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Biographies
Victor Trimondi & Victoria
Trimondi
Victor
Trimondi
Graduated in law from Cologne University.
Subsequent studies in France and Munich.
Summarizing, I could divide my past adult life to date into three major
interlinked phases:
Revolutionary Phase: 1967–1977
In 1967 I founded the Trikont publishing house in Munich under
my former name Herbert Röttgen. The publishing house cultivated a social
activist program and was very closely linked to the 1968 protest movement.
In the 1960s and 70s it was often described as the most prominent and
original sub-cultural publisher. Well-known authors and titles
(revolutionary classics) from this period included among others:
Che Guevara – Bolivianisches Tagebuch [Bolivian Diary]
(1968); Régis Debray - Revolution in der Revolution [Revolution of
the Revolution] (1968); Rudi Dutschke - Der Lange Marsch [The Long
March] (1968); Bommi Baumann – Wie Alles Anfing [How It All Began]
(1975); Daniel Cohn Bendit – Das Große Bazar [The Grand Bazaar]
(1977);Jerry Rubin - Do it (German Translation) Trikont published
the first German-language books on feminism, gay rights and men’s
movements, various alternative lifestyles, green politics, regionalism, the
new American Native movement, etc.
Spiritual Phase: 1977–1987
In the late 1970s, I self-published a critique of the radical left: Vulkantänze
— linke und alternative Ausgänge [Powder-kegs — Leftwing and
Alternative Outcomes]. In this period, along with many like-minded
individuals, I reached the conclusion that political and socio-political
activities alone are not enough to solve the pressing problems of human
society once and for all. I saw a new and promising possibility in a — as
it was described at the time — "radical transformation of
consciousness". Consequently I turned to the topic of applied
spirituality. It was in this frame of mind that I developed the contents of
a new publishing program that was supposed to pro-mote a discourse between
religion and science, tradition and modernity, myth and history, mysticism
and sensuality, as well as between the various cultures and religions,
without however abandoning the existing humanist objectives of the
preceding publishing phase. To demonstrate the shift in publication policy
I renamed the publishing house Dianus — Trikont. Some of the
well-known authors from this period included:
Theodore Rozsak – Das unvollendete Tier [The Unfinished
Animal] (1982); Morris Berman - Die Wiederverzauberung der Welt [The
Re-enchantment of the world] (1983); Nikos Kazantzakis - Buddha –der
Blaue Fluss [Buddha - The Blue River] (1984); David Bohm – Die implizierte
Ordnung [The Implied Order] (1985); Hazel Hendersen - Das Ende der
Ökonomie [The end of Economy] (1985); David Steindl Rast- Fülle und
Nichts [Plenty and Nothing] (1985); Lawrence Durrell – Das Lächeln
des Tao [The Smile of Tao] (1985); Dalai Lama XIV - Logik der Liebe
[The Logic of Love] (1985); Joseph Campbell – Lebendiger Mythos [Living
Myth] (1985)
Alongside its publishing activity, Dianus — Trikont also
organized several spectacular congresses and symposia, either alone or in
cooperation with other institutions. To mention some of these here, they
included:
1982
Major event at the Frankfurt Book Fair ("Das Gleichgewicht der
Erde" [The Balance of the Earth]), featuring the XIV Dalai Lama and
Carolyne Tayangyoma (a Hopi Indian).
1984
Congress in Alpbach, Austria together with the "Forum International" ("Andere
Wirklichkeiten—Die neue Konvergenz von Naturwissenschaften und spirituellen
Traditionen" [Other Realities—The New Convergence between the Natural
Sciences and Spiritual Traditions]). Speakers: the XIV. Dalai Lama, David
Bohm, Fritjof Capra, Francisco Varela, David Steindl Rast, Rupert
Sheldrake.
Conference in Stift
Zwettl, Austria —
"Celtic Consciousness".
1985
Munich and Frankfurt - a number of public meetings on the
relationship between metaphysics, myth, politics and science with Morris
Berman, David Steindl Rast, Robert Muller, Hazel Hendersen, William I.
Thompson and others ("Metapolitics").
1986
Munich and
Eibsee — conference with the XIV Dalai Lama, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker,
Raimundo Panikkar, Marie Louise von Franz, Joseph Needham. Topic:
"Space and Time". Vienna — co-organization of the official state visit of the Dalai Lama to Austria and
the former Austrian President Rudolf Kirschläger.
Culturally
Critical Phase: from 1988 on
In 1986 the Dianus Trikont publishing house closed. Its role in the
protest movements and subcultures of the mid-sixties to mid-eighties of
last century was of such significance that a number of academic studies and
publications have included accounts of its history. The Trikont company
archives have been officially classified as an important historical source
collection.
In 1989 I married my current wife, Victoria. For me a new life
began. Finally I could devote myself more intensively to my interests in
writing and private research. As a sideline my wife and I invest a moderate
amount of energy in running a media and project agency (H-M-R Media
Agency).
Looking back, until the end of the 80s I invested great hopes for
social transformation in the encounters with and between various religious
traditions. I thus saw the so-called New Age movement as a
large-scale experiment from which, via a social coincidentia oppositorum
(of tradition and modernity), a new culture might emerge which would be
able to meet the challenges of globalization. As early as 1978 I had
written a programmatic summary of this perspective in a much-discussed
article ("Wir sind konservativ geworden und revolutionär
geblieben"[We have become conservative and remained revolutionary].
Indeed it proved possible to engage some of the revolutionary and
alternative ideas from the first phase of my life and publishing activity
in discourse and exchange with religions and traditions: Buddhism and green
politics, Christianity and women’s rights, shamanism and social commitment
were able to meet not just in the Dianus – Trikont publishing
program or at our congresses; exchange between them has in the meantime
become a common phenomenon in Western culture.
Nevertheless, my wife and I very soon noticed (although at first we
did not want to admit it) that these "intercultural meetings"
were to a large extent played out at a superficial level, and had no
influence upon the religious dogmas and cultic mysteries at heart. At first
it was such things as Islamic fundamentalism or the self-destructive
activities of radical sects, but then later also my wife’s work with the
ICC (Inter Cultural Cooperation,
Zurich), which drew our attention to the fact that, before we blindly and
uncritically proclaim interculturalism as a visionary model, we need to
examine more closely the religious and mythical patterns which underlie a
culture. We intensified our previous studies in theology, mythology,
history, the history of religion, anthropology, depth psychology and
related disciplines. Above
all, we were interested in three main topics:
1. The gender
roles in religion
2. The cultic
mysteries’ and myths’ influence upon history and politics (eschatological and
apocalyptic world views / unilateral claims to power and the "world
throne" / ritual as politics — politics as ritual)
3. The
significance of the sacrificial rite in religion and its socio-political
function
Between 1989 and 1991 we conceived and organized several intercultural
events.
In 1990 we founded the Interkulturelle Gesellschaft für kreative
Symbolforschung [Intercultural Society for the Creative Symbolic of
Research]. Under the aegis of this institution we conducted several studies
into the relation between mysticism, myth and history with regard to, among
other things, apocalyptic concepts, the occult roots of Nazism, and the
mythic domains at work behind the Gulf War. We undertook several research
trips and held discussions about the topics mentioned. However, at the
heart of our work lay an extensive study of the mythological and symbolic
background to the modern history of science — from the Copernican model of
the world to the construction of the hydrogen bomb ("Die
Kernspaltung Gottes—Alchemie als Welttheater" [God’s Nuclear
Fission — Alchemy as World Theater]).
In 1994 we jointly conceived a research project spanning several
years on the topic of "Die Bedeutung der traditionellen Religionen
für die Wertebildung und Kreativität in einer Kultur der Zukunft"
[The Significance of Traditional Religions for the Formation of Values and
Creativity in a Future Culture].
Between 1994 and 1998 we drafted a fundamental critique of Tibetan
Buddhism within the context of this project ("Die andere Seite des
tibetischen Buddhismus—Ritual als Politik – Politik als Ritual"
[The Other Side of Tibetan Buddhism—Ritual as Politics – Politics as
Ritual]). Appeared later under the title: Der Schatten des Dalai
Lama—Sexualität, Magie und Politik im tibetischen Buddhismus [The
Shadow of the Dalai Lama—Sexuality, Magic and Politics in Tibetan
Buddhism].
In 1997 as a minor study we wrote a depth psychology interpretation
of "Traum des Grafen Yorck" The Dream of Count Yorck]. The
"Institut für kreative Kulturforschung" [Institute for
Creative Cultural Research] was established.
Publications:
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1978
1988
1999
2002
2006
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Vulkantänze – linke und
alternative Ausgänge [Powder-kegs — Leftwing and Alternative Outcomes].
Dianus-Trikont Verlag.
Das Dritte Auge—eine Schule des Sehens
[The Third Eye - A School of Seeing]. Herder Verlag.
Der Schatten des Dalai Lama –
Sexualität, Magie und Politik im tibetischen Buddhismus [The shadow of the Dalai
Lama – sexuality, magic and politics in Tibetan Buddhism]. Patmos Verlag.
(Together with Victoria Trimondi)
Hitler-Buddha-Krishna
– Eine unheilige Allianz vom Dritten Reich bis heute [Hitler-Buddha-Krishna – An
Unholy Alliance from the Third Reich until now]. Ueberreuter
Verlag (Together with Victoria Trimondi)
Krieg der Religionen –
Politik, Glaube und Terror im Zeichen der Apokalypse [War of Religions – Politics, Faith and Terror in the sign of the
Apocalypse] Wilhelm Fink Verlag (Together with Victoria Trimondi)
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Victoria
Trimondi
Born into a family of artists. Graduated from the Lycée Francais
de Vienne. Speaks several languages. Trained as a violinist at the
Vienna College of Music and at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna. Studied
history and art history. Performance recitations in French with the
Austrian composer Friedrich Cerha and the music ensemble "Die
Reihe" in the Vienna Concert Hall. Artistic presenter of the Wiener
Straussorchester [Viennese Strauss Orchestra]. Collaboration with the
Russian Music Festivals in Tours, France. Freelancer for the ORF (state broadcaster).
1988 Staged the Intercultural Art Days (Kunsttage) festival
("Das Sakrale und die Kunst" [The Sacred and Art]). The
festival was focused on an ecumenical meeting between nine religions, each
represented by a delegate and an artist. The goal of the meeting was the
search for a mutual interreligious and intercultural communication despite
divergent styles of ritual and differing metaphysical standpoints. The
"language of art" was supposed to serve as a bridge-builder
between the apparently unbridgeable religious fronts.
Since 1986 intensive study of theology, mythology, history, the
history of religion, depth psychology and related areas.
1989 Marriage to my husband, Victor Trimondi. Very soon after our
marriage we began our researches, focusing upon the topic of gender roles
in myths, religions and religious mysteries.
In 1990 we founded the Interkulturelle Gesellschaft für kreative
Symbolforschung [Intercultural Society for the Creative Symbolic of
Research]. Under our management this institution staged several meetings
about comparative studies of myth and religion. Alongside this we
co-authored a study of the mythological and symbolic background to the modern
history of science — from the Copernican model of the world to the
construction of the hydrogen bomb ("Die Kernspaltung
Gottes—Alchemie als Welttheater" [God’s Nuclear Fission — Alchemy
as World Theater]).
At the end of 1994 my husband and I began a research project
spanning several years on the topic of "Die Bedeutung der
traditionellen Religionen für die Weltebildung und Kreativität in einer
Kultur der Zukunft" [The Significance of Traditional Religions for
the Formation of Values and Creativity in a Future Culture]. Within the
framework of this project we wrote a culturally critical examination of
Tibetan Buddhism ("Der Schatten des Dalai Lama—Sexualität, Magie
und Politik im tibetischen Buddhismus" [The Shadow of the Dalai
Lama—Sexuality, Magic and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism]. Besides this, as a
minor study we also formulated a depth psychology interpretation of "Traum
des Grafen Yorck" The Dream of Count Yorck]. In 1997 we founded
the "Institut für kreative Kulturforschung" [Institute for
Creative Cultural Research].
Publications:
Press/publicity photographs of Victor and Victoria Trimondi are
available from: Armin Brosch, Jutastrasse 26, 80636 Munich, Phone: (089) 123 34 15, Fax: (089) 123 34 16
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