The Alchemy of Catastrophe: Climate Change, Spirit, and Matter

We are in a period of unprecedented climate change. Our use of fossil fuels has resulted in carbon levels in the atmosphere having reached a tipping point, which, should we permanently exceed, will make life on earth as we have known it impossible. In this article, the crisis is addressed through the alchemy of the crisis and the challenge it offers. Only through an evolving consciousness may we mitigate some of the most horrific impacts of climate change and our denial of it. The author explores Messiaen's symphonic work From the Canyons to the Stars, inspired by southern Utah canyon country, for clues to what the evolving consciousness might entail.The paper was originally presented at the December 2015 C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco's 2015-2016 Donor Cultivation Event and at the Jungian Society of Scholarly Studies Conference in June 2016, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.