17 Comments

Jessica, I really enjoyed your post. The idea of a multi-dimensional spirituality or an embodied spirituality resonates with me. Animism is not the only spirituality that leads to this view. It is possible to have both a transcendent view (beyond space and time) and at the same time have a sense of full embodiment in the world (immanent). My sense of the early eastern orthodox monks from the 7th century, even with Christianity had this view about Essence and Energies.

By extension, an embodied spirituality that's multi-dimensional naturally goes beyond the individual to include larger "collective" that we engage with -- our families, neighbors, groups, communities, earth, the planet. So in this sense there can be no separate spiritual path for a "separate self" if at the bottom (or top) of reality there is no separation.

So, an "engaged" spirituality that is inextricably linked to the communities of practice and real-life community further grounds any potential for spiritual bypassing - by keeping it real and having accountability from others. I think the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka does this and I have been working on doing this within what I call Symbiotic Culture. Thank you again for your clear articulation

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Love this Richard. Thanks so much. And also thanks to the wonderful work you are doing with Symbiotic Culture - I think it is spot on.

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Lovely, thanks Jessica. Animism is featuring large in my life now and really helping me find purpose and meaning within the metacrisis that was previously overwhelming me. Very grateful. I’m loving the v wisdom shared by Joshua Shrei of the Emerald podcast and study groups. They’ve helped me to grow in relationship with the world, too.

Grateful I’ve found your work. Thanks

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Thank you Ian! Can you say something about where I might find study groups on this?

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Hi Jessica :) from Darwin in Australia. I’m about to start a year long course with a Josh. Go to https://www.themythicbody.com for an overview.

The free podcast has been running now for 85 episodes and are beautifully produced and go deep. One lovely example of many - the latest is at https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-emerald/id1465445746?i=1000657055340

and discusses singing of syncretic Gods of outcasts and wanderers that relates well to the modern world.

Also via Patreon, small study groups for subscribers (min $6/month) currently exploring the Mahabharata in depth.

A excited about your newsletter. Thank you for what you bring to the world.

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Great, I'll look into it.

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The Metaphor from McGilchrist is spot on (which I think also sums up the article quite well) : 'the soul is both in and transcends the body, as in a poem is in and yet transcends mere language'

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What a beautiful, inspiring article.

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Thanks Kelle 🙏

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Really appreciated the clarity and theme of this piece, which aligns closely with the approach to "bringing down the light" that I'm increasingly recognising as important in my own practice. Thank you for this synchronistic post!

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Thank you Matthew 🙏

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I’m into it!

It makes good sense that the interior and exterior dimensions of existence don’t precede or project the other—the brain doesn’t create consciousness and consciousness doesn’t manifest reality. Ken Wilber would say that they both co-arise, inextricably interwoven—you can’t have an interior without a simultaneous exterior and vice versa.

I had never heard animism described as the alternative spirituality that makes the appropriate room for this paradoxical multi-aspect-but-unified reality, but now it’s popped up in my awareness three times in a week, so I guess the living universe is trying to nudge me to explore it more deeply! Haha

Thanks for being the vehicle of synchronicity for me 😁

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Happy to hear that it resonates Geoffe. Do you remember the two other sources? I haven't heard much about it either.

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Oh! I forgot. In the last few days, this podcast was recommended by one of the Creekmasons too:

The Mythic Body: Animism is Normative Consciousness

https://www.themythicbody.com/podcast/animism-normative-consciousness-re-released/

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Great, I’ll have a listen.

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Yeah, I think I can put it back together. Let me see.

I believe one was a reply to my Note in response to Daniel Pinchbeck’s manifesto about Analytic Idealism (which is also how I found you iirc! Though through a different Note). That was from Matthew David Segall: https://substack.com/@footnotes2plato?r=1t12wr&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile

And I believe the other was a podcast with Layman Pascal (https://substack.com/@footnotes2plato?r=1t12wr&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile) but it might have been with Alexander Beiner (https://substack.com/@alexanderbeiner?r=1t12wr&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page&utm_source=direct)..

I read and listened to a bunch of each of their stuff recently as they were (separately) gracious enough to be the two most recent guests on my show, Nodes in the Net.

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Wonderful. Thank you!

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