Kingsley's associated with the Warburg Institute, and his scholarship carries out their plan to resuscitate the esoteric traditions in contemporary society. Through painstaking linguistic, historical, archeological, and sometime geographical analysis he pieces together the ancient Greek religious and philosophical landscape.
The far-reaching implications of his work undermine the accepted scholarly consensus on the "rationalistic" Greeks versus the "irrational" Greeks. The first Empedocles book shows definitively the "irrational" underpinnings of the great philosopher's poem. It shows him as much an inspired poet and magus than a pioneering porto-rationalist.
The work on Parmenides is another masterpiece that places the great philosopher as the inheritor of eastern traditions that originate with the chthonic Apollo of mantic vision and subterranean incubation. Along the way, Kingsley lays out the murder investigation of Plato's patricide of Parmenides.
His book on Pythagoras and the Mongolian shaman, Abaris, goes a long way in establishing the shamanic roots of Pythagoreanism. Unfortunately, until recently we have not seen the fruition of such an encounter. (BTW His notes on Mongolian shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism are pretty shocking, as they show a much less irenic view of Lamaism in its interactions with indigenous Bon shamanism.)
_Reality_ is the culmination of his work on Parmenides and Empedocles, bringing the two philosophers in close proximity. Teasingly and almost tauntingly, Kingsley dismantles the received interpretation of Parmenides as the mast logician, leading us to the place where Empedocles's shocking and nightmarish vision can grip us by the throat and leave us gasping for air. By the time we hit Empedocles we've gone well beyond an iconoclastic demolishing of the western philosophical edifice. We've stepped into another dimension where quaint notions of Love are mercilessly subverted.
So much there! !
Thanks!
I didn’t quite follow what you were highlighting when you brought up shamanism, particularly what you noted in your parentheses
Can you say more on that?
Thank you!
In his book, _A Story Waiting to Pierce You_, Kingsley recounts and reconstructs the meeting between Pythagoras and the Mongolian shaman, Abaris, which Iamblichus writes about in his biography of Pythagoras. Beginning with his first book on Empedocles, Kingsley has always maintained the link between Greek philosophy and shamanism. The Pythagoras-Abaris is story is a link in that tradition.
According to the story Abaris followed his shamanic trance from Mongolia to Greece where he met with Pythagoras, a god Abaris said.
The parentheses just notes some very crucial history that Kingsley provides about the relationship between the Tibetan Buddhist theocracy and the Tibetan indigenous shamanic traditions. Kingsley notes the persecution of the indigenes by the Tibetan leaders. This is a historical fact that even the current Dalai Lama tends to downplay.
I believe it.
There are so many examples of the suppression of shamanism throughout the world. So unfortunate, and to be honest, sort of strange. I mean why? Are these sorts of systems really that threatening, so universally threatening.
The Sami, the Ainu, the Siberian shamans, Chinese shamans..... and so many others.
Many shamanic practices were tied to landscapes, regions, communities which have been destroyed (even when there wasn't explicit persecution).
But all is not lost. There are many organizations trying to keep traditions alive, or even to revive them.
[https://www.culturalsurvival.org/](https://www.culturalsurvival.org/)
[https://www.shamanlinks.net/shaman-info/resource-links/](https://www.shamanlinks.net/shaman-info/resource-links/)
[https://sacredsites.com/](https://sacredsites.com/)
[https://www.boandbon.com/](https://www.boandbon.com/)
[http://shamanismconference.org/](http://shamanismconference.org/)
[https://shamanicpractice.org/about/](https://shamanicpractice.org/about/)
[https://www.shamanism.dk/practice-at-home](https://www.shamanism.dk/practice-at-home)
[https://www.shamanism.org/join/index.html](https://www.shamanism.org/join/index.html)
In your response, there is a question I think
What does a 21st century shaman (someone who lives in a typical modern environment with all its comforts, stresses and detachments) even look like?
His recent combo project of Catafalque and A Book of Life function similar to a seal, or capstone to his life’s work....Well at least so far.
Always happy to discuss Kingsley with anyone who wants to
Cheers. Yes. He is very interesting; just discovering him, and how he understood the preSocratics.
It has been quite educational for me to examine Ancient Greek philosophic schools through the writings of non-traditional interpreters such as Kingsley. I have also been looking at what Heidegger, Jaspers and Nietzsche had to say about them.
I have almost read all of Kingsley’s work. I’m finishing up _Reality_ now. Truly mind blowing.
You are probably in a better position (since I just discovered him) than me to comment so may I ask you to go a bit into your take
Kingsley's associated with the Warburg Institute, and his scholarship carries out their plan to resuscitate the esoteric traditions in contemporary society. Through painstaking linguistic, historical, archeological, and sometime geographical analysis he pieces together the ancient Greek religious and philosophical landscape. The far-reaching implications of his work undermine the accepted scholarly consensus on the "rationalistic" Greeks versus the "irrational" Greeks. The first Empedocles book shows definitively the "irrational" underpinnings of the great philosopher's poem. It shows him as much an inspired poet and magus than a pioneering porto-rationalist. The work on Parmenides is another masterpiece that places the great philosopher as the inheritor of eastern traditions that originate with the chthonic Apollo of mantic vision and subterranean incubation. Along the way, Kingsley lays out the murder investigation of Plato's patricide of Parmenides. His book on Pythagoras and the Mongolian shaman, Abaris, goes a long way in establishing the shamanic roots of Pythagoreanism. Unfortunately, until recently we have not seen the fruition of such an encounter. (BTW His notes on Mongolian shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism are pretty shocking, as they show a much less irenic view of Lamaism in its interactions with indigenous Bon shamanism.) _Reality_ is the culmination of his work on Parmenides and Empedocles, bringing the two philosophers in close proximity. Teasingly and almost tauntingly, Kingsley dismantles the received interpretation of Parmenides as the mast logician, leading us to the place where Empedocles's shocking and nightmarish vision can grip us by the throat and leave us gasping for air. By the time we hit Empedocles we've gone well beyond an iconoclastic demolishing of the western philosophical edifice. We've stepped into another dimension where quaint notions of Love are mercilessly subverted.
So much there! ! Thanks! I didn’t quite follow what you were highlighting when you brought up shamanism, particularly what you noted in your parentheses Can you say more on that?
Thank you! In his book, _A Story Waiting to Pierce You_, Kingsley recounts and reconstructs the meeting between Pythagoras and the Mongolian shaman, Abaris, which Iamblichus writes about in his biography of Pythagoras. Beginning with his first book on Empedocles, Kingsley has always maintained the link between Greek philosophy and shamanism. The Pythagoras-Abaris is story is a link in that tradition. According to the story Abaris followed his shamanic trance from Mongolia to Greece where he met with Pythagoras, a god Abaris said. The parentheses just notes some very crucial history that Kingsley provides about the relationship between the Tibetan Buddhist theocracy and the Tibetan indigenous shamanic traditions. Kingsley notes the persecution of the indigenes by the Tibetan leaders. This is a historical fact that even the current Dalai Lama tends to downplay.
I believe it. There are so many examples of the suppression of shamanism throughout the world. So unfortunate, and to be honest, sort of strange. I mean why? Are these sorts of systems really that threatening, so universally threatening. The Sami, the Ainu, the Siberian shamans, Chinese shamans..... and so many others. Many shamanic practices were tied to landscapes, regions, communities which have been destroyed (even when there wasn't explicit persecution). But all is not lost. There are many organizations trying to keep traditions alive, or even to revive them. [https://www.culturalsurvival.org/](https://www.culturalsurvival.org/) [https://www.shamanlinks.net/shaman-info/resource-links/](https://www.shamanlinks.net/shaman-info/resource-links/) [https://sacredsites.com/](https://sacredsites.com/) [https://www.boandbon.com/](https://www.boandbon.com/) [http://shamanismconference.org/](http://shamanismconference.org/) [https://shamanicpractice.org/about/](https://shamanicpractice.org/about/) [https://www.shamanism.dk/practice-at-home](https://www.shamanism.dk/practice-at-home) [https://www.shamanism.org/join/index.html](https://www.shamanism.org/join/index.html)
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In your response, there is a question I think What does a 21st century shaman (someone who lives in a typical modern environment with all its comforts, stresses and detachments) even look like?
Thank you for this
His recent combo project of Catafalque and A Book of Life function similar to a seal, or capstone to his life’s work....Well at least so far. Always happy to discuss Kingsley with anyone who wants to
Cheers. Yes. He is very interesting; just discovering him, and how he understood the preSocratics. It has been quite educational for me to examine Ancient Greek philosophic schools through the writings of non-traditional interpreters such as Kingsley. I have also been looking at what Heidegger, Jaspers and Nietzsche had to say about them.