The Transformative Vision

 

I was sorry to hear that Jose Arguelles died on March 23.  He was truly a visionary leader, and a cultural creative.  He was best known for his interpretation of Mayan prophecies, most significantly the "2012"  prophecy, and the Harmonic Convergence of 1987.

But for me he was  a guide as I began my life as an artist, helping me to navigate the awful cynicism and materialism of the art world, and to understand the significance of  art and human expression  as mysticism, healing, shamanism, and prophecy with his 1975 book THE TRANSFORMATIVE VISION - Reflections on the Nature of Human Expression, written when he was a professor of art history in San Francisco, and at the height of the Bay Area Visionary Art movement. In the 1980's he inspired the Transformative Art movement.

His 1972 book  MANDALA, which included his work and was co-written with his wife Mirium, was also a profound inspiration.

He also co-founded the Planet Art Network (PAN)  in 1983 as a worldwide peace organization engaging in art and spirituality. Active in over 90 countries,  "PAN upholds the Nicholas Roerich Peace Pact and Banner of Peace, symbolizing "Peace Through Culture".  The Planet Art Network  upholds the slogan "Time is Art", suggesting that time is a vehicle for our creative experience, instead of the familiar saying "Time is Money".*"

Thank you, Jose Arguelles, for giving so much vision to the world, and to me.

*Wikipedia

Another note on the "Butterfly Man"

Well, darn, this is getting interesting! Here I am thinking about butterflies again, and wouldn't you know Alan Moore (the Butterfly Man) leaves a message on my voicemail to call him. Haven't spoken to Alan in about 4 years.

I'm fascinated with the "Butterfly Man" gigantic crop circle that occurred last August in the Netherlands. There is controversy as to who made it; I can't seem to get any clear answers in my Internet search, although have found lots of mystical types who are having a great time with it. But whether "The Da Vinci Butterfly Man" was made as a work of art by a group of very determined and inspired people, who somehow managed to create it in the dark, or it was made by artists from rather farther away with a bit more technology.......it is amazing.


It's interesting that the same month (2009) a new book was released by Dr. Bruce H. Lipton
called "SPONTANEOUS EVOLUTION", and the same image is on the cover of the book. If this isn't a miraculous synchronicity (or symmetry), then it's certainly a heck of a good advertisement for the book.

"According to pioneering biologist Bruce H. Lipton, (rapid evolution on a cellular level) is not only possible, it’s already happening. We are surrounded by the proof that we are poised to take an incredible step forward in the growth of our species. In Spontaneous Evolution, this world-renowned expert in the emerging science of epigenetics teams up with political philosopher Steve Bhaerman to offer a new and hopeful story about humanity’s evolutionary destiny."

Dr. Lipman is one of the keynote speakers on the 25th of this month, at the International Conference in Moscow, Russia, "New Human, New Earth". That would be a fascinating event to attend!

Here is Jose Arguelles modification of a Mayan symbol, "Hunab Ku". According to Arguelles and colleagues, the glyph represents the "Galactic Butterfly". I personal love this symbol, because it represents the spiral union (to me) of light and dark, an integral symbol.

Arguelles and others have asserted that Mayan cosmology was based on, or included, the existence of Hunab Ku at the center of the galaxy, and that the Mayans were able to demonstrate the location of the galactic center; as a result of his book "The Mayan Factor", this symbol has become associated with the Mayan Calendar, which predicts the end of a cycle in the year 2012. There is, of course, a lot of controversy concerning "2012"**, from the Apocalypse to the New Age to the "Rapture".

I don't actually care whether the "Butterfly Man" was man made or not, and I don't think it matters whether Jose Arguelles, a fantastic visionary and artist who has been very influential in creating new spiritual perspectives, is correct in his ideas and scholarship, or not. He is a true visionary - and has done what artists (I think) are supposed to do - be a myth maker. In an other time and place he would have been called a "seer". The point for me is that this is significant for our time, important mythos for our time. "2012" and the "Cosmic Butterfly" are perfect metaphors for our evolutionary crisis. Whether we speak of our environmental crisis or the proliferation of nuclear weapons, we do indeed stand poised at the edge of unprecedented disaster, not just as little tribes or even unique civilizations, but globally. We also have unprecedented possibility for physical, technological, social, intellectual, and spiritual transformation and evolution. The "5th World" is already here.

According to Wikipedia:

"The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012 which is said to be the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae related to this date have been proposed.

A New Age interpretation of this transition posits that during this time Earth and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era^. Others suggest that the 2012 date marks the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scenarios posited for the end of the world include the Earth's collision with a passing planet (often referred to as "Nibiru") or black hole, or the arrival of the next solar maximum. Scholars from various disciplines have dismissed the idea of catastrophe in 2012. Mainstream Mayanist scholars state that predictions of impending doom are not found in any of the existing classic Maya accounts, and that the idea that the Long Count calendar "ends" in 2012 misrepresents Maya history."