.IntegralNaked.org

Jim Garrison - Politics in the 21st Century

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:52:48 -0500

Politics in the 21st Century. Part 1. Flirting With Disaster.

In this fascinating and provocative interview, Ken and Jim Garrison discuss Wisdom University, the explosive rise of the "cultural creatives" around the world, the need for developmental studies in contemporary politics, and the seemingly unavoidable catastrophe the world may be heading toward....

click here for free sample! (right-click to download)

Who: Jim Garrison is, among other things, the chairman and president of the State of the World Forum, which he cofounded with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1995. The State of the World Forum (SWF) is often thought of as a "shadow UN," in that it is the largest forum of world leaders outside of the United Nations. From Margaret Thatcher to Ted Turner, from the Queen of Jordan to Desmond Tutu, from Jimmy Carter to George Bush Sr., all have been part of the extraordinary dialogue that is the State of the World Forum. Jim is also the president and chairman of Wisdom University, a higher-education institution that offers a "commitment to personal and professional renewal" by "nurturing and addressing the whole person."

Summary: "The planet," Jim Garrison is fond of saying, "is on a collision course with itself." The monumental challenges of the 21st century seem dire indeed, almost insurmountable in many ways. And to make matters worse, only a portion of the population has the developmental capacity to fully recognize the complexity of our collective problems, while the majority of the world remains blissfully unaware of the impending catastrophe we seem to be heading toward. And many of those who can see feel utterly helpless to do anything about it, unable to find their own ecologically sensitive values reflected in the culture at large. And so they anxiously await what many perceive as the inevitable, a tsunami of global crises to wash over us all, rendering the fruits of human civilization undone in a single fell swoop.

And yet, isn't it too soon to write the future off to these sorts of doom and gloom scenarios? After all, aren't we finally beginning to see some sort of shift for the positive, a shift toward more progressive attitudes and more effective strategies for the future? Many in the U.S. are experiencing a real sense of rekindled hope and civic potency—especially in light of the Democratic primaries, which seems to be galvanizing a great number of people toward much deeper engagement with the political process. Researchers such as Paul Ray are reporting the rise of an exciting new demographic in the world within a population he refers to as the "cultural creatives." While there is still some debate over how to slice up this data or what conclusions to draw from Ray's statistics, it is clear that the number of "cultural creatives" is increasing at a fairly explosive rate, currently representing about 26% of the American voting populace. But many of these "bright greens" (as they are often called) continue to struggle to have their voices heard by the movers and shakers of world politics, and fear that unless they find a way to constellate themselves into a viable political voice, the slumbering giant of humanity will continue to sleepwalk ever closer to the precipice of ecological collapse.

If there is one thing to be said for certain about the human race, it is that we will always find a way to actualize every ounce of potential available to us, in whatever form that potential takes—whether it is the potential for barbarism, for savagery, for merciless destruction, degradation, and depravity; or whether it is the potential for transcendence, for compassion and idealism, for the heights of creativity and noble vision—we are all of these, simultaneously, all at once. We move in every direction possible, though always with a slight-but-significant tilt toward greater depth, freedom, and fullness. The current condition of humanity has been described as growing "better and better, worse and worse, faster and faster," which only makes some sort of breaking point seem even more inevitable, and the need for a developmental understanding of the human condition more crucial.

"All the world's a stage," history's most cherished bard tells us, "and all the men and women merely players." But what Shakespeare could not have possibly known at the time he wrote these words is that the world is not a single monolithic stage, but is in fact a graduating succession of stages, each built upon the other—each with its own set of players, its own set of shared values, and its own lens through which the world is interpreted. Likewise, the game of global politics is not to be played upon a single flat chessboard, but on many boards simultaneously—like a game of "Asimovian Hyperchess" in which moves are played across multiple geometric planes simultaneously. This is how politics in the 21st century must be approached, taking into account all of the different developmental levels human beings grow through (e.g. magic, mythic, rational, postmodern, and integral), while bringing as much healthy balance as possible to the individuals and cultures who exist at each of these particular levels. And only a genuinely integral analysis of world politics can promise the sort sanity and stability our yet-unborn progeny prays for us to find, before it's too late....

"You can't get 'better and better, worse and worse, faster and faster' without something going 'pop' sooner or later, in a way that would be catastrophic...."

Click here for full dialogue!

Saul Williams - Deconstructing the "N-Word"

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:51:12 -0500

Introducing Niggy Tardust - Deconstructing the "N-Word"

click here for free sample! (right-click to download)

Who: Saul Williams, Slam poet and Hip Hop emcee-extraordinairre, who has just released his exceptionally beautiful new album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust.

Summary: In this incredible walkthrough of The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust, Saul discusses the overall concept of the album, as well as an in-depth look at many of the songs. The album is about transcendence, pure and simple, as the title clearly states—whereas David Bowie used the Ziggy Stardust character to challenge people's notions of sex, gender, and image, Niggy Tardust uses Hip Hop to challenge our attitudes of race, racism, and identity. It forces us to confront our accumulated fears, discomfort, and victimhood around some extremely sensitive issues, without the Novocain of political correctness or identity politics to numb our exposed nerve endings. He explains his effort to redefine the "N-word" itself—liberating a word synonymous with human oppression by allowing us to fully feel its power, its violence, and its pain. It is an attempt to infuse the profane with the sacred, a Tantric impulse to recognize all of existence as truly not-two, where Spirit can fully embrace even the darkest regions of our soul.

There is much talk in America recently around the issues of race. As Barack Obama continues to amass more and more delegates, we have begun to collectively reflect upon our relationship with race and racism, and the conversation seems to have polarized into two radically different positions. On one hand, Obama's viability as a presidential candidate across a wide range of demographics prompts liberals to proudly declare that, finally, we live in a "post-racial" America, no longer tethered to the racial divisiveness that has infected our political systems since the country's inception. On the other hand, a great number of people are still asking the question "are we ready for a black president?," which itself seems to indicate that a genuine "post-racial" America is still on the horizon of human evolution. The truth, of course, lies somewhere between, or beyond, these two extremes—we have certainly made some tremendous strides in our collective attitudes toward race and racism, but we cannot confuse our accomplishments with outright victory. There can be no singular victory over racism, but like peace itself, it is a victory that must be won again and again, perpetually into the future.

In furthering the dialogue on race and racism, Hip Hop culture offers a fascinating means of exploring the subject, as racial identity has always been at the front and center of the art form. Just as in any genre of art, Hip Hop is capable of reflecting the entirety of the human condition—all of our beauty, all of our misery, all of our scars and scabs, all of our boundless creativity and limitless potential. Consider the wide range of conscious depth as expressed through Hip Hop—developmental studies have consistently shown that human beings develop through several distinct stages of consciousness and identity: from ego-centric consciousness ("me"), to ethno-centric consciousness ("others like me," in terms of race, religion, nationality, etc.), to world-centric consciousness ("all of us"), to Kosmo-centric consciousness ("all of existence").

Each of these broad stages of human development open us to radically different ways of perceiving ourselves and the world around us, with our entire sense of identity being the interface between the two. And we can find all of it within Hip Hop—from the power-driven thug mentality of ego-centrism, to the rivalries, racism, and misogyny of ethno-centrism, to the more conscious expressions of world-centrism often found in underground Hip Hop, to the rare but remarkable few who, like Saul, are using the art as a genuine means of embodied mysticism and Self realization.

Hip Hop culture includes all of these very different attitudes and altitudes of consciousness, which has made it one of the most controversial art forms in the modern world, and especially frustrating to those who want to either idealize it, demonize it, or dismiss it altogether. With roots extending deep into the core of African-American oppression, Hip Hop offers us a fascinating glimpse into the problems of race and racism in the world, as well as a means of overcoming our limited perceptions of reality by simply opening ourselves to all of the different voices the genre has to offer, and integrating these perspectives into a cohesive understanding of ourselves and each other. From this integration we can begin to see the subtleties that exist between, for example, the well-known Hip Hop groups N.W.A. and Public Enemy, the former offering a 1st-person account of life in the ghetto from an ego/ethnocentric point of view, and the latter offering a more 3rd-person view of the ghetto from a largely world-centric perspective. Both accounts are necessary for a full picture to emerge, which Hip Hop culture is more than happy to serve up.

While studying the Integral model, it can be easy to mistake "race" as a notion which, once we move past the ethno-centric stage of development, is something we no longer need to concern ourselves with. (Speaking in the context of the U.S., this is probably more true for whites than minorities, simply because minorities often report being subtly reminded of the color of their skin on a daily basis, simply from living in a white-majority mainstream culture.) But it is important to remember that even if we have moved beyond our exclusive identity with our own racial heritage, that aspect of our identity does not simply vanish, but instead becomes even more textured and nuanced than ever before. We also have the ability to more deeply explore other racial identities, cultures, and heritages, further enriching our own, and slowly peeling back many of the residual filters we unconsciously place over our perceptions of reality. The goal is not to be color-blind, as our politically-correct society often tells us to be, but to allow ourselves to see the entire spectrum of color, much more vividly than ever before. From this integral vantage point, we can see that our similarities are where we find Truth, our differences are where we find Beauty, and navigating between the two is where we find our Goodness.

There aren't many artists in the world today who more fully exemplify this integrative consciousness in Hip Hop than Saul Williams. His capacity to so fully engage the "language of the mystics" of the spiritual realm, to pull it down through the sounds and visions of the mental realm, and to push the transcendent clarity of consciousness through your entire body, is absolutely unparalleled. And while he is pushing spirit all the way down through our souls, through our minds, and into our feet, he is simultaneously pulling some of our darkest shadows up through consciousness, using art to disarm much of the fear and resentment that has prevented our collective dialogue around race and racism from moving forward for decades.

This is a truly one-of-a-kind discussion, which you will find nowhere else in the world. We recommend that you visit www.niggytardust.com, download this exceptional album for a mere five dollars (or for free, if you can't donate at this time), and listen to this fascinating conversation....

Editor's Note - A Brief Exploration of Race and Hip Hop

Hip hop is a natural evolution of 20th century music, which is itself considered by many to have been derived almost entirely from the legacy of black music and culture. In the early 1950's, much of America was becoming fascinated by the new sounds they began to hear on local radio stations around the country, which were playing an exciting mix of black music, including gospel, blues, and boogie-woogie. In 1954, Sam Phillips, the head of Sun Records, was searching for someone who could translate these new sounds into something he could sell to white people. Despite the remarkable influence black music was having upon American culture, the Civil Rights movement had yet to hit its stride, and there was still as of yet no place for black artists within the newly-emerging mainstream of popular culture. To be blunt, black people were simply not marketable. So Sam found the perfect man to help bring black music into the larger culture—and that man was Elvis Presley.

Remaining one of the most controversial figures in modern music, Elvis has been accused on the one hand of "stealing" black music and diluting it to the point where it was finally acceptable to the sensibilities of white America. Elvis himself is quoted as saying "The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I'm doin' now, man, for more years than I know. They played it like that in their shanties and in their juke joints and nobody paid it no mind 'til I goosed it up. I got it from them." On the other hand, Elvis is credited as being a genuine step forward for black and white culture alike; as Little Richard said: "He was an integrator. Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn't let black music through. He opened the door for black music."

Whether or not we perceive Elvis as a thief or as an innovator, one thing remains certain—almost the entire legacy of Rock and Roll can be attributed to his magnificent wake. Rock music itself became the soundtrack to the Civil Rights movements in the late fifties and sixties, and its unique confluence of black and white art may have actually contributed to the culture of racial equality that was beginning to emerge at this time.

Fast forwarding through five decades of music culture, it isn't hard to see the natural progression of black music through many different forms of music, wildly mutating and undulating into almost as many different sorts of sounds as the human ear is capable of hearing. Blues and boogie-woogie became Rockabilly in the 1950's, which became Rock and Roll in the late 50's and 60's, branching out into soul, funk, R&B, and disco in the 70's. It was here that Hip Hop began to take its roots, naturally evolving out of Rock and Roll into an utterly novel genre of music—even though Rock and Hip Hop continue to share some very deep similarities, most notably in the verse-chorus-verse song structure and predominantly 4/4 timing (so much so that it might be said that the primary difference between them is in overall aesthetic directionality—while many prefer to Rock from side to side, Hip Hop moves your inner b-boy up and down....)

The massive success of Hip Hop as a global art form causes many people to proclaim Hip Hop to be the return of Rock and Roll to the people who created it in the first place. At the same time, Hip Hop has already escaped these sorts of ethnocentric notions of cultural ownership, and is currently blossoming as a genuine global art form. There are much-debated statistics that report 70% of Hip Hop sales coming from white people, one of the most significant examples ever of this sort of cross-pollination of perspectives through popular culture. But this is not as idyllic as it may sound, and continues to cause much uneasiness in black culture. Adding to the complexity of race in Hip Hop, many of the more "conscious" Hip Hop artists report a largely white turnout at live shows—which isn't a bad thing from a world-centric perspective, but can be very frustrating for black artists trying to convey a message to their own culture. At the same time, criticism from within black communities has also been leveled against certain so-called "Gangsta rappers" who, far from keeping it real, are creating larger-than life personas and exaggerated theatrics based upon negative stereotypes, for the sake of selling music to white people. This, these critics argue, perpetuates those stereotypes in much the same way the racist "minstrel shows" of the 19th and early 20th century did, in which whites and even blacks would wear "blackface" and perform extremely racist skits, acts, and songs. In fact, the parallels between much of mainstream Hip Hop and minstrelsy can be summed up in this quote from Wikipedia:

"Blackface minstrelsy was the first distinctly American theatrical form. In the 1830s and 1840s, it was at the core of the rise of an American music industry, and for several decades it provided the lens through which white America saw black America. On the one hand, it had strong racist aspects; on the other, it resulted in the first broad awareness by white Americans of aspects of black folk culture."

But let us not forget all those artists who, like Saul, continue to bring genuine artistry, creativity, and spirituality to the art, despite the fact that the radio is dominated by the same shallowness and superficiality that dominated the 80's music scene. While "conscious" Hip Hop artists like Saul, Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, The Coup, Talib Kweli, Immortal Technique, and many others are pushed to the wayside of a mainstream which once reflected our stream-of-collective-consciousness—but has now been reduced to lowest-common-denominator marketing—let's also remember that the music industry's grasp over mainstream culture is beginning to crumble, creating more and more ways for these more enlightened artists to bring their art to the masses.

Click here for full dialogue!

Rupert Sheldrake - How Do We Account for Memory in Nature?

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:40:18 -0500

Integral Evolutionary Biology. Part 1. How Do We Account for Memory in Nature?

The man behind the theory of morphic resonance shares his impulse to explore the evolutionary impulse behind the Kosmos itself. From physics, to chemistry, to biology, to psychology, to spirituality and more, these two pioneers share their understanding of how Spirit is manifesting moment-to-moment in and through the leading edge of consciousness awareness….

Click here to download free sample!

Who: Rupert Sheldrake is a British biologist and author who has developed the theory of morphic resonance, incorporating the insights of early twentieth century morphogenetic fields, and extending the understanding of biological “fields” to entire species—not merely individual groups of embryonic cells—and where evolutionary habits of nature can explain far more than eternal laws of nature.

Summary: Einstein proposed and believed in an eternal unchanging physical universe, governed by static laws, not an integrated Kosmos of both interior and exterior dimensions, governed by Kosmic habits. The difference between the two should not be underestimated. Whereas Einstein has famously stated, “God does not play dice,” Rupert and Ken go on to discuss a universe where God does indeed play dice, but in an evolutionary and developmental context—every new game of dice builds upon the billions of games played since the Big Bang, and every new game brings, or builds upon, an aspect of novelty: something the Kosmos has never seen before. The more this novel dimension gets repeated in subsequent “games,” the more likely that we will continue to see it pervade all corners of the universe, in that particular dimension, species, or level of development. One could say it’s the snowball effect writ large, and acting nearly instantaneously across innumerable light-years.

Sounds different from your high school biology class, yes? One reason for this is that Rupert and Ken are exploring how evolution and development occurs in all dimensions of existence—from physics, to chemistry, to biology, to psychology, to spirituality, and more. As Ken would state it, there is a fundamental Eros to the universe, a drive to reach higher, deeper, and further… not to get away from manifestation, but to include and embrace as much of it as possible! Here’s the funny thing about this Kosmos of ours: there are no Platonic Ideals that we should be reaching to understand. There are no eternal Forms. What we—as humans—are given is an evolutionary space in consciousness, a certain degree of depth and complexity that is waiting to be expressed in the universe, and as conscious, sentient beings, we literally determine the form that this space-potential will take as it manifests in the Kosmos. Our intentionality, and our choices, will mold the face of our collective will atop the deep structures presented to us. Nothing is pre-given except for Eros and the possibility of depth and complexity of expression that is on the horizon of our shared consciousness. It’s not so much that humanity is created in God’s own image, but that humanity is God-in-action, and we create the next form of God-in-action based on our own image of what is possible. There is no one responsible beyond ourselves for what comes next. If that happens to be true, it might be good that we all get on the same page, yes?

But that’s another discussion. In a developmental and evolutionary context, getting all of humanity “on the same page” is far more complicated than it might initially appear. However, if you’re reading these words right now, it means you’re interested in the same degree of passionate creativity and responsibility that an Integral View helps clarify and enact. You’re not alone. For a mind that only sees surfaces, one could think that this is a dialogue merely about biology, and a pretty far-out biology at that. But this dialogue is not merely about biology. It’s about the nature of the Kosmos itself. It’s about the mechanisms of evolution, the process that brought you, personally, to where you are right now. What you do from here is up to you: will I look back and understand the Kosmic forces responsible for my existence in this very moment, or will I distract myself with other affairs? It’s not that either choice is good or bad. It’s about the nature of choice itself. Will you join us on this exploration?

The surprising fact about continued human development is not that one’s sense of “family” gets smaller, but that it gets bigger, to the edges of the Kosmos itself…. We’d love to see you there, which is only ever here, closer to home than we’d ever dare to expect….

"Classical European philosophy could deal with planets beings spheres and having ellipses as orbits, but it could not create equations for giraffes or hedgehogs or any other animal or plant—basically just matter and energy, but not form…."

Click here for full dialogue!

Neale Donald Walsch - Making Space for Emergence

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:30:17 -0600

Conversations Between Two Faces of God. Part 1. Making Space for Emergence.

Neale Donald Walsch, writer of the Conversations With God series, discusses the need help create "safe spaces" for each other—not only to support those already on the path toward their fullest potential, but so people who may still be "in the closet" in regard to their spirituality can recognize the fact that their higher intuitions are real, that growth is possible, and that conversations with God are anything but uncommon....

Click here to download free sample!

Who: Neale Donald Walsch is a modern day spiritual messenger who's nine Conversations With God books and sixteen additional books on a contemporary understanding of God have touched millions of lives around the globe. He is also the founder of Humanity's Team, a spiritual movement dedicated to "a civil rights movement for the soul."

Summary: This is a dialogue of inspiration and awakening. This is an exploration of what it means to awaken to one's True Nature, and how one expresses that understanding—because it is the action following enlightened realization that has an impact in this world that we share, and those actions can be more or less wise, compassionate, and impactful depending upon circumstances in all the dimensions of an Integral understanding of reality.

Having travelled the globe sharing "the good news" (to borrow from another tradition), Neale reports that nearly everyone he meets, from Norway to South Korea and beyond, is suffering some form of anxiety regarding their ability to enact their vision of life at it should be, in every realm of humanity—social, political, cultural, educational, you name it. Neale explains how it feels like there is an enormous population of people ready to make real change in the world, but they are all in the closet, alone, and in that isolation they feel powerless. For Neale, his life right now is about helping create a safe and encouraging space for people to leave their closets, and enter the common room of shared purpose, intention, and consciousness. "Oh, I'm not the only one who feels this way? I'm not crazy? I'm actually a part of a very large part of the world population? All right, let's start this party and get things moving!!!"

As Ken relates, this phenomenon is powerfully present at Integral Seminars. When participants are asked about what they liked most about their experience, the top two response are: 1. I loved the teachers; 2. I really loved spending five days with fifty people with whom I could share my entire being, and leave my closet far behind. As Neale and Ken agree, the power of creating and maintaining a safe "we-space" for those reaching intuitively towards humanity's highest possibility cannot be underestimated. The revelations of the Western Enlightenment unfolded in the safe spaces of select universities and coffee shops—who knows what the safe spaces for the leading edge of consciousness of today may yield.

What an Integral Approach reveals is that there are two fundamental dimensions of what one's "highest possibility" actually is. As Ken explains, by looking at the cross-cultural knowledge of what it means for consciousness to expand and grow, there are both states and structures of consciousness—the former being freely available to everybody (e.g. spiritual states, emotional states, altered states, etc.) and the latter being earned through the process of vertical growth (e.g. through magic, mythic, rational, postmodern, and integral stages of development)—and both showing the capacity, and natural urge towards, increasing depth and complexity.

"Some person once wrote me and said 'you know, there's a lie on the cover of your book. Your book is called Conversations With God: An Uncommon Dialogue—Mr. Walsch, with respect, there's nothing uncommon about it....'"

Click here for full dialogue!

Stone Gossard: Pearl Jam - Restoring Idealism to Rock and Roll. Part 1. From the Birth of Grunge to the Death of an Industry.

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:57:22 -0600

Pearl Jam: Restoring Idealism to Rock and Roll. Part 1. From the Birth of Grunge to the Death of an Industry.

Few bands in recent history have done more to express idealism and authenticity in music than Pearl Jam. In this fascinating interview with guitarist Stone Gossard, we are offered an insider's view of the gritty origins of grunge music, the iconic rise of the "most popular band of the 90's," and the struggles of maintaining one's artistic ideals in the vertigo of sudden fame.

Click here to download free sample!

Who: Stone Gossard, guitarist and founding member of Pearl Jam, one of the most influential bands in recent decades, and often described as "the most popular American rock band of the 1990's."

Summary: Every now and again, pop culture is forced to reinvent itself. Like an epic drama among Hindu deities, our collective tastes are born, destroyed, and reborn again, swinging like a massive pendulum from one aesthetic extreme to the other. As a new cultural niche becomes more and more popularized, what typically begins as fierce artistic independence eventually devolves into reckless overindulgence, and creative novelty slowly bleeds away until all that is left is a formulaic husk used to manufacture tomorrow's next fads. It is usually at this point, when a particular scene becomes so over-saturated that it can no longer support the weight of its own excess, that the entire scene will die an often-humiliating death, bloated and alone on an unflushed toilet.

In the 1980's, the music scene in America was dominated by the glut and theatrics of "glam metal." For nearly 10 years, most of popular music was defined by sex, drugs, and machismo-in-drag, and an entire generation of youth nearly lost themselves within a cloud of hairspray. There was a void in the cultural heart of the musical mainstream that was dying to be filled—an utter lack of artistic interiority, emotional depth, and authenticity. Untold millions were craving artistic substance, and were only offered artificial decadence.

Then along came grunge, taking the entire world by storm in the early 90's. From the rain-soaked streets of Seattle emerged a new voice for American youth. In much the same way that punk music arrived just in time to offer salvation for our Disco-era sins, grunge music promised to completely cleanse our cultural palette, placing an aesthetic imperative upon more simplicity, more spontaneity, and more sincerity. And so bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Pearl Jam came into the mainstream, forever changing the landscape of American music. From behind a tsunami of massively distorted guitars, hallowed vocals, and countless acres of flannel, appeared an unmistakable return to introspection and idealism—even while cloaked by themes of angst and despair, the natural result of our collective interiors being ignored for almost a decade.

Few bands of the era embody this move toward introspection and idealism as strongly as Pearl Jam. As the grunge scene continued to explode, it was becoming apparent that the inherent iconoclasm of the scene was ill-suited to handle the immense pressures of fame, and many artists found themselves circling the drain of inevitable self-destruction—for many, Kurt Cobain's suicide was a morbid reminder of what can happen when artistic ideals are reduced to mere currency for the status-sphere. One by one the originators of grunge began to fall away, and an impossibly huge body of talent was forever lost to suicide and drug addiction.

Not many bands survived as the industry began churning out the newest grunge-inspired fads, marketed (ironically) as "alternative rock." Pearl Jam was one of the few who did make it through this period of intense commodification. Unlike most others from the Seattle era, they were able to prevent themselves from being crushed by the enormous pressure that their celebrity brought to their personal and professional lives. While they did in a sense try to distance themselves from their own fame, they were also simultaneously using their celebrity as a platform for their idealism, soon finding themselves fighting "on all fronts" for initiating real change in the world. From their famed battle with the corruption of the Ticketmaster venue monopoly, to publicly berating the policies of George W. Bush, to expressing pro-choice sentiments in concert, to promoting awareness around Crohn's disease—Pearl Jam was helping to return rock and roll to its roots, in terms of both the profoundly personal and the deeply political. And they continue to do it to this day, over 18 years since the band first formed.

In this dialogue Stone Gossard leads us through the story of Pearl Jam's iconic rise, as well as his own experiences in the early grunge scene, long before any of us had ever known what "Teen Spirit" actually smelled like. Stone and Ken also discuss the current state of the music industry, some of the key problems it needs to come to terms with, and the role of record labels in the future of music. Stone's story is one that is truly aligned with the essence of Integral Art, which attempts to restore Beauty to it's rightful place within the human condition—emphasizing creativity instead of deconstruction, idealism instead of apathy, depth instead of sensationalism, authenticity instead of irony—and always reflecting the fullest expressions of both artist and audience alike. We hope you can join us in this fascinating exploration of artistic idealism and creative reverie....

"We felt liberated by the idea of punk rock, by the idea of social movements that gave what you were doing a little bit more significance.... We had a general belief that art was important... and that there was a whole world to be discovered as you filter art through your unique perspective."

Click here for full dialogue!

Steve Whitmire on Integral Naked - It's Not Easy Being Teal

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:41:54 -0600

Steve Whitmire - It's Not Easy Being Teal. Part 1. The Performer Behind the World’s Most Famous Frog Recounts Coming to an Integral View.

click here for free sample! (right-click to download)

The Muppet famous for saying "It’s not easy being green," carries on the creative tradition founded by Jim Henson in Steve Whitmire’s puppeteering of this international figure with a decidedly more Integral tilt.

Who

Steve Whitmire is one of the few individuals who has carried on the whole-hearted legacy of Jim Henson, and the mastery and development of puppetry through Jim’s unique Muppets. Since the passing of Jim Henson in 1990, Steve has served as the animating force and puppeteer for beloved characters such as Kermit the Frog and Sesame Street’s Ernie.

Summary

Steve Whitmire spent 14 intense and creative years with the extraordinary Jim Henson before his passing. As of 2008, Steve has been the animating force behind, most notably, Kermit the Frog for nearly two decades. This was not something Steve planned for in any way. Jim passed away at the age of 53 from an infection that no one could have seen coming—although it later became revealed that Jim had been considering Steve for the puppeteer of Kermit, so that Jim could explore other creative endeavors.

However, their connection had started decades earlier. When Steve was a scant 10-years-old, he wrote Jim a letter to express his appreciation for his work, and to ask if he had written anything on the construction of puppets. In fact, Jim had not written anything on the construction of puppets at that time, but responded personally to Steve’s letter, and directed him toward some simple Muppet patterns that had been published a few years ago in a magazine.

Thus started the career of a life-long Jim Henson puppeteer, aided by Steve’s mother’s sewing machine. As Ken comments, puppeteering can be, and has been, looked at by the world’s great Mystical Traditions as a metaphor for ultimate Spirit being the transcendental Puppeteer of all worldly phenomena. And there is much truth in that observation. Spirit, if nothing else, inhabits a massive number of multiple perspectives, and in order to perform puppeteering successfully, one literally inhabits, and becomes one with, the puppet’s personality. It is a minor re-enaction of what Spirit does moment-to-moment spontaneously, throughout the entire Kosmos.

As with Jim Henson, Steve Whitmire is a very humble soul. If nothing else, Steve is honored to carry on a tradition started by a modern-day master, by whatever name. Jim’s productions have been among the most successful television series in history: Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Fraggle Rock were all international sensations. Sesame Street alone has aired more than 4,100 episodes over a 38-season run, winning 109 Emmy Awards in the process—and it’s still going. To say that Steve is a modern-day backbone of the Muppet tradition is in no way an exaggeration. You may not see his face, but you can see Steve animating Kermit the Frog in a musical duo with Kylie Minogue on YouTube, along with many other notable appearances.

Kermit the Frog was, and is, a public, (inter)national expression of the pluralistic, green worldview—but always with a subtle reminder of how multicultural expressions can be reconciled and brought together with an Integral View. It may not be easy being green, but it’s ever harder being teal (where an Integral understanding begins and expands). With the spirit of growth that Jim Henson embodied and intuited, and that Steve Whitmire carries on in an evolutionary context with a clearly Integral perspective, we invite you to celebrate this artistic and creative dimension of puppetry, and “taking the perspective of other” that it implies, in this one-of-a kind-dialogue….

"Jim walked into the room and said, ‘I want to do a show that will change the world and end war'—and the writers said, 'Well that’s great Jim, how could we possibly do that?' We didn’t know, but Fraggle Rock was the first ever international coproduction of any television show...."

(Click here for full dialogue.)

Previously on Integral Naked:

Tim Black - Indigenous Cultures in the Modern World

James Turner - The Integral-Political Imperative

Sally Kempton - Designer Spirituality, or Discipline Disaster?

Ken Wilber - The Origins of the Integral Perspective

Sally Kempton - From Bohemian Rebel to Integral Swami

Joe Perez - The Power of Integral Reconciliation

Alanis Morissette - Healing the Ruptures

Sally Kempton - Seeing Beyond the Mythic God

Joe Perez: Soulfully Gay - Out of the Closet, Into an Integral Embrace

Dan Millman: The Peaceful Warrior's Way - The Highest Teaching

Alex Grey: Integral Art - Anchoring the Seed of Liberation

Alanis Morissette: From Jagged Little Pill to Flavors of Entanglement

Sharon Stone: Like a Fine Diamond....

Dan Millman: The Peaceful Warrior’s Way - “This Is How to Do It”

Alex Grey: Integral Art - When Psychedelics Reveal the Spirit Within

Deepak Chopra: Buddha - A Story of Enlightenment

Integral Art

Recent Guests

Ken Wilber - Taking Perspectives on the Culture Wars

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:05:56 -0600

Ken Wilber - An Interview with Myriades 1. Part 3. Taking Perspectives on the Culture Wars.

click here for free sample! (right-click to download)

In an interview for Myriades 1, an Argentinean cultural magazine, Ken discusses the difference between modernity and post-modernity, and how an Integral Approach exposes the difference between flatland pluralism and a truly developmental, Integral view on growth and distinctive maturity....

Who

Gaspar Segafredo, Editor-in-Chief of Myriades 1, an Argentinean cultural magazine with an integral approach.

Summary

Gaspar and Ken engage this last section of their dialogue with vigorous inquiry. Gaspar begins by asking if democracy, the United Nations, and human rights fundamentally stem from "pluralism." The answer, as the evidence shows, is yes and no. Modernity, starting with the Western Enlightenment, attempted to free itself from dogmatic mythic religion, and declare that all humans are equal. In fact, enacting that impulse has been more of a progressive movement—not a historical moment in time—that continues to this day. First it was that all (white) men are equal, then including all African (black) men, then including women, then including children.

In a very real way, postmodernity finished the Enlightenment project that modernity started, wherein all human beings—regardless of race, religion, creed, sexuality, etc.—should be accorded the same fundamental human rights. But postmodernity and the pluralism it encourages can, and has, often gone too far in its impulse to equalize. It has even gone so far as to deconstruct nearly all meaning whatsoever, which reveals the narcissistic and nihilistic core at the center of a glorious impulse taken to its pathological limits. This is where an Integral Approach comes into play.

An Integral Approach takes the many gifts and insights of pluralism, and then finds the patterns that connect. All views have their right to exist, but that doesn’t mean that all views are equal. Here, Gaspar and Ken explore developmental studies, and how—universally, research shows—people move from egocentric (I, me), to ethnocentric (you, us), to worldcentric (all of us), to (all sentient beings) Kosmocentric. This is not merely an academic consideration. This is a reflection of the world we all live in, where 70% of the world population is at ethnocentric or lower (to put it bluntly, Nazis or lower).

Here, Gaspar and Ken discuss developmental stages in terms of the ability to take perspectives. For example, egocentric can take a 1st-person perspective, ethnocentric can take a 2nd- person perspective, worldcentric-modern can take a 3rd-person perspective, worldcentric-postmodern can take a 4th-person perspective, and integral-Kosmocentric can take a 5th-person perspective (and beyond). All of those stages of development, and stages of perspective-taking, are allowed, included, and embraced in an Integral Approach. The question is, how can we help people grow into more mature, complex perspectives? This is one of the many fascinating topics that Gaspar and Ken explore in this introductory, yet leading-edge, dialogue….

(Click here for full dialogue.)

James Turner on Integral Naked - The Integral-Political Imperative

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 12:43:33 -0600

James Turner - The Integral-Political Imperative. Part 1. The Nader Years.

click here for free sample! (right-click to download)

A founding pioneer in more Integral forms of law, politics, and federal regulation shares how he got his start applying the concepts of an infamous political activist to all areas of our modern economic society, offers a fascinating glimpse into 18th-century American political history, and suggests how a more Integral Politics can illuminate and enlighten even the realm of bureaucracy….

Who: Jim Turner is a principal in the Swankin & Turner law firm, a founding member of Integral Institute, and its Integral Politics and Integral Business branches. He is also the host of “Of Consuming Interest” on the Progressive Radio Network.

Summary: Jim Turner began his career as a young law student who realized that Ralph Nader’s pointed critique of the automobile industry circa the 1960’s (e.g., Unsafe at Any Speed) wasn’t merely about cars, but about corporate power and responsibility in nearly every sector of society—and the press simply wasn’t getting it, nor the general population. Jim felt it was his responsibility to suggest to Mr. Nader how his message might be more broadly and effectively communicated—and so he tracked Mr. Nader down, eventually ending up being invited to dinner at Ralph’s home.

Nader appreciated what Jim had to say about finding parallel problems in other corporate arenas, and then said, “Well, what would you do?” Jim said, “Let’s do food.” It turns out Ralph had been a cook in the Army for six months, so he gave the go-ahead. Then, in 1970, with the assistance of two-dozen medical, law, and political science students, Jim published The Chemical Feast: The Ralph Nader Study Group Report on Food Protection and the Food and Drug Administration—hailed by Time Magazine as “The most devastating critique of a government agency ever written.”

But, ultimately, it’s not merely about cars or food, or any specific product. It’s about a more Integral Approach to corporate entities, the government agencies that regulate them, and the citizen-consumers who are affected by the actions of both (and who, as Jim makes clear, usually get the short end of the stick). Here, Jim and Ken go right back to the dawn of the United States as a country—and as an economic force—and the Hamiltonian (large federal government) and Jeffersonian (small federal government) influences that continue to this day. Ken comments that only a truly Integral Politics can reconcile the important truths of both perspectives, and then transcend-and-include them in a post-postmodern politics that today’s world demands. Jim responds by commenting that he and Lawry Chickering (both founding members of I-I) are writing a book called The Transpartisan Imperative, which is clearly an expression of the Integral Imperative in the world at large.

(To learn more about an explicitly Integral-AQAL Politics, click here.)

“Consumers play a role in the economy like voters in the political process… but the alliance between the corporate sector and the government can be so tight, that there can be huge barriers for the individuals’ wellbeing and interests being taking care of….”

(Click here for full dialogue.)

Sally Kempton on Integral Naked - Designer Spirituality or Discipline Disaster?

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 12:23:03 -0600

Sally Kempton - Religion in the Modern World. Part 3. Designer Spirituality or Discipline Disaster?

click here for free sample! (right-click to download)

A deceptively profound and skillful pioneer in more Integral forms of spirituality explores what the future of spiritual practice might look like, and perhaps even more importantly, who is going to teach it—the narcissistic offspring of boomers and modern culture, or the growing number of young stars shooting for an ever-brighter tomorrow?

Who: Sally Kempton, also known as Swami Durgananda, is among the most dynamic, insightful, and sought-after teachers of Siddha Yoga, and is author of the celebrated guide to spiritual practice, The Heart of Meditation: Pathways to a Deeper Experience.

Summary: Sally Kempton is one of the most extraordinary pioneers in more integral, comprehensive forms of spiritual teaching—but my oh my, she’ll be the first to tell you it isn’t always easy, for her or her students!

For anyone walking around the modern spiritual marketplace, one of the largest challenges is simply not knowing what the “right” thing to do is anymore. With unprecedented access to all the great Wisdom Traditions from across the world, one is left with several very difficult questions. For students, which tradition should I pick—or should I pick more than one? For teachers, should I continue to pass on my spiritual knowledge in the way it was passed on to me—or should I add in some complimentary techniques from other traditions?

This is an exploration requiring equal parts courage and humility, and it’s about this journey of exploration that Sally and Ken discuss, in nuance, with passion, and always with humor. Who will be the next generation of teachers of explicitly Integral spirituality, in each tradition, or as a tradition in itself? Who is going to train those teachers in the first place? Will the teachers of tomorrow help personalize spiritual practice to each person, a kind of “designer spirituality,” or will they forget entirely the importance of discipline, and simply have a bunch of “designer egos” walking around instead? Can teachers of today and tomorrow hold both “unique fit” and discipline in their minds simultaneously?

As Sally and Ken discuss, studies have shown that the twenty-somethings of today are even more narcissistic than their boomer parents (a rather frightening achievement), and yet within that generation is an eerily high number of young people who seem to have shot right to the top of the evolutionary wave, and are ready to keep riding higher! So what on earth does that mean for the future of spirituality? A bunch of “be-here-now,” don’t worry about practice, you’re already enlightened so just go play video-games teachers? Or a crop of teachers looking to synthesize and integrate the best that the traditions have to offer, within a framework that understands developmental structures, ever-present spiritual states, but also understands that those higher states won’t stick without diligent practice?

At the leading-edge of consciousness, where these questions are being pondered from an Integral view by both teachers and students, we are the ones who have to answer our own deepest questions, through trial and error, with support from others on the same path of discovery, and with the courage to let the exhilarating birthing pains of a more Integral form of spirituality come into the world through you. Why would anyone embark upon such a path? Because their own Highest Self is telling them “walk this way.” It is the call of Eros and evolution itself, which is precisely and only the gesture of Spirit-in-Action—your own I AMness asking you, personally, to help divine truth shine brighter, and embrace more, than what has come before.

Sound like a commitment to egoic self-aggrandizement? A Messiah complex perhaps? Not at all. Because if you truly realize what you have just devoted yourself to, humility will knock you flat. In a post-metaphysical Integral spirituality, where it is understood that consciousness evolves, those at the leading edge of consciousness evolution are literally co-creating the structure of consciousness, the world-space, into which untold numbers of others will eventually follow. So, um, don’t screw it up… and don’t let the fear of screwing up paralyze you either. Breathe, smile, and go find some friends—and teacher(s)—to help create this path together….

“I’m interested in what degree of discipline this new generation of teachers is going to require from students. My teacher used to wake people up at 3AM to go meditate. It was total boot camp. That’s very hard to do in Western culture without being called authoritarian, cultish, etc….”

(Click here for full dialogue.)

Ken Wilber - The Origins of the Integral Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:43:41 -0600

Ken Wilber - The Origins of the Integral Perspective (19:22)

click here to listen, absolutely free! (right-click to download)

In this fascinating and memorable introduction to the Integral Vision, Ken is asked the question "How would you define what you do?" As the widely-acknowledged leader in the field of Integral studies and application, Ken goes all the way back to the beginning: a medical student at Duke University who couldn’t get any of the important questions answered from that traditional educational setting. What’s the meaning of life? Why am I here? What’s the good life? What is the Good, the True, the Beautiful? Fundamentally, what is important in human life?

Having written The Spectrum of Consciousness when he was 23, Ken began the life-long pursuit of trying to understand the meaning and importance of being human at a remarkably early age, having since expanding his work into over two-dozen books, each building on the insights of the one before. Life, and human life in particular, is a developmental affair. It’s not that there are (as Gaspar and Ken discuss) 6-7 major psychological and spiritual approaches to the same fundamental human condition, there are 6-7 developmental levels of consciousness. From archaic, to magic, to mythic, to rational, to pluralistic, to integral and beyond, there is no one answer to the meaning of life. The meaning of life literally develops along with the structures of human consciousness, in complimentary and simultaneous growth through states of consciousness, where “wakefulness” progresses from waking-gross, to dreaming-subtle, to deep-dreamless-sleep, to ever-present nondual. There are two “axes of enlightenment,” one in structures of consciousness and one in states of consciousness (see Ken’s book Integral Spirituality for more detail on this topic).

Gaspar and Ken end by talking about the fact that Ken isn’t imposing an Integral framework on anyone—he’s giving people who are already at an integral level of development a map and a way to talk about what they are already experiencing, but don’t have a language to talk about their deepest insights intuitions into life. All we do is help provide the most complete map and language for the Integral developmental wave at the leading edge of evolution, and we’d love to have you listen in and help unfold and express this blooming edge of consciousness….

Sally Kempton on Integral Naked - From Bohemian Rebel to Integral Swami

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:45:03 -0600

Sally Kempton - Religion in the Modern World. Part 2. From Bohemian Rebel to Integral Swami..

(click here for free sample)

One of the most nuanced, courageous pioneers of Integral forms of spirituality shares her own story of leaving her place among the liberal feminist elite, spending three decades plumbing the depths of Siddha Yoga, and "coming back to the marketplace" with a more comprehensive, integral vision for the meaning of living a spiritual life….

What Sally and Ken discuss in this dialogue is nothing less than the very future of spirituality, what it might look like, and who is going to lead the way. Sally’s perspective on this topic is incredibly nuanced, based on a lifetime spent delving into the depths of what is problematic about religion and spirituality, what the fundamental core of Liberation is in each tradition, and what isn’t even addressed by most forms of spirituality—like psychological shadow work, which Enlightenment per se literally doesn’t touch.

Born to socially-conscious parents, Sally describes herself when she was a young woman as an "ultra-leftist bohemian rebel" with a powerful feminist bite—who then abandoned the progressive cultural elite of New York City to go to India and become a devotee of Swami Muktananda. This, shall we say, was a radical change. Not only was she embracing spirituality and religion (a Leftist no-no, being seen as "the opiate of the masses"), but she was also submitting herself to a male guru in a distinctly hierarchical society (unthinkably anti-feminist, certainly for her peers).

But this was not giving up, and this was not regression. This was an incredibly important step in Sally’s life, and a bold move towards integrating truths about human existence—not deconstructing and dividing them, as was (and is) so popular. Sally spent nearly three decades in the Siddha Yoga community as a highly-regarded senior teacher, under the traditional name bestowed on her by Swami Muktananda: Swami Durgananda. Then, in 2002, Sally saw clearly that she could no longer continue to deepen and evolve her teaching methods while remaining in an ashram setting. So, with the community’s blessing, she laid aside her monastic robes, and started teaching independently. She is currently working with a small community of students on developing a four-year curriculum based on the best of what Siddha Yoga has to offer, and informed and fleshed out by the Integral Model. Sally is a founding teacher at Integral Spiritual Center, and a true gift to anyone lucky enough to cross paths with this astonishingly wise, humble, and courageous spiritual pioneer. We invite you to listen in and enjoy….

"Back in the 60s and 70s, there was an anticipation that Realization would take care of everything—and when it didn’t, there was substantial disillusionment. But all that’s needed is an Integral Approach to spirituality, and we’re seeing that more and more…."

click here for full audio

Joe Perez on Integral Naked - The Power of Integral Reconciliation

noreply@blogger.com (www.integralnaked.org) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:43:51 -0600

Joe Perez - Soulfully Gay. Part 2. The Power of Integral Reconciliation.

(click here for free sample)

The author of one of the most searing, courageous personal memoirs of our time shares how extraordinarily helpful an Integral Approach can be in reconciling and integrating even the most volatile, difficult, highly-charged aspects of one’s own being—and not only live to tell the tale, but find true meaning, peace, and wholeness.

In the foreword to Soulfully Gay, Ken Wilber writes: "Joe Perez’s book is perhaps the most astonishing, brilliant, and courageous look at the interface between individual belief and cultural values that has been written in our time. By a homosexual, or a heterosexual, or any other sexual I am aware of." Ken wrote this foreword without even having met Joe—probably one of the strongest complements one writer can give to another—and Soulfully Gay is the second offering from our Integral Books imprint at Shambhala Publications.

We pick up this second half of Joe’s incredible story in the year 2000, when Joes launches into a four-year process of trying to reconcile and integrate his identity as a gay man, his relationship to organized religion, his occasional psychotic episodes, and his genuine spiritual experiences—the last year of which is powerfully chronicled in Soulfully Gay. During this year, Joe’s life is often literally hanging by a thread (first because of HIV/AIDS, and second by nearly driving off a cliff). But it’s also during this year that the most significant kind of integration occurs in this beautiful, courageous man. In part by reading Ken’s work on an Integral Approach, Joe is able to find a way to understand and find a place for all the apparently disparate elements of his life—including the homophobic tendencies of mythic-traditional Christianity.

Indeed, one of the most important parts of Joe’s growth and integration is in his spiritual life. Having been raised Roman Catholic—staunchly homophobic—then having religion completely deconstructed by his time at Harvard and the University of Chicago, while also experiencing authentic mystical states, Joe wasn’t quite sure where to turn when he realized that he was in dire need of a spiritual perspective in order to effectively confront his demons. Here, Joe and Ken discuss the fact that religion and spirituality looks and acts differently at different human developmental levels (e.g., from archaic, to magic, to mythic, to rational, to pluralistic, to integral, and so on). In fact, because human beings live at every single one of those levels, religion must find a healthy way to express itself at each level—not try to convert everyone to just one level (usually mythic-traditional).

Joe is pioneering not only how to live an Integral Life as a gay man, but also a uniquely Integral Spirituality for anyone with a same-sex orientation. In fact, Joe and Ken go on to explore how "gayness" can be looked at as a universal feature of human nature, woven into the very fabric of the Kosmos itself….

"When I tried to meditate, I would shake and hyperventilate. I feared that if I got more in touch with my true nature, I would go insane again. That was a real dilemma… and one that Integral helped resolve."

click here for full audio