Kids, the Internet, and the End of Privacy.

Great article about teens, etc, living their lives in the public.  I certainly know a few teens who do this, though not all.

Myself, being older, I still keep a type of semi-obscurity, though of course, I can be found.

The more spiritual question is, how much is the public exposure, a type of narcissism, and how much is "healthy"?

Being an "old fogey", I have quite a lot of sympathy to the opinion that it's all narcissism, the public display.  But, I'm probably bound by my own somewhat private nature, and the social nature I was raised in.

It's hard to know though. 

Kate's a bit older than me, and she seems to display both an awareness of the "share anything" vibe, and uses her life, and awareness, in mainly a very conscious way.  As well, a lot of the 20 something spiritual types tend to be fairly unself-conscious about using the "public internet" to share any ole thing.

Thoughts on this?

From the guy a   more »

From Zen Habits:

Thanks to Integral Options for the link.  Good advice for integral practice.

For myself, sporadically keep various goals.  Sometimes it is better, sometimes worse. 

That's something you don't see the Steve Pavlina's of the world talk about. 

For me, there are three versions of what to do - "what I must do", and "what I want to do that's rewarding", and "what I do that fun, but an empty time waster". 

1."Must do", includes things like going to work, cleaning up, paying bills, etc. 

2. "What I want to do" are the various integral practices that make for a fulfilling, balanced life.  Exercise, meditation, volunteering, playing my guitar, learning a language, tech study, etc.  Even better, expanding my career, finding the next opportunity, integraly study, etc.

3. "What I have fun doing that's an empty time waster" is things like browsing the internet for hours on end, playing a video game, reading a pedestrian sci-fi novel, etc.  Watch movies, comedy shows with my sweetie.

I'm not too bad at the first category on the list.  And some of the activities that would be in category 2,  I do well - I meditate regularly, and I exercise regularly.  But some of the other goals there, I do much less.

Now category 3?  3, I'm pretty good at.  If I spent as much time on category 2, as I do on category 3, wow, I'd be an accomplished guy!!    (Internet, and the tv, as wonderful as it is, is a great tool for mental masturbation).

My longterm goal is to substitute more category 2 activities, for category 3 activities.  In terms of time.

And I've done a lot on this ground -

a.  Visualized my motivations - daily
b.  Setup umpteen schedules for activities.
c.  Started a regular practice of activities - that then falls away.
d.  Attempted various, and different, structures, to do more  activities. 

Still, 3 always ends up being what i do more of. I fall of the wagon.  I get distracted (except for meditation and exercise).  I go for three days, then go three days off, or a week off.

I've probably gone on a self-improvement kick - attempting to do more of category two activities more than category three activies - more than one hundred times in my life.

It's REALLY annoying to read these self-improvement guys, such as Pavlina, who basically don't acknowledge the move towards the baseline, of human nature.

Funny enough, I'm old enough now, that I don't "beat myself up" about doing less of category 2 than category 3.  First off, lots of time I spend "doing nothing" is spent in a pretty incredible place, where the "I" slips away, and only Being is happening.

But it is also pretty clear that the inherited habits (my own childhood background, was lacking both in any form of wealth, or much actual examples of spending a lot of time in category 2), tend to dominate actual living, the activity of this body.

Which is a shame, really - as the information on "how best to live", is pretty much all over the internet.  Working with resistance, changing those habits, moving out of baseline - as Wilber has said, what ACTUALLY causes change, in a person, what ends up actually motivating a person, despite the tens of thousands of hours of research, is still a mystery.

From the Washington Post

Wor   more »

Worth reading!

Links to a 4 part series.

This site has been recognized by Holon News.  I am pleased that this site has been recognized, as a "Staff Pick", in the bookmarks.

I've been writing this Integral Practice for going on three years (2 and 1/2?), so it is nice to know that people are getting some use from it. 

I said at the beginning, about this site - I write as a fan, as an enthusiast, as an analyst, not as an expert.

As such, sometimes posts here are mediocre, but sometimes, posts here are very well thought out - maybe even have a bit o' wisdom in them. 

At least, I hope so!

There has been a recent wave of popularity over The Secret - witness the features of The Secret on Oprah.

Also, look at this interview with James Ray over at Steve Pavlina's place.

Notice some of the language used on The Secret's webpage:


This is The Secret to everything - the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted.

Wow, that's a pretty good secret!   

I truly think the vendors of this secret need to go over to Iraq, and start teaching "the secret" to people in Iraq.

It sure looks like they could do with some "umlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth".

Somehow though, I don't see The Secret team on a plane to Iraq to share the wealth, anytime in the immediate future.

Do you?


Despite the snark above, clearly, there is truth to the "law of attraction".  There is truth to "creating your own destiny", and making a difference in the world, that inspires and encourages others:

Whereas the fifth wave is still characterized by dichotomized, either/or thinking, the sixth vision-logic wave is integral-aperspectival: the individual can simultaneously hold multiple, apparently contradictory perspectives in his attention and, through synthesis and integration, can conceptualize networks of interactions among the various perspectives . In this wave, existential concerns characterize the self, which Wilber has labeled the centaur.

And, if you can take new perspectives, you can envision newer possibilities, you hve the potential to EMBODY those potentials - walk the talk for that you envision.

Notably, the prerational magical thinking, does have some cause and effect - meaning, if you engage in some magic, lots of times STUFF HAPPENS.    It isn't a bad idea to become skilled in working with the archaic/magical dimension of life and self, as the rational self oftentimes does not notice these influences.

But I don't believe that this is one's highest self, merely another version of New Age Marketing in new dress.  It can be a version of pathology,  if taken to the extreme.

From Salon here:

Simply click through the ad, you should be taken to the article.

Very comprehensive article on Google Reader.

One of the things you don't see covered much in integral theory, or in spirituality, for that matter, is the nature of power relations, both how they function and flow, in the context of a spiritual life, or a spiritual organization.

The actuality of power relations, both in society in general, and in spirituality, cover a wide range. 

From the "how high sir?" mentality of the military, to the "whatever you say guruji" of oldline spiritual authority, on the one side, to the flattening of the power dynamic in certain IT companies, and the "spiritual helper" dynamic of New Age circles, how power is used, utilized, and dealt with from a social perspective, would be good to examine.

Usually the "great charismatic Godman", tends towards a power dynamic of domination, rather than an egalitarian power dynamic - and that is true whether it is Ken Wilber, Adi Da etc.  The same thing that is attractive about these folks - i.e., their intelligence, drive, and charisma - is the same thing that creates a power relation that is "old school", in its effects.

Even more important, spiritual seekers often have an unexamined relationship with their own inflexibility in preferences, for power relationships.  It's actually a good growth opportunity to have DIFFERENT experiences of power dynamics.   Be the "grunt" in either a military or spiritual circle, who will be willing to "say yes" to whatever is asked.  Do that for six months, to change one's internal dynamics of resistance.

Then do the student/teacher relationship, where guidance is given, but not enforced, and see if you can be the will for own self, in transformation.

Then, do interactive groups, (what is that process called?  The Open Circle, or something?) whereby everyone is brought to a "yes", through a long, (and drawn out) collaborative and inclusive process.

There are pluses and minuses to each of the above.   In all of the above, where one wants to end up with is "doing what is needed", from the best perspective available at that time. 

Both power and status end up being significant motivators, more than are acknowledged in either the spiritual or integral world - and these TYPE of relations should be exposed as more explicit, than implicit.

At least according to my definitions, the "floor" levels of integral practice are defined - now, the issue is, how to build on that, and also building financially viable structures to allow functional integral practices to flow through easily.

As I define integral practice, as I've said many many times, it is in the following areas -

a.  Body -- diet, exercise, medicine
b. Relationships - partner, family, community
c. Service - (related to relationships) - giving, doing FOR others, love,etc.
d. Spirituality - meditation, non-dual, i-thou, realization, selfless love, sangha
e. Professional growth - productivity, developing skills, innate talents and abilities, discipline, accomplishment
f. Psychological - shadow work, therapeutic work, ego/sub-personalities and integration, optimistic attitude, the power of meaning in life,
g. Creativity - further self-expression, in any of the above areas, or simply creativity for creativy's sake.

I believe that most of the above -  a through g, currently has at least a "top 3" recommended activities, or where to focus. 

I'll spend time over the next month going through the "top 3" practices for each area, a through g. 

Now, this of course means that the "mysteries", are pscychological and structural - given all the great advice, knowledge, and information out there on "how best to live" - why don't more people take the advice, knowledge, and information, and make their life, and others, better?  How to deal with those resistances - be it the "7 deadly sins", or simple resistance.

Would be to develop Spiral Dynamics Tag Clouds - similar to the tag cloud of Bush's SOTU address - but of course adding the colors.

There is a big caveat here though, and that is assuming that particular words have specific values - in the spiral dynamics sense - associated with them.  I believe that may be 50% true, but I doubt much more true than that.

If you haven't see what Joe is doing recently, make sure to go over and have a look.

It's very "integral-meta", but also a new way at looking at integral writing, and what the writing is "about".  Taking a perspective on your perspectives, and words, and such, and labeling various writing - whether contemplation, statements about moral views, etc - with a color code. 

One of the reasons I personally like this, is because it really breaks up the view that a person is OF a certain color, in the simplistic Spiral Dynamics view.  This becomes very obvious in Joe's painstaking analysis and color-coding of the State of the Union address by President George Bush. 

Within one speech - one speech! - you find nearly all the different values as reflected in the spiral dynamic specrum, while at the same time, getting a visual take of the largest "percentage" of where the speech is coming from.   

For myself, it's quite useful, like seeing a spreadsheet chart graphed or grouped, on miscellaneous data, for the first time.  So much better than a simplistic take, showing that Bush "differentiates across the spectrum of values, while remaining pretty firmly centered in conformity values.

I highly recommend to go take a look at the work Joe has done, in advancing out of a simple view of Spiral Dynamics.

I know there have been these discussions between atheists and Christians - here is an interesting discussion between a Vedantin and a Christian.

Check it out.

UPDATE:

Regarding some of the atheists/Christianity discussions - I'm not sure why the simplistic discussions "capture" the oxygen around "what is God?".  C4 has commented on this, but there are much better and much more INTERESTING arguments to be had.

Lose weight playing games!

This image certainly isn't a very integral way to spend your money, is it?

From the New York Times, on the cost of the Iraq War.

Great post from Per at Mystery of Existence, on Big Mind and Indwelling God:


So where Big Mind is impersonal and everywhere, the indwelling God is personal and right here, in the heart space of the physical body. The experience of it, at least for me right now, is of a fragment of God for this particular individual soul and human self, and a fragment that includes and reflects the whole of God. It is not diminished in any way, yet also right here and for this particular individual.

Make sure to go read the whole post.  I'd love to see Chris at Indistinct Union comment on this as well, as he has commented on other MOE posts - and this seems right up his alley.

From The Advaita Show.

There is quite a question for me, on "resting" in a particular place. 

While most of my energy is in the way "I" am living my life, this alternates with small periods of simply resting in a "oneness".

Now, there isn't much to do in that space, but, there does seem to be a focus required, where the I choose to turn its attention back to the "source".  

Paradoxically, which then decreases the relevancy of the "I".  

Then mind patterns/life challenges interfere, and then the I reasserts itself as primary. 

It's a funny cycle.