JOSE ARGUELLES - ARTIST AND NEW AGE LEADER

FAMOUS VISIONARY ARTIST, AUTHOR, EARTH DAY & WHOLE EARTH FESTIVAL FOUNDER

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Yet, more than merely just striving to oppose our modern society's ecological destruction of this planet, Dr. Argüelles also sought to obtain a means for assuring humanity's evolutionary advancement and complete unification with the source of all, i.e., our universal 'source'. Within his community of believers this came to be known as a direct connection with our local solar system and its "galactic consciousness". Beyond this localized realm, he taught that our connection with the universe could be considered as a vibratory attunement with the "universal mind". Although, some may interpret this to be a connection with the concept of God. Its interpretation was more New Age.

An Abatement of the Critics and Recognition for the Methodology of an Ultimate Aim

What made the life and teachings of Dr. José Argüelles so remarkable was his unapologetic application of the beliefs and practices adpated from various cultural traditions fused together into the formation of whole new systems for thought. This would also be the prime reason he had no shortage of critics always very quick to point out this readily seen fact. More often than not, his harshest critics would come from that small bevy of self-professed professional Mayanists who will often dare to suggest they've got a lock and key to insights on how our ancient Mayan ancestors thought and behaved. While the sad truth is, that; since the Spanish conquest of the Americas, a mere fair, sparse, and apprehensive academic speculation about our Mayan ancestors and the vastness of their ancient cultural traditions is all that can be presently ascertained. In the aftermath of the 14th century Mayan book burnings by Spanish priests and conquistadors, only three whole and universally authenticated Maya codices (paper books) accesible for academic perusal are known to have survived into the present day. That isn't much for the contemporary Mayanist researcher to work with. Imagine attempting to understand the history of the United States, or even the story of its colonial period alone, with only three cosmic and spiritually/mythically oriented books available to study. Can anyone really know the magnitude of how deficient our knowledge concerning the ancient Maya really is? Even the much ballyhooed Popol Vuh, sometimes very inappropriately referred to as the Mayan Bible (and also heavily referenced by Argüelles) is not beyond its own scrutiny and without critics. As, it too has a small number of serious scholars who have questioned its 16th century appearance and obvious influence by Roman Catholic priests. It would seem that a syncretic understanding of the ancient Maya evolving from different cultural perspectives is nothing new.

In keeping with his mindset of humanity's unification with the forces of our local universe, our planet, and one another, Argüelles was the embodiment of a man who sought to live in-tune with the beliefs of our ancient Mayan ancestors (along with those of other ancient traditions), while intending to reinvigorate their past understandings of universal laws into the mindset of modern society for the immediate benefit of humanity today. This was also true of his desire to fuse the ancient beliefs with some newer understandings relevant to our present day. Thus, throughout his life a referencing and integration of various cultural influences and disciplines would be eminent in all of his writings. For example, in his most famous publication, The Mayan Factor, he made generous references to the ancient Chinese classical text, I Ching, along with modern science's spatial construct of our DNA genetic code as two of the ingenuous ways he would use comparative illustrations to show the great importance that ancient Mayans placed on their 13x20 matrix which was used at the core of their sacred Tzolkin' calendar count. This is not an insignificant point. For, while there are many in educated circles throughout the world who are very familiar with the I Ching as an ancient system of divination, and drawings of the DNA molecule to show modern science's current understanding of our inner workings or the blueprint for total affect on our lives; there are far fewer people familiar with the ancient Mayan culture and the workings of its complex calendar system which functioned as both. ( page 3 )