059 Bill Plotkin – The Descent to Soul and the Journey of Initiation
Release Date: 01/16/2021
074 Jeremy Lent – Welcome Each Moment as a Sacred Treasure
State of Emergence
Philosopher, pro-activist and author Jeremy Lent explores the underlying nature of our civilizational crises and how a greater understanding of the physical, biological, noetic & cultural interconnectedness of reality can inspire us into a new level of devotion to life itself. Jeremy’s book The Patterning Instinct traced patterns of thought that led human civilization to its sustainability crisis and his new book, The Web of Meaning offers an integrative worldview for a sustainable, flourishing future.
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073 Fred LaMotte – From the Temple to the Wilderness of Now
State of Emergence
Poet, teacher and interfaith chaplain Fred LaMotte shares the inner processes and revelations from which his luminous poetry arises and explores a place beyond words and beliefs where there is simply presence and dwelling in the tender receptivity of the miracle of each moment. Fred is an author, a graduate of Yale and Princeton Theological Seminary, a director of Religious Studies and Community Service, a college instructor in World Religions, an interfaith chaplain and a meditation teacher.
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072 Peter Russell – Letting Go of Nothing
State of Emergence
Futurist, teacher, and author Peter Russell explores how the exponential acceleration of complexity in our civilization may exceed our capacities as a species, and how a radical letting-go of our efforts to counteract that destiny can dissolve whatever gets in the way of us showing up fully, sanely, and gratefully. Peter is a leading thinker and writer on consciousness and spirituality, he is on the faculty of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and his beautiful new book is Letting Go of Nothing.
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071 Indra Adnan – The Politics of Waking Up
State of Emergence
Social psychotherapist and political entrepreneur Indra Adnan explores the politics and power dynamics of “waking up” to our meta-crisis and to one another. She shares her pioneering work as Founder of The Alternative UK creating “community agency networks” and considers how we can shift from narratives of trauma, disconnection and collapse into a radical certainty of our solutions. Indra has consulted to the World Economic Forum, Indian and Danish governments and NATO, amongst others. Her new book
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070 David Sloan Wilson – Evolution's Key Practices and Design Principles
State of Emergence
In a new and unedited conversation with evolutionary biologist and social theorist David Sloan Wilson, Terry and David continue to explore evolution’s design principles and practices that can enable social experiments and cooperative communities to succeed and grow. They consider the virtues and exploitations of competition, multiple layers of competition, genetic vs. cultural steams of evolution, the role of symbols in evolving our cultural narratives, and the political economist Elinor Ostrom’s eight
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069 David Sloan Wilson – A Human Superorganism: The Higher Potentials of Cooperation
State of Emergence
Evolutionary biologist & social theorist David Sloan Wilson clarifies the science of “multi-level selection” and how interpersonal cooperation and altruism are central to evolution. He shares the specific conditions that are required to nurture prosocial behavior in groups, as well as those that would qualify humans as a “superorganism” that prioritizes the wellbeing of the whole. David is the author of several books including a new novel, Atlas Hugged. He teaches at Binghamton University and is Pre
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068 Stephen Jenkinson – Overwhelming Beauty — and Being OK, Dying
State of Emergence
Spontaneous poet, culture activist & shamanic bard Stephen Jenkinson explores the disarming ordeal of bearing witness to death up close, including Terry’s uncertain situation — probable lung cancer with no diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment plan. They wonder together about the overwhelming nature of beauty and the vividness that dying well can bring to living. Stephen co-founded Orphan Wisdom, has authored four books and is now recording with musician Gregory Hoskins, most recently DARK ROADS and ROUGH
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Francis Weller (Rebroadcast) – Letting Grief Open Us to Grace
State of Emergence
A rebroadcast of a tender and deeply grounding conversation with psychotherapist and soul-activist Francis Weller, whose presence, wisdom and “soul obligation to register the rips and tears of the world” remains powerful medicine. He and Terry share their griefs and rediscover fierceness to protect all they love. Francis' work as a soul-centered psychotherapist synthesizes insights from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, and indigenous cultures in healing rituals for those working with grief.
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067 Jonathan Rowson – Tasting the Pickle: A Personal Relationship with the Meta-Crisis
State of Emergence
Chess Grandmaster & philosopher Jonathan Rowson explores our global meta-crisis from new angles — as a crisis of civilizational purpose, a lack of a meaningful global ‘We’, and its various socio-emotional, epistemic, and spiritual features. Jonathan is a sensemaking entrepreneur and the Director of Perspectiva. He is an applied philosopher with degrees from Oxford, Harvard, and Bristol Universities, and the author of The Moves that Matter, Spiritualise, and the brilliant essay "Tasting the Pickle.”
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067 Jonathan Rowson – Tasting the Pickle: A Personal Relationship with the Meta-Crisis
State of Emergence
Chess Grandmaster & philosopher Jonathan Rowson explores our global meta-crisis from new angles — as a crisis of civilizational purpose, a lack of a meaningful global ‘We’, and its various socio-emotional, epistemic, and spiritual features. Jonathan is a sensemaking entrepreneur and the Director of Perspectiva. He is an applied philosopher with degrees from Oxford, Harvard, and Bristol Universities, and the author of The Moves that Matter, Spiritualise, and the brilliant essay "Tasting the Pickle.”
info_outlineEcopsychologist, wilderness guide and author Bill Plotkin joins Terry to consider the human crisis as essentially a crisis of immaturity — that true human adults and human elders are both extraordinarily rare today. Bill speaks to what is truly required for us — as individuals, and collectively — to grow from our extended adolescence into mature human adulthood. He describes the challenging, and sometimes hazardous, spiritual process of “soul initiation,” which demands the dissolution of our current identities and metamorphosis of our egos into mature co-creators, each of us born to serve a unique niche in our ecological, psychological and social worlds.
Bill explains in rich detail the key understandings, models, and processes that guide his facilitation of soul work in his Animas community. He also shares new insights from Carl Jung’s The Red Book about the “feminine” aspects of the psyche, the difference between “soul” and “muse,” and experimental dreamwork. Ultimately, he points to a profound basis for hope — the living Earth has already provided what the world needs by creating us. He says we who are here now are the medicine the earth needs, if only we undergo the transformation it takes to deliver it.
Bill Plotkin is an eco-depth psychologist, wilderness guide, and agent of cultural regeneration. As founder of southwest Colorado’s Animas Valley Institute, he has, since 1980, guided thousands of women and men on the journey of soul initiation. His previous books are Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche, Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World, and Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche. His new book, The Journey of Soul Initiation is a field guide, based on the experiences of thousands of people, describing the principles and evokes the varied lived experiences of the riveting and sometimes hazardous odyssey of soul initiation, using many vivid stories and an in-depth exploration of Carl Jung’s Red Book.
Here are some additional questions Bill and Terry explore:
- What is the “descent to soul”, and how does it relate to the journey of soul initiation?
- What are the necessary stages of the “soul initiation” process?
- What becomes of our consciousness and societal and ecological roles as the process is fulfilled?
- Might we be more effective in evolving culture by aiming for “human maturity” instead of “consciousness development?”
- What is our soul’s purpose, and why is that necessarily poetic or metaphorical?
- Why is the common idea that our purpose is our vocation a misconception?
- What is it to create a delivery mechanism for our soul’s purpose?
- What is the nature of the much deeper maturity that lies beyond all that?
For more information on Bill Plotkin and Terry Patten, check out the following resources:
- Bill Plotkin’s organization, Animas Valley Institute
- Bill’s new book, The Journey of Soul Initiation: A Field Guide for Visionaries, Revolutionaries, and Evolutionaries
- Bill’s book, Soulcraft: Crossing Into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche
- Bill’s book, Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World
- Bill’s book, Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche
- Terry’s nonprofit website A New Republic of the Heart
- Terry’s book, A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries
- Terry Patten’s website
Also:
We invite you to join Terry and other listeners of State of Emergence for a live Q&A and conversation and Saturday, January 23rd at 10 AM Pacific. To participate, simply become a Friend of State of Emergence on our website (if you haven’t already) by making a monthly contribution to the podcast. Then, you’ll receive access links to next Saturday’s session and our future Q&A events every month. Our first session (in December) was lively, deep, and inspiring, and we hope you’ll join us next time!