Today we’d like to introduce you to John Stahl.

Hi John, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

When I think of what I have accomplished in my life, I think about my researches in philosophy, and then the applications of those ideas to solving problems facing the survival of life on earth. Along the way, wanting to express my discoveries of philosophy, I purchased a small, table top printing press (Adana, 8×5) and began to publish my own books from hand-set type. My first book was Symposium, by God and the Devil (Montreal, 1971). I have continued to publish books, refining the ideas and the presentation ever since, including Lapis Philosophorum, (1973, San Francisco), Theophany (1979, San Francisco), and Patterns of Illusion and Change (Laytonville, 1984).
Theophany, in 1979, was a very elaborate production done on hand made paper, featuring four full color illustrations, printed by letterpress from hand set type, and hand bound over cords in leather covers, gold tooled, with gilt edges. In my description of the book I wrote: “This ambitious project follows the Lapis Philosophorum as the author’s attempt to express the primary abstract patterns which underlie the functioning of the cosmos. It incorporates a lot of new material: relating the abstract patterns of metaphysics to the Tetragrammaton and the Tree of Life from the Kabbalah, and relating the planets and metals of astrology and alchemy to the trigrams of the I Ching.
When I published Patterns of Illusion and Change, I wrote, even more loftily: “This book is an original presentation of a systematic arrangement of abstract ideas designed to illuminate the principle mysteries of the cosmos. The symbols used to express these ideas are taken primarily from the traditions of Hermetic Alchemy, the Kabbalah, and the I Ching. Despite the initial apparent obscurity of this material, the consequences and applications of its comprehension are limitless. Properly understood, it is a calculus of great power, whereby any situation of change may be analytically examined to interpret the present, explain the past, and predict the future.”
With these books I felt I had finally “illuminated all of the mysteries of the Cosmos” and began to shift my attention to applications of the ideas to solving the problems of the world. I had always been astonished at the folly of the world and its people (and I have continued to get more astonished and chagrined all the time, writing in these days of Donald Trump’s second rampage over this very fragile earth of ours), so in 1992, in Leggett, California, where I had established complete facilities for making handmade paper and purchased two larger printing presses (a Vandercook #17, and a Chandler & Price 8×12), I published New Solutions, and founded The Church of the Living Tree.
Oh, if only the world had listened to me when I first published New Solutions back in 1972, when there might still have been time to save the planet from its increasingly inevitable destruction ! Of all the follies perpetrated again our mother earth, I singled out the destruction of the Trees as the most egregious, and the one which has led inevitably to Global Warming and Climate Change, bringing with it a collapse in consciousness world-wide, which we now see as a right-ward shift toward fascism and increasing intolerance everywhere in the world, and a progressive widening of the divergence between a small group of wealth and power at the top, and a very large group composed of just about everyone else languishing in poverty and/or the victims of war-mongering maniacs drunk with the lust for power and control over the diminishing resources left on this planet.
I have continued to publish articles on my website (tree.org) but it really seems that it is too late to stop the accelerating decline into chaos, madness, and death which we are facing now in these last days of human life on earth. And, no, I am not expecting any glorious Return of Jesus Christ coming down with Choirs of Angels, singing joyful Hosannahs as we are all uplifted (the sheep, of course; not the goats) to our Heavenly Father for the reward for our long suffering tribulations. I fear that those who are eager to advance the march to Armageddon in hopes of bringing forward that promised Reward are in for a rude awakening, or, perhaps more accurately, no awakening at all.
None of this means that I have no belief in God or his wisdom or mercy ! Quite the contrary. Theology is a very complicated subject, and I do not attempt to explain my findings in this simple interview (but those who may be interested may want to look into my collected articles on the subject published as an e-book – Selected Articles, Metaphysics and Theology, www.tree.org/Selected Articles.pdf), but I might just suggest that I understand God as a cosmic consciousness which has arisen along with the cosmos, and not as a pre-existing original Source. This means that the universal consciousness which comprises all life on the planet is not going to save us like some deus ex machina – this consciousness is only Us, after all, and if we want our planet to continue to support life, it is up to us to make some very radical changes immediately. Some of those radical changes are suggested in a companion selection of articles, published as an e-book as One Planet Makeover, www.tree.org/One Planet Makeover.pdf.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

I have felt like a voice crying in the wilderness, with no one listening. Sometimes, when someone takes a look at one of my books, such as the Theophany, they look at the fine binding; they look at the handmade paper; they look at the letterpress print, and then they hand it back, saying, “Very fine, indeed ! Very nice work !” But it never occurs to anyone to actually read the book ! I remember one of the few persons who actually read the book was Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, to whom I showed my book after one of his classes. He took the book and read it very carefully from beginning to end, and then he said, with some surprise, “Yes, this is right !”

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

For me, the presentation of an idea is as important as the idea itself. I have always wanted to craft books that conveyed my ideas as an artistic expression. I remember once I was mortified when one of my acquaintances who knew that I was teaching classes in Hermetic philosophy through one of the Free University programs in San Francisco, asked me why I expected the students to purchase my book (Lapis Philosophorum). “Couldn’t you just mimeograph the information ?” I was speechless; I do not think I dignified her suggestion with a reply.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?

It was quite a risk when I purchased the property in Leggett, California, with the intention of setting up my papermill and print shop. I had to take on a pretty big mortgage at the time, and I had no idea whether sales of handmade paper would be enough to cover the mortgage and expenses. I had no illusions that the great interest in Hermetic philosophy would bring hoards of enquiring seekers to my door, eager to buy my books ! I remember when I set up my printing presses in my “living room” my wife was horrified. “You just can’t do that ! You can’t set up your printing presses in your living room ! That is no way to live.” And yet it made sense to me – if I were to make this work and manage to pay expenses, I just had to do what I had to do. I set up the papermaking in an old llama shed on the property, and the printing presses had no where else to go but my living room. In fact, it wasn’t an easy road from there, at all – to took years of struggle before I was finally able to pay off my debts.

Pricing:

• all e-books published on my website are free to download

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tree.org
• Other: Curriculum Vitae: www.tree.org/CV.htm

Image Credits

All photos by John Stahl