The Integral Stage

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 tenth episode, Bruce, Layman, and John reflect on the groundbreaking work of 4E cognitive scientists, Francisco Varela and Evan Thompson, especially their perspectives on the role of the imaginal in perception, healing, self-transformation, and the development of wisdom; the five criteria for the wise use of the imaginal in education, therapy, and religious practice; the need to rehabilitate the 'place' of the imaginal in common understanding; and the potential risks of the exploitative commodification and commercialization of the fruits of the cognitive scientific study of religion and spirituality (along the lines of "McMindfulness"), and how that can be avoided with a fuller, more integral understanding and practice of cognitive science.   John Vervaeke is a cognitive scientist, a professor of psychology at Toronto University, and the creator of the popular YouTube series, "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis."

For the 30th episode of the Integral Stage Authors series, Layman sits down with evolutionary enlightenment teacher, Andrew Cohen, to talk about his most recent book, "When Shadow Meets the Bodhisattva: The Challenging Transformation of a Modern Guru."   Ten years after his public fall from grace and the dissolution of his spiritual community, Andrew talks about the lessons learned -- his understanding of what went wrong; his confrontation with shadow and the need to take responsibility for what transpired; the shame and regret of failing those who had counted on him; the wise counsel he sought and received from others; and the personal and spiritual insights, and the new vision of spirituality, he developed through this process.   Andrew Cohen is an American-born, internationally known 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   When Shadow Meets the Bodhisattva https://www.amazon.com/When-Shadow-Meets-Bodhisattva-Transformation/dp/1644115905/ Personal Website https://www.andrewcohen.com/

For the 29th episode of the Integral Stage Authors series, Layman is joined by friend of the channel and creator of the Unified Theory of Knowledge (UTOK), Dr. Gregg Henriques, to talk about his new book, "A New Synthesis for Solving the Problem of Psychology: Addressing the Enlightenment Gap."   In their dialogue, Gregg clarifies how the new synthesis he proposes critically examines mainstream academic psychology and highlights its fragmented nature; offers a new vision for the field, a unified system of knowledge for understanding both animal and human behavior; and explores how this vision makes sense of the relations between matter, mind, and social and scientific knowledge.  What is the Enlightenment Gap, how is it related to the hard problem of consciousness, and how does UTOK reorganize the onto-epistemological field to make room for genuine progress and consilience?  What impacts will this new model have on the practice of therapy?   Dr. Henriques is a Full Professor and a core faculty member in James Madison University's Combined-Integrated Clinical and School Psychology Doctoral Program.  He is also a leader in the Unified Psychotherapy Movement, which attempts to use meta-theory to achieve an effective integrative scheme for the various psychotherapy paradigms.   https://www.amazon.com/Synthesis-Solving-Problem-Psychology-Enlightenment/dp/3031184920

Layman meets with the founding framer of The Reconstitution project, Ari Allen, to talk about the genesis and goals of The Reconstitution: a collective experiment in revising the United States' Constitution and drafting a series of amendments responsive to some of the deepest challenges confronting the country, its people, and its governing bodies:  polarization and corruption, the influence of money in elections, limitations to meaningful participation in government and self-governance, imbalances in representation, the status of corporations and the need to address corporate influence on democratic process, the role of advertising in a free society, and much more. Ari reflects on the historical justification for such an experiment, what he has learned through convening this imaginal Constitutional Convention, and how the resulting document might be used going forward, to foster dialogue, stimulate creative thinking, and hopefully catalyze meaningful change.   Ari Allen earned his JD from Georgetown Law and has worked at Sidley Austin, representing clients on Capitol Hill during the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform.  He holds a Masters in Psychology degree from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and currently works in the education technology industry.  He is also a writer, philosopher, and a DJ.   The Reconstitution Project https://www.thereconstitution.com/  Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom!   https://hello.fathom.fm/  2Subscribe, 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, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!

Spiritual teacher, Nikola Anandamali Ristic, returns to talk about his new book, "Spirit X: Playful Presence," a practical, experientially oriented follow-up to "Spirit X."  This spiritual guidebook consists of 10 meditations, 17 prayers and 10 contemplations, and is enriched with images to evoke reading with the whole being and the Heart.   Layman and Nikola explore the meaning and importance of playfulness in one's spiritual approach; the practical differences between meditation, prayer, and contemplation; the influence of Ken Wilber's work on his teaching and vision; working with fixation and negativity; simple methods for contacting presence and intrinsic happiness; the role of "place" and ecological grounding in one's spiritual practice; and much more.   2Nikola Anandamali Ristic is a Serbia-born, California-based author, philosopher and spiritual teacher. After earning his Ph.D in philosophy and gaining rich and vast life and spiritual experience, he has fully focused on creating Spirit X, a vision of spirituality for our simultaneously challenging and inspiring times.  Nikola offers talks, classes, workshops, retreats, online content and programs, and private sessions.  He lives in Santa Cruz, CA with his wife Shawna, son Neven, cat Luna and pet rock Oso.   Professional website https://www.anandamali.com/  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 returning guest, Aydan Connor, to discuss the global problem of food waste, the shortcomings of the modern food production system, Aydan's experience in the craft beer industry, and his thoughts on personal and systemic steps we can take to reduce waste and promote greater abundance of healthy, locally sourced foods.     Follow us on Fathom!   https://hello.fathom.fm/  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, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!

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 9th episode, Bruce, Layman and John continue the themes from the previous discussion and focus in on the roles of art and the imaginal in state training and cross-cultural mediation; the question of normativity and rationality in ritual and contemplative aesthetics; the importance of the participatory dimension of art, and the need to emphasize shifts in tonality, rhythm, time, and structured performance, beyond the typical emphasis on the visual, in religious art and practice.  They also touch on the broader social roles (to be) played by integral spirituality or the religion that is not a religion.   John Vervaeke is a cognitive scientist, a professor of psychology at Toronto University, and the creator of the popular YouTube series, "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis."   After Socrates playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIJuIN6kUcU&list=PLND1JCRq8Vuj6q5NP_fXjBzUT1p_qYSCC&index=1&t=0s Voices with Vervaeke: Metamodern Wisdom about Religion with Layman Pascal: https://youtu.be/bPy6W-c5_9Y  Vervaeke and Hall Begin to Design the Religion That is Not a Religion: https://youtu.be/nl48eFZGRq8  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, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!

For the twenty-seventh episode of the Integral Stage's Author Series, Layman meets with author and artist, Brian George, to talk about his book, Masks of Origin: Regression in the Service of Omnipotence; about speaking the unspeakable; and about his creative life and work in general.  From the book description:  "Brian George’s debut collection of personal essays invites the reader on a journey beyond the normal categories of space, time, and narrative structure, toward a further shore of multidimensional and more-than-human experience.  These are 'essays' in the sense of attempts or explorations of a subject which is too vast, and too profound, yet also, paradoxically, too familiar (to some deepest part of us) to be exhausted by any one expression or approach. As George puts it, 'The book is not quite a collection of essays, or the fragments of an autobiography, or a record of inter-dimensional journeys, or a work of metaphysics, or a sociopolitical critique, or an attempt to formulate a contemporary mythology—although it has elements of all of these.'"   Brian George is the author of five books of poetry and two books of essays.  He is a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art, an exhibited artist and former art teacher at several Boston area middle schools, a former member of the Boston Visionary Cell, and a former organizer for Evolver Boston. He was a founding member of MAAP SPACE, a multimedia performance series, as well as of the Revolving Arts Salon and the current Cedar Square Arts Salon. He often tells people first discovering his work that his goal is not so much to be read as to be re-read, and then lived with.  Links   Masks of Origin book https://untimelybooks.com/book/masks-of-origin/ Masks of Origin blog https://masksoforigin.blogspot.com/ Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!

What is Black Metamodernism?  What distinguishes metamodernism from modernism, postmodernism, and hypermodernity?  In this special Integral Stage episode, Layman sits down with metamodernist thinker and writer, Germane Marvel, to explore these questions, and to take a deep dive into Germane's thoughts on diunital cognition; the role of emotional intelligence in both/and thinking; nihilism and the meaning crisis; the concepts of meta-existence and metatheology; metamodern spirituality, Taoism, and Ifa; the nature of light surpremacy; and the contributions of the global south to the resolution of the postmodern aporia.   Germane Marvel's Medium page https://medium.com/@germanemarvel    Layman's write-up of Marvel's work https://www.whatisemerging.com/profiles/black-metamodernism Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/  Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage  Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!

For the twenty-sixth episode of the Integral Stage's Author Series, Layman sits down again with Middle Way philosopher and author, Robert M. Ellis, this time to discuss his new book, Absolutization -- the first book in a planned 9-part series on the Middle Way.   Layman and Robert explore the essential arguments of the book; the many ways absolutizing tendencies in thought show up psychologically, culturally, and politically; and the relationship of Middle Way philosophy to integral postmetaphysics and Layman's Metaphysics of Adjacency.     From the book's description:  "What do dogma, repression, and conflict have in common? They all result from human judgement blocked from wider understanding by a false assumption of completeness. This book puts forward a theory of absolutization, bringing together a multidisciplinary understanding of this central flaw in human judgement, and what we can do about it. This approach, drawing on Buddhist thought and practice, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, embodied meaning, and systems theory, offers a rigorous introduction to absolutization as the central problem addressed in Middle Way Philosophy, which is a synthetic approach developed by the author over more than twenty years in a series of books. It challenges disciplinary boundaries as well as offering a substantial framework for practical application."   Robert M. Ellis is a philosopher, writer and teacher. He has produced a series of books about the Middle Way, understood as a principle of judgement that throws us onto experience by avoiding absolutes, both positive and negative. He has also founded the Middle Way Society to support the development and practice of the Middle Way understood in this way, and he has recently opened a retreat center, Tirylan House, in rural South Wales.   Absolutization on publisher's website: https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/absolutisation/ Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/  Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage  Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!