1st Edition

The Sower and the Seed Reflections on the Development of Consciousness

By Alan Mulhern Copyright 2015
    262 Pages
    by Routledge

    262 Pages
    by Routledge

    The Sower and the Seed explores the origins of consciousness from a mytho-psychological angle. The concept of immanence, a vast intelligence within the evolutionary process, provides the underlying philosophy of the book, presented as a creative-destructive spirit that manifests higher orders of complexity (such as life, intelligence, self-consciousness) and then dissolves them. The book explores the human psyche as immersed in nature and the realm of the Great Mother, showing how the themes of fertility and power, applicable to all life forms, saturate the history of humanity - most evidently in the period stretching from 40,000 years ago up to modern civilizations. The book examines in particular the transition to patriarchal religious consciousness, in which a violent separation from the world of nature took place.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR PREFACE COMMENTS BY THE ILLUSTRATOR INTRODUCTION PART I: ORIGINS, BECOMING, AND EMERGENCE CHAPTER ONE Origins CHAPTER TWO Becoming CHAPTER THREE The emergence of human consciousness PART II: CONSCIOUSNESS EMERGING FROM NATURE CHAPTER FOUR The good mother CHAPTER FIVE Fertility and power CHAPTER SIX Earth's terror CHAPTER SEVEN The opposites at the root of consciousness CHAPTER EIGHT The Book of Job CHAPTER NINE Dragon fight PART III: SEPARATION: THE RISE AND FALL OF CONSCIOUSNESS CHAPTER TEN The emergence of civilisation CHAPTER ELEVEN The Garden of Eden CHAPTER TWELVE Lucifer CHAPTER THIRTEEN Banishment PART IV: THE FALLEN AND THE HIGHER STATES OF HUMANITY CHAPTER FOURTEEN The fallen state CHAPTER FIFTEEN Isis, Osiris, and Seth CHAPTER SIXTEEN Evil and the shadow CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The higher self CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The experience of love PART V: THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND CAPITALIST PROJECT INTRODUCTION The scientific revolution and capitalism CHAPTER NINETEEN The source of the achievements of capitalism CHAPTER TWENTY Capitalism as crisis CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE How has consciousness changed with capitalism? CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Death potential in consciousness PART VI: THE QUEST The individual journey of The Quest APPENDIX ONE APPENDIX TWO APPENDIX THREE APPENDIX FOUR GLOSSARY REFERENCES INDEX

    Biography

    Alan Mulhern