As the author of the influential bestseller The Aquarian
Conspiracy, and publisher of Brain/Mind Bulletin, Marilyn Ferguson
has for the past two decades been one of the foremost philosophers and chroniclers
of the holistic movement, during a period when holism has risen like a bright
shining star in the early evening sky.
In this interview with Dr. Daniel Redwood, Ferguson's deeply-ingrained sense
of hope is tempered by great concern for the fate of our civilization. A
long-time resident of Los Angeles, she has seen the optimism of the California
dream bend under the myriad pressures of the past two decades. A statewide
economic depression, and the Los Angeles riots which it helped to spawn,
have left their mark on her vision of the present and the future.
But the positive valence of her personality still imbues her conversation
with its charge. Her perspective on recent events, from the founding of
the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine to the aftermath of the L.A. riots,
is well worth hearing. Though a bit young for the role, she is becoming
a kind of global village elder, assimilating a wide range of knowledge on
many subjects, and then using it to help us decipher our times.
Brain/Mind Bulletin, which has for the past 18 years translated breakthroughs
on the vanguard edge of science into language the general public can understand,
is available by subscription for from Brain/Mind, P.O. Box 42211, Los Angeles
CA 90042.
Marilyn Ferguson Interview
DR: You have spoken recently of the "Trojan heart." Would
you tell that story again?
MARILYN FERGUSON: The idea of the "Trojan heart" comes
from Richard Lang, a friend in Phoenix. Most of us know the story of the
Trojan Horse. An invading army of Greeks wanted to enter the city gates
of Troy, so they built a magnificent, several-story high wooden horse, and
left it outside the city gates. The Trojans were so impressed that they
took the horse inside. The Greeks had hidden inside the horse, and after
dark they crawled out of it and conquered the city.
If you're going to storm the palace, if you're going to get through the
gates, you do it by offering something attractive. I think we know by now,
and the word is going out all over the world, that there's a better way
to do battle than in the past. We must put our heart inside the gates
of that walled city.
DR: How can we use this insight on a personal level?
MARILYN FERGUSON: My family tends to have allergies. They seem to
be very much tied into concepts and states of mind, as well as past traumas.
I was feeling very upset, because of my sensitivities, that the manufacturer
had put formaldehyde in our new wool carpet to keep the moths out. It gradually
does leave the carpet, but at at certain point I wondered ... what if I
didn't hate that poison so much.
I felt myself yield up my resistance in anger toward the formaldehyde. I
could feel my body going into a more giving, forgiving state. All of a sudden
the allergic reaction was gone. I think you can do this with anything in
the environment that seems to be assaulting you, whether it's a light or
a sound or a person. The sounds will change. Your ears will change. You
won't feel it the same way.
Our nervous systems are very malleable. We can be more creative in how we
perceive, as well as what we do. Often we seem stymied by a situation, frustrated
or upset. But , "The eye altering alters all," William Blake said.
This is not an easy thing to remember.