We remember the late 60ties as the time of student movement, which fundamentally changed the world we live in. It was furthermore the time of psychedelic experience and psychedelic art, which left its trace in many ways. Transpersonal experience was hot during these days. It was the days of the first landing of the moon and before that one of the cornerstones of film history was released: Stanley Kubrick’s 2001.
The opening of the science fiction epic deals with the awakening of mankind when moon watcher, an ape man, learns how to use a bone as a weapon. However that “learning” is triggered by the mysterious black monolith, an otherworldly device, which has influence over the development of mankind.
British researcher Robert Poole revealed in a recent science conference how Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke were influenced at the time of the development of the 2001 script (which was subject of many changes) from anthropological research. From that point of view Kubrick’s introduction could be interpreted as a pessimistic comment about the human condition: man has progressed technically but is still driven by animalistic impulses.
Seen from today there is also a fascinating parallel: The opening sequence with the “creative infusion” triggered by the black monolith in 2001 is in some ways a good metaphor for developments in the era the movie was done. It was indeed a time of substantial change in the psyche.
Do we really know the origin of these changes in society or what exactly does start a new development – or a revolution – in human evolution? We usually agree on social factors like a struggle between generations or injustice or political tensions as a starting point. However the development of the late 60ties in particular had so many facets, it feels from some distance indeed as been influenced by a “creative infusion” from somewhere. At least internet, the digital age and unusual architecture have their roots in the late 60ties .
This is of course a very controversial subject since once of the achievements of 18 century enlightenment is that we know we are responsible for our destiny.
But we aren’t obliged to see “creative infusion” necessarily in the sense of certain religions.
If it is possible that there is something which erupts like magma from the Otherworld into our world at certain times and at some places, which maybe communicates and influences with us on a more subconscious level in the first place, we can think of many possibilities.
Recently Werner Herzog said in his highly appreciated documentary “The Cave Of Forgotten Dreams” about paintings in a stone age cave in Southern France that scientists discovered that during that time there was obviously a period of 5000 years where no human development or change happened, then, suddenly, things changed.
We don’t really know a lot about the history of man.
These interventions are not only happen in a large scale but also in very individual circumstances. We know from many tales that in the The Forest Dark there are not only timeframes but also places, which work like devices. People go into the woods and are not the same when they come back.
