The Integral Stage

For the sixth episode of the Fire from Heaven series, we are joined by Frank Marrero, a long-time student of Adi Da and the curator of several web resources on Adi Da's teachings including the incomparable Beezone.  Frank talks with Layman Pascal about his experiences of transmission with Adi Da, his understanding of the nature of consciousness, and some of the unique characteristics of the spiritual transmission process.   Additional Resources and Links:   Frank Marrero:  http://www.frankmarrero.com/ The Beezone Library:  https://www.beezone.com/  A Monkey's Tale on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Monkeys-Tale-Divine-Person-Beloved/dp/0967326591/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=A+Monkey%27s+Tale+Marrero&qid=1585389957&sr=8-1

In the second episode of this Integral Stage reboot of Point/Counterpoint, Bonnitta Roy challenges Layman Pascal again to a debate, this time on the nature and existence of free will.  Inspired by Rick Repetti's writings on free will, they take up the philosophical question of determinism vs. indeterminism, and consider what possibilities might exist beyond that impasse.   Bonnitta and Layman fail pretty badly to have an actual ("side-taking") debate, but they do have a great discussion on free will in light of complexity science; Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Reich; contemplative experience; integrative metaphysics; magickal practice, and more.

In this Integral Stage reboot of Point/Counterpoint, Bonnitta Roy challenges Layman Pascal to debate the nature of nature.   When we say "human nature," do we mean something different from "nature," or not?  Is there a gap between "us" and everything else?   Welcome to Liminal Point/Counterpoint, the game show where Layman does his best to try to disagree with someone and the results become... increasingly subtle. 

Following their individual discussions, the Integral Ufology project convenes a group discussion with panelists Sean Esbjorn-Hargens, Stuart Davis, Chris Dierkes, Layman Pascal, & Bruce Alderman for a deeper dive into the topic.

For the first episode of our Sexuality Series, Layman Pascal talks with Paths of Transformation tantra teachers, Jon and Rose Skelton Pearson.  Together, they explore a wide range of topics, including the stages of sexuality, sex as practice and conscious play, the concept of masculine-feminine polarity, working with thresholds and subtle energy, preparatory steps for tantric practice and conscious sexual relationship, and even more arousing topics than you can shake a stick at.   Rose has a background in massage therapy and also as a teacher of ‘Heart in Motion’ therapeutic dance. She began her tantric journey in 2007 and has studied with John Hawken since 2014, when she undertook a year-long training in Tantra Massage. Since that time, she has facilitated workshops both in the UK and Australasia as a teacher of the Paths of Transformation.  Currently she lives in Brighton, UK, and offers workshops and sessions with her husband, Jon.  J on’s experience is a braid woven of many strands. As a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, he trained, lectured, supervised and practiced for 20 years, from the Manchester Institute for Psychotherapy in the UK. He has practiced and taught yoga and meditation since 1983 and ran the Calderdale Yoga Centre for eight years. He has undertaken extensive trainings in Buddhism and Western Hermeticism. Active in Ken Wilber’s Integral Movement since the 1990s, he is an Associate Integral Life Coach.  He has been a student of John Hawken since 2017 and is a Teacher of the Paths of Transformation, which he considers to be the most integrated, effective, and enjoyable system of psycho-spiritual development for anybody wishing to explore what it is to be a human being in the 21st Century. He brings a deep knowledge, warmth and humor to the workshops and individual sessions he offers with Rose, his wife. Shiva Shakti Embodied Awakening https://shivashaktiembodiedawakening.com/

For this special Integral Stage episode, Layman meets with process philosopher and theologian, Andrew Davis, to discuss the import and impact of Whitehead's thought on contemporary philosophy; his nondual (panentheistic) conception of the relationship of God and man; the priority of becoming over being; the ontological status of value; the nature of religion; the importance of contemplative practice, psychedelic experience, and the cultivation of flow states for the embodiment of process insights; process cosmology and the question of the multiverse; and much more.   Andrew M. Davis is a philosopher, theologian, and scholar of world religions. He holds B.A. in Philosophy and Theology, an M.A. in Interreligious Studies, and a Ph.D. in Religion and Process Philosophy from Claremont School of Theology (CST). He is a poet, aphorist and author or editor of four books including How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs (2018, with Philip Clayton); Propositions in the Making: Experiments in a Whiteheadian Laboratory (2019, with Roland Faber and Michael Halewood); Depths as Yet Unspoken: Whiteheadian Excursions in Mysticism, Multiplicity, and Divinity (2020, with Roland Faber); and Mind, Value, and Cosmos: On the Relational Nature of Ultimacy (Lexington).    For more about Andrew’s work and research interests, visit his website at www.andrewmdavis.info   Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

For episode 22, Layman welcomes David Fuller, the founder of Rebel Wisdom, to the Integral Stage to discuss the troubling lack of high-level discussion and informed sensemaking around charged social or foreign policy issues, even in our purported "higher discourse" communities.  David leads with a rant on the contentious and often misinformed debates about Syria, and together they explore the challenges of informed and responsible sensemaking in our contemporary media environment -- where we all frequently suffer from the lack of access, time, and/or skill to meaningfully navigate our polluted and war-torn information ecologies.   Throughout the discussion, David also reviews the "journey" of Rebel Wisdom over the past several years, from an early focus on Jordan Peterson and the IDW to a broadened field of engagement within the 'meta-community,' and answers some common criticisms about the platform's conservative leanings.  David Fuller is a multi-skilled journalist and filmmaker - having worked for the UK's top news programme Channel 4 News for ten years as reporter, producer and director. He was the first mainstream TV journalist to cover the renaissance of psychedelic science back in 2008, and has consistently focused on the revolutionary ideas and technologies on the fringes of the culture, and attempted to shift the cultural conversation. He began making documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4 in 2011, primarily for the Emmy award-winning series ‘Unreported World’. His documentary ‘The Invisible People’, about the plight of disabled Syrian refugees in Lebanon was shortlisted for the "Royal Television Society awards in 2015. This experience, combined with his intense interest in the evolution of ideas and philosophy (he studied philosophy at University in Manchester) – led to the birth of Rebel Wisdom – through which he and his partner, Alexander Beiner, have explored philosophical, transformational and cultural topics, making films about the problems with Sensemaking, the crisis of Meaning, and the necessity for inner growth. He also blogs frequently about politics and the inner world, and has written for publications including the Guardian and Buzzfeed.   Professional website http://davidfuller.tv/  Rebel Wisdom website https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/

In SWEDENBORG FOR A TIME BETWEEN WORLDS, Layman meets again with political advisor and pastor, Rich Tafel, this time to discuss Rich's deep personal and family connections to the Christian mystical visionary, Emanuel Swedenborg; the proto-integral nature of some of Swedenborg's teachings; the wedding of mysticism and social engagement, and the ways that Rich has tried to realize this in his own life; the challenges of working within what appears to be a dying lineage; drawing on the gifts of tradition while facing an open and ambiguous religious future; how the inner practices and experiences of his Swedenborgian path have sustained him and helped him to deal with the shortcomings and disappointments of mainstream Christendom;  and much more.  Rich Tafel is a transformative leader in the areas of faith, politics and social impact.  As the Managing Director of Raffa Social Capital Advisors he matches impact investors to vetted social ventures. Partnering with investors his team provides back office support, public policy and strategic coaching to social ventures. Rich is also the Director of the American Project a new Democracy Fund supported effort to bring together leading thinkers to imagine new solutions to America’s broken political system. The project is housed at Pepperdine School of Public Policy. Tafel is also pastor of Church of the Holy City in Washington DC, where he is launching a spiritual entrepreneur hub. Tafel is the founder of Log Cabin Republicans. Before moving to Washington DC, Tafel was Adolescent Health Director for the State of MA and served as Assistant Minister at Harvard’s Chapel.   Professional website https://www.richtafel.us/  Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

In the third episode of our Integral Authors series, Layman Pascal talks with Theo Horesh about his new book, The Fascism This Time.  Theo reflects on the similarities of the rightwing populist movements sweeping the globe to earlier fascist uprisings, and explores together with Layman the integral ways we might understand their emergence and respond to the deep challenges to modern democracy that they represent.   The Fascism This Time https://www.amazon.com/Fascism-this-Time-Global-Democracy/dp/0578732939

You may have noticed that, as with "Integral" back in the day, the label "Metamodern," is a bit of contested real estate. It appears to mean something pretty specific to the cultural metamodernists, Vermeulen and van den Akker, who first applied it back in 2010 to certain emergent post-postmodern sensibilities in art and media.  But does it mean the same thing to the Hanzi Freinachtian political metamodernists, or to the integrally influenced Metamodern Spirituality crowd?   In this special Integral Stage dialogue, Layman Pascal meets to speak -- and, perchance, debate -- with Metamodern cultural theorist Greg Dember about the historical emergence and cultural situatedness of the term, the validity of its accumulating associations and uses, and possible ways forward to avoid misuses of the term while still allowing for proper evolution, expansion, and development.  They take time to carefully distinguish it from postmodernism, to explore a number of artworks and films that most clearly embody it, and to consider the multiple forms of spirituality to which it might give rise.   What Is Metamodernism? (by Greg Dember & Linda Ceriello) https://whatismetamodern.com What is Metamodern? (YouTube channel) https://www.youtube.com/c/WhatIsMetamodern  After Postmodernism: Eleven Metamodern Methods in the Arts https://medium.com/what-is-metamodern/after-postmodernism-eleven-metamodern-methods-in-the-arts-767f7b646cae Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage