Upcoming Events at Boulder Integral:

Dear Friends,

We would love to have your presence and participation at a wonderful weekend at Boulder Integral with two leading teachers in the field of contemplative Christianity and Integral Spirituality.

Both Fr. Cyprian and Br. David are Benedictine monks and pioneers in the dialogue between East and West. In an easy, playful way they weave together intellectual inquiry, meditation, music, sacred reading, and prayer into a rich texture of experience.

Check out below and we hope you will join us! Please call Nomai Perera at 303.541.1540 or email Nomali@boulderintegral.org for questions. We are happy to offer financial assistance to clergy and others in need.

Celebrating the Mystical Heart Through Song, with Fr. Cyprian
Friday, June 26 at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm)
$10 - $15

Music opens the door to that place where hearts speak to hearts. Join us at Boulder Integral for a celebration of Spirit through a unique blend of sacred songs from the East and West in a concert by Fr. Cyprian Consiglio. Read more here.

 

Spirit, Soul, Mind, and Body: A Universal Call to Contemplation
Weekend Workshop: Saturday 6/27 (9am - 6pm) - Sunday 6/28 (9am - 12:30pm)
Fees for Saturday/Sunday workshop: $140

The call to contemplation and mystical depth is the heart of every spiritual tradition. Contemplative living means life in fullness for every person, not only for the “professional religious.” This workshop aims at helping participants explore the personal implications of this dimension of life and so find true joy-the happiness that does not depend on what happens. Read more here.

Also check out another upcoming seminar: October 8 - 11, 2009: New Wineskins: A Contemporary Pilgrimage Toward the Future of Christianity. A precious opportunity to learn from Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M., and Fr. David McCallum, S.J. PLUS Guest Teachers: Sr. Theresa Monroe, R.S.C.J., and Rollie Stanich READ MORE…

  

Iran, a nation that has spent the last century struggling to make its way into the modern world, now finds itself beset on all sides by massive internal and external pressures.  An enormous amount of civil unrest has been ignited during the recent 2009 presidential election, a response to apparent voter fraud that has crippled one of the few stable modern structures found in present-day Iran.  A maelstrom of cultural, political, economic, religious, and historic forces conspire to turn one of history's proudest and most colorful cultures into a volatile powder-keg in the 21st century—and if we have learned anything at all from these past 10 days, it is simply that a fuse has now been lit.  What happens next is almost anyone's guess—will Iran find a way to evolve its own political systems?  Will it retain its currently theocratic status quo?  Or will the country begin to fall apart altogether?

In this exclusive hour-long commentary, Jeff Salzman, Steve McIntosh, and Robb Smith discuss the strife we are seeing in Iran, exploring the past, present, and future of the mighty Persian empire.  They talk about both the universals and the particulars of the Iranian struggle, identifying the central problem as a conflict between modern and traditional worldviews, while plugging the conflict into the much larger context of history’s unfolding.   

Mondo Zen. Part 1:Hollow Bones and Windowpane
Jun Po Kelly Roshi and Ken Wilber
Written by Corey W. deVos

Jun Po Kelly Roshi, an American Rinzai Zen teacher, talks with Ken Wilber about his experiences manufacturing "windowpane" LSD, using acid to deconstruct his identity until there was "nothing left to stand on," and then re-emerging as a certified and fully-transmitted Zen master. He goes on to discuss the Hollow Bones retreat center, which he founded with the intention of stripping Zen of its cultural baggage, and reinterpreting its timeless truths for the modern Western mind.

Topics Include:

• Through the Windowpane: Jun Po talks about being one of the original creators of “windowpane” (a purified, gelatin-based form of LSD), spending almost an entire decade manufacturing acid with a close group of friends.  He talks about how this fascinating chapter of his life came to a dramatic close, when an informant within his group leaked the location of their laboratory to the police, forcing Jun Po to retreat underground before spending a year in prison.

• The Electric Kool-Aid Kenshō Test: After a long process of using LSD as a way to die over and over to himself, continuously deconstructing his identity and notions of self until, at last, there was “nothing left to stand on,” Jun Po talks about how he began the process of re-emerging and re-integrating his experiences, leading him to become a certified and fully-transmitted Zen master.

• Hollow Bones: Jun Po and Ken go on to discuss Hollow Bones, an American Rinzai Zen school he founded that attempts to strip the core teachings of Buddhism from their traditional mythic roots, and retranslating its deepest truths for today’s modern Western mind. 

• Non-Religion: Some spiritual traditions have been easier to adapt to new cultural contexts than others—and though we wouldn’t say Jun Po has had an altogether easy time extracting the timeless core of Zen from its ethnic regalia, he and Ken discuss some of the qualities of Buddhism that have helped the tradition migrate and proliferate from culture to culture.

• The New Warrior: Rinzai Zen is often described as being somewhat “sharp” and intense, characterized by a brisk urgency for direct and immediate realization.  Appearing alongside the rise of the Samurai in medieval Japan, Rinzai held a significant influence upon this new warrior class, and vice versa.  Jun Po discusses why he thinks these traits are ideal for today’s frantic world, which demands a clear and direct approach in order to cut through the many frivolities, distractions, and neuroses of modern living.

• Five Element Training: Mondo Zen’s Five Element Training allows us to realize—and exist continually—in deep clear mind and in heartfelt, fearless psychological stability.  Here Jun Po explains the five elements to Ken: 1) Sacred Stewardship; 2) Philosophical and Cognitive Re-Orientation; 3) Emotional Maturity and Integrity; 4) Conscious Embodiment; 5) Genuine Insight.

  

 ABSTRACT

“Introducing The AQAL Cube” addresses persisting “flat-land” and reductionism issues with Ken Wilber’s AQAL Square, where “two dimensional” interpretations of “three dimensional” processes have left us with many anomalies that may possibly be corrected by the AQAL Cube. First, the AQAL Cube differentiates two domains of Consciousness: The Empirical domain of our gross, mortal being with its 4 Quadrants below; and the Intuitive domain of our subtle, non-mortal being, which inhabits the Empirical domain, with its 4 Quadrants above. Second, each of the three persons is delegated with its own AQAL Cube of eight personal pronoun-perspectives, totaling 3 x 8 = 24. The resulting myriad of binary-perspective lattices generated by the all-person AQAL Cubes, of which the classic Wilber-Combs lattice is but one, is the tip of a vast “ice-cube” of permutations of Kosmic Address, and as such is a potential model for the Human Consciousness Project.

  

Integral Recovery
Part 1: A Comprehensive View of Addiction: Finding Wholeness

With John Dupuy

John Dupuy is a pioneer in the field of Integral Recovery, a new model for the treatment of chemical dependency and alcoholism that explicitly uses Integral theory and the AQAL map (i.e. all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, all types) as its foundation.  In this video series, John describes the Integral Recovery process with considerable detail, offering a theoretical explanation of how and why an Integral approach is so essential to the field.  He explains how a comprehensive approach to addiction can dramatically improve success rates and prevent future relapse, and offers a brief summary of the Four Quadrant model as applied to addiction recovery—noting as one of its greatest contributions the simple understanding that people tend to be right in what they affirm, but err in what they neglect.  By accounting for all four dimensions of addiction (upper-right physiological aspects, upper-left psychological aspects, lower-left relational aspects, and lower-right systemic aspects) we can be sure we aren't neglecting anything that might later sabotage our efforts.

We are very pleased to share this video series with you all, as John's work represents a significant leap forward for both addiction recovery in particular, and the health-care industry as a whole.  Guided by currents of wholeness, integrity, and compassion, John is a living example of how crucial Integral consciousness truly is for our world—healing one body, one mind, and one family at a time; and leaving our lives just a little bit brighter than he finds them.

 

Integral Recovery
Part 2: A Day in the Life at an Integral Recovery Center

Here John walks us through an average day at an Integral Recovery Center, a stunning example of how integral practice can be used in a therapeutic setting, stabilizing and reinforcing the addict's recovery across a wide spectrum of health.  He emphasizes the fact that everyone at the recovery center is an integral practitioner (not just the addicts), and how this practice-based approach is essential to the long-term success of the program.

  

An Integral Approach to NLP. Part 1: Modeling Integrity

Peter McNab and Ken Wilber
Written by Corey W. deVos

 

Peter McNab and Ken Wilber discuss Peter's book, Toward an Integral Vision: Using NLP & Ken Wilber's AQAL Model to Enhance Communication.

Topics Include:

- Content-Free: Ken discusses the "content-free" nature of the Integral model, meaning that in order to have a comprehensive view of the world, certain dimensions of reality must be accounted for (e.g. perspectives, stages of human development, multiple intelligences, states of consciousness, typologies, etc.)—but the AQAL model does not insist upon specific measurements and methodologies to make sense of these dimensions, and is open to pretty much any legitimate means of uncovering data about the world.  In its purest form, the Integral model shows us what kinds of data to keep track of, without telling us the specific nature of that data.

- Four Legs: The NLP program outlines four legs of skills that are essential for any meaningful transformation to take place: finding out what we really want out of the process, developing enough sensory awareness to know what is happening at any given moment, cultivating the flexibility to recognize when change is possible, and deciding what steps are required to bring new actions into effect.

- The TEA Model: Peter discusses another component of NLP, known as the "TEA Model."  TEA (an acronym for thoughts, emotions, and actions) has been a part of the NLP methodology for some time, though Peter has begun to reinterpret it along integral lines, which he and Ken explore here.

- The Integral Conversation: Defined as "a conversation based upon having a full integral understanding of both parties in a dialogue," Peter and Ken talk about how understanding the fundamental elements that constitute a human being can dramatically transform our relationships and our interactions with the world.

- The Target Model: Peter talks about the six stages of interaction within the NLP process: a) get a sense of our emotional states, b) develop repoire, c) gather information, d) set outcomes, e) take action, and f) properly contextualize ourselves into our own ecologies of consequence.

- 4-Mat: Finally, Peter and Ken discuss the 4-Mat Model in NLP, which attempts to address the needs and concerns of four simple transformative questions: Why? (engaging emotions); What? (engaging thoughts); How? (engaging actions); and So What? (engaging an integration of all three).

  

Your Native Perspective: Why Meetings Suck

In this video presentation, Joanne Hunt (Vice President of Integral Coaching) offers a fascinating overview of "Native Perspectives," a powerful diagnostic tool used by Integral Coaching that integrates two different components of the Integral model: quadrants and typologies. Identifying the four fundamental ways we relate to ourselves, each other, and the world around us, Joanne uses the example of a typical business meeting to show how these perspectives play themselves out in our everyday lives.

  

Integral Coaching. Part 1: Orientations

Joanne Hunt, Laura Divine, and Ken Wilber

Joanne Hunt, Laura Divine, and Ken Wilber discuss the advent of Integral Coaching, whose services will be made available to the Integral community in the coming months.  They share some of the unique contributions the Integral approach offers to coaches and clients alike, providing the most comprehensive map of growth and human development available today.

To further explore the ideas and techniques behind Integral Coaching, we invite you to check out the Spring 2009 issue of the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, now available.

Topics include:

- Brief Histories: Joanne and Laura share their own professional backgrounds, tracing the story of Integral Coaching Canada back to a serendipitous encounter years ago, when they discovered their mutual passion for growth, development, and Integral thought.

- Native Perspectives: The three discuss a powerful diagnostic tool used by Integral Coaching, a synthesis of two different components of the Integral model: quadrants and typologies.  Ken shares a brief theoretical summary of the Four Quadrants, then Joanne and Laura discuss how people relate to these four fundamental perspectives, in terms of both orientation and proficiency.

- AQAL Constellation: The Integral model serves as a very useful map of the world around us, as well as the world within us—but while it offers a tremendous amount of theoretical clarity around growth and development, it does very little in itself to help us figure out where in the wilderness we actually happen to be at any given time.  Joanne and Laura introduce the concept of the "AQAL Constellation," helping to triangulate our position in relation to our potential, and acting as a uniquely-tailored "You Are Here" sticker on the map of being.

- Ways of Being: Laura describes another process used by Integral Coaching to help guide a client's growth, in which we create two distinct metaphors for ourselves: one reflecting our "current way of being," and another that reflects some desired "future way of being."

  

Defining the Unique Self: A Trans-Lineage Exploration

Lama Surya Das, Marc Gafni, and Sally Kempton
Written by Corey W. deVos

FREE SAMPLE: Click here to listen to a free 20-minute sample of this discusion (right-click to download)

Lama Surya Das, Marc Gafni, and Sally Kempton explore the notion of the Unique Self, discussing how the concept might be understood in each of their respective traditions, while sharing their own personal perspectives on how to relate to our own Unique Selves in order to deepen our connections to ourselves, to each other, and to the world.

Topics Include:

• The Pearl Beyond Price: Marc, Sally, and Surya exchange a flurry of metaphors to help make sense of the Unique Self, using the power of analogy to help differentiate "Unique Self" from words like "personality," "ego," and "separate self;" weaving linguistic threads around a concept that is very difficult to name—yet impossible to avoid.


• Personal-Plus: We often think of "enlightenment" as a state of existence so far beyond the ordinary self that it somehow replaces or negates the ego altogether, as though discovering the primordial oneness of all things will somehow eliminate our sense of distinct individuality.  But while we might be able to describe enlightenment as seamless, it is not featureless—meaning the separate self does not suddenly vanish in a poof of pixie dust.  It is our attachment to our identity that disappears, not our identity itself, which simply becomes transparent to the God-Self within.


• The Eternal Self: As it becomes more clear that the Unique Self lies at the intersection of time and eternity, form and emptiness, immanence and transcendence, a fairly obvious question begins to emerge: what is the relationship between the Unique Self and reincarnation?  Marc, Sally, and Surya each offer their own thoughts, drawing upon the rich history of teachings from each of their respective traditions.


• Polishing the Pearl: As expected, the conversation returns to the need for spiritual practice.  It is not enough to be fluent in the language of the Unique Self, for it is not an intellectual concept at all—it is a radically liberated experience of being, sublimely personal and overflowing with absence.  As such, we must continuously nurture our connection to the Unique Self, recognizing the inherent paradox that it is impossible to exercise that which we always already are—which is exactly why we need to.  "Life is improvisational," Surya reminds us.  "Although it's all laid out in the scriptures according to whichever tradition, it's all improvisational—it's all jazz.  We're all artists creating our lives at every moment."

  

Integral City

Marilyn Hamilton and Jim Garrison

Marilyn Hamilton, author of Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive, talks with Jim Garrison about applying the integral model to city design and development, emphasizing the important roles that the cities of the world have to play in responding to the climate change crisis.

• A Brief History: Marilyn offers a quick summary of her own eclectic background, her introduction to Ken Wilber's Integral approach, and her growing concern for humanity's relationship with the environment.
  
  
• The Invisible City: A city is more than the sum of its systems—it is more than steel, concrete, and asphalt, more than zoning laws, traffic patterns, and power grids. Some of the most important aspects of a city are the qualities we cannot see: all the cultural worldviews, personal beliefs, and hidden meanings that cannot be quantified, only experienced.
  
  
• One Size Does Not Fit All: Marilyn emphasizes the fact that we cannot take an overly generalized approach to integral city design, as each individual city is uniquely situated geographically, politically, and culturally, presenting very different challenges from city to city.
  
  
• The Human Hive: Today's cities represent an astonishing concentration of human resources, activities, values, and motivations—and as these dimensions of urban life continue to evolve, so do our cities. Now that we have the technology and the philosophy to recognize our intrinsic wholeness, how will our cities adapt to the needs of the 21st century?
  
  
• The 1-2-3 of Urban Care: Marilyn outlines the ethical imperative required by citizens, engineers, developers, managers, planners, and the like, which she summarizes as "take care of yourself, take care of each other, and take care of this place."
  
  
• The New Cuban Revolution: Jim and Marilyn talk about the fairly surprising case study Havana, Cuba offers to the sustainability discussion, having been forced by a variety of geo-political realities to change their approach to energy policy, transportation, food production, education, etc.