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!

Through ups and downs, woes and joys, we remain together, united in our love and laughter.
You are the first sight I see in the morning (and I smile)
You are the last sight I see as I go to sleep (and I am comforted).
Your smile, your joy, your heart,
Enliven me, fill me, gladden me.

Pulsing, my heart is always filled with love for you!

For my lovely fiance, all my love

We've been having fun here over at Integral Practice (or maybe just me) with the notion of feminine and masculine.  For example, Jean's comment made me chuckle mightily:

"Ebuddha! Boy, you're just hankering for a masculine/feminine slapdown aren't you? At least your comments on GenSit over the David Jon/Victoria dialogue, and now this would seem to indicate. At any rate, let me go put on my magic grrl power Docs, and let's see if we can sort this out.

Ok, for the freakin' record, I never said that ILP in and of itself is hypermasculine. I said the ILP Kit is hypermasculine, and to me there is a big difference."

Sorry about that Jean!


At any rate, the whole comment is worth reading - and for me, it brings up a couple of important points.

How to define what is masculine and feminine, as these energies interpenetrate each other, within each person.  To a degree that I'm not sure how you can do things but have general percentages - "ITP is 80% masculine, in it's current form", "that statement is 50% ignorant of feminine realities", etc, etc.

Also, another point this brings up, in regards to the limitations of reality and messy egos, what they need to grow:

Let's say you are very good at structure, and at your "practices".  You meditate every day, do your yoga twice a week, run 3 times a week, do a heart practice nightly, go to group awareness once every two weeks, hang out with your friends once a week, spend enough quality time with your significant other,  as well as have your work, which you enjoy (and is on a strict 8 to 5 schedule as well.)

This regularity, and balance - it's a good life, a whole life, and a full life.  

But does it lead to transformation?  As Jean as pointed out, an "imbalance", an injustice - something UNcomfortable, out of one's "control", something challenging, this is as important for growth as a stable pursuit of excellence. 

Let's say one has all of the above in terms of integral practice - aren't there aspects of life that are missing - say, are you really ever challenged about your personal egoic crap?  If you are disciplined, it's really easy to hide a sense of smugness, superiority, rightness with a capital R, in a life like that, wouldn't you say?

I wonder what a nondual,  integral "encounter group" would look like?  

The stuff one learns about oneself in encounter groups, if you are simply falling into the non-dual consciousness, or responsibly going on with your practices - you may never bring sufficient attention to, and may easily learn to camouflage.

But to bring TOO much attention to these personal deficiencies - well, you are back to accepting the FALSE - as in belief in a separate, limited self - as REAL.

Thoughts on the above?

Also, I'm going to attempt to make the process of commenting here a bit easier in the next couple of months.  I've had some feedback that it's a bit of a pain...

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.