num_pages: 647
description: The Ever-Present Origin is a translation of Ursprung und Gegenwart a book which was published in German in two parts around 1949 and 1953. The central contribution of this book is Gebser's analysis of the history of culture -- mainly but not exclusively Western culture -- in terms of the predominance of different modes of consciousness. Gebser details five structures of consciousness: the archaic the magical the mythical the mental and the integral (or aperspectival). His theory seems to be that these structures unfold in a sequential but non-linear fashion (i.e. in quantum increases in the self-transparency of consciousness) and have different kinds of characteristic ways of experiencing self other and world. With each leap the previous structures of consciousness are superceded and yet retained in a subordinate fashion. Meanwhile the other structures lie largely latent and untapped. VERY briefly the archaic is instinctual and primitive. The magical is tribal and involves participation mystique. The mythical is imaginative and often involves seeing through complementary polarities (darkness and light good and evil). The mental is analytical dualistic and skeptical of the other structures of consciousness. And the integral structure allows for a re-membering of all of the structures of consciousness without the problematic reification of their respective worlds. The integral or aperspectival structure additionally involves going beyond the previous four structures in something akin to Buddhist or Christian (a la Meister Eckhart) enlightenment as understood in terms of the perennial philosophy.
language: English
title: The Ever-Present Origin
publisher: Ohio University Press