Hi Everyone,
Will Linn here. On May 31st at 5:30 PM beneath the Teaching Tree, I will present on my dissertation, Western Myths of Knowledge, Particles of Stone & Waves of Elixir, which I defended last week to complete my PhD.
The committee included Evans Lansing Smith, chair of the mythological studies and depth psychology MA/PhD at Pacifica Graduate Institute; Keiron le Grice, who chairs the Jungian and archetypal studies emphasis at Pacifica, and Maria Tatar, who chairs the committee on degrees in myth and folklore at Harvard University.
For the last four years I’ve helped put together 22 mythological roundtables and 17 radio episodes. It’s my honor to present, just this time, on the line of thinking that’s meant most to me.
I will begin with the primary Western origin stories of knowledge: (Classical) Prometheus & Pandora, (Abrahamic) Adam & Eve, and (scientific) the birth of Greek philosophy. The second half of the conversation will then follow the continuations of these stories to when Heracles frees Prometheus, Christ frees Adam, and Einstein challenges the first foundation of pre-Socratic thought.
In studying the Classical, Abrahamic, and scientific stories of knowledge, what I’ve found is a consistent meta-narrative between the three. As I will show, each of the knowledge origin stories convey initiations into material limitation and/or the perception of oneself as materially isolated. The continuations of these stories, however, demonstrate a compliment to the perception of matter and self as fundamentally enclosed. What I will show is that Herakles, Christ, and Einstein offer nothing less than a solution to the paradox of one-and-many, or, as Cartesians would say, the subject-object problem.
Join me Sunday the 31st and I will explain how Hebe’s nectar for Herakles, the Holy Grail’s elixir, and Einstein’s photon, demonstrate the form of atonement. There will be significant time for Q&A&Conversation. Craig and I are looking forward to seeing you there!
Wishing well, Will Linn, PhD!
Ojai Foundation Address: 9739 Ojai-Santa Paula Rd. | Ojai, CA | 93023 facebook.com/ojaimyth
The Mythological RoundTable®:
Audio Recording:https://mythosophia.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/western-myths-of-knowledge-with-will-linn-mythological-roundtable-of-ojai-mp3.mp3
Western Myths of Knowledge – Dissertation on Proquest
DISSERTATION ENDORSEMENTS
“You have put together an astonishingly erudite work, one that looks more like the writing of a seasoned scholar rather than a student writing a dissertation. I marveled at your mining of sources, impressed by how you anticipated my queries or elaborations and how you went the last mile to track down relevant materials…I wanted to let you know that your dissertation is about as monumental as it can get, and that you have done more than fulfill the requirements. Congratulations on submitting a work that is thoughtful, challenging, beautifully written, with production values that I rarely see in a doctoral dissertation.”
Maria Tatar, Dissertation Committee External Reader, Harvard Dean of
Humanities and Chair of Committee on Degrees in Myth & Folklore
“Dissertations often make dreadful reading. Yours does not. It’s quite engaging, so I am sure you’ll be able to find a publisher for it. If I were you, I would not spend a year revising it. (I would not say this to most dissertation writers.)”
Ron Grimes, Editor of Oxford Ritual Series, Director of Ritual Studies International, Yale Senior Lecturer
“I am rather thrilled by the originality, depth, and detail of what you have done. It is a brilliant and important synthesis of Classical, Biblical, and Scientific materials.”
Evans Lansing Smith, Dissertation Committee Chair, Pacficia Graduate Institute Chair of M.A / Ph.D. Program in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology
“It’s a hugely impressive piece of work, both in quality and in length! You have a wonderful written voice, scholarly and yet inviting one into the mystery.”
Keiron le Grice, Internal Reader, Pacifica Graduate Institute, Chair of M.A. in
Depth, Jungian and Archetypal Studies