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Initiations in the Abyss: A Surrealist Apocalypse
In this collection of prints and an extensive essay, the author connects his work to his world view, commenting on religion, myth, history, psychology, and the meaning of life.
140 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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December 3, 2022
I checked this out to look at the art and normally I would not count an art book toward my challenge, but I read the whole introduction which took me 2 days because it was like 60 pages of big art book sized pages so I decided it counts.
Generally, the type of thinking espoused in this book is “not my jam”. I had a psychedelic phase of being very into ~spirituality~ and frying my poor developing brain under the guise of enlightenment. I even went to Bodh Gaya twice! I just associate this kind of thing as its practiced in the west with unsavory vibes, I probably don’t need to lay it out because most people reading this get what I mean. I’m not against it but I’ve never been into astrology or crystals and all that which is extremely popular these days. There are many things in this book that I believe to be true, but then I fear in the next paragraph he’s going to start going on about decalcifying my pineal gland. (For the record, Harper never talks about pineal glands).
But reading this I was like, ok, there are ideas that I can entertain that are just presented with a different aesthetic. When Harper is talking about the excess karmic energy that is diffused and released in war it’s not that different from Bataille’s accursed share. When I say a demon taught us how to make the atomic bomb, I don’t necessarily mean that literally, but am trying to make legible something so mind bendingly abhorrent, forbidden knowledge that should’ve remained unknown. It doesn’t matter if it’s true in a specific literal sense because it is true in its spirit. So even though this is just an essay of a guy going off on his opinions on Jung and every major spiritual tradition and the chakras, I tried to be open minded and take what is useful.
I am in complete agreement that there is a deep seated malaise in our time. Harper points out that apocalyptic thinking is nothing new, and that every age has been convinced that the end is near. I know that’s true, and that it’s almost narcissistic to think that now is worse than it's ever been. But I still think he’s right that we are “suffering from left-brain hypertrophy” (37), privileging order and literalism over feeling and chaos. We must integrate both sides! Harper asks, ““has Christianity, in abandoning imagination for literalism, lost its soul?” 20.The 2022 State of Theology stats were released while I was reading this, and I’d say the answer to this question is a resounding Yes. Evangelicals agreed with statements that are downright heretical, but care deeply about moral “sins” like abortion and gay marrage etc. They’ve totally lost the plot here in our very religious nation. Huge L for christianity
I really like the idea that self-knowldge isn’t about just self-helping your way or therapizing your way into being the best version of yourself, but to ultimately transcend your ego and identify with the universal divine, which is to see god in everything. Ultimate self-knowledge is to commune with nature and also other people if you can see the spirit of all things. It’s similar to animism or even, as the book says, earlier ideas of Christianity where you see God in all things. Getting to a point where harming others (as in other people, other creatures) constitutes harming yourself.
I got confused at one point when he outlined the difference between spirit and soul. Spirit is used in this portion to represent the Masculine Order Analytical and Soul is used to represent Feminine Chaos Feeling. This was very confusing to me because previously in the essay spirit had meant the latter and words like material etc were used for the former.
There is a paragraph on memes that reads hilariously today. This book is 20 years old, so of course he means “meme” in the Richard Dawkins sense (which is ultimately still the same as how we use it), but it’s soooo funny to read lines like “we need to purge our mind of negative memes” and then he starts talking about 9/11 or something.
There were many things I ultimately disagreed with. Harper really believes in the power of Great Men (and women), like saints and prophets and famous artists etc. People like Ghandi, Da Vinci, etc. Because he believes in reincarnation, he thinks that these people have achieved such greatness in their lifetimes because they had practiced in their previous lives. Harper believes that artists and musicians with great talent are conduits for interpreting the collective unconscious, much like a prophet is to the word of god. I’m not against the idea of reincarnation, and not against the idea that some people have divine gifts. One time I went to a Beyonce concert and was so amazed that I thought there had to be something divine going on here, because there is no way someone could be so perfectly born to do what she does by just luck and chance. However, Harper believes that we need a messiah-like figure to arise and elevate the earth’s consciousness. Placing all the hope in one or few figures seems to go against the earlier ideas of the way to higher consciousness being recognizing the self in others until we realize that when we harm others, we harm ourselves because we are all one etc etc. I just don’t get how everything can be about collectivity and the whole globe, heck the whole universe as one grand entity, and then think that all that power needs to be concentrated in one single puny HUMAN individual to bring it to fruition.
The other problem with this nebulous blending of all worldviews and religions and avoiding of taking sides is that you ultimately end up nowhere. Harper spills all this ink on how the Christian right props up Israel because they think it;s going to hasten the coming of the antichrist, how cruel and harmful Israeli settlements are, then at the end of all that says that Palestinians have a “narcissistic attachment to being Israel's victim” (40). ?????? I guess my issue with new agey stuff is that it is so nebulous that it ultimately leads to being both sidesy and not taking stances. And the nebulousness can lead to some bad shit like the hippie Qanon pipeline. This nothingburger comes up again when he talks about the US needing to maintain its karma as a beacon for the world (41) , that we have a special destiny in the fulfillment of human spiritual evolution… you’re losing me Jim! He does at least say we need to avoid succumbing to our lower angels by doing regime changes in Latin America. Lower angels is one way of looking at it I guess!
Most of the book is collages. I’m not good at talking about art but these are sick. They are all made of Victorian wood engravings, so even though they’re collages they have a consistent texture. My favorites were the mirrored ones toward the end.
Generally, the type of thinking espoused in this book is “not my jam”. I had a psychedelic phase of being very into ~spirituality~ and frying my poor developing brain under the guise of enlightenment. I even went to Bodh Gaya twice! I just associate this kind of thing as its practiced in the west with unsavory vibes, I probably don’t need to lay it out because most people reading this get what I mean. I’m not against it but I’ve never been into astrology or crystals and all that which is extremely popular these days. There are many things in this book that I believe to be true, but then I fear in the next paragraph he’s going to start going on about decalcifying my pineal gland. (For the record, Harper never talks about pineal glands).
But reading this I was like, ok, there are ideas that I can entertain that are just presented with a different aesthetic. When Harper is talking about the excess karmic energy that is diffused and released in war it’s not that different from Bataille’s accursed share. When I say a demon taught us how to make the atomic bomb, I don’t necessarily mean that literally, but am trying to make legible something so mind bendingly abhorrent, forbidden knowledge that should’ve remained unknown. It doesn’t matter if it’s true in a specific literal sense because it is true in its spirit. So even though this is just an essay of a guy going off on his opinions on Jung and every major spiritual tradition and the chakras, I tried to be open minded and take what is useful.
I am in complete agreement that there is a deep seated malaise in our time. Harper points out that apocalyptic thinking is nothing new, and that every age has been convinced that the end is near. I know that’s true, and that it’s almost narcissistic to think that now is worse than it's ever been. But I still think he’s right that we are “suffering from left-brain hypertrophy” (37), privileging order and literalism over feeling and chaos. We must integrate both sides! Harper asks, ““has Christianity, in abandoning imagination for literalism, lost its soul?” 20.The 2022 State of Theology stats were released while I was reading this, and I’d say the answer to this question is a resounding Yes. Evangelicals agreed with statements that are downright heretical, but care deeply about moral “sins” like abortion and gay marrage etc. They’ve totally lost the plot here in our very religious nation. Huge L for christianity
I really like the idea that self-knowldge isn’t about just self-helping your way or therapizing your way into being the best version of yourself, but to ultimately transcend your ego and identify with the universal divine, which is to see god in everything. Ultimate self-knowledge is to commune with nature and also other people if you can see the spirit of all things. It’s similar to animism or even, as the book says, earlier ideas of Christianity where you see God in all things. Getting to a point where harming others (as in other people, other creatures) constitutes harming yourself.
I got confused at one point when he outlined the difference between spirit and soul. Spirit is used in this portion to represent the Masculine Order Analytical and Soul is used to represent Feminine Chaos Feeling. This was very confusing to me because previously in the essay spirit had meant the latter and words like material etc were used for the former.
There is a paragraph on memes that reads hilariously today. This book is 20 years old, so of course he means “meme” in the Richard Dawkins sense (which is ultimately still the same as how we use it), but it’s soooo funny to read lines like “we need to purge our mind of negative memes” and then he starts talking about 9/11 or something.
There were many things I ultimately disagreed with. Harper really believes in the power of Great Men (and women), like saints and prophets and famous artists etc. People like Ghandi, Da Vinci, etc. Because he believes in reincarnation, he thinks that these people have achieved such greatness in their lifetimes because they had practiced in their previous lives. Harper believes that artists and musicians with great talent are conduits for interpreting the collective unconscious, much like a prophet is to the word of god. I’m not against the idea of reincarnation, and not against the idea that some people have divine gifts. One time I went to a Beyonce concert and was so amazed that I thought there had to be something divine going on here, because there is no way someone could be so perfectly born to do what she does by just luck and chance. However, Harper believes that we need a messiah-like figure to arise and elevate the earth’s consciousness. Placing all the hope in one or few figures seems to go against the earlier ideas of the way to higher consciousness being recognizing the self in others until we realize that when we harm others, we harm ourselves because we are all one etc etc. I just don’t get how everything can be about collectivity and the whole globe, heck the whole universe as one grand entity, and then think that all that power needs to be concentrated in one single puny HUMAN individual to bring it to fruition.
The other problem with this nebulous blending of all worldviews and religions and avoiding of taking sides is that you ultimately end up nowhere. Harper spills all this ink on how the Christian right props up Israel because they think it;s going to hasten the coming of the antichrist, how cruel and harmful Israeli settlements are, then at the end of all that says that Palestinians have a “narcissistic attachment to being Israel's victim” (40). ?????? I guess my issue with new agey stuff is that it is so nebulous that it ultimately leads to being both sidesy and not taking stances. And the nebulousness can lead to some bad shit like the hippie Qanon pipeline. This nothingburger comes up again when he talks about the US needing to maintain its karma as a beacon for the world (41) , that we have a special destiny in the fulfillment of human spiritual evolution… you’re losing me Jim! He does at least say we need to avoid succumbing to our lower angels by doing regime changes in Latin America. Lower angels is one way of looking at it I guess!
Most of the book is collages. I’m not good at talking about art but these are sick. They are all made of Victorian wood engravings, so even though they’re collages they have a consistent texture. My favorites were the mirrored ones toward the end.
Displaying 1 of 1 review