The Integral Stage

Layman welcomes Andrés Bernal, a lecturer at CUNY Queens College, to discuss Modern Monetary Theory -- how he became interested in it, its major claims, its main proponents and detractors, and what it would take to begin to put it in action.  Andrés discusses his work with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; the development and implementation of the Green New Deal; the potential for South American countries to lead the way in monetary and economic reform; the role of AQAL, existential philosophy, and spiritual practice in his activism and the formation of his ideas; and much more.  Andrés was born in Bogota, Colombia and immigrated to the United States as a child. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley with a focus on Existentialism, Political Economy, and Social Theory; and a Master of Arts from the University of San Diego's School of Leadership and Educational Sciences with a specialization in group learning and development and organizational leadership under the mentoring of renowned scholar-practitioner Zachary Green of Group Relations International.   Andrés has over a decade's worth of experience in youth leadership development and community building and serves as the Director of Political Education for the Young Progressives of America. In the Summer of 2017, Andrés began supporting the Congressional campaign of former colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a policy advisor and organizer. His work facilitated the incorporation of the Federal Jobs Guarantee policy onto the official campaign platform and helped in the vetting process of various academic resources. Alexandria would go on to become the youngest woman in history to be elected to the United States Congress.   Currently, Andrés resides in New York City where he is a Lecturer of Urban Studies at CUNY Queens College and Doctoral student at The New School For Public Engagement, Division of Policy Management and Environment. His research focuses on the Green New Deal as a site of political communication and policy analysis. Andrés is a leading voice and proponent associated with the heterodox school of economic thought known as Modern Monetary Theory. He is a Research Fellow at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity and a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Missouri Kansas City Department of Economics. https://www.andres-bernal.com/

Layman, Bruce, and Gregg Henriques convene for part one of a long-form dialogue on the meaning and promise of a sacred or sophianic naturalism for our time.  In this first episode, they explore some provisional framings of sacred naturalism, from Integral and UTOK perspectives; the place of consciousness in a sacred naturalist account; the tree, coin, and garden elements of UTOK; the importance of Dionysian as well as Apollonian approaches to the topic; ecological ethics and embodied practices; and much more.

In this episode of the Integral Stage's Fire from Heaven series, Layman continues to explore the nature, significance, perils and possibilities of "spiritual transmission" -- this time with Waking Down in Mutuality teacher-transmitters, Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder. http://www.sanielandlinda.com/

In this episode of The Future Faces of Spirit, Andrew Cohen joins Bruce Alderman & Layman Pascal for a trialogue on his pioneering efforts in developing an integrative, evolutionary spirituality that is responsive to the unique challenges of our times.   Andrew is candid about the successes and shortcomings of his earlier work with the EnlightenNext community, and focuses in our conversation here on working productively with the genuine insights, breakthroughs, and lessons learned over the past 30 years, emphasizing the ongoing importance of spiritual awakening, the nature of intersubjective nonduality, the challenges of our contemporary meaning crisis, the indispensability of clear intention and earnestness in transformative practice, and the value of an evolutionary understanding and a metaphysics of becoming for engaging *with* the world instead of pursuing a mystical retreat from it.   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.   https://www.andrewcohen.com https://www.manifest-nirvana.com/

For the Integral Stage Author Series, Layman is joined by Lonny Jarrett to discuss his new book, Deepening Perspectives on Chinese Medicine.   The conversation is rich and wide-ranging, touching on Lonny's early fascination with the Chinese classics as a child, and his concurrent educational journeys in Western science and medicine, Chinese medicine and martial arts,  and entheogenic experimentation and the contemplative arts.  Together they explore Western and Eastern conceptions of health, the importance of care for the body and its organ systems in cultivating integral development, the nature of chi and the chakra system, the potential emergence of a truly integral, world medicine that integrates the strengths of East and West, and much more.   Lonny is recognized worldwide as a leading practitioner, author, scholar & teacher of East Asian medicine. Throughout his career, he has been devoted to advancing the practice of this medicine.  Lonny has been practicing Acupuncture and Herbology in Stockbridge, Massachusetts since 1986. He holds Master’s Degrees in Neurobiology (University of Michigan) and Acupuncture (Traditional Acupuncture Institute) and studied Contemporary Pulse Diagnosis with Dr. Leon Hammer for 10 years.   https://lonnyjarrett.com/

Layman and Bruce enter into a trialogue on mandalas & mandalic thinking -- with contemporary syntheist philosopher, author & driving force between the Intellectual Deep Web, Alexander Bard.  This was an emergent topic from our original interview with Alexander for the Future Faces of Spirit series.  

To shake things up a little on The Integral Stage, we are dropping down a few chakras to explore all the ins and outs of awakened sexuality, conscious relationship, and sensuously embodied spiritual practice.  For the 9th episode of the Sexuality Series, sexuality and relationship coach, Pamela Joy, joins Layman Pascal to talk about desire & desire discrepancy; the importance of pleasure; working with pleasure pathways; experimentation; the nature and nurture of sexual preferences; shame, internal consent, and permission; and much more.   https://www.downtothere.com/

The Integral Stage has done several interviews with Gregg Henriques (also Layman & Bruce have both been guests on Gregg's podcast) -- generally focusing on his model of psychology and his more general attempt to produce a unified theory of knowledge (UTOK).  This time Layman and Gregg sit down to explore the concept of interpersonal resonance, the deepening of human and emotional relationships within the broader spaces of integrative metatheory communities & the ways we might be able to blend more deeply. 

In this episode of the Integral Stage's "Future Faces of Spirit" series, Layman & Bruce sit down with Spanish transpersonal psychologist and participatory philosopher Jorge Ferrer to discuss altered states, entities, sexuality and methods for assimilating peak experiences. 

The Integral Stage's "Metapodcast" series focuses on podcasting podcaster, hosting hosting & exploring the people who are trying to bring forth higher, deeper & more transformative perspectives through online medium.  My first conversation with Jim Rutt (former CEO of Network Solutions, former chairman of the Santa Fe Institute) focused on his ban from facebook and the problems surrounding higher complexity discussions and low-complexity algorithms.  In this second chat, we explore the alternative social network he's put together for the "Game B" community and the stages and facets of the possible future that sees unfolding.   https://www.jimruttshow.com/