1.  Go to a park in the late afternoon, taking pencil and paper.
2.  Sit, take a few minutes counting breaths.
3.  While viewing the sunset, simply watch, and then apply pencil to paper, letting words form on the page, without expectation. 
4.  Switch back again, between expression of words, and sitting, opening.

5.  And open, open, open. 

Follow this link, or simply go to World Changing on the right, and link.

The Millenium EcoSystem Assessment is out.  It's not good news, at all. 

"Overall, the story isn't good. Of the 24 key "services" provided by the environment, 15 have "degraded over the last 50 years--most notably fresh water, fisheries, air and water purification, and the regulation of climate, natural hazards and pests. Only four have been enhanced, and three of those pertain to food production."

Practices much change, and technology is as much a part of the solution as part of the problem.  However, the current world economic engine, powered by oil, cannot continue. 

I recently had a post about "missionary work".  This fits, I think. 

There's a quote somewhere, a Tibetan Buddhist quote. Something like, "for the infinite, no separation, for the world of form, infinite discrimination".

Or something like this - I know this is way off...

Mastering this contradiction, between opening to the formless, and having skilled discrimination and right activity/service towards form, is the ongoing challenge.

Just saw this post on Psychic Costs vs. Monetary Costs from Catallaxis. 

This dovetails with some of my experience - options options options! 

From an integral perspective, the choices involved are just tremendous - it's amazing, really. 

Diet - Body for Life, or South Beach Diet?
Exercise - Yoga, or Martial Arts or Running or Weightlifting?
Meditation - Vipassana or Mayahana or Advaita or Christian Mysticism or Kabalah?

Even Integral - CIIS or Integral University or Institute of Noetic Science?

This also reminds me of the work done on The Long Tail.  When niche markets abound, the technology that can drive these niche markets become extremely important to reduce the Psychic Costs in a market of multiplicity. 

The review and linked recommendation software for Amazon, for Netflix, and for Yahoo Movies, have been implementations to solve this problem. 

I still believe that this type of software needs to become available for integral practices and integral practice leaders - again, either of whole categores (such as yoga) or particular leaders (such as yoga teachers, spiritual teachers) or of communities.  

I know its considered "bad form", in some sense, to implement these type of open feedback mechanisms for anything other than a "product" - such as movie, music, etc. 

But it clearly makes such incredible sense.  It would make available less well known (but incredibly favorably reviewed) teachers and practioners, it would help stave off the danger from abusive cultism (cultish abusive leaders get bad reviews!)  In general, it would be very very useful, as this type of software mechanism would help provide instant feedback and recommendations, for what actually WORKS for people.

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

Saw the following link, about Bush and rubbing of bald heads.  My friends, what we have here is a perfect money-making opportunity. 

With heads like this and this, just maybe, Integral Institute has a chance of bagging lotsa money! 

Make sure to check out the last two images on the first link above. Why should all the bald head money be going to this Jeff Gannon guy??

Found another health site today.  Peppy, cheerleady stuff, but a lot of useful information. 

Give it a look.

I've added some new links to the "Career" section of Integral Practice.  Click on the "Career" category to the left, and then scroll down to "Career and Professional Blogs".  I may add a composite syndication feed for the sites on the right as well - I'm not sure. (If anyone would find this useful, let me know).

One of the good things about blogharbor, and I'll be experimenting with this in the coming months, is that each "category" section is able to function as its own site.  So for example, if you are interested in only spiritual posts, you can both bookmark or subscribe only to spiritual category posts. And the same with career posts, or environmental posts.

We'll see how far I'll get in customizing each of the categories of the site. My suspicion is not too far, for awhile at least!

Most people who read this site may already know of it, but in case not, please go take a look at Generation Sit.  The blog is the brainchild of Vince over at Numinous Non-Sense. What's exciting is that there is participation!! So go on over and participate!

I've added the site to my links page, and also the site is "Syndicated" under "Integral Voices in the Moment" on the right side of this blog (scroll down a bit), so you will always see the latest posts (although delayed a bit).

I'll be saying more on this site in the next few days.

Also, fulfilling one of my hopes and fantasies, site may now be the Crooked Timber of meditation and blogging.  It's one of the first "blogging" sites where there are a lot of equal voices, and a decent amount of participation. 

Hopefully this can only grow.
Open source meditation blogging - here we go!

"All interactions are only Consciousness; so, likewise,
are the past, future and present. Name and form are only
Consciousness; so, also, are the beings and the worlds." (3.38)

If anyone has real-life experience with good biofeedback machines, please let me know.

I had a couple of years where I used the "forced meditation" tapes - this didn't work out so well for me.  I'm interested in the machines that give feedback (like an altered tone), when a person "learns" how to lower some body measurement. 

I'm looking at a lot out there, but the sites, for the most part, have the infomercial look, so I can't get a real feel on what's useful and what's not.

Thanks!

Awhile back, I had a post titled "Lose That Belly Fat!", which linked to a (very good) blog called Blog Into Shape. 

Soon after that, I noticed a significant uptick in my traffic.  I followed back some of the referral, and I come to:

This google search.  The Integral Practice post is ranked sixth.

I get other variations of this search, from google, as well. 

It just seems funny to me, that this site get 500 more visitors a month, because of people searching on "belly fat" on google.  I hope a few stick around!! 

Been incredibly busy this week - but a quick link to a good summary of Erik Erickson.  This is ANOTHER version of eight stages...

Update 5/3/05 - Have another reference post on Erik Erikson.  Enjoy!

I've been rather unhappy with various political events for awhile now, but I don't blog on them for a couple of reasons - a. From my own limited perspective, and individual ignorance, it's hard to say how things "should" be done for the whole. Global and national politics have their own sequence, rhythm, their own give and take. b. I mostly have the view that one should "act locally", as this is the only thing within a bodymind's purview. So I focus on this site on the individual, or small group actions, one can take to improve oneself and one's community, and one's practice and realization. But I am still acutely aware of political outcomes, especially as a blogger. (Blogging exploded due to passionate partisans commenting on politics.) More below:   more »

If you get a chance, check out The Internet Sacred Text Archive.
It's truly amazing, for historical and religious, sacred and profane reasons. 

Here's some Indian links.



To have Indian, Buddhist, as well as Greek stuff (Plato, Aristotle, etc) and literature, to Taoist, to the Bible, Koran, etc - all of it here, ready, and accessible.

Okay, this really doesn't relate to Integral Practice much, but still - wow!

Via Proactive Living, I come across a study that shows that planning your life, not just has a small impact on your success in the future, but a HUGE impact. 

Good thing to keep in mind!

Pongsathorn does a nice job of concisely drawing equlivalences between stages of human development, between Wilber and Kegan.  Please take a look, if you get a chance.

A couple of additional comments:

1.  If you go and join Ken WilberYahoo Groups, there is a lot of this type of "high-level" intellectual commentary about higher stages.  As I've said before, this isn't my main focus, as I am focused on integral practice rather than integral theory. (Yes, one comes out of the other, but I want to simply plug in my apple Ipod, and reap the benefits.  Go ahead - call me lazy!).  It would be very, very good, if this high level integral discussion, is continued on a group blog such as Crooked Timber - a blog of aethestic philosopher types, and what interests them.  But that same format would be good for Integral Theory types.  (Be careful not to start believing the map is the territory though.)

I won't post on that blog - but I'll link to it frequently!

2.  There is quite a western history of the view of 8 stages of consciousness, that goes back pretty far.  Here's a link to Robert Anton Wilson on the eight systems of consciousness. 
Tim Leary was drawing these connections in 1962.  (He was also attempting to connection them to science, and psychedelics and other goofy stuff, but it is worth reading).

Is there a timeline of how the eight level consciousness has shown up in western thought? 

I think it would have started with Sri Aurobindo, and then stayed there, getting picked up then in the sixties, and then filtering to the various psychological techniques in the 60's/70's,  finally ending with Ken Wilber and the transpersonal pyschologists. 

Is that accurate?

Some good advice, if you are anything like me, and like to be somewhat versed in a few different areas.  Especially as an integral practice is about balance (which I agree with), it's still important in the area of work, to stay disciplined in the areas of your competencies.

The French-language weekly news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur has announced it's picks for the greatest 25 thinkers in the world today.  

Since list this is dealing strictly with philosopher/social type thinkers, I thought it would be worthwhile to post here - mainly, because of a lot of Wilber's source materials don't include some of these thinkers.  Since we are going for the "transcend and include" mode, I thought it would be worthwhile to link it here.

This is the type of thing, that it would be really really beneficial, to have task forces on, to see if/how they mesh with the integral project.  From what people out there know, are these type of research projects going on at CIIS, or ITP, or Naropa? 

Today, I have little time, and actually, less real interest in this, even though I have a philosophy degree.  In the past, my mind LOVED reading any phenomenological philosophy.  I read and wrote on Habermas, Merleau-Ponty, Sarte, and Heidegger, and Hegel.

But,  one, only the smartest (and again, I am average) can go on to get PhD's and teach, two, too much "mind-yness" for me, interferes with clear awareness (perhaps it shouldn't but I can only speak my experience), and three, technical related work fills up my mind at the moment.

But tell you what - in the interest of open source integralism, I am going to find the time to write something up on Alex Honneth, and post it to Integral Visioning, since currently this is the best place for it. 

Anyone at CIIS, Noetic Institute, etc - can't you guys join integral visioning, or some similar open source community that accepts papers, and make as part of a required course, that at least one paper must be submitted to an open source (and searchable) group repository?  Create your own, if necessary.  time to pool the brainpower of multiple universities interested in integralism, with the open source community tools that now exist.

Note again - projects like this might be happening at Integral Institute, we'll see when it opens to the public.  (freakin frakkin stupid beta-tester lockout grumble grumble..)

Hey there,

I've added a really cool "Integral Blogger" stream - go to the right column, and look under the Integral Institute Bulletin Board RSS feed.

Basically, using the Blogdigger service, I can add ANY rss stream to blogdigger, and this will be published as its' own rss stream.  Very cool. 

I'll update the look later today or tomorrow (I'm such a bad visual designer...), but for now, the feeds I am getting are:

coolmel
stuart davis
vince (numinous non-sense)
Ryan at Integral Awakening
Shawn at Day in the Integral Life

These articles will change, as new posts are put up, so you should always see fresh postings on the right.  Small warning - coolmel is a monster poster, so he tends to dominate...

If you know of any other good integral views, and their rss feed info, let me know!

For at least a month I've wanted to comment on this article.

The gentleman at Naked Reflections is quite bright and sensitive, his claim of "uncommonly unaccomplished" notwithstanding.

But he brings up a few points on spiritual practice that I've heard elsewhere.

1.  Laziness
2.  Lack confidence that practice will lead to results.
3.  Spiritual mastery isn't all it is cracked up to be.

This ends up being more of an introduction, that leads to a positive dispostion of entertaining and integral practice, and then contemplating the right framework for him.

But there seems to me to be a couple of points of misunderstanding in the article, that I'd like to share my opinion on (yes, I know, I like to share my opinion...)

a.  The concept of mastery, and the idea of "final destination".
b.  A related point - the journey and the goal.

Here's the relevant quote -

"The first is sheer laziness. It’s distressingly difficult for me to get up off my literal and figurative butt and work hard at anything. And genuine spiritual practice is nothing if not hard work.  Second, I lack confidence that even the most diligent practice could yield tangibly positive results in my case. This is because I tend to see true mastery of spiritual discipline, like mastery of most other disciplines except even more so, as requiring tremendous raw talent. Exhaustive, skillful practice might be necessary to cultivate that
talent into the radiant flower of spiritual realization, but without the fertile seed and soil of exceptional talent, no amount or quality of cultivation will produce a flower. It’s a huge stretch for me to see myself as talented with the potential for anything approaching spiritual mastery. After all, how many devotees of any spiritual path become enlightened no matter how long, hard, and skillfully they work at it?"

I think it is fundamentally, absolutely important, that the focus isn't on a "goal", but  is on the journey.  I can remember, way back when now, my first week of meditation.  Even the first week of meditation, I experienced a bit of calming, a bit of peace, a slight bit more clarity (or I convinced myself I did!)

If you are a "normal" person, as nagarjuna claims to be (and as I am), then you have average motivation.  I'm not going to be winning a swimming event in the Olympics, or jogging a 26 mile marathon, or becoming a grand weightlifter, any time soon.

And yet, I swim, I jog, and I lift weights. 

Do I have a goal?  Sort of - to stay healthy.  But really, the secret goal is to get my endorphins flowing.  I exercise because it feels good.  It's a positive addiction.

For me, I found the secret, to make exercise good, most of the time.  I approach my "edge", where I'm breathing hard, or working hard, but I never blow through to where I'm exhausted.  (I used to push myself as hard as I could.  That was when I stopped exercising!)

For me, meditation is the same way.  The "bennies", on the path, are numerous. 

I'll be walking along, the day after a meditation, and my mind disappears in the clouds, and only awareness is present.

I'll be walking through the park, seeing children play, and I'll be seized by a glorious love, close to weeping, my heart melting. 

I can sit in a room, with the candles on, and simply be overtaken and entranced with awe, at the candles dancing (again the mind leaves)

Etcetera.

These are the positive things, the light on the way.  There are, of course, shadows at play as well.  Boredom that comes up in meditation.  Deep, intolerant sensitivity.  Emotional issues - deep grief, envy, etc.  Incredible physcial discomfort. These will all arise.

But these negatives are the "slow burn" of the meditative process, as the psychic processes run through.  Just like the "burn" of working out, I attempt to be at the edge of the shadow, without it overwhelming me. 

And the postives, the good things, outweigh the negatives.  So the practice, the journey, is worth it.