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Image copyright 2003 by Michael R. Meyer. Drawing by Dane Rudhyar

THE ESSENTIAL RUDHYAR
An outline and an evocation
by Leyla Raël
1983



I. FOUNDATIONS
II. CONCEPTUAL FORMULATIONS
III. RUDHYAR'S
INTEGRATION OF
EXPERIENCE AND CONCEPTS

APPENDIX 1: Selected Poems
APPENDIX 11: Bibliography









II. CONCEPTUAL FORMULATIONS

15. THE PLANETARY WHOLE AND THE PLACE AND FUNCTION OF HUMAN EVOLUTION WITHIN IT

On the one hand, for Rudhyar, the earth is the physical body of a planetary whole (now at times called Gaia or Terra) also operating and evolving at psychomental and spiritual levels. (Rudhyar was an early advocate of global organization as a sociopolitical reflection of this reality, and fifty years before the terms became fashionable he spoke of "World Music" and "man's common humanity.") The character of the function which humanity performs within the total field of activity and consciousness of our planet might be evoked by comparing it to the work of the cerebrospinal nervous system and front-brain of a human being: mankind's function is thus to consciously formulate and give meaning to all the activities taking place on, in, or around the earth. This implies discovering the principles on which these activities are based and applying these principles to fulfill consciously determined purposes. The great problem of human evolution is, however, how and in relation to what frame of reference (what values) are these purposes to be determined?
      On the other, the earth's biosphere is the planetary lifefield in which the archetype Man develops its potentialities through the biological species Homo sapiens and through its development in culture-wholes giving rise to various types of persons and individuals. The activity, consciousness and evolution of humanity may be said to build the "psychosphere" and "noosphere" of our planet. The former (similar to the "astral plane" of popular occultism) refers to the psychism, collective and individual, of cultures and persons. The latter (a term devised by Teithard de Chardin) refers to the activity and evolution of the rational aspect of the human mind. Above the psychosphere and noosphere, Rudhyar also conceives of a "pneumosphere" (spiritual sphere) being actualized by Pleroma beings according to the directions of still higher entities. The pneumosphere presumably envelops and contains the whole planet. (In all cases the term "sphere" may be confusing if one imagines geometrically concentric spheres separate from each other.)



By permission of Leyla Rudhyar Hill
Copyright © 1983 by Leyla Raël
All Rights Reserved.



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