
The Ever-Present Origin
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"The path which led Gebser to his new and universal perception of the world is, briefly, as follows. In the wake of materialism and social change, man had been described in the early years of our century as the "dead end" of nature. Freud had redefined culture as illness-a result of drive sublimation; Klages had called the spirit (and he was surely speaking of the hypertrophied intellect) the "adversary of the soul," propounding a return to a life like that of the Pelasgi, the aboriginal inhabitants of Greece; and Spengler had declared the "Demise of the West" during the years following World War I. The consequences of such pessimism continued to proliferate long after its foundations had been superseded.
It was with these foundations-the natural sciences-that Gebser began. As early as Planck it was known that matter was not at all what materialists had believed it to be, and since 1943 Gebser has repeatedly emphasized that the so-called crisis of Western culture was in fact an essential restructuration....
Gebser has noted two results that are of particular significance: first, the abandonment of materialistic determinism, of a one-sided mechanistic-causal mode of thought; and second, a manifest "urgency of attempts to discover a universal way of observing things, and to overcome the inner division of contemporary man who, as a result of his one-sided rational orientation, thinks only in dualisms."
Against this background of recent discoveries and conclusions in the natural sciences Gebser discerned the outlines of a potential human universality. He also sensed the necessity to go beyond the confines of this first treatise so as to include the humanities (such as political economics and sociology) as well as the arts in a discussion along similar lines. This was the point of departure of The Ever-Present Origin.
From In memoriam Jean Gebser by Jean Keckeis
Reviews / Votes
"Gebser's noetic analysis, of Teilhardian scope, is only partially equaled by such works as Erich Neumann's The Origins and History of Consciousness or Gaston Bachelard's The Philosophy of No. A profound and sagaciously polemic work, remarkably relevant to discussions of holism and postmodern consciousness." (Library Journal) "Jean Gebser's magnum opus is at long last available in a fine English rendering ... I expect no less an interest in the English translation, and hope that Gebser's work will now begin to receive the worldwide recognition it deserves." (Emergent Paradigm Bulletin) "(The book) impressed me as a very important, indeed in some respects pioneering, piece of work. It treads new paths, opens new vistas, and in so doing it is vastly, solidly, and subtly documented by a wealth of anthropological, mythological, linguistic, artistic, philosophical, and scientific material which is fruitfully brought into play and shown in its multifold and striking interrelationships. The book is brilliantly written and introduces many valuable new terms and distinctions. (It shows) that scholarly precision and faithfulness to given data are fully compatible with a broad, imaginative, and spiritual outlook; and (it exposes) the utter sterility of the prevailing positivistic, mechanistic, and wrongfully scientistic methods." "The gigantic attempt of one of the most creative and stimulating thinkers of modern Europe to integrate the most advanced knowledge of our time with the spiritual sources of the past."More details
Other editions
Additional editions

Persons
Noel Barstad is associate professor of modern languages at Ohio University.
Algis Mickunas is associate professor of philosophy at Ohio University.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Translator's Preface
- In memoriam Jean Gebser
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- From the Preface to the Second Edition
- From the Preface to the Paperbound Edition
- Part One: Foundations of the Aperspectival World a Contribution to the History of the Awakening of Consciousness
- Editorial Note regarding the Annotations
- Chapter One: Fundamental Considerations
- Chapter Two: The Three European Worlds
- 1. The Unperspectival World
- 2. The Perspectival World
- 3. The Aperspectival World
- Chapter Three: The Four Mutations of Consciousness
- 1. On Evolution, Development, and Mutation
- 2. Origin or the Archaic Structure
- 3. The Magic Structure
- 4. The Mythical Structure
- 5. The Mental Structure
- 6. The Integral Structure
- Chapter Four: Mutations as an Integral Phenomenon: an Intermediate Summary
- 1. Cross-Sections through the Structures
- 2. A Digression on the Unity of Primal Words
- 3. A Provisional Statement of Account: Measure and Mass
- 4. The Unique Character of the Structures (Additional Cross Sections)
- 5. Concluding Summary: Man as the Integrality of His Mutations
- Chapter Five: The Space-Time Constitution of the Structures
- 1. The Space-Timelessness of the Magic Structure
- 2. The Temporicity of the Mythical Structure
- 3. The Spatial Emphasis of the Mental Structure
- Chapter Six: On the History of the Phenomena of Soul and Spirit
- 1. Methodological Considerations
- 2. The Numinosum, Mana, and the Plurality of Souls
- 3. The Soul's Death-Pole
- 4. The Soul's Life-Pole
- 5. The Symbol of Soul
- 6. On the Symbolism of the Spirit
- Chapter Seven: The Previous Forms of Realization and Thought
- 1. Dimensioning and Realization
- 2. Vital Experiencing and Undergone or Psychic Experience
- 3. Oceanic Thinking
- 4. Perspectival Thinking
- 5. Paradoxical Thinking
- Chapter Eight: The Foundations of the Aperspectival World
- 1. The Ever-Present Origin (Complementing Cross Sections)
- 2. Summation and Prospect
- Part Two: Manifestations of the Aperspectival World an Attempt at the Concretion of the Spiritual
- Author's Comment
- Interim Word
- Chapter One: The Irruption of Time
- 1. The Awakening Consciousness of Freedom from Time
- 2. The Awakening Consciousness of Integrity or the Whole
- Chapter Two: The New Mutation
- 1. The Climate of the New Mutation
- 2. The Theme of the New Mutation
- 3. The New Form of Statement
- Chapter Three: The Nature of Creativity
- 1. Creativity as an Originary Phenomenon
- 2. The Nature and Transformation of Poetry
- Chapter Four: The New Concepts
- 1. Inceptions of the New Consciousness
- 2. The Fourth Dimension
- 3. Temporics
- Chapter Five: Manifestations of the Aperspectival World (I): The Natural Sciences
- 1. Mathematics and Physics
- 2. Biology
- Chapter Six: Manifestations of the Aperspectival World (II): The Sciences of the Mind
- 1. Psychology
- 2. Philosophy
- Chapter Seven: Manifestations of the Aperspectival World (III): The Social Sciences
- 1. Jurisprudence
- 2. Sociology and Economics
- Chapter Eight: Manifestations of the Aperspectival World (IV): The Dual Sciences
- Chapter Nine: Manifestations of the Aperspectival World (V): The Arts
- 1. Music
- 2. Architecture
- 3. Painting
- 4. Literature
- Chapter Ten: Manifestations of the Aperspectival World (VI): Summary
- 1. The Aperspectival Theme
- 2. Daily Life
- Chapter Eleven: The Two-Fold Task
- Chapter Twelve: The Concretion of the Spiritual
- Postscript
- Remarks on Etymology
- Prefatory Note
- 1. The Root "ke?l
- 2. The Root Group "qer:ger (gher):ker"
- 3. The Root Group "kel:gel:qel"
- 4. The Mirror Roots "regh" and "leg"
- 5. The Root "da:di"
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
- Synoptic Table
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