Most of my posting at this blog is dedicated to laying out a theory that human history has been shaped by a sequence of visions of the nature of reality. Each of these visions arises out of a mixture of mystical intimations and practical experience, gains in coherence and popularity until it comes to dominate its culture for a time, and eventually fails and is discarded.

The posts listed below represent my initial presentation of these ideas between September 2009 and December 2010. They are mainly focused on the period from the 1930s to the 1980s, with occasional forays into the 18th and 19th centuries. A few posts, particular in the final group, apply the theory to events as of the time of writing.

The next set of entries in this topic can be found here.

A list of the entire sequence of visions can be found here.

Introducing the Visions: Science and Democracy (and Chaos)

• The Dance of the Visions (9/5/09)
• The Era of Science and Democracy (9/11/09)
• The Death of Reason (9/21/09)
• The Screwballs (10/1/09)
• The Democratization of Higher Knowledge (10/8/09)
• The End of an Era (10/13/09)
• An Age of Chaos (10/21/09)
• The Times They Are A-Changin’ (10/29/09)

 
Holism and the Limits of Chaos

• From Hipsters to Hippies (11/7/09)
• The Search for Meaning (11/15/09)
• The Proto-History of Holism (11/25/09)
• The Rube Goldberg Principle (12/5/09)
• Moral Agents (12/11/09)

 
The Roots of Chaos: Lewis Carroll

• The True Voice of Chaos (12/25/09)
• Nothing But a Pack of Cards (1/3/10)
• We’re All Mad Here (1/8/10)
• The Wood Where Things Have No Names (1/13/10)

 
The Counterculture of the 1960s and the One to Come

• In All This Shit, There Must Be a Counterculture (1/20/10)
• The Alchemical Marriage of Chaos and Holism (1/26/10)
• When the Vertical World Turns Horizontal (2/1/10)
• Everything Changes (2/12/10)

 
Personhood, Consciousness, and Ecosystems

• “Alice–Mutton. Mutton–Alice.” (2/17/10)
• Unalienable Rights and Universal Consciousness (2/20/10)
• You’re Doing It Wrong (3/1/10)

 
Beyond Holism: Multiculturalism and Creative Imagination

• Russian Nesting Dolls (3/4/10)
• The World Beyond the Hill (3/11/10)
• On the Mungly Planet (3/17/10)
• Living in the Material World (3/22/10)
• Coming Unglued (4/6/10)

 
The Domestication of Chaos

• Chaos Tamed (4/20/10)
• Mirror, Mirror (4/25/10)
• Holistic Utopianism (4/30/10)
• Why Don’t You Build a Spaceship? (5/5/10)

 
Dominant Partnerships: Some Theoretical Considerations

• Democracy Inverted (5/16/10)
• Theories of Everything (5/23/10)
• He Who Tastes, Knows (6/7/10)

 
Romantic Breaks and Their Aftermath

• The Romantic Break (6/19/10)
• You’ve Got the Look (6/26/10)
• The Revolutionary Mode (7/4/10)
• A Multiplicity of Worlds (7/22/10)
• Tech Toys (7/30/10)

 
Further Reflections on Multiculturalism and Creative Imagination

• The Coming of Multiculturalism (8/7/10)
• “Brain’s Wiring: More Like the Internet Than a Pyramid?” (8/10/10)
• And Then There’s 4chan (8/10/10)
• The Soul of Multiculturalism Expands (8/14/10)
• Make It Work! (8/21/10)
• The Improvisational Universe (8/29/10)
• The Land-Pirats (9/2/10)
• Heretics of the 1980′s (9/11/10)

 
The Pieces Shift

• What Is To Be Done? (9/16/10)
• Eggs Before Chickens (9/22/10)
• The Art of Transgression (10/15/10)
• The Wall that Jon Stewart Builds Around Himself (11/16/10)
• And So It Begins (12/5/10)
• Getting Mythic (12/23/10)