In this fast-paced and demanding dialogue, Mike and Ken discuss the nature of the “supermind”: its meanings, why it has not appeared previously in history on any sort of widespread scale, and why glimmers of its emergence are starting to happen now, today. This dialogue is warm, witty, loving, and vibrant. It is not, however, for the intellectually faint of heart.

The dialogue opens with a discussion of Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Subtle Energies, one of Ken’s recent essays. It moves to the necessity of an integral methodological pluralism to get at occasions such as the supermind; focuses on why you can have an experience of the One and yet not have an experience of the supermind; and derives a plausible theory to account for this (namely, the complexity of the manifest realm had to reach a certain evolutionary threshold before supermind could manifest easily). It concludes with the nature, radiance, and extraordinary transformative power of the supermind itself….

Mike then laments the poverty of ideas about what occurs after enlightenment, and the discussion quickly focuses on the further reaches of embodiment. One of the main conclusions is that the union of Emptiness and Form—which is how enlightenment is often conceived—must also mean the union of Emptiness and Evolution, because the world of form is evolving. This leads directly to a discussion of Freedom—which is the experience of Emptiness—and Fullness—which is the experience of oneness with the entire world of Form.

Thus, the union of Emptiness (Spirit) and Form (the manifest world) is the union of Freedom and Fullness. This extraordinary union is the essence of the supermind and its power to begin transfiguring matter itself.

Image by Philip Rubinov Jacobson [+view gallery]