Manifesto for the Noosphere: The Next Stage in the Evolution of Human Consciousness

Manifesto Series

by José Argüelles

The noosphere, identified in the early twentieth century as intrinsic to the next stage of human and terrestrial evolution, is defined as the Earth’s “mental sphere” or stratum of human thought. Manifesto for the Noosphere, the final work by renowned author José Argüelles, predicts that the noosphere will be fully accessed on December 21, 2012—but warns that we will only successfully make this evolutionary jump through an act of collective consciousness among humans on Earth. The ascension to the noosphere or Supermind (using the terminology of Sri Aurobindo), Argüelles says, will be an unprecedented “mind shift” that mirrors the emergence of life itself on the planet.

Manifesto for the Noosphere is intended to inform and prepare humanity for the nature and magnitude of this shift. Argüelles brings in the Mayan long-count calendar, radical theories on the nature of time, advanced states of consciousness, and the possible intervention of galactic intelligence. He carefully details the role of the noosphere in relation to other planetary strata (hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere) as well as the history and nature of the biosphere-noosphere transition and the intermediary phases of the technosphere and cybersphere.

About the Imprint:
EVOLVER EDITIONS promotes a new counterculture that recognizes humanity's visionary potential and takes tangible, pragmatic steps to realize it. EVOLVER EDITIONS explores the dynamics of personal, collective, and global change from a wide range of perspectives. EVOLVER EDITIONS is an imprint of North Atlantic Books and is produced in collaboration with Evolver, LLC.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Spirituality

216 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2011

Reviews

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Won in a Goodreads First Reads contest ... but wasn't expecting this. See, I glanced at the description and saw something regarding "technosphere" and moving beyond it (into the "Noosphere") and thought, "oh, this must be about our technological age and where our brains can go now. How cool."

Oh how wrong I was.

As soon as I got the book and held it and looked at the back, I was confused. This was NOT where I parked my car, as a movie character once said. Still, I read it and here's the thing.

It's really funny.

I don't know if I ever read anything so funny.

Too much of this book, unfortunately, is based on Jose Arguelles's other books to make much sense to the uninitiated. He makes numerous references to his books (specifically those written about the - read: "his" - Law of Time, which he never fully defines in this one) as if expecting the reader to just go and read everything he's ever written just to understand this book.

As for the other pieces of information, not everything is cited in-text (although my favorite footnote citation was based on his own intuition) which means he makes a lot of random assertions that don't have the citational background I needed to buy into anything of what he was saying.

The premise, though, is that there is a layer of brainwaves encompassing the Earth known as the Noosphere. This Noosphere contains all thoughts - past and present - and our next evolutionary step will occur on December 21, 2012 (this is the guy who first found that date in the Mayan Calendars) where the Noosphere will become a consciously available resource and we will evolve from homo sapiens into ... wait for it ... homo noosphericus . From this state, we will learn to get all of our energy directly from the sun (that is, we will no longer need to eat), we will change our thinking from "Time is Money" into "Time is Art" (which is not fully described, even in the final chapter) and start acting as a Planetary Being.

The best part is that we will symbolize this event by using the electromagnetic waves and our own brainwaves (via meditation) to create a Rainbow Bridge that will encompass the world. That is, he says we will take the auroras and extend them all the way to the equator through our mindpower.

Now, I can understand how a lot of this may make sense to some people. He describes commune living as ideal and so ... we know his audience. Still, to base almost all of the messages and prophets on "Galatic Elders" (read: Space Aliens) ... well, I just don't know what else to do but laugh.

So why is this three stars? What could I have enjoyed about this (besides the physical product, I swear, if all books were made with the care and quality of materials that this one is, we would NOT be worried about ebooks taking over physical copies)? Well, I mean, the idea of us as completely telepathic beings, able to tap into each other's thoughts on a whim while still maintaining our individuality is just ripe for fiction. In many ways, any author of bizarro needs to read this book, just to see how far out there they really need to go to be far out there. We are talking universal visions that L. Ron Hubbard wishes he made.

So for that, I enjoyed it.

Now, I know that this review is offensive. I know there are people out there who honestly believe everything this man says. These are the folk who believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy on a COSMIC level. That is, because we were still trapped in our 12:60 time frame (instead of the more natural 13:20 time frame) we suffered a catastrophe. These are the people who - akin to David Lynch's meditation ideas - believe that we can call things into existance with the power of our minds (in truth, even Jesus has messages that meet with this idea). These are the people who believe that, not only are there aliens, but the only way to communicate them is through telepathy, because the speed of thought is FASTER than the speed of light. By becoming a completely planetary being, we will have fulfilled the least of the requirements to be considered a part of the Galatic Empire and then we can tap into our Noosphere to communicate with the other members of the Empire. Then we will be able to build up our different species into a galaxy being (instead of different planetary ones) and from there into a unversal being and then ... well, you get the idea. Oneness.

The best part is ... on 12/21/12, Alien Spacecraft come down and scoop up all the people who aren't ready to become homo noosphericus and train them on their spaceships until they are ready to join in.

I can't WAIT for the 2012!

[Petra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind opening book for me. One of the major claims of this book is about time. Author states that current way of structuring time into hours and days in a year is not in-tune with the nature and cosmos. He claims that organizing our time by the moon, having 13 months in a year which would result in fluid start of the new year, would be much more beneficial to human consciousness and our understanding of time.
There are many others interesting concepts about noosphere, over reaching consumerism and possibility to telepathically connect.
Give it a try - reading even one chapter can be beneficial.

[Linda Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five less one star because the illustrations (my field of endeavor) are not helpful to illuminating the text. I just bought this book because I want to highlight concepts I do understand, and look for more information on those I need to work with more. I started synthesizing Argüelles' words on paper because, though he clearly wants us to understand, clarity is missed by using the same phrases over again. I believe that consciousness heightened and shared is the next step in human evolution, but I'm not sure that consciousness alone can make it happen, especially within mechanical time and the Gregorian calendar. It amazes me that my Great-Aunt Suoma believed in the noosphere, although I didn't hear her use that word. And she was willing to share her thoughts with me, just about the time the Catholic Church let Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's writings be published (because he was dead.) Did she know his work? Did she know V. I. Vernadsky's? Was she not from here? She believed everything had consciousness, including the Earth herself, and that all needed respect and compassion. The Earth was in better shape in 1955. Earth may have to state her case for survival in a more emphatic manner to get us to graduate from a near fatal early-consciousness preschool. An effort underway since 2002 to create a constitution to define the noosphere and dictate the collective consciousness concerns me. As Einstein said, you can't create a new consciousness using the old one. That we are artificially connected in the technovoid of super-ego is promising, however. Throw compassion and synchronicity into the technosphere; reconnect to the biosphere, and what will develop has potential. Unless Earth has enough of us before we pass our elementary school midterms.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an alright book, although it was a little too fluffy - even for me. I did enjoy some of the descriptions of the history/future and the visualization of the Earth/universe metaphysical structure. There were some good parts to it, but overall I found myself not buying into all of it. A lot of the content seemed a little too far over my head, and quite unbelievable at times. I did especially enjoy the discussion of how we measure time, and I do agree that our current calendar does not make very much sense. It's pretty amazing how advanced the older civilizations were in comparison to us in certain areas. I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone except those who already subscribe to some of the beliefs of the inner hippy circle.

[Jason Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read overall. Part I gives historical background of the noosphere concept, which I particularly enjoyed not knowing that the concept is more than a century old. Part II incorporates Arguelles' Law of Time theory and how we are supposedly in a global evolutionary spiritual ascent; inspirational for personal transformation (even though Arguelles considers such work as primarily egocentric) but a bit too prophetic of a utopian future. This was Arguelles' last work and published under EvolverEditions.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't finished the book yet but I think it will bring a deeper knowledge to people and the earth and their own minds.

[Johanna Hilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving this book four stars for the combination of the content, length and the level of mindbendingness. Argüelles is not joking around. He is bringing out a classical Mayan way of interpreting time, and therefore a way of understanding Nature. Synchronistic connections that he makes through history are impressive, and his own relation to the Mayan astrology through Pacal Votan makes for an interesting addition. Sometimes I feel he gets carried away with the agenda of transforming individual consciousness, but then again I have not come across many who speak of the difficult topic in as sober and clear manner. He uses a lot of examples and covers many topics. The book could have been much longer too, but the essence of the Noosphere gets conveyed very well, and in this sense, the book serves as a useful mini-guide.

Argüelles is very influences by Carl Jung and Mirceal Eliade, and I think his work makes for a convincing contribution of his predecessors. Very recommendable reading for anyone who is willing to reconsider everything regarding our understanding of the nature of the universe, death, life, imagination, intuition, God, astrology, vibration...

[Noah Skocilich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met Jose Arguelles on several occasions and have great respect and appreciation for his life work.

This book was a good and welcome reminder for me of what a profound thinker he was and how relevant and important his ideas still are today.

[Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting ideas! I don't know enough about Mayan astrology/mythos to really truly understand everything that is mentioned, but I 100 % resonate with the ideal of the noosphere. A good find at my library that confirms I am not alone in my beliefs/thinking of the world.

[Capucine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Groundbreaking with so many resources. Highly recommended path to activating your inner planetary healer.

[Zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.examiner.com/review/manife...