The Integral Stage

The queer, liminal, and shamanic all point in their own ways to working fruitfully with 'betweens' and 'crossings,' and yet the possible relations between these worlds and their sensibilities are seldom discussed in the liminal / metamodern communities. Layman sits down with Rachel Hayden to explore these overlaps and to consider what might follow from their more conscious integration. Rachel tends to fret about what to write on a bio. Fortunately, her Personal Medicine of doing tai chi to become calmer is helping her at the moment. She has long been fascinated with mind-body practices, and uses many of these regularly - tai chi, Eastern and Western meditation and philosophy, and karate, to name a few. These have gotten her through some rough patches, kept her generally healthy, and pointed her toward greater insight and meaning. One of her other favorite things is music - listening, playing guitar, singing, and writing songs. Three years ago Rachel switched from being primarily a bodywork therapist and co-op grocery manager to being primarily a peer supporter. It has become part of who she is, and is probably the job she has loved the most, being with people through life's ups and downs. Being a queer trans woman herself, she often works with LGBTQIA+ people and others who are marginalized by society. Rachel became a CPMC to deepen and expand her approach to peer support, and help people find connections to their inner wisdom. She has a profound faith in authentic Personal Medicine, having realized its power in her own life. Remember to like, subscribe, and consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to the Limited Hangout guys, Shai Newman, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!

21st CENTURY HUNTER GATHERERS For episode 7, Layman sits down in the Mumbai branch of the Liminal Café with author and podcaster, Hemant Gupta, to talk about his life and work - in particular, his writings and reflections on the new 'hunter gatherer' roles many of us find ourselves in, in an information ecology which is still in its wilderness stages; and a distinctive, quadratic heuristic he uses to nuance and think through complexity. Together they discuss what good next steps might be to bring a more globally expansive liminal community into being. Hemant Gupta is an author, illustrator, and podcaster residing in Mumbai, India. Meditations of a 21st Century Hunter Gatherer book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRWQ3WHS https://www.youtube.com/@ThisJourneyDialogues

For the third episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with Fionn Wright, the creator of an integrative metatheory that draws on Chinese as well as Western integral models, to explore how AI might be leveraged to develop ecosystems of tools and practices for midwifing a Metamodern culture through and beyond the looming poly-crisis. They discuss the importance of tuning these tools, or at least the use of the tools, towards the cultivation of wisdom, and Fionn makes a case for focusing on the benefits this technology can deliver, and the developmental roles it can serve -- without ignoring or downplaying its real existential and social risks as well. Fionn is the Wellbeing Head at Qineticare. Having grown up in a family business in Europe and Africa, he earned his Bachelor in International Business from UBC while learning to speak fluent Chinese. Seeing gaps in Shanghai’s traditional market for corporate training, children’s education and language learning, Fionn founded and ran 3 innovative coaching companies, and led a team to develop the first Holistic Wellness Programs in China. Fionn is also trained in Neuroscience for Coaching, NLP Master Practitioner, Mindfulness-based Somatic Therapy, STAGES Developmental Coaching, Leadership Circle Assessment, Business Coaching, Transformative Leadership and with a Masters in Leadership Coaching, he now teaches over 40 types of meditation. Personal website https://fionnwright.com Universifying website https://universifying.com Qineticare website https://qineticare.com/ Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

Layman sits down with Steve March, the founder of Aletheia coaching, to talk about the challenges and rewards of reading Heidegger; his radical focus on the phenomenology of the "everyday" world; his concept of breakdowns in obviousness, and the opportunities such events afford us individually and collectively; being-unto-death; the influence of Heidegger and the concept of 'ontological design' on the Aletheia coaching method; the intersection of technological and poetic attunements in this time of AI; Heidegger's problematic history and associations; and much more. Steve March became a professional coach in 2000, and in 2003, he became a coach trainer, leading coaching certification courses in the United States, Asia, and Europe. He is the founder and originator of Alethia Coaching, which offers a new paradigm in self-development that helps people move away from a focus on 'improvement', and instead uses a methodology that allows us to 'unfold' into the essence of who we already are. Aletheia website: https://integralunfoldment.com/

Trevor Jang and Lee White, co-founders of ChinookX Technologies, are champions of Indigenous data sovereignty in Canada. They share insights on the vital intersection of technology and traditional knowledge, emphasizing the need to decolonize the internet. The duo discusses how Indigenous governance can lead the way in shaping sustainable data systems and empowering communities. They also delve into the ethical interplay of artificial intelligence and Indigenous values, showcasing how blending these perspectives can foster resilience and support nation rebuilding.

Layman is joined by Matt Segall, this time to discuss his new book, Crossing the Threshold: Etheric Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead. Matt describes his book as "a philosophical experiment in thinking, feeling, and willing beyond the transcendental threshold of Immanuel Kant's critical philosophy" -- an exercise in opening to a "descendental aesthetic ontology," which places us back into participatory relation with reality, and roots us again in cosmic creativity. In thinking together with Schelling, Whitehead, Nietzsche, and other philosophers, Matt is interested in showing that there are resources for transformative spiritual practice, for a new shamanism, here but often overlooked within the Western philosophical tradition. Matthew D. Segall, PhD, received his doctoral degree in 2016 from the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. His dissertation was titled Cosmotheanthropic Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead. It grapples with the limits to knowledge of reality imposed by Kant's transcendental form of philosophy and argues that Schelling and Whitehead's process-oriented approach (described in his dissertation as a "descendental" form of philosophy) shows the way across the Kantian threshold to renewed experiential contact with reality. He teaches courses on German Idealism and process philosophy for the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. He blogs regularly at footnotes2plato.com. Crossing the Threshold book https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Thres... Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/ Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the LIMITED HANGOUT guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!

Jill Nephew, founder of Inqwire, delves into the illusions surrounding artificial intelligence and the urgent need for ethical considerations in AI development. She critiques the hype around large language models and emphasizes their lack of true consciousness. Discussing the cognitive costs of over-reliance on technology, Jill warns against reducing human experiences to mere data points. The conversation also touches on the potential dangers of AI as blind acceptance could lead us astray, urging a balance between algorithmic insights and genuine human wisdom.

Layman meets with the co-creators of the we{collective} social media platform, James Weir and Laurence Currie-Clark, to talk about their vision for a collectively owned, holarchically-organized, play-and-learning focused social media platform, and to reflect on the technological and AI revolutions that appear to be upon us. WeCo social media platform https://weco.io/ Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/ Please like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

Layman meets with Dr. Karen Jaenke, a holistic educator and dreamworker, to talk about the somatic dimensions of dreamwork, the nature of the subtle body, the importance of dreamwork for navigating the metacrisis, and her unique integration of the insights and practices of Eugene Gendlin, Arnold Mindell, and Robert Bosnak. Dr. Jaenke is the former Chair of the Consciousness and Transformative Studies program and former Director of the Ecotherapy Certificate program at John F. Kennedy University. From 2001-2008, she served as Dissertation Director and Core Faculty at the Institute of Imaginal Studies. Currently an Executive Editor of ReVision: Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, she has edited and published journals on the topics of Imaginal Psychology, Shamanism and the Wounded West, and Earth Dreaming, as well as numerous articles on these topics. In 2000, she founded Dreamhut Consulting to offer consulting services for dissertation and thesis writing, dreamwork, hypnotherapy and mentoring. Her dissertation was titled: Personal Dreamscape as Ancestral Landscape. Her creative vision synthesizes dreamwork, indigenous ways of knowing, subtle body awareness and Gaian consciousness. Dr. Jaenke's professional website www.dreamhut.org Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/ As always, remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

For the inaugural episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with Soryu Forall, an ordained Zen monk and the head teacher at the Monastic Academy in Vermont, to talk about the ethical and spiritual challenges that confront us with the advent of this civilization-transforming, and potentially civilization-destroying, technology. Soryu discusses what he sees as an emerging (fanatical) religion of data-ism, the compulsion to summon a digital superintelligence or deity at all costs, and the existential risks this poses; and together they explore the concept of the cyborgregore, and the potential to build an Artificial Wisdom system to temper, balance, and constructively direct AI. Soryu Forall has decades of intensive monastic training, a degree in Economics from Williams College, and extensive experience in social and environmental justice. As a teen, upon learning that monasteries are built for such a purpose, he traveled to Japan in order to study suffering and the end of suffering. Forall was ordained in 1998 at Sogen Temple under the tutelage of the Zen Master Shodo Harada. After training at Sogen Temple for five years, Forall trained further at Hemis Gompa, a Kagyud Tibetan monastery in northern India; Xue Feng Si, an ancient Ch’an monastery in eastern China; and at the Sariputta Ambedkar Monastery in southern India, where he served as head monk (Ambedkar Buddhism is an influential sect that defines spiritual training as social engagement and economic justice). While there, he led peaceful protests and organized community efforts to overcome the injustice of the caste system. He also helped to raise thirty boys with the understanding that all are inconceivably valuable, regardless of family circumstance. Forall, a native Vermonter, returned to his home state in 2008 and has continued to fight against systemic injustice and promote youth empowerment. He has created successful curriculum for mindfulness in education, trained professional mindfulness teachers all over the world, worked with high level athletes and business people on using mindfulness for high performance, and founded the Center for Mindful Learning, where he currently serves as President and head teacher. At the Monastic Academy Soryu dedicates his life to creating the next generation of awakened leaders. The Monastic Academy https://www.monasticacademy.com/ Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/