The Sower and the Seed: Reflections on the Development of Consciousness - Softcover

Mulhern, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1782202463 ISBN 13: 9781782202462

Publisher: Routledge, 2015

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Alan Mulhern

Review

'A wise and wonderful book, written by a Jungian Analyst who is also a poet. Graced by exquisite drawings by Lindsey Harris, it sows the seed of healing by expanding our understanding of the evolution of the psyche and how the unrecognised wound it carries has led to the spiritual crisis of our time. Through a rich poetic narrative and illuminating commentaries in each chapter, it shows how the birth of consciousness ruptured the original unity of the psyche and how patriarchal civilisation with its emphasis on transcendence and the value of the individual was built on the foundation of matricide: the eradication of the long-established culture of the Great Mother which had connected us to the earth and held us immersed in tribal identity. This enactment of a 'crime against nature' was portrayed in the image of the hero's fight with the dragon and the story of our expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The author shows how the resulting dissociation and conflict within our psyche and our culture has led to our present dangerous alienation from nature and our own deepest nature. Offering a challenge both to reductionist science and long-established religious beliefs, its enormous contribution to changing our view of ourselves is the realisation that spirit is immanent within matter and that the entire evolutionary process reflects the slow unfolding of an innate cosmic intelligence within the forms of life. As a species, we now face the choice between self-destruction and rescuing ourselves from our own destructiveness and capacity for evil, whose origin in the shadow aspect of our nature is clearly explained. We need to wake up to the danger of where our technology with its weapons of mass destruction and our ruthless exploitation of the planet's resources is leading us. "Mankind, locked in fierce nationalisms, religious differences, competitive economic and military systems, slumbers towards auto-annihilation."This is a riveting, moving and challenging story told with brilliance and empathy by a master story teller.'- Anne Baring, Jungian analyst and the author and co-author of seven books, including The Myth of the Goddess, Evolution of an Image, The Mystic Vision, The Divine Feminine, and co-author of Soul Power: An Agenda for a Conscious Humanity.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1782202463
• ISBN 13: 9781782202462
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 262