cosmoerotic humanism

#alchemy #concept #metacrisis #philosophy #🌱

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cosmoerotic humanism is a post-postmodern philosophical project that aims to expand our understanding of metaphysics, value and the sacred, integrating insights from different fields - perennial philosophy, wisdom traditions, different interior and exterior sciences (what they call "the best of premodern, modern and postmodern thought") - into a coherent narrative of self, life and the universe, what they call a story of value - and therefore, of ethics, love and evolution - both deep enough to respond adequately to our most pressing existential issues and broad enough to provide "a universal grammar of value - i.e. a shared set of first principles and first values as a context for our diversity".

they propose that any complete (whole) philosophy presents a cosmology, an epistemology, an ontology and an axiology, and that's what they're attempting to do with CosmoErotic Humanism as a whole.

associated with: zak stein, marc gafni, ken wilber/integral theory, consilience project, civilization research institute.

a few powerful and elucidating quotes

"A response is needed to the likely self-induced extinction of our species (the “second shock” of existence), and it must be found in the context of cascading and interrelated crises across all major sectors of civilization (the “meta-crisis”). A profound return to reality is at hand, as humanity is once again brought back in touch with how the universe works, for better and for worse.

For now, suffice to say that we understand from complexity theory and evolutionary biology that a simple, limited set of First Principles can generate an emergent self-organization of highly complex systems with a virtually unimaginable number of parts. Basic patterns establish the possibility space into which chaotic emergence evolves, as seen in everything from cellular automata to game theory. In other words, we realized many years ago that just as simple First Principles and First Values organize exterior realities into complex and coherent wholes, so too do interior First Principles and First Values organize the realities of value and consciousness into complex and coherent wholes.

In effect, First Principles and First Values are the plotlines of evolution’s conscious unfolding. Conscious evolution, as we have reframed it, is not when evolution becomes conscious of itself through us. There is much scientific data that ascribe intelligence and consciousness to evolution, well before humanity. Rather, conscious evolution is when a species becomes aware that evolutionary processes live in it, as it, and through it — and can then choose to align with the inherent First Principles and First Values embedded in the larger evolutionary story of value. This new understanding of conscious evolution serves as the key to our CosmoErotic Humanism." - First Principles and First Values of Evolving Perennialism. Forty-two Propositions on CosmoErotic Humanism. Post-Tragic Memories of the Future (Review Draft). David J. Temple Spring 2023

"CosmoErotic Humanism is a philosophical movement aimed at reconstructing the collapse of value at the core of global culture. This movement emerges in response to the meta-crisis, understanding existential and catastrophic risks as rooted not only in failures of economics, government, and technology, but in failed worldviews. The core of CosmoErotic Humanism is a system of First Principles and First Values that recasts cosmic evolution as a story of value in which humanity plays a unique role. These First Principles and First Values ground a comprehensive set of theories, including of self and psychology, epistemology, scientific metaphysics, education, theology, mysticism, sexuality, and value. CosmoErotic Humanism thereby offers a new Narrative of Identity (who am I?), a new Universe Story (where am I?), and new vision of Ethics (what ought I do?).

These are some of the first words on the possibilities of a world philosophy adequate to our time of civilization transformation. What is offered by CosmoErotic Humanism is a new story of value—eternal yet evolving value — and a universal grammar of value that can serve as a context for our diversity, finally allowing us to speak of humanity as part of a shared story of evolving cosmic value." - First Principles and First Values of Evolving Perennialism. Forty-two Propositions on CosmoErotic Humanism. Post-Tragic Memories of the Future (Review Draft). David J. Temple Spring 2023

The Manifesto (coming soon)

CosmoErotic Humanism: Philosophy in a Time Between Worlds - a great short paper/page (7 pages) introducing the subject.

Love Or Die - An Early Version of a Paper by Dr. Marc Gafni - an introductory and provocative short paper.

It Is Possible to Make a Partial List of First Principles and First Values of Cosmos - Proposition 23 from the Book "First Principles and First Values - the core of it all. the foundational set of first principles and first values they've identified across traditions, religions, philosophy and science, coming together as a "universal grammar of value". it's the center of the FPFV book. worth studying, revisiting and digesting over a long period of time.

First Principles and First Values of Evolving Perennialism - Forty-two Propositions on CosmoErotic Humanism - "abridged version" of the book - 82 pages - i really recommend it.

First Principles and First Values - Forty-Two Propositions on CosmoErotic Humanism, the Meta-Crisis, and the World to Come - full core book, launched in 2024.

a compilation of tons of other resources - https://worldphilosophyandreligion.org/first-values-first-principles/

alternative video introduction

Cosmo-Erotic Humanism: First Principles and Values w/ Zak Stein and Marc Gafni(https://www.youtube.com/@thestoa)

my very loose highlights from this video

16:11 "we have the metacrisis. the metacrisis is driven by existential risk. existential risk is driven by exponentialized technologies being weaponized. that itself is driven by win-lose metrics/rivalrous conflict, that generates the races to the bottom, the tragedies of the commons, [[multipolar traps]] - everyone has to develop that weapon system, but there's no interior technology to respond to it" (...) "at the core of the metacrisis is what? a breakdown in a shared story of value (that could actually generate a response to the metacrisis)."

we can't cohere/resonate unless we have the same story of value. it's the story of value that generates the possibility of coherence.

"pre-tragic / tragic / post-tragic consciousness"

"the interior of interconnectivity (systems complexity) is intimacy"

"mytho-poetic moves vs ontological moves"

note

the contents of the writing below are currently haphazard, disjointed and all over the place. please proceed at your own risk. (or don't. feel free to come back later when it'll be hopefully updated and improved.)

notes from podcasts:

intrinsic vs instrumental
hypothetical & categorical-imperative (absolute)
donor & receiver (exchange value vs use value in marxism)
end & aims?
goods-first (pleasure) & values-first (pleasure is a value, the more value you have, the more valuable it is)

theories of value -> dismissed

deontological and deological

one points toward the other.

34:55 highlight zak value of a tree.

1:09:36

zak's appearances as a guest
zak & daniel thorson on recentering value in education

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtCFfEGjfW0

separation of church & state:

school isn't attempting to answer "what is the good life?" -> family/religion/civil society.

school is preparing you to be a citizen/consumer/worker.

"no phones, minimal screen time" -> tech as addicting/distracting vs tech as augmenting/enhancing.

environmental education was supposed to turn us into "mindful consumers", but it didn't. it just made us feel guilty about it.

loose notes in portuguese about the value of introducing cosmoerotic humanism in a brazilian context

o convite: é uma meta-análise das filosofias, religiões, tradições de visões sobre o sagrado e o aspecto científico também da evolução, mas não de um lugar removido/objetivo, "puramente científico" (porque isso é impossível). vem de um lugar implicado, participatório, buscando reconhecer os movimentos surgindo nessa direção de integração e desenvolver linguagem comum transcontextual que possibilita falar sobre espiritualidade, sagrado, consciência, significado, valor com bem mais profundidade, rigor e amorosidade. espiritualidade não (apenas) como crença, mas como prática e constante clarificação, de modo que vire inteligência - algo que vc já tem e pode acessar, clarificar, pra entender como se desenvolver e como responder à metacrise (à intensificação da destruição e o esvaziamento da vida na terra).

pode ser overwhelming, mas serve como um recurso de profundidade e abrangência ímpar pra abrir caminho pra ir a fundo em grandes tradições espirituais e seus princípios fundamentais/cosmologias.

oferece práticas e caminhos também, como uma tradição em si. ex:

como essa inteligência espiritual se revela? a partir da clarificação do desejo -> da abertura o "olho do valor". quanto mais tá aberto, mais a sua inteligência espiritual está refinada.

então como clarificamos desejo? como abrimos o olho do valor?