I’m gearing up to participate in the June Integral Practice Seminar. I have a decent idea of what it’s going to be like, having attended various sections of several seminars, but I’m still looking forward to putting “integral theory” into more explicitly practice. Thanks to Dashh, I found a great interview with Diane Hamilton (one of the main trainers of the Integral Practice Seminars). In the interview she describes the theoretical and practical sides of the workshop:

Within the Integral Practice Seminar it is about Integral theory and Integral practice. Ken’s presents his beautiful cognitive maps, which help to expand our awareness to include first, second and third person (singular and plural) perspectives on the world. In other words, he is challenging us to take the widest stance possible in our understanding. It is the cognitive compliment to the Big Mind meditation. One of the most important perspectives that his work provides, and one that is very important to this seminar, is the relationship of states of consciousness (which the East has thoroughly mapped) to stages of consciousness, (the view of which is brought to us via Western developmental psychology). While anyone can experience deeply expanded states of consciousness, consciousness evolves in a stage-like progression and it takes at least five years to move from one level to the next. This process can be accelerated through practices such as meditation.

The emphasis of this seminar is really on Integral practice. We look at how to meditate regularly, build your physical capacity to support the meditation, clear your emotional obstacles to provide energy to your practice, and have the cognitive understanding to illuminate and make easier the process of growth. The seminar helps us design and develop this practice and do it in such a way that it actually isn’t separate from our own life, so that life and practice are one thing. We also have modules on ethics, on art and on some other optional lines of development.

I’m starting to get excited now!

Tags: integral ITP bigmind kenwilber

4 Comments

It appears that I was born at the front-end of Generation Y. According to “the Generations system of authors Strauss and Howe, the Millennial Generation, as they call it, is the generation of Americans born from 1982 to 2003.” How then can we characterize this generation? Obvious there are many complexities to include while doing so, including massive technological changes during this era, multiple stages of interior development among individuals (which is always the case), and the pre/trans fallacy among others. Here is how the entry on Wikipedia describes us:

Many are great visionaries. Some have used their great expertise to work hard, while others have not used what their parents have given them and have already fallen by the wayside. They grew up and are still growing up during the digital revolution, do not have substantial memories or realizations of the Cold War and even the Reagan administrations, view 60s idealism and hippieism as the establishment of their parents, the Baby Boomers, and mainly have come of age either during the late Clinton term during the Lewinsky scandal and the “dot-com” boom or during the current Bush administration. - [via]

Tags: generationy

No Comments

Fellow GenSit blogger and web geekoid Duff has recently launched a blog entitled Freedom, Flexibility, and Flow (aka F3). Should be exciting!

By freedom I mean the ability to enter any state of being, at any intensity, in any situation, free from past conditioning and future worrying, free from the opinions and judgements of others, free from ego attachment. Having incredible choice in every situation, never being stuck, experiencing life as permanently open. Free from fear, worry, doubt, anger, guilt. Open to happiness, joy, love, peace, passion, ecstacy. - [via]

Tags: duff f3 tonyrobbins

No Comments

A 21st Century Love Story continues over at What is Enlightenment? magazine… They’ve created a special section for this continuing series of dialogues between the two 20-something seekers, and have included the 1st (of 5) dialogues as a voice recording! The recordings and voice actors are good quality, so if you want to listen to this series instead of read it, then this is most definitely an option.

Tags: evanandella wie whatisenlightenment

No Comments

Nicq, over at Generation Sit, just posted a brilliant review (with integral commentary) of Episode III. The post is entitled “Generation Sith.” Nice! It is an excellent review, and the integral analysis is quite intriguing…

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I’d suggest two things: 1) Go see it! & 2) Read this review after you watch it, and join in on the conversation…

Tags: starwars episode3 integral

No Comments

While reading a book on the history of Buddhism in America, entitled How the Swans Came to the Lake I came across an interesting quote by D.T. Suzuki. It was addressed to a large group of psychologists:

Psychologists talk a great deal of spontaneity, but what they are talking about is a child-like spontaneity, which is by no means the spontaneity and freedom of an adult human being. As long as he is unable to give up his childish freedom, he will need the help of a psychologist, but he can never expect to be free and spontaneous if he does not go through years, perhaps many decades of self-discipline at the end of which he will have reached the stature of a fully matured manhood.

HO!

Tags: dtsuzuki zen psychology

3 Comments

Throwing up Beauty
Originally uploaded by vincenthorn.

My baby’s new flowers…

No Comments

Just received an e-mail from Joe Perez:

Thought you might be interested in my new integrally informed weblog called “Rising Up.” This blog replaces “The Soulful Blogger,” which I wrote from 2003-2004.

Although a few of my early posts are necessarily oriented towards explaining how I’m using integral theory in my writing, “Rising Up” is not about theory. It’s about integrally informed practice, thinking, and analysis. I aim my writing simultaneously at both the integrally initiated and uninitiated.

The blog’s still in beta, but you are most welcome to check it out. See you around the blogosphere…

Tags: joeperez risingup integral

1 Comment