Actually, given the all various lines and levels to be in "care of", according to Ken Wilber, at some point, you have to come to realize you really can't take care of them all.
I'm going to go ahead and link to, and fully reprint, this page from One Taste.
Begin Ken Wilber:
"There are many ways to talk about integral practice. “Integral yoga” was a term first used by Aurobindo (and his student Chaudhuri), where it specifically meant a practice that unites both the ascending and descending currents in the human being – not just a transformation of consciousness, but of the body as well.
Mike Murphy’s Future of the Body is an excellent compendium of an integral view, as is Tony Schwartz’s What Really Matters. I outline my own integral approach in The Eye of Spirit. Murphy and Leonard’s The Life We Are Given is a practical guide to one type of integral practice, and is highly recommended.
But
anybody can put together their own integral practice.
The idea is to simultaneously exercise all the major
capacities and dimensions of the human bodymind – physical,
emotional, mental, social, cultural, spiritual.
To give several examples, going around the quadrants, we
have the following capacities and levels, with some
representative practices from each:
UPPER RIGHT QUADRANT
(INDIVIDUAL,
OBJECTIVE, BEHAVIORAL)
Physical
DIET: Pritikin, Ornish, The Zone, Bob Arnot; vitamins, hormones
STRUCTURAL:
weight lifting, aerobics, hiking, Rolfing, etc.
Neurological
PHARMACOLOGICAL: various medications, where appropriate
BRAIN/MIND
MACHINES: to help induce theta and delta states of awareness
UPPER LEFT QUADRANT
(INDIVIDUAL,
SUBJECTIVE, INTENTIONAL)
Emotional
BREATH: t’ai chi, yoga, bioenergetics, circulation of prana or feeling-energy, qi gong
SEX:
tantric sexual communion, self-transcending whole-bodied
sexuality
Mental
THERAPY: psychotherapy, shadow work, cognitive therapy
VISION: adopting a conscious philosophy of life, visualization, affirmation
Spiritual
PSYCHIC (shaman/yogi): shamanic, nature mysticism, beginning tantric
SUBTLE (saint): deity yoga, yidam, prayer advanced tantric
CAUSAL (sage): vipassana, self-inquiry, bare attention, witnessing
NONDUAL
(siddha): Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Shaivism, Zen, etc.
LOWER RIGHT QUADRANT
(SOCIAL,
INTEROBJECTIVE)
Systems: exercising responsibilities to Gaia, nature, biosphere, and geopolitical infrastructures at all levels
Institutional:
exercising educational, political, and civic responsibilities to
town, state, nation, world
LOWER LEFT QUADRANT
(CULTURAL, INTERSUBJECTIVE)
Relationships: with family, friends, sentient beings in general; making relationships part of one’s growth, decentering the self
Community Service: volunteer work, homeless shelters, hospice, etc.
Morals: engaging the intersubjective world of the Good, practicing compassion in relation to all sentient beings
The
general idea of integral practice is clear enough: Pick a
basic practice from each category, or from as many
categories as pragmatically possible, and practice them
concurrently. The
more categories that are engaged, the more effective they all
become (because they are all intimately related as aspects of
one’s own being). Practice them diligently, and coordinate your integral
efforts to unfold the various potentials of the bodymind –
until the bodymind itself unfolds in Emptiness, and the entire
journey is a misty memory from a trip that never even occurred. "
End Ken Wilber
Okay, now let's take that one choice phrase by Ken: "or from as many categories as pragmatically possible".
From
the list above, the count of categories comes to 17. And the most
important two for living in-the-world, so to speak, is only two -
Social Intersubjective, where I assume your duties to earning a living
wage, voting, taking care of the environment, etc, are located.
And then Cultural Intersubjective - which is family and friends, and
community. These two groups (and really 4 sub-sections)
take a LOT of time - at least for me.
I have a regular job -
which since it is tech-based, and I lived through and participated in
the late tech 90's, at one point averaged 50-60 hours a week.
That's dialed back to a normal schedule now, but if there is a release,
then for that week, the time dials back up to that level.
I reserve a couple of nights (or day and night) for my girlfriend, and usually another evening for family dinners.
I meditate 1 to 2 hours/day - and attempt to go to a Buddhist Center once/week in the evenings.
I am currently on a fairly
intensive exercise program - 2 to 3 yoga classes a week, 4 weight
sessions a week, and then running 4 times a week.
I'm not really doing a set diet right now - I did, but right now simply keeping away from sugars, and eating fish-vegetarian.
I did a few years of therapy - it really was very helpful - but not doing this now.
And then I study, to keep up with
technical interests - indulging my ipod, learning new things about
Flash, trying out new applications, etc, etc. .
Occasionally I'll write poetry, and also play guitar.
And of course, I'll write for this site, and attempt to improve it, every once in awhile! ![]()
What's funny is, I do all of this, and
yet, I'm still quite the procrastinator for some pretty important
self-directed initiatives - for example, to moving to a better
paying job, or getting various IT certifications, going back to school
for a masters, etc. - it's my worst flaw. (Anyone reading this
have any life-changing practices that have worked to handle
procrastination, feel free to email me!)
I tell you what needs to happen, in the
perfect world. There needs to be an "ICC". Like the "JCC" -
Jewish Community Center - the "Integral Community Center" would have
facilities and services that address pretty much most of the structures
above.
I lived in Marin County for awhile, and
had a membership to the Jewish Community Center there. There were
(of course) many fitness routines, counselors, , lots of programs for
children and the elderly, religious programs - even had a weekly
Kabalah program!
Of course, there aren't enough people
who are interested in integral yet to make this a possibility. So I
will continue to muddle through.