Thanks everyone for a great conference!  Please stay tuned for upcoming plans for 2022.  In the meantime please click here for all 2021 conference recordings.

Origins, A Cosmo-Local Gathering Info

The 50th Annual Jean Gebser Society Conference

9, 16 and 23 of October 2021
9AM – 1PM Pacific Time (PT), Agendas below are shown in PT
12PM – 4PM Eastern Time (ET)

Please click here for all Day/Weekend 1 Session Recordings

Jean Gebser (1905-1973), Swiss philosopher and phenomenologist of consciousness, proposed a series of dramatic ontological restructurings—mutations—punctuating human history. In 2020, the global pandemic was followed by a quickening succession of historical social movements, economic crises, and climate disaster, making it clear as never before that our civilization finds itself in just such a mutational period. 

As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, which coincides with our society’s 50th annual conference, we take this opportunity to reflect on the theme of “Origins.” Ursprung und Gegenwart, or The Ever-Present Origin (1949), Jean Gebser’s magisterial opus, draws centrally upon an understanding of origin to elucidate a spiritual phenomenology of the present and the unfolding of the structures of consciousness.  

In the context of our Janus-faced moment of historical breakdown and breakthrough, intensification and mutational urgency, how can a contemplation of origin, and origins, yield valuable insights for the present as well as the future?

Origins

During the course of three weekends in October of 2021, the Gebser Society will convene its conference via hybridized form: online panels in the mornings, followed by afternoon sessions convened through locally organized chapters.

To celebrate the origins and history of our society on this occasion of our 50th conference, Algis Mickunas, philosopher and co-founder of the Jean Gebser Society authorized the translation of The Ever-Present Origin with Noel Barstad, will present his new work. Algis will also participate in a series of morning panels: on time and integral consciousness, the founding of the American Gebser society, and taking Gebser scholarship into the future.

On the third and concluding weekend, we will be joined by Rudolf Hämmerli, editor of the eight-volume Novalis Verlag edition of Gebser’s collected works and president of the European Gebser Society. Hämmerli will participate on a panel with Dr. Aaron Cheak and Jeremy Johnson, discussing The Jean Gebser Project and Gebser’s import for our mutational present.

Cosmo-Local Gathering

In these times of liminality, when we do not know whether it will be safe to travel or safe to gather at the time of this conference, we are reconceiving the way we come together to discuss the ideas of Jean Gebser. Gebser gave us glimmers of inspiration by suggesting that we are not limited to space-time arrangements. We have pondered themes of aperspectivity and atemporality in the past. Now we get to try aspatiality and spatiality together. We can be in morning, afternoon, and evening simultaneously! 

We propose to do this by gathering locally either through Zoom or in small, in-person gatherings, and then coming together globally via Zoom (in the morning in the US and in the afternoon/evening in Europe) to share ideas, practices, have conversations, and inspire each other to take our work and Gebser’s work further. 

This local-global hybrid approach is an experiment in cosmo-locality, as we are citizens of both the cosmos and our home cities, towns, and bioregions. Please bring your local flavor to the event!

As there is currently another COVID surge in the United States, we strongly recommend that organizers gauge the risks of meeting locally and organize accordingly. Smaller gatherings are encouraged over large ones. Please stay safe and take precautions. If your chapter is concerned about in-person gatherings, consider meeting locally via Zoom.

To convert meeting times to your own time zone, use https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html

Schedule

Listed times are Pacific Time

October 9, 2021 – Day/Weekend 1:

Theme: New mutations of consciousness

Please click here for all Day/Weekend 1 Session Recordings

9:00 am           Welcome and context of this format as an application of Gebser’s ideas

9:30 am           Jessie Shaw, L.Ac., Symbiotic Alchemy and the Language of the Integral + Q/A

10:30 am         John Dotson, America’s God in Crisis and Cataclysm + Q/A

11:30 am         Sharing from local groups in Europe

12:00 noon      End Zoom conference

Cosmo-Local gatherings: Local/rhizomatic groups convene for as long as they want, on or off Zoom. Gebser Society Zoom room opens for discussion/breakout groups.

Please Note: Each weekend during this time, a Gebser Society Zoom room will remain open for chapters who do not have Zoom software available to host, or participants who do not have a local chapter. Informal salon discussion and micro presentations (brief) are welcome and encouraged.

October 16, 2021 – Day/Weekend 2:

Theme: Hearing and Responding to Algis Mickunas

Please click here for all Day/Weekend 2 Session Recordings

9:00 am           Algis Mickunas presents new work.

9:45 am           Algis and Mike Purdy discuss Time and Going back to Origin

10:30 am         Moderated Q/A from Zoom participants

11:00 am         Eric Kramer responds to Algis on the founding of Gebser Society

11:30 am         Glenn Parry: Original Thinking and Original Politics

12:00 noon      End Zoom conference

Local groups convene in-person or on Zoom. Gebser Society Zoom room opens for discussion/breakout groups.

October 23, 2021 – Day/Weekend 3

Theme: The Jean Gebser Project – Conversations with Rudolf Hammerli

Please click here for all Day/Weekend 3 Session Recordings

9:00 am         Dave Zuckerman, PhD, The Transforming Outcomes Project at Sacramento State + Q&A

10:00 am       Local groups share their reflections

11:00 am         Keynote panel, Rudolf Hammerli, Dr. Aaron Cheak, Jeremy Johnson + Q&A

11:45 am        Poems of Jean Gebser (transl. Aaron Cheak), Michael Love, and Sabrina Dalla Valle

12 noon           End Zoom conference

Cosmo-Local Groups Convene for concluding events

St. Pete: Sam Hinds, Communal Reverie: Early Gropings Toward Imaginal Aperspectivity
 through Inter-Active Imagination

Cost

International Jean Gebser Society Members: $10

Become a member + conference: $45

Nonmembers: $50

Cosmo-Local Chapters

Are you interested in hosting a local chapter? Please reach out to our cosmo-local coordinator, Lisa Maroski (lisa.maroski@mindspring.com)

Atlanta, GA – Adam Kennedy and The Origin Project adam@exploringorigin.com 

Berne, Switzerland – Michael Hogger and European Gebser Society

Missoula, MT – Marianne Spitzform mspitzform@hotmail.com 

Monterey, CA – John Dotson, The Monterey Friends of CG Jung jung.monterey@gmail.com 

St. Petersburg, FL – Jeremy Johnson jeremy@nuralearning.com