Integral Practice

Fun Buddhist Fact: Buddhist Don't Meditate

ebuddha — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:37:48 -0800

Read this Tricycle post to find out why.

Noticed this at Blogmandu.

Buddhist Geeks Launches

ebuddha — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 09:30:36 -0800

Fresh Cohen Fodder

ebuddha — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 09:21:16 -0800

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.)

Spiritual Intelligence (SQ) and Competencies to Define It

ebuddha — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 11:52:24 -0800

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?

Gary Stamper on Ken and I-I

ebuddha — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:51:30 -0800

Some good thoughts.

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

Pongsathorn Experience of Dzogchen

ebuddha — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 12:02:28 -0800

An interesting report from Pongsathorn on meeting Dzogchen teachers.

Integral Cognition

ebuddha — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:51:04 -0800

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.

Integral Faith Practice?

ebuddha — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 10:08:51 -0800

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??

Peer to Peer and Spiritual Authoritarianism, a Dying Woman's Story

ebuddha — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:10:10 -0800

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.

Integral Practice Review - What Is Clear

ebuddha — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 14:08:22 -0800

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?

Bush Signs The Interrogation Act

ebuddha — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:09:01 -0700

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.

Health Care! An actual policy debate, resilient communities and integral values

ebuddha — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 12:51:07 -0700

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

Nipun and Guri

ebuddha — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:21:41 -0700

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.

Ken Provocation Follow and Related Stuff

ebuddha — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 14:35:30 -0700

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.

Naive Question on Virtual Reality - Please Respond!

ebuddha — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 15:44:18 -0700

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.

Shadow Hunting and Road Rules Cops: The New Face of Integral Forums

ebuddha — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 11:56:44 -0700

The new post of KW's is interesting, both for what it says, and what it implies.

The content of the post is very good, particularly the various self-awareness injunctions in the post - I'll quote some - bear in mind I'm picking and choosing my quotes, so you may be better served reading the original material, then coming back:

“Let the next sentence out of your mouth be integral or second tier.”

The point here is that, even if you are afraid that your center of gravity is orange or green, you can still think turquoise, you can still talk turquoise, you can still light up turquoise, and the Road Rules help you respond integrally by helping you talk turquoise. The more your talk is second tier, the sooner your walk will be.

It is a good a very good injunction - similar to "be your highest self" - but the only issue is who decides what is 2nd tier, what isn't? I understand that to Ken this is obvious - but as 2nd tier-1st tier is clearly contextual - [note to self: why is it when I curse, I'm being an asshole, when Ken says it, he's freeing people from their shadow, as well as illuminating your highest self, as well as creating a self-aware version of high blogart? - you have to admit, the jokes DO write themselves...], it may be a good idea to delineate in a neutral manner what 2nd tier consists of.

“Any time that you are not sure whether you are being integral or not, turquoise or not, second tier or not, then feel the thinker; be aware of the thinker.”

I love this injunction - and this shows the presence in Ken of awareness beyond the thinker, with this clarity. In meditation this happens frequently, if not always - the "thinker" can be felt, as an object - not the Self, not what is so. An object, not a subject. As such, it is a good tool for making the mind transparent.

“Are there any of my shadow elements in any of my sentences or posts?”

I'm not so sure of this one - as Ryan says, most of the time - if not all of the time - the answer is going to be "yes".

Does this mean you do not go forward with the perspective that IS present now? The truth of this moment IS your perspective now, even if there are shadow elements. Most of the time, I would say - yes - go forward. Just be open to your errors, and be willing to be- and admit you are partially/mostly/all wrong.

Now, what is hinted at, implied in this post, is that the forums are going to be "watched", because I-I is an "...attempt to provide authentic commons spaces, not those clogged with shadow elements"

But at the same time, Wilber says to not go "shadow-hunting", and hopefully the refraining from shadow hunting goes both ways - from the staff and the participants. If you look at the experience of Daily Kos - where the injunction is "don't be a troll", the hunting part, can get seriously out of whack. Go read this post at Daily Kos though, especially the "major types of trolls", or troll typology. I'm sure some creative/humorous mind will come up with "shadow typologies" over at the IN Forums soon!

We'll have to see the direction this takes, if any.

Lastly - this metacommentary , or at least the implication is - "these are the rules for I-I going forward". I'm not sure it is best to included a "teaching lesson" with rules, as it simply distorts the fact that you are laying down the rules of the place. I'd rather clear and consistent rules simply be posted. But, I may be reading too much into this - because this is an favorable interpretation, so don't take this last observation too seriously.

The Bliss Circuit - Leave Your Integral, Analytic, Blogging Mind at the Door

ebuddha — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:56:55 -0700

READ THIS FIRST - before watching the video below.

One of the things that I think is very important to understand - in spite of our blogs, in spite of our intelligent minds, in spite of our wise, synthetic analysis -

Blogging - at this point - is coming from a specific band of human capability. And this band - the intellectual, the silent awareness, the peaceful watching - is actually one of the least satisfying ways to touch the Divine.

Now - it happens to be the way that I am most comfortable with. But there are a lot of assumptions about "how to behave" that come with this perspective - that are important to be aware of.

I spent enough time in my 20's "checking my mind at the door", that I can assert that the other ways in which we touch God - matter more to people.

The bliss-devotional aspect of the Divine, is, for most people, simply more important to the Spirit - to connection - then any amount of theorizing and satori.

When you are really INTO the bliss-devotion aspect of your SELF - at least in my own experience - the analytic portion of self is pretty "checked out". I would say that to the analytic portion of self, the bliss-devotion aspect seems fundamentally ALIEN.

"WTF are those crazy people doing??"

But they aren't crazy, really - they are riding on a wave of bliss-devotion.

It goes without saying that this wave of bliss-devotion is RIPE for manipulation of people - which makes it dangerous. But it also is the juice of Spirit - and as such, needs to respected, and be accepted in the integral conversation.

I found the following on YouTube - watch it when you get a chance. I don't know anything about this particular guru - not the history, not anything - but I can pretty much tell you, simply by the characteristics -that as silly as this guy seems to be, it most likely is the case that this guy, and a large percentage of the worshippers - are riding on a wave of bliss-devotion - where you must dance!

Finally, a real question - if you find the following soccer behavior acceptable and fun (which I do), do you feel similarly about the below? If not, why not?

Yahoo Local - Flood the Zone and Rate Your Favorite - and not favorite - Organizations

ebuddha — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 10:02:49 -0700

One rating tool that is out there, and is pretty easy to use - is Yahoo Local. You can use Yahoo Local to rate any organization that is listed in Yahoo's pages - which happens to be most organizations.

Take a look at the ratings of Integral Institute.

Feel free to rate as well!

There's no way to tag the review so far - and I am waiting for this.

At any rate, this is the first stop on my tour of assessment and evaluations. Let me know your thoughts!

Pre-Announcement for Integral Practice Online Suport Group

ebuddha — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 12:12:56 -0800

I'm working on the details, but this will revolve around -

up to 8 people
Weekly conference call
Stating commitments to integral practice, for the week, on phone and by spreadsheet list
Buddy support - commited to frequent conversations (email, phone, IM) with buddy around own keeping practice commitments. (Group will need to be 6 or 8)
Assessment of "progress" - both in initial intake, and then group assessments.

I have the use of a few cool web tools to do this process. And luckily, this won't take a lot of work to setup, as the tools are pre-existing (God bless Web 2.0) But the long and short of it is to:

a. Make your integral commitments and intentions available to a small, dedicated group. This in itself has more effectiveness than we give credit for.
b. Create a history and trust with this small group, to take advantage of the power of a small group.
c. Track progress over time.

Please send me an email if you are interested in this. I think this will be highly useful to people out in the boonies, but we will see.

This is an experiment in web 2.0 support groups.

I would love for you to join the experiment!

ILP happenings

ebuddha — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 08:33:25 -0800

I bought the ILP Kit.

Finally.

Should be here in a few days.

What's interesting is some of the divisions in the Kit, from what I hear.

1 minute, 10 minute, and 35 minute versions for the 3 Body workout, for example.

Also, a lot of activity around ILP groups, in the Bay area and elsewhere. I will document this here in future posts, never fear...

Skillful Means and Consciousness in the Web 2.0 World

ebuddha — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 11:06:09 -0800

I think this post by Brian at Zaadz encapsulates what a lot of us are hoping for, in terms of a next generation, conscious, connected, internet.

It certainly tracks with some of the "future-gazing", I've been spouting off here., but of course, more down to earth, and more experience with "social networks".

Rating systems

Skillful Means

Portfolio analysis

Great to see someone running with the ball!

How The JCC Does Integral

ebuddha — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 15:13:57 -0800

Take a look at this introduction -

Fitness, education, arts, community, religious life -

There's talks, such as this one on Kabalah and Eros.

I pointed this out last year, but I hadn't actually checked out the San Francisco page.

All you really need for the Integral Community Center, is to model the JCC, have an adjunct be California Institute of Integral Studies.

And then because a lot of us are interested in the "new new" thing, have a section - a couple of rooms, a program, etc - devoted to "experimental practices"

Anyone got a couple million dollars - to get this started?

:)

The Love of Dialogue

ebuddha — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 09:56:00 -0800

I've been ruminating about what I like about blogging, and various bloggers that I read - and then also the limitations of the blogging form.

I - clearly - blog a lot. Why is this, when at the same time, one of the main things that I hate is too much "talking" about spiritual matters? Same thing with too much discussion around intellectual pursuits. I tend to "tune out", at some point. Too much spiritual and intellectual "indigestion", and not enough lived insight, and "alive", or "living" conversation.

That's one of the reasons why I - in goals at least - created Integral Practice, because what I ostensibly care about is the practice aspect. What works, what doesn't.

At the same time, I find myself blogging more than I thought I would, and find myself ranging far afield from my original intentions.

I think the reasons for this are two:

a. Blogging is an aspect of personal creativity - I feel creative when I express myself in this form, even when I'm writing things that are clearly run of the mill.
b. I love DIALOGUE - both my own inner dialogue, and then reading and responding to other's dialogues about either personal subjects, or authentic, felt, reflections about life and subjects I am interested in. (This is one of the reasons I also blog at Generation Sit.)

I guess that for me, blogging is another form of good conversation - it shifts from conversation about ideas, to humorous stories about each other, to practical things (oh! - have you tried this? It's great!), to deeper and more intimate stories that we share. A virtual form of social communication, but a form that speaks to the few people that find THIS perspective of THIS bodymind - interesting.

But it truly is this love of dialogue, that keeps me coming back. In a real way, this form represents the best of capacity for dialogue that I have. And somehow, this is true, even though when you think about it, blogging IS a particularly solitary venture.

Does anyone else experience this? Is blogging for you a form of relaxed, delayed, conversation? A form of debate? There are many different type of blogs, as there are different types of conversations. What stimulates you?

I also think this is why, I gravitate towards other blogs that share this love of dialogue.

As an example, I haven't been reading Stuart Davis much, or really, I've been skimming by his particular blogposts.

Why? I know that any particular blogpost of his, is an amazing virtuosity of creativity, humor, sarcasm, and intelligence, that expose my posts as silly pedestrian musings.

But his posts stay in his own little world, and don't connect back to anything else. The constant focus on "Me, me, me", so much - just isn't my thing. (Says the person who engages in the fairly solitary pursuit of blogging. Do I hear the sounds of hypocrisy?)

While there are blogposters in "my world" that I have been frustrated by, I actually get much more value in reading them, because they are engaging beyond themselves. One example of this would be Matthew Dallman, who is always engaging his mind outside of himself, even if we sometimes are on opposite sides of an issue. As long as the RELAXED aspect of the conversation is kept at the fore, it's always stimulating - for me at least.

At any rate, I wonder what others get out of blogging. After all there's a big wide world out there, with a billion other important things than blogging to be doing.

So what else do YOU get out of reading, or creating, blogs?

Interesting Zaadz feature

ebuddha — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 09:46:25 -0800

I've been reading a lot of "integralians", who have been signing up for the social network Zaadz. I am reading this with interest, but I haven't signed up yet.

(It takes me awhile to "join", what can I say?)

From my initial review, I'm not sure it is the best of the up and coming social networks. I am a fan of the open source Elgg, and also Barnraiser looks to have better features, at the moment.

However -

I was alerted by Ryan's post to this Flickr feature - and it is definitely very cool. Ideas are voted on by the community, and then graphically displayed.

As expected, the largest graphics - "groups/tribes", "place to gather", "connection to others", "friends", etc.

I'm a busy guy, so I would have to agree that: meeting in meatspace on a regular basis, with a like-minded community, is a difficult proposition currently. I have taken - and am taking - steps to remedy this, but attention pulls to other things than building that community.

Do Ya Wanna Meet-Up?

ebuddha — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 09:50:59 -0700

A funny thing happened to me last month. I went to the September San Francisco Ken Wilber Meet-Up, and as it happened, the organizer was stepping down. He put it open for others to volunteer to become the organizer of the Ken Wilber Meet-Ups. No one was stepping up immediately, so Amy (my fiance, who was at the meeting as well) started nudging me in the ribs, and whispering (Go! You! You're always on that computer on your blog, integral this, integral that, you do this!). (On another note, I'll have a post about the September MeetUp, and what was discussed there later). Long story short, I am now the Ken Wilber Meetup Organizer - at least until they kick me out for causing a scene, or some such...

On the Feminine, the Divine, and Integralism

ebuddha — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 11:39:16 -0700

Jean has a nice post today, about feminine and Integralism - and sex! I appreciate her thoughts on this, and I hadn't actually heard of Marion Woodman before. I had read a couple of Riane Eisler' books, however.

From what I can tell, the intersection of blogging, computers, and integral, is - what - 90% male? So it's always great to get a considerate, thoughtful, female voice, as hearing echoes of myself, while entertaining (because I amuse myself, dontcha know!), it is very limiting, and not all that integral.

I Get I-Wet

ebuddha — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 11:03:18 -0700

I'll be at the IWET Integral Weekend Experiential Training this weekend, in San Francisco. (With this blog being named "Integral Practice", I sort of have to go - don't I?)

It will be interesting to see exactly what can be accomplished in two days - we'll see!

I'm also hopeful that there will be enough local "practitioners", that we can form some type of "IP Club" - hopefully not too snooty:

"Chad, I say, I'll be down at the IP Club this afternoon - will you be around?

"Ken, yes, that sounds FABulous!".

"Absolutely SMASHING!! We'll meet for tea, tennis, and meditation!"

We'll see - is Integral Practice, because of the variety of disciplines one can choose from, end up being a solitary pursuit? Or can the practices be generalized enough that the "power of group practice" is engaged?

For myself, I've always been a big proponent of laid back clubs - the debate club, the chess club, the long distance running club. For me, these are perfect, combining the collegiality, motivation and companionship of other people (one of the best ways to STAY with your practice), without all the power issues that come with an official organization, with a GURU.

And the reference sites just keep coming

ebuddha — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 10:36:28 -0700

In my investigations of wikis, open source content managment, and uses of these type of applications, I'm finding quite a lot of cools, "co-creative", or open source, sites.

First, the Echo Chamber Project. This project, based on Drupal, plans to use a wiki, and other drupal modules, to create and offer "open source journalism". Worthwhile to check out.

Next up, The Transitioner. Particularly devoted to the economy and co-intelligence, (topics like "open-source money"), but also included are knowledg, philosophy, community, and spirituality articles. This looks to be a straight Wiki, with a modified look.

Integrative Spirituality - Actually, this site froze me to my seat. It is about integrative spirituality, has news, calendar functionality, polls, reviews, forums AND a wiki! This is a PostNuke site, another open source CMS system.

I'm defnitely needing to find out more about this - supposedly the people for this meet here in San Francisco. Two hesitations - for an "open source" project, when you enter, you agree that all content you post BELONGS to the site. Why isn't this a Creative Commons license? Also, on the calendar, the one event that is mentioned is an Andrew Cohen event in New York. If this site is tied up with Andrew Cohen in a strong manner, not something I would be too interested in.

FYI. Lots of cool, wonderful participatory things happening.

Liveblogging Ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen

ebuddha — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 00:15:37 -0700

In an earlier post, I said I would give an analysis of the recent Integral Naked dialogue between Ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen. As an experiment, Ive decided to do a form of liveblogging. I remember this first being done during the presidential debates and I have decided to use this format, for commenting on this dialogue. NOTE: This isnt really liveblogging since Im not that fast a typer (or thinker). This is more listening, stopping when something is interesting, and then even playing the interesting segment back again, to make sure I get it correctly. My commentary will be in italics. At the end, will be my analysis. At any rate, with that introduction, lets go:

Integral Activism, Criticism, and Participation

ebuddha — Fri, 25 Mar 2005 16:50:11 -0800

In this thread, I'd like to draw three separate threads together. This post will be rather long, so bear with me. More below.