There is nothing exclusively human about it: culture emerges from the complex interaction of media, organisms, weather patterns, ecosystems, thought patterns, cities, discourses, fashions, populations, brains, markets, dance nights and bacterial exchanges. You live in cultures and cultures live in you. They are everything and the kitchen sink.
--Sadie Plant (Shulman, 1997, p. 89)

INTERLUDE

Introduction

I knew that the kitchen sink would make it in here somehow, everything else has! The "Interlude" will reiterate Grof’s cartography, introduce Caillois’s categories of games and then combine the two. After that, we will take a brief look at kaleidoscopes, since kaleidoscopes are central to our theme. I will also share my ideas about astrology and how I came to add it into the dissertation. Lastly, we will look at the layout for the "Kaleidoscope of Culture" part, which will also let us know what to expect in the different chapters. Links to important resources are provided, including Victor Turner’s (1988) article which discusses play “Body Brain and Culture,” as well as Grof’s (2000a) Psychology of The Future chapter on astrology, because these two chapters essentially represent the alpha and the omega of my journey. Other links that are especially appropriate are included as well. ∆RC[interlude]

Reiteration of Grof’s Cartography
Caillois’s Categories of Games
Grof’s Cartography Meets Caillois’s Categories
Beyond Categories – Original Play
Kaleidoscopes
Why Astrology?
Layout of the "Kaleidoscope of Culture"

Reiteration of Grof’s Cartography

Stanislav Grof, one of the fathers of Transpersonal Psychology, found in his LSD research that peoples’ experience seemed to constellate around different themes, which he called systems of condensed experience or COEX systems. As previously mentioned, in the Cosmic Game chapter, COEXes resemble Jung’s complexes. COEXes are emotionally charged and resemble each other in the quality of emotion or physical sensations that they share, also there are different levels to these COEXes: the personal biographical level, transpersonal level that includes the collective unconscious, and the perinatal level (peri—near, natal—birth). Grof found that different COEX themes organized around the three stages of the physical birth process as well as the womb experience prior to birth, which he labeled Basic Perinatal Matrices ((BPMs). This perinatal level provided access between the personal biographical material and archetypal contents.

I have always been fascinated with maps, so Grof’s cartography was very appealing to me. As with complexes, these COEXes and BPMs have an archetypal core. So, by putting the BPMs of the cartography together with the planetary archetypes, along with a couple of paradigmatic example from popular culture, we can get a feel for what these different Basic Perinatal Matrices are like.

BPM I: Intrauterine Environment—Cosmic Union With Mother

Planetary Archetype: Neptune

Imagination, oceanic, dissolves boundaries, escapist fantasy, illusion, deception, mystical bliss, madness and mysticism, experience of love and compassion, dreams, narcissus absorbed in own reflection, drug addict.

Movie examples —Finding Nemo (Stanton, 2003) –when Nemo is going to school with friends, or South Pacific (Logan, 1958) especially Bali Hai—oceanic or lush nature scenes. The Sound of Music (Wise, 1965) opening scene, mountain meadows above Salzburg. Toxic Womb–Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001) cleaning scene and The Matrix (Wachowski & Wachowski, 1999).

BPM II: In Womb Before Cervix Opens—Cosmic Engulfment, No Exit, Hell

Planetary Archetype: Saturn

Limit, structure, necessity, time, tradition, aging, death, ending of things—contracts and inhibits, oppresses and opposes, limits but strengthens, grounds, forges, defines, principle of judgment, alienation and solitude, disciplines and orders existence, superego

Movie examples—Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1993) T-Rex scene crushing children in car, Star Wars (Lucas, 1977) trash compactor scene, or Owen Wilson being swallowed in Anaconda (Llosa, 1997).

BPM III Birth Canal—Death Rebirth Struggle

Planetary Archetype: Pluto

Elemental force, Dionysian energy, power itself—compels, empowers, overwhelms, transforms, destroys, resurrects, death and rebirth—upheaval, breakdown and decay, purifying fire of catharsis, underworld, dark mysterious terrifying reality beneath surface—volcanic eruption—primal libido and aggression, id.

Movie examples—Die Another Day (Tamahori, 2002) torture scene during opening credits, or "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago (Marshall, 2002), asteroid drilling scenes from Armageddon (Bay, 1998), or most of the movie Volcano (M. Jackson, 1997).

BPM IV: Crowning, Expulsion From Birth Canal—Death Rebirth Experience

Planetary Archetype: Uranus

Change, freedom, rebellion, revolution—unexpected phenomenon, sudden surprises, insights, awakenings, breakthroughs, sudden breakup of established structure—invention and technology—individualism and originality—exciting, electric—Prometheus, restlessness, new experience—mediates creativity and innovation, eccentricity, genius, personal and cultural breakthrough—radical expansion of horizons.

Movie examples—Raiders Of Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981) map room scene or Twister (de Bont, 1996) final tornado inside the funnel scene in and after the tornado passes, and 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968) encounters with monolith scenes.

Caillois’s Categories of Games

While Huizinga (1944/1955) argues in Homo Ludens that different aspects of culture arose from play, Caillois (1958/2001) looked at games themselves and categorized them. In Les Jeux et Les Homme (Man, Play and Games), Caillois divides games into four categories and puts them onto a continuum between turbulence and rules or paidea (Latin for "child") and ludus. (p. 27), [link to popup of table 1- Classification of Games]. The different categories are: mimesis or mimicry (imitation), agôn (competition), ilinx (vertigo), and alea (chance). Caillois feels that Huizinga sees culture as mostly arising from games of competition and goes on to show the different roles of the other kinds of games and the different cultural expression they might take. For example, alea (chance) Caillois sees as closely allied with divination. Caillois's four categories can be briefly described as follows. [link to chart of table 2 which describes cultural and individual forms]

Mimicry or imitation is based on the desire to escape oneself. It is a temporary acceptance of illusion, and participation in an imaginary milieu. With mimicry, one sheds their personality and feigns another, playing a part. It is the world of make believe, theater, and the movies, which involves being another, and suspending reality.

Agôn is Caillois’s category for games of competition that are governed by rules, and where opposing forces or teams agree to be bound by the rules. The focus is on the desire to win; will, skill, and self reliance are key. Games in this category include chess, checkers, and bridge, along with most sports, such as tennis, football, and golf.

Ilinx is named after the Greek term ilignos for whirlpool, and describes activities that are about the pursuit of vertigo. It is “an attempt to momentarily destroy the stability of perception and inflict a kind of voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind. In all cases, it is a question of surrendering to a kind of spasm, seizure, or shock which destroys reality with sovereign brusqueness” (Caillois, 1958/2001, p. 23). Whirling dervishes and acrobatics are examples of this, as well as roller coasters at amusement parks and other machines that induce vertigo. Skiing, snowboarding, and racing fast cars and motorcycles also put one on the edge and can induce this feeling.

Alea is Latin for a game of dice, and is Caillois’s category to denote games that are “based on a decision independent of the player, an outcome over which he has no control” (Caillois, 1958/2001, p. 17). With alea, winning is a result of fate or destiny, versus the triumph of agôn. Roulette, lotteries, and games of dice are examples of where “capriciousness of chance constitutes the unique appeal of the game” (p. 17). Alea is opposite to the attitude of agôn, and involves surrendering to destiny, versus the self-reliance of will.

I decided to list different play characteristics according to the different categories of games, and as I was doing this, it dawned on me that these four categories also mirror the different planetary archetypes associated with the four Basic Perinatal Matrices of Grof’s cartography. For example, mimicry (imitation) shares similarities with Neptune, while Saturn and agôn (competition) with its focus on rules and structure could be correlated. Ilinx (vertigo) is akin to Pluto and the third perinatal matrix (BPM III) both of whose descriptions contain examples of roller coasters, and involve a chaotic, destabilizing feeling. Alea (chance) was archetypally similar to Uranus too. So, I modified my list to reflect the planetary archetypes instead of the Caillois categories.

Grof’s Cartography meets Caillois’s Categories

Warning: Play blurs boundaries and some of these play qualities could be in more than one category at the same time. These categories are only provisional, and merely give us an interesting way to see the different qualities of play. These categories merely give another way of viewing this multifaceted thing called play, so hold them loosely. They are merely a convenient way of sorting things. [Click here to see them]

Beyond Cultural Categories — Original Play

There is another kind of play, which we have not discussed here, because it is play beyond categories, play beyond culture. It is Donaldson’s (1993) notion of “original play.” Because we are dealing with how cultural play reflects the cosmic game, we will not be considering “original play,” however, I wanted to mention it here to let you know about it. “Original play” is Donaldson’s term for the play that is transcendent, existing before humanity and the boundaries imposed by culture. Donaldson says that original play is our true nature that is vast and indescribable, where there are no differences that make any difference. Donaldson came to understand this kind of play by playing with wild animals as well as other special playmates. The kind of play Donaldson discovered is rarely seen in the contest culture in which we live, with our Darwinian survival of the fittest mindset that focuses on competition. Donaldson describes original play in this way:

When you experience that love and belonging are the most important things, not just as an idea, not just to be nice, but in a very tangible way, the question becomes, how do I live that way, moment by moment? That experience changes everything. Once you’re safe and not dissipating your energy in self-defense, then it’s much easier to communicate, to love, to be kind and do all those things that we’d really rather do than hurt and defend. This is what original play is all about. The most important thing I’ve experienced through play . . . is that I “belong” to the universe. It is that sense of belonging that I’ve learned. And that has allowed me to learn the essence of all the things that we think of as separate . . . by learning that we all belong, I’m no longer afraid of the differences. Difference are there for me to learn how to be fully human and to share that with every other form on earth. That’s very powerful and it literally places me in the midst of the universe. (Mendizza & Chilton Pearce, 2003, p. 9)

In Playing by Heart, Donaldson (1993) explains original play and the lessons he learned from his human and non-human playmates. He also differentiates original play from cultural play:

Original denotes play that is prehuman, pre-cultural before all conceptualizations and learned responses. Play is a gift of Creation, not an artifact of culture. It is the stillpoint and the energy from which all else is evoked. In mathematics, according to Michael Adam, “it is the shape of zero, that absence of number that makes possible all numerical play.” Likewise it is play’s underlying emptiness or absence of cultural categories and boundaries that enables it to encompass the fullness of life . . . . Friederich Schiller suggested . . . that the impulse to play is a unifying force at work between form and matter. (p. 14)

Continued on page 2