The Integral Stage

In THE ABS-TRACT (or, BRENT COOPER IS JESUS), Layman sits down with Brent to discuss his Abs-Tract project, the importance of critique, the alignments and tensions between Metamodernism and other adjacent communities, the "Fliminal Web," Metamodern politics and the problem with reactionaries, mindfulness and spiritual practice, and a number of Brent's recent writings.  At the end of the discussion, he offers a devastating critique of Layman that leaves him bloodied, gasping for breath, and asking for more.   Brent Cooper is the Executive Director of The Abs-Tract Organization, a meta think tank and transmedia project specializing in abstraction and meta theory/ metamodernism. Abstraction is at the root of everything in life, from mental, physical, social, and material processes, spanning various fields from philosophy to art to artificial intelligence. And it is at the root of our meta-crisis of capitalism, how finance is abstracted, and politics are abstracted.   The Abs-Tract website http://abs-tract.org/  Brent Cooper's Medium page https://medium.com/@brentcooper  Please like, subscribe, and consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

For episode 18, Layman is joined by bird-woman hybrid, Philosopher Queen and Dark Renaissancer, Raven Connolly, to talk about erotica; working with darker impulses and taboo; bravery to explore, push boundaries, and constructively embrace conflict; the archetype of the Fool; power literacy, and the social manipulation of desire; adult development, sexual maturity, and Raven's own journey towards these things; male-female polarity, and the interplay of the shell and the core; embracing the Void; the moral and social consequences of unhinging sexuality from reproduction, and reproduction from biology; gender roles, and hard and soft power; the repeated refrain in Liminal Web communities of "Where are the women?"; and much more.    Raven Connolly is a socialite in a mosaic of independent intellectual milieus, ranging from Justin Murphy’s IndieThinkers, to Peter Limberg’s The Stoa. She hosts and interviews guests at The Stoa, and is currently developing a philosophy of the ovum, secrecy, and marriage.   Please like, subscribe, and consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible!   https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage Music

Gurdjieff's teachings have had a significant impact on Layman's thought, but they are often mentioned more obliquely than directly in his conversations.  Recently, however, several people approached Layman to talk about Gurdjieff's influence on their own work, so we recorded a few conversations, as well as conversations with a few guests on other important historical visionaries, and a mini-series began to assemble itself.     For this episode, "On the Surrealistic, Sci-Fi Masterpiece, 'Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson,'" Layman meets with long-time student of the Work, Trevor Stewart, to discuss the origins, historical value, artistic influences, and unique pedagogical properties of this challenging and enigmatic book. Although they focus throughout the conversation on the novel, this isn't just a book review.  Over the course of their explorations, they open up many important and often under-appreciated aspects of Gurdjieff's life and work, and touch on how this text was written, not for its time, but for a future generation that would be better prepared for it ... perhaps our own. LUCID CUBED https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9fEwt0FSjCZ6S8_KlNAEJQ

For episode 2 of The Dreaming Arts, Layman Pascal meets with Bruce Alderman to talk about their early, formative dream experiences; the four most common approaches to working with dreams; the qualities of an integral approach to dreams; techniques for inducing lucidity in dreams; and the nature, scope, history, and practices of the Tibetan yogas of dream and sleep.   Beginning in the 1990s, Bruce worked with and studied under Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, the author of The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, and later offered several workshops on dream yoga in 2005 and 2007.   Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

For episode 1 of The Dreaming Arts, Layman Pascal meets with teacher, dream guide, and co-author of Integral Dreaming, Daniel Deslauriers, to lay some of the groundwork for this new Integral Stage series.  Together they discuss Daniel's early formative experiences with dream work; his work on developing an integral approach to dreaming; dreaming as a relational practice; the cross-cultural history and multiple methods of dream work; the somatic and neurochemical dimensions of dreaming; lucid dreaming; Freudian dream analysis; the dream lives of non-human beings; dreaming as philosophy; and much more.   Daniel Deslauriers, PhD, received his doctorate (1989) in Psychology from the University of Montreal (Quebec) and conducted research at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) and the Chronopsychology Laboratory, Carleton University (Ontario). He lived in Indonesia and has studied the religion and sacred arts of Bali, and trained in Gamelan music and Balinese dance.  He was co-founder of the Montreal Center for the Study of Dreams. Daniel co-authored Le rêve: sa nature, sa fonction et une methode d'analyse (P.U.Q., 1987), has published articles on epistemology and narrative research, and and has co-authored (with Fariba Bogzaran) Integral Dreaming (SUNY Press, 2012). His professional interests in consciousness studies include: traditional and contemporary approaches to dreams and imagination, altered states of consciousness, spiritual intelligence, and integral psychology. He is also a practitioner and teacher of Unity in Motion, a bodymind integrative practice. Integral Dreaming https://www.amazon.com/Integral-Dreaming-Holistic-Approach-Studies/dp/1438442386/ Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

Bruce and Layman assemble with other Austin Emerge attendees to reflect on their experiences, learnings, appreciations & criticisms, and thoughts for moving forward.  Joining the discussion are Roger Walsh, Ph.D.; Ivo Mensch; Nomali Perera; and Ēlen Awalom.

In Re/thinking Religion, a new Integral Stage series, John Vervaeke joins Bruce Alderman and Layman Pascal to explore possible points of contact and confluence between their respective approaches to religion and spirituality.  For the fifth episode, they reflect on an ecological reading and extension of Nietzsche, the nature of virtue and the virtues needed for navigating the meta-crisis, and the kinds of vision and practice systems necessary to contain and process the trauma of our grief for the world.

Jim Rutt joins Layman Pascal on The Integral Stage to talk about his recent essay, Musk and Moderation.   Does Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter represent a threat or opportunity for social media and the freedom of speech?  That isn't clear yet, but Jim Rutt has some advice for Musk, and he discusses it with Layman in a convivial, insult-filled exploration of the challenges of free speech in radically pluralist environments; the new oligarchs and their threat to democratic values; social media and the evolution of public squares; "decorum" moderation versus "point-of-view" moderation; opportunities to move towards GameB values; incentivizing companies to better caretake and preserve free discussion spaces; and much more.   "Musk and Moderation" essay: https://quillette.com/2022/04/27/musk-and-moderation/ Jim Rutt is the former CEO of Network Solutions. The New York Times once referred to him as “the Internet’s bad boy” due to his reputation for creative mischief. He sold Network Solutions at the peak of the Dot Com boom and then went into scientific research. Jim has been affiliated with the Santa Fe Institute since 2002, serving as Chairman from 2009 thru 2012.  Currently he runs the Jim Rutt Show podcast, and is the gun-totin' godfather of the Game B movement.  Additional Links and Resources   Jim Rutt Show Podcast https://www.jimruttshow.com/  Support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

For the fourth episode, they turn from reflection on grieving the death of God and the loss of the transcendental sacred, to grieving the state of the world and the impending loss of the immanent sacred.  They  discuss Nietzsche's insights into the pervasiveness of affective  nihilism in modern cultures, and the strengths and shortcomings of his  prescriptions; the problem of "god surrogacy," in a world that has lost  its center; the dynamics of a culture of make-believe and the  impediments to facing collective cultural shadow; the process of  grieving the state of the world and our implication in many of its  crises, environmental and otherwise; the radical challenge of moving  beyond anthropocentrism in our social organization and self conception;  and much more.

For the third episode, we continue our discussion of griefwork and reflect on the meaning of the "death of God," the factors that have forestalled many in the modern world from properly grieving this loss, and what such a grief process would look like.