Richard Tarnas

Richard Tarnas
Born (1950-02-21) February 21, 1950
Geneva, Switzerland
Website www.cosmosandpsyche.com
Era Contemporary
School Jungian psychology, Participatory theory, Transpersonal psychology
Institutions Harvard, Saybrook Institute, Esalen, California Institute of Integral Studies
Main interests
 Archetypal cosmology, Archetypal astrology
Notable ideas
 Participatory epistemology

Richard Theodore Tarnas (born February 21, 1950) is a cultural historian known for his books The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View and Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View. Tarnas is professor of philosophy and psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and is the founding director of its graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness.

Biography

Tarnas was born on February 21, 1950 in Geneva, Switzerland, of American parents. His father, also named Richard Tarnas, worked as a government contract attorney, former president of the Michigan Federal Bar Association, and professor of law. His mother, Mary Louise, was a teacher and homemaker. The eldest of eight children, he grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where he studied Greek, Latin, and the Classics at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy.

In 1968 Tarnas entered Harvard, graduating with an A.B. cum laude in 1972. He received his Ph.D. from Saybrook Institute in 1976 with a thesis on psychedelic therapy.[1][2] In 1974 Tarnas went to Esalen in California to study psychotherapy with Stanislav Grof.[3] From 1974 to 1984 he lived and worked at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, teaching and studying with Grof, Joseph Campbell, Gregory Bateson, Huston Smith, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, and James Hillman. He also served as Esalen's director of programs and education.[4] Jeffrey Kripal characterizes Tarnas as both the literal and figurative gate-keeper of Esalen.[5]

From 1980 to 1990, Tarnas wrote The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View, a narrative history of Western thought which became a bestseller and remained in use in universities as of 2000.[6][7] Passion was highly acclaimed by Joseph Campbell, Huston Smith, Stanislav Grof, John E. Mack, Stanley Krippner, Georg Feuerstein, David Steindl-Rast, John Sculley, Robert A. McDermott, Jeffrey Hart, Gary Lachman, and others.

Tarnas is the founding director of the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), where he remains a core faculty member as of 2014.[8]

Tarnas' second book, Prometheus the Awakener, published in 1995, focuses on the astrological properties of the planet Uranus, describing "the uncanny way astrological patterns appear to coincide with events or destiny patterns in the lives of both individuals and societies".[9] Tarnas suggests that the characteristics associated with the mythological figure Uranus do not match the astrological properties of the planet Uranus, and that a more appropriate identification would involve the mythological figure Prometheus.

In 2006, Tarnas published his third book, Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View. It claims that the major events of Western cultural history correlate consistently and meaningfully with the observed angular positions of the planets.[10] The book received favorable reviews in Tikkun magazine,[11] in an anthroposophical journal,[12] and in the web magazine Reality Sandwich,[13] but was panned in the Wall Street Journal.[14]

Tarnas featured in the 2006 film Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within, a documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world.[15]

In 2007 a group of fifty scholars and researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area formed the Archetypal Research Collective for pursuing research in archetypal cosmology. An online journal, Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology, edited by Keiron LeGrice and Rod O'Neal, began a year later, based on the research orientation and methodology established in Cosmos and Psyche.[16] Advisory-board members include Christopher Bache, Jorge Ferrer, Stanislav Grof, Robert A. McDermott, Ralph Metzner, and Brian Swimme. Contributors have included Keiron Le Grice, Richard Tarnas, Stanislav Grof, and Rod O'Neal.

In 2008 Tarnas was invited to address members of the Dutch Parliament about creating a sustainable society.[17]

In 2007 John Cleese and Tarnas gave some public lectures together at Esalen and in Santa Barbara. The lectures discussed regaining a connection to the sacred in the modern world.[18] Cleese and Tarnas then taught a seminar at CIIS called "The Comic Genius: A Multidisciplinary Approach".[19]

Bibliography

By Tarnas

Books

Articles

Video

About Tarnas

See also

References

  1. ↑ LSD psychotherapy, theoretical implications for the study of psychology, 1976 worldcat.org
  2. ↑ ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation/Abstract
  3. ↑ Stanislav Grof, When The Impossible Happens, 337
  4. ↑ Jeffrey Kripal, Esalen: America and the religion of no religion, 265, 378 University of Chicago Press, 2007 ISBN 0-226-45369-3, ISBN 978-0-226-45369-9
  5. ↑ Jeffrey Kripal, Esalen: America and the religion of no religion, 378 University of Chicago Press, 2007 ISBN 0-226-45369-3, ISBN 978-0-226-45369-9
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ Kane, Janet (2000). "A New View of Depth Psychology's Link to the Astrological Tradition: A Review of Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View by Richard Tarnas". Jung Society of Washington. Washington DC: The Washington Society for Jungian Psychology. Archived from the original on April 22, 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-28. Tarnas, a respected scholar and cultural historian, wrote his first book, The Passion of the Western Mind, in 1991. It was a best seller and is still widely used in universities today.
  8. ↑ "Faculty: Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness: Core Faculty". California Institute of Integral Studies. San Francisco, CA: California Institute of Integral Studies. 2014. Retrieved 2015-08-28. Richard Tarnas[:] Professor
  9. ↑ Ray Grasse, untitled book review, Quest Winter 1995
  10. ↑ Sean Kelly, Coming Home [np] SteinerBooks
  11. ↑ "Towards a Meaningful Universe", Tikkun (magazine), May–June 2007, p. 75.
  12. ↑ Frederick J. Dennehy, "The Disenchantment of the Modern Universe and the Tale of Two Suitors" lilipoh.com Lilipoh #44 - Summer 2006
  13. ↑ Daniel Pinchbeck, "Psyching Out The Cosmos" 20 May 2007
  14. ↑ Meaney, Thomas (2006-01-21). "Writer's Block: Cosmos & Psyche". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2015-08-27. [...] his new book has less in common with responsible scholarship than with the senescent Isaac Newton's ramblings about alchemy.
  15. ↑ Mann, Rod (Director) (2006). Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within (DVD video). Critical Mass Productions. OCLC 181630835. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  16. ↑ Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology
  17. ↑ Alice Klein, "The Intelligent Universe: Is nature trying to change our minds?"nowtoronto.com Now Magazine
  18. ↑ Zack Lynch, Byron Laursen, The Neuro Revolution: How Brain Science Is Changing Our World 137 google.com
  19. ↑ CIIS Staff, "And Now For Something Completely Different" Archived May 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Spring 2009 CIIS Today
  20. ↑ WorldCat
  21. ↑ WorldCat
  22. ↑ csp.org

Articles and interview

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