22 Apr 2023 - Earth Day - 53rd Anniversary - Started 1970

22 APRIL 2023
EARTH DAY
José Argüelles (/ɑːrˈɡweɪ.ɪs/;
born Joseph Anthony Argüelles;
January 24, 1939 – March 23, 2011)
was an American New Age author and artist.
He was the co-founder, along with Lloydine Argüelles,
of the Planet Art Network
and the Foundation for the Law of Time.
As one of the originators of the Earth Day concept,
Argüelles founded the first Whole Earth Festival in 1970,
at Davis, California.
He is best known for his leading role in organizing
the 1987 Harmonic Convergence,
for inventing (with the assistance of his wife Lloydine)
the perpetual Dreamspell calendar in 1990,
and for the central role that he played
in the emergence of the 2012 phenomenon.
Towards the end of his life, Argüelles focused on issue
of consciousness, elaborating the concept of a noosphere
(based on the work of Teilhard de Chardin and Vladimir Vernadsky)
as a global work of art. Specifically,
he envisioned a "rainbow bridge" encircling the Earth.
Early life and education
Argüelles' father, Enrique García Argüelles,
was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
to Sabino García Argüelles and María Gómez Márquez.
His mother, Ethel Pearl Martin, was born to
Martin John Meyer and Laura Olga Hein
in Potsdam, Minnesota.
Joseph Anthony (Jose) Arguelles and his twin brother
Ivan W. Arguelles were born in Rochester, Minnesota
on January 24, 1939. José (born Joseph)
was the twin brother of the poet Ivan Argüelles
and the uncle of the linguist Alexander Argüelles.
He held a Ph.D. in Art History and Aesthetics
from the University of Chicago
and taught at numerous colleges,
including Princeton University, the University of California, Davis,
the San Francisco Art Institute, and Evergreen State College.
Argüelles' principal teacher and mentor
was the unconventional Tibetan Buddhist
and former monk Chögyam Trungpa,
with whom he studied at Naropa University
(then the Naropa Institute) in the mid-1970s.
Argüelles' significant intellectual influences included
Theosophy and the writings of Carl Jung and Mircea Eliade.
Astrologer Dane Rudhyar was also one of Argüelles'
most influential mentors.
Argüelles cited several Native American influences,
among them Hopi elders Dan Katchongva and Thomas Banyacya
and Lakota medicine man Arvol Looking Horse
as well as part-Cheyenne author Frank Waters;
part-Lakota, former Mormon, beat generation poet Tony Shearer;
and Anishinaabe spiritual leader Vincent La Duke (a.k.a. Sun Bear).
New Age influences included Chuluaqui Quodoushka
founder Harley Reagan, and Brooke "Medicine Eagle" Edwards.
Later in his life, Argüelles adopted the "Banner of Peace"
from a design created by the Russian painter, explorer,
and mystic Nicholas Roerich to accompany the adoption
of the Roerich Pact for protecting cultural properties during wartime.

 

50th anniversary in 2020

 

EARTH DAY
53RD ANNIVERSARY
1970 - 2023