘Mary Magdalene: A Cultural History’ was published by Cambridge University Press in 2022
He current book entitled ‘The Buddha: Life and Afterlife between East and West’ will be published by Cambridge University Press on 31 January 2024.

Cyborgs v ‘holdout humans’: what the world might be like if our species survives for a million years

Anders Sandberg is a James Martin Research Fellow, at the Future of Humanity Institute & Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford. His research centres on societal and ethical issues surrounding human enhancement and new technology, as well as estimating the capabilities and underlying science of future technologies. Topics of particular interest include enhancement of cognition, cognitive biases, technology-enabled collective intelligence, neuroethics and public policy. He has worked on this within the EU project ENHANCE, where he also was responsible for public outreach and online presence. Besides scientific publications in neuroscience, ethics, and future studies, he has also participated in the public debate about human enhancement internationally. Anders also held an AXA Research Fellowship and is now the senior researcher in the FHI-Amlin collaboration on systemic risk of risk modelling.

BUT, IT’S BEAUTIFUL! Why Artificial Intelligence Can’t Make Art

Steve Sangapore is a contemporary oil painter and mixed media sculptor. Using vastly different stylistic approaches of composition, medium and structure throughout various series, his work can be described at once as aesthetically traditional and conceptually contemporary. His work is intellectually exploratory with a gravitation toward religion, science and the human condition.

Poems

Mykyta Ryzhykh is a poet from Ukraine. Winner of the international competition ‘Art Against Drugs’, bronze medalist of the festival Chestnut House, laureate of the literary competition named after Tyutyunnik. Nominated for Pushcart Prize. The poet’s poems have been published in magazines and on the portals Soloneba, Littsentr, in the Ukrainian Literary Gazette, Bukovynsky Journal, in Stone Poetry Journal (USA), Tipton Poetry Journal (USA), divot poetry journal (USA), Alternate Route (07/2022, USA), dyst journal (USA), Better Than Starbucks Poetry & Fiction Journal (USA), Allegro Poetry Magazine (USA), Littoral Press (UK).