Embrace poetic attunement and explore what is true, beautiful, and good for its own sake to foster self-unfoldment.
Shift from technological attunement to poetic attunement to counter unsustainable practices and embrace a deeper sense of presence and wholeness.
By integrating different practices through depth ontology, clients can experience transformative journeys and discover their innate capacities for navigating life's challenges.
Deep dives
The Journey of Self-Unfoldment
In this podcast episode, the host introduces Steve March, the founder of the Elethea School of Integral Development. They discuss the shift from self-improvement to self-unfoldment, emphasizing the importance of embracing the poetic attunement and exploring what is true, beautiful, and good for its own sake. They explain how depth ontology helps integrate various practices and navigate the challenges of life. They discuss the four depths of self-contact: parts, process, presence and absence, and non-duality. By turning towards what is present at each depth, clients can experience a deeper sense of self, innate wholeness, and a flow of being.
The Significance of the Poetic Atonement
The hosts delve into the distinction between the technological and poetic atonement, as outlined by philosopher Martin Heidegger. They emphasize the necessity of shifting into the poetic atonement, which reminds us of what it means to be human, fosters a love for truth, beauty, and goodness, and counters the unsustainable practices of the technological atonement. They highlight the importance of attuning to ourselves and our experiences in a fundamentally different way, allowing for self-unfoldment and a deeper sense of presence, discovery, and wholeness.
Coordinating Practices with Depth Ontology
By embracing a depth ontology, the hosts explain how different practices can be coordinated and integrated seamlessly. They discuss the limitations of eclectic practices and the importance of responding to what is present at each depth. They emphasize the fluidity of movement between the depths of parts, process, presence and absence, and non-duality. The hosts provide insights into working with different depths and facilitating deep self contact, allowing clients to experience a transformative journey and discover their innate capacities for navigating life's challenges.
The Journey of Unfolding in Coaching Conversations
The hosts explore the journey of self-unfoldment in coaching conversations. They highlight the importance of genuine and sincere curiosity about what is true, beautiful, and good for its own sake. They explain how clients can move fluidly between different depths, experiencing relaxation of defenses, deepening of self-contact, and a sense of innate wholeness. The hosts emphasize the need to let go of control and trust the natural unfolding process, recognizing that transformation arises as a poetic act and reveals the truth, beauty, and goodness of the human spirit.
The Importance of a Broader Ontology in Therapy
Therapists are incorporating a broader ontology in their work, moving beyond focusing on processes and including parts and somatic sensing activities. This expansion is seen as necessary because the existing methods like the IFS (Internal Family Systems) approach, though effective, are incomplete on their own. As methodologies evolve, they span more depth over time, integrating new layers into the therapeutic process. The integration of parts and focusing allows individuals to dissolve or liquefy their parts into impermanent experiences, leading to deeper navigation of the felt sense and accessing a third layer of depth known as the ocean of being or presence.
The Power of Deep Contact with Our Being
Deep contact with ourselves and accessing the depth of presence allows us to realize our innate wholeness and completeness. By nourishing a loving and accepting relationship with our parts, they can melt into the river of felt sense experience, creating a transformative journey. This state of presence integrates all human virtues and serves as a profound resource for navigating the complexities of life. The current meta crisis and the urgency to find a way forward requires a deeper shift that cannot be solely addressed through exogenous tools or technologies. By learning how to be in relationship with each other, unfolding into the depths of our being, we can naturally and sustainably develop consciousness.
Steve March is the creator of an integrated ecology of practice and founder of Aletheia Coaching. In this episode we get into the history of coaching, depth and the fourth generation of coaching, going from self-improvement to self-unfoldment, Heidegger’s view on technology and attunement, depth ontology, eclecticism to integration, parts conflict in ecologies of practice, four depths of self-contact, internal family systems.
