Don't Just Sit There....Do Something! (Part 3)

Everyone I know whom I would classify as 2nd tier is doing something. That's not to say everyone who is doing something is 2nd tier, but once you make that "monumental shift," from my perspective, you have no choice, any more than a caterpillar has a choice as whether to become a butterfly or not. Once you understand what's at stake, once you see from a 2nd tier perspective, you have to do something, be involved, make a difference. To do nothing would be to turn your back on your very being.

I know of people who operate from 2nd tier but who have never heard of Ken Wilber or integral. Knowing about the integral approach is not a prerequisite to 2nd tier, but it sure is a great map!

One of the things that happened to me, before I knew about Wilber or the integral approach, was that I started developing practices without even knowing what I was doing. Let me reframe that...I knew what I was doing, but couldn't name it. I recognized there was immense value in leading a balanced life, and began doing something about it. Doing something. I was swimming competitively, working out 4-5 days a week, lifting weights, watching my diet, reading books that I thought would develop my mind and awareness, and meditating. It wasn't long until I began developing a sense of Spirit that had been long missing from my life, and began looking at things around me in a different way. I'm convinced today that my intuitive development of "an integral life practice" prepared me to more fully comprehend the integral approach when it was finally presented to me.

So, let's say someone who is still first tier, who gets this stuff cognitively, but doesn't yet embody it, wants to push their consciousness to greater span and depth.....what can they do? Start by developing an Integral Life Practice. By consciously immersing ourselves in 2nd tier practices, we "fake it until we make it." Remember the old Henny Youngman joke where someone asked the comedian how to get to Carnegy Hall? Youngman replied. "practice, practice, practice." By practicing, we rest in the subtle and causal states of those practices, until they become second nature to us. They might not feel natural, at first, but one of the tenets of making changes in your life, is to do what it is you want to change, or adopt, for 30 days until it becomes a habit. Once it becomes a habit, you own it, you embody it.

What is Integral Life Practice? "Developed at Ken Wilber's Integral Institute, it is a highly flexible system for working on your physical health, spiritual awareness, emotional balance, mental clarity, relational joy, and energy level, within a framework where everything fits together—where you finally make sense, because no important part of you is left out. Practicing this elegant, flexible system even for just 10 minutes a day will enhance literally everything—it will make your life more joyful, loving, healthy, whole, intelligent, fun, and compassionate."

It is through these balanced practices that someone can "hurry" this development.

But you have to want it....and you have to do something.