A dump of things I recently came across – a poem, a podcast, an album, and the National Archive’s links to our founding documents.

Reading: The Ever-Present Origin by Jean Gebser

Jean Gebser was a “philosopher, linguist, and poet who described the structures of human consciousness.”

His work The Ever-Present Origin (1949) was originally written in German (Ursprung und Gegenwart) then later translated to English by Noel Barstad with Algis Mickunas. The whole transcript is available here.

Under the In memoriam section, written by Jean Keckeis, I came across a short fragment of a poem that Gebser had written just three weeks before his death, sharing his views on death and the continuum of existence across life and death:

Entirely clear and serene
is the heaven within

and farther, in many ways,
the ascent to origin.

What a beautiful, stirring sentiment: the ascent to origin.

Keckeis follows that poem fragment with the thought:

Were they a poetic anticipation of an experience of which he spoke in his last lecture: “Death, too, is birth’? Around 500 B. C., at the time of mutation from the mythical to the rational consciousness structure, Heraclitus had expressed it in the words: “The path of ascent and descent is one and the same.”

This question – what lies beyond death – was still heavy on my mind when I came across a podcast episode on this very topic.

Podcast: Telepathy Tapes – Episode 1, Season 2

Have you heard of the Telepathy Tapes yet?!

I fell HARD for this podcast when I discovered it earlier this year. It investigates telepathy among autistic, mostly non-speaking, youths. But that’s just the starting point – from there it goes on to explore a number of related topics that touch on the American education system, representation for disabled communities, communication with the dead, spirituality, animal communication, and so much more. I ripped through season 1 and the special episodes released after, and have been eagerly anticipating the start of season 2. And the wait is over!

The topic of Episode 1? Near death experiences (NDEs).

This episode asks us to consider, what’s really there after death? What can people’s NDEs tell us about what might be out there? What do ancient and indigenous cultures say about the afterlife? Also, our origins – what comes before death? (Echoing a bit of Jean Gebser’s notion of “the ever-present origin.”)

There were several interesting accounts from people who had directly experienced NDEs themselves. I was especially interested in hearing former skeptic and neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander’s account of his own NDE – things he saw and felt. (And although I’m still skeptical about some things myself, I love to hear it all.)

Sidebar for recommendations:

• One of the best shows ever is The OA (wrongly canceled by Netflix, will never live it down!) which is heavily about NDEs, mixed in with inter-dimensional travel, past lives, and more.
• One more recommendation – the Ologies episode on NDEs! Amazing episode on an amazing podcast.

Album: Weaving a Basket by Sea Oleena

Found this artist thanks to @marg.mp3 on Instagram.

Sea Oleena’s music as atmospheric, minimal and ethereal. Her music makes me feel like I’m perceiving life through a filter, but also maybe touching something more real than what we can sense in everyday life.

My favorite tracks on this album are Lost Song, Carrying, and Gardens.

Historical Document: U.S. Constitution

Did you know that you can go to the National Archives website and download images of the original Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights?

America’s founding documents pdf downloads page:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/downloads

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That closes out this round up of finds!