World Systems Theory & the Eonic Effect - A Matter of Scope

Lots of good material in these recent posts.  Too much really for me to do justice with in terms of my response here.

On the Rousseau bit, I’m perfectly willing at this point to consider and re-examination R. in the light of your Eonic Model.  Coming to think of it, what modern/early modern thinker onward hasn’t been accused at one time or another of being crazy or oddball in terms of his/her intellectual theories?  In point of fact, Aristotle, Confucius, etc. in their times were probably just as potentially “crazy” or viewed to be as crazy by their own generations.  Maybe part of their genius was being able to frame ideas and maps of knowledge in new ways as well as to come up with material that was memorable both for their contemporary audiences as well as future ones.  So consider this paragraph of mine on the matter of Rousseau as an attempt to reconsider my own previous perspective on the issue and see things in a new light.  Any recommendations as to good secondary articles/books dealing with Rousseau’s thought and the philosophy of history which portray him and his thought system in a more balanced light? … Also I’d be interested on your thoughts regarding the usual comparisons made between Rousseau’s thought and Laotse’s as such relates to historical theory.  Wh/ do you see their systems of meaning being similar & different when it comes to world view and the perspective of historical change? …I know they come from two different sorts of times in human events, so there’s a difference on that point, but where – in terms of metaphysical understandings and ideas about human activity in the world – do they stand in respect to each other and the macro-historical frameworks of world history?

Actually I wasn’t as much concerned with the mystical interpretations of Steinerians and others in connection to the Eonic Effect as much as I was in posing a question about cosmological and macrohistorical scope.  Note, I do recognize it’s not within the ability of the model to deal with matters of mystical occurrence in the world and human events.  I understand that.  I was just wondering whether if in fact it is within the purview of the model to deal with larger scale periodic transformations occurring on the level of human ecology and upward to more cosmological matters of “historic” changes taking place in the realm of astrophysics and other sciences of the universe, be they sciences of the very large or sciences of the very small.  Can the Eonic effect and its principles as a model encompass the higher levels of “Big History” or is it feasible only in the realm of human events & humankind’s immediate environmental surroundings on the earth?  Also, supposing there is some common ground with “aeonic” mystical interpretations of mankind’s place in the world in relation to the Eonic effect, can the Eonic Effect therefore offer a natural teleological alternative explanation to such [mystical/spiritual] interpretations of where humanity stands in the universe (starting first from his more immediate earthly, historical surroundings & working up towards the bigger picture of where we as humans stand in relation to the larger universe and its structures/processes)?  In other words, can the Eonic Effect and its major dynamics be applied in such a way as to offer a non-mystical explanation of so-called “mystical” phenomena in human events?  And, once that question’s considered, why is it that we tend to as humans interpret such events as being “mystical?” [Part of the answer I think has to do with the extrinsic reality of our world; part of it has to do with own psychologies; what I’m asking here is: why this interesting fit between our psyches and the outside reality of our world, such that we tend to pinpoint such phenomena as being “mystical” or “spiritual?”  How does this “sense”, as it were, get us ahead, insure our survival, and – even one better – help insure our physical and socio-cultural/economic success in the world and in history?]

Perhaps these queries are far too hefty and theoretical to be of any use or warrant any reasoned response; but my guess is -> if the answers to these questions can be mused over, looked at, explored, and then found, it would do a great deal to better tie in world history’s place as a discipline with the big picture of the New Physics and the mental/behavioral dimension of human activity now being explored by Lloyd DeMause and the psychohistorians.  A final question from me on this post before I end [and it can be answered both in terms of world systems theory and/or the Eonic model]; what is the connection of small-scale memes/memetics in human social psych. to large scales models such as WST or Eonics?  (Would memes merely constitute a means of transmitting information in the communications exchanges and networks of world history and the World System or would they represent something more besides?)  Any ideas?

Looking forward to your insights.

All the best!

Luke R.

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