Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View

Description

Richard Tarnas's The Passion of the Western Mind-acclaimed by leading voices in philosophy, religion, psychology, and history-sets the stage for this major work, thirty years in the making, that dramatically reframes our understanding of the universe in the light of extraordinary new evidence. Cosmos and Psyche is the first book by a widely respected scholar to demonstrate the existence of a consistent correspondence between planetary movements and the unfolding drama of human history. A vast and impressive body of evidence illuminates patterns of meaning and precise correlations between the universe and the world of human endeavor. With meticulous detail, Richard Tarnas takes us on a journey that begins with the ancient Greeks and culminates in our own era and its transformative potential, putting into perspective these chaotic, tumultuous times-from the sixties to September 11, 2001-and pointing the way towards the future. In terms of planetary cycles, our present moment in history is most comparable to the period five hundred years ago-that era of "extraordinary turbulence and creativity," the High Renaissance. Not since Copernicus conceived the heliocentric theory has the human community faced such a profound realignment of the way we think. Readers of every persuasion will be impressed by the vast canvas here, the wealth of research and analysis, and the profound conclusions that may be drawn-conclusions that reunite religion and science, and restore a transcendent dimension to the universe.

Richard Tarnas is a Harvard-educated historian and professor of philosophy and psychology, and the author of The Passion of the Western Mind. He is the founding director of the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness graduate studies program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and also teaches on the faculty of Pacifica Graduate Institute.

Praise for Cosmos and Psyche "Breathtaking in the scope and scale of its vision, this extraordinary book shatters our cosmological assumptions...Spellbinding, eloquent, compelling."-Christopher Bache, professor of philosophy and religious studies, Youngstown State University "Majestic, sweeping, and profound. This will be a book for the ages."-William Van Dusen Wishard, author of Between Two Ages: The 21st Century and the Crisis of Meaning "This is the closest my head has been to exploding while reading a book."-Mary Hynes, CBC Tapestry "What more important message could there be for our time? If you want to understand more deeply the currents which have shaped and are shaping our world, then this passionate, brilliant, and luminous book is essential reading."-David Lorimer, Scientific and Medical Network Review "Cosmos and Psyche is an epoch-making work. It combines impeccably meticulous scholarship and extraordinary clarity of thinking and writing with deep creative vision. The evidence contained here represents the most significant challenge I have seen to the materialistic paradigm of modern science."-Stanislav Grof, author of Psychology of the Future