When I started this Substack publication in December 2021, I had vague ideas about something I wanted to write. Something that was both a critique of the hyper-information age and which also explored alternative ideas about reality, for example Bernado Kastrup’s Analytic Idealism. I also felt I had to incorporate elements which were uniquely me: my upbringing as part of the African-Caribbean diaspora, born and raised (as I was) in the United Kingdom. Finally, as there is very little of the deeper side of me that does not consider my life in relation to the Ancient Indian philosophy of the Vedanta, so I wanted this to also be a central part of the project. Add in some Jung, Byung-Chul Han, plus many words about music and festivals and you have the book Collective which will be on sale from the end of September.
I try to knit the above threads together and the result is, I think, interesting. It starts out as something of a philosophical critique and ends as an almost theological exhortation to live a life closer to what Jung terms the collective unconscious and which to Kastrup is known as transpersonal mentation. How do I suggest we do this? Here is where my Afro-diasporic background comes in - through the rave of course! The shindig or music occasion is, in the unwritten philosophy of my diaspora, the method by which we can transcend the material illusion and receive glimpses of the oneness beyond.
The initial feedback has been promising. It will be published by Panswed on 30th September 2024. The hard work starts now - somehow, we need to publicise this text so that a few people at least will read it. Perhaps I should start this work now. Therefore, if you’re reading Bifurcation you’ll probably enjoy Collective. Maybe you’ll seek out the book at some point. See, for example, Collective by Callum Bell. ISBN: 9781068698408