Video & Audio
On Narcissism, Tribalism and Developmental Arrest
In this video, Gary Rosenthal reflects two commonly suffered forms of “developmental arrest” that have been with us for a very long time—an egocentric narcissism and an ethnocentric tribalism. What’s distinctive about our current epoch is that these two forms of stunted development now threaten not only the world’s democracies, but the fate of our species. Never before has there been such an urgent imperative to evolve further, to become wiser, less polarized, more objective—and fast. For our planet’s ecological clock ticks ever closer to a deadly midnight. And already, the dying has begun…
What Heals Narcissism?
And Why Its Healing Is a Global Imperative
In this video, Gary Rosenthal, author of Re-Visioning Narcissism: Healing Heresies for Polarized Times, offers a perspective on narcissism as viewed from the intersection of four avenues of vision: the mythic, historical, psychological, and spiritual. Historically, narcissism is arguably the earliest recognized personality disorder. Greek, and then Roman poets were writing about it over two millennia ago, and had given us numerous versions of the myth of Narcissus and Echo, from which narcissism was first named. Yet today, narcissism remains as rampant as ever. In fact, its egocentric lack of empathy is a form of developmental arrest that has become detrimental to the world’s democracies, and its hubristic disregard of science now threatens the fate of our species. For these reasons, narcissism--as well as what will be required for healing it--have been badly in need of a revisioning. And that’s what this video will begin to provide.
POETRY READINGS
Thinking of Dogs
This Whole Shebang
I made a very questionable career move years ago—in deciding not to publish much until I matured a bit. Who knew it would take so long—or that the nature of publishing would change so much? And so, the poem I’m about to give you isn't like some of the poems I’ve offered on the Internet. I didn’t store it for 5, 10, or 15 years in my cellar, as if it were some rough wine, that might lose its abrasive tannins, with the passing of time.
This one came in about an hour ago...and as recently as 5 minutes ago, it seemed finished. But lately, like a struck temple bell reverberating, I’ve become uncertain in discerning the precise ending of anything...So maybe this poem isn’t really finished yet. Or maybe it is. I’ll let you decide. But it is a bit dystopian. And its title is... This Whole Shebang
The lingering isolation from COVID has found me still chained to a computer by a demanding Muse. She’s had me all to herself, which apparently, is how she’d like things to remain. (I’m not sure this is an entirely healthy relationship). Yet I stay in it for the fringe benefits--one of them being that four new books got coaxed out of me. And maybe I’ll introduce them to you at a later time...
But the thing is this: If you’re a poet, writer, or artist, your primary job is the practice of your art, the solitary conversation between yourself and the Muse. (And what results from having, seemingly, two mind-streams on the job). The final task is then bringing the fruits of that solitary conversation back to your tribe.
Though more often I keep my poems in captivity for a few years--like wine ageing in the cellar--here’s a video offering one of the new poems that came in a few days ago. It’s called Thinking of Dogs...
When Lovers Dissolve
Gary reads at the 2011 Non-dual Wisdom and Psychotherapy Conference at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, California
Antonio's Gloves
Gary recorded his long funny poem about following “erotic clues” for a reading at Bard College. The poem appears in his poetry collection, An Amateur’s Guide to the Invisible World, as well as in the lit journal Wood.
AUDIO PRESENTATION
Love and the Poetic Tradition
Listen to Gary Rosenthal's opening address to the International Enneagram Conference held in San Francisco in the year 2000.
MEDITATIONS
Trespasso Meditation with a Partner
In this ten and half minute video, Gary guides retreatants in trespasso - the first in a cycle of gazing practices.
A distinctive feature of trespasso is that it is one of the few meditative practices that is done with a partner. (Gary often employs it in doing transpersonal couples counseling, for it gives couples—and quite literally—another way of looking at each other).
Like all forms of shamatha practice, trespasso calms and stabilizes the mind. But trespasso seems notable in that it seems to give even relative beginners to meditation some initial access to non-dual states.
Meditation With an Object: Looks Like Me
In the second gazing practice, retreatants rest their gaze upon an object - a photograph of the eighth century Tibetan sculpture known as "Looks Like Me." Here the cinematography of Marie Hetherington coalesces with the experience of retreatants in giving the vid's title an apt double entendre.
Mirror Gazing: Narcissus Unveiled
Retreatants use a mirror as their gazing object. If narcissism is taking ourselves to be what we are not, then at some point we might ask: Are we the image that we have of ourselves--whether grandiose or repulsive? Or are we a human form of something more boundless and mysterious?