>From: Michael Pugliese <michael098762001 at earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] End of Suburbia: Peak Oil
>Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 15:48:14 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
>
> Heinberg is a New Age loon.
>
>http://www.doyletics.com/_arj1/memories.htm
>
>The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality by Richard Heinberg
>Exploring the Universal Myth of a Lost Golden Age
>Published by Jeremy P. Tarcher in 1989
>Book Review by Bobby Matherne ©2002
>
>Once upon a time there was a golden age when all men lived in peace and
>harmony with each other. Is this golden age a fairy tale, is it an actual
>time in human history, or is it a metaphor for a different way of being?
>Heinberg covers these possibilities and several more in detail in this
>book.
>
>The author moved into Immanuel Velikovsky's home to be his research
>assistant five days before the cosmologist's death and stayed on to edit
>IV's last two manuscripts, "Mankind in Amnesia" and "Stargazers and
>Gravediggers." His work editing Velikovsky's books evidently piqued his
>interest in myths, their veracity, their origin, and their functionality
>and eventually led to his writing this book.
>
>In the first part of the book he covers the truth of myths similarly to
>Jung and Campbell by delineating the similarities of myths across widely
>disparate cultures. Whether of Norse or aboriginal New Zealand origin, the
>stories of a golden age in paradise mirror each other too closely to be
>mere coincidence.
>
>The fall from grace in Eden and its consequences in the presence of evil,
>catastrophes, technological progress, and visions of utopias comes under
>Heinberg's scholarly microscope. He invites us to peek through the eyepiece
>with him as he examines each dissected slice of history, myth, and
>speculation. Like a thesis advisor, he allows us to draw our own
>conclusions from the data we observe with him.
>
>When I reached his discussion of paradise as metaphor, I expected him to
>reveal a Jungian understanding of the reality of the psyche and was not
>disappointed. He connects the Fall (from grace in Eden) with the "initial
>appearance of the ego," and shows us how our separateness, greed, and fear
>are byproducts of that great quantum leap of human consciousness, the
>development of the ego. How we will return eventually to paradise with our
>new ego consciousness remains our task for the present time, but Heinberg
>has shown us a new vision of that promised land.
>
>To conclude his book, Heinberg leads us past the grave into the world of
>Near Death Experiences (NDE). He brings to this task the same comprehensive
>treatment that he brought to the paradise myths. Carefully building his
>arguments, he leads us to the startling conclusion that our visions and
>dreams of paradise may be memories of the future, imaginary (although real)
>visions of our spiritual reality as it transcends our momentary physical
>existence on earth.
>
>A powerful book, it is a must read for serious students of myth,
>consciousness, and spirit.
>
>
>
>Michael Pugliese
>
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