Image: Look Within and Be Happy by Kelli Bickman [+view gallery]
As we approach the What Next Conference starting December 28th 2012, Ken Wilber has asked us to consider how we can reduce the amount of inconsiderate behavior inside our Integral we-space. This is a goal I can really get excited about. I have found some of the IQ-based combat so distasteful that I have periodically pulled back from our Integral world to get a break from the toxic feeling of it. Recently I found myself wanting to pull back from our community again. So what is going on?
My observations: We aren’t always very nice to each other. We judge each other harshly. It turns off new people and some long-time members. At the same time I meet some fabulous people through Integral events.
My interpretations/emotions: The tone of debate and conversation about others periodically feels unhealthy. We talk about "being Integral" but I worry about the example we are sharing with the world. I am occasionally angry when I see good people attacked. I am sad about the state of things. I am ALSO optimistic that we will find a way past this.
My hypotheses: (Note: I believe there are several things going on – and I include myself in all of them!)
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We are scared. "What happens after Ken?" Even writing that question generates in me the grief and fear that will arise when Ken leave physical embodiment. Fear creates weird behavior. It squashes empathy, and certainly gets in the way of compassion (unless you have strong SQ-spiritual intelligence to counteract the fear). We seek certainty and righteous "high ground" to feel better. This kills off humility. We are a drowning man pushing climbing on top of the lifeguard out of panic. We damage our own goal with our fear.
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We are passionately attached to outcomes around "What happens to Integral?" This theory is powerful. We want to guarantee it won’t be lost. So we lose the ability to step and be non-attached. We lack wisdom in this regard.
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We overdo the IQ thing. As a group we tend toward very high IQ. Sometimes we overuse that intelligence and leave out our EQ (emotional intelligence) and SQ. Especially when we are fear-triggered.
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We are not fully embodied yet. As individuals, many of us over-value IQ so much that we fail to fully embody the Integral worldview. We over-claim our stage of development and can’t live up to it. We can explain the heck out stages – but we are still figuring out how to live from Yellow / Second Tier. "By their fruits you shall know them" said Jesus. I really like that line. I turn it on myself a lot. What fruit am I bearing today? What fruit are we bearing? Where are we not embodied?
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We are not yet mature as a group –Regardless of our individual altitudes, we still lag on the "WE" developmental process. Our "we space" is not yet Yellow/Teal/Integral. This has been made harder by our allergy to Green/Pluralist and Blue/Diplomat expressions of We. I think we can and should work to heal this. We sometimes call it having not enough "feminine" energy. I don’t like the adjective but I hear the point and agree with it. Not enough communal energy and not enough EQ.
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We sometimes act like siblings fighting for attention. We compete to be "more integral" than the next kid. I think some family-of-origin stuff gets triggered…as in which kid does Ken (as father figure) love more? We sometimes engage in power struggles and one-upsmanship. At such times we appear (to me) to be acting at the Expert level action logic (Blue/Orange on the Spiral). In SQ language – we get ego-triggered and the ego-voice is operating at Expert level of maturity.
While as individuals you and I might test on the Maturity Assessment Profile (Susanne Cook-Greuter’s tool) at anywhere from the Impulsive level on the Action Logics to the Ironist level (SD Red to Turquoise), as a group we are still maturing and growing up. We can be triggered to act from less healthy expressions of earlier stages/structure.
A strong trait of the Expert action logic is the love of being "right" and getting in the final word. Being the smartest person in the room is crucial. In Integral if might show up as: "I am most knowledgeable about anything Ken ever wrote or said." Expert action logic sees intense willingness to "do combat for the right idea or interpretation" as a sign of loyalty to and love for the leader. We all keep the Expert inside of us after we move to later action logics. So "Cindy the Expert" can show up at any time.
As a group we cannot operate at Second Tier/Integral/Yellow if we cannot embody in a healthy way all the preceding stages. And we need to be flexible and flow between them. To move to an embodied form of Second Tier we are called to deal with what I see as our collective allergies to the "cool colors" – the communal colors on the Spiral. Green, for example, requires EQ and SQ skill development at a pretty high level. In my research with Susanne’s MAP and my SQ21™ it was clear that higher stages of development are correlated with higher SQ21 scores at the "99% level." In other words, there is a 1% chance it is an accident that higher developmental stages also have higher SQ21 scores. SQ is a necessary but not sufficient condition of Second Tier. SQ is defined as the ability to behave with wisdom and compassion, while maintaining inner and outer peace, regardless of the situation. We could use some of that in our we-spaces I think.
Depressing? Not necessarily…it’s just what is. We have created it. We can uncreate it and move to a healthier place. That is the nature of personal growth…to consider "What’s next?"
What are we doing right? What are our gifts and talents? They are numeours. We have big brains and good intentions. We have a passion for making a difference in the world. We have amazing people. And we have Integral Theory as our meta-theory. We can use Integral to help us diagnose our own issues. I love the saying, "Physician, heal thyself." We as Integralists need to hear ourselves. And I am optimistic that we can and will.
Why do I keep coming back? I come back because I have met some of the most wonderful folks through Integral events. I love being with people who "get me" easily. We talk the same language. We could share face paint and do tribal dances (Hey! There’s an idea!). I attend because I love to stretch my mind. And I like to see all my own allergies reflected back to me so I can work on myself! In Integral events there is something for me to learn as well.
I know in my gut that Ken’s work will not be lost. So I hope we can soothe our fears about that. And I believe we have the potential to embody Integral in our individual and in our community interactions. I believe that we can nourish and encourage each other, and truly become role models of Integral consciousness. We have to each do our own work. And we have to build personal and group norms such that toxic behaviors are corrected when they appear.
How can we do this? I don’t have all the answers. I think that’s why we are meeting at the What Next Integral event in December. Let’s inquire together…and see if we can find our way to live into our next evolution... a beautiful healthy Integral collective.
"This is the next step beyond emotional intelligence." –Lance Secretan, author of Reclaiming Higher Ground
You’ve heard of IQ. And maybe EQ. Now discover SQ: the new frontier of personal growth and organizational leadership.
Courageous. Wise. Authentic. Compassionate. Peaceful. Whether we are religious believers, atheists, or anything in between, it turns out we can agree quite easily on what it means to be a spiritually evolved human being. The more difficult question is, how do we get there? And how can we measure our progress? In SQ21, Cindy Wigglesworth translates spirituality into Spiritual Intelligence: a skill-set like EQ (emotional intelligence) that can be developed and measured. In her empowering and practical book, she shares 21 Skills that can help you live a life of wisdom, compassion, and authentic leadership.
"Cindy Wigglesworth has devised an assessment that is an excellent overview of the process of general spiritual intelligence itself, including developmental variables—and thus one I can highly recommend!" –Ken Wilber
Click here to learn more about SQ 21: The 21 Skills of Spiritual Intelligence by Cindy Wigglesworth.
Comments
Wed, 10/17/2012 - 15:00
Thanks Cindy, You know the old saying "small minds talk about people..." Meaning of course nitpicking about character flaws, etc. There is, however, a big-minded way to talk about people. You did it. I really liked the section in your comment where you reflected on the many gifts and the gifted people here.
Layman and I are collaborating on a book, Be Whole Now. You wrote a book that I would like to read. These book writing projects are actual things that Integralists can do to direct energies elsewhere than highly intellectual gossip.
You mentioned fear. Yes, fear would be an obstical to actual projects (writing or otherwise). I am very afraid that Be Whole Now will be a market flop like my first book, Allsville Emerging, was. Yet I am proud of the ideas in that first book. Though imperfectly written, much of the market failure is due to lack of, well ... marketing. At any rate, it failed. I failed. Layman and I will most likely fail at getting a huge readership of Be Whole Now, assuming we don't fail at actually completing the book.
But we are doing the writing project ... "anyway."
You were, IMO, correct in suggesting that there is a human tendency toward counterphobic responses (covering up fears), and probably right to suggest that some of the intellectual pissing contests here are the result of a counterphobic response related to basic insecurities about selves and the "Integral" movement and/or organization.
But I believe there is a constructive counterphobic response: Pretend you are great at someting (like Layman and I pretending to be great, wise, authors) and just do it. Dare to fail miserably (like I did with Allsville Emerging, and like Layman and I might well do with Be Whole Now). Swing for the bleachers and look like a total fool.
At least it will get folks off the street and out of the gutter.
Projects. Projects. Projects.
A liitte (human) "gift" assessment might also go a long way to bump up the willingness to risk utter failure. My first book, though a failure, emerged (like the title!) out of my gift. Even if my gift is still a diamond in the rough, it is my gift. Even if it is "weird writing," it is a gift. Even if I never master writing as a craft, the doing of it is my gift. At least some of my worthwhile insights will survive even my most flawed writing.
Enough about me!
I encourage all Integralists to embrace their self-percieved gifts and "strike out" to apply those gifts. By "strike out," I mean both to strike out on a journey and to strike out at home plate. Look failure in the face. Even if failure wins, you win too, because you were authentic. Embrace a good chance at failing. Instead of talking about people.
Thanks for the community course correction. I'm looking forward to reading your book.
darrell
Tue, 10/16/2012 - 15:52
Thanks Cindy! I appreciate you speaking up and sharing. Thanks again for all your work in SQi.
Tue, 10/16/2012 - 16:49
Does anyone actually read through the comments here? The criticism offered is in many ways more interesting than a lot of the rather predictable teachings offered by many of the authorities (self-proclaimed or not) on integral thinking. I feel it's in the nature of movements to become stealted unless shaken up every once in a while. Dissidents have a place in the grand scheme of things. I just hope that the critical voices aren't lost and that the integral movement will in this respect be different from many of the historical movements that have pretended to be revolutionary.
1. As has been pointed out, Ken is a great synthesist, and the books of the 90s were a revelation to me. He's certainly a good thinker, but is a great independent philospher? As an artist I have asked myself whether his views on art are mature. I quietly wonder if this goes for other areas in life as well.
2. Often when people feel a need to resort to jargon it's due to a desire to be seen as prestigious and to be accepted by a peer group or "group of mutual admiration". I think it's this aspect of Ken's recent teachings, that have put me off - even though I can see that categorization is userful, it concerns me that people use it to justify over-intellectualization. I often feel when integral people are talking that plain English would do just as well, if not better - and I'm NOT saying it needs to be SIMPLER. The complexity of the integral discourse here on this site is certainly often intelligent but I'm concerned that it sometimes becomes almost an end in itself, i.e. a way of showing off, and just another symptom of a lack of real grounding in reality.
3. I found transpersonal a more useful term of reference than integral, it was something a bit more concrete to aspire to. I understand that integral is now seen as a better term for a movement as it covers a greater array of aspects of spiritual life. Still I find it a bit troubling that there is debate about what exactly it's supposed to represent. For instance (and this is just one example) is all art that arises from compassion integral even if it's not depicting fields of energy?
4. I doubt very much whether deeply spiritual people have time to hang out on the internet (I have trouble to find the time and motivation, myself, haha). If you are already a deeply integral person you probably don't have that much need for an integral community - even less a virtual one. As I see it, this is one of the great paradoxes and maybe ironies of spirituality and one of the reasons truly spiritual people are hard to come by. Where and how to create real dialogue between people should possibly be a concern within this movement. I think some of the most successful audios have been the ones in which people have been invited to pose questions.
5. I have been putting up with a lot of the commercialized teachings here thinking they are just off shoots of the true Wilberian theories, he can't be held accountable for all of the things people do in the name of integral. But the wealth of promises of love and enlightment just a click away and some thousands of dollars shorter do worry me. I don't agree that free material i.e. available to all is advertising a product. That gives a skewed perspective on what the integral movement is all about. At least I hope it's skewed. Generosity is the sign of a great movement, is the IM fundamentally generous or is it developing into another money making scheme? Though I enjoy many of the free audios in which Ken speaks about his philosophy, I feel there isn't a great deal of it and most of it is rather superficial.
6. What is the integral view on money anyway? And I'm not talking about conscious capitalism. And what about those who cannot contribute to conscious capitalism? And I'm not just speaking of the obvious out casts of society such as the homeless or people in third world countries. For instance, I'd really like to know what the integral have in store for those who are chronically ill and therefore chronically poor. Among many other issues of a practical nature, here in the West.
That's all I have time for today, as I must go and live real life :-). cheers.
Fri, 10/19/2012 - 14:59
Money seems to be sand in the gears of many a venture. Money creates distorted values, even turning people into worth more or worth less. I realize that it is a system of exchange and that we can't just walk abruptly away from it (in Allsville Emerging, I tried to describe a weining-off of money), but I am so sick of money's objectification/dehumanization effects. So sick of it. Has the money system become the dominant LR bearing-down on "human being" (UL?)? See my below poem. Please excuse its political lean. Beyond the politics though, it is an honest expression of my sick-of-money feeling. Ironically, or paradoxically, my last name is "Money" (Moneyhon, that is)!
Stick Person
One Presidential candidate said
"corporations are people too."
Then he claimed that he had addressed veterans
at his partiy's convention, because
he mentioned "the military."
Finally, at a debate
he recalled having
"binders of women."
I once drew a stick person;
I suppose I created human life.
© Darrell Moneyhon 10/18/2012
Sat, 10/20/2012 - 14:18
I appreciate that you're honest about your feelings, it's easy to bottle up in the name of spirituality, fuelled by a fear of looking ridiculous or not evolved enough. As people fear that they haven'g gotten it just yet they become aggressive and competitive, which is probably what's been going on on this site. To be able to truly relax into what we are at this point in time isn't all that easy, but I think it starts with an honesty about feelings. I also think it's easy to have false perceptions about oneself, in fact some of us may be more or less evolved than we think we are. I don't think we can always know for sure, and thereore it's pointless to put up a front about it.
I've hated to admit it but I feel quite a lot of fear in various forms, actually I never used to but with the advent of a greater connection with my emotions came true emotional chaos and a lot to sort out. But - there are positive sides to all this. One such positive side is that I now care about whether I live or not. That brings about fear of ill health and poverty getting the better of me before I've gotten more out of this particular life. Not meaning it as in grasping from a place of greed. Just that I value life more than I used to.
The fear of not succeeding is part of it. Being rejected by society in many different ways is now more real than every. Suddenly, time is short and the stakes are high. Phew.
Money is such a difficult chapter, but for me a hatred of money has started to turn into something else. I've given it some thoughts in a few blog posts, I'm sure my thoughts arent' that revolutionary per se but it's about perspective. I don't think we will be able to get rid of money for a long time to come... better be friends with it. In my case, it's releasing the associations with greed and false hood. This is no easy task but those who read between the lines of my articles might see what I'm getting at. It all started with a fascinating dream I had some time ago.... it changed my perspective!
Wed, 10/17/2012 - 19:11
Hi Vivi Mari -
Good to see you, to read your comments, and to remember the art work and life of art that you live.
I like what you say here and this point that you make, pasted immediately below, is reflected in your entire post - there is critique, criticism and challenge, tucked within some useful observations.
"Does anyone actually read through the comments here? The criticism offered is in many ways more interesting than a lot of the rather predictable teachings offered by many of the authorities (self-proclaimed or not) on integral thinking. I feel it's in the nature of movements to become stealted unless shaken up every once in a while. Dissidents have a place in the grand scheme of things. I just hope that the critical voices aren't lost and that the integral movement will in this respect be different from many of the historical movements that have pretended to be revolutionary."
I liked reading Cindy's piece above to which discussion can be raised, as you are doing here. I like how she owns in her self and her we-space of intimate colleagues and integral brethren a messiness of everyday, first tier cacophonies, amidst the apparently noble intensions, endeavors, and manifestations that are raised over and over again by Ken and integral, performative contradictions and warts notwithstanding. I am part of the mess and I feel the messiness within, plenty plenty. You probably do as well within yourself. We don't know quite what we are doing but we are staying alive with some extents of openness, curiosity even sometimes, maybe with startling and fleeting bouts of Aha. Yada yada, eh.
I also like a lot Layman's response to you below. His 3 suggestions as to how to orient ourselves in integral community space seem artfully helpful, logical, and leave so much room for us each to blunder about and dance, work, and play. Plenty of room for the oncoming, outgoing, and disappearing strings of Aha episodes.
I suspect that in his clear answer to your question about what is integral art, his "Definitely Not!", he is resonating with your already answer to this partly rhetorical question. He mentioned compassion and he could have mentioned many other things. You as artist know probably better than we the immeasurable variety of expressions that necessarily reside within any integral umbrella of thinking and living, and beyond the umbrella. I am guessing you are frustrated socio-politically, and aesthetically by the, perhaps, over-representation of certain styles of painting that seem to be used as representatives of integral perspective-taking, quite prominent value statements in paint and silicon, and overt inclusion and transformation. You may be often aware that spirit and wholeness and integrality is present everywhere, always; and you may have some personal favorites of aesthetic and communicational styles that don't seem to be given enough face time to fill out the picture of what is good, true, and beautiful in art. Personally, I have a fairly limited aesthetic apetite for seemingly 3Dimentional, transparent objects and humanity set obviously within vast receding territories of perspective lines, within shimmering energy fields, and such. Great and magnificent shifters and expanders for many of us viewers, but not, to say the least, Vivi, all. Yeah, needless to say.
I hope I understood you sufficiently and what I am saying has some coherent value. As you read and think, what do you feel about Layman's broad and constructive suggestions for how one might orient themselves to our situation?
Thanks, Vivi Mari. The best to you, over there, from here.
ambo
Tue, 10/16/2012 - 18:13
Like all real communities, most of the time no one is "minding the store" -- it is up to each of us to take up the work of synthesizing, defining and embodying the felt-worldspace which we suspect that we may have in common.
Like all real communities, most of the intelligence is lost. It leaks away. In a despotic regime 99% of the intelligence falls on the ground and rots. In a "democracy" it is perhaps only 80% wasted. In a sophisticated, avant-garded inclusivism like "integral community" maybe only 70% of our intelligence leaks away into the void.
What if Einstein had NOT mailed his speculations in to the physics journals?
The best work always occurs at the edges. Edges themselves are creative, dynamic. We push ourselves to our edge in private spiritual and emotional, relational and ethical efforts. Hopefully we take our minds to the ends in attempt to deeply understand, synthesize and re-generate the half-emerged patterns of the futuristic eternity which seduces us. Yet the community's edges -- even its gutters, its underground, its fractures, its half-intergralisms -- represent our most creative zones.
How we orient ourselves productively in such a situation?
Firstly by always honoring, loving, listening and challenging. The Wilbersaurus? That outdated old fuck??? Oh -- dear man, I've discovered another layer nested within his philosophy. We must affirm and deny simultaneously.
Secondly by taking our own grumbles as creative stimuli. Getting snagged, getting vexed, getting weirded out is not a prompt to leave or to criticize but it is the evolutionary impulse itself asking us to create something and see where it fits.
Thirdly by not getting stuck in predictable response patterns. The oldest, most natural and in many ways dumbest thing we can do is to think of "integral" as an alternative to "real life", or "conversation" as opposed to "practice", or "too intellectually complex" as opposed to "simpler, more real, clearer", or "showing off" as opposed to "contributing". These ancient dualisms are only ever half true... and when the arise automatically in our hearts we are probably not hearing our own message lucidly. Everyone is, or should be, working on themselves but in that context we are as often projecting the apparent duality as we are detecting it and suffering from it.
Integral vs. Transpersonal is a good example. Ultimately, we all know --- "who cares". My latest thread (The Cult of Mixed Feelings) is another attempt to language, deepen and exceed the vision-logic worldspace at the expense of its regular terminology. It is our job, each of us, to make integral unfamiliar and strange. To see it with new eyes. To say it fresh. To live it and feed our living back into it. To call it whatever we like.
>For instance (and this is just one example) is all art that arises from compassion integral even if it's not depicting fields of energy?
Well, that's an easy one. Definitely not! Compassion is present at every level of depth and complexity. It tends to increase as we expand the variety of perspectives we can naturally empathize with. It tends to increase as our understanding deepens in the heart and our sense of self grows to include more and others. Integral (or whatever) is the name for the general space in which all acts of compassion can be understood, brought together, organized, linked to other fields, made into a bridge between human and divine, etc. It is the way of finding out all the differences between forms of compassion and then re-discovering their unity after all that.
Fri, 10/19/2012 - 15:30
Thanks for hearing me - you guys have been around interacting with me when I have posted something on this site, and I have always enjoyed the exchange and hearing your intelligent comments. All I can say is, one can get awfully lonely with one's own thoughts, and it's in the dialogue with others our thoughts progress. I personally don't really see any other way, as reading lots of books is not really an option for me at this point in time. I know my view points are far from perfect and I feel embarrassed to come here and offer them for everyone to see. As I said in an earlier post, I'm linguistically and intellectually falling a bit short due to the circumstances of my life (my mother tongue is not English and I suffer from health problems that cause disturbances in the cognitive sphere). Still I can't help myself, when I perceive of a problem I just have to poke around! Regardless of feeling terrified that I'll be seen as stupid or hurting someone else's feelings. I must truly be mad!
My response above was a bit frustrated due to the fact that I'd already posted a couple of short comments but no one had anything to say about them. I did in fact say that I liked Cindy's post, I think they are mostly good points. I'm glad there's someone here who actually does read some of the comments and has time and interest to reply. Still: there should be more dialogue! And I'm saying this knowing full well that I could participate in the forums a bit more. I do find it difficult to muster the courage, and to find that time.
I don't think we can avoid thinking in dualist terms, perhaps it's just me feeling a bit defeatist at the moment? Yes, there is a lot to deal with at this point in time, plenty of inner havoc and a lot of fatigue about the way things are, and a sense of inability to manage. If only the collective would get its shit together ;-). Having worked hard on myself all my life, I've come to a point of utter exhaustion. I'm tired of it but I also think it may thus be time to stop fretting over one's shadows all the time. I guess because now I have limited resources in terms of energy, I have to choose, and right now I choose to "fret" over social injustice and the art scene too. I think it's a natural progression. Whatever art I can make, it has to be about that (social injustice). And yes you're right, though my rhetoric question about art was a bit simplistic, what I really mean is that this movement should possibly be a bit more inclusive in terms of what integral art really consists of. I realize it's hard for people to rethink what spirituality really means in practice, and to see it -we are all deeply conditioned. But one of my "desires" just now is to try and find new and orthodox ways of thinking, feeling and thus help change the world if only in a small way. Being reminded of where there might be a flaw in the thinking is very useful, but I personally get very jittery if I perceive of any aggression. I was drawn to Cindy's post because I do find myself in conflict over the issue of communication. In my own life, I'm on eggshells because I feel I can hardly utter a sentence without managing to hurt someone else's feelings or fearing that I might have done so. Perhaps others recognize this kind of "phase" (as I'm sure it is). A compulstion to be real and honest can be scary until we feel really secure in our compassion and generally speaking on top of things (as a manner of speaking).
Your point about the edges is indeed very true, I think history demonstrates it already, but it's hard to keep in mind and even harder to believe in oneself when it seems like one may be working on the edge - that's surely in the nature of it all, as there is little peer support at that point.
I spent a few years online, and when I finally started to have a so-called real life, I felt quite liberated. Real flesh and blood is something other than the internet, and the internet can only be a complimentary phenomenon. My point may have been a bit harsh, don't get me wrong because I think the internet is absolutely fantastic. But it's easy to lose a sense of perspective. :-) thanks again! (I might still get back to this)
Fri, 10/19/2012 - 20:10
Hi Vivi,
PS - I am always willing to talk art if you like.
Sun, 10/21/2012 - 14:57
:-) Thanks Layman, yes I do believe that's very true, what else to do but be aware of one's foolishness. Step one in any form of progress. There are a few issues I'm churning in my head at the moment, two of them are the ones you mention. I hadn't actually thought actively about how anger is related to the third level.
I think all human affects can be used to one's advantage in a constructive way, for instance I perceive of myself as a rather angry person these days but it also fuels me into caring about issues outside of myself that I probably wouldn't bother with otherwise. And adrenaline certainly gives me a kick when otherwise I feel unenergised to do anything about injustice. I feel that anger is there for a reason, but there's always a tipping point where it turns against myself. I have yet to figure that one out. Regardless of our actual spiritual age we are probably all feeling the effects of third chakra issues.
Well, in fact you said it already: Secondly by taking our own grumbles as creative stimuli. Getting snagged, getting vexed, getting weirded out is not a prompt to leave or to criticize but it is the evolutionary impulse itself asking us to create something and see where it fits.
Sun, 10/14/2012 - 06:33
We are struggling to live up to our ideal expectations. Being integral is about understanding that all forms are coordinated by a common pattern which is of spiritual origin. While mucvh in the model is on the right track perhaps some of the elements like stages and evolution need opening up to more understanding. However, whether our 3p understanding of the core pattern translates into our first person reactions and second person we relations in a harmonious way is another matter. We have a long way to go. Perhaps not expecting to have too much effect too soon and humbly allowing divine grace to operate in His or Her own ways (not our will but His Her) would subtly guide us to navigate through the contradictions. Let's continue walking to share the integral vision without limiting it by hovering as sattelites around eqach of Ken's interpretations. Perhaps walking without expecting great signs of success or transformation around us according to our understanding will subtly call in the synchronicities reaching humanity in their own ways; not the ways we expect. To continue walking with love, trusting in that love, surrendering to that love.
Sat, 10/13/2012 - 18:33
Every day now for years it seems, I have been receiving newsletters, tidbits, e-blurbs, announcements and online come-ons from some amorphous group of people that refers to itself as INTEGRAL, EVOLUTIONARY or ENLIGHTENED or 'NEXT'. You'd think from reading and involving myself in this mountain of binary blather I would know by now who these people are and what they are trying to do. In truth, I don't.
I read one blurb/article/post/come-on from Ken Wilber (who always seems to sound very urgent for some reason) that used the word 'integral' 27 times in about 3 paragraphs. It was like a man running madly through a crowded theatre that was ablaze yelling, "the building is nerfing, the building is nerfing! Why doesn't everyone leave, the building is nerfing!" No one can tell what the man is saying but he seems so in earnest.
Once introduced into the discourse, the word integral seems to take over and not allow synonyms, comparisons, metaphors, descriptions, illustrations and the like. As if someone used "Find and Replace" to look for all instances of useful meaning and helpful variety of language and substitute 'integral' in its place.
So I tried to think of what all of this digital communication about ‘integral’ and ‘evolutionary integral’ and ‘integral evolution’ meant to me:
1- It seems to do with money. Much of the email I receive has the tone of a county-fair barker urging me to 'Step on up!' and 'Get 'em while they last!'. I can see through the graphics and words like "featuring" and 'profound wisdom' and 'cutting edge' that there is a world of big money swirling around in there. All, of these pundits, pandits, prophesiers and priests need after all, to be supported in the loft-y life-style that befits a self-proclaimed purveyor of the (integral) truth.
Of course, knowing that we un-integral folks out here are not sophisticated enough to know a come-on when we see it, we are often invited to reserve a seat at the next exciting free online talk where some wonderful and new method, mode, system, discovery, technique, insight and here-to-fore hidden or possibly secret answer to our miserable un-integral and positively Neanderthal existence will be patiently and lovingly explained to us. And it does sound so doggone good and just what we need and all and we link up to said momentous event only to find out of course, that once inside the tent, so-to-speak, the secret key-to-life that we were so excited about can only be revealed through a nine-week, nine-month or nine-year exclusive online (or possibly in Hawaii or Tuscany or somewhere) seminar at an (undisclosed-until-you-finally-relent-and-click-on-the-‘SIGN-UP-NOW!’-link) cost of only eight billion dollars, meals included.
2- The founders and adherents of the INTEGRAL MOVEMENT OF GRAND EVOLUTIONARY AWAKENING THAT IS TRULY INTEGRAL, all seem to agree with each other about the imminence and importance of said grand movement.
3- The above said Grand Poobahs have unanimously agreed that the INTEGRAL MOVEMENT is so important that it must be disseminated to the computer-bound rabble around the world.
4- To accomplish this important task they hired high-powered marketing experts who's previously experience was selling soap or insurance.
5- No one knows what integral means. It used to mean something like, "necessary to complete", but now it means something else which no one knows. If you ask one of the pan or pundits to define integral they will be unable to do so without mentioning 'integral' in the definition. Thus the ontological axiom "integral is integral".
6- The integral movement is not integral. Ken Wilber just shared as much in a little audio blurb entitled, “The wee space shared by the integral community”(var.). Even he, the BIG DADDY of integral is dumbfounded that his little invention doesn't seem to be taking off.
I am ashamed to say that I did get roped in and signed up for one of these ground-breaking online seminars. It had the absolutely grandiose title of: INTEGRAL ENLIGHTENMENT, AWAKENING TO AN EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIP TO LIFE THAT IS INTEGRAL BEYOND ALL PREVIOUS NOTIONS OF AN INTEGRAL EVOLUTIONARY AWAKENING THAT YOU EVER HAD THAT WAS TRULY PROFOUNDLY INTEGRAL. It was given by someone named Craig Hamilton who is a self-proclaimed and acknowledged by his peers 'evolutionary' himself.
The seminar was basically Pabulum. Delivered in a Sunday school tone of such sweetness it made your mouth pucker and at a pace that bespoke glacial tolerance for those of us who were just too slow to get it. Needless to say 'the party broke up'. I just couldn't stay with it as he painstakingly illustrated the yawning chasm between those who were not integral nor awake nor enlightened nor evolutionary (us) and those who were (him and the club (integral of course) he belonged to).
I don't know. It just seems that if something was truly evolutionary like a lizard perhaps, it would show up with a lot of self-evident clarity and amazement, like, "Oooh, check it out, a lizard!” Integral doesn't have the same kind of impact. Like, "Oooh, an integral!" It’s sort of a dud, know what I mean?
In the end I agree with Ken's complaint that 'integral', whatever that means, just doesn't fill up the "wee space' it was intended to.
Sun, 10/14/2012 - 09:49
You have a point: "Integral" is the first philosophical brand with its own marketing meme-propagation sales force. That is both intriguing and fucked up. Historically, philosophers either didn't get along with their own audience or got along so well that they (the philosopher and his/her audience) became a cult. The "Integral" - as I see it - is an attempt on the part of a philosopher to get along with his audience without turning his school of thought into a cult. Thus, the "movement" packaging.
Personally, I have really enjoyed reading Ken Wilber. As a philosopher, Wilber is a brilliant synthesist. But is he also a brilliant social agent? Will he have socio-historical significance? That remains to be seen. My guess is that with any luck and marketing, possibly. I am sure that the Wilber Industries will do its best to see to it.
The Integral Worldview Franchise is alive and kicking. Community squabbles aside Wilber's ideas are powerfully unifying. But everything can, of course, be misused: not infrequently yesterday's evolutionaries become today's revolutionaries and today's revolutionaries become tomorrow's fascists. The biggest threat to the Integral - as I see it - is from within: its "staging" is like catnip for narcissists; its color-coding borders on consciousness-racism; its informational loftiness is mis-metabolized as enlightenment supremacy. Politically, the Integral is dead on arrival. The Integral is too cosmopolitan for domestic politics.
And yet the "Integral" brand - philosophically - represents an effective potpourri of the most enduring perennial memes and I do heartily believe that it is a very promising mindware of the future.
Mon, 10/15/2012 - 05:02
Pavel, this is an excellent summation of the current state of affairs. It remains though, why the heck are these guys trying to sell their product in the consumer marketplace? When has this happened before? As you said, historically, the revolutionary philosopher said his piece and then in the hysteria that followed said his piece again and then elaborated on his piece and then either ran out of things to say or died. The real predecessor to this kind of blatant hucksterism comes from the tradition of self-help gurus, a tradition which is not the most flattering nor promising crowd to be seen with.
It seems most of these personal salvation schemes started out, as did the integral movement, as genuinely unique expressions of insight and rapidly devolved, as did the integral movement into opportunistic money-making schemes. What I find most inexplicable is the obvious lack of embarrassment about the crass and con-man-like sales pitches that are used to hawk an abstruse and far-flung philosophy.
Wilber is the new Madison Avenue philosopher inventing catchphrases, buzzwords and slogans as fast as he can. Is he a social agent? Will he have the socio-historical significance of a Ron Hubbard or a Werner Erhardt? How about Ayn Rand? The one thing that sticks out to me is that he and his ditto-heads are milking it for all its worth.
Sat, 10/13/2012 - 18:55
Kennydee,
Gosh, I hope you get more of a response to this than just the sound of geese flapping their wings in an empty school yard. I notice that few, if any, substantive critiques of the "integral movement" receive any serious response from the Boulder crowd. What could that mean?
In the meantime, I concur wholeheartedly with your observation about the vapid overuse of the word "integral." In Wilber's original uses of the term, it signified the first waves of the transpersonal realm of the spectrum of consciousness. That stongly implies that anyone with his/her center of gravity in the integral has left identity with the personal ego behind, and now operates from a sense of "all of us" or something even greater.
Do you know anybody like that? I've met exactly three people in my almost 20 years of working with Wilber's insights who fit that description. Three.
I give Wilber credit for leaving his writing cave and taking on walking the talk, but to what end, we cannot tell. "Early days," as Inspector Rutledge might say. It may turn out that the Integral Institute and its spin-offs were the 12 apostles, or it may end up just another footnote in the history books. Who can say?
Andrew Cohen's insistence on the possibility of "evolutionary enlightenment" asks the question, "can evolution become aware of itself, and through that awareness, consciously impact its trajectory?" A heady question indeed, and one which I insist can only be approached with a maximum of humility and a minimum of certainty.
The fact that these are qualities often missing in Integral Institute stuff means nothing other than First Tier humans are stumbling around at the boundary of the Second Tier, and breakthrough is still waiting to occur.
Marty
Mon, 10/15/2012 - 03:52
Remarkably well said and as clear a statement of the integral ground of being as any I have read. And no, I don't know anybody like that and the few that have purported to act in the world as 'the many' are usually young, clueless, and eagerly absorbed in the latest trend in personality-formation. I have yet to discover, for example, the integral senator that votes in a way that pleases all of his constituents not just those in his party.
I can understand that someday in the ethereal future there may be a great we-creature that pleases all and agrees with itself all the time but the idea that the integral approach to life is anything but a theory seems to me to be as naive and aloof as the proponents of it.
Andy Cohen seems to be saying, "I have seen the future and we need to change to get ready for it." His belief that we must do something to prepare for our impending evolutionary leap is somewhat akin to a fish exhorting his gills to become not just lungs but really good lungs. My view is that it’s not the fish that can improve his lungs, it’s the lizard.
Fri, 10/12/2012 - 20:42
I believe that a blindness toward the gifts and insights of the highest first-tier communal value meme is a top reason that high-IQ Integralists and the attendant movement are perceived as elitist. There are SO many important "Green value meme" -related concepts related to race, class, sex, gender, etc. that I've seen people just completely dismiss or be utterly ignorant of; I assume because the concepts are technically "first tier" and because it used to be cool to make fun of "boomeritis". To truly understand the unique pluralistic truths of Feminism (to name but one example in the catalogue of intersectional social/personal variables) one must be open to-- at least temporarily-- seeing the harmful effects of the Patriarchial system of hierarchical domination EVERYWHERE: AQAL-ly present (that even includes painfully examining the values of loved ones and of oneself). This kind of understanding can be very disruptive for a time and can even overwhelm one's personality, which is another reason I think that some Integralists balk when faced with the task of integraing Pluralism-- perhaps rationalizing that since they both undertstand the benefits of and know what's wrong with Pluralism, they can simply "transcend" it without "including" it.
Same thing basically applies to Blue/Diplomat like you said, but since it's further from 2nd tier it takes more work to properly deconstruct those "shadows" (of which there are too many to count...).
Wed, 10/10/2012 - 12:07
I read with interest what Cindy is saying. The struggle represent much of what happens in every family. However, the language that this family uses is so precise, so cutting, the stakes are so high, nothing less than Integral theory and the passion that we feel about it, that it is easy to lose perspective. Cindy quoted a saying, "by their fruits you shall know them." All I can contribute is to bear the "crucifixion" of seeing the conflicting energies that are part of living in a world of duality, and more specifically having such high hopes and deep fears and insights among so many amazing people and to watch this drama with some detachment. Sometimes I get drawn in and I feel as if I am trodding through the mud, other times I retreat into the silence of infinite compassion and understanding. I sense that this is what many others are doing as well, to be drawn into to a battle of conflicting energies, and at the same time, withdrawing into the silence of the heart in order to observe with compassion our human condition.
I hope that at the Whatnext conference we can approach things from the heart and less from the head.
Wed, 10/10/2012 - 14:51
Hi Maria, I appreciate your use of the word "crucifixion," as it implies that we sacrifice our attachments to lesser impulses; those that are unconscious but arising and infiltrating our response in the moment, no matter where we are or what we are doing. It is through cultivated discernment of these impulses that we crucify the less embracing thought and create one that still supplies the co-creative dynamic that is part of contributing to an ever-more enlightened culture, but it takes commitment and genuine care on the part of the individual.
Thanks,
Linda Nada
Wed, 10/10/2012 - 08:48
hi cindy!
i agree with the embodiment thing, actually i wonder (given how hugely challenging it is to actually achieve) if it's not quite a central theme there, around which the others constellate. and i suppose a fact is - until we are embodied we are not embodied, and until we are actually embodied then perhaps custard pie fights are a natural aspect of samsara continuing to teach and support us to move in the right direction. it's all rather insufferable, but perhaps "all is well" anyway :)
"by their fruits you shall know them" - what you mean we also have to walk it, isn't mere talking enough? ;P
looking at the *walk* of jesus. one thing i can't help noticing is that it involved him going somewhere where he got nailed to a cross, actually to a greater or lesser extent this seems quite a common outcome for visionary people (another example: giordano bruno). i think the problem of turning a light on in a shadowy snake-pit (a dark place is the only place you can meaningfully turn a light on) is that it lets the shadow-snakes see you to be able to strike you. also, the light burns them so they will feel compelled to strike out. they are naughty like that ;)
i wonder how did jesus appear in the awareness of those who nailed him to a cross? i think probably not as a great savior, it seems reasonable to assume he appeared to them as a bit of a monster, i think he had to find the self-confidence to accept that.
i'm not sure if people are ever inconsiderate though in the sense of "manifesting inconsideration", my view is that reality is wholly composed of beauty, goodness and truth so the most that can perhaps be said is that people *lack* consideration. for me the point is important, i need to be careful not to beat people up for what they aren't, for what they don't actually have, for what they lack (it does not make sense, and so is unlikely to have a productive outcome). also - they lack it so they can't actually see they (a) don't have it and (b) would benefit from it so i need to expect it to be thrown back in my face if i bring the subject up. which i might be prepared to do anyway, i look quite good with custard pie dripping down my face :)
something else about jesus - he was prepared to "die for our sins", oh - dear, do you mean i have to be prepared to do that as well? allow the shadow snakes to strike without taking it personally? well i suppose if i am fully embodied, fully "there" then why not? (there's nothing to strike)
just my opinion, it may or may not have anything to do with what you wrote ;P
good luck with your new book, let the shadow snakes chew on it, doing so will kill them :P
phil XXX
Tue, 10/09/2012 - 23:29
So many important observations laid out here; how to tackle all of them? Just some random thoughts to begin:
I continue to insist that one of the first challenges is the sloppy use of the term "integral community." Who, exactly, comprises this? If it's a self-described group orbiting Ken, the Integral Institute and its offshoots, and Boulder, that's one thing; if it's all of us touched by Spirit to struggle with "the momentous leap," I suggest that is an entirely different thing. I certainly applaud those in the former grouping for your willingness to champion the Integral Model and its potential application to our individual and collective unfoldment, but like most of us it is partial and still centered in the First Tier.
That is not a criticism or a judgment; it's what I observe and experience from outside that particular network. Cindy's spot-on reference to Jesus' observation that "by their fruits ye shall know them" is valuable--and is more integrally informed to the extent that I/we commit to being open to seeing our own biases, assumptions, and blindspots in making these assessments.
There is a First Tier--amber, actually--tendency around labeling our work with the Integral impulse as arising from a putative "community"--and this is to create a boundary between the enlightened integral "us" and all the rest of the poor slobs not evolved enough yet. And yet nothing could be less integral in nature! Integral embraces and honors all of it; "us and them" are as quaint and non-operative concepts in the Second Tier as believing in the tooth fairy is to an Advanced Sector adult.
So I challenge us to wrestle with this use of the term "integral community." I have been in the Wilber work since 1995 in my life and professional career but don't have regular communications with Wilber or the Integral Institute crowd. Am I or am I not part of the "community"? And if I am, and thousands like me around the world also are despite our relative non-engagement with Boulder, what possible meaning does the word "community" have? And if we don't show up to the conference, does this further estrange us from the work or does it not matter?
I concur with Mary Kay Reinemann's recommendation regarding Marshall Rosenberg's work, but beware, friends: this is not for the faint of heart or followers of the herd, even the Integral one. It is a great entry into disciplined Shadow work, which in my experience is the sine qua non of the momentous leap.
Only when we engage the unhealed parts of us that fester in our subconscious, only when we integrate them into our conscious experience without judgment and with compassion, and only when we humbly but decisively withdraw all projections can we transcend the personal waves of consciousness.
I assert that the Second Tier is so different from the First that it is all but impossible to talk about it without actually experiencing it. To live beyond our personal ego, to be in touch with the collective spiritual energies that generate our perspectives and emotions, to identify with that generatve activity rather than with its products and objects is simply outside of the historic and present experience of all but a tiny handful of us.
So if nothing else, let us take up this work with a commitment to humility. Let us regularly and rigorously do our Shadow work along with our meditation practice. Let us notice whenever we get a charge over an "us v. them" thought and use that awareness to go deeper into the unhealed darkness to bring all internal suffering to the light. Let us embrace the good, the bad, and the ugly living inside each of us with equanimity and nonjudgment. Let us recognize that everything we do is either a call for love or an act of love. I don't know if that will "reduce the amount of inconsiderate behavior inside our Integral we-space" (Cindy never really explains just what the heck that's all about), but I do know that it is a yoga that will strengthen the Witness and give Spirit room to create the spectacular next that is wanting to be born through humanity.
A penultimate thought: rather than talking about an alleged "integral community," I propose we consider the term "integral archipelago." There are all these various islands of inquiry around the world impelled by a call from the future; they have yet to link up in a meaningful way. Let us honor and seek out these different tendencies, experiments, and discern what each has to contribute to conscious evolution, and leave to Spirit their actual integration.
Finally, regarding the eventual disappearance of the person of Ken Wilber: let us open to the Ken Wilber within, for Ken is no different from you or me: a beloved contraction of Spirit yearning to re-expand to complete identity with Source. All holons change; only Spirit, having never been born, never dies.
Marty
Wed, 10/10/2012 - 17:37
This is more ore less what I was getting at in my own post, as there's a whole array of elements that make people feel they are outsiders of this Boulder based community. The most obvious ones being geographical distance, culture and language, all of which I personally embody. There is a danger that only rich Americans who can afford the subscription fee as well as travelling expenses, and who are also able to keep up with the jargon, are able to make it into the in-crowd. I still don't know what exactly "tier" means, I'm only guessing.There is certainly a danger that Ego has the better of these people in the sense of constructing a us vs them space. Since I am not in a position to attend any of the events I can't tell. Though there are local groups in other countries, from what I gather they struggle to keep going. Is this a typical guru-phenomenon? I.e. you need to be where the guru is. That would explain why people might panic about Ken's disappearance from this mortal coil. I'd like to see a bit more of a cross-cultural and cross-human approach if possible. I'd like to feel a bit more welcome within THIS group but then where I am able to hang out is just an online community.. Yes there is a lot of great information and I enjoy the - for me - easily accessible audios (since as a disabled person I have accessibility issues, haha I never thought I'd say that!) but how far can the interaction with people here take me? My experience is that people mostly just post away in the form of monologues and I don't see THAT much evidence of real dialogue. For instance, this thread - how many people actually respond to EACH OTHER? Just a thought, for what it's worth.
Wed, 10/10/2012 - 01:38
Hi Marty,
Good to read your thoughts. I love your idea of an Integral archipelago, takes some of the pressure of having to walk before we can crawl. Building relationships is always challenging and transformative; its better when the challenges are out in the open though. Like you I dip in and out of Integral. I'm often dismayed at some of the stuff I read in forums and it doesn't inspire me. I believe this will change as things settle and people begin to feel safer. Accepting shadow as part of relationship is part of the practise, we all just need to get better at it!
cheers
Imago
Tue, 10/09/2012 - 21:42
Thanks for this post Cindy.
I agree with most of what you have said. And we certainly have to deal with the 'elephant in the room', as Sanya has pointed out. Although, like Linda, I'm not sure that I see Ken as a 'father figure' but rather as an international treasure who has brought forth a great gift for humanity at a time when this type of vision and understanding is sorely needed.
Whilst I'm not sure that I fit into the high IQ section of Integral - I still struggle with the depth and breadth and reach of it all! - I recognise that Integral Theory is a must if the world is to overcome many of its current problems without falling into self destruction and chaos.
Will hopefully get to meet you, as well as many other amazing integral people, at the What Next Conference.
Love to All,
Richard.
Tue, 10/09/2012 - 20:22
Cindy, thanks for posting these comments. I will do my best to take them to heart in my own work, while hoping I have done little to offend and a lot to stimulate...
I am looking forward to reading your book; the 'spiritual" has been secondary to the congnitive and emotional in my life. I hope that in the years of learning from Ken, you and many others, that spirit is something that flows naturally from that learning and the foundations I bring to it.
I am concerned that the integral community(s) talk among themselves and do not extend their understanding and perspectives in a way that invites many other contributors to the streams of understanding and practice that overlap and share many of our aspirations for ourselves, others, and the world. Rather than an integral movement, we need an integral embrace with those whose attention is to cognitive, emotional, spiritual explorations and practice. I anticipate that your work contributes to that in the future, as it has in the past..
Thanks,
Russ
Tue, 10/09/2012 - 20:18
Good points, and I'm glad someone is talking about this issue openly. Just a thought but I feel very disappointed with people in general, in fact it's a daily struggle to accept people in my environment or out there in society... out there in real life there is very little I can do about it. Surely many of us feel this way? Perhaps people then come here and take the frustration out on others within their own spiritual community - so much easier to have a say about things here online, backed up with lots of IQ. I find that I sometimes take out this frustration on my blogs, and then I feel terribly guilty about it... I try very hard not to direct complaints onto anyone in particular, but there is definitely a need to winge about the state of the world. Some of it is constructive criticism but some of it may be a bit indulgent in the wrong sort of way... (frankly I don't know for sure because I can't see it clearly from an objective point of view).
I have not been around that much, but I'm aware of the bullying. Perhaps a reason I haven't felt that pull to be here is just that. I also feel a bit like the underdog, because while I was very intellectual in my approach some 15-20 years ago, a lack of motivation as well as heatlh issues that affect my cognitive abilites have made me much less engaged in the analysis of life and spiritual theory in particular. I feel I kind of "got it all" and now I just don't really require all that... after all, like you say, it's the emotional intelligence that needs serious attention - in myself and in others. And you cannot develop it unless you truly learn to live life as such, the way it IS rather than the way you would wish for it to be. Perhaps you could call it an embodiement of life. Yes, I'm still coming back - not that much but I do... because deep down I also wish for some kind of like minded community with people who would truly get me. Without a superior attitude because my physical embodiement is far from perfect.
(Why is this text so small I can't see what I'm writing?)
Tue, 10/09/2012 - 20:16
Thank you Cindy. I cannot agree more, it is time for the Integral community to take a look in the mirror. Feeling “special” and more developpend than our peers seems to be more common than it appears to be. Many issues you have raised are well known, yet many of us fail to address it. It is like an elephant in the room. I do hope we can be more pro-active and adress our "issues".
Tue, 10/09/2012 - 20:04
Dear Ones,
May I suggest Marshall Rosenberg's system of 'Nonviolent Communication' (there is a book by that name) particularly as it is taught (and expanded) by Robert Gonzales, a second-generation teacher of this process. In this program we distinguish between:
Doug and I will be at the 'What's next' conference and if there is time some evening, I will offer a 'taste' of this way of communicating. I consider it a mindfulness practice for the mouth. It can help us to 'hear ourselves.' - Mary Kay Reinemann, Doug's wife, and the person who introduced him to Integral Theory.
Tue, 10/09/2012 - 19:28
Thank you, Cindy; I completely agree with your sentiment.
I would add, though, that I don't see Ken as a"Father," but more as an Androgynous leader, encompassing and expressing both Feminine and Masculine Principles equally, but distinctively, as only his genius and integrated development can do, a simultaneous Mother/Father.
Gratitude!