Gaia is the word for "unity-of-life-processes". The experiment here is to unify the various threads of voice and sense of self together into an undivided unity. Spirituality, economics, politics, science and ordinary life interleaved.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Learyan Caste System

THIS is the concept that is so irritating me to comprehend it!

Leary proposes that our genes, combined with our evolutionary past, inclines us to choose for ourselves the caste to which we belong, and then find our niche in society accordingly. His evidence is E. O. Wilson's studies of social insects. No doubt we could now add the studies on primate society as well. He says that to each human caste there are specific physical markers.

Further, he posits that a set of future evolutionary castes exist, and that a crucial historical moments humans are born with these evolutionary caste features, in order to hasten growth of humanity.

Further STILL he posits that the old visions of how humans worked in the past (the I Ching, astrology, the Tarot, and Chess) are early attempts to encapsulate the truth of human castes that are evolving forewards; so, he says, by studying earlier visions such as astrology, which he calls "neuro-genetic maps", one can discern future directions of human evolution.

So, then, the Learyan caste system (which is a self-selection system, rather than a political one such as the Indian Caste system) consists of twelve everyday Castes and twelve extraordinary Castes, in accordance with the astrological map.

Is the Caste system, there is Alpha Reality, also known as Structural Caste, indicating basic life-orientation and similar to the Sun Sign in astrology. Then there is Beta Reality, aka Temporal Caste, which indicates the temporary and momentary expression of self, and is analogous to the Sun-In-House system in astrology.

Now it gets REALLY complicated:

Each individual is born into a Structural Caste, and there they remain. However each individual strives to recapitulate every Temporal Caste within their lifetime.

Some individuals, however, are born Out-Caste and thus they slip in and out of various Structural Castes without really ever fitting in. And these individuals belong to the twelve extraordinary Castes which are not yet in existence.

Now, add to this picture the concept of 'neurogeography' and it starts to get complicated:

The farther West you go, to higher the Dominant Caste is. On the West Coast of the US, the dominant caste is Caste 13 and 14, through Hollywood.

"The independent Western pioneer is easily ridiculed. But the fact remains--freedom to experiment, courage to change, energy to re-create is always a Westward High." Leary.

According then to this scheme, Australian city-societies would belong to the 11th caste domesticity, which revolves around the seven day week with proscribed alcohol induction and sexual low-jinks on the Saturday and contrite consolation from the domestic God-form on Sunday morning to lock back down the animalistic tendencies.

In Sydney and inner Melbourne this scene has evolved under pressure in 12th caste insect-hive social dynammics, where higly organised ritualistic behavior dominates and orders all, and within the incredibly narrow constraints of high-earning insects allows brief-lived hedonistic 13th caste behaviour. Such is the environment that drove me to panic and despair throughout Asia and the East Coast of Australia for several years.

By coming West I actually escape the insect-hive, and if I were to go farther West to Perth I would return to the rebellious Barbarian outpost, the modern version of Ceasar's Spanish outpost during the Roman Empire; Perth is thus the fartherest point of the West AWAY from the Center in Los Angeles/Hollywood.

Why did I come to Adelaide? To escape, if I am honest, from the East Coast of Australia, and from the cosy domesticity of my Home Hive-Town. To go North would be to partake of the lazy sprawl of civilisation from Sydney.

If I really wanted to take the radical route, here is what I would do:

I would study biology here, and seek a scholarship in microbiology and genetics at the best Californian Universities. I would then travel to China and work in microbiology there, and stand a MUCH better chance of accessing the kind of hedonistic lifestyle I would enjoy from that vantage point

In California I would network, simply network my way into various niches and then in China I would be in a privileged position of freedom, as an Australian born, American trained biologist-geneticist.

What a lovely fantasy! and how could I make it come true?

Here are the links that I have been trying to assimilate. In another post I will describe the experience which gave rise to this thoughts in the first place.

http://www.american-buddha.com/intell.structural.htm
http://www.american-buddha.com/leary.ex-citing.htm
http://www.american-buddha.com/pathology.potential.htm

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Being unfamilar with Leary's views, I probably should refrain from comment, but its seems that this idea og 'castes' may be exaplained in terms of memetics rather than any genetic or 'preformed evolutionary change'.

I would beed to see a lot of evidence to suggest that humans, singularly among organisms are subject to deterministic evlution.

9:14 PM

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

 
follow me on Twitter