The zeitgeist gives our individual lives their substance. Without this cultural matrix to create and sustain our sense of ourselves as subjects; as persons with responsibilities; as bodies with a rational will required by outer law to be in control (but by inner law to be spontaneous), we would be free to release our experience from our past and our present, free to push our perception out from the womb of culture and into the future. But what is the future? What is seen beyond past and present? Pure form. Eternal light. A single point containing all of space and time in potential, but also in actuality. The absolute future is our own death, the travel down the tunnel of light back to the source. This process of dying, of coming to see the light, is what we commonly call life. This is the paradox of our experience: we are an eternal being becoming itself, a daemon (demon-angel) trapped between darkness and light, or so it seems as a result of our paradox. To even talk about a zeitgeist, we must be able to take the perspective of eternity. This is possible only because eternity is our essence; it is the source of the mind in time that manifests our existence. But we experience both at once as the poles of the paradox we call human consciousness. Here we are in a particular historical context thinking about the meaning of historical context. How can we even begin to do that without intimations of something beyond time? Eternity is our essence. The zeitgeist is our existence. Or we might say Spirit is our essence, and time (or our mind/psyche/soul), Spirit’s created world, is our existence. And what are we to make of the zeitgeist? What are we to do about the world that we live in, about the circle of ignorance that drives us all to war and consumption, about the paradoxical gap we’ve hewn between life and death? Isn’t it the same question: how are we to create the future? How are we to be born from the womb of culture, of our historical situation, of our bias, and into eternity, the pure form of the source of creation itself? But then maybe it is not a “how?” question at all. Maybe it is a “why?”. Or maybe it is only a “when?”. Ah, but in the end it can only be a “who?”. Who is it that has time as its experience? Who is alive in this world? Who perceives, who thinks, who am I? Does the answer beam us into heaven, or does it release us to transform the world we live in now, to stop consuming and waging war to obtain the means of production, so we can start creating a sustainable future society instead? When we recognize the paradox as the paradox, it is not hard to decide.
“Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best, the wonder remains.”
—Alfred North Whitehead
Recent Posts
- Stream on Capitol Insurrection January 10, 2021
- “How does matter give rise to consciousness?” (response to Sam Harris) January 3, 2021
- A review of Michael Hogue’s “American Immanence: Democracy for an Uncertain World” (2018) December 18, 2020
- Voices of VR podcast: A Primer on Whitehead’s Process Philosophy December 10, 2020
- Who are we? (thinking w/ Berry and Swimme) December 9, 2020
- Thinking with Carlo Rovelli: The Physics of Consciousness December 3, 2020
- Science and the Soul of the World: Participatory Knowing in Goethe and Whitehead November 25, 2020
- Dialoguing with Philip Goff about Consciousness, Panpsychism, and Process Philosophy November 18, 2020
- Concrescence and the Implicate Order: Whitehead and Bohm in Dialogue November 8, 2020
- Election Coverage: Live-streaming on Growing Down November 3, 2020
- Consciousness between Science and Philosophy (response to Philip Goff on panpsychism) October 30, 2020
- Apology for a Democratic Ontology (response to Keith Woods) October 29, 2020
- Rune Soup Podcast with Gordon White: Talking Whitehead, Plato, & Panpsychism October 24, 2020
- Thinking Cosmologically with Whitehead October 21, 2020
- Towards a Marian Consciousness (Ep. 1 of the Great American Road Trip Diaries) October 21, 2020
- Alchemical Consciousness After Descartes: Whitehead’s Philosophy of Organism as Psychedelic Realism October 15, 2020
- American Immanental Philosophies and the Future of Theopolitics: Dialoging with Michael Hogue October 15, 2020
- The brain is not a computer, and thinking is not information-processing. October 14, 2020
- “The Great American Trip,” dialogue on “Growing Down” October 10, 2020
- Rupert Sheldrake on Whitehead September 26, 2020
- Reason, Reality, & Religion in the Making (dialoguing with John Vervaeke) September 13, 2020
- Naturphilosophie as Process Philosophy in Schelling and Whitehead August 30, 2020
- Meta-Linguistics (dialoguing with Layman Pascal) August 29, 2020
- Metamodernism, the Integral Left, and Postmodern Traditionalism (dialoguing with Brent Cooper) August 27, 2020
- Parsimonious Panpsychism? (response to Julian Walker) August 25, 2020
- Emergent Evolution in a Panpsychist Cosmos (dialoging with Corey Anton) August 22, 2020
- Setting the Akashic Record Straight (final response to David Long about emergence and panpsychism) August 21, 2020
- What is at stake in cosmological inquiry? August 20, 2020
- Cosmologies in Question: A Debate with David Long August 19, 2020
- Consciousness in the Wild August 17, 2020
- Toward an Integral “God” – a dialogue with Layman Pascal August 14, 2020
- Death Denial in a Panpsychist Cosmos: A Dialogue with Corey Anton August 11, 2020
- Meta-Politics – a discussion with Layman Pascal on “The Integral Stage” August 8, 2020
- Remembering and Carrying Forward Michael Brooks on “Growing Down” July 25, 2020
- Dialogue with a Whiteheadian Thelemite Vajrayanist Wiccan, Sam Webster July 22, 2020
- The Rheomode Series, a YouTube playlist July 16, 2020
- Integral Entheogens (Ep. 5) – Molecular Alchemy and the Evolution of Spirit July 16, 2020
- Growing Down Podcast on “the Integral Left” July 4, 2020
- Dialoguing with Brent Cooper about ecosocialist politics and integral spirituality June 9, 2020
- “He maketh his sun to rise,” featuring Donald Trump, Cornel West, and Ram Dass June 4, 2020
- The Place of Psychedelic Chemistry/Alchemical Consciousness in Philosophy May 8, 2020
- Imagination as the Topographical Inversion of Reality: Musings with Becca Tarnas May 7, 2020
- Episode 6 of The Future Faces of Spirit April 25, 2020
- Reading and Riffing on Murray Bookchin’s “The Ecology of Freedom” April 15, 2020
- Prayers to a Process-Relational God April 12, 2020
- Ecological Civilization, or Anarcho-Primitivism? March 30, 2020
- Imagining a Gaian Reality After the Virus March 23, 2020
- Thoughts on William James, Pure Experience, and Materialism February 2, 2020
- Musing on “Consciousness” with William James & Alfred North Whitehead January 31, 2020
- What is life? interview with Tim Freke January 17, 2020
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Recent Posts
- Stream on Capitol Insurrection January 10, 2021
- “How does matter give rise to consciousness?” (response to Sam Harris) January 3, 2021
- A review of Michael Hogue’s “American Immanence: Democracy for an Uncertain World” (2018) December 18, 2020
- Voices of VR podcast: A Primer on Whitehead’s Process Philosophy December 10, 2020
- Who are we? (thinking w/ Berry and Swimme) December 9, 2020
- Thinking with Carlo Rovelli: The Physics of Consciousness December 3, 2020
- Science and the Soul of the World: Participatory Knowing in Goethe and Whitehead November 25, 2020
- Dialoguing with Philip Goff about Consciousness, Panpsychism, and Process Philosophy November 18, 2020
- Concrescence and the Implicate Order: Whitehead and Bohm in Dialogue November 8, 2020
- Election Coverage: Live-streaming on Growing Down November 3, 2020
- Consciousness between Science and Philosophy (response to Philip Goff on panpsychism) October 30, 2020
- Apology for a Democratic Ontology (response to Keith Woods) October 29, 2020
- Rune Soup Podcast with Gordon White: Talking Whitehead, Plato, & Panpsychism October 24, 2020
- Thinking Cosmologically with Whitehead October 21, 2020
- Towards a Marian Consciousness (Ep. 1 of the Great American Road Trip Diaries) October 21, 2020
- Alchemical Consciousness After Descartes: Whitehead’s Philosophy of Organism as Psychedelic Realism October 15, 2020
- American Immanental Philosophies and the Future of Theopolitics: Dialoging with Michael Hogue October 15, 2020
- The brain is not a computer, and thinking is not information-processing. October 14, 2020
- “The Great American Trip,” dialogue on “Growing Down” October 10, 2020
- Rupert Sheldrake on Whitehead September 26, 2020
- Reason, Reality, & Religion in the Making (dialoguing with John Vervaeke) September 13, 2020
- Naturphilosophie as Process Philosophy in Schelling and Whitehead August 30, 2020
- Meta-Linguistics (dialoguing with Layman Pascal) August 29, 2020
- Metamodernism, the Integral Left, and Postmodern Traditionalism (dialoguing with Brent Cooper) August 27, 2020
- Parsimonious Panpsychism? (response to Julian Walker) August 25, 2020
- Emergent Evolution in a Panpsychist Cosmos (dialoging with Corey Anton) August 22, 2020
- Setting the Akashic Record Straight (final response to David Long about emergence and panpsychism) August 21, 2020
- What is at stake in cosmological inquiry? August 20, 2020
- Cosmologies in Question: A Debate with David Long August 19, 2020
- Consciousness in the Wild August 17, 2020
- Toward an Integral “God” – a dialogue with Layman Pascal August 14, 2020
- Death Denial in a Panpsychist Cosmos: A Dialogue with Corey Anton August 11, 2020
- Meta-Politics – a discussion with Layman Pascal on “The Integral Stage” August 8, 2020
- Remembering and Carrying Forward Michael Brooks on “Growing Down” July 25, 2020
- Dialogue with a Whiteheadian Thelemite Vajrayanist Wiccan, Sam Webster July 22, 2020
- The Rheomode Series, a YouTube playlist July 16, 2020
- Integral Entheogens (Ep. 5) – Molecular Alchemy and the Evolution of Spirit July 16, 2020
- Growing Down Podcast on “the Integral Left” July 4, 2020
- Dialoguing with Brent Cooper about ecosocialist politics and integral spirituality June 9, 2020
- “He maketh his sun to rise,” featuring Donald Trump, Cornel West, and Ram Dass June 4, 2020
- The Place of Psychedelic Chemistry/Alchemical Consciousness in Philosophy May 8, 2020
- Imagination as the Topographical Inversion of Reality: Musings with Becca Tarnas May 7, 2020
- Episode 6 of The Future Faces of Spirit April 25, 2020
- Reading and Riffing on Murray Bookchin’s “The Ecology of Freedom” April 15, 2020
- Prayers to a Process-Relational God April 12, 2020
- Ecological Civilization, or Anarcho-Primitivism? March 30, 2020
- Imagining a Gaian Reality After the Virus March 23, 2020
- Thoughts on William James, Pure Experience, and Materialism February 2, 2020
- Musing on “Consciousness” with William James & Alfred North Whitehead January 31, 2020
- What is life? interview with Tim Freke January 17, 2020
#occupy
aesthetics
alchemy
Anima mundi
Anthropos
archetypal cosmology
atheism
biology
Buddhism
burning man
capitalism
causality
Chaos
Christ
christianity
cognitive science
Consciousness
Cosmogenesis
cosmology
cosmopolitics
cosmotheandric
creativity
death
earth
ecological crisis
ecology
economics
emergence
eternal object
etheric imagination
evolution
Evolution of consciousness
freedom
Gaia
German Idealism
god
imagination
integral
language
life
logos
love
materialism
media ecology
metaphysics
mind
myth
nature
Naturphilosophie
neuroscience
Object-oriented ontology
Ontology
organism
Panpsychism
phenomenology
philosophy
physics
play
pluralism
politics
Process
Process philosophy
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science
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soul-making
space-time
Spirit
spirituality
technology
teleology
theology
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Posts I Like
Archives
Top Clicks
- matthewsegall.files.wordpress.com/2…
- books.google.com/books/about/The_Em…
- voicesofvr.com/primer-on-whiteheads…
- schumachercollege.org.uk/courses/sh…
- scottwilson-amusia.blogspot.com/201…
- medium.com/@aramis720
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Brassier
- nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/…
- docs.google.com/document/d/1Gdm16zr…
- evanthompson.me
Copyright

footnotes2plato.com by Matthew David Segall is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Blog Stats
- 643,230 hits