ITC Paper Review - Integral Post-Metaphysical Spirituality2024-03-29T06:08:18Zhttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/forum/categories/itc-paper-review/listForCategory?categoryId=5301756%3ACategory%3A51841&feed=yes&xn_auth=noTrusting Desire - Zach Schlossertag:integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com,2015-09-29:5301756:Topic:623692015-09-29T16:10:26.405ZBalderhttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/profile/BruceAlderman
<p>In "Trusting Desire," which you can <a href="https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/?eventid=1646235" target="_blank">download here</a>, Zach Schlosser proposes a trans-lineage, living spirituality, one which honors and draws on traditional spiritual teachings (such as Buddhism) but which is more responsive to the complex challenges of our times. To frame his argument, Zach first recounts important steps in his own spiritual journey -- his study and practice of multiple forms of Buddhism,…</p>
<p>In "Trusting Desire," which you can <a href="https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/?eventid=1646235" target="_blank">download here</a>, Zach Schlosser proposes a trans-lineage, living spirituality, one which honors and draws on traditional spiritual teachings (such as Buddhism) but which is more responsive to the complex challenges of our times. To frame his argument, Zach first recounts important steps in his own spiritual journey -- his study and practice of multiple forms of Buddhism, various critical questions and points of dissatisfaction which arose for him along the way, and his subsequent exploration of several, more recently emergent spiritual approaches, such as Waking Down in Mutuality, Focusing, and the Diamond Approach. A key concern, as suggested by the title of the paper, is the importance of 'desire' (and a positive, this-worldly orientation) for a spiritual path that is relevant and responsible in a time of planetary crisis.<br/> <br/> His paper is not long, and I encourage others to read it, so I will not summarize the paper here. Instead, I'll just respond to a few of the points that most stood out for me.<br/> <br/> 1) I am only moderately familiar with the Waking Down teachings, and I have reservations about some of the work of the Bonders, but overall I resonated with most of the voices he brought into the discussion (including my own :-D). I, too, have been informed and inspired, in various ways in my own writing and practice, by the work of Bonnitta Roy, Eugene Gendlin, and A.H. Almaas: each working at the far edges of postmodernism to think and vision anew, to find new language and new modes of engaging the wildly creative flux of multiplicitous being. They are strong allies of emergent trans-lineage spiritual practice, whatever forms that may take.<br/> <br/> 2) I have a mixed response to Zach's critique of Buddhism. On the one hand, I know exactly what he is talking about, and I agree: in many ways, even modern Western Buddhism remains saddled by traces of the religion's early devaluation of worldly life and its distrust of body and desire. The existence of various forms of 'engaged' or 'embodied' Buddhism demonstrates the truth of this charge, to the degree that they present themselves as alternatives. Many years ago, for instance, a friend and I decided to pose a question to the senior teacher in our (Yungdrung Bon) lineage: what did he recommend we do, as practitioners, to respond to the ecological and economic challenges of our age? He told us just to work on individual enlightenment practice and not to worry about the world, since "worlds come and go." While I could appreciate a certain wisdom in his advice not to get entangled in fruitless world-worry, I also found it seemingly representative of the retiring oblivion for which Buddhism is often critiqued. Regardless of whether or not it was "enlightened" to worry about and want to work for the benefit of the world, I felt it was right to do so, and I left him feeling a bit disappointed and dissatisfied.<br/> <br/> On the other hand, I have some reservations about Zach's critique just because there are a (small but not negligible) number of Buddhist teachers and teachings that do not strike me, as I've encountered and engaged them, as life- or desire- or world-averse -- who do not see an awakened perspective, for instance, as opposed to desire, but rather as orthogonal to it (and pervasive of it). Some modern teachers, such as Mark Epstein or Jack Kornfield, have written recently about the value of desire -- drawing distinctions between constructive desire and non-constructive 'clinging' or 'craving' -- and this, again, could be read as the criticism-proving assertion of an alternative; but there appear to be perspectives and resources within certain long-standing Buddhist traditions which fall outside of the problematic dichotomies of early Buddhism. At the least, there are resources here for uniquely Buddhist responses to the issues Zach raises -- and as we may find exemplified, for instance, in some of David Loy's recent writings. Still perhaps requiring a 'strong pivot' (as he puts it) in many instances, but not necessarily the need to leave the tradition behind. <br/> <br/> I make this "on the other hand" argument only half-heartedly, I must admit. I stopped identifying as "Buddhist" a number of years ago and find plenty of nourishment for now in trans-lineage spaces, so I've followed a path similar to the one Zach outlines. And as we've explored extensively on this forum, there is work to be done to articulate a thorough-going postmetaphysical framing of the tradition that would be more compelling to modern understanding. But I do think Buddhism is rich enough to afford practitioners relevant 'paths forward' in our time, for any who would like to do so (and who are willing to do the work to bring that forward).<br/> <br/> 3) I appreciated Zach's discussion of process and 'living' ontologies -- and have traced, in my own writings, the emergence (out of nounal/structural metaphysics) various verbal, pronounal, and prepositional ontologies, among others -- but I would point him to Herbert Guenther's writings on Dzogchen for a consideration of the degree to which Buddhism affords a process view. Guenther, for what its worth, regards Dzogchen as the most thorough-going process ontology yet developed (and presents it as escaping the usual flat symmetries that we often find in Mahayanist framings). But that aside, Zach appears to be touching on an orientation that is gaining currency in multiple quarters (from Whitehead to Panikkar to various Object-Oriented and "evolutionary" philosophies, etc): the re-valuation of becoming, not as a 'corruption' of (or illusory overlay upon) a pre-existing static One, but as sacred in itself. This is Panikkar's sacred secularity, where the secular itself is not "godlessness" but the embrace of "time" and "world" as worthy in their own rights.<br/> <br/> 4) Regarding Zach's 'living' ontology, a key element of that seems to be a focus on apophasis: epistemologically on not-knowing, and ontologically on being itself as open and undetermined. Here, too, I think he has his finger on the pulse of certain emergent trends in theological thinking -- from the work of Catherine Keller ("apophatic entanglement"), to Ferrer's rendering of participatory metaphysics, to Almaas' recent work (which he notes), to ontological withdrawal in speculative realism, etc. I wouldn't define spirituality only as "staring into the unknown," but I do see this apophatic moment as crucial to emergent integral-participatory self-understanding and praxis, and as intimately related to our Gendlinian (and centauric) opening to the implicit. Regarding his assertion that we do not discover truths, but invent them, I would caution against going too far in the direction of a notion of reality as anthropocentrically generated (OOO's critique of 'correlationism'), but nevertheless I think this is a valuable distinction (or blurring) to make: the in/distinction of discovery and invention. Latour invokes here a word used by the French philosopher, Sourriau: instauration. Truth under this conception is both 'installed' and uncovered, like a treasure or gift, and we can never fully tell the two apart.<br/> <br/> 5) Lastly, regarding desire and trusting desire: As I said, I appreciate and generally share Zach's desire- and life-positive orientation, but I wish he had spent more time discussing his understanding of the nature and function of desire. I think this is quite an important topic, and worth dwelling deeply on. Is desire inherently trust-worthy, or is Zach recommending that we really trust ourselves enough to open to and receive the messages of the movement of desire? To what degree do messages of valuing and surrendering into trust of desire play into the 'ends' of our present consumerist culture? What is the relation of desire to the three transcendentals or virtues of goodness, truth, and beauty -- to tie this question in to Steve McIntosh's new book, The Presence of the Infinite -- or to eros and agape? What is the relation of desire to the ascetic 'vertical tensions' that drive Sloterdijk's (Nietzschean) anthropotechnics? Maybe we can explore some of these questions (or others) here.</p> Somatic Development ~ Theresa Silowtag:integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com,2015-08-10:5301756:Topic:617742015-08-10T05:37:19.869ZNeelesh Marikhttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/profile/NeeleshMarik
<p> </p>
<p>Silow first conducts a neat UL-UR correlation of Gebser's structures with the functioning of the nervous system as understood through <b>Polyvagal Theory</b> (PVT), as also a phylogeny-ontogeny correlation:</p>
<p>1. The Archaic structure of 'deep sleep' mode with the <b>Dorsal Vagal Complex</b> effectuating a 'shutdown'</p>
<p>2. The Magic structure of 'minimal distancing from nature to control it' with the arousal of the <b>Sympathetic</b> 'fight and flight' nervous…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Silow first conducts a neat UL-UR correlation of Gebser's structures with the functioning of the nervous system as understood through <b>Polyvagal Theory</b> (PVT), as also a phylogeny-ontogeny correlation:</p>
<p>1. The Archaic structure of 'deep sleep' mode with the <b>Dorsal Vagal Complex</b> effectuating a 'shutdown'</p>
<p>2. The Magic structure of 'minimal distancing from nature to control it' with the arousal of the <b>Sympathetic</b> 'fight and flight' nervous system</p>
<p>3. The Mythic structure of the 'imaginal soul' with the <b>Ventral Vagal Complex</b> that sets the 'social engagement system' into play. She adds 'For the social engagement system to come into action and regulate the organism, the experience of safety is essential. If safety is not sufficiently present, then the fight-flight mechanism comes into action, or if a lack of safety is extremely pronounced or enduring, then the immobility response comes into action.' (p 17)</p>
<p>4. The Mental- Rational structure with Neo-Cortex driven functioning, where voluntary operations begin to supersede the autonomous system. This 4th correlation is proposed by Silow herself extrapolating from PVT.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Silow then weaves in the principles of Living Systems Theory - <b>Fractals</b> (self-similar replication), <b>Patterns of Organization</b> (autopoiesis), <b>Dissipative Structures</b> and the <b>Embodiment Process </b>into describing the Evolutionary/ Developmental Spiral - a 'continuing spiral moving from embeddedness to differentiation and integration, the sequence of which gets repeated again and again through the developmental process'. Wilber deals with this in great detail in his work.</p>
<p>Relevant points which relate to the <a href="http://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/forum/topics/searching-for-centaur-chris-dierkes?">Centaur paper</a> theme i.e. the organismic grounding of stages of consciousness, and the IPS discourse currently are:</p>
<p>a) 'With the increased ability to name things, direct experience of the numinous is diminished' (p 9) because 'reason was put above revelation' (p 11), making rational consciousness 'the least participatory type of consciousness'. (p 12), and 'The rational structure has gone awry, largely due to the introduction and solidification of perspectivity' (p 27) pointing to the subtly suppressive ascendency of the vision-logic over the vision-image.</p>
<p>b) From the Gebserian integral perspective, 'there is no such thing as lower and higher' which Silow posits is a construct 'deeply wedded to a mental/ rational consciousness in its tendency for directionality, which always creates a hierarchical relationship'</p>
<p>c) 'Integration of all structures of consciousness is not to be confused with an “expansion of consciousness,” which would indicate a quantification of consciousness. To the contrary, Gebser (1985) describes it as “intensification of consciousness” that is outside any quantitative or qualitative evaluation', such intensification requiring 'a complete letting go of a dualistic notion of body and soul towards an awareness of both as unified phenomena' wherein 'time is experienced as “intensity” that is not divisive' (p 28). As a result 'such freedom is not simply freedom <i>from</i> previous time forms, but rather freedom <i>for</i> all time forms, so that all earlier forms of time are co-existent' (p 29)</p> A Review of Elliot Ingersoll's ITC paper, "On Being Integrally Stoned": Why Can't We All Be So Herbmatictag:integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com,2015-08-01:5301756:Topic:617532015-08-01T17:01:15.298ZRyan M. McEnteehttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/profile/RyanMMcEntee
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Elliot Ingersoll in his paper, <i>On Being Integrally Stoned: Marijuana and the Further Development of the Integral Movement</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, unwittingly exhibits his unfamiliarity with marijuana while at the same time surprising me with its conclusions and insights into some of the more refined aspects of the complexities of marijuana. Perhaps, I find it irksome that I did not write the paper myself or that Ingersoll seems to be…</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Elliot Ingersoll in his paper, <i>On Being Integrally Stoned: Marijuana and the Further Development of the Integral Movement</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, unwittingly exhibits his unfamiliarity with marijuana while at the same time surprising me with its conclusions and insights into some of the more refined aspects of the complexities of marijuana. Perhaps, I find it irksome that I did not write the paper myself or that Ingersoll seems to be coming from an ignorant perspective at times, though, I believe that is because I would define myself as coming from an “insider's” perspective and he seems to be on the outside looking in with his P. H.d and his hilariously titled brain he calls</span> <i>Jimmie.</i> <span style="font-style: normal;">A joke the reader may not pick-up on but which I immediately noted as a great opener. The 3</span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;">rd</span></sup> <span style="font-style: normal;">person perspective looking-in is exactly what I'm talking about, and for the moment Ingersoll hits the head on the nail.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Now, I must inform that I have not smoked weed in 4-6 months after a lifetime of smoking the good herb. I often take stints from usage, but not exactly like this, as I am planning on moving to Japan and never quite using the herb again or at least for a very very long time. Though, I've probably used enough for a lifetime. Ingersoll states that a 10mg lemon drop sent him on a semi-psychedelic vision quest, beautifully described, however I could take lemon drop after lemon drop and add a couple bowls to that and still be at a liberally centered condition. Concerning my own recent usage, I find the point we first agreed upon was the review of</span> <i>addiction.</i> <span style="font-style: normal;">As Ingersoll states, there is no physical addiction, while most people do not become psychologically addicted. I find that there are no impediments from my constant habitual usage to going “cold turkey,” whatsoever. Here, I believe we would agree.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> While Ingersoll would surprise me at certain points with philosophical references which I enjoyed some of his knowledge-base concerned me. I believe that is because I have developed a different sort of knowledge about the drug since being immersed in its culture. First of all, there are many unmentioned “homeopathic-like” benefits of usage. He makes a statement concerning negative cardiovascular effects: “brain arteries to constrict there may be damage to smaller arteries”. What he fails to mention is that the number one personal discovery I have made about the benefits of marijuana usage is that it literally oxygenates the blood stream increasing blood flow, and can be used in deep, deep moments of recovery such as after a work-out or even surgery. He mentions that respiratory problems can be caused. Well, it is true that 1 joint is equal to 10 cigarettes in the tar department, but also, and I think we agree somewhat, has no real red flags in that department either, as stated before, there are enormous benefits through lifestyle choice that can induce certain conditions. Also, there are certain cultural knowings about the benefits one would not know. Such as, I have met many people who smoke habitually who have never been to the dentist and do not brush their teeth, yet, they have perfect white teeth. The benefits for ocular development are known. I have not had to change my eye prescription in 15 years, and it goes on and on and on.....</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> The third part of the paper I felt he left out was a true cultural experience. If you are going to talk about the UL in your paper why not get detailed and open up your heart to the true meaning of marijuana. I used to smoke with my spiritual teacher Bro. Wayne Teasdale, and coupled with his fostering of myself and my lifestyle I have come to a deeper understanding of the true heart of consciousness. This leads to a greater compassion, and open heart, and a spiritual vibrancy that exudes itself. He fails to mention marijuana consciousness in this brand and as well as the Rastafarian culture. I know his paper is coming from the UR, but I thought I'd mention that culturally there are all kinds of Incarnational and multiplistic spiritual views that come out of marijuana culture. </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Not that there are not extremely negative consequences. I find that over-usage can lead to a sedentary disposition, and an inability to really connect with others. Ingersoll mentions its connection to the homelessness epidemic, somewhat a connection here. Though, stopping usage can lead to “the asshole effect.” Being loud, obnoxious and overbearing. He mentions that the effects can be likened to certain anti-psychotics, something I'm familiar with though it is important in the new development of studies as certain disorders cannot be treated in such a fashion. In fact, marijuana lessens the effects of a prescribed anti-psychotic and can be dangerous for treatment by nullifying its very benefits. This has much to do with the serotonin and neurotonin absorption that doctors are delving into as we speak in order to control such psychologically damaging behavior. So, be wary!</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> The paper also delves into the Erotic and sexual relationship benefits of marijuana usage. Something I have heard, and found interesting, though have little knowledge of at the time.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Where the paper hits home is in bringing to me snippets of knowledge and quotations I have never heard. I like the part about resin being developed because of a predatory instinct. Something I might have heard in passing. I really liked the part about the discovery of marijuana by an Arab Sufi in 1155 C.E. I extremely liked the part about B.F. Skinner and his famous pigeons, also, how crazy would that be if the founder of behavioral psychology was a pot-head.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> One of the most needed treatments is for the pain of “treating spasicity and movement disorders” (10). A field we could all go into for its service to the needy.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I found the research into the incorporation of marijuana from the 7</span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;">th</span></sup> <span style="font-style: normal;">century to be enlightening, though briefly referenced. There is only so much you can do in a short paper. The research of Jacques Moreau peaks my interest and is something I would be interested in further.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Where the war on drugs is concerned it is a very, very important topic and Ingersoll delves into it nicely. Of course, we can all attribute it to Reagan for starting this mass incarceration and I personally have a distaste for his genocidal characteristics and fervor, though it is hard to argue where to place Reagan as a president. The mention of Ariana Huffington's quote, “It's not that they do not want us on drugs (elgl marijuana) – they just want us on theirs (e.g. atypical anti psychotics)” is the very gist of this problematic (17).</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Where the paper hits home and exudes itself is near the end and the Norman Mailer quotation on page 18:</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#000000">“</font><font color="#252525"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT, sans-serif"><font size="3"><span style="font-style: normal;">One's</span></font></font></font> <font color="#252525"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT, sans-serif"><font size="3">condition on marijuana is always existential. One can feel the importance of each moment and</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><font color="#252525"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT, sans-serif"><font size="3">how it is changing one. One feels one's being, one becomes aware of the enormous apparatus of</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><font color="#252525"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT, sans-serif"><font size="3">nothingness — the hum of a hi-fi set, the emptiness of a pointless interruption, one becomes</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><font color="#252525"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT, sans-serif"><font size="3">aware of the war between each of us, how the nothingness in each of us seeks to attack the being</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><font color="#252525"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT, sans-serif"><font size="3">of others, how our being in turn is attacked by the nothingness in others” (Plimpton, 1977, p.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#252525"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT, sans-serif"><font size="3">281)”</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#252525"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT, sans-serif"><font size="3"> Really coming to a conclusion, now. This is where Ingersoll and I find the most common ground. In his section “On Being Integrally Stoned,” we find that there could not be a better impetus for community. He states that, “Perhaps a more positive inclusion of chemically induced non-ordinary states of consciousness will nudge the consciousness of the movement and the people who identify with it,” and that it is “an important part of the human record” (19). Could not have said it better. There are all types of not only physical and psychological benefits, but spiritual and heart-conscious benefits the world-sphere has yet to come to in an ordinary state. Here, the culmination is perfection in cessation, “the time has come for a more visible forum or platform in Integral media to discuss drug-induced altered states” (20).</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#252525"><font face="TimesNewRomanPSMT, sans-serif"><font size="3"> I will not dally, now, that I have written a lengthy review, but to say that I have come across all kinds of setbacks and dead weights in my experience and notably in the integral community. My time spent on the Integral Life forum has been compelling and uplifting as well as littered with unresponsiveness and at times abusive ignorance. I can say that Ingersoll has neither of these latter qualities. Though, we may have met a few obstacles in this review, I believe we have made leaps and bounds in our development, here and elsewhere. Two thumbs up for trying his darnedest at understanding a very involved culture.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p> Uprising ~ Eric Towletag:integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com,2015-07-31:5301756:Topic:618642015-07-31T14:03:58.307ZNeelesh Marikhttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/profile/NeeleshMarik
<p>Towle brings to our attention the dynamic interplay of <b>two forces</b> which concomitantly shape our destiny: the organic, bottom-up evolution of consciousness, and the inorganic, top-down machinery to scuttle or derail that evolution. While the former has been explored and studied in social-scientific, philosophical and spiritual ‘enterprises’ (including the Integral Movement), the latter is much less acknowledged, researched and understood as of today. This, I dare say, is a testament to…</p>
<p>Towle brings to our attention the dynamic interplay of <b>two forces</b> which concomitantly shape our destiny: the organic, bottom-up evolution of consciousness, and the inorganic, top-down machinery to scuttle or derail that evolution. While the former has been explored and studied in social-scientific, philosophical and spiritual ‘enterprises’ (including the Integral Movement), the latter is much less acknowledged, researched and understood as of today. This, I dare say, is a testament to the success (albeit waning, hopefully) of that latter machinery!</p>
<p>It is encouraging to note recent stirrings in the integral community, both evident in online forums such as these, and in the recently concluded ITC, representative examples being:</p>
<ul>
<li>The broaching of Justice as a fourth potential inclusion in the Trinity of Truth, Beauty and Goodness</li>
<li>The Democracy 3D debate on Capitalism in ITC (prefaced by Zak Stein’s article)</li>
<li>The surfacing of the subject of contemporary politics and economics in the Integral discourse mix</li>
<li>Some articles in Integral World which scream out for inclusion on some of these critical aspects and are beginning to be seen for their constructive merit rather than just blatant criticism</li>
</ul>
<p>However, I think it is very important that this discourse moves beyond ‘Neo-Liberalism as a current malaise’ type orientation to a much broader and more <b>panoramic historical review of power structures around material and non-material resources</b> across civilizations, as Towle alludes to in his paper, and am sure has covered in his book (which I haven’t read, yet).</p>
<p>Keith Chandler, in his seminal <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Civilization-civilization-achievements-differences/dp/059520550X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438311547&sr=8-1&keywords=keith+chandler+beyond+civilization">work</a>, traces back the dynamics of power that led mankind move from a primitive social mode to a civilizational mode and outlines at least eight key attributes of that transition: (verbatim quote)</p>
<ol>
<li>A hierarchical social organization dominated by a power elite which is not accountable to the powerless majority and for whose actions there is little or no redress</li>
<li>Concentration of power and wealth in fortified urban centres</li>
<li>Written language, the understanding and use of which are monopolized by the elite and its functionaries</li>
<li>An economic system which vests title to the wealth produced by the society in the elite and controls that wealth by a strictly measured allocation of all industrial, agricultural, forestry and mining resources within the control of the central power</li>
<li>Skills training and labour organization designed to serve the goals of the power elite</li>
<li>Extensive slavery and serfdom</li>
<li>A grand mythology portraying society as originating from and continuing to be influenced by superhuman powers with the elite as the conduit of that influence</li>
<li>A military establishment which is utilized not only for internal control and repression of the dispossessed majority</li>
</ol>
<p>Chandler accordingly proceeds to offer a new definition of the term civilization, which is quite different from the likes of Toynbee and Durant:</p>
<p><i>Civilization is a type of social organization in which a relatively small power elite, in pursuit of its own goals, exercises authority over and pre-empts the production of a large, powerless majority through the monopolization of information, the sanctification of myth, the centralization of key institutions, and the utilization of regimented armed force.</i></p>
<p>Holding this definition, we need view historical data across the millennia and investigate its empirical veracity and validity, including but not limited to the Roman appropriation of Christian ecclesiastical authority, the history of heresy, the Dark Ages, Crusades, the rise of ‘underground’ traditions such as the Gnostic and Hermetic, the French and American and various revolutions etc. to begin to make sense of the data. This is a tricky task demanding high perspicacity and edge/ fringe awareness, bearing in mind that even history as it was recorded (or allowed to have been recorded) is subject to the top-down influence of power centres who sponsor and authorize its very writing. To dive back to our own generation for a moment and take an illustrative dipstick, let us read this <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment">work</a> by Naomi Wolf with that backdrop ( Naomi fleshes out a lot of detail on the latter two of three ‘events’ cited by Towle on page 7 of his paper. For the first on finance, I recommend Mike Maloney’s video series, especially <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFDe5kUUyT0">Video 4</a>).</p>
<p>Juxtaposed on the historical timeline, if we then begin to study Gebser, Graves and other memetic hypotheses through a Wilberian tetra-dynamic lens, we may conclude that consciousness evolves not just <i>because</i>, but <i>despite</i>. (At a deeper level, both <em>because</em> and <em>despite</em> kind of converge, but that is another philosophical matter). Towle refers to this phenomenon as ‘civilization side-effects’ (p 3). Understanding both these forces offers us a fair idea of the <b>other</b> kind of evolution happening in parallel to the Gebserian, that of what Towle calls the ‘robber barons’ – how schemes of manipulation of the <b>Empire</b> are keeping pace (and perhaps outpacing) with sophistication, complexity and insidiousness. What earlier was slavery and serfdom, colonial maraud and open theft, is today media-led engineering of choice and consent, dumbing down of/ indoctrination in education systems, global deployment of a debt-based monetary system with fractional reserve banking, corporatization of every public service, interference in food and pharma inputs, widespread geo-political chicanery, staged false flag events at strategic times. The list goes on – the purely physical operations of yesteryears are now complemented by an entire spectrum of psychological operations, shortened as Psy-Ops. The forces of Empire know that consciousness moves towards healthy individuation and autonomy with a deeper awareness of connectedness and urge for cooperative co-creation – and hence their physical and psychological machinations are geared to strip the tribal mind from its nature connections, keep the ego-centric mind from maturing into the socialized mind, and the socialized mind from developing the self-authoring mind (using Kegan’s terms illustratively). To understand that, we ‘have to dive beneath the “perception management” layer and contact the ground of history’ (p 20)</p>
<p>I have often wondered why spiritual practice and shadow work, even in their more advanced and discerning injunctions, have not yet fully caught on to this two-force dynamic. I have a few hypotheses which I enumerate below:</p>
<ol>
<li>A subtle, ever-persistent bias towards ‘positive thinking’ that usually characterize typical New Age movements, and a general disinclination to face the Dark and the messily complex and seemingly inscrutable.</li>
<li>Even if facing the Dark has been embraced, in has only been in the province of the <i>individual</i> shadow work focusing on individual pathologies, constructs, identifications and psycho-emotional biases. Both the inclination and methodological apparatus of collective shadow work and meta-systemic analysis hasn’t matured enough, yet, to deal with the demonic reach and workings of the second force, the ‘war on consciousness’ perpetrated by the top-down power brokers.</li>
<li>Even the Jungian archetype recognition has focussed only on the biopsychic roots of collective pathology, and perhaps not taken into account the Marxian impact of socio-economic systems and power equations (especially in their twisted and corrupted avatars) on culture and consciousness</li>
<li>Pathology, then, both individual and collective, is then ascribed only to the unconscious. The underlying premise is that we are entirely responsible for our own pathology and need to deal with it ourselves. All therapy and spiritual counselling today derive their raison d’etre from this premise. When we begin to consider that pathology owes its origin NOT just to an <i>organic and spontaneous</i> movements of consciousness, but ALSO to an <i>orchestrated, cold bloodedly deliberate</i> process employed by the Empire machinery, our vista of investigation could suddenly widen.</li>
<li>There is a fair of research work that happens on this ‘second force’ of Empire and its multifarious workings and manifestations, and with the coming of the internet a lot of that information is now publicly available. Unfortunately much of that is generated from a place of fear, anxiety and even panic, as can be expected when individual spiritual grounding of presence has not been cultivated. Because of this, even the thin sliver of original, pragmatic, insightful work goes unnoticed and /or dismissed by the post-modern and even post-pomo mainstream, including Integralists. (I mean the ‘mainstream’ of the edge, not the ‘mainstream’ mainstream).</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<p>Resonating in Towle’s eloquence from page 7:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘In a bid to oust the Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan in the 1970’s and 1980’s the CIA and their Saudi partners encouraged an extremist form of Islam through contributions to radical clerics all over the Middle East and then funneled the jihadist fighters they recruited through Saudi Arabia into Afghanistan to harass the Soviets. When the Soviets left the extremists took over and the Sufis went into hiding or converted. This was the rise of the Taliban. All this was fine by the U.S. state department as long as they were cooperative to U.S. interests in the rejoin. When they refused to allow the Unocal pipeline project to the Arabian Sea to go through, then they had to be gotten rid of too. When the American forces invaded the pipeline building equipment went in on the first day of operations (Johnson, 2004). <i>To suggest that Islamic people haven’t climbed the color scale high enough to get along with Westerners without understanding the effects of having your family blown to bits by a drone attack or be rendered homeless by Israeli bulldozers represents the classic arrogance of empire.</i> Why is all this lost to the popular Integral analysis? The deeper forces at work in the world are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-a6jzU0YgQ">not hidden</a>; they’re simply not well publicized.’ (Italics mine. Hyperlink in last sentence mine, pointing to yet another illustrative data point)</p>
<p>Where does that leave the world at large? To quote Towle: ‘The pathology of our time rests in the co-opting of all domains by the mental/rational structure’ and the consequent ‘essentially “instrumental,” utilization of a person, that is the depersonalization of humanity within the “machine mind” that typifies the deficient mental/rational stage of evolution.’ As integralists we understand this and seek to transcend (and hopefully not include!) it. What we do not understand very well and need to wake up to is that by refusing to acknowledge the second force in its pervasive ubiquity and investigating it, we are also complicit it its perpetuation. Towle says ‘The evolution of consciousness is moving toward a new society but cannot get there as long as people are unconsciously supporting the failing system that emerges from their own choices and behavior’ (pp 3,4). Till then, ‘We are also the Empire and we live the dream that sustains it toxic effects’ (p 5).</p>
<p>In summary then, as integral minds, we have to expose ourselves to wide and divergent information, without flinching at potential discomfort or dissonance, and learn to separate the wheat from the chaff. We have to allow ourselves to be appalled, incinerated even, at the extent of manipulation and debauchery of power, and understand its nefarious workings and how that ‘evolves’ over time. Just like we try to do with our ego identity. We have to move on from viewing suffering as a matter of unfortunate chance or personal darkness only, but also (and perhaps largely) a consequence of social engineering, mass manipulation, and the orchestrated <b>Matrix</b>. Only then, IMHO, we stand a chance to build an integral response.</p>
<p>There is some truth to the reformulation of the Divinity Prayer by Angela Davis, applicable today perhaps more than ever before!</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311751043?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311751043?profile=original" class="align-full" width="236"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311751043?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a></p> Searching for Centaur - Chris Dierkestag:integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com,2015-07-27:5301756:Topic:618452015-07-27T19:14:58.614ZBalderhttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/profile/BruceAlderman
<p>In his award-winning paper, "Searching for Centaur: Retrieving Integral's Lost Self-Identity," Chris Dierkes makes a compelling case for recovering several key concepts from Wilber's early writings that have fallen in recent years into general disuse -- namely, the centaur (as metaphor for the integral / existential phase of development), vision-image (as a complement to, if not a more fundamental and encompassing process than, vision-logic), and intentionality. While integral consciousness…</p>
<p>In his award-winning paper, "Searching for Centaur: Retrieving Integral's Lost Self-Identity," Chris Dierkes makes a compelling case for recovering several key concepts from Wilber's early writings that have fallen in recent years into general disuse -- namely, the centaur (as metaphor for the integral / existential phase of development), vision-image (as a complement to, if not a more fundamental and encompassing process than, vision-logic), and intentionality. While integral consciousness now is often described in terms of "touching all the bases" and the capacity to hold and integrate multiple perspectives, Dierkes points out that Wilber's initial, existentially informed depictions of centauric consciousness were richer and more embodied. Dierkes lists four essential components of centauric being:<br/> <br/> 1. bodymind integration (aka somatic existentialism and noetic existentialism) <br/> 2. spontaneous will, supersensory awareness, vision-image cognition<br/> 3. existential concerns of life and death, being and non-beingness, finitude. <br/> 4. the proper basis for true spiritual transpersonal ventures<br/> <br/> Together, these qualities constitute an integrated, existential-organismic, postformal identity which Wilber has argued serves as an important foundation for, and bridge to, the later, stable emergence of transpersonal stages of development.<br/> <br/> I had not noticed the gradual creep away from references to the centaur in integral thinking, possibly because I teach transpersonal psychology and regularly appeal to Wilber's older works, especially to refer to the centaur stage -- and correlate and "unpack" it with further references to Jung, Washburn, heart-centered existential therapy, etc -- but I think Dierkes makes a good point that more recent descriptions of integral consciousness suffer, in some regards, from the shift towards AQAL, perspective-centric modeling, which arguably still presupposes the "basis" of the centauric distinctions, but without making them explicit. For instance, in <em>Integral Psychology</em>, we still find references to the centaur, but mostly on the charts (e.g., as a name for Fulcrum 6), without much further development or explanation.<br/> <br/> Similarly, I had not noticed the shift from Wilber's early appeals to "vision-image," which as its name suggests emphasizes imagination or imaginal cognition, to his later reliance on "vision-logic" or "network logic" as synonyms for integral cognition. Besides simply not paying attention well enough :-), I think I may have done this because I've related "vision" itself as an appeal to the imaginal, and I've often described the emergence of "vision-logic" to students as contingent on the resurgence and reclamation of the autosymbolic imagination, now integrating formal operational capacities. But the "imaginal" cannot be limited to "vision," admittedly; and Dierkes is right to emphasize, in my view, that Wilber's earlier descriptions of vision-image involved a richer constellation of capacities and dimensions -- unconscious, feeling, emotional, perceptual, linguistic -- than descriptions of vision- or network-logic typically do. <br/> <br/> One of the consequences of such a shift is that the importance of the emergence of integral "being" depending, in significant part, on feeling-work, existential inquiry and will-work, and imagination, as much as on increasing cognitive perspective-taking capacity, tends to be downplayed or overlooked -- even if unintentionally so. <br/> <br/> Dierkes discusses this potential loss in detail in his paper, and also provides several interesting case studies from his work with clients to illustrate his understanding of the importance of working with vision-image and intentionality in the emergence of stable centauric (or mermaidic) identity, so I encourage interested readers to check out his paper. Members of this forum will also likely be interested in his unpacking of the possible political, economic, and spiritual consequences for integral thinking of this subtle shift away from the centaur and vision-image (see pp. 51 ff. for this discussion).<br/> <br/> There is much more in this paper that is worth discussing, but I do not want this initial review to be too long, or to provide too many spoilers. But we can take up discussion of these things in the thread below, for anyone who is interested and wants to engage with this stimulating paper.</p>
<p></p>
<p>[ITC 2015 Papers can be downloaded <a href="https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/?eventid=1646235" target="_blank">here</a>.]</p> Orientation to the 2015 ITC Paper Reviewtag:integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com,2015-07-24:5301756:Topic:617242015-07-24T17:24:54.167ZBalderhttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/profile/BruceAlderman
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311752302?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311752302?profile=original" width="550"></img></a></p>
<p>In <a href="http://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/forum/categories/itc-paper-review/listForCategory" target="_self">this section of the website</a>, we will host reviews and discussions of the papers submitted for the 2015 Integral Theory Conference. Unlike last year, we will not require that the papers be read or commented on in any particular order. If you are…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311752302?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311752302?profile=original" width="550"/></a></p>
<p>In <a href="http://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/forum/categories/itc-paper-review/listForCategory" target="_self">this section of the website</a>, we will host reviews and discussions of the papers submitted for the 2015 Integral Theory Conference. Unlike last year, we will not require that the papers be read or commented on in any particular order. If you are interested in a paper, start a thread on it to post your review and invite discussion from others. If someone has already started a thread on a paper you are interested in discussing, post your review and comments on the same thread*. </p>
<p>The conference papers are available for downloading <a href="https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/?eventid=1646235" target="_blank">on this webpage</a>, as well as the abstracts and presenter bios. To my knowledge, the list of winning papers has not been posted yet, but here is an unofficial list (to be updated once the official one comes out):</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Best Paper Award Winners:</span></strong></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">UL:</span> Chris Dierkes</p>
<p>Honorable Mention (HM): Terry Patten</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">LL:</span> Kate McAlpine</p>
<p>HM: Carter Phipps & Steve McIntosh</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">LR:</span> Randy Marten, Jeff Cohen, et al.</p>
<p>HM: Zak Stein (Desperate Measures)</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">UR:</span> Elliot Ingersoll</p>
<p>HM: Teresa Silow</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Alternatives to AQAL Metatheory:</span></p>
<p>Bruce Alderman</p>
<p>HM: Michael Schwartz</p>
<p>HM: Uma Narayama</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Research:</span><br/> Deborah Kennedy</p>
<p>Niki Vincent</p>
<p>HM: Howard Drossman & Shanti OmGaia<br/> HM: Steve Schein</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>*For any who want it, I can edit the opening post to combine multiple reviews.</p> Argumentum ad Wilberiam - Petersen and Jaruzeltag:integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com,2015-01-09:5301756:Topic:598112015-01-09T20:29:26.822ZBalderhttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/profile/BruceAlderman
<p><strong>Argumentum ad Wilberiam: How truthiness and overgeneralization threaten to turn integral theory into a new scholasticism</strong><br></br>~ <em>Elijah J. Petersen and Mark E. Jaruzel II</em><br></br><br></br>I read a good portion of this paper right after the last Integral Theory Conference and had intended to get back to it during our ITC Paper Review, but we lost steam partway through the process and didn't get a chance to cover it. Trisha's recent mention of it in a discussion yesterday,…</p>
<p><strong>Argumentum ad Wilberiam: How truthiness and overgeneralization threaten to turn integral theory into a new scholasticism</strong><br/>~ <em>Elijah J. Petersen and Mark E. Jaruzel II</em><br/><br/>I read a good portion of this paper right after the last Integral Theory Conference and had intended to get back to it during our ITC Paper Review, but we lost steam partway through the process and didn't get a chance to cover it. Trisha's recent mention of it in a discussion yesterday, however, inspired me to return to it and finally read it in full. <br/><br/>Petersen and Jaruzel raise an issue, or a constellation of issues, that I've often heard addressed at integral gatherings and in online discussions: the need for IT to better walk its post-metaphysical talk in providing a clearer reference trail, a clearer disclosure of its sources and methods of validation or veridiction, than we find in much recent writing (esp. where claims about developmental stages or the effects of certain contemplative practices are made). Without this, the repetition of unsupported, or only vaguely supported, Wilberian claims in the community tends to generate a cloud of truthiness: an enticing and attractive atmosphere of "truths" that we hold onto, and continue to propagate, because we'd prefer for them to be true (and because they feel right), rather than because we have good evidence (beyond Wilber's authoritative claims: Argumentum ad Wilberiam) for their truth.<br/><br/>The paper is not long, and is an easy read (with some amusing examples and turns of phrase), so I won't try to summarize it here. In general, I think their concerns are valid and relevant, especially for the 'academic' side of the integral endeavor. I've also often wished for Wilber to provide more support for some of his stronger claims regarding the influence of meditation on stage development, his evaluation of the "level" of certain ancient and modern texts, and his third-tier stage model (all examples given in Petersen and Jaruzel's paper). Certainly this information does not need to be consistently provided in all of Wilber's publications and communications, but -- to meet the demands of modern, postmodern, and integral research and scholarship -- they should appear somewhere.<br/><br/>I'm not sure there's a great deal of value in dwelling too long on criticizing Wilber for these shortcomings. I think the shortcomings should be clearly acknowledged, but hopefully primarily as impetus for others to engage in the work necessary to support or disconfirm these claims. (It is doubtful that Wilber at this point will be providing this, and there's no reason for us to rely on him to do so, in any event).<br/><br/>One issue raised in the paper -- Wilber's claim that meditation can catalyze rapid growth through three structure-stages vs. the evidence P&J cite that says meditation induces more modest growth, often within a single structure-stage -- is something I've wondered about in relation to a phenomenon the Wilber-Combs lattice was created to address: the advanced causal or nondual adept who still exhibits prominent Amber/ethnocentric thinking and valuation. I have not seen Wilber directly address the relation of these two scenarios: if meditation induces structure-stage growth, how is that related to those cases where meditation has provided access to deeper states and perhaps allowed for stabilization in those states, but which has apparently not induced rapid structural growth (and may even amplify and reinforce certain same-stage traits)?<br/><br/></p> Enacting an Integral Revolutiontag:integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com,2014-03-30:5301756:Topic:553252014-03-30T23:44:41.013ZBalderhttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/profile/BruceAlderman
<p>Given the political /activist focus of a number of recent discussions here, and related discussions of birthing a new culture, I thought it might be worthwhile to look at the following paper by Terry Patten (presented at ITC 2013). In it, he proposes a dialogical approach he calls "integral trans-rhetorical practice."</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://www.terrypatten.com/sites/default/files/ITC2013.Patten.pdf" target="_blank">Enacting an Integral…</a></p>
<p>Given the political /activist focus of a number of recent discussions here, and related discussions of birthing a new culture, I thought it might be worthwhile to look at the following paper by Terry Patten (presented at ITC 2013). In it, he proposes a dialogical approach he calls "integral trans-rhetorical practice."</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://www.terrypatten.com/sites/default/files/ITC2013.Patten.pdf" target="_blank">Enacting an Integral Revolution</a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p> Mystical claims and embodied knowledge in a post-metaphysical agetag:integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com,2014-03-24:5301756:Topic:545892014-03-24T16:00:03.690ZEdward theurj Bergehttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/profile/theurj
<p>I referenced this paper in <a href="http://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/forum/topics/tom-murray?commentId=5301756%3AComment%3A53442" target="_self">the Murray thread</a> with a link to the paper <a href="http://www.perspegrity.com/papers/ITC2013_Metaphysics%20and%20Embodied%20Knowledge-Murray.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>. My initial comments from the other thread:</p>
<p>Murray is critical of the metaphysical claims and language used by kennilinguists. And that such claims and language…</p>
<p>I referenced this paper in <a href="http://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/forum/topics/tom-murray?commentId=5301756%3AComment%3A53442" target="_self">the Murray thread</a> with a link to the paper <a href="http://www.perspegrity.com/papers/ITC2013_Metaphysics%20and%20Embodied%20Knowledge-Murray.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>. My initial comments from the other thread:</p>
<p>Murray is critical of the metaphysical claims and language used by kennilinguists. And that such claims and language do not take account of the indeterministic factors he discusses. And he states that "in the postmetaphysical milieu we can no longer allow for the possibility of direct contact with 'reality' or 'true knowledge' by some privileged few" (18).</p>
<p>Yet we must nonetheless allow for the validity of one's feelings and perceptions of mystical states, which may not be amenable to rational or scientific analysis. While he argues for postmetaphysical notions of fallibility of belief on the one hand he seems to want to allow it on the other, with no way to adjudicate false from valid claims. And that <em>is</em> the postmetaphysical project, to indeed judge claims to direct experience to ultimate reality as metaphysical and thereby false. We need better ways to discern what exactly these mystical experiences are as yes, fallible best guesses for now open to revision. But they are better guesses than the metaphysical claims in a progression of worldview development.</p>
<p>Along that line see the <a href="http://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/forum/topics/an-integral-postmetaphysical" target="_self">thread on states</a>, whichs attempt such a postmetaphysical recontexualization that honors the experiences but not the metaphysical interpretations. Also my <a href="http://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/forum/topics/states-stages-the-wc-lattice-and-the-fold" target="_self">thread on states and stages</a> is another such attempt.</p> The Variety of Integral Ecologies - Sean Kelly, Adam Robbert & Sam Mickeytag:integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com,2014-01-24:5301756:Topic:540122014-01-24T18:21:55.946ZBalderhttp://integralpostmetaphysics.ning.com/profile/BruceAlderman
<p> </p>
<p><em>Neelesh and I have decided to change the order in which we read and review the ITC papers. In order to highlight the juiciest ones, and hopefully to encourage more engagement with them, we are focusing for now on the papers that received awards -- starting with the bottom of the list and working our way up.</em></p>
<p><em><br></br></em><em>~*~</em></p>
<p></p>
<p>So, the "first" on our list is a topic that should be of interest to members of this forum, given our recent year-plus…</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Neelesh and I have decided to change the order in which we read and review the ITC papers. In order to highlight the juiciest ones, and hopefully to encourage more engagement with them, we are focusing for now on the papers that received awards -- starting with the bottom of the list and working our way up.</em></p>
<p><em><br/></em><em>~*~</em></p>
<p></p>
<p>So, the "first" on our list is a topic that should be of interest to members of this forum, given our recent year-plus focus on Speculative Realism, OOO, and Complex thought: <a href="https://foundation.metaintegral.org/sites/default/files/Mickey%20%26%20Robbert%20%26%20Kelly_ITC2013.pdf" target="_blank">The Variety of Integral Ecologies: Kosmopolitan Complexity and the New Realisms</a>.</p>
<p>I haven't finished reading it yet, so I won't post a response yet, but I wanted to start a place-holder and invite others to read and respond, too.</p>
<p><strong>Here's the abstract:</strong></p>
<p>This presentation explores the diverse variety of integral ecologies, showing how integral ecologies support efforts to articulate more meaningful accounts of the world and to create a better tomorrow for all beings in the emerging Earth community. Following an overview of the historical and theoretical background of integral ecologies, the presenters bring multiple integral approaches to ecology into dialogue, including the “ecologized thinking” of Edgar Morin’s Complex Thought, the “cosmopolitics” developed by Isabelle Stengers and extended by Bruno Latour and Donna Haraway, and the New Realisms, including critical realism and the speculative realist movement of object-oriented ontology.</p>