Richard Theodore Tarnas is a cultural historian and astrologer known for his books '' The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View'' and '' Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View''. Tarnas is professor of philosophy and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and is the founding director of its graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness.

Biography

Tarnas' father, also named Richard Tarnas, worked as a government contract attorney, former president of the Michigan Federal Bar Association, and professor of law. His mother, Mary Louise, was a teacher and homemaker. The eldest of eight children, he grew up in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, where he studied Greek, Latin, and the Classics at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy. In 1968 Tarnas entered

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

, graduating with an A.B. ''cum laude'' in 1972. He received his Ph.D. from Saybrook Institute in 1976 with a thesis on psychedelic therapy. In 1974 Tarnas went to Esalen in California to study

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

with Stanislav Grof. From 1974 to 1984 he lived and worked at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, teaching and studying with Grof, Joseph Campbell, Gregory Bateson, Huston Smith, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, and

James Hillman James Hillman (April 12, 1926 – October 27, 2011) was an American psychologist. He studied at, and then guided studies for, the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich. He founded a movement toward archetypal psychology and retired into private practic ...

. He also served as Esalen's director of programs and education. Jeffrey Kripal characterizes Tarnas as both the literal and figurative gate-keeper of Esalen. From 1980 to 1990, Tarnas wrote '' The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View'', a narrative history of

Western thought Western philosophy refers to the philosophical thought, traditions and works of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the pre-Socratics. ...

which became a

bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...

and remained in use in universities . The book was highly acclaimed by Joseph Campbell, Huston Smith, Stanislav Grof, John E. Mack, Stanley Krippner,

Georg Feuerstein Georg Feuerstein (27 May 1947 – 25 August 2012) was a Germans, German Indology, Indologist specializing in the philosophy and practice of Yoga. Feuerstein authored over 30 books on mysticism, Yoga, Tantra, and Hinduism. He translated, among othe ...

, David Steindl-Rast, John Sculley, Robert A. McDermott, Jeffrey Hart, Gary Lachman, and others. Tarnas is the founding director of the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), where he remains a core faculty member . Tarnas' second book, ''Prometheus the Awakener'', published in 1995, focuses on the astrological properties of the planet

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...

, describing "the uncanny way astrological patterns appear to coincide with events or destiny patterns in the lives of both individuals and societies". Tarnas suggests that the characteristics associated with the

mythological Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

figure Uranus do not match the astrological properties of the planet Uranus, and that a more appropriate identification would involve the mythological figure

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

. In 2006, Tarnas published his third book, '' Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View''. It claims that the major events of Western cultural history correlate consistently and meaningfully with the observed angular positions of the planets. The book received favorable reviews in '' Tikkun'' magazine, in an anthroposophical journal, and in the web magazine ''Reality Sandwich'' (by Daniel Pinchbeck), but was panned in the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. Tarnas featured in the 2006 film '' Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within'', a documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world. In 2007 a group of fifty scholars and researchers in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

formed the Archetypal Research Collective for pursuing research in archetypal cosmology. An online journal, ''Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology'', edited by Keiron LeGrice and Rod O'Neal, began a year later, based on the research orientation and methodology established in ''Cosmos and Psyche''. Advisory-board members include Christopher Bache, Jorge Ferrer, Stanislav Grof, Robert A. McDermott, Ralph Metzner, and Brian Swimme. Contributors have included Keiron Le Grice, Richard Tarnas, Stanislav Grof, and Rod O'Neal. In 2008 Tarnas was invited to address members of the Dutch Parliament about creating a sustainable society. In 2007

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

and Tarnas gave some public lectures together at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California and in Santa Barbara. The lectures discussed regaining a connection to the sacred in the modern world. Cleese and Tarnas then taught a seminar at CIIS called "The Comic Genius: A Multidisciplinary Approach". American Astronaut Susan Helms cited Tarnas' ''The Passion of the Western Mind'' as one of the five 'classic American books' that inspired her career as an astronaut.

Bibliography

By Tarnas

Books

* ''LSD psychotherapy, theoretical implications for the study of psychology'', 1976 * ''Birth and rebirth: LSD, psychoanalysis, and spiritual enlightenment''csp.org
* '' The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View'', 1991; Ballantine () * ''Prometheus the Awakener: An Essay on the Archetypal Meaning of the Planet Uranus'', 1995; Spring Publications, Woodstock, CT () * '' Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View'', 2006; Viking ()

Articles

* "Uranus and Prometheus" ''Spring'', 1983 psycnet.apa.org * "The Transfiguration of the Western Mind in Philosophy and the Human Future" ''Cross currents'' , 1989, vol. 39, no3, pp. 258–280 Association for Religion and Intellectual Life, New Rochelle, NY * "The Transfiguration of the Western Mind" ''ReVision'', 1990 * "The Masculine Mind" ''Only Connect: Soil, Soul and Society'', 1990 * "The Western Mind at the Threshold," ''The Quest'', Summer 1993 (also published in ''Re-vision'', Vol. 16, 1993) * "The Western World View: Past, Present And Future" in R. E. Di Carlo (Ed.), ''Towards a New World View: Conversations at the Leading Edge.'', 1996 * "The Great Initiation", ''Noetic Sciences Review'', Vol. 47, Winter 1998 * "A new birth in freedom: A (p)review of Jorge Ferrer's Revisioning transpersonal theory: A participatory vision of human spirituality" ''Journal of Transpersonal Psychology'', 2001 * R Tarnas, E Laszlo, S Gablik, "The Cosmic World-How We Participate in Thee and Thou in Us" Revision 2001 * Foreword to ''Revisioning Transpersonal Theory'' by Jorge Ferrer, 2002; SUNY * "Two Suitors: A Parable" ''ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness'' 2007 Heldref Publications * "The modern self and our planetary future: a participatory view" ''symposium De Binnenkant van Duurzaamheid'' 2008 * "The Planets" ''Theoretical Foundations of Archetypal Cosmology'', 2009 - archaijournal.org * "The Ideal and the Real" ''Theoretical Foundations of Archetypal Cosmology'' 2009 * "World Transits 2000–2020" archaijournal.org

Video

About Tarnas

*Sean M. Kelly, "The Rebirth of Wisdom" Review of ''The Passion of the Western Mind'' by Richard Tarnas ''The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal'' pp. 33–4
jstor.org

References

External links

Richard Tarnas
at California Institute of Integral Studies
''Cosmos and Psyche'' website
* California Institute of Integral Studiesbr>graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness
* ttps://www.bachelorandmaster.com/creationofknowledge/postmodern-mind.html Critique of ''The Passion of the Western Mind'', ch. vi, section ''The Postmodern Mind''

Articles and interview

Epilogue to ''The Passion of the Western Mind''
An Interview with Richard Tarnas by Scott London
The Enchanted Universe
Interview by Shelley Ackerman, beliefnet
An Interview with Richard Tarnas
by Ray Grasse Reprinted from The Mountain Astrologer, issue #124, Dec/Jan 2006

from Tarnas' ''Prometheus the Awakener''

by Tarnas

CBC program "Tapestry"
"The Intelligent Universe:
Is Nature Trying To Change Our Minds?" by Alice Klein '' Now Magazine'' April 17–24, 2008 Vol 27 No 33 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarnas, Richard Living people Writers from Detroit American astrologers 21st-century American philosophers 20th-century American philosophers Harvard University alumni 20th-century astrologers 21st-century astrologers University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy alumni American male non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people)