New York City Reviews in for Peake event

PRLog (Press Release) - Aug 06, 2009 -
New York City,  New York   (Gnosis Arts Multimedia)   "Magical. . . Thought provoking... a great speaker....the lecture hour flew by.. . a great New York City event. "   Such were some of the words of commendation for the August 3 evening with British theorist and author Anthony Peake at Madison Avenue's "Grand Dame",  the Roosevelt Hotel.  The event was organized by Gnosis Arts Multimedia,   and re-couped in the eleventh hour by the addition of John Broughton and New York Philosophy,  which brought in a whopping 143 attendees.    The event took place in the famous Grand Ballroom of the hotel,  and included a buffet and hour of premium open bar,  which preceded the introductory remarks given by Martin Huxter of London and John Broughton of Union Square.    The lecture and Q & A period brought the event past 10 pm,  making it a 4 hour marathon served up to New York's intelligensia.  

In the purely aesthetic sense,  the evening had an ambiance of soft  but increasing electricity:  The crowds began to trickle,  then pour in,  to the Grand Ballroom prior to  6 pm,  even as the hotel events personnel were lighting the candles for the  premium bar and buffet setup.   The backdrop of sweeping Italianate windows silhouetting Madison Avenue,    along with the dimmed chandeliers above a theater set up for 300 attendees,   bespoke some seeming  fate at work behind the scenes:  Coming from the mezzanine lobby,  there was a virtual roar as the guests gathered  in the adjunct reception room.  

Peake was able to pull off what some might well call an  extraordianary feat:  As an author relatively unknown in the U.S.,  he stood before a crowd of some 300 in one of the major venues of Manhattan,  and spoke with an ease and  gracious and relaxed congeniality while still recovering from jet lag and continental  time difference.  Packing binary mind theory,  brain studies,  quantum theory,  and Nietzschean eternal recurrence doctrine into the space of an hour's lecture prior to the Q & A period,   Peake was able to deliver a seamless and invigorating speech.

Among his harshest critics were philosophers and rationalists who balked at the personal and quasi-spiritual aspects of his eidolon/daemon dyad.   Some of them wanted more science,  more quantum theory and explanation,  and less Daemon poetic rhetoric.  Peake in fact is in an extraordinary and enviable position:  He has reached an apex in which he can decide which audience he wants to call his own:    He may veer toward the spiritually and psychologically inclined,  which include Jungians,  transcendentalists,  NDE and OBE champions,   and new age paranormalists;  or he may downplay these aspects  -  while still maintaining them at the core of his magnificent hypothesis  -  and sharpen and refine his powers for debate with the heavier quantum theorists and scientifically biased intellectuals of consciousness studies.    There is no doubt that he has attracted some formidable professors,  particle theorists,  mathematicians,  and professional members of the British and U.S.  intellectual community,  who are more than willing to come to his aid.   In summation,  one could say that Peake's evening at the Roosevelt Hotel,  mainly enjoyed by an audience of no small import,   was only the precursor of his best days.  Those who know the man,  know he has the inner and outer resources to refine and sharpen his weapons for a comeback.  There has already been discussion regarding obtaining public funds through the office of Cultural Affairs  and involving the Metro New York University community for a panel discussion and debate in the not so distant future.  And in all probability,  the Roosevelt Hotel's Grand Ballroom will once again light its candles and chandeliers for this diminutive dynamo form Great Britain's shores.

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/10302852/1