The Road Best Traveled: Ernst Jünger's Forest Passage

Astrophilosophy. Exotheology. Whitehead.

Andrew Davis is the program director for the Center for Process Studies. A philosopher and theologian, his latest work is on the metaphysics of exo-life. Today on MindMatters we discuss his work on science, religion, and what the impact of the discovery of ET life would mean for philosophy, and a general philosophical framework that would make sense of it. 

We also discuss the opening up of public and academic interest in the topic of UFOs and non-human intelligences, David Ray Griffin's work and parapsychology, humans as an exemplification of what the universe does, the morphological and ontological templates that life may take elsewhere, the ontology of possibilities, shared commonalities that might allow for communication with ET forms of life, the mind of God, and more.

David Abramowitz joins us once again, this time to discuss Michael Shellenberger and Peter Boghossian's Taxonomy of Woke Psychopathology. With Andrew Lobaczewski's Political Ponerology as inspiration, the taxonomy summarizes how certain Woke topics and causes express Cluster B personality disorder dynamics. While the topics themselves may not be pathological, the manner in which they're presented is, expressing such features as attention-seeking, grandiosity, emotional dysregulation, excess and lack of empathy, victimhood ideology, impaired reality testing, and splitting. 

Join us as we take a broader look at political causes, the pathocratic function of ideology, and its role in creating a worldview that makes sense to the Cluster B personality. Pathocratic personalities then attempt to force everyone else to conform to the world they have created.

Let's face it. Bigfoot is real. The only question is, what is it? With now thousands of credible encounters that would be difficult to ignore or dismiss, we know many individuals have also observed a host of seemingly paranormal phenomena that quite often accompany these large strange creatures. Orbs, ball lightening, strange smells, space-time anomalies, electromagnetic fluctuations; not to mention witnessing these cryptids moving at super-fast speeds, and morphing into different forms; making our conceptions of what Bigfoot are very likely obsolete.

But what if some of the experiences of these beings, and others like them, has something to do with our tentative understanding of cutting edge science? What if what many have seen has much in common with the way that "coherent matter" works? Are there correlations between cold fusion, or low-energy nuclear reaction, technology and access to other realms of reality? And what have a number of leading scientists in physics been known to say about the fluid nature of reality? 

This week on MindMatters we are pleased to speak with Dr. Simeon Hein whose recent book, Dark Matter Monsters: Cryptids, Ball Lightning, and the Science of Secret Lifeforms, is a serious exploration of just such questions.

The ancient idea of spiritual gnosis has evolved and branched to reflect the time and place in which we live. Nowhere is this development more evident than in the writings and scholarship of author Arthur Versluis . In his groundbreaking new book American Gnosis: Political Religion and Transcendence, Versluis takes an in-depth look at the varieties of modern 'neo-gnosticism.' These include cosmological gnosticism - the worldly effort to escape from archons of darkness or hostile beings that would seek to subjugate the world through politics and other power structures. Another is metaphysical gnosis, or transcendence that is less a reaction to the perception of evil overlords than movement towards divine knowledge for its own sake.

Join us this week on MindMatters as we delve into the realm of cosmological gnosis with Arthur Versluis, and look at the plethora of ways in which some really old ideas have been reinvigorated (alongside some newer ones). How do these ideas present themselves in literature, TV and movies? Is there is a crossover between ‘political awakening’ and ‘spiritual awakening’? And what, if anything, may this have to do with some developments we’ve been seeing with the so-called ‘dissident right’ in the US?

What do altered states tell us about the nature of consciousness? And what can philosophy tell us about altered states? John Buchanan has spent his life trying to find the answers. His book, Processing Reality: Finding Meaning in Death, Psychedelics, and Sobriety, details the story of his history of experimentation and addiction, his path to sobriety, and the insights he has gained into the nature of human experience and consciousness.

A synthesis of Whitehead's process philosophy and Grof's transpersonal psychology, Buchanan's ideas provide a framework for understanding not only the nature of the psychedelic experience and other altered states, but also the nature of consciousness itself and the structure of the cosmos. 

Are all psychopaths serial killers? Is authoritarianism only found on the political right? Are we all equally capable of evil? Does power really corrupt absolutely? And is evil really "banal"? 

Join us today as we discuss the biggest myths about evil with David Abramowitz, the nature of psychopaths and ponerology, and how McGilchrist’s brain-hemisphere research fits into the picture. 

David Abramowitz has a background in finance and accounting, but an experience with a psychopath set him on a path to research the topic for the next decade. He has read nearly everything there is to read on the subject, and describes a type which he has termed the “passive-parasitic” psychopath. These are the so-called successful psychopaths, the ones you’ll find on Wall Street and in Washington. And they’re the reason for much of today’s pathological political climate.

Do human beings have ‘higher bodies’? Is there an essence or essential part of one’s being that individuals can consciously help to grow?  And what does the development of the personality have to do with these possibilities? Philosopher and teacher G.I. Gurdjieff presented the world with an esoteric framework for self-development that has been carried forward by a number of thinkers.

What does esoteric growth look and feel like? What are some of the processes involved? And how does one go about verifying that such a process is even occurring? Does an inner questioning end when one reaches a higher state, or does it just go deeper? Joining us for his third appearance on MindMatters is author/teacher Alan Francis. Alan's decades of experience with Gurdjieff’s work have helped him crystalize some insights as to how we may become more than what we are. He is the head of the International School of the Fourth Way, and the author of 'Secrets of the Fourth Way.'

J.D. Haltigan is a developmental and evolutionary psychologist who writes the Multilevel Mailer on Substack. His research and writing focuses on psychopathology, social media-induced mental illness in the young, and the psychological phenomena underlying Woke ideology and the culture wars. Lately he has been writing about the negative effects of traits like compassion and empathy when not balanced and held in check by trait systematization. J.D. has also writing a review of Andrew Lobaczewski’s Political Ponerology tying its insight to our current sociopolitical situation.

Clive Boddy is Associate Professor of Management at Anglia Ruskin University, a leading researcher in the field of corporate psychopathy, and author of the book ‘A Climate Of Fear: Stone Cold Psychopaths At Work’. Today on MindMatters, we interview Clive about his research, why psychopaths do not make good leaders (despite claims to the contrary), how they contribute to employee job satisfaction, and how toxic leadership intersects with incompetent leadership. Once a taboo subject, corporate psychopathy has gained widespread acknowledgment in the last decade or so. But another related subject is only now breaking through academia and public consciousness: political psychopathy. Clive discusses his own work in that field as well, with comments on screening politicians for psychopathy. We even talk about Star Wars.

This week on MindMatters we take a third and final look at the prescient and resounding thoughts of Ernst Jünger's The Forest Passage and reflect on what it means - in the philosophical and practical sense - to be a forest walker, or forest rebel.

How one resists and chooses to respond to totalitarianism is at least as crucial as making the choice itself. But what are some of the many considerations involved? What inner resources does one draw upon and where might one find the light that helps to make the best of all choices? What does one fall back on when many of the institutions that are meant to morally support a society have been effectively gutted, or done away with completely? What is the responsibility of an unbroken and ‘concrete individual’ to step in and rectify institutional failure to some degree? And where does the power of the spoken or written word fit into this complex equation?