The Integral Men's Conference

A Proposal and a Vision

We---a small group of integral men from around the US and Canada---are proposing a first-year conference for men who are beginning to emerge—or already have emerged—from a postmodern consciousness and worldview. The target men for the conference are either in the process of shifting from a “green”—pluralistic relativism—first tier perspective to a more “integral” self-actualized worldview, or have already transitioned to a broader second tier worldview that encompasses the largest possible perspective for each man.

We are now in the pre-planning stage and are looking for approximately six powerful Integral Leaders---men or women---who would be willing to talk about committing to serving on the Planning Team that will create what we hope will be an annual conference largely based on Ken Wilber's Integral Model and the vision stated here. 

Vision: The Integral Men's Conference promotes the evolutionary birth of a fully integrated masculine, in service to ourselves, each other, the feminine, and the planet we live on.

Mission: The conference will offer powerful integral teachers and presenters focusing on “real world” issues around what it means to be a man living at later-stage consciousness, from an integral perspective, in all aspects of our lives: Relationship, spirituality, women, money, economics, energy, environment, work, shadow, life purpose, sexuality, Gender issues, parenting, sustainability, community, purpose and mission, and more.

What do these real world issues look like at later-stage consciousness, how do they differ from first stage being? What unique problems are these men exposed to, and how do they navigate these issues in the real world that isn’t yet capable of honoring them? In addition to powerful presenters and thought leaders, there will be time to explore these particular issues through Q&A's with the presenters and with each other in break-out sessions.

Last for now, this is not intended to be a conference about integral theory, although there may be some of that. This is a conference that would apply Integral Theory to real world concerns and issues around masculinity.

If you're an Integral Leader that feels called to the vision and the mission of what we're calling "The Integral Men's Conference," please contact me as soon as possible.

Gary

The Integral Warrior: Final Men's Group

The introductory weekends are over. Two of them held in August and September have produced six men who are willing to step into the complete process of learning how to more fully embody The New Masculine over a 7 month period.

So what is this "New Masculine" that this process helps emerge? Both the bully and the new-age sensitive guy are archetypes that need to be transcended and morphed into a new arena of cooperation, or collective individualism. We need a fresh new way of looking at the issues that face us. The many ways we've been acting are not working.

More and more people are talking about the need for this next wave of thinking to arise as the only way we're going to solve the massive problems that are all converging on us at once, created by old paradigm thinking. These paradigms have left us with the problems of a crumbling world economy, peak oil, culture and the coming water wars, climate change, over population, and famine, just to name a few.

Just think how impossible it seems to change our crumbling financial and health/insurance systems. It pains me to think of the money we're throwing at the financial system to keep it afloat, in spite of it being unsustainable in it's present form. It won't be until the systems more or less collapse that we'll get any kind of meaningful change: when enough people wake up to "it just isn't working." The hope is that we don't totally collapse into the most basic of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Just as the old paradigms must die before new forms can emerge, so must men "die" to the old before they can emerge to the new.

By doing work around archetypes, shadow, initiation and ritual, men can dive deep into their own psyches, figure out for themselves what is no longer working for them, and how to emerge into a new way of being, what David Deida calls "3rd-stage masculine," that opens their hearts into a subtle, authentic way of living and loving that gifts the world with their presence.

Six men have agreed to take responsibility for their own evolution, fearlessly facing their inner demons, so that they may grow, mature, and step into the masculine role that the world so desperately needs at this time on the planet: that of the Integral Warrior, the Spiritual Warrior, the Shamanic Priest, this New masculine with integrated consciousness and awareness, loving themselves, their loved ones, and the entire connected planet.

I'll be doing a make-up session before we begin in late November for other men who would like to participate in this cutting-edge work around the New Masculine. I have room for four more men and I invite you or your loved ones to join us.

To find out more about The Integral Warrior: Embodying the New Masculine, click here.