I am so sick of conservatives using the word "Freedom" to mean "any American policy or perspective".

This is in response to this article: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-bolton26-2008jul26,0,4923423.story

He says the Berlin wall was built because of "the implacable hostility of communism toward freedom."
I can guarantee you, the people who started the communist movement did not say "let's see here...what's the best form of government to deny everyone's rights...."

I'm no proponent of communism, but it's my understanding that the idea was to reverse what was seen as the lack of freedom that capitalism imposed on people.
So the Communists would probably say "those capitalists hate freedom."

Propaganda is propaganda, regardless of which side it supports.

Just like all these pundits and politicians say terrorists "hate freedom."

And yet John Bolton accuses Obama of being naive.

No one hates freedom.
They might have many reasons to attack someone else's freedom, but its not because they hate freedom itself. That's absolutely rediculous.

Yet all the conservatives do is keep drumming up this new wacky sense of patriotism by dropping the word freedom all over.

There's a lot more that makes America great than just "freedom."

If I could ask the candidates for our next US president a question for them to answer at a debate it would be this:

What, if anything, do you know about the Integral framework and AQAL theory, as put forth by Ken Wilber and Integral Institute. And as a follow-up, how would AQAL inform your leadership or our nation?


Pretty much if I got a good answer to that, it could very well decide my entire vote.

So....cool. And nice music:

So I was participating in a discussion on a facebook group board and wrote this. It turns out to be a semi-decent history of my spiritual path. It is by no means complete, but I didn't want to write a novel. (yet) Here it is:

 

I would like to share my personal story. I will try to be as brief and concise as possible, lest nobody bother to read it =)

 

I grew up relatively agnostic. My parents would mention God occasionally but we never went to church or anything. I always felt uncomfortable in Boy Scout religious services. I grew up really putting more faith in science than anything else.

 

In college I really started thinking about things and questioning things. Zach and I started listening to Tool, and this was sort of a catalyst for everything. Their album Lateralus had just been released, and it blew my mind.  It was just very mystical and powerful and it made me feel like there must be something more than meets the eye to this universe. So I started digging. (let's go digging....4 degrees)

 

Tool had a recommended reading list on their website. One of the books was Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason.

 

If you've never read it, basically its a revolutionary-time period book describing how the Bible could in no way be true and that all those "true-believers" who believe in the Bible literally are sadly confused at best, outright delusional at worst.

The book really resonated with me. I was seeing a lot about modern Christian  dogma that really pissed me off. Paine's book gave me philosophical and logical fuel to this fire.

 

So for a while I was in a stage of just despising any and all organized religion. I didn't see any value in it at all, and frankly, felt little respect for those involved in it.

 

Later I read another book from Tool's reading list. This was called "Nothing in This Book is True, But it's Exactly How Things Are."

 

I read this book over 2 days, and it flipped my mind inside out. It told lots of really fanciful stories about sacred geometry (a lot of which made a ton of sense to me) and aliens and secret governments, and the power of the mind. I was really fascinated by this, and even though most of it, if not all of it, completely flew in the face of any rational understanding of the world I had come to acquire in my 20-some years, I even started to believe it.

 

I started thinking the Flower of Life was really important, and that I needed to develop my light body and a MerKaBa and that forces were in motion behind the scenes for the world to enter a dramatic, and literal, transformation into some sort of 4th dimension, where all bad stuff would go away, and we would live in a paradise where our very thoughts alone would turn into reality. If I thought of an apple, one would appear for me to eat.

 

I read "Illusions" by Richard Bach, in which the main character says anyone can be a Messiah and create miracles that defy all laws of physics if they only believe it hard enough. I even started trying cloud-melting techniques, and lo and behold, I could melt clouds with MY MIND!

 

I read books about physical immortality, and how dying is not necessary, and that we only die because we believe we must. That if we solve our inner emotional issues and live according to a certain way, we could live thousands of years. Why the hospitals weren't onto this...well it was all a big conspiracy.

 

I began meditation practice, learned from Roger Lanphear's website, simplemeditation.com

This was a meditation and a teaching said to be handed down from Babaji himself. Babaji was a person I learned about in some of my readings, who is believed to be the human incarnation of God the Father.

I ordered some of Roger Lanphear's books, and they really were amazing. After beginning the meditation and practicing it for a while, I began to feel happier and more at peace than ever before in my life.

 

Slowly I stopped thinking about the weirdness of "Nothing in this book is true" with aliens and things. I was very much into the teachings from Babaji/Roger Lanphear.

My favorite part was a simple introduction to the meditation, where one affirms in himself or herself, all the qualities that God possesses.

Finally I felt good about God. I felt the Christians were just getting it all wrong. They seemed to be saying that humans were imperfect, inferior, innately flawed, and guilty of sin from the beginning.

I always hated this. Roger was saying that we are creations of God, and God as infinite love, could only possibly bestow upon us everything God is.

So I began to affirm, “God is love, therefore I am love. God is peace, happiness, and bliss, therefore I am…”

 

This did a world of good I have to say.

 

But one thing started to trouble me as I delved deeper into the teachings. The courses were working up to getting you to create your own miracles. To literally hold a thought in your mind and bring it into reality.

I could never really do this, although I figured I just needed a lot more practice.

 

Eventually I sort of dropped off the practice, although I kept meditating up to the point I had learned.

 

Then on a birthday of mine a friend bought me a book. She didn’t know anything really about the book, or have any idea why she picked it for me. She just found it in a metaphysical section of Borders and knew I was into metaphysical stuff, and she thought it looked interesting.

 

The book was “A Brief History of Everything,” by Ken Wilber.

I didn’t read it right away, but that summer I pulled it out and started reading it.

I instantly liked it and was drawn in by it, as it talked of an optimistic worldview where mystical spiritual truth and beauty were included with scientific prevailing worldviews.

 

As I read more a major change came over me. Suddenly all the pieces were falling together. Ken Wilber was weaving a tapestry of the evolution of the universe, from the Big Bang, to the modern era. And it all fit.

 

I thought back on the journey of various spiritual beliefs I had had, and they all made sense. It was all a part of my own evolution. Suddenly all the science and rationality I had lived by before plunging into the New Age of cloud-melting and thought-reality-creation came back. I realized I could have both. I could have a transcendent spirituality and a modern rationality and it all made sense.

 

No longer did I have to place belief in conspiracies and fringe tales about alternate histories. I learned of a way to have my feet planted solidly on the ground and also to find a greater spirituality.

 

Since then I’ve read many of Wilber’s other books, joined an online community called Integral Naked, in which Wilber’s framework is used in all kinds of fields, and audio and video of some of the world’s foremost philosopher’s and religious leaders is available. With Wilber’s Integral movement, I finally feel like I’ve gotten a lot figured out, and am discovering the cutting edge of consciousness evolution.

 

I’ve become what I’d mostly describe as Buddhist, although I’m certainly not following any traditional lineage.

 

I have had satori (sudden flash of enlightenment) that have been so crystal clear and so overwhelming that I just “Got It.” I felt like I wanted to run around naked because it was all so simple all along.

 

Now I’m not saying “I’m enlightened” because enlightenment is not an attainment, it’s both a stage and a state. You can have a temporary flash of enlightenment but then go on being the same confused, lost soul as before. But I’ve seen a lot of my questions and uncertainties either answered, or been pointed in the right general direction.

 

Enlightenment is also a process. Its an evolution of consciousness. I don’t believe there is a point where you could ever say one is completely enlightened. Because the universe is constantly growing and evolving. The best you can ever be is at the very leading edge.

 

Wilber put it really well when he said something along the lines of “enlightenment is just a measure of how much of God is interior to your own awareness.”

 

As we grow and expand, we include more and more of reality, until hopefully we come to embrace the entire Kosmos within our own being.

 

So this hasn’t really been brief as I promised, but it is my story, and I hope its of value to someone.

May it be dedicated to the liberation of all sentient beings.

 

 

 

 

I attended a gathering last night to celebrate the Winter Solstice. At 24, I was by far the youngest one there. The gathering was hosted by a new, but remarkable friend of mine named Bill. He heads up a non-profit organization called Sena foundation that helps people cope with grief and loss.

We had some wonderful Indian food from a local restaurant called Guru, and then we all introduced ourselves since not everyone knew each other.
Then Bill talked about the reason for the occasion. He described how the Winter Solstice, as the shortest day of the year was a very symbolic time. It is the end of a period of increasing darkness, and the beginning of increasing light. (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere anyway).
He talked about how the cycle of conception, growth, effulgence, deterioration and death is present in all aspects of our lives, and it ends and restarts all over again. He gave a very heartfelt speech and its hard to do it any justice here, but the love and genuine connection we felt was very powerful.

I never looked at the Winter Solstice in this way before, as a new rebirth of light. It seems more meaningful to me than most occasions for the holidays of this time of year.
I don't see the birth of Jesus as in itself being such a huge deal. Yes, he was great, but I don't worship him as the one and only incarnation of God like a lot of people do. Plus I've heard and read many times that he was actually born in March, and the Church moved the holiday to December to replace pagan Winter Solstice celebrations.

Now i'm not pagan, I'm no prerational. But I really saw a lot of trans-rational joy and meaning in the kind of celebration that Bill threw last night. It was one of the more meaningful social experiences I've had in quite some time.

Happy Holidays all, whichever you choose to observe, and for whichever reason.
I think the real reason for the season, no matter what event you're celebrating, is Love. The Love we have  for family and friends seems to be blown up a hundred fold this time of year.
Here's hoping you are feeling that love and joy, and may it continue throughout the new year.

It is so lonely for me to be into Integral. I have a way of seeing and understanding the world that is shared by no one I know personally. This is pretty difficult.
My oasis is Integral Naked. Listening to the weekly talks on my Ipod in my car on the road I feel connected to the community. But I'm really just getting a delicious taste of it, I'm not actively a part of it. I don't even really post on the forums because it seems like too much shadow inhabits 90% of forum posts.

So, I was browsing kenwilber.com and saw a link for Wired's article on The New Atheists. The headline for the blog post was "The New Atheism is as flat as a pancake."

Reading through the article I completely resonate with this headline. Atheists are admirable for their intellectual honesty and bravery - able to state that they refuse mythic  dogma in a world that seems overwhelmed by it. But they're completely flatland. In throwing out mythic religion they throw out all traces of the transrational, transcendent, any universal ground of being. They reduce belief in God to delusion. Well I'm sorry, but to say that 95% of the human population is delusional - is delusional. They don't know about or acknowledge the research showing that mythic religion is part of a natural stage of consciousness development, a stage that humanity must go through before rational atheism could even come about.
And they also arrogantly label stupid anyone who has a transrational understanding of the divine.
Do atheists think Ramana Maharshi was just a credulous believer? (i'm only on page 4 of the article so maybe they mention something about that - we'll see, but I had to write this now, out of loneliness -which I am still getting to).

So here I am with an integral perspective on this article. Not angry at these New Atheists, but also not on their bandwagon. I see their point in some ways, but also see how they tragically are stuck in a flatland with no values.
This is of course a generalization, but fairly true.

So I'm not waivering here saying, oh well they have good points but somehow it just doesn't feel right. That's how I would have felt about this a few years ago.
Yes, I see their logic, yes there is no logical proof of God's existence, yes, most organized religion seems aat best quaint, and at worst dangerous, however, I'm not ready to give up my belief in some sort of nondescript divine.

That's how I would have felt about the article pre-Ken Wilber. It would have been quite troubling for me.

But not I see it plainly as one altitude attacking another (or all others really). Just more first-tier warfare. And perhaps it does have its place. Sam Harris has a damn good point when he says that mythic religious believers are a sincere threat to our world.
And when we're talking altitudes, its better to have a higher altitude prevailing in the world than a lower one. It would be better for rational (orange) beliefs to hold sway over world events than mythic-membership (blue) beliefs.
But, first-tier warfare is vastly inefficient at producing positive change compared to a second-tier approach that appreciates the different altitudes, recognizes them all as part of the spiral, and works to allow for people to grow through the stages while not priveleging the point of view of any stage in world affairs.
An integral approach would agree with the atheists that mythic dogma has to be controlled. People should be allowed to believe what they want to believe - as long as they aren't allowed to take over the world, or kill people or destroy things in the name of their religions.
But the New Atheists are just angry at the mythic believers because they flat out think they are wrong. And the atheists think they are right and no one else is. But like my man Stuart Davis likes to say - you can't see 5 years old is wrong - its 5 years old. Yes, a 30 year old will be very different, more mature, have a clearer, more encompassing view of the world - but its not right to be 30 and wrong to be 5. Its the natural path of growth.

Anyway my whole point here, coming back to my own feelings, is that  I am having all these interesting thoughts and insights into this subject, and have no one to share it with or discuss it with.
Not my girlfriend, not my family (almost my father - he would get it, but he's not familiar with integral terminology or research). Not any of my friends. Tomas would get it, but unfortunately he's on the other side of the country and I've lost my taste for instant messenging. Which is part of my problem actually.

But even if I did log onto AIM and have a rousing philo-chat with Tomas, it still wouldn't be as satisfying as a face to face discussion. That's one of the many things that makes me sad about Tomas moving to NM. No more late night Denny's conversations. And, not that Tomas could ever be replaced, but there's no one now to even fill in that position.
So I'm lonely. I can think as integral as I want, but I keep it to myself. Its barely even part of my persona really. Inside I feel like a different person since Integral, but outside, in my interactions with people, I'm still just me.

So I have to choices Try to bring integral to my current relationships, or seek out new, integral relationships. The latter is why I have a zaadz in the first place, but I haven't been actively using it.

Part of the reason I feel this loneliness now and don't usually notice it is that I'm at my parents house for Thanksiving. I'm off work, and I don't have my WoW PC with me. I'm on my laptop that can't run WoW worth a darn.
I'm realizing more and more that WoW (World of Warcraft) is my opiate. I readily can acknowledge that I have some level of addiction to the game. But I have no desire to cut it off. I am reducing my time playing it, for the sake of my relationship, but I still have a need for it to be a large part of my life.
So when I'm at home, and I'm not spending quality time with my girl, I'm playing WoW. So I don't have time to be integrally lonely. WoW gives me goals and rewards, and some (albeit limited) social interaction. Its enough to keep me occupied, and content.
But its really an opiate. It enslaves my mind to carrying out its repetitive quests and always seeking better loot and gear. And I love it for it. I love almost every minute of it. And I have logged over 34 days on my main character alone. That's 34 days of play. Since May 2005. A whole month of the last year and half playing just that one character. And I have other characters with several days of play on them as well.
And yet, I have absolutely no plans of stopping, or slowing down that much. I will slow down as much as I have to, to maintain a healthy and rewarding relationship, and to keep up my professional life, but I have no motivation to cut if off completely and pursue, say a more integral lifestyle.
And I don't know how I feel about that. Partially I think I'm too addicted to even see the benefits of stopping. Yet the addiction is under control to the extent that its not really harming my life. But it probably is holding me back from further growth.

Since I've been home, a little over 24 hours, some powerful emotional issues have come up in me that I haven't felt, mostly because I never had mental time or space to feel them.

But the Burning Crusade expansio to WoW is coming out in January, and there are so signs of me slowing down my WoW habit.