Parallax Newsletter #132
Zufism with Alexander Bard; Integral Time with Jeremy Johnson; Tarot with Marianne Costa
Zufism – A Journey to the Origin of Philosophy, Religion, and Spirituality with Alexander Bard
Starts Tomorrow. Wednesday, April 2 – RSVP Now!
Note from Alexander:
“My intention is to dig deep, to dig really deep—further than I or possibly any philosopher or anthropologist has ever done—into the search for the completion and the transcendence of the tribal mentality of language itself. Because I firmly believe that this is what authentic mysticism has always dealt with: how to transcend the local expressions of language, and with them, culture, beliefs, and storytelling, into something universal. Ironically, for a philosopher, this means digging into the beyond of language—how dogma is dissolved when language disappears, and only the universal human condition is left.
Shamans simply walked into the wilderness to cross borders into alien cultures, to communicate with them rather than kill them—instead of staying in the cave in safety, repeating what had always been said, and allowing themselves to childishly hate the stranger. Hegel was wrong: the universal is not the particular; the universal is an entirely different beast altogether. The universal is the conscious effort to transcend the sociont itself.
The particular is never more than a process; only the universal can be the event. And this phallic urge for otherness gave birth to philosophy, religion, and spirituality. It also created the possibility for humans to live in larger populations than the mere tribe. But it also gave birth to "the pure experiences" of spiritual absence and "the infinite nows" of spiritual excess, where ego was dissolved and communication with the other beyond language was possible—everything that existentialist philosophy has missed.
This is simply the exact opposite of the escapism attached to the label "mysticism." Mysticism is rather the radical experience of truth, where all other life activities are exposed as the escapist fantasies that they are. And this is precisely why mysticism is the philosophy of time and not of space—with so much more to be explored in these next three weeks.
In a more provocative sense: I am simply looking for the birth of patriarchy and dream of restoring it to its full possible glory (graciously leaving matriarchy to be dealt with by female philosophers, as we should). What if patriarchy—authentic patriarchy—were finally to happen? Could it even start with us?”
This five-part course invites students to embark on a journey of philosophical mythmaking as they explore how to reclaim time from linear progress, ‘see through’ the complex conditions of the present, and trace the outlines of an ‘integral’ spirituality–a spirituality that uniquely meets the challenges of this strange time between worlds. More infos here.
Tarot, the real deal: A journey through the Major Arcana of the Marseille deck (with Marianne Costa)
Begins Wednesday, May 4th
The profound value of the Marseille Tarot lies in its objective and humble nature: an immaterial architecture that summarizes the concrete, psychological, and spiritual structure of the human being, a point of encounter between our existential struggles and the laws of the Cosmos.
In this short series of introductory classes, we will approach the Major Arcana of the Marseille deck through the prism of symbolism and numerology applied to our process of self-inquiry, both in mundane and essential matters. We will explore its sources, from Renaissance Italian paintings to sacred geometry and historical curiosities.