As I mentioned yesterday, there is a lot going on regarding the forming of ILP Groups.

There is an ILP Group happening in the Bay Area - meeting in Berkely - and this one is certified by Integral Institute, as it is led by Terry Patten.

I am figuring out whether my time is free enough to join.  I hope that I can free my time up.

And then, in Seattle, there is a lot going on in Integral. 

Included in this, is the work being done by the organization that includes my favorite integral and whole life economist, Daniel O'Connor (blogging at Catallaxis).

His organization is creating iPraxis Practitioners Circle, which is a very cool concept.

So more and more happening!

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...

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!

A new blog was brought to my attention, that seems to have a really unique focus. 

Called Composition, Service Compassion, Photography, there is a real focus on that CAPTURED MOMENT of awareness, where the mind stops - and briefly - there is a pause in meditative reflection.  And this is reflected in the photographs.

As well, there is a focus on service, isn't something that I have linked to much here, and I need to do more of it...

Umguy also asks this question to himself, and I would agree with his answer.

I reflect on the topic, try to pull in a few other interests for balance and next thing you know (well okay, sometimes this takes awhile or never quite materializes) I've got a post that articulates something I might not have been able to articulate without the push of knowing someone was going to read what I say.

For me, this is almost an ability to "ruminate", or "reflect" on something - whatever it may be - but interestingly, have this reflection be EXTERIOR rather than INTERIOR.  And that rumination/reflection, becomes a bit more disciplined, a bit more coherent - and also gets read by others - so if a particular rumination is way off - hopefully - I'll be told - "dude, what are ya thinking?", or offered a useful "rumination correction"!

And since this is in a public place, this really is a meet-up - or a meet-and-greet.  Nothing profound.

Here's the information.

It looks like we will be back to a private home next month though, so this is encouraging.

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?

:)

In case you haven't been tracking this, and you are interested in politics, and have some time (three prerequisites!), make sure to check out "Who owns God?" at Integral Options Cafe.

Who Owns God? Part 1
Who Owns God? Part 2
Who Owns God? Part 3

It's actually politics through the realm of Spiral Dynamics, but worth reading in any case. 

What is valuable is the insight that the "God" that people believe in is related to their own level of growth, and that this has been mapped, via (hopefully) large scale and coherent statistical analyses.

I'm still skeptical (or perhaps confused) of this Tier 1- Tier 2 understanding.

Tier 1 is considered everyting the "memes" Green and below.  Tier 2 is yellow and above.

To me, there still seems a confusion between a substantive and authentic "level of consciousness",be it green, orange, yellow - with the whole aspect of "meme", which really is a strictly cognitive development.

A level of conciousness is deeper than a cognition, deeper than a meme, so it looks like a conflation between a particular "meme" or world-view, with a level of consciousness.

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?

It is an interesting read.

(I collect these stories, so take that for what it is worth!)

Actually, what got me to join is I wanted to respond back to Aaron - the CEO - when talking about interoperability between different social networking sites. And the way I could respond is by registering!

The conversation is here.

It's actually pretty cool that these types of conversations are encouraged by Aaron, and he is so responsive.  I don't spend nearly as much time around Integral Naked as I want to, because I prefer transparent blogging conversations to Forums (really forums are just as good, that's just my own personal preference.  I have the same issue with Yahoo Groups.)

While again, this particular social network doesn't have all the best functionality (Barnraiser and Elgg are ones that I like, because of features and that they are open source), seems to have the:

Right energy
Right attitude
Right skillz
Good structure

So let's see what happens!

Also - big thanks to Ryan for the warm welcome.

So many other integral bloggers have mentioned this, that there really isn't a point i me mentioning it.  But in case I have a reader who hasn't heard, Bill Clinton lightly referenced Ken Wilber in a speech.

Go to Numinous Non-sense, as this has the quote in full.

Pretty cool - also, since Mr. Clinton has been my favorite president in my lifetime, good to see him referencing my favorite philosopher!