* Click here

* Play an Click here - the recording samples the planned talk but also features features poetry recited by Ian and James (the show's host) as well as other ramblings. NB: music and poetry segments played on the night between discussions have been curtailed due to copyright requirements ].

'Trickster Gods and the Quantum Muse', will focus on the deconstructive, chaotic and boundary blurring/crossing aspects to creativity - aspects often associated with the archetype of the trickster. After some discussion of the trickster archetype links will be made to a range of 'tricksterish' developments (from the perspective of Newtonian science) in quantum physics and astrophysics that are leading to a new-ancient world view in which the 'new physics' has much more in common with the humanities and creative arts. The uncertainty principle/wave collapse, the observer affect, entanglement, Bohm's notions of the Holomovement and Implicate Order, Sheldrake's work on morphogenetic fields in animals and plants, the various theories positing a 'Quantum Mind' (e.g. Penrose and Hameroff's 'Orch-Or' theory & Pribram's 'Holonomic Brain' theory - which posits 'free will' as the result of quantum biological phenomena), as well as theories dealing with the so-called 'Multiverse', extra dimensions and parallel worlds/universes etc. will be briefly discussed in terms of their impact on contemporary ideas about the place of creativity and creative thinking in society and the lives of individuals. 

Various questions will be considered: Where might the notion of the 'Muse' (or 'Muses') fit into the contemporary picture - can we speak of a Quantum Muse? Why do the creative arts and humanities remain of crucial importance to the well-being of individuals and the species generally? How might we understand their role given: a) the collapse of the Newtonian paradigm in the 20th century; b) the destructiveness of hyper-capitalist materialism, and c) the ever more apparent limitations of post-structural and deconstructive paradigms to deal with the pressing concerns of the times? How also might art, story-telling, music, dance and creative thinking (as traditionally practiced in the humanities disciplines) serve as 'gateways to the Holomovement' (i.e. Quantum Realms)?  

Key ideas associated with 'Transpersonal Relational Poetics' will be covered in this talk.   

Note: After the axing of 'philosophy' as an academic major in the BA at La Trobe University (Bendigo) a couple of years ago the discussion of philosophical concepts (ancient and contemporary) in Central and Northern Victoria has had to migrate to the Click here.

[Image associated with five fold symmetries of 'Superstring theory' - creative commons attribution 'Share alike'  from Wikipedia, an earlier version also appeared on the cover of Scientific America November 2007. See also original image appearing at A.J. Hanson's website and (in November/December 1994) in "A construction for computer visualization of certain complex curves". Notices of the Amer.Math.Soc. 41 (9): 1156-1163.