Community Basics: Participation Guidelines

Integral Life strives to provide a community space that is integral—comprehensive, open, inclusive, and transparent. The quality of this integral space depends on the quality of your participation. Therefore, like all communities we have guidelines, and ours are integral. The following guidelines are designed to help make everyone's experience in this "we-space" a fulfilling one:

1. Let your very next communication in this space come from your Highest Self.

If you understand what "integral" means, then let the next words out of your mouth be from your own integral mind or integral awareness. If you don't know exactly what integral means, then use "Highest or Higher Self," "True Self that is no-self," "Spirit Mind," "Big Mind," or whatever you are comfortable with that evokes the highest or deepest or brightest You.

2. Feel the thinker.

Feel your self, feel your ego, feel the self-contraction. That which feels the thinker is beyond the thinker, that which feels the self is beyond the self, that which feels the ego is beyond the ego, that which feels the self-contraction is free of the self-contraction. When you feel the thinker (or ego, etc.), you engage your Higher Self. You take the stance of the Witness, the I that is aware of I, the I-I in you that is beyond you. And the Witness, although itself empty, takes on and speaks integral at any level.

Therefore, feel your ego, or feel your self-contraction, and then speak and act from the awareness that's doing the feeling; that sees the ego as an object like any other; that impartial Mirror Mind reflecting and embracing the universe in its brightness and luminous equanimity, the higher perspective that is no special perspective but open to all. Make the subject object whenever you can, and this will help you come from your Highest Self.

But don't make a big deal out of this. Simply try to feel the thinker or feel the self-contraction every now and then, and sooner or later it will make sense and feel natural to act from a higher level that is not the ego but is aware of the ego.

(Those rules help with your Higher Self, however you understand and intuit it. And now, a few rules to help with your lower self (aka, your unconscious, your shadow, the disowned self, or the self that will sabotage your every move, given a chance).

3. Discern your "emotional buttons," or the things to which you overreact.

In many cases, whether or not your judgment is true, a hyper-emotional recoil often means that shadow elements have been triggered, or as everyday parlance has it, somebody "pushed your buttons." Simply notice this happening; try to make the subject an object (which, as we know, is the fundamental rule of development). In other words, try to make the reactive self (the lower self) an object of awareness. Just see and feel your emotional reaction; you don't have to do anything else. It's that simple. Don't worry whether something spectacular happens or not; that very act has already caused a small transformation and disidentification, and repetitions of that simple act will have a profoundly cumulative effect. Of course, you can do more work on it if you choose, but most essentially, they are ways to just further that process.

You can investigate this more if you want. If someone or some comment gets on your nerves, what are you pushing against? Seek the underlying value in you that is trying to be expressed in your emotional charge. If you're experiencing strong recoil, resistance, or rage, odds are what you are experiencing is a symptom of your own shadow. If this is so, we recommend doing a little shadow work with your response (ahhh, so that's what the Shadow Channel is for!). Again, don't make a big deal out of this, but work on it in whatever way you know how.

If you don't want to do shadow work, or don't have the time for it, not to worry: as we said, simply feel the self that is recoiling and acting negatively. Simply try to make the subject an object. And then go on about enjoying the community.

4. Don't wait for others to make the experience you'd like; ask explicitly for what you want and take steps yourself to help create it.

5. Before you offer your wisdom to or about others, remember that your perspective is yours, and just one of many.

Can you admit that your perspective is a limited one? Can you distill out your clear observations from your interpretations and assessments? Are you still curious about other perspectives? Are there any shadow elements in any of your interactions in the community? Before pointing out the negatives in others, we try to clean our own house first. Don't be afraid to make judgments—we want your opinions and judgments very much—just try to have the next judgment that comes out of your mouth be a discernment from your Higher Self.

6. Your participation in the Integral Life community indicates that you have read and accepted these general guidelines, and that you will do your best to live up to them.

Like communities elsewhere, IL reserves the right to refuse community service to anyone for whatever reason. We relish diversity of perspective; we also value basic remembering of the I-Thou We-space. If you're routinely causing a disturbance, or not living up the guidelines, you will very probably be asked to leave the community. If you enter this community, you are agreeing that you can be removed for any reasons whatsoever judged necessary by IL, and reasons that do not have to be argued or explained; you are entering this We-space with that understanding and agreement.

This mutual understanding is a pledge we all make to each other to engage or live up to the highest, deepest, best, brightest, clearest, caring Self that we can. This is our promise to each other, because we are here not merely to share, but to grow.

Other communities share; IL community helps us grow, because the guidelines actually foster transformation and help us grow, even as we share. We all want to change the world, and IL actually does it—and you are now a member of that wonderful community, and we dearly welcome you.

Just remember the single most basic Road Rule: when in IL, speak from I-I.

We are here to grow, but also to play, to practice, to hear, to be heard, to dance, to reflect, to contemplate, to receive and to contribute.

Stir the pot. Have fun. Debate. Put it out there. Reveal Spirit. It always already Is, and It always already is HERE

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And, finally, a brief message on Community Etiquette:

The community that forms Integal Life is a dynamic part of the whole that contributes in immense ways to the experience for everyone involved.  With this in mind, it is the policy of Integral Life to adhere to very particular guidelines with regards to internet abuse that might diminish the experience for any one of our community members.  Integral Life does not encourage, nor propagate the use of Spam or Phishing in any of its manifestations, such as E-Mail Spam, Instant Messaging and Chat Room Spam, Chat Spam, Forum Spam, Blog Spam, Video Sharing Spam, and Social Networking Spam.

We at Integral Life understand that spamming might be a perfectly acceptable response for some of our members across the world, one that seeks to spread information among the community that might be of particular interest.  While this may be the case, we kindly ask all members of our community to adhere from any kind of action that might be regarded as spamming to other members.  Also, an Integral Life Representative will never ask a member for a password.  Should there be any question or concern regarding spam or phishing, please contactMember Support with detailed information into the matter at hand.  Each inquiry will be dealt with on a case to case basis.  Serious infractions may result in suspension or cancellation of a member's account.

Also, Integral Life is a community that honors diversity and breadth of opinion and experience in all manifestations.  Community interaction at all levels of experience is not only necessary, but also inevitable.  Therefore, there might be times that arise when the dialogue between two or more members escalates in intensity.  Even during these times Integral Life strives to hold a safe container that recognizes and respects the myriad views that we all hold.  However intense the interactions may be, we ask that members refrain from personal attacks, defamations of character, and trolling, baiting, or flaming other members.  For a great guideline to community interaction that is held here in high regard, check out the above Community Guidelines.  Should there be any question or concern regarding general or particular community interactions, please contact Member Support with detailed information into the matter at hand.  Each inquiry will be dealt with on a case to case basis.  Serious infractions may result in the deletion of posted blogs, inquiries, or responses, and suspension or cancellation of a member's account.