Work in Progress
In Pursuit of Wisdom:
Seeing History Through the Eyes of the Soul
“What a tremendous and much needed book!
“In Pursuit of Wisdom by Elinor Dickson is an exciting and compelling weaving of ‘the’ story of the twenty-first century, that of evolving human consciousness. Dickson’s genius is to tell the story of who we are and who we must become from inside the psyche’s creation myths. Essentially transdisciplinary, In Pursuit of Wisdom is a major contribution to the necessary and urgent reconciling with the shadow of our violence. This book is a must read for those wanting to realize or make real, our evolution into wisdom. In Pursuit of Wisdom brings psychology, literature, philosophy, myth, science, and ecology into a chalice of regeneration for the modern soul.”
— Susan Rowland, Ph.D
Susan Rowlands is the Chair, Engaged Humanities and the Creative Life Program, and Professor, Depth Psychology with specialization in Jungian Studies and Archetypal Psychology. She is the author of such books as Remembering Dionysus, Psyche and the Arts, The Ecocritical Psyche, and Jung: A Feminist Revision.
Synopsis
This book explores how—through discoveries of recent decades—we are gaining a deeper understanding of our evolutionary role beyond the duality of male and female, and beyond all ingrained social, political, economic, and religious beliefs. This book could not have been written eighty years ago. We thought we knew our history from countless narratives detailing the events and experiences that shaped our lives and formed our memories. Today our recorded history seems more like a 5000-year-old time capsule that the wars, genocide, and chaos of the 20th century jarred open, releasing a transforming energy into the world. The first half of this book looks at our history anew, with the timeless wisdom rooted in our myths and stories restored. The second half of this book turns our waiting coffin into a chrysalis where the healing of human dichotomies can take place.
Author’s Commentary
To paraphrase the poet T. S. Eliot, “Have we come all this way for Birth or Death?”
These words echo in my mind when I think of humanity’s current impasse. The 18th century gave us the Machine Age and the Industrial Revolution; the Age of Enlightenment with its rational thought and science; and the Age of the Individual took hold with its philosophy of equality, and political revolution. In light of these achievements, we called ourselves Homo Sapiens, the Wise Species. Today, nuclear annihilation, ecological devastation, and bio-molecular robotics reveal a suicidal shadow energy leading humanity towards its demise. Is extinction our programmed destiny, or is there a hidden pathology we must face to embrace a further spiral on our evolutionary journey?
In Pursuit of Wisdom focuses on the second alternative as the root of our present dilemma. We think we know our history from countless narratives detailing the events and experiences that shaped our lives and formed our memories. Today, recorded history seems more like a time capsule that the intensity of wars and chaos of the 20th century jarred open, releasing a transforming energy into the world.
As atomic bombs fell on Japan, in France four teenagers fell through a hole and discovered bison thundering across the walls of a cave. Lascaux opened a door inviting the modern world into the land of the ancestors. Hidden behind that door was the long-lost world of the Feminine. The unearthing of Cucuteni/Trypillia, Catal Huyuk, and Minoa revealed a matriarchal civilization we never knew existed.
While uncovering our hidden past, a second Copernican Revolution was set in motion, symbolized by two young men of genius, Carl Jung and Albert Einstein. In deep discussions over ten years they simultaneously opened a portal to a radically new worldview. Deep within the invisible dynamics of particle and wave and the archetypal patterns of our collective psyche we are recovering the metaphysical background of creation. Woven together with the voices of the past, these revolutionary discoveries lay the foundation for understanding humanity’s next evolutionary cycle. Hope lies in the fact that humanity is only at the midpoint of its journey.
The first half of this book looks at our history with the timeless wisdom rooted in our myths and stories restored. Only in this way can we go beyond our present impasse, beyond Dr. Frankenstein and the creation of his monster. The second half of this book turns our waiting coffin into a chrysalis where the healing of human dichotomies can take place. We are gaining a deeper understanding of our evolutionary role beyond the duality of male and female, and beyond all ingrained social, political, economic, and religious beliefs. Our crisis is one of relationship – within us, with each other, and with the earth. In Pursuit of Wisdom is an exploration of the leap humanity must make as part of a centering vision that moves all creation toward its destiny as the continuing incarnation of Wisdom.
