Many people throughout the ages have said the words "I am one with the world,"  but what world did they feel at one with?  And what can we do to ensure that, in our spiritual practices, we are able to find union with as much of the manifest world as possible?  These questions are central to any Integral exploration of Zen Buddhism, and form the basis of this fascinating conversation.... 

"For instance, we might see how a deeply rational zen teacher—someone who has a really deep practice, but is embedded in a very materialistic level of development—has no room to understand the very subtle but powerful shamanistic aspects of Zen that can emerge. They are seen as ritualistic and archaic, but in fact, for people who are able to hold an integral perspective, they are able to see the energetic function of those things...." -Diane Musho Hamilton Sensei

click here for free audio! (right-click to download)

click here for full discussion!

Who: Diane Hamilton is one of the most skilled and popular presenters at our Integral Institute five-day seminars, and as anyone who has been lucky enough to see her work will tell you, she's a total star. A transmitted teacher of Genpo Roshi's Big Mind process, she and Genpo have been introducing seminar participants to some of the extraordinary aspects of enlightened being and awareness that are available here and now, to anyone willing to inquire into their existence.

Summary: With such a highly sophisticated understanding of all the spiritual states of consciousness available to human beings, Zen is an extraordinary spiritual technology, with a rich treasury of practices carefully designed for the awakening of mankind.  In terms of its ability to evoke powerful states of transcendence—leading people ever closer toward recognizing the infinite liberation that awaits us at the core of each of our souls—many consider the tradition of Zen Buddhism to be in many ways unparalleled.  Some have described Zen as a sort of "plug and play" spirituality, meaning that it is adaptable to almost any background, belief system, or vocation a person might find themselves in—in other words, it is possible to be a Christian, a Jew, or a scientist and be a Zen practitioner, and have authentic spiritual experiences while practicing.  It is precisely this sort of fluid, all-embracing quality that makes Zen such a fascinating tradition for the 21st century—a sort of spiritual "universal donor" with the ability to supplement and enrich almost any other tradition, occupation, or creative endeavor available to humanity.

The reason Zen is so universally applicable is that it focuses almost entirely upon ever-present states of consciousness, with particular emphasis upon some of the deepest states of radical emptiness, clarity, and transcendent unity—states which, by their very nature, are available to us all, babies, boomers, and buddhas alike.  Since states of emptiness might be described as being utterly devoid of content, beyond all words and locations and referents within the relative world, one can assume that my experience of emptiness while sitting on a meditation cushion would be almost identical to your experience emptiness while sitting on a cushion.  Emptiness is emptiness is emptiness is, after all, how could it possibly be any different?  However, once we both get up from the meditation cushions and engage the world of form once again, we might very well have two completely different interpretations of the experience, using very different language to describe what happened, extracting two wildly contrasting perceptions of meaning and consequence from the very same experience of emptiness. 

In this sense, the apparent universality of Zen can be both a blessing and a blight, and has at times fallen prey to one of one of today’s most confusing issues: what is the relationship between evolution, human development, and spirituality? While the East (and the West, in its more contemplative forms) has offered us much information about the nature of states of consciousness, here we must look to the triumphs of Western developmental psychology, which suggests that human beings grow through several distinct stages of consciousness—each fundamentally determining the contours and contexts of our experiences.

One of the most approachable (and intuitively easy to grasp) models of human development comes from the work of Jean Gebser.  Drawing upon the rich historical evidence available to him from almost every major field of inquiry, (e.g., poetry, music, visual arts, architecture, philosophy, religion, physics and the other natural sciences, etc.), Gebser posits that consciousness is able to grow through at least six major stages of consciousness: archaic, magic, mythic, rational, pluralistic, and integral, with plenty of space beyond for new stages to be laid down in the future of human evolution.  Each of these structures of consciousness approaches life with very different values, assumptions, idioms, and meaning-making processes, even when describing the same events and experiences.  As the same states of spiritual transcendence are available to each of these different stages of consciousness, we can begin to see where most of the confusion surrounding our interpretations of spirituality, transcendence, and human potential begin to spring.

Consider this: just about anyone is capable of having an experience of mystical union with the world around them, prompting them to say the following six deceptively simple words: "I am one with the world."  But these same six words can carry acutely divergent meanings from person to person—after all, who is the “I” that is making the statement, and which world are you feeling at one with?  The fundamentalist world as strictly written and interpreted by the book and believers of the “one true faith”?  The physical world of atoms, molecules, and squishy machinery of biology?  The planet itself, as a single interconnected "web of life" threading us all together?  There is not a single, pre-given world "out there" that we can experience spiritual communion with, but a succession of worldviews that can only be perceived by the stages of consciousness capable of enacting them.  Enlightenment is not a static experience—though the empty side of the street may ultimately remain unchanged, the nondual union of form and emptiness is an endlessly moving target, as the manifest world perpetually twists, billows, and slides across the effortless lens of eternity, with new and novel perspectives being born every moment.

The integration of horizontal states of ever-present consciousness with the vertical stages of conscious development does much to help situate our experiences with t reality, as well as offering some much-needed insight as to how an otherwise enlightened Zen master could retain the seemingly "unenlightened" biases of racism, nationalism, or homophobia.  Or how a heroin addict can experience states of spiritual communion with the world   Or how Charles Manson could attempt to justify his derangement by asking "If all is One, then what could be wrong?"  Each of these individuals would likely insist that their experiences of emptiness, transcendent unity, and at-one-ment with the world were very real and authentic, and they very well could have been.  But it becomes increasingly obvious which worlds—which morals, perspectives, and ideals—they are actually feeling at one with, and which worlds they are completely unable to feel united with, by virtue of these “higher” worlds being, in every sense, over their heads.

Integral Zen is the very first attempt within the tradition to account for both states and stages of consciousness, as well as the other components of the Integral approach: quadrants (or perspectives), developmental lines (or multiple intelligences), and types (e.g. masculine/feminine, enneagram, etc.)  By taking all of these dimensions of ourselves and the world around us into account—not only acknowledging them as they manifest in our experience, but beginning to recognize how they all inform and influence each other—we begin to see wholeness where we once only saw brokenness, light where we once only saw shadow, integrity where we once only saw compromise.  In short, we begin to see the elegance of an integrated world, allowing a newly-integrated self to find atonement with more of the manifest world than ever before possible—until this moment is inevitably swept up by the persistent gush of Eros, supplanted by something unimaginably deeper and better than us all—yet, somehow, unmistakably the same….

Many have noticed that humanity is now beginning to experience an extraordinary integration of science, spirit, culture, and technology, an evolutionary confluence of all that is good, beautiful, and true in this world.  And the Integral movement—of which you are all an essential part—represents the bleeding edge of evolution's latest and most significant creative leap toward it's own inexhaustible potential.  Diane represents one of the most remarkable expressions of this evolutionary drive—with one foot planted firmly in the Zen tradition and the other in Integral studies and practice, she is uniquely situated at the confluence of these two mighty streams of conscious evolution, where she stands with undeniable grace, mastery, and clarity.  It is impossible to be around Diane for any amount of time without falling in love with her, and more importantly, with consciousness itself, as she so fluently reflects your own inherent perfection back to you.  Diane is one of the Integral movement's most beloved teachers, for all these reasons and more, and we are very excited to share this dialogue with you all....

In the second installation of Br. David and Ken’s dialogue, we explore the concept of the "Three Faces of God"—a remarkably insightful way to approach our understanding of spiritual reality, and one which helps organize and understand all of the various descriptions of the divine throughout all the world’s great spiritual traditions. 

"All of a sudden, Indra's Net becomes not just an infinity of jewels—which is still kind of 3rd-person—but an infinity of perspectives, an infinity of different ways of looking at the universe." -Ken Wilber

click here for free audio! (right-click to download)

Who: Brother David Steindl-Rast has been a practicing Benedictine monk for over half a century and was one of the first Vatican-sanctioned delegates to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue. He is a recipient of the Martin Buber Award for his outstanding role in building bridges between religious traditions, and serves as a senior member of the Mount Savior Monastery in Elmira, New York.

Summary: Just as human beings intrinsically possess 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-person perspectives of the world, so do we possess those same perspectives in our experience of spirituality.  And while these dimensions of the divine can be found in just about any spiritual lineage—Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Islam, etc.—many of these traditions only explicitly emphasize one or two of these perspectives, resulting in one or more important aspects of spirituality often being left out of their conceptions of God.

God in 3rd-person is often described as the "great web-of-life," and is frequently experienced when observing objects of miraculous beauty such as the Grand Canyon, exquisite music, transcendent art, or the mind-boggling elegance of deep-space photography.  Many astronauts returning to Earth have experienced powerful states of transcendence triggered by simply looking at our planet floating in the vacuum of space, the sublime fragility and significance of the human condition clearly reflected in their retinas.  As John Glenn said, "To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible. It just strengthens my faith."

Or, consider the words of another NASA hero, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell:

"On the way home from the moon, looking out at the heavens, this insight—which I now call a transcendent experience—happened. I realized that the molecules of my body had been created or prototyped in an ancient generation of stars—along with the molecules of the spacecraft and my partners and everything else we could see including the Earth out in front of us. Suddenly, it was all very personal. Those were my molecules.  It was an experience of interconnectedness. It was an experience of bliss, of ecstasy... it was so profound. I realized that the story of ourselves as told by science—our cosmology, our religion—was incomplete and likely flawed. I recognized that the Newtonian idea of separate, independent, discreet things in the universe wasn't a fully accurate description." 

God in 2nd-person is traditionally defined as the "I-Thou" relationship with the divine, where Spirit is experienced as a living intelligence that we can actually interact with in our own lives.  As Ken often says, borrowing from renowned theologian Martin Buber, in the "I-Thou" relationship, God is the hyphen connecting the I and the Thou.  And of course, our conceptions of God in 2nd-person evolve right alongside the rest of humanity, growing from magical animistic immersion, to the mythic "old bearded white man in the sky" interpretation, to rational and pluralistic recognitions of divinity within our families, communities, and humanity itself, to the simple intuition that we all exist within the unimaginable Mind of some Supreme Being, by whatever name.  

This, as Br. David mentions, is reflected beautifully in the closing lines of a love poem written by ee cummings, titled i am so glad and very:

we are so both and oneful
night cannot be so sky
sky cannot be so sunful
i am through you so i

Or, from the lips of George Harrison:

It's been a long long long time
How could I ever have lost you
When I loved you

It took a long long long time
Now I'm so happy I found you
How I love you

So many tears I was searching
So many tears I was wasting, oh oh

Now I can see you, be you
How can I ever misplace you
How I want you
Oh I love you
Your know that I need you
Ooh I love you

God in 1st-person refers to the actual phenomenological experience of God, in the form of satori, kensho, ecstatic reverie, and other sorts of "peak experiences" of the divine.  These are most frequently exercised through some form of contemplative practice, such as meditation or prayer, in which we can directly experience consciousness as the "singular to which the plural is unknown"—and the effortless, open awareness behind all of our experiences is recognized as the consciousness of God (or Godhead, as Christian mystics might prefer).  In this space, all of our thoughts, emotions, and experiences, as well as the rest of the world around us, are simply and effortlessly witnessed, in much the same way that clouds float effortlessly through the infinite expanse of the sky.  And that effortless expanse at the center of each and every moment IS God transcendent, looking at His/Her own immanence through each of our eyes.  A wonderful description of this sort of personal experience of and as God can be found in Ken’s book One Taste:

"It is true that the physical matter of your body is inside the matter of the house, and the matter of the house is inside the matter of the universe. But you are not merely matter or physicality. You are also Consciousness as Such, of which matter is merely the outer skin. The ego adopts the viewpoint of matter, and therefore is constantly trapped by matter—trapped and tortured by the physics of pain. But pain, too, arises in your consciousness, and you can either be in pain, or find pain in you, so that you surround pain, are bigger than pain, transcend pain, as you rest in the vast expanse of pure Emptiness that you deeply and truly are.

So what do I see?  If I contract as ego, it appears that I am confined in the body, which is confined in the house, which is confined in the large universe around it.  But if I rest as Witness—the vast, open, empty consciousness—it becomes obvious that I am not in the body, the body is in me; I am not in this house, the house is in me; I m not in the universe, the universe is in me.  All of them are arising in the vast, open, empty, pure, luminous Space of primordial Consciousness, right now and right now and forever right now.  Therefore, be Consciousness."

What is fascinating is that we can see that any spiritual tradition is capable of expressing all three of these forms of spiritual experience—in fact, if you are leaving any of these out, chances are your understanding of spiritual realities is incomplete in some way.  

Historically, Western traditions can be said to have largely focused on 2nd- and 3rd-person interpretations, and have often been distrustful of 1st-person reports of God, using them, at times, as the grounds for heresy.  On the other end of the pathology, Eastern traditions tend to emphasize 1st- and 3rd-person perspectives, and too often try to deny the existence of any sort of personal "God in 2nd-person."  However, when moving from a 3rd-person description of God directly to a 1st-person experience of God, without the soul-cleansing qualities of extreme humility, grace, and gratefulness that God in 2nd-person bestows upon us, it can be deceptively easy to sneak the whims of the ego into our interpretations of spiritual experience—and, rather than transcending the ego, our spiritual experiences can ironically become the last refuge of the ego.

Strictly speaking, nothing can be said about the true essence of Reality (including that)—but in the finite, manifest domain, the three faces of God appear to be intrinsic to Spirit’s radiant display. And unfortunately, Spirit’s expression as 2nd-person Thou has largely gotten stuck at the mythic-membership fundamentalist level of development. The modern world not only rejected the marginalization and cruelties associated with the mythic god, it threw out God in 2nd-person altogether—and thus a huge baby got thrown out with the bathwater of mythic consciousness: one-third of God's own ever-present Face. Indeed, one of the key dilemmas for humanity is discovering a way to help the great spiritual and religious traditions grow into their modern, postmodern, and integral forms of being-in-the-world, with all three faces of God shining brightly.

Click here to listen to Part 1 of this dialogue: The Relationship of the One and the Many.

More Muppets videos for you all! Thank you to Steve Whitmire, one of my favorite people on the planet, for sharing these with us! And seriously, how cool is it that the Muppets can now be associated with the Integral movement?!

Feel free to share your favorite Muppets videos, links, and memories in the comments section below....

The Ode to Joy


Classical Chicken


Habanera

Previously on Holons:

Happy In(ter)dependence Day!

In the second installation of Warren and Ken’s dialogue we explore the stages of psychological and sexual development in both men and women, the difficulties both genders typically encounter while developing through these stages, and the almost complete lack of genuine "masculist" schools of thought to match the extraordinary accomplishments feminism has brought women in recent decades....

"So frequently today I see our daughters, who are interested in these sort of humanistic issues, go off to school and take Women's Studies courses, and then they come out angry at men—and these are oftentimes the brightest, the most intelligent, and the most potentially loving women, coming out of their university classes with an extension of Marxist feminism that says that the males are oppressing women. And that's just a misunderstanding of the gender development over the millennia." -Warren Farrell

click here for free audio! (right-click to download)

Who: Dr. Warren Farrell is a founding member of Integral Institute and the author of six books, including the international best-sellers Why Men Are the Way They Are and The Myth of Male Power. Dr. Farrell is the only man in the US to have been elected three times to the Board of Directors of the National Organization for Women in New York City; and he has also served on the boards of three national men’s organizations. Over a period of 25 years, Warren has formed over 600 women’s and men’s groups and has worked with more than a quarter million men and women from all walks of life. The Chicago Tribune described Warren as "the Gloria Steinem of Men’s Liberation." (Warren, though, has more gray hair.)

Summary: In a 1997 interview with an online men’s magazine, Warren had the following to say:

"Men don’t oppress women any more than women oppress men. The whole concept of men and women oppressing each other is ridiculous. That’s a fabrication of the feminist movement. What is true is that both sexes have roles that can legitimately be considered oppressive, but those roles are not roles designed by men or women, they were designed by biological necessity and the necessity of survival. Survival was the oppressor….

The biology of women in a survival-focused world was the childraising and that left the social role of men to raising the money to support the biological role of women. And it’s not been until industrialized societies had enough income to help society progress from what I call a Stage 1, which is survival-focused to Stage 2, which is focused on the balance between survival and self-fulfillment, that we could produce people who were able to focus on what rights and opportunities they had."

As it is, women have already begun to move from stage 1 to stage 2 en masse, beginning with the women’s liberation movements of the 50’s and 60’s, while men have largely remained "stuck" in much the same condition women were in before the rise of feminism.  And this cultural "stuckness" not only reinforces many of the same unhealthy dynamics feminism was originally conceived to address, but also makes it much more difficult for women to fully grow from stage 1 to stage 2 in a complete and authentic way.

At first, the rigid gender roles of men and women were born from necessity, and reflected a conscious choice on behalf of both genders to separate the world into public and private spheres, with men tending to the public, and women tending to the private.  These roles became increasingly reinforced throughout history, as biological necessity determined that women would be valued for their fertility, and men for their disposability. 

However, the moral, ethical, and technological advancements commonly associated with modernity have begun to change the rules entirely, accelerated by both men’s and women’s destinies being liberated from their biology—especially as muscle-power began to be increasingly replaced by mechanical and microchip-driven power, and as birth control offered women much more control over pregnancy.  These evolutionary developments have enabled a considerable amount of women to migrate from the private sphere into the public, for the first time in history.  How can men make a similar transition from the "brute power" of the public sphere to the "invisible powers" of compassion, connection, introspection, and sexuality traditionally associated with the private sphere?  Do we need an authentic "masculist revolution" in order to regain our collective balance?

Metaphorically, we could say that society is something like a boat, with gender roles rigidly assigned so that men row predominantly on one side of the boat, and women row on the other, more or less assuring that the boat keeps moving forward.  However, since the rise of the enormously beneficial women’s liberation movement, women have begun to learn how to row on both sides of the boat—exploring many of the roles traditionally associated with men—who, unfortunately, have not experienced a similar sort of "men’s liberation" movement, and are thus still rowing on the same side they always have.  What happens, of course, is that rather than continuing to move the boat forward, the boat begins to move in a circle, seriously compromising any sort of meaningful progress for humanity as a whole.  We are very much in this boat together, and must therefore learn how to consciously transform both genders, culturally and individually, so that we might once again be able to point our little collective dinghy in the right direction.

So what can we do to help men learn how to row on the other side of the boat?  Unfortunately, there exist virtually no role models for men to guide this sort of transition, no rites of passage or cultural road signs to help remind men that there are indeed higher and deeper levels of masculine maturity yet to be explored and developed.  As Ken mentions in the discussion, there are nearly 30,000 examples of Women’s Studies classes, lectures, and departments throughout American colleges, but not a single case of Men’s Studies to be found, on its own accord and outside the auspices of feminist ideology.

Interestingly, while we can look to the absence of emphasis upon "men’s liberation" as a major factor in the ongoing gender inequities of today’s world, Warren himself does not believe we need such a "masculist movement" or any other male-focused analog to the feminist movement of the 50’s and 60’s.  Instead, what is most needed is a genuinely Integral "transitional gender studies," rooted in a mutual respect of the roles, rights, responsibilities, and resentments that are carried by both men and women, along with a sincere acknowledgement of all the ways both men and women are simultaneously victims and perpetuators of traditional gender roles. 

Click here to listen to Part 1 of this dialogue: Redefining the Relationships Between Men and Women.

Integral Elevator Pitch Contest: Win a Free Ticket to the Integral Theory Conference

The 1st Biennial Integral Theory Conference is sold out, and the wait-list has been closed. If you still want to attend this conference you may yet have a chance. Integral Life is running an “Elevator Pitch Contest.” We want you to create an elevator pitch advocating the Integral Approach.

What is an elevator pitch, and how will it help you get a ticket to the Integral Theory Conference?

An elevator pitch is a simple, concise, and persuasive statement that makes an impact (The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride… for example, thirty seconds or 100-150 words). The perfect pitch is not easy to create, so we thought we’d reach out to you, and give you something back in exchange for your efforts.

So, using these parameters, try to come up with a short and impactful response to the question: "What is the Integral Approach, and why is it important?"

To enter, please submit either a written pitch of less than 150 words or a video of yourself delivering your pitch in less than 60 seconds (we may give bonus points if you shoot it in an actual elevator).  We’ll give one free conference ticket to each of the top two submissions. Tickets cover tuition only. Airfare, lodging, and expenses are not included.

Deadline for submission is July 6th, 2008. 

After much deliberation, a difficult decision has been reached in the Integral Elevator Pitch Contest. Please join us in congratulating Arthur Gillard and Gili Getz.

Their winning submissions are reprinted below.

Thanks to everyone who submitted! Your responses were creative, inspiring, and offered great perspectives on how to make integral approach accessible and relevant.

-Integral Life Staff

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On July 5th, 2008 Arthur Gillard (not verified) says:
Here's my tongue-in-cheek entry to the contest:

I get onto the elevator, wearing my "AQAL: transcend and include, bitches." t-shirt (quadrant diagram on the back). Another passenger gets on.

"What the hell does your t-shirt mean? 'A-Q-A-L?' 'Transcend and include bitches?' Huh?"

"It refers to the integral worldview - check out this nifty diagram on the back" [I turn around for a moment.] It's a map to orient all areas of human knowledge and experience. Everyone has part of the truth. "

"Even George Bush? Scientologists? Richard Dawkins? Yeah, right."

"There are healthy versions of those worldviews, and yes, they are partially correct."

"Very partial. Sheesh. What does 'transcend and include' mean?"

"Everything is evolving - biologically, culturally, spiritually - and each level goes beyond the previous level, while including what's essential about it. Cells transcend and include molecules, for example. Moral systems that care for all beings transcend and include those that only care for the self or one's ethnic group."

"Are you in some kind of cult?"

"Trust me, that would be like herding cats. [laughs ruefully]"

"Wait - you still didn't tell me what 'A-Q-A-L' means!"

"That takes a little more time to explain. Here, take this card - it's got my email on it and some Integral Institute websites that will tell you more."

"You're kinda hot - are you Canadian?"

"Yes, but I'm married - and straight. Sorry. But check out the websites or email me if you want to know more about AQAL."

NOTE: The above is loosely based on conversations that took place in my previous job in a library. It also works if you're wearing a "Nondual perverts transcend and include fucking everything" t-shirt, though the conversation tends to get raunchier and is even more likely to result in an attempted pick-up.

To see a version of the above with better formatting: http://pods.gaia.com/ii/discussions/view/264838#309677

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On July 3rd, 2008 Gili Getz (not verified) says:
60 seconds go by really fast when you try to explain Integral thinking.
And they go by even faster when you are trying not to use Integral vocabulary or imagery.
But I am going to try…

Here is my video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q757cvvA9bE

I send love and admiration to all of you who are exploring the edges of the unfolding consciousness.

Gili Getz

In this discussion, Ken and Tami take a closer look at the core values that have been foundational to the growth of Sounds True throughout the years.  Tami shares the origins and intentions behind each of these guiding principles, as well as some of the complications that can arise while implementing them in the organization from day to day.

"What I will always say to people is that we have to be somewhat profitable, but how profitable we are is actually negotiable, as long as we can keep the doors open. But the mission is not negotiable at all." -Tami Simon

click here for free audio! (right-click to download)

Who:  Tami Simon is the founder and president of Sounds True, a multimedia publisher dedicated to "the dissemination of spiritual wisdom" and North America's leading publisher of spoken-word spiritual teachings.

Summary:  In this discussion, Ken and Tami take a closer look at the core values that have been foundational to the growth of Sounds True throughout the years.  Tami shares the origins and intentions behind each of these guiding principles, as well as some of the complications that can arise while implementing them in the organization from day to day.  Tami's extraordinary skill as a leader becomes apparent in the course of this dialogue, as does her limitless compassion, will, and integrity—most notably through her success in catalyzing these vales and actually allowing them to shape and infuse the atmosphere of the workplace, rather than becoming a mere list of idioms to hang idly upon the conference room wall.

The "Twenty Tenets" of Sounds True:  

1. We aspire to be both mission driven as well as profit driven
   
     1a. This has since expanded to the "multiple bottom-lines" of purpose, profit, people, and planet

2. We aspire to build workplace community

3. We encourage authenticity in the workplace

4. We aspire to have open communication, company-wide

5. Animals are welcome!

6. We encourage creativity, innovation, and new ideas

7. We strive to be flexible about work schedules

8. We encourage individual teams to determine the best ways to reach their goals

9. We aspire to honor and include a contemplative dimension in the workplace

10. We aspire to reach out to a diverse community

11. We aspire to protect and preserve the earth

12. We aspire to have a relationship with our customers that is based on integrity

13. We aspire to take time for kindness, have fun, and get a lot done

14. We aspire to acknowledge that every person in the organization carries wisdom

15. We encourage people to speak up and propose solutions

16. We encourage people to listen deeply

17. We aspire to honor individual differences and diversity

18. We strive for clarity of expectations

19. Employees participate in profit-sharing and ownership of the organization

What is perhaps most remarkable about these principles is not simply the freedom and flexibility they offer to Sounds True employees—which, taken alone, would most likely fit just about anyone's definitions of a "dream job"—but how they are designed to fully honor and actualize the potential of employees, which in turn helps to stimulate and rally the cultural morale of the workplace.  Of course, these sorts of warm and fuzzy feelings would be hardly worthwhile (and utterly unsustainable) if they didn't translate to the genuine growth and profitability of the organization—which, when combined with the right sorts of accountabilities, expectations, and incentives, they absolutely can!  After all (to expand upon a statement from the first part of this discussion), a happy employee—who is simultaneously an empowered employee, an accountable employee, and a proud employee—is most likely going to be an exceptionally productive employee.

This dialogue offers a fascinating exploration of the inner-workings of Sounds True, an insightful case-study of one of the world's first businesses to orient around explicitly Integral principles.  Many have made the observation that the Integral altitude is now rapidly emerging as a powerful cultural force in the world, in much the same way that the "green" altitude of pluralism and postmodernism began to surface in mainstream consciousness in the late fifties and early sixties. As this new Integral population continues to emerge and organize itself into viable spiritual, political, economic, and ecological force, it will surely look to the incredible successes of Sounds True and the leadership of Tami Simon as cherished role-models, genuine beacons of enlightened business, laying the ground for an entirely new vanguard of Integral organizations to come.

In this provocative clip, David Deida explains how the three major schools of Buddhist thought reflect the stages of psycho-sexual maturity, and how these stages play themselves out in our spiritual practices and in our relationships. What does conflict look like from each of these stages? How can we use this understanding to help us respond to the world from our highest possible selves, moment by moment? Listen to this free clip to find out!

"So the real question is: are you in a Hinayana moment, a Mahayana moment, or a Vajrayana moment when your woman is throwing something at you?" - David Deida

click here for free audio! (right-click to download)

Who: Acknowledged as one of the world's most insightful and provocative spiritual teachers of our time, best-selling author David Deida continues to revolutionize the way that men and women grow spiritually and sexually. His teachings and writings on a radically practical spirituality for our time have been hailed as among the most original and authentic contributions to personal and spiritual growth currently available.

Summary: In this provocative clip, David Deida explains how the three major schools of Buddhist thought reflect the stages of psycho-sexual maturity, and how these stages play themselves out in our spiritual practices and in our relationships.

Historically, the Buddhist tradition has developed through three major schools or "turnings" of thought and practice.

- The first school was the Hinayana tradition, with it's emphasis upon escaping the cycle of suffering altogether, achieved in large part through disciplined renunciation of thought, emotion, pleasure, desire, etc.

- The second school of Buddhism, known as the Mahayana tradition, seeks to more fully engage the world of form. Rather than avoiding or simply observing negative thoughts and emotions, the Mahayana tradition places more emphasis upon using spiritual practice to transform negative into positive.

- The third school of Buddhist thought, the Vajrayana tradition, also strives to engage the world of form in a much more direct way—but rather than using the mind to transform things like fear, pain, hatred, and desire into their more positive counterparts, they are experienced and worked with exactly as they are, allowing "the poison to become the wisdom." When we allow ourselves to experience the darkest corners of our souls openly and honestly, precisely as they are, they can become powerful sources of energy—leading us to the eternal stillness at the center of our hearts.

What does conflict look like from each of these stages, and how can we use this understanding in order to help us respond to the world from our highest possible selves, moment by moment? As an example, David describes three possible reactions to anger in a relationship: avoiding the conflict until emotions can settle (the "Hinayana response"), discussing and transmuting the anger for the sake of mutual growth (the "Mahayana response"), and meeting the anger head-on—erotically, perhaps—allowing it to be fully expressed without avoiding it or altering it in any way (the "Vajrayana response").

While none of these responses can be said to be the "correct" response for all occasions, as any one could very possibly be the most appropriate for any given situation, these do indeed reflect three very different stages of psychological, spiritual, and sexual maturity. As such, each stage is essentially "more correct" than the last, requiring a considerable amount of practice and understanding to fully embrace and embody—for which we are all indebted to such exemplary teachers as David Deida, who are helping all those with the ears to listen to hear the ubiquitous sounds of God and Goddess in erotic communion, birthing the entire universe into existence, moment by precious moment....

In this dialogue, Brother David and Ken Wilber discuss the concept of Integral panentheism—the belief that God immanently exists within the manifest universe, interpenetrating all that we can touch and see, while simultaneously existing infinitely beyond the universe in timeless transcendence.  Contrasted with theistic, deistic, and pantheistic belief systems, Integral panentheism brings new life to traditional Christian practices and doctrine, such as gratefulness, prayer, and the Holy Trinity, while also offering a stable foundation for truly inter-religious conversations in the modern and post-modern worlds.

"I am a little concerned that so many people who have discovered the One simply eradicate their sense of the Many, or consider it unimportant...." - Br. David Steindl Rast

click here for free sample! (right-click to download)

Who: Brother David Steindl-Rast has been a practicing Benedictine monk for over half a century and was one of the first Vatican-sanctioned delegates to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue. He is a recipient of the Martin Buber Award for his outstanding role in building bridges between religious traditions, and serves as a senior member of the Mount Savior Monastery in Elmira, New York.

Summary: As human beings continue to evolve, so do our conceptions of God.  In fact, some would go so far as to say that as human beings evolve, God evolves right along with us, and with every small step humanity takes toward wider care and deeper consciousness, God takes another step toward its own perfection and the divinization of the universe.  And it is through our very conceptions of the divine that God's voice can speak to and through us, finding more volume and resonance as the architecture of thought becomes more sophisticated and inclusive. 

This is why our theoretical understanding of spirituality is just as important as our actual experiences of God, or Buddha, or Spirit of any name.  There is an aspect of God, our selves, and the universe that is best described as being ultimately “One,” and there is an aspect that is best described as the “Many.”  And while we may all be looking at (and as) the very same ultimate Oneness, it is our interpretations of that Oneness that determine our relationship with the Many.

Central to the discussion is the notion of panentheism as a foundation to anchor our conceptions of God.  This is not to be confused with the idea of pantheism, in which the divine is completely immanent within the physical world itself, but is without transcendent qualities whatsoever.  Panentheism also offers a way to step beyond merely deistic conceptions of Spirit, in which God is credited with the creation of the universe but remains eternally removed from it, with no immanent qualities whatsoever—the "great clockmaker in the sky," as deists often describe the divine, able to be perceived only through the light of reason.  Panentheism also frees us from the typically mythological conceptions of God that are found in traditional forms of theism, in which one particular group of people claim an exclusive knowledge of God's nature—usually a single, monolithic, omniscient God who reveals himself only through faith and revelation, which more often than not resembles the "great superego in the sky."

Rather than saying "the universe is God," as the pantheists would, or that "God is beyond the universe," as the deists and even theists likely would, the panentheistic view would more likely state that "the universe is in God, and God is in everything in the universe."  In this conception, God is the universe, while being infinitely beyond the universe—that is, to borrow terms from Nagarjuna, there is a sense in which God represents Absolute unmanifest perfection, while simultaneously becoming increasingly more perfect in the relative world.   It is precisely this divide between God transcendent and God immanent that, in the modern and post-modern worlds, only panentheism can seem to bridge.  As  American philosopher Charles Hartshorne put it, "panentheistic doctrine contains all of deism and pandeism" (the synthesis of deism and pantheism, in which God preceded the universe and created it, but is now equivalent with it), "except their arbitrary negations."

One of the most important contributions Christianity has to offer the world's discussion of spirituality is the idea of the Holy Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  This unique conception of God as "three persons, one substance" has been a central part of Christian doctrine since the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D.  And when viewed through the lens of Integral panentheism, the Trinity truly comes alive in our minds as three very different ways of experiencing God:

- The God that is the great, unknowable, Absolute Mystery, from which we come and to which we shall return—God transcendent, or God the Father.

- The God that we recognize in everything that we see, everything that we touch, everything that is—the entire universe as the Body of Christ; God immanent; or God the Son.

- The God that exists through doing, creating, knowing, understanding—the dynamic aspects of God; God as verb; or God as Holy Spirit.

The Holy Trinity is just one of many traditional religious symbols from around the world that take on renewed life, relevance, and significance in the light of a panentheistic conception of the physical and spiritual worlds. As such, the panentheistic model is an almost ideal place to begin any Integral discussion of religion and spirituality, as it not only helps to reconcile some of the apparent contradictions within the Christian tradition (e.g. transcendence vs. immanence), but also provides a common foundation upon which we can begin a truly inter-religious discussion, revealing many of the essential similarities (and important differences) between a multitude of different religions and faiths, as well as with the secular and scientific worlds.  In a panentheistic universe, there is no need for conflict between spirituality and science, between God and evolution, or even between consciousness and biochemistry.

Click here for full dialogue!

Free Tickets to the Sold Out Integral Theory Conference for Interested Donors!

As an Integral Theory Conference co-sponsor, Integral Institute has four free tickets reserved for members of the Fellows or Integral Society. To learn more about our donor societies feel free to contact Robb Smith our CEO at rsmith (at) IntegralLife (dot) com. He’ll be happy to walk you through any questions you might have, or you can visit the Institute Donor page.

In addition to your tax-deductible donation, and your ticket for the sold out Conference, you’ll also receive a complementary annual subscription to the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, the Societies’ quarterly newsletter, and access to other special events.

If you’ve ever considered supporting the Integral Institute, now would be a great time. Thanks for everyone’s support, financial and otherwise, after all these years. We appreciate it.

Announcing the Lotus Lounge Women's Five Day Integral Practice Retreat
Wednesday October 15th-Sunday October 19th
The Standard Spa Hotel
Miami Beach, Florida

Women practicing love and compassion with Diane Musho Hamilton and Sofia Diaz

This Women's Integral practice retreat offers an opportunity to commune with the feminine through physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual practice in a beautiful spa location. Experience the traditions of Hatha Yoga, Zen Buddhism, and the Big Mind process, along with shadow practice, relationship and life skills, combined with the unpredictable nature of the feminine. The impact from this retreat will extend far beyond the five-day program.

Cost: $1500
Early bird price $1250 before July 19th
Click here to register.
www.lotuslounge.us
For more information contact us at lotusloungecontacts@gmail.com

Has Integral theory created distance in your relationship? Are you tired of trying to explain the meaning of tetra-arising? Or why Integral Methodological Pluralism is so meaningful for you? Come to Lotus Lounge this fall and experience it from the inside out. Give yourself an embodied experience of Integral theory and feel what it's like to know your own Kosmic address...

JOIN US for this beautiful dance of integral inspiration and leadership at the 3rd ILiA Collabarative!

Integral Leadership in Action, 2008 Conference at BCIL

Add-ons

Pre-Conference Workshops, Oct 9
Private Vendor Offerings, Oct 12 & 13

See Presentation Line-up here!

Join an exciting group of professionals who are seeking to apply integral thinking to our work and leadership in the world.

Creatively apply integral leadership concepts to your everyday (professional, personal, family and community) life. Be an everyday integral leader - from parenting children to managing employees, to organizing a neighborhood watch group – be prepared to lead through an integral lens.
Support your unique integral path by communing with like-minded seekers and restoring your sense of beauty, truth and goodness.
Learn more about how you can enact leadership from a second tier perspective and employ an integral framework to organizational settings.
Join us as we collaborate with each other; share best practices and create meaningful and lasting connections
CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS!

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

Integral Recovery: Treating Addiction the Integral Way ~ John Dupuy and Bill Harris

Dates: Friday Nov. 14 - 16

Fees: Early Registration $695 before October 15/After that, $895

After many years in the world of addiction treatment, recovery expert John Dupuy has created an innovative, new treatment model called Integral Recovery. This model is based on the application of Ken Wilber's AQAL map to the field of addiction treatment, and puts forward an ongoing life-long Integral Life Practice as the core healing modality of Integral Recovery. This workshop will feature John Dupuy, founder and CEO of Integral Recovery, LLC and Bill Harris, founder and President of Centerpointe Research Institute and the amazing, proprietary Holosync technology, one of the cornerstones of the revolutionary Integral Recovery approach to treatment. At this workshop we will not only present the theory but allow participants to experience deep holosync facilitated meditation. Read more about the workshop and presenters bios here.

To register, click here.

For information on BCIL, please write to Nomali@b-cil.org.

Boulder Center for Integral Living
2805 Broadway (NW corner of Broadway and Balsam)
Boulder, CO, 80304
303.541.1540

Two Offerings in Integral Studies

NEXT START DATE SEPTEMBER 2008
Upcoming Teleconference Information Session
SPEAK DIRECTLY WITH PROGRAM FACULTY

July 24, 2008
5 pm Pacific Time
To RSVP for this free teleconference information session, please contact:nlewin@fielding.edu

To participate in a teleconference, call the number below at the date and time listed, and enter the passcode. It's that simple!

Conference Access:
Toll Free: 877.228.3600
Toll: 719.457.0862

Conference Passcode:
933472

For more info on the program go to:

http://www.fielding.edu/hod/ce/integral/

In this discussion, Mokie and Ken discuss the concept of Integral Satsang, an Indian term that roughly translates as "in company of the truth." While typically associated with the Advaita Vedanta tradition, the concept of satsang can be applied to any spiritual tradition, East or West. How can the Integral map help us better relate to spiritual truth, teachers, and communities?

"It's like the effulgence of consciousness is illumining those higher levels [of development], as you start to really see life in a totally different way—it actually brings forth life in a totally different way."

click here for free sample! (right-click to download)

Who:  Mokshananda (or Mokie, as he is commonly known) was born Joe Sousa in 1958, and is disciple of Gurumayi and Adyashanti.  In addition to his psychotherapy practice, Mokie teaches at FreeWater Sangha in Santa Cruz CA.  He also travels the western United States and Canada offering Satsang, intensives, and teachings.

Summary:  In this discussion, Mokie and Ken discuss the concept of Integral Satsang, an Indian term that roughly translates as "in company of the truth." The word satsang is derived from the Sanskrit roots sat (true) and sanga (company), and can be interpreted in three important ways: a) the company of the "highest truth," b) the company of a group of students or practitioners gathered to study, discuss, and assimilate that truth, and c) the company of a spiritual teacher who acts as a conduit between the people and the truth.  While typically associated with the Advaita Vedanta tradition, the concept of satsang can be applied to any spiritual tradition or community, East, West, contemplative or traditional.  Whether you find yourself in the church, the mosque, the synagogue, or the zendo—you are in some form of satsang, seeking to understand some version of spiritual truth, taught by some spiritual teacher or leader, to a community of other seekers and practitioners.

Satsang can be universally applied to any community committed to discovering the "highest truth" because the highest truth itself is universal.  And this universal truth lies at the core of every spiritual tradition around the world, in the heart of every great saint, sage, and spiritual teacher throughout history, and at the center of every human experience ever had.  It is, in fact, the only thing any of us have ever known.

But if this "truth," this knowledge and experience of our inherent spiritual nature is so universal, then why, for God's sake, is it so hard to discover?  Why have so few been able to recognize this supposedly universal liberation, if it is indeed “closer to us than our own skin,” as it has been described in the past?  The answer is simple.  So simple, in fact, that you cannot really fault yourself for not seeing it. 

The universal is only half the story.  The other half is the relative world—the world of form, of distinction, of this and that, me and you, inside and outside.  The universal world may have been the only thing any of us have ever known, but the relative world is the only thing most of us have ever seen.

The relative world is, by nature, broken.  It has to be—it is only because of the inherent brokenness of the world that we can actually exist, that form itself can exist.  It is the only reason that evolution can continue its relentless surge toward more novelty, more complexity, and more consciousness, in endless pursuit of a state of wholeness and completion it can get ever closer to, but never actually attain.  It is the only reason that we can distinguish between ourselves and our surroundings, between mountains and valleys, between heaven and earth, between right and wrong, and between good ideas and bad ideas.  It is only because of the inherent brokenness of the world that we have the power of free will and choice—and it is the reason that we suffer. 

The relative world is the arena of the separate self, the turbulent abode of passion, pain, love, hate, birth, death, light, darkness, creativity, and decay.  It is the world we can touch, taste, hear, and see—and it is our prison. 

We typically feel trapped in the relative world, identifying with mere fragments of form, subjectifying ourselves with the world of objects.  This is why we tend to think of ourselves as "inside" of our brains and our bodies, "inside" the house, car, or office, and "inside" the surrounding world.  We have grown so accustomed to the shackles of our relativistic prisons that we seldom notice that we are not actually "inside" any of these objects, but that all these objects are actually "inside" our consciousness—that consciousness itself is "bigger" than all of these things.  So big, in fact, that you could think of it as the canvas upon which the entire manifest universe is painted. 

The purpose of satsang, in any form, is simple: to escape the prison of the relative world.  And every prison break requires the most detailed map possible, which is why the concept of Integral satsang is so crucial—the Integral framework is by far the most complete map of human potential currently available, offering a comprehensive way to account for absolutely every manifestation in the universe, as well as every experience people can have.

The Integral framework suggests that there are two important axes of spiritual experience to be considered—states of consciousness, and stages of consciousness. 

States refer to the actual experiences of transcendent truth themselves—of which the Absolute is one of several possible states—ranging from gross, to subtle, to causal, to nondual experiences. 

Stages refers to the developmental structure of consciousness, which determines how state experiences are interpreted and assimilated by the self.  Stages (also called structures) progress from magic, to mythic, to rational, to pluralistic, to integral stages of consciousness, and beyond. 

Taken together, we discover a rich matrix of human experience, represented in the following model, known as the Wilber/Combs Lattice:

As previously mentioned, the term satsang consists of two central concepts: truth and company, whether company with others in a community, with a spiritual teacher or guide, or with the experience of truth itself.  Therefore, as it pertains to satsang, the following important questions should be kept in mind:

a) In regard to truth, what states of consciousness are trying to be expressed?  Gross, physical, waking states?  Subtle, visionary, dream states?  Deep, dreamless, formless states?  Or effortless, "always already" nondual states?

b) In regard to the company of spiritual teachers or a spiritual community, what stage of consciousness is the state of spiritual truth being spoken from, and being spoken to?  The mythic, traditional, and absolutist stage (amber)?  The rational, modern, and materialist stage (orange)?  The pluralistic, postmodern, multicultural stage?  Or the vision-logic, self-actualized, integral stage (teal/turquoise)?

While the essence of truth in this formulation is indeed universal and Absolute, we are stuck in a difficult paradox: absolutely nothing can be said about the absolute truth, including this very sentence.  The absolute truth cannot be described, only experienced.  The moment we try to describe the truth is the moment we massacre the truth—words, after all, are mere ornaments of the relative world, and as soon as someone tries to wrap a sentence around the Absolute, it is immediately subject to the inherent brokenness of relative thinking, relative growth, and relative experience.

The best we can do is to use words judicially, in order to construct the very best maps of our shared prison.  And by virtue of being relative, our descriptions of transcendent truth are subject to our interpretations of that truth, which depend entirely upon the stage of consciousness we are at when the experience is had. The Heart Sutra states one of the most celebrated paradoxes in all of Buddhist thought: form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.  Which means that, if we seek to understand emptiness, we must therefore seek to understand form, since they are ultimately not-two.  There are better and worse descriptions of both the relative and the Absolute, which means that, although all forms are equally empty, some are more equal than others—or more reflective of the inherent emptiness of this and every moment.

Click here for full dialogue!

Dr. Warren Farrell and Ken Wilber discuss some of the ingredients of an Integral account of human sexuality, while exploring the nuances of relationships between men and women, the many attempts of feminism to redefine sex and gender, and the historic causes behind the division of labor and the rigid patriarchies that followed….

"It's definitely true that men, as a rule today in industrialized societies, are basically where women were in the 1950's, psychologically and socially. Part of what is keeping men there is being blamed for having power that is really a camouflage for the powerlessness. Real power is control over my own life."

click here for free sample! (right-click to download)

Who: Dr. Warren Farrell is a founding member of Integral Institute and the author of six books, including the international best-sellers Why Men Are the Way They Are and The Myth of Male Power. Dr. Farrell is the only man in the US to have been elected three times to the Board of Directors of the National Organization for Women in New York City; and he has also served on the boards of three national men's organizations. Over a period of 25 years, Warren has formed over 600 women's and men's groups and has worked with more than a quarter million men and women from all walks of life. The Chicago Tribune described Warren as "the Gloria Steinem of Men's Liberation." (Warren, though, has more gray hair.)

Summary: It is amazing to consider how much has changed in the past five decades in regard to sexual liberation and empowerment.  The woman’s role in today’s society is almost unrecognizable compared to the early 20th century, and would be wholly unimaginable in the centuries prior.  In America, attitudes toward sexuality and gender began to dramatically shift with the Boomer generation (and the newly emerging pluralistic values they brought with them), as birth control, free love, and several new schools of “second wave” feminism began to challenge the traditional attitudes that defined preceding generations.  Since the early sixties, there has been a tremendous amount of movement toward redefining ourselves as men and women—some forward, some backward, and plenty of jogging-in-place.  In the ensuing decades, we have witnessed the masculinization of women, the feminization of men, the neutralization of both genders, the roles of helpless victim set upon women, the witch hunts of fallacious prosecution set against men, genuine transformation of attitudes and behaviors of both sexes, the movement to procure equal rights for homosexuals, the advent of sex-change surgery, the rise of pornography as a multi-billion dollar industry, and the capitalization of just about every kink, fetish, and fixation imaginable.  And through it all, not surprisingly, men and women in the 21st century still seem to look at each other with the same bewilderment they did 20,000 years ago.

In order to come to any coherent definition of ourselves as sexual beings, we must take as comprehensive a view of sexuality as possible.  Ken Wilber has developed a theoretical model known as the “Four Quadrants,” which, when applied to nearly any field of human knowledge, offers a very simple way to ensure that all bases are being covered and that nothing is being left out.  The Four Quadrant model accounts for the interior and exterior dimensions of both the individual and the collective, yielding four major realms of consciousness: intentional, cultural, behavioral, and social (or “I”, “we”, “it”, and “its”, respectively, for those interested in tracking pronouns).  All four of these dimensions are closely related, with each quadrant having strong correlates in the others—though none of these quadrants can be reduced to each other (despite the entire history of human thought being essentially an attempt to do exactly this.)

When applied to human sexuality, the Four Quadrants allow us to clearly see the respective roles of biological sex (male vs. female), interior sexuality (masculine vs. feminine), and sexual gender (man vs. woman, as defined by cultural beliefs and expectations), while also accounting for the various technological and economic systems all of these are situated in.  By differentiating each of these important dimensions of sexuality, we are able to see how each is able to develop along its own trajectory, with its own history, without needing to confuse one’s sexual orientation with one’s sense of “manliness,” one’s secret desires with one’s cultural taboos, or even one’s gender with one’s genitals.

As previously mentioned, each of these major dimensions of human sexuality (sex, sexuality, gender, and sociological factors) grows through several distinct stages of unfolding.  Just as the human body grows through stages of physical maturity—from fetal to infancy, to toddler-hood, to adolescence, to reproductive maturity—so do we grow psychologically, culturally, and socially.  In fact, it is only toward the higher reaches of psychological growth that these sorts of important differentiations between biology, psychology, culture, and society can be made—and only from within a relatively advanced culture can significant strides be made on behalf of sexual identity, expression, and liberation.  Both men and women evolve through ego-centric, ethno-centric, and world-centric stages of development, creating cultures that reflect these ever-deepening and increasingly inclusive values as they go.

A special note should be made in regards to our techno-economic development, which arguably has the most influence upon development in the other quadrants, for a variety of reasons.  By looking to the history of economic production, we can find the history of gender roles themselves—in the earliest stages of civilization, men and women were able to produce food fairly equally, as men would hunt and women would gather, and even later when we moved into the horticultural stage and both men and women could use a digging stick to grow crops.  Things changed, however, when we moved into agricultural mode of production, requiring the training of large animals to pull heavy plows through the fields.  As men possess more upper-body strength than women, and women were much more susceptible to birth complications under this sort of physical labor, men and women both made the mutual decision to each tend to different spheres of life.  This is we begin to see our first true divisions of labor, with men responsible for the public sphere, and women responsible for the private sphere. (And as an interesting footnote, most of the cultures from the early foraging and horticultural eras worshiped gods that were predominantly matriarchal or evenly split between male and female deities, as opposed to agrarian societies who typically only worshiped male deities.) In societies still struggling with survivalist needs, women became valued as humanity’s most precious resource, and men became valued for their disposability, and are expected to compete for the opportunity to protect these resources.

For the next several thousand years, men did what they do best: construct rigid and elaborate patriarchies, in all flavors of tribalism, nationalism, religion, aristocracies, meritocracies, and steel cage matches.  And, in these testosterone-driven social hierarchies, a woman’s proper place in the public sphere was all too clear: she had none whatsoever.  And though modern and post-modern feminists can (and do) scoff at the unabashed sexual inequities within these patriarchies, the fact that this was an intentional, necessary, and mutually beneficial decision made by both sexes early in history is regrettably forgotten.  Most men aren’t the oppressive beasts they are often made out to be, and most women aren’t the helpless victims of men’s oppression that they are often made out to be.

Of course, we are now in a completely different era of history, with modes of technology that have rendered many, if not all, of these prior decisions about labor division obsolete.  Much of the physical labor men traditionally had to do has been replaced first by the steam engine, then by combustion, and now by the microchip.  This is probably the single most important factor in terms of the rise of women’s liberation, and has brought into relief one of the most frustrating aspects of collective transformation: although the technology can change overnight, the culture is much more slow to adapt, often requiring entire generations to die off before real change can be enacted throughout society.  Or, as Ken has bleakly joked elsewhere: “the knowledge quest can only proceed funeral by funeral….”

All in all, it is an amazing time to be alive—to be a man or a woman, male or a female, masculine or feminine, gay or straight.  We are bearing witness to an entire new wave of individual and collective values, an Integral wave of development which, when it reaches the tipping point of its emergence, will make just as extraordinary a splash upon history as the European renaissance or the postmodern revolution of the sixties.  And while each previous revolution has occurred only to steer the world away from the pathologies and excesses of what came before, the Integral revolution will be markedly different—while creating a space of personal and collective transformation that is radically and unmistakably new, Integral consciousness will also help to bring a tremendous amount of healing, stability, and sanity to the rest of the world, with the crucial understanding that everyone must start at square one before evolving to Integral consciousness.  With as comprehensive a view of human sexuality as Integral consciousness provides, it becomes apparent that all of our old and apparently obsolete methods of relating to each other will always exist, and we must therefore allow them to exist on their own terms, while simultaneously liberating ourselves from definitions of sexual maturity that no longer seem to apply to us or our relationships.

Click here for full dialogue!

I’m excited to tell you that we've relaunched Integral Institute's website. This is not the new Integral Life portal that we've talked so much about, but rather the new face of Integral Institute online. We're close to launching our internal beta of Integral Life, and fairly soon we'll invite you to test it out with us, and join the integral conversation and community.

On the Integral Institute site, you’ll notice many changes in how we've structured the site. We're also changing the structure of the “President’s Circle” to an annual giving format called the “The Society of Integrals.” Throughout Integral Institute's history, donors of all kinds have been essential to our mission. They've celebrated our achievements with us, and they've helped us through the difficult times with their financial contributions, their wise advice, and in many cases, their friendship. Frankly, we don't know where we'd be without them, and feel grateful for their continued interest in our missi