Don't Just Sit There....Do Something! (part 2)

In my last post on this subject, a couple of days ago, I promised to delve deeper into why I think people don't get more involved. More to the point, why people join a group and then seem not to participate in an activity that I am so incredibly passionate about. In this case, it is specifically around SeattleIntegral, the second-largest integral salon in the world, and arguably, the salon with the most impact on other salons, the norming, storming, and forming intersubjective local spaces and communities that are trying to create new paradigms and practices from emerging levels of consciousness.

It is because of my admitted lack of understanding that I am trying to flesh out the reasons for this lack of participation, or as it's known in online group circles, "lurking." There's even a larger picture, here, that I think is related: Why are people so apathetic in general? While I'm not going to try to answer that in the context of this post, I will try to answer the smaller question around salons, particularly SeattleIntegral, because that's the one I know.

An online group is a system (it's the online part that makes it a system), a lower right quadrant social holon, and its exchanged artifacts, through the the participation of individual holons (people) in that lower right quadrant. But can people who just sign up for the list and then don't participate in the list be called part of the social holon known as SeattleIntegral?

It depends on what your definition of "sex" is......er, participation. If they are reading, then, yes...I think they are participating (small p) to some degree. But why don't they Participate (big P)?In my last post on this subject, I pointed out that there could be several reasons why people don't respond or post, and promised to expand on it in this post.

I believe the very simple answer lies in the AQAL model and its five aspects, but particularly with levels and lines. Seattle is perhaps one of the greenest communities in the United States. Maybe not as green as Portland, but we have a much larger population, and before I go any further, I want to point out that I mostly love green. It is a very high level of development, and deserves an incredible amount of credit for the many things it has accomplished in the last 30-40 years.

However, as Ken Points out, no level can see beyond their own development. While a new structure or stage might be emerging, unless someone has moved into that new stage, they really can't see the level above them. It's the reason that, while I cognitively "get" Indigo, I can't really understand it until I can live and embody it.

Salons have a unique role in the emerging integral consciousness. We naturally have a lot of orange and green, especially in communities like Portland and Seattle, and where there is a lot of orange and green, there's going to be some curiosity about what appears to be emerging, or 2nd tier capacities. My sense, from three years of experience, is that a lot of the lurkers in our groups are basically orange and green, and as such, while they are interested, mostly don't really know how to participate in some of these conversations.

In addition, large orange/green communities are going to have a relatively (no pun intended) large amount of 1st tier emergent to 2nd tier people. One of the roles of salons, I'm convinced, is to provide a nurturing ground for all of these individuals to expand and develop, both horizontally and vertically: Horizontally by providing opportunities to develop more span and skills, and vertically by providing opportunities for peak state experiences. This is why practices are so very critical

Ultimately, I think without embodying an integral approach, we simply can't be that passionate about it. No passion largely means no Participation.

Next: How does one go about getting Integral, and can you make it happen?