Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View | Richard Tarnas

Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View | Richard Tarnas | An amazing book

books:

Cosmos and Psyche:...

	Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View Richard Tarnas Plume, 2007 - 592 pages average customer review:based on 42 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

sensing the animation of the cosmos

I use this book in the graduate courses I teach (theories of depth psych, qualitative research) and am glad to recommend it as an exciting look at an emerging paradigm, one in which human beings use quantitative AND qualitative tools to listen in on our living surroundings.

For people who feel drawn to astrology but put off by its vulgar forms, particularly the pre-Enlightenment notion that the stars exert some kind of causal force on human doings, this book offers a synchronistic way of holding the entire topic, one that connects world transits (those of the slow-moving outer planets) and historical events in stunning patterns of significance too important to overlook. For a contemporary example, think of the Saturn-Pluto alignment just ending: rigidity, contraction, and Saturn's cannibalistic appetite for innocence given extra punch by the Plutonic underworld. This alignment occurred during the start of both World Wars, the start of the Cold War, the rise of fascist movements all over the world, and the bombing of the World Trade Center and the subsequent paranoia and militarization.

Professor Tarnas piles on the parallels, but he must to make his point: that such correlations must be seen interpretively, symbolically, and metaphorically. This is a qualitative approach, and yes, it is scientific: science as hermeneutics and participatory inquiry. As Abraham Maslow remarked, if the given data don't fit a type of science that only counts and measures, then so much the worse for that view of science.

Tarnas's idea of diachrony is particularly powerful: the idea that events occurring during one world transit develop during all the following ones. The implication is that something at the archetypal level of being is evolving--but evolving in ways discernible in human culture.

for more information click here

An amazing book

Richard Tarnas is a very special author. He has an open and original approach to his subject matter, and the reader is richly rewarded.

I have to admit that I have long been skeptical of astrology as a serious discipline, and felt it had too many inconsistencies, lacked a collegial agreement on the various meanings and interpretations of natal charts and transits, and was inadequately predictive.

Tarnas, however, shows with a series of cases, that there seems to be "something going on" with the hard aspects of certain outer planets, specifically Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, when compared to the lives and contributions of individuals, and the patterns of history. This overlay of astrological data upon human history is what has been needed to help make the case that there is some kind of relationship that animates the old expression, "as above, as below."

I think Tarnas is incredibly brave and innovative to present this thesis of astrological influence. Naturally, much more needs to be considered to explore the nature of this phenomenon. Tarnas has, however, given us a compellingly rational framework for this exploration. I look forward to more from him, and others, on this intriguing subject.

for more information click here

EINSTEIN MEETS JIMI HENDRIX

At first I thought, uh-oh, I'm going to have to know all the philosophies of Hegelberger and Spinklemeyer, but, as I was drawn into it, I realized what the author was doing. He's a Pisces, by the way, so when you tangle with a Pisces,you never know what's happening to you until it's too late. More than just a mere justification for all the aging hippies, this is an exciting and brilliantly woven tale of cultural evolution. Tarnas unravels the spiral of history for us and gently enhances our perspective by painting the biggest picture of the path of consciousness you can imagine. He doesn't preach. He reveals. You don't have to be a staunch believer in astrology to read, understand and be amazed at the intricacy and profound relationship we have with the past, comprehend the challenges of the present and look ith greater expectation toward the future. Richard Tarnas takes us by the hand and leads us back to Nature. Whether you're a scientific skeptic or not, this book is for every student of life in the world today. And if you uare an astrology buff, keep a copy on hand to give to any pain the butt who poo-poo's the truth of astrology without seriously looking at it.
Michael Lutin

for more information click here

A Magnificent Book

This is a magnificent book that has made me again proud to call myself an astrologer. The quality of his original scholarship, and the sheer volume of detail included in the correlation, separates this book from almost everything else written in the field. But this book is much more than some scholarly data dump. Tarnas penetrates to the core of each of the archetypes that he describes, to such an extraordinary degree that I came to better understand several critical themes in my own life - and I've been an astrologer, actively involved in counseling and mundane/financial studies, for nearly twenty years.

This book represents the beachhead in the coming battle to restore soul to the cosmos. The hardened skeptic, as wed to his or her belief as the most zealous religious fundamentalist, will likely not be persuaded by Tarnas' presentation. But anyone who is truly open to the honest pursuit of knowledge is likely to come away persuaded that there are indeed more things in heaven and earth than have been dreamt of in our current mechanistic philosophy.

for more information click here

Opening Your Mind

Richard Tarnas has created a thorough analysis of how happenings in the cosmos, specifically planetary alignments, reflect certain archetypes that influence us on earth both individually and collectively. He offers a nice critique of the modern disenchanted world view held by most scientists and academics. The book is long (almost 500 pages) and the immense detail can at times become a little painstaking. The main points about what he is talking about can usually be found in the first page or two and the rest of the chapter is filled with example after example. This is a good thing in that with the great amount of evidence he presents it would be hard for any serious scientist or academic to refute his claims without seriously studying the matter themselves. But for the average reader the detail can be a little much. For this reason I found myself skipping through much of the book.

However I recommend the book in that it is very well researched and offers a very compelling look at the greater realities that shape human life. There are unseen forces guiding human society and individuals. There seems to even be a pattern or a direction to historys' unfolding. The book has a very strong opening and a strong ending. It is the first step in opening society up to a new way of looking at and conceptualizing the world and cosmos.

for more information click here