Gaia-Based Theosophy: Conception and Birth of the Living Earth

by Alex Vikoulov | Foreword to GaeaGenesis: Conception and Birth of the Living Earth by Oberon Zell

"The Earth has entered a radically new era, understood by scientists as the Anthropocene: a time when humanity reckons with massive geologic and biospheric forces we, as anthropos, have set in motion. The agency of Nature and the reality of humanity as a collective geologic force is becoming understood differently, even within the Western paradigm. It is a new world our children will inherit, for if humanity is to survive, we must come into new realizations of our place within the planetary life-support systems. To lay a path for future generations through the evolutionary steps that humanity must now take to learn to live in balance with the planet, science must come to balance with Spirit." ―Oberon Zell, GaeaGenesis
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In the early 1970s, celebrated philosopher and mystic Oberon Zell was the first to propose the radical idea that the biosphere of Earth was a single living superorganism. His initial article on the subject electrified the emerging modern movement of Earth-based spirituality, generating volumes of correspondence, lecture tours, and further articles in various journals and books.

The excitement was the result of a simple yet profound idea. Imagine for a moment that Earth is alive. Not just teeming with living things, but a living, vital organism encompassing the whole of the planet. This is how Oberon Zell imagines it in GaeaGenesis, but it is more than imagination or mere metaphor. GaeaGenesis is the first work to fully integrate the mythological, spiritual, biological, and social history of what has become known as the Gaea Thesis. It builds upon this history by exploring the profound implications of the thesis, which is as significant to our understanding of the world and our place in it as the heliocentric theory of the solar system and Darwin’s theory of evolution once were.

GaeaGenesis culminates five decades of work developing Zell’s thesis, building on his own original ideas as well as those of renowned scientists, philosophers and spiritualists who preceded him. The works of mythologist Joseph Campbell are referenced, as are the studies of psychologist Carl Jung, whose concept of a “Collective Unconscious” ushered in a new understanding of a human-based Global Mind. In addition, GaeaGenesis draws upon the work of Nobel Prize-winner Al Gore to illustrate the emerging realization that climate change affects a vast web of interdependent ecosystems.  

The present book was also influenced by the Syntellect Hypothesis, my own seminal treatise as a futurist, evolutionary cyberneticist and philosopher of mind. In line with the Gaea Thesis, the Syntellect Hypothesis refers to a phase transition of a complex intelligent system to self-awareness of a living, conscious superorganism when intellectual synergy of its components reaches threshold complexity to become one supermind. This metamorphosis is associated with emergence of higher-order self-awareness and dimensionality of a new consciousness structure. As a bio-species merging with its advanced technology, human-machine civilization is now on the verge of the Syntellect Emergence, becoming one Global Mind. 

In September, 2021, Oberon Zell contacted me after he had come across some of my works and pointed out to me that he saw a lot of similarities between our philosophies. That was quite a pleasant surprise and synchronicity because I remember reading his paper a few years back, as well as citing him in my own magnum opuses: The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind’s Evolution (2020) and The Cybernetic Theory of Mind (2022). The timing of our interactions also almost magically coincided with one of my latest releases of THEOGENESIS: Transdimensional Propagation & Universal Expansion (2021).   

Recent years have seen a flurry of scientific and philosophical studies reach a broad audience on some of the ideas addressed in GaeaGenesis, but nothing that views the subject from all sides: scientific, spiritual, historical, ecological, philosophical and mythic. Oberon Zell accomplishes this with GaeaGenesis. As an influential thinker on Earth-based spirituality and originator of the Gaea Thesis, he is uniquely qualified to present to us such a comprehensive work. Previously, his writings have helped foster a growing awareness of Earth as living Mother, paving the way for such popular expressions of this concept as the iconic movie “Avatar.”  

Foundationally, GaeaGenesis builds upon the author’s work “TheaGenesis: The Birth of the Goddess,” which originally appeared in Green Egg magazine in June of 1971. The present book takes the idea beyond the metaphorical realm postulated by James Lovelock in his “Gaia Hypothesis,” and posits that the entire evolution of life on Earth is literally the embryology of a single vast living being—one replicating continuum of DNA and protoplasm. This distinction has significant implications for the subject of this book: The proposition that Mother Earth is a living, sentient being with a “soul” that humans can perceive if they are aware enough to sense it. In essence, the living beings that populate the Earth are “cells” that function within a greater superorganism.

GaeaGenesis is organized into five major sections. The first presents the history of the idea that the Earth is a great living being, from Hesiod’s “Theogony,” through Plato and the medieval alchemical concept of the “Anima Mundi,” to various scientific papers from the 19th and early 20th centuries and the recent work of James Lovelock and others. Namely, in contrast with Lovelock’s “Gaia Hypothesis” examining the Gaian biosphere from the outside in, Zell looks at our living planet from the inside out — noting the continuity of DNA and protoplasm from an original “seed” into a unified tree of life. 

The second section includes reprints, contextual narratives, and contemporary commentary of the original series of “TheaGenesis” articles written by Oberon Zell and first published in Green Egg magazine from 1971 through 1972. The remaining sections explore the implications of the Gaea Thesis for gaining a new and deeper understanding of the origins of complex life on Earth; significant turning points in geological and human history; and the future role of humanity in spreading the “seeds” of Gaea to other worlds—in our solar system and beyond. Central to the final section is a vision for the Awakening of Gaea through the emergence of planetary consciousness.

Appendices include a chronology of the key elements of the Gaea Thesis as expressed through history, as well as a full bibliography. The book is illustrated throughout with appropriate charts and diagrams by the author, as well as visionary imagery depicting Gaea as envisioned by various artists through the ages to this day.

Written in a clear and precise language with its contents being epistemically accurate and ontologically more than plausible, this splendid book is exceptionally easy to read as well as comprehend the novel concepts contained in it. Not only will it immensely contribute to your spiritual growth, this read could surely open other venues for your self-development once you discover what’s behind our everyday reality.

-Alex Vikoulov
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​P.S. This is Foreword by Alex M. Vikoulov to GaeaGenesis: Conception and Birth of the Living Earth by Oberon Zell. Published on Earth Day, this amazing new book is now available as paperback on Amazon: 
​https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y9PYBN7​

Publisher: Black Moon Publishing; Release Date: April 21, 2022; Print Length: 436 pages; Format: Paperback; ISBN: 9798985320442; Price: $25.00.

For inquires and requests of review copies, please contact the author at: oberon@mcn.org 

Author Website: www.oberonzell.com​

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Tags: Anthropocene, theosophy, Oberon Zell, GaeaGenesis, superorganism, theory of evolution, Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Collective Unconscious, Global Mind, Al Gore, Syntellect Hypothesis, phase transition, supermind, consciousness structure, Syntellect Emergence, Cybernetic Theory of Mind, Theogenesis, Gaia Hypothesis, James Lovelock, planetary consciousness, spiritual growth, self-development

*Images: Shutterstock, Black Moon Publishing

About the Author:
Alex Vikoulov is a Russian-American futurist, evolutionary cyberneticist and philosopher of mind, CEO/Editor-in-Chief of Ecstadelic Media Group, filmmaker, author of "The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind's Evolution," "The Origins of Us: Evolutionary Emergence and The Omega Point Cosmology," "The Physics of Time: D-Theory of Time & Temporal Mechanics," "The Intelligence Supernova: Essays on Cybernetic Transhumanism, The Simulation Singularity & The Syntellect Emergence," "Theology of Digital Physics: Phenomenal Consciousness, The Cosmic Self & The Pantheistic Interpretation of Our Holographic Reality," "NOOGENESIS: Computational Biology," "TECHNOCULTURE: The Rise of Man," "The Cybernetic Singularity: The Syntellect Emergence," "THEOGENESIS: Transdimensional Propagation & Universal Expansion," "The Omega Singularity: Universal Mind & The Fractal Multiverse." Self-described neo-transcendentalist, cybertheosopher, transhumanist singularitarian. Lives and works in California's Silicon Valley. More Bio...

Author Website: www.alexvikoulov.com
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e-mail: alexvikoulov@ecstadelic.net