Online Zoom Forum: Jean Gebser: The Spiritual, Integral, Artistic and Social Vision and Influence in His Life and Work.
Date: Wednesday 2 September 2026.
Time: 7pm-9pm (UK time).
Event Description:
Format: There will be four talks, each of 15 minutes, followed by discussion among the speakers and the chair, followed by Q & A.
Chair:
Dr Thomas Clough Daffern:
Bio: Dr. Thomas Clough Daffern is a philosopher, historian, academic, poet, teacher and religious studies and peace studies specialist. His PhD from the University of London explored the history of the search for world peace 1945-2001 and proposes the new field of Transpersonal History. He serves as Director of the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy (www.educationaid.net) and coordinates the Commonwealth Interfaith Network (https://www.facebook.com/53nationsofpeace). Rector of the Global Green University (www.globalgreenuniverity.com) he has taught at the University of London, the University of Oxford, and the Muslim College (London) and has also worked as a senior Philosophy and Religious Education Teacher in schools. He has created the Periodic Table of the World’s Religious and Philosophical Traditions as a study and teaching aid to advance interfaith understanding (https://iipsgp.wixsite.com/periodictable). Founder and director of the Multifaith and Multicultural Mediation and Arbitration Service, he advises the peaceful resolution of interfaith disputes rather than violent conflict. He has taken initiations in Sufism, Christianity, Druidry, Qabalah, Tantric Buddhism, Sikhism, Wicca, Yoga, Jainism, Native American & other spiritual paths. He has co-chaired over 33 meetings in the UK House of Lords on Peace and Global Ethics, where he called for the creation of a Ministry of Peace for the UK and the USA and all other countries worldwide. He has published over 97 books (www.lulu.com/spotlight/iipsgp) He also Chairs the World Intellectuals Wisdom Forum (https://worldintellectualforumeurope.weebly.com), and serves as Educational Coordinator for the Delphic Academy (https://delphic.org/). He also serves as Coordinator of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Middle East (https://trcme.wordpress.com/) and has called for a rational, comprehensive, and peaceful solution to the Israel/Palestine war and other Middle Eastern conflicts. Thomas has proposed that if all the religions and faiths of the world sign an Interfaith Peace Treaty declaring that their respective followers will never fight and kill one another, then we will have an effective, direct and immediate path to world peace (https://interfaithpeacetreaty.wordpress.com/).
Speakers:
Lonny Jarrett:
Title: Gebser: An Integral Perspective, Insights, and Questions.
Description: I will consider Gebser in a developmental state-stage context. I'll discuss his work before and after he became aware of Aurobindo. I'll present questions and insights I have regarding his vision placing emphasis on the importance of his contribution to the emergence of integral awareness.
Bio: Lonny Jarrett, Has been practicing Chinese Medicine in Western Massachusetts since 1986. He is a founding board member of the Ac. Soc. Of Massachusetts. Lonny is author of Nourishing Destiny: The Inner Tradition of Chinese Medicine, The Clinical Practice of Chinese Medicine, and Deepening Perspectives on Chinese Medicine. Deepening Perspectives is a 1000 page presentation of Chinese medicine in an Integral context. He holds a master’s degree in neurobiology and a fourth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He was featured in the text, “The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling” by best selling author Stephen Cope. Lonny’s teaching schedule is at Lonnyjarrett.com, and his texts are available from Spiritpathpress.com.
Lorie Eve Dechar:
Title: Evolving Perspectives: Art, Vision and Consciousness in the Work of Jean Gebser.
Description: The evolution of perspective—how and what I am able to perceive—is a fundamental aspect of Gebser’s theory of consciousness. In this brief talk, we will take a quick tour through time as we review the evolutions of perspective in artistic expression and continue on where Gebser's work left off: at the edge of the emergence of “the energetic field” as a palpable reality in human experience. We will explore how the development of our capacity to see and work with unpredictable, non-quantifiable phenomenon such as qi, the subtle body and the intersubjective field through depth psychology, Chinese medicine and contemporary art is playing a crucial role in the irruption of integrality in the West.
Bio: Lorie Eve Dechar is an acupuncturist, scholar, explorer of consciousness and respected authority in the world of Chinese medicine, with 40 years of clinical practice and three decades of teaching and mentoring experience, including 18 years as a faculty member of the Tri-State College of Acupuncture in New York City. Her unique contribution to the profession is firmly established at the cross-cultural intersection of consciousness studies—with a focus on the work of Jean Gebser—Archetypal and Taoist psychology and East Asian Medicine. She is the author of Five Spirits: Alchemical Acupuncture for Psychological and Spiritual Healing, Kigo: Exploring the Spiritual Essence of Acupuncture Points Through the Changing Seasons and The Alchemy of Inner Work.
Prof Eric Mark Kramer:
Title: Gebser and AI
Description: I hope to help facilitate a discussion about AI and how it may be perceived through the various structures of consciousness. Some have magic identification with constructed avatars. Others are using it for mythic storytelling and to aid in all sorts of creative activities. Others see it as a machine and ponder how quantum computing may magnify its capabilities. An integral view can see how all structures are manifest, probably because, at the end of the day, it is a human invention modeled on human communicative activity. So what, if any, unhuman or posthuman qualities may it manifest?
Bio: Eric Mark Kramer is Professor of Journalism and Mass Media and also of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota. He is also Presidential Professor Emeritus of the University of Oklahoma. He has been a Fulbright Scholar and the Editor of the Oxford University Press' Encyclopedia of Communication Research.
Dr. Thomas Clough Daffern:
Title: Jean Gebser, Transpersonal History and the Search for Peace.
Description: Dr. Thomas Clough Daffern first discovered Jean Gebser in 1992 during a study tour of the USA, and was immediately impressed by the cogency of his ideas. Thomas was working on his own PhD for the University of London at the time, which was an exhaustive study of peace thinking among philosophers, psychologists, historians and other intellectuals active between 1945 and 2001. Jean Gebser was one among hundreds that featured in this work, but always stood out as one of the great systematic synthesizers of ideas in a world which lacked genuine attempts to comprehend the big picture and to understand why the world crises of two world wars followed by the Cold War, and the risk of nuclear omnicide and now ecocide, have fallen to our generation to heal. Gebser gives us vital clues, and articulates a view of the philosophy of history that Thomas has called “Transpersonal history”. Thomas will explain how Gebser’s thought (along with Aurobindo, Jung, Wilber, J. G. Bennett, Voegelin) can provide a map on how we can find a way out of the labyrinth of lies and violence by reorientating ourselves to the “ever-present Origin” and proceeding from there.
Bio: Dr. Thomas Clough Daffern is a philosopher, historian, academic, poet, teacher and religious studies and peace studies specialist. His PhD from the University of London explored the history of the search for world peace 1945-2001 and proposes the new field of Transpersonal History. He serves as Director of the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy (www.educationaid.net) and coordinates the Commonwealth Interfaith Network (https://www.facebook.com/53nationsofpeace). Rector of the Global Green University (www.globalgreenuniverity.com) he has taught at the University of London, the University of Oxford, and the Muslim College (London) and has also worked as a senior Philosophy and Religious Education Teacher in schools. He has created the Periodic Table of the World’s Religious and Philosophical Traditions as a study and teaching aid to advance interfaith understanding (https://iipsgp.wixsite.com/periodictable). Founder and director of the Multifaith and Multicultural Mediation and Arbitration Service, he advises the peaceful resolution of interfaith disputes rather than violent conflict. He has taken initiations in Sufism, Christianity, Druidry, Qabalah, Tantric Buddhism, Sikhism, Wicca, Yoga, Jainism, Native American & other spiritual paths. He has co-chaired over 33 meetings in the UK House of Lords on Peace and Global Ethics, where he called for the creation of a Ministry of Peace for the UK and the USA and all other countries worldwide. He has published over 97 books (www.lulu.com/spotlight/iipsgp) He also Chairs the World Intellectuals Wisdom Forum (https://worldintellectualforumeurope.weebly.com), and serves as Educational Coordinator for the Delphic Academy (https://delphic.org/). He also serves as Coordinator of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Middle East (https://trcme.wordpress.com/) and has called for a rational, comprehensive, and peaceful solution to the Israel/Palestine war and other Middle Eastern conflicts. Thomas has proposed that if all the religions and faiths of the world sign an Interfaith Peace Treaty declaring that their respective followers will never fight and kill one another, then we will have an effective, direct and immediate path to world peace (https://interfaithpeacetreaty.wordpress.com/).
An archive recording will be made for the EICSP archive.
NB: There will be no refund if you cancel your booking.
Cost: By Paypal:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Account Name: Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace
Bank: Bank of Scotland
Bank Address: Edinburgh Royal Mile Branch
Account Number: 06131159
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