The Integral Stage

In this episode of the Metamodels series, Bruce and Layman are joined by Ken Wilber, one of the greatest metatheorists of the past century, and a primary inspiration for many of us on this channel.  Armed with vision-logic machetes, Bruce and Layman take a trek into the Wilberness to explore the guiding drive or call behind Ken's metatheoretical work for the past 50 years; his thoughts on what he would be working on now if he was just launching his career; his understanding of the difference between sense-making and meaning-making in relation to the meta-crisis; the nature and scope of cognition, and the role of 'relationality' in his AQAL model; how to cultivate communities of integrity, and navigate the culture wars; his perspective on the paranormal and subtle energies; what the Integral community should do to continue thriving in his absence, whenever that day eventually comes; and much more.  Ken Wilber, a visionary thinker of inspired genius, is the developer of an integral “theory of everything” that embraces the truths of all the world’s great spiritual, scientific, and philosophical traditions. He is the most widely translated academic writer in America, with 25 books translated into some 30 foreign languages.  Ken Wilber currently lives in Denver, Colorado, and is still active as a philosopher, author, and teacher, with all of his major publications still in print. Often referred to as the "Einstein of consciousness studies," Ken Wilber is a preeminent scholar of the Integral stage of human development. Ken Wilber is also the founder of the Integral Institute, which is the first organization fully dedicated to advancement and application of the Integral Approach in relation to contemporary global issues. It was formed in collaboration with over 200 scholars and experts, specializing in education, politics, business, medicine, psychology, spirituality, as well as, law and criminal justice.    Integral Life website https://integrallife.com/ Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

Gregg Henriques, a professor renowned for his expertise in metapsychology and unified theory, engages in a compelling discourse about shamanism's relevance in modern society. He explores the role of shamans in healing practices and how their wisdom can help us navigate contemporary crises. The discussion highlights the intersection of ethics, psychology, and nature, advocating for a holistic understanding of health that transcends cultural barriers. They also examine the transformative power of shamanic practices and the importance of integrating spirituality with our ecological consciousness.

Bruce Alderman, Layman Pascal, & Gregg Henriques continue their trialogue on the meaning and promise of a sacred or sophianic naturalism for our time.  In this second episode, they reflect on the relevance of insights from "The Elusive I" & "An 'I' for an Elusive I" discussions for this project, and the relation of John Vervaeke's and Gregg's models to evolutionary spirituality; the meaning and significance of 'sacred' in sacred naturalism; the notion of sacred materialism or 'matarealism'; Gregg's justification systems theory and Kierkegaardian or Zen trans-justificatory stages of development; the importance and nature of centauric development, and the contrast of the centaur (or satyr) and the minotaur; guidelines for a sacred naturalist education; and much more.

Layman is joined by Forrest Landry, philosopher of Immanent Metaphysics, a great lover of trinities, a possible mentat, and through his work on human assembly and ephemeral group processes, among other things, a serious contributor to both the theory and practice of more agile, more benevolent, and more satisfying group behavior.  In their conversation, they focus on some of the core concepts of human assembly and ephemeral group process, and then broaden the lens to reflect on other topics related to the meaning crisis, spirituality, attention to the wild fringes of our knowledge systems, and much more.   Forrest Landry is a philosopher, writer, researcher, scientist, engineer, craftsman, and teacher focused on metaphysics, the manner in which software applications, tools, and techniques influence the design and management of very large scale complex systems, and the thriving of all forms of life on this planet.  His research interests and activities generally center on questions and concerns in three main related areas: 1, the manner and degree to/by which product and systems design influences culture and ecology; 2, an exploration of the nature of the interface between the organic and the inorganic, particularly as realized in the relationship between concept and computation; and 3, the manner and models by which effective personal and social governance could potentially be achieved. Immanent Metaphysics mflb.com/uvsm_8/index_uvsm_5.html Human Systems www.magic-flight.com/pub/uvsm_1/sgrp_small_group_2.pdf

Layman welcomes author, entrepreneur, and psychometric AI pioneer, Avi Tuschman, to talk about the pollution of the knowledge ecology through rampant dis- and misinformation, and how Wikipedia might be used as a model for bringing greater integrity to our social media knowledge commons.   Avi Tuschman, Ph.D., is an evolutionary anthropologist, an expert on the hidden roots of political orientation, and the author of Our Political Nature: The Evolutionary Origins of What Divides Us. He began his career in politics as the youngest advisor in the government palace in Lima, Peru. While serving as the senior writer to Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), Tuschman produced numerous articles and speeches designed to shape public opinion. In 2009, Tuschman joined hands with Toledo and seventeen other former presidents to co-write a regional policy agenda on democratic governance. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon lauded the document and called it historically unprecedented.  Avi is also a Stanford StartX entrepreneur and a pioneer in the field of Psychometric AI.   Rosenbaum's Magical Entity: How to Reduce Misinformation on Social Media ourpoliticalnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Rosenbaums-Magical-Entity_How-to-Reduce-Misinformation-on-Social-Media_by-Avi-Tuschman_August-2020.pdf Professional Website http://ourpoliticalnature.com/

Layman is joined by evolutionary enlightenment teacher, Andrew Cohen.   Andrew recounts his early experiences with his teacher, H.W.L. Poonja, and he explores with Layman the questions of what factors might serve to amplify transmission in certain people or places; the nature and role of subtle energy in relation to transmission dynamics; transmission in intersubjective or group contexts; the role of pomp and mythopoetic symbology in postmodern and metamodern transmission contexts; evolutionary enlightenment and the evolutionary impulse; the relationship dynamics of enlightened teachers with one another, and what might be done to overcome competitive ego dynamics and foster greater collaboration; Andrew's experiences with American Baul spiritual teacher, Lee Lozowick; and much more.   Andrew Cohen is an American-born, internationally known integral spiritual teacher and writer, and the founder of Evolutionary Enlightenment.  He has been teaching meditation for over three decades, and created the magazine, What is Enlightenment? -- one of the most successful publications ever in its genre.  His teaching work grapples with the challenges of bringing the revelation of enlightenment to a contemporary Western audience, integrating postmodern cultural and scientific understanding with an original and sophisticated non-dual philosophy.  After his organization, EnlightenNext, dissolved in 2013, he went on sabbatical for several years, but now has returned to teaching and is leading an online spiritual community called Manifest Nirvana.  Links and Resources   https://www.andrewcohen.com/  https://www.manifest-nirvana.com/

Layman and Bruce continue their trialogue with Alexander Bard, this time focusing in Nietzsche and nihilism -- the types of nihilism and its stages; its role in paradigm transition; its relationship to cynicism and enlightened false consciousness; the roles of the trickster, priest, and chief; Dionysian vs. Cybelian sensibilities; sutric vs. tantric orientations; transformation in light of the dynamics of process and event; and much more.    Alexander Bard is a Swedish author, lecturer, artist, songwriter, music producer, TV personality, religious and political activist, and one of the founders of the Syntheist religious movement alongside his co-author Jan Söderqvist.

Bruce Alderman sits down with Lee Nichol to discuss some of the intricacies of David Bohm's work.  In our broader integrative meta-community, and here on The Integral Stage as well, there has been a lot of concern recently with what John Vervaeke calls the 'meaning crisis.'  Back in the late 70s and 80s, dimensions of this crisis were already quite apparent to a number of thinkers, from David Bohm and Krishnamurti, to Fritjof Capra, Joanna Macy, Ken Wilber, Henryk Skolimowski, and others.  David Bohm's work is especially consonant with John Vervaeke's project.  From his position as a scientist, a quantum physicist in his case rather than a cognitive scientist, Bohm began to reflect on, and attempt to address, the breakdown in meaning he was witnessing -- the fragmentations in consciousness and culture that were leading to untold, and perhaps largely unnecessary, conflict and suffering in the world.  And like Vervaeke, for Bohm, one of the primary ways forward -- toward the cultivation of greater wisdom and insight -- was through the practice of dialogue.  Not just regular conversation, but a deeply somatically rooted process of inquiry and transjective encounter.  From fairly early on in his work on dialogue, Bohm was joined by Lee Nichol, a teacher at one of Krishnamurti's schools, and a deep thinker in his own right.  Over the years, Lee helped Bohm to refine and implement the practice of dialogue, and since Bohm's death, he has attempted to take the practice further -- most recently, through exploration of, and experiments with, Bohm's notion of holomovement or the holoflux.  In the discussion that follows, we will get into just what Bohm meant by holoflux, and how it relates to the process of dialogue, and to the deep transformative work needed to begin to address the roots of our present meaning crisis.   Entering Bohm's Holoflux free e-book Entering Bohm’s Holoflux by Lee Nichol - The Pari Center Beyond Bohm: Contemplation and Creativity course Beyond Bohm: Contemplation and Creativity - The Pari Center

For the seventh episode of the FIRE FROM HEAVEN series, Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder return for a follow-up dialogue with Layman, this time to discuss an upcoming book, and then to explore the concept of spiritual democracy; the place and dynamics of transmission in a democratized spiritual context; the importance of embodiment and ecological awareness in developing or emerging spiritual traditions; the cultivation of collaborative mutuality among spiritual teachers and adepts, not just among followers; and much more.   Saniel and Linda:  http://www.sanielandlinda.com/  Free intro video, The Heart and Waking Down in Mutuality http://www.humansuninstitute.com/the-...  Free daily ‘Unshakable Joy Immersion’ meditations on Saniel's Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/saniel.bonder

Layman Pascal and Bruce Alderman offer some riffs and reflections on John Vervaeke, Gregg Henriques, and Christopher Mastropietro's excellent 12-part dialogos on the nature and function of the self, "The Elusive I."    What kind of language can mediate between objective models and subjective experiences of the self, between science and clinical practice?  What is the dance between the elusiveness of the I and anatman, or the emptiness of the self?  How does the model of the self in The Elusive I relate to the models developed in transpersonal, integral, and esoteric psychologies?  What can Kierkegaard teach us about the nonduality of the self, and what are its farther reaches of development?  What is the role of the centaur in developing character?  Under the pressure of so many conditioning forces in culture, how might we be served by practices of self-transgression as well as self-transcendence?    Layman and Bruce consider these questions and more in developing a model of the self as a self-approximating hypersubject, a prepositional wild knot, an autopoietic living system, modulated dialogically, and described in a manner that is open both to naturalistic psychology and deep participatory spirituality... The Elusive I - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fnmp6UVafM