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Monday, August 17, 2020

James Heffernan on Mike Gathers

Saturday I posted a brief review of James  Heffernan's book on the Eight Circuit model, Nonlocal Nature: The Eight Circuits of Consciousness.  After it ran, James got in touch with me on Facebook, and I suggested he write something about Mike Gathers' Maybe Day piece on the Eight Circuit model, "Freud, Jung and a Platypus Get an MRI," PDF here. 

James then read Mike's piece and wrote comments on the original Maybe Day blog post of July 23; here are his comments:

I just read Mike Gathers' microbook done in commemoration of Maybe Day -- Freud, Jung, And A Platypus Get an MRI, and I must say I think it was lovely!

I have never read a treatment of the Eight Circuit Model that so deftly interweaves Freud, Jung and contemporary neuroscience. Just for the neuroscience alone I was grateful, but in illustrating the interleaving facets of the work of various pioneers, as well as modern science, I was spellbound. The commentary about the wiring of the brain and the complexity of imprinting -- and how it does not always take place instantly -- is fascinating.

One element that particularly stood out for me was the question of why RAW did not continue his application of Freud to the third circuit in Prometheus Rising. He equates the first circuit with the oral stage, the second circuit with the anal stage and... why did he not correlate the third circuit with the phallic stage, when the correspondence is so congruent?

I hope to see some more of Mr. Gathers' ideas in the future -- they're marvelous!

10/10

James has a website and you can also find him on Facebook. 


1 comment:

quackenbush said...

Thank you, Tom, for initiating this and thank you, James, for the feedback. I am glad that folks are appreciating the book.