Read this Tricycle post to find out why.

Noticed this at Blogmandu.

Check it out!

Since I have a comment by a reader, in a previous post, I will go ahead and point to a new article up at What Enlightenment, by a major contributor (millions of dollars) to Andrew Cohen's work. 

She details out, from her perspective, the process that Cohen went through to secure a 2 million dollar donation from her. 

Now, individual posts like this, you have to be cautious of - but given that, in this post, she details some of her own personal issues honestly, as well as gets some corroboration from other NAMED individuals in the comments, the post is worth paying attention to.

I'm not sure what it will take for Integral Institute and Ken Wilber, to STOP giving any oxygen to this guy, but hopefully it will happen soon.  After a year of exposure, from various sources, it can't come soon enough.  (I vote, with my Sponsor Plus membership in Integral Institute, to drop this guy).  When will Ken wake up about this particular issue?  Anyone at I-I ever do a Q&A with Ken on this particular issue?

(Note - don't do a Q&A NOW - Ken's had a marvelous and inspiring recovery, as detailed in this blogpost, but at some point maybe someone can find out Ken's stance.)

A very interesting post at Parzifal's Blog.

I think this has been linked to before, but what is interesting about this, is that this attempt to define what is spiritual intelligence, and what defines that, is backed up with research that has been compiled through various workshops.

The results utilize the framework of the quadrants, as well as the framework of competencies and assessments, and an attempt to separate out levels - or consolidate ALTITUDE.  Very consonant with Integral Spirituality.

I also simply like the SQ distinction as well.  As multiple intelligences go, why not an SQ?  And the assessments which measure it?

Some good thoughts.

NOTE:  In case you were unaware, Gary has created the largest grassroots integral community (of course, you knew that, right?)

An interesting report from Pongsathorn on meeting Dzogchen teachers.

A great post by David Jon here.

"Yet, I was still taken up with the promise of what a comprehensive philosophy would look like. It wasn't Ken Wilber's vision that held me in thrall anymore. It was the underlying nature of a comprehensive philosophy–i.e., a non-reductionistic philosophy–that I sensed as being the original basis for my resonance with Ken Wilber's work and what I might now choose to call 'Integral Cognition.'"

I would agree with this - and I find that those who attempt to embrace the highest forms of - Spirit, Mind, Body, Other, Soul, Skillful Means In Living - these are the people I want to be my "tribe" so to speak.

Grounded in the world.
In communion with the Divine Soul
Self aware, of one's own shadows and B.S.
Learning, giving, growing, creating - "He not busy being born is busy dying".
Relaxing into the Buddha's smile, that is perfect as it is.

One thing about the Integral Life Practice - it includes:

Mind
Body
Spirit
Shadow

But - there isn't SOUL there - any good community practice must have some SOULfood, IMHO.

At least a heart practice, right?

I've practiced a few different heart practices, but I wonder - is there a specific INTEGRAL heart practice that people know about?  That takes as little as 5 minutes, up to 30?

I guess the "official" heart practice is Tonglen.

But this truthfully, isn't as effective as it should be.

I was speaking about this in our ILP Support Group, and one person said that, when he was working with a Buddhist master, the master said it was important to "pray to the Gods" before doing Tonglen, that your Tonglen would be EFFECTIVE.  And that this was very necessary.  (Being Western, he found it weird to pray to say, Amitabha.  But he did notice that his tonglen was more effective.)

At some point, there is going to need to be an "integral ritual", that involves the heart, prayer, (song perhaps?), as I believe humans basic physiology is built to commune in faith, in that way. This also has a double effect to bind communites together.

But - damn - what ritual is going to WORK for us integral types?  If any??

This post from P2P is certainly very true.

No one can be "shut up", in the new era, at least not effectively.  Stories get out.  And the example of Andrew Cohen is a good one, detailing What Is Enlightenment's primary role in getting the world out at A.C.'s abuses.

It's also incredibly humorous, to see Andrew Cohen attempt to "embrace" blogs.   Here is a blog of his on Integrity.

He declares his allegiance to "authenticity, transparency, and integrity", pretty early on, using this new blogform.

Why is that humorous? 

Well, because if you attempt to leave a comment - which I did - it doesn't post, but gets caught, and "reviewed".   The reasons why  a comment wouldn't get posted are many - you can read the subtext - the comment I left was mildly oppositional, slightly mocking,  certainly nothing that supposedly wouldn't get by the filter. 

But it wasn't posted, of course. 

So much for transparency!  I've heard from others, and they have had the same experience.
As well, the post is full of abstractions, strawmen, and defensiveness, when speaking about his "controversial path". 

Also, he mentions why he hasn't spoken of his detractors before:

The motives of my detractors appeared so transparent that I thought they would be obvious to others, and I naively concluded that there was no point in responding. Besides, it just felt beneath my dignity to do so. I was wrong. I have now, obviously belatedly, come to understand that my lack of response is being considered by some as an admission of guilt or wrongdoing, or even worse, as a lack of integrity in itself.

This chilled me, especially, when considering the following story from What Enlightenment blog, about a british 70 year old female follower:

The following day, on Sunday 12 December 1999, her phone rang once more and it was again Steve Brett on the other end of the line. Clearly dissatisfied that in the previous phone call Caroline had not "cracked" under his pressure and "admitted her sin," Steve Brett went on to deliver a renewed but far more devastating attack on Caroline. Caroline said later that the conversation lasted for about forty five minutes and that during it Brett repeatedly insulted her with a ferocity that left her completely traumatized. Caroline said that she had to keep the phone handset away from her ear on many occasions as Brett was literally shouting at her from the other side. She was told that she was going to “die a miserable old woman” and how awful it was on her part that she had dared to leave the venue without waiting to see Cohen. Without any consideration whatsoever for her physical and spiritual frailty, Brett again and again furiously scolded Caroline for her apparent egotistical and independent ways that completely infuriated her teacher. Caroline was told that, instead of surrendering her soul to Andrew Cohen now that she was coming close to dying, she was still holding on to her small life and her ego and would die as such. Caroline also spoke about her intuitive feeling that Cohen was in the room with Brett, listening to the latter delivering his attack.

 Caroline died 11 days after this conversation with Brett - (and the suppositions is, (no proof, I will say) that this was at Cohen's direction), and the case is made that it was mainly due to the severe effect of the "talking to".  I'm sure that isn't all, as bodies go when they go, especially 79 year old bodies - but wow, what a great last gift to a dying woman, huh?

Whether the story is true or not - the story certainly doesn't seem something "beneath Andrew's dignity", to speak about, or clear up.  It seems exactly opposite that.

And, of course, that is just ONE story, out of many, from many, MANY different sources.

So, let's continue to use these peer-to-peer tools to expose the corruption, in the communities we belong to.   Just remember, it's like weed-whacking.  Something you have to do again and again.

I clearly haven't been posting a lot here - mainly because I've been pretty busy.

But also, this particular blog has focused on the "basics", of integralism (when not veering to tech stuff and philosophy!)

For various dimensions, it is now pretty clear what the basic practices are.

Physical - I've blogged before - but 2 to 3 times a week, cardio, stretching, and weighlifting for exercise.

For diet - barring special circumstances - less carbs, and balanced eating.

Meditation - while there is a lot around the map here, the basic practices involved for integral involve:

Basic Zen/Vipassana sitting
BigMind/Advaita training
Compassion/Heart work


Now, of course, I'm missing a lot of the I-Thou meditations.  Perhaps I could blog them.

In terms of professional, career - one of the best books out there for this is Pathfinder, and What Color Is Your Parachute?

Both are passionate and practical, and give a very good sense of what are the gifts one has to GIVE, in terms of skills, abilities, and desires.

Psychological/interpersonal- while there are a lot of books out there, self-assessment is fairly easy to use, and I have also used this site to point to inexpensive therapeutic options.  And then there is the Shadow Work of the 1-2-3, as well as Byron Katie's work.  I could write more about relationship as well, but it is so easy for this to become narcissistic, in my opinion.

Now - community - this is probably one of the biggest lacks that I personally have, or have not written a lot about, and I've been attempting to address this through the Ken Wilber MeetUp, and organizing the San Francisco ILP Group. 

And then, when you do all the above, do you have time for rest, play, and creativity? Where is the balance?

I still believe there are things that are important for an "integral practitioner" to deal with - deeper delving into the interpersonal, dealing with MOTIVATION and destructive subpersonalities (just because all the practices are out there, doesn't mean you are doing them!), and also re-introducing some concepts into the integral community with ethics - such as "duty", "community commitment" etc.  A community is defined by the individuals that "take on" the duties of that community, and it is duty and volunteerism that is the glue of community.  Which conflicts a bit with "my/your integral growth".  And you want to keep away from any cultism, as such.

At any rate, opening up for questions - what integrally, needs to be worked on?  My integral growth, rather than "our" integral growth? 

Mainstream AP article here.

The must-read Jack Balkin article here:

The choice quote:

The bottom line is simple: The MCA preserves rights against torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, but it severs these rights from any practical remedy.

This means, as a functional matter, there is no recourse for the innocently accused.  More:

There are many things that are deeply distressing about the Military Commissions Act of 2006. One of the most distressing is its deeply cynical attitude about law. The President has created a new regime in which he is a law unto himself on issues of prisoner interrogations. He decides whether he has violated the laws, and he decides whether to prosecute the people he in turn urges to break the law. And all the while he insists that everything he does is perfectly legal, because, the way the law is designed, there is no one with authority to disagree.

It is a travesty of law under the forms of law. It is the accumulation of executive, judicial, and legislative powers in a single branch and under a single individual.

It is the very essence of tyranny.

Also of note in the main article, is that a collection of religious groups were the protestors, in this case.

That shows one of the essential functions of a working religious or spiritual consciousness - the refusal to find acceptable degraded forms of treatment.

I'm continuing this series on integral values - even though this is a rumination of one.

One of the most urgent issues in the United States, is the issue of health care.  At one last count, there exists 46.6 million, or 15.9 percent, of citizens who do not have access to health care.

The article I point to above, shows that even of those who attempt to access private health, 9 out of 10 do not choose to - because of course, expense, not getting full coverage, all the exceptions for previous conditions, etc.


How would lack of health care, in such a rich nation, be viewed through the lens of integral values?

When a nation becomes wealthy enough, every nationa - EXCEPT the United States - has chosen universal health care. 

And you can see why -

a.  Practicality - health care is either crisis, or is fairly unnecessry.  At any one time, 90% of  people don't need health care.  They just need to be taken care of when accidents happen, when they fall sick, and as old age approaches.

Given this, a shared pool of risk, is always the smartest way to go. And of course, a nation is a very large pool. 

There are also a lot of savings in billing, dual coverage, fights with care provider, etc, that make private insurance simply impractical and expensive.  This is borne out also, in the fact that the United States pays more per person than any other country, but in terms of overall health, is less healthy than the average person in other countries.

Ths particular analysis, looks at INTEGRAL cities - in some sense incorporating "green" values, into looking at how to build "resilient" cities, and then creates an "Urban Bill of Rights", that attempts to stand in for integral values.

Here is the Urban Bill of Rights:

The Urban Bill of Rights

1. The right to see significant greenery, the sky, and the sun from within one’s home.

2. The right to natural cross ventilation in one’s home.

3. The right to enjoy peace and quiet within one’s home with windows open.

4. The right to sleep at night without excessive artificial ambient light.

5. The right to be free in one’s neighborhood from pollution of air, water, soil, and plant life.

6. The right to be free from undesirable local environmental change caused by poor urban design, such as wind, shadow and noise canyons, excess heat caused by overpaving, etc.

7. The right to adequate space for storage, hobbies, and other personal activities in and around each dwelling unit, including play space for children in family housing.

8. The right to mobility, regardless of income. If automobile use is discouraged by prohibitive pricing, public transit must be adequate and low cost.

9. The right to parking space for each household.

10. The right of convenient access, on foot if possible, to basic daily needs, such as good quality food at reasonable prices, daily household and medical supplies, laundry facilities, etc.

11. The right of convenient access, by foot, private vehicle, or transit, to places of employment.

12. The right of equal access to the commons and to taxpayer-funded and other public facilities, such as government buildings, libraries, museums, bridges, and roadways.

13. The right of access within walking distance to nature, recreation, outdoor exercise, and discovery, including parks, open space, and areas inhabited by wildlife.

14. The right to equal and adequate police, fire, and emergency services, which shall not be infringed on the basis of income or neighborhood character.

15. The right to participate in and guide, through equitable, representative, democratic processes, land use decisions that affect oneself, one’s neighborhood, and one’s community."

So this is one communities attempt to be integral, which takes in a whole host of individual, environmental, social concerns, while keeping the eye on longterm practical survivability of a community. 

Too pie in the sky?

Also posted at zaadz

Through last year, I would occasionally point to the Inner-Net blog, while Nipun and Guri were doing their trek through India on a dollar a day.

Well, they've been back awhile.  And now, they have an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about their trip!

Truly inspiring lives, truly inspiring.

I see that Ken has posted his 3rd part of the "Earpy" posts.

A mixed bag, as the post tackles a lot of things at once.

The positive:

Regarding I-I as a cult, as I've mentioned, I-I is FAR from a cult, and while that concern is there long-term, pretty far away regarding the conformance on behavior required from cults.  Ken ably refutes this.

Also, as far as Ken personally, I pretty much agree with Dan.

"That being said, my take on Ken Wilber is based more on my own experience with him as a person than on his ideas and theory. I've been lucky enough to get to hang around the guy quite a bit in the past year and a half, and interact with him from time to time. And from what I can tell, he's a swell fella. He's got his shortcomings and funny quirks, like all humans. But in general, in my experience, he seems to have a warm heart, and he's got an interesting take on things."

I've had "friends of friends" who I've heard - for at least a decade - and they have offered the same personal observations about Ken Wilber.  Pretty much across the board.

Moving on, Ken continues with lots of positive emails sent to him, and then commenting on those.

One of the emails Ken posts reminded me I need to get Ken Wilber In Dialogue, at least if I want to contribute to this theory thing...

The negative: 

In terms of the actual first "Earpy" post, there were a lot of fallacious arguments - these still remain unadmitted, unrecognized, having been overshadowed now by the 2nd tier and marketing purposes of the post. 

At some point, it would be good to see that addressed.

Also, saw this from Shawn, from the Lightmind Ken Wilber forums, on some of Ken's responses to Meyerhoff. 

From the strictly logical perspective, this makes some great points. 

My concern over the long haul, is the mixture of persuasive rhetoric that Ken employs, mixed with the selective reading of the literature, of what Ken integrates.

But, when it comes to employing a faithful reading of the literature, guess what?  This is a task that is EMINENTLY suited to the blogosphere, and those suited for internet research in general.

As a strictly numbers game, what is generally true will get pointed out, and where Ken Wilber's generalizations depart from this, that will get pointed out as well.

Saw this post on Holistic and Integral Education about virtual realities.

All that I've really done on virtual realities is, a demo for a couple of days.  It was pretty interesting, but there wasn't a so-called "group" that I knew of, to be interested in.

Are there any virtual - with avatar - groups devoted to integral out there? 

If not, who would be interested in avatar "get-togethers"?  At least one or two, to get a sense of things.