The Parallax View #171: The Odyssey

Layman Pascal reads from Sex, Death & the Occult at the Parallax Literary Salon, followed by a conversation with Andrew Sweeny and the audience.The book is part textbook, part course transcript and part poetic grimoire, structured around the first six cards of the tarot. Layman reads the preface, the introduction, and an appendix on the use and abuse of Hermetic lineages. The conversation covers AI and non-human intelligence, the Church and the esoteric, sacrifice, and horror films.Layman Pascal is a Canadian philosopher, author and retreat leader working on metamodern spirituality, nondualist theology and metashamanics. He hosts the podcast The Integral Stage and helped start the Parallax Academy.Get the book: https://www.parallax-media.com/books/sexdeathoccultAll Parallax books: https://www.parallax-media.com/parallax-booksParallax membership: https://www.parallax-media.com/the-parallax-academyJoin us on the Substack: https://parallax.substack.comThe Parallax Literary Salon meets Thursdays at 8 PM Paris time on Zoom.

Joe Ross reads from Where Was The Flag B-E-F-O-R-E?, his book from Parallax, at the Parallax Literary Salon, followed by a conversation with Andrew Sweeny and Chim Nwabueze.He reads three sections from across the book, then the opening pages of his new manuscript, Beautiful (K)nots, for the first time. The conversation moves from a Zen koan about a flag in the wind to poetry as an “alert meditation” and why the reader has to take part in making the poem.Joe Ross is the author of more than fifteen books of poetry, including Equations = Equals, winner of the 2003 Gertrude Stein Poetry Award, 1000 Folds and Last Days on Earth. He was literary editor of The Washington Review from 1991 to 1997.Get the book: https://www.parallax-media.com/books/where-was-the-flag-b-e-f-o-r-eAll Parallax books: https://www.parallax-media.com/parallax-booksThe Parallax Literary Salon meets Thursdays at 8 PM Paris time on Zoom.See the full season: https://parallax.substack.com/p/the-parallax-literary-salon-autumn

Chim Nwabueze reads from Traces, Light-Prints, his 630-page collected poems from Parallax, at the Parallax Literary Salon, followed by a conversation with Andrew Sweeny and Joe Ross.He opens with new poems from Sky Archaeologies, the first of four manuscripts toward a second volume. Then he reads backwards through the book, ending on its first poem.Chim Nwabueze is a New York poet living in France. He is the author of Experiments and Drafts, Convergences, Fenêtre Dissimulée and Fanfares à couteaux tirés, and an experimental musician on saw and guitar.Get the book: https://www.parallax-media.com/books/traceslightprintsAll Parallax books: https://www.parallax-media.com/parallax-booksThe Parallax Literary Salon meets Thursdays at 8 PM Paris time on Zoom. See the full season: https://parallax.substack.com/p/the-parallax-literary-salon-autumn

108 Songs for the Red Goddess — Andrew Sweeny | Parallax Literary SalonAndrew Sweeny opens the new season of the Parallax Literary Salon with a reading from his poetry collection 108 Songs for the Red Goddess, followed by a wide-ranging conversation with Joseph Chim, Joe Ross and David Herz.The book is a cycle of devotional, erotic and unruly invocations to the Red Goddess, "a symbol of what is most alive," who holds a blade that cuts through illusion in one hand and a bowl of healing nectar in the other. The songs move between prayer and confession, satire and praise, Paris in flames and the Zen hall, despair and laughter."The disease of humanity is tomorrow, and the Red Goddess is the cure."📖 GET THE BOOKParallax: https://www.parallax-media.com/books/108-songs-for-the-red-goddessAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/108-Songs-Goddess-Andrew-Sweeny/dp/8412948459🎙 ABOUT THE SALONThe Parallax Literary Salon is a series of live readings and conversations with authors published by Parallax.https://parallax.substack.com/p/parallax-literary-salon-live-108UPCOMING SALONSOct 22 — Joseph ChimOct 29 — Joe Ross#poetry #spokenword #devotionalpoetry #RedGoddess #ParallaxLiterarySalon

What is meaning, and is it real? Andrew Sweeny talks with writer and researcher Brendan Graham Dempsey about his new book, The Evolution of Meaning, Volume 1: Cosmos to Culture.Brendan describes his path from evangelical faith, through a painful loss of belief and a long stretch of nihilism, to a new account of meaning grounded in thermodynamics and information theory. In this view, meaning is the information that keeps any living thing from falling apart. From there the conversation turns to value and the sacred, whether science and mysticism can share a language, Brendan's map of the different things "God" can mean, a thermodynamic theory of the sacred, and the data he gathered showing how human meaning-making has grown more complex across history.BOOKThe Evolution of Meaning, Vol. 1: Cosmos to CultureAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HLTHTHG1/Book website: https://evolutionofmeaning.comBrendan's Substack: https://brendangrahamdempsey.substack.comPARALLAXWebsite: https://www.parallax-media.comParallax Academy (courses): https://www.parallax-media.com/the-parallax-academyNewsletter: https://parallax.substack.comSupport Parallax: https://www.parallax-media.com/donate#MeaningCrisis #Metamodernism #Philosophy```

Description:What if the deepest crisis of our time is a crisis of Value itself?Iain McGilchrist, Marc Gafni, and Zak Stein explore whether truth, goodness, beauty, meaning, and the sacred are real—or merely human constructions. They discuss the loss of depth, value perception, AI, prophecy, and the possibility that Value can be both eternal and evolving.Iain McGilchrist: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/home/Marc Gafni: https://worldphilosophyandreligion.org/about-dr-marc-gafni/Zak Stein: https://www.zakstein.org/First Principles and First Values: Forty-Two Propositions on CosmoErotic Humanism, the Meta-Crisis, and the World to Comehttps://www.amazon.com/First-Principles-Values-Propositions-CosmoErotic/dp/B0DZP633BB/The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the Worldhttps://www.amazon.com/Matter-Things-Brains-Delusions-Unmaking/dp/1914568257#IainMcGilchrist #MarcGafni #ZakStein #Philosophy #Metacrisis

Our review for the new movie

John Vervaeke and Thomas Jockin join Andrew Sweeny at Parallax for a conversation on beauty, Plato, Aristotle, the sacred, and the meaning crisis. What if the meaning crisis is also a crisis of beauty — and what if beauty is not merely something we like, but something that asks us to change our lives?John Vervaeke: https://johnvervaeke.com/Thomas Jockin: https://thomasjockin.com/Thomas’s Parallax course, Beauty Changes Your Life: Plato, Aristotle, and the Beautiful, begins Monday, July 6, 2026, with live sessions on July 6, 13, 20, and 27.Course link: https://www.parallax-media.com/courses/beauty-changes-your-life-thomas-jockinSubscribe to Parallax for more conversations on philosophy, spirituality, culture, and transformation.

In this conversation, Andrew Sweeny sits down with author, scholar, and Cult of Personality host Greg Kaminsky to discuss his recent books The Silent Call of the Heart, Peregrine: Crossing Spiritual Boundaries to Find a New Home, and Entangled in Sunlight.The discussion explores Greg's journey from occult scholar and podcaster to committed spiritual practitioner, examining the limits of knowledge, the role of direct experience, and the challenges of spiritual transformation. Drawing on the teachings of Traktung Rinpoche, the conversation moves through topics such as knowledge and wisdom, the Garden of Eden, duality, the spiritual path, Vajrayana Buddhism, the relationship between emptiness and appearance, and the idea of an inner "silent call" that guides a person's life.The second half of the conversation focuses on Peregrine and the question of crossing spiritual boundaries. Can Westerners authentically practice Eastern traditions? Are spiritual paths tied to culture, geography, and ethnicity, or do they point toward something universal? Greg reflects on his own movement from Western esotericism and ceremonial magic into Buddhist Tantra, while discussing tradition, the guru-disciple relationship, and the search for a spiritual home.Topics include:• The transition from scholarship to spiritual practice• Knowledge, wisdom, and unknowing• Traktung Rinpoche and Vajrayana Buddhism• The Garden of Eden and the emergence of duality• One Ground, Two Paths, Two Results• Cataphatic and apophatic spirituality• Ego, surrender, and spiritual ambition• The meaning of The Silent Call of the Heart• The story of Little Luminous Blazing• East-West spirituality and cultural identity• Peregrine and crossing spiritual boundaries• Western esotericism, ceremonial magic, and Buddhist Tantra• Tradition, modernity, and finding a spiritual homeGreg Kaminsky is the author of numerous books on spirituality, religion, and esotericism, and the host of the Cult of Personality podcast.#GregKaminsky #Spirituality #Vajrayana #Buddhism #Mysticism #Esotericism #TraktungRinpoche #Philosophy #Religion #Parallax #CultOfPersonality #Occult #Meditation #EasternPhilosophy #WesternEsotericism

What is prophecy—and why does it matter today?In this conversation, Andrew Sweeny and Dr. Marc Gafni explore the relationship between wound and wonder, love and time, eros and ethics, and the radical idea that a prophet is someone who transforms pain into vision.This dialogue introduces Marc's upcoming Parallax course:**The Words of the Prophets: The Transfiguration of Our Unique Wound**📅 July 12, 19 & 26, 2026🔥 Includes live Digital Campfire sessions each weekLearn more and register:https://www.parallax-media.com/courses/marc-gafni-the-words-of-the-prophets#MarcGafni #Parallax #Prophecy #UniqueSelf #Mysticism #Philosophy #Spirituality