In 1972 William Irwin Thompson founded the Lindisfarne Association as an alternative way for the humanities to develop in a scientific and technical civilization. Lindisfarne became an association of scientists, artists, scholars, and contemplatives devoted to the study and realization of a new planetary culture. Lindisfarne began its activities in Southampton, New York, in 1973, then moved to Manhattan in 1976, and finally in 1979 to Crestone, Colorado, where today the Lindisfarne Fellows House, the Lindisfarne Chapel, and the Lindisfarne Mountain Retreat are under the ownership and management of the Crestone Mountain Zen Center.

In 1997 Thompson retired from the presidency of the Lindisfarne Association; in 2009 the Association disbanded as a formal not-for-profit organization. The Lindisfarne Fellows, however, voted to continue their fellowship as an informal association of creative individuals interested in one another's work.

The Lindisfarne Tapes are selected recordings of presentations and conversations at the Lindisfarne Fellows’ meetings. In March of 2013 William Thompson granted permission to the Schumacher Center for a New Economics to transfer the talks from the old reel-to-reel tapes to digital format so that they could be posted online and shared freely. Thompson passed away in November of 2020.

The Lindisfarne Tapes are available in podcast form via Apple Podcasts here.

For a full account of Lindisfarne, see Thinking Together at the Edge of History: A Memoir of the Lindisfarne Association, 1972-2012 by William Irwin Thompson (2016).

Tapes comprise lectures and commentary by the following speakers (number in parentheses indicates the number in the series as listed below):

Evelyn Ames (E2)
Jose Arguelles (C4)
Lewis Balamuth (D1-D5)
Thomas Banyacya (G4)
Richard Barnet (C6)
Gregory Bateson (C2.II,E11,G9b,G13,G14)
Wendell Berry (G12,II.C1)
Robert Bly (K8)
Murray Bookchin (F4)
Elise Boulding (A7,K1)
Steward Brand (A8)
Scott Burns (F1,K4)
George Cabot Lodge (F2)
Eileen Caddy (K5)
Munisri Chitrabhanu (C8)
David Ehrenfeld (II.G6)

Richard Falk (A10,E3)
Gill Friend (G11)
Hazel Henderson (G9)
Rosabeth Kanter (G8)
Robert Lawlor (J1-J6)
Janet McCloud (G7)
Donella Meadows (F5)
Saul Mendlovitz (A9,C9)
John Michell (IV.A5)
Seyyed Hossein Nasr (K7)
Nechung Rimpoche (G3)
Jacob Needleman (III.E5)
Kathleen Raine (IV.A6)
Tom Robertson (C5)
Jonas Salk (C1)
E. F. Schumacher (A3,K3,K4)
Russell Schweickart (A2,F6,K2)
Eido Tai Shimano Roshi (G1)
Huston Smith (G2)
Gary Snyder (K9)
David Spangler (A6,G4,II.E5)
Barry Stein (G10,K4)
Brother David Steindl-Rast (A5,II.B1,II.C6)
Alice Tepper Marlin (F3,K4)
Lewis Thomas (C10)
William Irwin Thompson (Multiple)
Robert Thurman (II.C3)
John Todd (A4,C3,E3,K4)
Nancy Jack Todd (G5)
Sim Van der Ryn (II.C7)
Francisco Varela (II.C4)
Pir Vilayat Khan (C7)
Sean Wellesley-Miller (C11)

The Lindisfarne tapes are listed here by their original index numbers as assigned by the Lindisfarne Association. Click on the title to listen to the audio at our Archive.org page.

Series A: “Planetary Culture and the New Image of Humanity”
Series B: “Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World”
Series C: “Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness”
Series D: “Explorations of the Exoteric / Esoteric Interface”
Series E: “Other Talks”
Series F: “Economics and the Moral Order”
Series G: “A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization”
Series H: “The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light”
Series J: “Ancient Geometry as a Metaphysical Language”
Series K: “Fellow’s Lecture Series”
Series L: “Prophecy and Revolution: Five Lectures on the Old Testament”
Series II.B: “Art and the Sacred”
Series II.C: “The Cultural Contradictions of Power”
Series II.E: “Fellows Lectures”
Series II.G: “The Land: Its Ecological Development and Its Economic Understanding”
Series III.E:  “Colloquium on Ancient Knowledge”
Series IV.A: “Guest Lectures at Lindisfarne”

Series A: “Planetary Culture and the New Image of Humanity” (Summer Conference 1974)

Much of the material for Earth’s Answer was taken from this conference.

Tape A-1:  William Irwin Thompson  (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974) The founder of Lindisfarne gives the introductory talk on the re-visioning of art, science, and religion for a new planetary culture and a new image of humanity.

Tape A-2:  Russell Schweickart  (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974) A camera malfunctions in space. The astronaut has an unscheduled moment to look back at his home planet in contemplation. The result is a profound change in consciousness, identification with the whole planet Earth.

Tape A-3:  E. F. Schumacher  (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974) The author of Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered and A Guide for the Perplexed explores the metaphysical and theological roots of decentralist economics and right livelihood.

Tape A-4:  John Todd  (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974) A farmer/scientist relates the experiences that formed the New Alchemy Institute and describes some projects in intensive aquaculture and agriculture using wind and solar energy. The rediscovery of a sense of place.

Tape A-5:  Brother David Steindl-Rast (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974) This talk by a Benedictine Brother on the realization of the monk in each of us redresses the balance between purpose and meaning in life and seeks to reveal how “every human being is a special kind of mystic.”

Tape A-6:  David Spangler (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974) A contemporary esoteric thinker tells his own story leading to his association with the Findhorn community and discusses the meaning of Findhorn’s experience.

Tape A-7:  Elise Boulding (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974) The author of The Underside of History provides a historical perspective on women in community and gives her appraisal of the future success of new communities.

Tape A-8:  Steward Brand (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974) The editor of The Whole Earth Catalog and CoEvolution Quarterly leads a lively discussion, joined by most of the conference speakers.

Tape A-9:  Saul Mendlovitz (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974) A Director of the Institute for World Order introduces his remarks with an “Elitist profile” of the conference’s issues and explains how this commitment is at the root of his interest in alternative economic and political communities.

Tape A-10:  Richard Falk (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974) The author of This Endangered Planet and Professor of International Law at Princeton outlines our basic global choices.

Tape A-11:  William Irwin Thompson (Planetary Culture and New Image of Humanity, Summer Conference 1974)

This talk summarizes the conference’s main themes, especially decentralization (of culture) and planetization (of humanity), both of which are presently challenged by the crisis in industrial civilization.

Series B:  “Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World” (February – May, 1975)

This course of lectures examines the shift from traditional agricultural civilization to the modern industrial nation-state system as seen in the cultural history of 18th, 19th, and 20th century Great Britain.

The purpose of the series is to work towards an understanding of the newly emerging planetary culture with a heightened awareness of our spiritual identity and the possibilities now present for conscious human cultural evolution.

Tape B-1:  William Irwin Thompson. Historical Causation and Mythical Consciousness (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #1) On the consciousness of history, historical change, and ideas about historical causation.

Tape B-2:  William Irwin Thompson. The Enclosure Acts and the Sociology of Knowledge (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #2) The conflict of values and the way in which even a scientific approach to history can be turned into a weapon.

Tape B-3:  William Irwin Thompson. Castle Rackrent and the Failure of the Feudal Order (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #3) A discussion of Maria Edgeworth’s novel Castle Rackrent as it expresses the transition from an agricultural to an industrial world view.

Tape B-4:  William Irwin Thompson. Nature and the Individual in Wordsworth’s "The Prelude" (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #4) A discussion of Wordsworth’s autobiographical poem The Prelude as it shows the relationship between the growth of consciousness and the consciousness of nature.

Tape B-5:  William Irwin Thompson. William Carleton: The Peasant and Pre-Industrial Man (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #5) Violence and the landscape of terror in pre-famine Ireland.

Tape B-6:  William Irwin Thompson. The Irish Famine: From Folk to Interchangeable Parts (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #6) The Irish Famine as an example of the origin of triage in the modern world; a study of the shift from a religious to an economic view of human society.

Tape B-7:  William Irwin Thompson. The Great Exhibition of 1851 (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #7)  On the consciousness of history and the history of consciousness.

Tape B-8:  William Irwin Thompson. Charles Dickens’ Hard Times: The Circus and the Factory (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #8)  

Tape B-9:  William Irwin Thompson. Sex and Repression in Victorian Society (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #9) 

Tape B-10:  William Irwin Thompson. A Discussion of John Millington Synge’s "The Playboy of the Western World" (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #10) 

Tape B-11:  William Irwin Thompson. Irish Political Messianism (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #11)  A discussion of the messiah.

Tape B-12:  Yeats’ Apocalyptic "A Vision" (Industrialization and the Emergence of the Modern World, Lecture #12)  The poetry and philosophy of W.B. Yeats.

Series C: “Summer Conference 1975”

Much of the material for Earth’s Answer was taken from this conference.

Tape C-1:  Jonas Salk (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) The author of The Survival of the Wisest opens the conference with a talk proposing that humanity’s becoming conscious of the evolutionary process implies the ability to develop strategies to avoid catastrophe and determine the future.

Tape C-2:  Gregory Bateson (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) Bateson challenges the relationship between “consciousness” and “evolution” and suggests what it might mean to “learn to think in a new way.”

Tape C-3:  John Todd (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) Concerned with the ecological and political crisis before us, Todd explores the actual relationship between science and society as well as the possibilities for a new paradigm in science, viz. “new alchemy.”

Tape C-4:  Jose Arguelles (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) Arguelles, the author of Mandala and The Transformative Vision, identifies an interplay between two aspects of being—psyche and techne—throughout the history of art.

Tape C-5:  Tom Robertson (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) According to studies done by the Energy Center, University of Florida, under Howard T. Odum: 1. Industrial civilization is just about out of gas, and 2. Someone has concealed the fuel gauge.

Tape C-6: Richard Barnet (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) The author of Global Reach: The Impact of the Multinationals and Co-director of the Institute for Policy Studies compares the simplicity of corporate goals and centralization with the complexity of social goals and interdependence.

Tape C-7:  Pir Vilayat Khan (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) The leader of the Sufi Chisthi order and author of Towards the One reflects upon the advances in consciousness in our time as the spearhead of spiritual evolution. “According to the Sufi, man’s purpose on earth is to make God a reality.”

Tape C-8:  Munisri Chitrabhanu (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) The first Jain monk to establish a teaching center in the West gives an account of his religious philosophy and discusses the practice of voluntary simplicity in relation to a “limits to growth” perspective.

Tape C-9:  Saul Mendlovitz (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) The Director of the World Order Models Project for the Institute for World Order proposes the establishment of a globalist populist world-order platform and a “right to food” campaign for elections in the ‘80s.

Tape C-10:  Lewis Thomas (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) The author of Lives of a Cell discusses his view that the processes of illness may shed some light on evolution and the nature of consciousness.

Tape C-11:  Sean Wellesley-Miller (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) An architect/ mathematician/ designer reconceives architecture in the image of the bioshelter. The house, no longer the end point of consumption, becomes a domesticated, productive ecosystem.

Tape C-12:  William Irwin Thompson (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) In this wrap-up talk, Thompson invokes the Imagination and a re-structuring of consciousness to reveal a synthesis of the conference themes into a new integral world view and a paean to Gregory Bateson.

Tape C-13:  “In opposition is true friendship” (Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness, Summer Conference 1975, New York) These tapes contain some of the best moments of the conference, excerpted from discussions between speakers.

Series D: “Explorations of the Exoteric / Esoteric Interface” (Winter, 1976)

A connected series of explorations by Dr. Lewis Balamuth, an artist / scientist and Fellow of Lindisfarne, into the esoteric / exoteric character of Living Being Earth.  Special emphasis is given to Earth’s principal transformer of incoming outer influences – the biosphere.

(Editor’s note: the lectures mention supplementary visuals that did not accompany the archived tapes)

Tape D-1:  Dr. Lewis Balamuth (Explorations of the Exoteric/Esoteric Interface, Course Series by Dr. Lewis Balamuth, Winter 1976) Time: An elaboration of a unique spectrum of mechanical periodic motions exhibited in circular mandalic form. The periodic view of time is shown to provide a natural link between the temporal and the eternal. Symbolism is presented as a useful aid.

Tape D-2:  Dr. Lewis Balamuth (Explorations of the Exoteric/Esoteric Interface, Course Series by Dr. Lewis Balamuth, Winter 1976) Living Earth – The Supreme Inventor: As supreme inventor, Living Earth has made available to humanity a host of fantastic inventions, whose practical use has been “life-tested” for time spans of thousands to millions of years. The direct realization of this can open one’s sensitivity and understanding to new directions of thought, feeling and action.

Tape D-3:  Dr. Lewis Balamuth (Explorations of the Exoteric/Esoteric Interface, Course Series by Dr. Lewis Balamuth, Winter 1976) Populations, Polarities and Holons: The views presented in this tape are isomorphic with the idea of dualistic monism as exhibited in the ancient traditions of Shinto and Tao in Japan and China. Spatial entities are looked at hierarchically following Koestler’s invented word “holon.” An example is given showing that from a hierarchical view the states of order and disorder are two aspects of the same thing.

Tape D-4:  Dr. Lewis Balamuth (Explorations of the Exoteric/Esoteric Interface, Course Series by Dr. Lewis Balamuth, Winter 1976) The Quality of Number as an Archetype: Carl Jung wrote: “Number is the archetype of order which has become conscious.” The lecturer’s personal experiences of number as quality are set forth to show how number can provide an expansion of consciousness about the nature of things.

Tape D-5:  Dr. Lewis Balamuth (Explorations of the Exoteric/Esoteric Interface, Course Series by Dr. Lewis Balamuth, Winter 1976) Symbolism and the Lindisfarne Cosmic Harp:  The Cosmic Harp (once located at Lindisfarne in Southampton) is a synchronicity arising from the lecturer’s researches into the connections between the hexagrams of the I Ching and the Enneagram symbol which was brought to the West from the Middle East by G.I. Gurdjieff. The tape discloses how the Cosmic Harp came into existence and, in addition, offers some insight into the value of symbolism.

Series E: Other talks

Tape E-1:  William Irwin Thompson “The Decline of International Civilization and the Rise of the New Planetary Culture.” Address given at a conference entitled “Spiritual Communities for a Planetary Culture” held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, March, 1974.

Tape E-2:  Evelyn Ames The author of In Time Like Glass and A Glimpse of Eden talks about “The Feminine Principle.”

Tape E-3:  John Todd, Richard Falk John Todd, a founder of the New Alchemy Institute, and Richard Falk, author of This Endangered Planet, discuss global famine.

Series F:  “Economics and the Moral Order” (Meeting of the Fellows 1976)

(Publisher’s note: The given descriptions do not represent the full range of material covered.  In most cases the discussion ranged through the whole group and touched on many questions.)

Tape F-1:  Scott Burns (Economics and the Moral Order, Spring 1976/Fellows Meeting, New York) The author of Home, Inc., speaks on the “hidden wealth and power” of the household, a segment of the economy which is not reflected in the GNP.

Tape F-2:  George Cabot Lodge (Economics and the Moral Order, Spring 1976/Fellows Meeting, New York) A Professor of Economics at the Harvard Business School and the author of The New American Ideology considers whether or not a bridge can be built between the new communitarian reality and the old institutions.

Tape F-3:  Alice Tepper Marlin (Economics and the Moral Order, Spring 1976/Fellows Meeting, New York) The President of the Council on Economic Priorities has been able to influence big business by showing that community interests don’t necessarily threaten corporate profitability, and in this presentation she explains her methodology and strategies.

Tape F-4a:  Murray Bookchin, pt.1 (Economics and the Moral Order, Spring 1976/Fellows Meeting, New York) The author of Post-Scarcity Anarchism argues that the anti-ecological nature of our society is built into its deep structure and therefore only fundamental change is worth talking about. Comment by Stewart Brand and responses from almost everyone in the group.

Tape F-4b:  Murray Bookchin, pt.2 (Economics and the Moral Order, Spring 1976/Fellows Meeting, New York) The author of Post-Scarcity Anarchism argues that the anti-ecological nature of our society is built into its deep structure and therefore only fundamental change is worth talking about. Comment by Stewart Brand and responses from almost everyone in the group.

Tape F-5a:  Donella Meadows, pt.1 (Economics and the Moral Order, Spring 1976/Fellows Meeting, New York) The co-author of Limits to Growth talks about some of the contradictory priorities and assumptions about reality which underlie and confuse policy making. Comments by Saul Mendlovitz and William Irwin Thompson, general discussion.

Tape F-5b:  Donella Meadows, pt.2 (Economics and the Moral Order, Spring 1976/Fellows Meeting, New York) The co-author of Limits to Growth talks about some of the contradictory priorities and assumptions about reality which underlie and confuse policy making. Comments by Saul Mendlovitz and William Irwin Thompson, general discussion.

Tape F-6a:  Russell Schweickart, pt.1 (Economics and the Moral Order, Spring 1976/Fellows Meeting, New York) Lindisfarne’s astronaut compares space colonies with spiritual communities as vehicles of planetary consciousness. Comment by Dennis Meadows, followed by a free-for-all.

Tape F6b:  Russell Schweickart, pt.2 (Economics and the Moral Order, Spring 1976/Fellows Meeting, New York) Lindisfarne’s astronaut compares space colonies with spiritual communities as vehicles of planetary consciousness. Comment by Dennis Meadows, followed by a free-for-all.

Series G:  “A Light Governance for America: The cultures and Strategies of Decentralization” (Summer Conference 1976)

Tape G-1:  Eido Tai Shimano Roshi (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) The abbot of Dai Bosatsu Monastery and the New York Zendo speaks on the significance of the transmission of Buddhism to the West and on some of the problems that arise, e.g., the attempt to combine full-time practice with family life.

Tape G-2:  Huston Smith (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) The author of The Religions of Man and exponent of the path of discernment discusses some of the revealing differences between various movements within the new religious consciousness. Comment by David Spangler, general discussion.

Tape G-3:  Nechung Rimpoche (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) The Grand Lama of Nechung Monastery speaks of the development of compassion based on the Buddhist Path of Enlightenment. This tape retains the Tibetan spoken by the Rimpoche, vigorously translated by Robert Thurman, Professor of Religion at Amherst College and the translator of The Holy Teachings of Vimilakirti.

Tape G-4:  Thomas Banyacya (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) The spokesman for the Elders of the Hopi describes his people’s prophecy and way of life. Revealing some of the “signs of the times” which guide the Hopi in the present epoch, Banyacya relates this to other great spiritual traditions.

Tape G-5:  Nancy Jack Todd (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) The editor of the New Alchemy Journal speaks on the role of women in cultural change. Comment by Barry Stein.

Tape G-6:  David Spangler (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) The author of Revelation: The Birth of a New Age speaks on the synthesis and transformation of science and religion in the new age. Comment by Tyrone Cashman.

Tape G-7:  Janet McCloud (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) A Seattle Indian describes the struggle of her people to re-establish their traditional ways of harmony and balance despite oppression by modern white society.

Tape G-8:  Rosabeth Kanter (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) The author of Community and Commitment analyzes the factors that make a difference between success and failure in alternative communities. Comment by Hazel Henderson, author of Creating Alternative Futures and The Politics of the Solar Age.

Tape G-9a:  Hazel Henderson (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) An independent economist and futurist makes an appeal to “sweep away the conceptual wreckage of the receding industrial age” and to view the current climate of economic uncertainty as an opportunity to find truly original solutions. Comment by Gregory Bateson.

Tape G-9b:  Gregory Bateson & Hazel Henderson (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) Bateson and Henderson share the podium in a group discussion about the cultural and epistemological consequences of economic manipulation, terminology, and values.

Tape G-10:  Barry Stein (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) The author of Size, Efficiency and Community Enterprises proposes a process of decentralization from the “top down,” a scenario made possible by the actual dis-economics of multinational corporations. Comment by Nancy Jack Todd.

Tape G-11:  Gill Friend (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) The former Co-Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Washington, D.C., relates some of the strategies and problems involved in helping urban people gain control in their communities. Comment by Sim Van der Ryn, founder of The Farallones Institute.

Tape G-12:  Wendell Berry (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) A farmer/poet/essayist traces the effects of “divisions branching out from the division between the body and soul” in the household and in the farm community where he lives. Berry is the author of The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture; Farming: A Handbook; and A Continuous Harmony. Comment by Lois Bateson, general discussion.

Tape G-13:  Gregory Bateson (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) Tape 1, Lecture: “How we know what we know” is the theme of this presentation, which weaves together anecdotes, illustrations, and stories from a very wide field of experience. One tape of lecture and one tape of general discussion.

Tape G-14:  Gregory Bateson (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) Tape 2, General Discussion: “How we know what we know” is the theme of this presentation, which weaves together anecdotes, illustrations, and stories from a very wide field of experience. One tape of lecture and one tape of general discussion.

Tape G-15:  William Irwin Thompson (A Light Governance for America: The Cultures and Strategies of Decentralization, Annual Summer Conference 1976, New York) The closing talk consists of observations on the short-term future of thinking and knowledge with special attention to the speaker’s concept of “hieroglyphic thought.”

Series H: “The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light” (Lectures by William Irwin Thompson)

Lectures on mythology, sexuality, and the evolution of culture.

Tape H-1:  William Irwin Thompson. The Transformations of Human Culture: An Overview (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #1) A discussion of six major cultural transformations: I. The Hominization of the Primates; II. Symbolization and the Origins of Art in the Upper Paleolithic; III. Agriculturalization and the Shift from Hunting and Gathering; IV. Civilization and the Rise of Cities in Ancient Sumer; V. Industrialization: The Shift from Agricultural Civilizations; VI. Planetization: The Shift from Warring Industrial Nation-States to a New World Order.

Tape H-2:  William Irwin Thompson. The Time Light Bodies Took to Fall (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #2) An examination of myths of the Fall and the origins of humanity in various cultures.

Tape H-3:  William Irwin Thompson. The Development of Evolutionary Thought (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #3) A look at the development of the theory of evolution in the 18th and 19th centuries and a contrast of myth and natural history as views of human existence.

Tape H-4:  William Irwin Thompson. Primates and Proto-Culture (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #4) A look at the ethological studies of Jane van Lawick-Goodall and a conjecture about the origins of human sexual behavior and the beginnings of human culture.

Tape H-5:  William Irwin Thompson. The Evolution of Language (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #5) An examination of the debate between the behaviorists and the rationalists on the origins of language. Includes a discussion of the case for language in chimpanzees.

Tape H-6:  William Irwin Thompson. Symbolization: The Origins of Notation (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #6) An examination of the theories of Alexander Marshack in his Roots of Civilization.

Tape H-7:  William Irwin Thompson. Iconography and Mythology in Paleolithic Cave Art (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #7) A discussion of the theories of Andre Leroi-Gourhan in his Prehistorie de l’art occidentale.

Tape H-8:  William Irwin Thompson. Civilization and the Displacement of the Feminine (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #8) The shift away from the Neolithic agricultural Great Mother Goddess to the organizational male deities, Eulil and Enki, in the mythology of ancient Sumer.

Tape H-9:  William Irwin Thompson. Man and the City: Gilgamesh and Uruk (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #9) An analysis of the Gilgamesh epic.

Tape H-10:  William Irwin Thompson. Isis and Osiris: Sacred Marriage and the City of Gods (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #10) An analysis of the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris.

Tape H-11:  William Irwin Thompson. Quetzalcoatl and Quetzalpetatl: Sacred Marriage and the City of Gods (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #11) An analysis of the ancient Mexican myth and the theories of Laurette Sejourne.

Tape H-12:  William Irwin Thompson. The Slaying of the Great Mother and the Construction of the Modern World (The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Lectures on mythology, sexuality and the evolution of culture, #12) An analysis of the Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma Elish, and a comparison with the mythological patterns underlying Aeschylus’ Oresteia.

Series J:  “Ancient Geometry as Metaphysical Language” (Lectures by Robert Lawlor)

Tape J-1:  Robert Lawlor (Ancient Geometry as a Metaphysical Language, #1) Number: Nothing can be known without Number. It underlies all experience and appearance, both quantitatively as counting and qualitatively as relationship, function, and metaphysical principle. As such, it corresponds to a precise intellectual capacity called “the intelligence of the heart,” which Pythagorean teaching strives to cultivate in its studies of geometry and harmony. This lecture introduces these principles.

Tape J-2:  Robert Lawlor (Ancient Geometry as a Metaphysical Language, #2) The Anthropocosm: “We have nothing to discover outside ourselves.” In the Anthropocosmic view, man is not a part of the whole but is the whole in its living expression. Thus the earth is a particular function and quality contained in the potentialities of Man, while Man—that is, Cosmic Man—is himself the universe. This lectures discusses the implications of this fundamental esoteric view.

Tape J-3:  Robert Lawlor (Ancient Geometry as a Metaphysical Language, #3) Function and the Idea of Unity: “The number One is definable only through the number Two. It is the multiplicity which reveals the unity.” The entire creative effort of Pythagorean thought is aimed at holding the mind poised between unity and multiplicity. The idea of numbers as functions—eternal cosmic activities that emerge in the division of the original unity and are imprinted at all levels of Universal Nature —enables the geometer to do this.

Tape J-4:  Robert Lawlor (Ancient Geometry as a Metaphysical Language, #4) Phi, the Golden Section: “In the beginning was the Word.” Phi is the mystic number, the logos, the only “true” proportion that binds two extremes in a simultaneous unity. It is the irrational, indivisible bond, which Plato called Love, that holds Creator and Creation together in time and space. This lecture discusses the metaphysics of this function and its ubiquity in geometry, music, art, and nature.

Tape J-5:  Robert Lawlor (Ancient Geometry as a Metaphysical Language, #5) The Medietes: This lecture deals with the science and metaphysics of proportionality, whereby, through meditation and the play of differences, unity is brought into multiplicity and the universe is made One. Arithmetic, geometric, and harmonic proportions and progressions are introduced, and with them ideas of inversion, alternation, and crossing are developed. Finally, the metaphysical background is explored, particularly with reference to the Acts of John.

Tape J-6:  Robert Lawlor (Ancient Geometry as a Metaphysical Language, #6) Transformation: In this final lecture the significance of “transformation” as the most essential reality is discussed in terms of the Egyptian ideas of reincarnation. Concepts such as number, function, space, mass, and time are reviewed within the context of the play of opposites and the process of form embodying and reflecting the One.

Series K: “Fellow’s Lecture Series” (Lindisfarne in Manhattan 1976/1977)

Tape K-1:  Elise Boulding (Lindisfarne in Manhattan 1976/1977, Fellows’ Lecture Series) As an activist and sociologist Boulding discusses her quandary: How to work toward the elimination of world famine without succumbing to intervention strategies and crisis mentality. The reliance on literacy, she points out, is responsible for the loss of folk contingency plans and cyclic views of history.

Tape K-2:  Russell Schweickart (Lindisfarne in Manhattan 1976/1977, Fellows’ Lecture Series) The Apollo 9 astronaut describes his current work for NASA on the Space Shuttle and its potential role in establishing viable space colonies.

Tape K-3:  E. F. Schumacher (Fellows Lectures, New York City) The author of Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered suggests how one might begin the transition from violent to non-violent technology, from chemical to biological agricultural methods, from cleverness to wisdom.

Tape K-4a:  E. F. Schumacher Panel with William Irwin Thompson, Barry Stein, Alice Tepper Marlin, Scott Burns, John Todd, and E. F. Schumacher #1 (Lindisfarne in Manhattan 1976/1977, Fellows’ Lecture Series) Each member of this panel is putting the ideas of Dr. Schumacher into practice in a different way. Their discussion focuses on the progress they’ve made and the problems that remain.

Tape K-4b:  E. F. Schumacher Panel with William Irwin Thompson, Barry Stein, Alice Tepper Marlin, Scott Burns, John Todd, and E. F. Schumacher #2 (Lindisfarne in Manhattan 1976/1977, Fellows’ Lecture Series) Each member of this panel is putting the ideas of Dr. Schumacher into practice in a different way. Their discussion focuses on the progress they’ve made and the problems that remain.

Tape K-5:  Eileen Caddy (Lindisfarne in Manhattan 1976/1977, Fellows’ Lecture Series) The co-founder of the Findhorn community offers insights into the feminine and relates her personal efforts to create a balanced dance between Light and Love.

Tape K-6:  Ernest McClain (Currently Unavailable)

Tape K-7:  Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Guest Lecture Series, Lindisfarne in Manhattan 1976/1977) The Director of the Imperial Iranian academy and author of The Encounter Between Man and Nature and Science and Civilization in Islam speaks on “The Metaphysical and Cosmological Roots of the Ecological Crisis.”

Tape K-8a:  Robert Bly (Guest Lecture Series, Lindisfarne in Manhattan 1976/1977) The author of the National Book Award winner, The Light Around the Body, recites, sings, and extemporizes around his own poems and his translations of Mirabai and Kabir, ecstatic religious poets of India.  Recorded on 4/23/1977

Tape K-8b:  Robert Bly (Guest Lecture Series, Lindisfarne in Manhattan 1976/1977) The poet explores a man’s journey from the depths of the unconscious to the light of conscious awareness, presenting his own poems and the poems of others.

Tape K-9:  Gary Snyder (Guest Lecture Series, Lindisfarne in Manhattan 1976/1977) The author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Turtle Island reads from his work to illustrate the way in which he is currently thinking about poetry.

Series L: “Prophecy and Revolution: Five Lectures on the Old Testament” (Lectures by William Irwin Thompson)

Tape L-1:  William Irwin Thompson. The Fall and the Rejection of Eden (Prophecy and Revolution: Five Lectures on the Old Testament, #1) An examination of the myth of the Fall as a description of the nature of consciousness.

Tape L-2:  William Irwin Thompson. Abraham and the Rejection of Civilization (Prophecy and Revolution: Five Lectures on the Old Testament, #2) A study of Genesis’s denunciation of urban civilization.

Tape L-3:  William Irwin Thompson. Exodus as Revolution (Prophecy and Revolution: Five Lectures on the Old Testament, #3) A study of Moses in terms of the anthropological model of the nativistic movement.

Tape L-4:  William Irwin Thompson. Religion and Social Change: From Tent to Temple (Prophecy and Revolution: Five Lectures on the Old Testament, #4) The crisis in values as Israel shifts from pastoral to urban civilization as reflected in I and II Samuel and I Kings.

Tape L-5:  William Irwin Thompson. Amos and Pastoral Revitalization (Prophecy and Revolution: Five Lectures on the Old Testament, #5) A study of prophetic movements as a return to traditional pastoral values.

Series II.B:  “Art and the Sacred” (Summer 1977 / Fellows Meeting, Southampton, New York)

Tape II.B-1:  Brother David Steindl-Rast (Art and the Sacred, Summer 1977/Fellows Meeting, New York) Brother David offers an existential account of the relationship between art and the sacred. A lively discussion follows, exploring the dark or chaotic dimension of art and God, including contributions from poets Robert Bly and Wendell Berry.

Series II.C:  “The Cultural Contradictions of Power” (Summer 1978 / Fellows Meeting, New York City)

Tape II.C-1:  Wendell Berry (The Cultural Contradictions of Power, Summer 1978 Fellows’ Meeting, New York City) In a discussion about language and culture, the author of The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, argues that the deterioration of language into vague technocratic abstractions is directly responsible for our present moral, ecological, and political ills.

Tape II.C-3:  Robert Thurman (The Cultural Contradictions of Power, Summer 1978 Fellows’ Meeting, New York City) Speaking to “The Politics of Enlightenment” Thurman, the translator of The Holy Teachings of Vimilakirti, discusses the potential political impact of a teaching like Buddhism, drawing upon examples of early Oriental history.

Tape II.C-4:  Francisco Varela (The Cultural Contradictions of Power, Summer 1978 Fellows’ Meeting, New York City) A biologist at the National University of Chile and author of Principles of Cognition relates his personal experience during the Civil War in Chile to his personal conviction that “epistemology does matter.”

Tape II.C-6:  Brother David Steindl-Rast (Fellows’ Lectures, New York City) Focusing on “Contemplative Values in a Technological Society,” Brother David gives new insights on the meaning of “praxis” and “theoria,” erudition and knowledge, and the sphere of the heart in our everyday lives.

Tape II.C-7:  Sim Van der Ryn (The Cultural Contradictions of Power, Summer 1978 Fellows’ Meeting, New York City) The author of The Toilet Papers and former architect for the State of California narrates his personal journey from activism at People’s Park in Berkeley to politics at the State Capitol. Power, he suggests, ultimately belongs to the individual and not the politician.

Series II.E  “Fellows Lectures” (New York City)

Tape II.E-8:  David Spangler. Mystery Schools ’76 (Fellows’ Lectures, New York City) The author of Revelation: The Birth of a New Age clarifies the traditional function of the Mystery School as a vehicle for the individual to encounter the sacred. The re-emergence of the Mystery Schools in the twentieth century, he believes, is the seed for cultural transformation.

Tape II.E-11:  Gregory Bateson (Fellows’ Lectures, New York City) In the lecture “Education and/or Learning,” an anthropologist and former Member of the Board of Regents of the University of California addresses life, learning, and the transmission of knowledge and asks, “How are we to slice it up in a way that we can think about it?”

Series II.G:  “The Land: Its Ecological Development and Its Economic Understanding” (Fall 1982 / Fellows Meeting, Creestone, CO)

Tape II.G-6:  David Ehrenfeld (The Land: Its Ecological Development and Its Economic Understanding, Fall 1982 Fellows’ Meeting, Crestone, Colorado) The author of The Arrogance of Humanism considers the teaching of stewardship implicit in Judaism. Since Jewish Law originally dictated to generations of a land-based community, he explains, it provided a forceful and specific ecological wisdom and ethic of land management from which we might gain insight at present. Comment by Brother David Steindl-Rast, author of A Listening Heart.

Series III.E:  “Colloquium on Ancient Knowledge” (1977-1978  New York City)

Scholars from around the country were invited by the Lindisfarne Association in 1977 1978 to give lectures pertinent to an understanding of Ancient Wisdom Traditions, both as a study of their historical and metaphysical roots and their application in modern life.

Tape III.E-5:  Jacob Needleman (Colloquium on Ancient Knowledge, New York City, ’77-’78) In “The Search for a Spiritual Guide,” the author of Lost Christianity considers how a spiritual teaching reaches out to modern man as an ontological event. “A teacher is the manifestation of the metaphysical principles of cosmic reality.”

Series IV.A:  “Guest Lectures at Lindisfarne”

Tape IV.A-5:  John Michell (Guest Lectures at Lindisfarne) The author of The View Over Atlantis and The City of Revelation interprets the ancient temple as a cosmological, metaphysical, and social image of civilization capable of attracting cosmic forces according to harmonious proportion. He examines the geometry and the construction methods of the temple along with the rituals and natural environment appropriate to it.

Tape IV.A-6:  Kathleen Raine (Guest Lectures at Lindisfarne) The author of many highly respected studies on the work of William Blake discusses “The City in William Blake.” He saw the city as the tragic and terrible scene of human struggle and suffering, of good and evil, of the heavens and hells of human experience.”