Jeremy Johnson Interviews William Irwin Thompson: Myth, Consciousness, Occupy Movement, and Planetary Culture

In listening to Evan Thompson talk about his new book the other day (Mind in Life), and how he met Francisco Varela through his father, William Irwin Thompson, I have been feeling pulled to get back to Thompson the senior and re-read some of his writings that I first read 10+ years ago through a much different lens than I now possess.

Thompson's many books include:

• Reimagination of the World: A Critique of the New Age, Science, and Popular Culture (1991)
• The Time Falling Bodies Take To Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture (1996)
• Coming Into Being: Artifacts and Texts in the Evolution of Consciousness (1998)
• Transforming History: A New Curriculum for a Planetary Culture (2009)

I am pretty sure I posted this interview with Thompson when Jeremy first made it available, but I stumbled across it in my seeking of material on Thompson.

Jeremy Johnson Interviews William Irwin Thompson: Myth, Consciousness, Occupy Movement, and Planetary Culture

Jeremy Johnson of EL interviews cultural historian William Irwin Thompson for a fascinating discussion about the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, digital culture and planetary crisis.

Thompson is the author of many books including The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light, Coming into Being: Artifacts and Texts in the Evolution of Consciousness, and Self and Society.

He is the founder of the Lindisfarne Association, a fellowship of scientists, economists, poets and scholars dedicated to articulating the emerging planetary human society.

Lindisfarne Wiki
Check out his column at Wild River Review, Thinking Otherwise

Bookforum - Why is religion still alive?

This interesting collection of links was posted by Bookforum on January 9th, so I am more than a little behind in my reading.

I especially enjoyed the Elaine Pagels Edge Master Class (from 2011) and the Julian Baggini article, as well as the review of the new Jesse Bering book.

Why is religion still alive?

Jan 9 2012   9:00AM

• Brian Ribeiro (Tennessee): The Problem of Heaven. 
• From Review of Biblical Literature, a review of The Gospel "According to Homer and Virgil": Cento and Canon by Karl Olav Sandnes; and a review of The Bible in/and Popular Culture: A Creative Encounter. 
• Is the Bible a reliable moral guide? (and a response).
• No Christian should ever have a least favorite book of the Bible — all Scripture is God-breathed — but it is perfectly permissible, and even desirable, to have a favorite book of the Bible. 
• An interview with John Shelby Spong, author of Reclaiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World. 
• Why did Jesus talk in parables? What Jesus' unique (and often confusing) ministry shows us about our own stories. 
• Fringe view: James F. McGrath on the world of Jesus mythicism. 
• An interview with Miguel De La Torre, author of The Quest for the Historical Satan. 
• Ronald Dworkin on Einstein’s worship, faith and physics, and religion without God. 
• From The Pomegranate, a review of Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen by Douglas E. Cowan. 
• Why is religion still alive? Elaine Pangels investigates. 
• Julian Baggini sets out on a pilgrimage towards the truth, picking his way past the noisome swamp of New Atheist controversies, and skirting the forbidding crags of fundamentalism. 
• A review of Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion and Naturalism by Alvin Plantinga. 
• From New Humanist, a review of The God Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny and the Meaning of Life by Jesse Bering; some secularists believe that any communication with believers amounts to collaboration — Paul Sims isn’t so sure; and social scientist Olivier Roy has been tracking religion for three decades — Caspar Melville talks to him about his new book Holy Ignorance.