Cosmic Play Dedication

DEDICATION

This dedication mirrors Grof’s cartography of the psyche and the overall dissertation is dedicated on three different levels: the transpersonal or archetypal level, the perinatal level, and the personal level. Due to its galumphant nature, various parts of my dissertation are dedicated to different people, too.

Archetypal Level:

To Shiva and Parvati, because these gods do play dice. Shiva is the god of death and rebirth, and Parvati, his partner, an aspect of the Great Goddess is responsible for instigating the Cosmic Game.

To Ganesh and Hermes, both gods of Astrology and rulers of liminal space. Ganesh is a bricolage and Hermes a bricoleur. Ganesh, the god of wisdom is invoked at the beginning of projects and is the remover of obstacles. Hermes, a trickster, the playful god of the Greek pantheon, is a psychopomp and guide of souls. Both Ganesh and Hermes have been instrumental on my journey.

To Baskaran Pillai, PhD, aka Siva Baba, my spiritual teacher, for helping me to understand and experience at a deep level the nature and reality of these archetypal forces, and to Balachandran Master, martial artist and healer, and my host twice in India, where I came to understand Grof’s cartography on an experiential level.

Perinatal Level:

To Stanislav Grof, my advisor, for his dedication and openness to nonordinary states of consciousness, for his pioneering work in explicating and expanding the cartography of the psyche, and for giving me lots of spielraum—room to play, and permission to be nonordinary.

To Richard Tarnas for opening up the world of transit astrology, helping me to see with kaleidoscope eyes how these archetypal patterns play out in people’s lives and in culture, and for so clearly explicating the Western mind, and our present moment.

To Lisa Dale Miller, for helping me to understand how these planetary archetypes play out in my own life and for her friendship, wise counsel, and encouragement in truly playing the cosmic game.

Personal Level:

To my family: my parents, Maxwell and Rhonda Pohn, my siblings Diana, Ben, and Mac, as well as Felipe DeBustamante, for their love, support, understanding, and friendship.

To my other close relations: Carole Pohn, Mayno Willis, Brian and Alison Levant, Jeff Pohn, Vicki Thompson, Ida Mae Zeller, Marion Simon, Betty Moss, Audrey Kaufman, and Lauren Rautbord for their love, inspiration, and blessing over the years.

And, in loving memory to those who came before: my grandparents, Ben Pohn, Estelle Pohn, Carl Struxness, Hilda Struxness, my uncle Robert Pohn; and to other very special friends Edie Mae “Maya” Scott, and Kathy Poster, as well as my four best animal friends: Beau, Karma, Cairo, Alex, and Charisse, for being there for me.

Individual Chapters and Sections

The individual parts of my dissertation are dedicated to the following people, all of whom encouraged me to follow my fascinations and were instrumental in my journey, their contributions can be found in the acknowledgements section below.

Welcome: Phil Cousineau, Natalia Lopez, and Diane Huerta.

Introduction: Doug Engelbart, Diane Dobson, Kylea Taylor, and Esalen.

Method: David L. Miller, Robert Romanyshyn, and Veronica Goodchild.

Prelude—The Cosmic Setup: Claire Zammit and Laurel Valin.

The Cosmic Game: Michael Meade, Amit Goswami, and Chakrapani Ullal, and Jake Wright.

Interlude: Fred Donaldson and Robert de Marrais.

Introduction to the Kaleidoscope of Culture: Helen Shulman Lorenz, Glen Slater, Aaron Kipnis and Randi Kristensen.

Chicago: Gladys Hirsch, Siri Sat Nam Singh, Krista Mindle and Bunnie Graham.

Disneyland: Allen Bishop and Brita Martiny.

Extra Extra Excursions: Anna Stone and Susan Brown.

Mary Poppins: Jeff, Roxanne, Jordan, Kendra, & Elaine White, and Mike Young Parting Shots: Lionel Corbett, Chuangliang Huang, and Dennis Slattery.

Running Conversations: Walter Odajnyk and Mike Reynolds.

Odds and Ends: Fred Laughter, Nate Yellen, and Pamela Wells.