Published: April 3, 2008

The cosmos is a big place—some even say it’s infinite.

Jeremy Johnson, a 21-year-old junior here at FCLC, is just a tiny speck in the grand scheme of things; as a sociology major, he’s well aware of this. But that doesn’t stop him from having big ideas about…well, just about everything. In an effort to communicate his ideas to the FCLC community, and to hear the ideas of others, Johnson recently started a new on-campus club and publication, appropriately titled Kosmos. Here he explains more about Kosmos and what it means to him.

The Observer: Why don’t you tell me a little about this new publication.

Jeremy Johnson: Basically it’s a cross-disciplinary magazine that’s employing a new kind of philosophy for literary writing, in that it’s going to incorporate all disciplines in this university—an umbrella for all fields of study, from science to philosophy to English. So whether you’re a sociologist or a photographer, you’re welcome to submit your work. It brings the school together.

The Observer: Why the emphasis on a cross-disciplinary magazine? Do you think FCLC is splintered among academic fields or social groups?

JJ: Because this school doesn’t really have anything that shows us the bigger picture, which, I think, is really important when we’re studying about the world. It’s a very important value to have that isn’t really taught to us—how to put differing opinions together, side by side. We’re taught how to make an argument, but not how to see the point in our opponents’ arguments.

The Observer: Very interesting point. So when are your meetings—have you had any yet?

JJ: We have meetings every Thursday at 5:15 p.m. Feb. 5 was our first official meeting.

The Observer: How are you advertising that you need submissions? Has anyone submitted anything yet?

JJ: We have flyers posted all around campus. And yes, we’ve gotten a handful of submissions so far; we plan to do more advertising soon.

The Observer: What kind of submissions have you received so far?

JJ: All different kinds, actually. We’ve one guy writing about…well, he’s studying pre-med, so he’s writing about medicine and health. We’ve [recieved] poetry and a journalistic article.

The Observer: About what?

JJ: About the educational system in America.

The Observer: Interesting. So, back to the meetings…is anybody welcome to come? What goes on at the meetings? Persuade me to come.

JJ: Yes, everybody in the entire school is welcome to come. [As for what goes on at the meetings], general discussion about the magazine…designing the magazine…and then anything that’s on anybody’s mind—that will inspire them to create. And that could be politics, school…anything. You should come because it’s one of the few places on campus where you can openly speak your mind and not be judged; no topic is taboo—it can be any subject, personal or intellectual, and [hopefully] there will be somebody who can relate, because, ideally, the meetings are representational of the whole school. It’s diverse.

The Observer: Cool. So where did you come up with the idea to start this new club?

JJ: I was actually inspired by the work of Ken Wilber. He created the integral philosophy, which attempts to bring many different theories together into one coherent picture.

The Observer: What’s the ultimate goal, or main point, of Wilber’s philosophy? If there is one?

JJ: It’s to help people get along—understanding of different perspectives.

The Observer: How do you hope to incorporate the idea of integral philosophy into Kosmos?

JJ: The actual layout of the magazine is based on an integral model—like, there’s a science section, a spiritual section, a journalistic section, all under the title of one magazine, so it brings these various disciplines together.

The Observer: Speaking of layout—what are your plans for actually, physically, putting together the magazine?

JJ: Well, we’ve thought this through—it’s transformed a lot. It depends on who wants to help us design and their individual style, but we hope to have some kind of [overarching] theme. Like, maybe a Zen scheme for the style, or maybe a shamanic or Mayan theme—something like that.

The Observer: And why the name Kosmos? Kosmos with a ‘K’ that is.

JJ: It’s actually the original Greek term for “cosmos” with a ‘c,’ but it’s a more inclusive term. It stands for “matter, life, mind, soul and spirit.” It’s not just the physical universe, but also the mental universe—our inner reality, our spiritual reality. I thought that was an appropriate name for our magazine.

The Observer: Is there anything else you would want to tell a newcomer to Kosmos?

JJ: That they can make a submission in any medium that they want. And to check out our magazine when it comes out. Spread
the word.