In this appropriately seasonal episode, John Anderson joins me for a follow up conversation to explore the differences between the weird and the eerie, drawing from the late Mark Fisher's same-titled book, an animistic take on hauntology, before wrapping up our conversation with a few spooky stories.

Show notes:

John's Patreon, Instagram

Following Hurricane Ian, John Anderson joined me in St. Petersburg, Florida for an extended visit. We sat down one evening to (finally) record one the many longform conversations we've had the benefit of enjoying recently. Together, John and I explore the intersection of Chinese Medicine, Daoist philosophy, temporal arts, and animist attitudes towards not only weathering Anthropocene storms, but living and realizing the innate and creative wholeness that is our human spirit.

ABOUT JOHN:

John is a fellow Revelore Press author (see The Way of the Living Ghost, and Opening the Vermillion Spirit).

John Anderson is a practitioner and teacher of several styles of Asian medicine having received his Master’s degree in Oriental Medicine at the Florida College of Integrative Medicine (FCIM) and his Doctorate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine (OCOM). Dr. Anderson’s formal training extends to the use of herbal medicine from the perspective of Chinese medicine, both classical (ShangHan method) and contemporary (through the Ding/Shen/Hammer lineage).

In addition to his formal education in Chinese Medicine, he has had training in Lakota practices and in Eastern esoteric herbal medicine and Chinese folk medicines. As part of his broader learning process, he has worked with plants, stones, and other natural ingredients for the better part of twenty years, beginning with many aspects of contemporary European paganism. This interest evolved and grew to encompass Eastern philosophies and practices. His ongoing research interests include: Gu syndromes, virtue medicine in tradition of Wang Fengyi, Daoist and Buddhist exorcistic practices, and Disability Studies at large. His work on Gu has appeared in Verdant Gnosis, volume 4. Opening the Vermillion Spirit is the second of three books, following on his 2019 Way of the Living Ghost.

John's Patreon

A midnight recording I've dubbed "three theses on liminality." What definition of "liminal" would be satisfactorily descriptive as to the conditions of the present? Isn't our epoch, by definition, a kind of civilizational liminality? Three theses came together for me in this playful exercise. Liminality: a threshold, the interregnum (Gramsci), and the Janus-Faced World (Gebser)/Coyolxuahqui (Anzaldua) Imperative.

Show notes:

Joe Lightfoot's article, "The Liminal Web: Mapping An Emergent Subculture Of Sensemakers, Meta-Theorists & Systems Poets"

Seeing Through the World (2022 Online Course)

Mutations Patreon

Readings: Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks. Jean Gebser, The Ever-Present Origin. Gloria Anzaldúa, Light in the Dark/Luz en lo Oscuro. Jeremy Johnson, Seeing Through the World.

For this episode of Mutations, Henry Andrews joins me for a conversation on the emergence of "Hellametamodernism," the tensions between 'systems poets' and 'meta theory' in metamodern and Game B community discourse, and how Nora Bateson's "aphanipoiesis" offers a different approach to "going meta."

BIO: Henry Andrews is self-taught Gravesian theorist whose interests include examining the theory with a critical eye, and searching for applications beyond those popularized through Spiral Dynamics. He is currently developing an embodied conversational ritual based on Gravesian patterns and other concepts.  

SHOW NOTES:  

Please enjoy the audio from this year's Origins: A Cosmo-Local Gathering conference panel between Rudolf Hammerli (Swiss Gebser Society president, Novalis publisher), Aaron Cheak (former US Gebser Society president, Rubedo Press publisher), and myself. During the panel, Rudolf Hammerli shares his memories of Jean Gebser and additionally distills "four pillars" of Gebser's integral philosophy, with commentary by Aaron Cheak and myself. The segment concludes with a poetry reading by Michael Love, introduced by former Gebser Society president and panelist Dr. Dave Zuckerman (see his talk, Transforming Outcomes as Sacramento State). Please see here for more information about the 2021 Gebser Conference.

Episode Notes:

Nora Bateson joins us for a panel discussion on "The Great Stage Theory Debate." Panelists include Maimunah Mosli, a Muslim family psychotherapist from Singapore who brings a much needed non-Western voice to this discussion, and Jon Freeman, an author and Spiral Dynamics expert who is advocating for the usage of stage theory, and myself, attempting to hold the facilitator role as much as I realistically can. A follow-up Mutations monologue will be published soon with some more thoughts on how a Gebserian approach offers another kind of non-linear framing for consciousness efflorescence more aligned with Nora's approach on the one hand and creatively engaging new works (like The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow) on the other. Stay tuned for that, plus more recorded panels.

Original post by Nora: https://www.facebook.com/norabateson/posts/10159038460440860 

Hanzi's reply: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1199720657209567&id=100015149321507 

Article recommended by Nora: "The Place of eugenics in Arnold Gesell’s maturation theory of child development":  https://indexarticles.com/health-fitness/canadian-psychology/place-of-eugenics-in-arnold-gesells-maturation-theory-of-child-development-the/ 

Jon's article, https://medium.com/@jon_25033/timelines-in-stage-theory-from-flatland-and-stasis-to-living-dynamics-d6e5a6773e81

PANELIST INFO:  

Presented at the 50th annual Jean Gebser Society Conference, "Origins: A Cosmo-Local Gathering." St. Petersburg, FL chapter. "Mutations, Imagination, Futurability" is my introductory essay featured in the forthcoming Mutations - Issue Zero (Feb. 2022). Published by Integral Imprint.

Gebser Conference: https://gebser.org/events/origins-conference/

Support Mutations podcast and join the community (Discord, Zoom calls, early publishing, Q&A): https://www.patreon.com/jeremyjohnson

Read more about Integral Imprint: https://revelore.press/integral/ 

Connect with Jeremy on social: https://twitter.com/jdj_writes

In episode 23 of Mutations, I talk with Jeremy Lent about his new book: The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe. Lent's newest work proposes an integrated worldview very much in the philosophical spirit of the scholars and teachers we explore on Mutations (integral philosophy, theory, etc.). At the time of recording this, I was just coming down from the whirl of regenerative possibilities explored in the Integrales Forum panel, "Becoming the Planetary", where Lent and others talked about framing a new narrative around a "regenerative turn."

Part of this turn, however, means important breaks from traditional narratives in Western culture concerning evolutionism and progressive societal development.   Lent's book articulates this regenerative narrative wonderfully, and I had to agree with Tyson Yunkaporta's blurb: "This book is a good place to sit for anybody interested in binding the wounds of thoughtless progress and allowing for the emergence of new patterns of being."  I was also delighted to share some of my thoughts on the interrelationship with Lent's writing and my own research with Jean Gebser. We discussed the convergence points across the conversation.

Thanks for listening, and stay tuned with me: Mutations has a back log now, and as I continue to work on my next book, more conversations should be going up over the next few months.

Episode 23 Notes