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? 

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?

Go read here, but the key lines in my opinion:

One comment I have about the 321 process, however, is that in and of itself, it might only clear away minor emotional charges. I agree it's a great tool for identifying where projections might exist in relationships - and if you're lucky enough to be someone who's fairly clear and free flowing, then 321 might be all you'll ever need. But for deeply embedded or particularly snarled emotional stuff, some actual therapy and additional energy work is probably going to be required. The farther back in time an "emotional charge" is originating - in other words the farther back into your childhood or infancy a pathology goes - then the more difficult it will be to truly discharge that emotional energy and clear that block or snarl. Or you might find that you identify or clear a projection with one person, only to find the pattern repeating itself in other relationships, over and over again. It's like playing that damn gopher game at the carnival - you bash one, only to have another pop up right next to it.

The "mystery" of both our own personal emotional content and interactions, and then the emotional (and power) dynamics with others are worth commenting on, as this gets short shrift in integralism.  I think you also must have been DOING emotional work for awhile - either in therapy, or as part of some group process - to truly be able to grok this level that Jean is speaking about. (deeply embedded or snarled emotional stuff).

For myself, I was in therapy for a few years - and then also had the following.

A long time ago now, I participated in a MUCH different community, and a much different emotional practice.  I won't say too much about the community, because there were definite "cultish tendencies" happening, that I don't want to reward, even by mentioning - but there were some valuable lessons as well.

As far as the practice went, it was really "turning up the volume" on emotions, and giving it to God, praying with the emotional energy for clarity and for God to enter.

One of the revelatory aspects of that work, was FEELING - on a deep, existential level - just how much how I act, and everyone acts - is based on a constricted, egotistical self-justifying, emotional and defensive ego structure, rather than truly being PRESENT.

Basically, I - and we - act out of bure bullshit a hell of a lot more than I - and we -  think. 

Imagine this scenario -

Every time you act out of something other than "love" or "truth", or "wisdom" - and the same with others around you - you feel it, like a pain, or like a nails across a chalkboard.

When someone acts with a very constricted emotionality -
When I or someone justifies their position
When I or someone gossips,
when I or someone is mean,
when I or someone is defensive,
when I or someone is irrational,
when I or someone makes unnecessary conflict.

You feel it.  Like a throbbing toothache,  or a stab in the heart, I feel the consequences of being divorced from God, in how I defend, in every rude comment, in every lost soul on the street, in every snobbish intellectual commentary proclaiming union with source (as opposed to actual union with source)

That ability to feel separation from source, from being present - this was both a blessing and a curse (and in the end, more of a curse).

And the thing is - I would feel on a gut level that the daily actions and interactions from separation from source, quite outnumber the interaction from being one with source. 

And yet, nothing can be done about it - I feel my own limitations to "act" in a more loving, true way, and definitely with others, I cannot do much, except to feel the separation. Although slowly, I would end up being more present.

As one can imagine, confrontation was sometimes utilized in this mode of interaction, and being made aware of acting from that which is not source - "acting from illusion", as the case is made.

This was sometimes painful and rewarding - as truth is rewarding, when the confrontation was focused on my own limitations/games.

And sometimes this was painful and not rewarding - when the confrontation was meant to prop up the cultish aspects of the organization.

This "emotional and existential separation from God" - that can be delved into and felt by anyone, and with it my own and other people's ACTS are also felt - as coming from separation or not, or some combiation of the two.

It's a powerful ability, but a bit of a hopeless one as well.

At any rate - the integral approach offers nothing I have seen to facilitate growth on this particular level.  This level of emotional and gut truthfulness of being separate - acting out of fear, ego, greed, etc (seven deadly sins and more) or acting out of a deep, solid, loving, and strong, emotional open and flexible- "real" presence.

Are you LOVE or are you separate?  Who and what do you SERVE? In this moment?  And this moment?

On the other hand, experiences of oneness can happen on a level OUTSIDE the normal mode of mind/body emotional and will interactions.  And focusing on the separation AT THE LEVEL of emotion and will - is this useful, or is this in itself, reinforcing the separate world??

At the end, I had to disconnect myself from the process - not only because of the cultish tendencies of the organization (I always kept a distance from the org), but also because the process ended up being too painful - the daily grind of feeling separation both in myself and around me, mellowed by the sense of emotional merging with the Divine that the practice encouraged.

And now, I have more peace.  Less agony/ecstasy.  Also, I am still "aware" of the B.S., of separation - but now I "see" it, rather than "feeling" it, on an ongoing basis.

And I don't know whether this is good or bad.  During that time, I was more emotionally connected to others - and people felt this - but I was suffering a hell of a lot more.  Now, I am less emotionally connected to others - but I am much happier and more at peace.

I've wandered far afield from  Jean's original post.  

But what is clear is - and this goes back to the issue of things that are emotionally and gut charged -  there is very little in integralism itself which deals with the immediacy of FEELING the daily separation from source, and how to integrate this, on a gut and emotional level.  There is a lot of "assuming the close" - we are already one with THAT SOURCE - which of course is also TRUE, at one level.

I'm not sure this core PERSONAL level - of being truly present or being separate - must be worked through to truly be FULLY realized.

But my gut feeling is, yes, this PERSONAL knot of separation must be untangled, or released.

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...

Saw this article about Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales thinking of establishing a reputation system, and again, made me think about using some of the established  reputation and review systems to rate various practices.

Here's a couple of examples -

1. Question:  What is the mechanism, right NOW, to rate the I-WET weekend, or any of the Integral Universities weekly seminars?

2. David Deida - I've read his books, and met the man, having picked him up at the airport once (many years ago), and he was a great guy.  But, where would you go to find ratings of David Deida's seminars, and their experiences?

A friend of mine went to a three day workship of Deida's a few years ago, and in his opinion, he pretty much covered what he covered in the books, and not much more. 

And that makes some sense, actually.  Various PARTICULAR psychosexual and partner situations, are just that - particular and invididualized.  It would seem to me the most help one could get from Deida-type work, is working with a counselor trained in some of the Deida "techniques", for lack of a better word.

I don't mean this to detract from Deida, as he was a great guy in my experience.  But again, what is the best way to apply his insights to individuals and groups - and is the way he is applying those insights the best?  Open reviews by those with good reputations (to prevent gaming of the system) would help quite a lot, wouldn't you agree?

Since I've posted some about meditation, it's effects, and a few days ago pointed to some research showing changes in the brain for meditation, I thought it would be worthwhile for those who have both a spiritual and research bent, to mention a good place to start regarding these investigations.

The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation, published by the Institute of Noetic Sciences, is as good a place as any to start.  You'll find a lot more references from here, to other sources and places that are continuing research now.

Michael Murphy is co-writer of this article, which makes sense to me, since as a book, The Future of The Body is as good a place as any to start as a reference book for studies on meditation, or studies of human potential in general.

The two main tomes in my library during the 90's, were SES, and The Future of the Body.

For myself, I thought for awhile that I would have loved to get paid to do the type of research that is investigated by the Institute of Noetic Sciences.  I entertained getting a PhD there, but I couldn't imagine being on the hook for 80K to 100K at the end of it.

For the spiritual research crowd, is there another comprehensive reference work that is just as important? 

Let me know! 

Also, this TYPE of research, or at least the analysis and recommendation of this type of research, can be forwarded by the blogosphere.  We are starting to do some of this with IntegralWiki, and the framework of Michael Bauwens. 

But, it goes slowly, since the demands of life interfere.

I've continued to experiment with Google Reader, and the functionality keeps getting better.  I am now receiving podcasts from Integral Naked at Google Reader - and it's great, because I can access them from anywhere.

Here's the link by the way -

http://www.integralnaked.org/podcast/atom.xml


Here, for example, is Ken Wilber on Tonglen

I saw this worksheet on preparing for an exercise program from Ryan. What is excellent about this, is a modified version of this program can be utilized in any integral practice module that one is beginning as a new practice. My own interest is in continuing to explore the 5 Essential Practices of an Integral Practitioner   more »

I talk a lot here about awareness, but it is important to remember, that in any consistent meditation practice, there will be periods of energetic "happenings", for lack of a better. word.   more »

This is going to be a bit of a naive post - more of a set of questions, than an answer. I have a feeling that readers will be able to help me out by pointing me to information. I've spoken before about how feedback works, and how for some areas (such as science) feedback works really well, and how for other areas, feedback is quite a challenge.   more »

I wonder if this goes too far, but it's also a great corrective to the U.S. attitudes.

Practicing Selflessness,

No comment necessary.