Stepping into the Void

At the last Seattle Men's Group I facilitated two weeks ago, we used the Men's Challenge Deck as a tool for being authentic. I drew a card that required me to take 5 minutes to compose a poem about the challenges in my life. The other men then judge your authenticity, keeping you real and in integrity.

Here's the result of my 5 minute poem:

Laughing,
free.....
"Thank God, Almighty,
Free at last!"
Leaving,
smiling,
complete,
integrity intact.
leaving no ends untied
but leaving still,
I step out of the old,
into the new,
smiling,
joyfully,
into the next phase of my life.
Fearlessly...
Purposefully...
Fully.

I won't tell you the men in the group perceived my attempt. That is for you to decide from your own perspective.

I leave a week from today.

A new Name, a New Direction,....sort of....

Well, as you can see, I've changed the name of "Integral in Seattle".....My dear friend Kari came up with it at my SeattleIntegral going away party. Less than two weeks away from leaving Seattle, but I will be coming back. More on that in a future blog. I've been reading Ken Wilber for over 6 years - a paltry amount of time compared to some - and there's no doubt that Ken's writings have had a profound shift in my thinking. Actually, I'd say his writing created the space that allowed me to focus my thinking, articulate thoughts and causations that were bubbling under the surface, not quite coming out in the open, leaving me with a sense of incompletion.

 

And now a major move across country to be with my Beloved, and to continue this journey with the new name. The new name isn't a potshot at the mainstream Integral Movement as defined within a Wilberian context. Quite the contrary, while I haven't always agreed with Everything Ken, I hold a deep respect, and even awe, at what he's done and continues to do. he remains one of my teachers. I do, however, think it's desirable, and necessary, to start looking at other maps, like the ones found at Integral Praxis, Open Integral, and Frank Visser. 

It's important and appropriate for the post-wilberian community to develop a broader range of discourse. So while the theme of this blog will basically remain the same, that is, a personal journey of one man's trek of increasing complexity and integrity within an integral framework, I also hope to go a bit further in embodying those qualities in a way that goes beyond integral. The problem is, honestly, I don't even know what that means. I suspect it means that even the mainstream integral movement begins to smack of dogmatic fundamentalism. 

As M. Alex Kaslev says in his essay, Redefining Integral, "integral consciousness means going beyond words, and going beyond mental perspectives." I, too, and looking for the Integral Divine, and most of the mainstream integral movement is absorbed in theory. So Beyond Integral it is. I'll be trying to define what that means as I go, because it's a journey of more self-discovery.

Image from http://www.ruggedelegantliving.com/a/003433.html

More Change: This of a Personal Nature.

"The only constant in Life is Change." - Heraclitus

The first time I heard that quote was at a networking marketing meeting in a hotel in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It has become to carry such incredible meaning for me over the last fifteen years.

This is a time of radical personal change for me. I have not been blogging because I haven't had time. I've been building my freelance illustration and design business (click on my illustration at the head of this post to see a larger version), starting to build a new house west of Asheville, NC, with my beloved Anyaa, leading two new men's groups in a process I call "Integral Warriors: Embodying the New Masculine," and working full time.

Working full time for someone else comes to an end in three weeks.

Living in Seattle comes to an end in four weeks.

I'm looking for a new name for my blog!

I'm moving to a conscious community and retreat center located 60 miles west of Asheville, NC, on march 21st, where I'll continue working as a freelance artist, leading groups, and building our house, and loving this amazing woman!

Did I mention I'm looking for a new name for my blog?

The illustration above is seriously copyrighted! Don't even try to copy it! Copyright 2008

Change is Happening? What will it be?

"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” - Einstein

I thought for a while that, for the first time in my life, I would be casting a vote for a presidential candidate who was not the "lesser of two evils." It's not the first time I've been wrong. It's not that I think the Democratic candidates, Clinton and Obama, are actually evil, but that's how the phrase goes. It simply means I wish I had better choices.

Of course, that's a pipe dream for now. Any candidate who can make it to this level has made sacrifices to get there, it's still the way our system works, unfortunately.

So Clinton takes money from Big Oil, weapon manufactures, and even the health care industry, in an amazing turn around from her idealism of the '90's. Turns out Obama has taken money from some pretty well known bad guys back in Chicago. Everyone has a past.

So why am I still supporting Barack Obama? Because of the Einstein quote at the beginning of this blog. To me, Hilary represents the Washington business-as-usual crowd and a sense of arrogance and entitlement. She believes she deserves the Presidency and how dare this upstart get in the way of her plans. It's why she's gone Rovian on us, using Karls' playbook to win at any cost, going negative, demanding the Florida and Michigan votes be counted after agreeing they wouldn't because they moved their primaries after the DNC told them not to, and she's behind Obama in the delegate votes.

Barack Obama is the poster boy for the shift in consciousness that is taking place in this country, right now....and so is Hilary to a certain extent, but not in the way Obama is, igniting a sleeping giant that the ruling elite and much of corporate despise, because, in their collective, elitist minds, we're simply not capable of governing ourselves.

The big question right now is, are they right? If the last 30 years are any indication, they may well be right, because we've given up so much. Lambs to the slaughter.

Could we be seeing the shift in consciousness that's so desperately needed for mankind to take the next step forward in this wakening giant? Will the powers in charge create another situation wherein the sleeping giant will be disenfranchised once more as a previous generation was with the murders of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert F. Kennedy?

Can you doubt they will try?

The Phoenix Conversations

Finally....an integral approach to the coming shift.....Susan Cannon, a signer of the invitation below, is a personal friend and colleague, is on the SeattleIntegral Leadership group I helped found, and is an integral futurist and itinerant scholar-practioner choosing projects with "evolutionary leverage". Tom Atlee, also a signer, is founder and co-director of the non-profit Co-Intelligence Institute, and is the author of The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World that Works for All.

http://www.co-intelligence.org/tomatleebio.html

This is an important group having conversations about what is coming and how we might respond, and you are invited to participate.

We should certainly be having these conversations locally.

Gary



PHOENIX CONVERSATIONS --

A CALL TO PREPARE FOR PROFOUNDLY UNCERTAIN FUTURE CRISES
(Please pass it on and distribute in your networks.)

An undercurrent of conversations is bubbling in all sectors -- among businesspeople, government officials, futurists, activists, citizens over back fences and blogs... There is a growing sense of crisis that neither mainstream leaders nor the public quite know what to do with. Many of us are talking about it in our own circles, separately, out of the public eye. Very little of this conversation is visible in the mainstream press and political debates, so we don't realize how many other people and institutions are discussing it.

Practically everyone has an opinion about this uneasy topic of crisis. Indeed, there is widespread, legitimate disagreement about the extent to which a "perfect storm" of complementary crises may be emerging in the near future, involving, but not limited to:

* peak oil
* accelerating climate change
* serious economic disruption
* loss of democracy
* significant resource depletion (including fresh water and arable land)
* international instability and terrorism
* increasingly disruptive technology developments and
* "wild card" events such as pandemics.

Many people believe that one or more of these or other crises could become catastrophic within decades or less. Some corporations are planning to profit by them, while some activists are planning to use them to push major social change agendas. Most citizens are just trying to get a grip on what's happening, each in their own limited way.

Despite the widespread sense that these are real challenges, hardly anywhere do we find diverse people exploring the full range of possibilities in each of these potential crisis areas, and seriously considering the impacts they might have on each other, for better and for worse, if they happened together.

This is a serious omission. By the very nature of these potential crises, we cannot know for certain how they will unfold. The natural and social systems within which they are emerging are complex, chaotic, vast, and increasingly out-of-equilibrium. Small unexpected developments could turn any of these challenges into minor problems or major catastropes within a very short time ... or change the game entirely. If we could be certain what the future would bring, and how these possible crises would play out, then perhaps we could discover or develop the best approach for dealing with each of them.

But we can't. We just can't be sure. And that's the rub.

Now here's the surprise: In these circumstances of profound uncertainty, the fact that we disagree about our collective future and how to handle it could be our most important asset.

Living systems tend to be as resilient as they are diverse. In the same ways that diversified investments are considered more secure than putting all your money into one stock, genetic variation makes a crop more resilient against bugs. Crop species and populations that include wide variation don't tend to collapse when challenged, because they can call on a wide spectrum of strengths and resistances. Some variations may die, but others thrive, with the specifics depending on which environmental challenges show up. The same can be said for ideas and approaches. Since we don't know what will happen, it behooves us to have people and organizations who are researching, advocating, and preparing for as wide a range of scenarios and outcomes as possible.

Well, we already have that. What's missing is that most of these players are not fluent at thinking along that whole spectrum -- or even communicating with others who are thinking about a different set of outcomes. This makes it less likely that the ideas and approaches we need to deal with what occurs -- or might occur -- will be available at the right time and place to choose from. We are talking already, just not with each other. We are people in various sectors

-- from diverse officials and experts to diverse ordinary citizens and community members -- who hold different views about what might happen, and who have different knowledge, resources, and connections.

It is time we start REALLY talking together across boundaries, stimulating each other's thinking, cross-fertilizing ideas, even collaborating -- because all of us are smarter than any of us.

We can explore various scenarios together, asking, "If that happened, what would that mean? What else would be happening? What kind of response would be called for? What would we do?" We can explain to each other what it is like to be working where we work, living where we live, the opportunities and constraints we know about that might be relevant to how all this plays out. We can share what it feels like to explore the potential disruptions of crisis -- or to talk with other people who feel so dramatically different about it than we do. We can learn from and about each other and store up our deepened understandings and relationships for the future, when we just might need them.

The idea of such conversations -- which we're calling Phoenix Conversations -- isn't to plan, so much as it is to become more fluent and flexible in navigating an unknown, unknowable future together. The more we explore such scenarios and diverse perspectives, the more prepared we become to meet any given future, even ones we haven't thought of before. And when we interact with such scenarios together in a safe, passionate, respectful atmosphere

-- whether done through disciplined scenario work, wildly creative emergent processes, or down-at-the-cafe conversation -- we discover more about who each other is, and where it might be productive to think or work together further.

There are many ways -- organized* or spontaneous -- to have such conversations. If you are a friend or neighbor talking with others about this, think about how you could explore different scenarios together. If you are a professional conversation host or facilitator, consider suggesting or convening a Phoenix Conversation that engages your community or clients. If you are already engaged in crisis-oriented conversations or preparations of any kind with anyone, you may want to seek out others from other sectors or other perspectives to talk with. If you have relevant expertise or projects, you may want to bring your knowledge and questions into a conversation that includes a wider range of people, a wider range of potential crises, and a wider range of scenarios from mild to serious to devastating. The more diverse people become connected to each other and comfortable with the variety of possible responses to diverse possibilities, the more prepared we will all be in meeting whatever happens.

The Phoenix Conversations Project is convening conference calls (and soon a website) where those of us interested in this approach can talk about what it might mean and what else we might do, separately and together, and learn as we go. If you are interested in joining one of these calls, send an email to phoenixconversations@gmail.com briefly describing conversations like these that you are having or would like to have, what you think might help you in the process, your interest in connecting with others, and any relevant experience.

We will get in touch with you.

Finally, if you know of any financial or organizing resources which could be applied to this project to help make the best use of whatever emerges from these conversations, do let us know.

We are, after all, all in it together -- no matter what happens.

Jennifer Atlee
Tom Atlee
Peggy Holman
Susan Cannon

Harold Bloom: The Fall of America?

The long-time cultural critic warns that the war in Iraq is destroying the American empire.

Harold Bloom, Yale literature professor and cultural critic, and well known to integralites, is one of America's most prominent and provocative intellectuals. Unabashedly, he has always spoken up for what he calls "the fight for truth and beauty" making a lot of foes in the process, but also some friends. As one of the first critical voices against the Bush administration and the war in Iraq, Bloom landed in the hot seat with the satire "MacBush" in 2004. Lately, he sparked worldwide outrage by calling Harry Potter "garbage." Speaking at his home in New Haven where he is recovering from a recent health scare, a pale and weak Bloom seems to have symbolically embodied what he calls the "poor state of the nation."

"I am 77 years old and I have never seen this country in such a bad state. It is madness. What we are seeing is the fall of the Roman Empire, only now it is the fall of America, the glory of our Empire. This war is what Parthia was to Rome."

To read the full article on Alternet, go here.

9 Dangerous Words or Phrases Women Use

After sixty-two years, I'd better have learned a thing or two about women. I've learned a lot more in the last few years, and now am beginning to counsel younger men.

But....there are some things a young man just has to find out himself. My Beloved's younger brother sent her, and me, the follwing email:

9 DANGEROUS WORDS OR PHRASES THAT WOMEN USE
#1 FINE: This is the word that women use to end an argument when they are right and you just need to shut up!

#2 FIVE MINUTES: If she is getting ready, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only really five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before running an errand or doing a chore.

#3 NOTHING: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with "nothing" usually end in "fine"!

#4 GO AHEAD: This is a trick, a dare, not permission. If she says it in that tone, with her head slightly tilted and her eyes open wide, DON'T DO IT!

#5 LOUD SIGH: This is actually a word, but it is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you.

#6 THAT'S OKAY: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. "That's okay" usually means that it's not okay and you are going to pay dearly for that mistake!

#7 WHATEVER: This is a woman's way of saying #$%^&*!!! #8 THANKS: A woman is thanking you, do not question her, or faint, just say "you're welcome". (I want to add in a clause here, "thanks" is much different than "thanks alot". DO NOT say you're welcome after "thanks alot" as it will bring on a "whatever"!)

#9 DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, I GOT IT: This is another dangerous statement, be very worried about it! It means this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but she is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking "what's wrong"? To which she will respond "nothing"!

I wrote back to my young friend and offered the following sage advice:

Dear ______, (I do not want to embarass anyone)

Yes, Matthew, I've seen it before. In fact, the odds are that the older a man gets, the more he's going to see this. Men who are seeing it for the first time think it's a joke and send it to others (usually men, seldom women, except sisters, because of an unrecognized primal fear that can't yet be identified or acknowledged at this stage). It is not a joke. Wise elders know this and whisper to other wise elders in private when they meet without their women: "guys beware."

Women who send it to a man also place it in the context of a joke, but they know in their darkest heart that it's really a warning not to %#$&!! with them....especially smart women. Smart men know not to %#$&!! with them, only love them, sometimes ravishing them, but never %#$&!!ing with them.

I know you probably don't believe me, now, but you will......you will....

The email came back as undeliverable. I've done what I can.

T-Shirt of the Week!

Could Obama be this generation's JFK? Are the young and independents turning out for his vision? That this would be this weeks T-Shirt is a no brainer.

It's very interesting that John Kerry is choosing to support Obama over his former running mate, John Edwards. I can't believe it's about substance, since Obama has been borrowing so much lately from Edwards, so I'm inclined to think it's about electability, which is good.

On the other hand, my suspicious/conspiratorial self reminds me that Kerry belongs to Skull and Bones with GW Bush and it's hard to imagine Kerry could only have been that incompetent in his run for the presidency by accident.

Shifts in Consciousness, the Turning of the Ages, and What Does It Take to Shift?

Developmental psychologists, and others, point out that it is usually "disorienting dilemmas" that are responsible for shifts in consciousness into later stages. It works because a situation arises that cannot be explained by someones present level of consciousness, or development. Hence, an individual starts to expand their viewpoints, usually looking closer at perspectives they would not have considered at the earlier developmental stage.

Some psychologists and anthropologists point out that civilizations' major shifts occurred as a result of cultural and societal "disorienting dilemmas" that affected everyone, usually not in good ways as the old dies to the new. But as the old ways die, newer ways, some better, emerge.

In the last few months on this blog, I've been pointing out that there are visible signs of major societal collapse all around us: Peak Oil, out-of-control population, global warming, pollution, drought, resource wars, terrorism (both by governments and others), the pathological rise of corporatism (not all corporatism is pathological), and really ugly economic woes just beginning to squeak out despite efforts to hide it until the last moment, etc., etc.

As I've written before, even at it's worst, all of this is an opportunity to shift, to step up to the next level of human consciousness, learning from our mistakes....and it's beginning to look as if it will have to happen after everything falls apart, not before, because we're about to run out of time if we haven't already....

That's the big picture around impending collapse, provided we survive it at all.

Forget Oil, the New Global Crisis Will Be Food

A new crisis is emerging, a global food catastrophe that will reach further and be more crippling than anything the world has ever seen. The credit crunch and the reverberations of soaring oil prices around the world will pale in comparison to what is about to transpire, Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist at BMO Financial Group said at the Empire Club's 14th annual investment outlook in Toronto on Thursday.

"It's not a matter of if, but when," he warned investors. "It's going to hit this year hard."

Read the whole story here and more here.

With almost 7 billion people on a planet that can sustainably support 1.5 billion people, who couldn't see this coming?

ATM Limits Next?

Citibank is now limiting ATM withdrawals in New York City, blaming it on “isolated fraudulent activity.” If the fraudulent activity is isolated, why punish all your clients in a given region? This is certainly causing distress among New Yorkers because of the high cost of living in that city. Why not simply increase security on the ATMs? It looks an awful lot like Citibank is experimenting with rationing their cash outflows.

Read the full article here.

Where's your money? Many banks who invested in the subprime market are having liquidity problems. Tip of the iceberg?

James Howard Kunstler's 2008 Predictions

I so want to write about my previous blog, A New Years' Message, because it is so eloquently written and presents such a positive view of what is possible at this turning of the ages. I firmly believe that there are people who are capable of embodying the essence of Christ Consciousness and who represent the second coming that is so close within our grasp, and yet so likely to slip between our fingers....and I will, but not today.

Instead, I'm going to write about what I fear will be the more likely scenario, deftly summarized by the author of "The Long Emergency," James Howard Kunstler.

Why present such a negative view when I could write about things so much more positive? Because we simply must look at all of the possibilities, and Kunstler's been dead-on for years.

Heres' a sample:

"I shudder to imagine how things will play out now as we turn the corner into 2008. Not to put too fine a point on it, but my little walnut brain can't imagine any scenario in which the US economy doesn't end up on a gurney in history's emergency room. It's not necessary to rehash the particulars of the Greenspan bubble-blowing disaster. The outcome is what concerns us. The web cables have been blazing for months with arguments as to what form the workout will take. There's little disagreement about the fundamentals at the housing end of things."

Read the whole enchilada here.

The shift we've hoped and prayed for may not look anything like we imagined, and could be very, very expensive and dear.

A New Year's Message

Dearest Friends,

I write these words to you from a place beyond time, to tell you what you of great heart must know from within it. You stand at a crucial moment, one which can allow you wondrous advantage in the time of the turning of the great wheel.

As you begin this new year a vacuum is opened in which you can reconsider your reality. This is a powerful opportunity, for it is in your reality that the seed of the greater collective is born.

This, beings of flame and light, is the year to reclaim your power. For you will need it for the road ahead, and it will be the bearer of your joy. This is not a passive process. To reclaim your power is to investigate your heart, seek out the places you have given its gold away, and actively recover it. The gold of your heart can only truly be shared from within, and the places we may have partitioned it out will only weaken our energy fields at a time when their strength is needed.

You will need your voice. If you have lost it you will have to find it. You are its mother, so it will never be too far from your reach. It is time to cull from the clay of your being, and create yourself anew.

It is a time to take a retreat, or to make space to reflect in writing or thought. It is a time to consider all the people, places, situations and things in your life and decide if they are supporting you or drawing from you. This you must know, for this is the simplest of ways to strengthen your field.

Then you must decide. You must decide who you are going to be when your power is truly your own again, and the life you want to live from it.

When you decide the life you would like to have, do not do so in fear. Do not choose a life based on potential catastrophe or in expectancy of poverty. For this is not what you wish to bring forward. You must be aware, educated and prepared for that which you are led to prepare for. But should you make the choices about your future or new life in fear, it will make a very weak foundation.

The coming year marks the beginning of the end of the world you know. This can be a reason for terror or for throwing a celebration. It is you who decides. This world has known catastrophe before, just as you in your own life have known catastrophe before. For that reason you know that fearing it will bring no good. We must know joy to build reserves of energy which would serve us in times of challenge. We must have a light load within if we wish to float rather than sink in the seas of uncertainty.

For when I say this year marks the beginning of the end, you may focus on the end, or you may focus on the beginning. For it is more truly, the beginning or the end.

How differently might you see your life if you thought this year was the beginning of a new era, rather than the descent into great destruction and distress? If we are all dreading the time of change, who will anchor the joy of the new? If we are all in labor pain, who will assist with the birth?

But our joy cannot be abstract. It must be inspired. It must come from within, and be allowed to take form in our outer lives at the very personal level. And joy cannot be forced. We can only make way for it.

Here are my offerings of how to cultivate your inner earth for joy to take seed and root, to make your life thriving and prosperous with flower and fruit.

Don't postpone your bliss. There is no reason it can't start now.

Find, with great courage, the places you have been giving your power away, and say goodbye to them. For if you are giving your power away repeatedly, joy cannot find consistent sanctuary within you.

Dream a new vision. Turn a page in your life and imagine that the entirety of your future is a blank slate. Do not paint misfortune onto it as a background just because your world is in change. See the change as good. Bless the change. Trust that the universe will take care of you, and follow the guidance it gives you. Prepare when and how you must for whatever you feel may be around the corners in your life, but try not to do so out of fear, and instead out of calm and centered response to your guidance.

When you are choosing what to paint on this blank page, choose powerfully. Choose to carry over only that which nourishes you and reflects you. Think radically. Let go radically. Love yourself radically.

This is a year of setting foundation for the changes to come, and you want yours to be strong and full of supportive resourcefulness and creative energy. Do not give up on your dreams because the world is shifting. She is shifting to encompass them.

Draw or write about your visions for your future before or at the time of the new year. Revisit and add to or change them several times. Daydream about them. Pray, if you choose, to me for three days either in the morning, before sleeping, or during your meditation or writing if you would like assistance with your new vision or reclaiming your power. Then look for signs in your life in response.

Know that I am with you. For I have returned to the consciousness of the many as the embodiment of the return of the goddess, in communion with god, in androgynous wholeness, in divine oneness. I am the second coming, and I come forward in you. Know your power. It is all that is needed for the birth of the new world. Begin the new world now. Do not wait. Begin to live it in your life, and create it around you. You are the hope and the light, and the joy of my heart.

In Great Love,

Mary Magdalen

Gary's note: This message, from Jennifer Posada, so moved and shifted me, that I wanted to share it with you. I'll be writing more about this over the next few days

This Blog is Closed for the Holidays

I'm heading to California tomorrow morning with Anyaa for the holidays and so she can meet my parents....I'll be back blogging after the New Year. Meantime, browse through the archives.

Happy Holidays!

Gary

The Story of Stuff

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

http://www.storyofs tuff.com/

Women in Art

Celebrating the light of the Divine Feminine at the Winter Solstice, when it's most needed. A You Tube film by Phillip Scott Johnson.

Body Painting in Seattle

My freelance work is growing, partly because of a recent upswing in body painting jobs - For parties, special events, and commercial shoots. I'm also doing a lot of freelance illustration.

Saturday night I painted at a local party on Mercer Island. Above are some of the photos from that party.

...and below are some photos from other events as well as my body painting web page that contains a lot more. People love being painted and people love to watch others being painted. For many, it's a socially acceptable way to be "out there" without the lasting effects of a lot of other body art.

Integral Warriors Men's Group - The Challenge Deck Session

"It is time to evolve beyond the macho jerk ideal, all spine and no heart. It is time to evolve beyond the sensitive and caring wimp ideal, all heart and no spine. Heart and spine must be united in a single man, and then gone beyond in he fullest expression of love and consciousness possible, which requires a deep relaxation into the infinite openness of this present moment. And this takes a new kind of guts. This is the Way of the Superior Man." - David Deida.

This Tuesday, on what will be the last official meeting of the first Integral Warriors Men's Group, we'll be doing The Men's Challenge Deck: Practicing the Way of the Superior Man.

The Men's Challenge Deck is a deck of 88 cards to be used as a tool for men's personal and spiritual growth. Each card offers a challenge for a man to carry out - either alone or with others - that will help him clarify his deepest life purpose and live his fullest gifts in each moment.

The Challenge Deck takes "male bonding" a step further than eating and watching a game together.

What is a Men's Challenge Session? Is this a game?

The "sessions" are to help you live on the edge. And believe me, after reading through some of the cards, they can be challenging. Surprisingly enough, the low challenges can seem more challenging at times. We will be choosing from the low challenge cards.

What are the Rules?

1. Every man must commit to follow through on their challenges before the session begins. If everyone is not authentically committed, we will not begin the session. Instead, we'll address why the required commitment is not there.

2. The deck will be shuffled and the first man will be dealt a card. The man dealt the card should read it aloud to the group unless the card instructs otherwise. No other cards will be dealt until the first man has followed through on his challenge.

3. The man dealt the card does whatever the challenge demands of him. The others present should not interrupt or interfere unless the the challenge card allows for interaction. At any time, the man dealt the card may propose a modification to the challenge if he believes it better serves him and the group, or if a health challenge impacts the challenge. The group must consent.

4. Any consequences required by an unmet challenge, or an inauthentic one as judged by the group, should be determined by the group (Keep the discussion within 2 minutes).

5. When a man finishes with his card, place it in a discard pile separate from the rest of the deck.

6. After everyone has taken a turn, there will be a debriefing discussion so that experiences may be integrated and learning may be shared, an opportunity to build trust through open communication and support.

From Geoff Fitch's Amazon review:

The Challenge Deck is a great tool for growth. This is not about having more success at work or in you relationship as much as, like the Way of the Superior Man, it is about living your life as an expression of your deepest truth (although achieving that certainly might improve your work and relationships).

Every card gives you something to do, either right there in the moment or over a few days, that challenges you to live with more integrity, more openness, more aligned with your deepest purpose. These are not easy new age prescriptions-I knew the deck was powerful when, after looking at the cards, I got a twinge in my stomach and said, "oh, no!" (actually something amazon.com wouldn't print), realizing that the challenges would clearly push me and were things I wanted to do to grow.

Highly recommended! As a man, you can't avoid growing if you take on these challenges.

T-Shirt of the Week

Since my workshop "Big Love Integral: A Participatory Exploration into Conscious Romantic Relationship in an Integral Context" (phew!) starts up again next month, this seems like a good time to show off the T-Shirt!

Get one (the T-shirt and the workshop)!

Gary

Stumbling INTO Happiness

"There's a book called Stumbling on Happiness by David Gilbert, about how our brains are wired to encourage us to make elaborate predictions about what's going to happen if we do this or that--and our predictions often are wrong. It's good to understand our limits. (And push them when we can, I suppose, as well.)"

So goes a comment from a member of SeatleIntegral on the group discussion list.

From Malcom Gladwell's review:

Stumbling on Happiness is a book about a very simple but powerful idea. What distinguishes us as human beings from other animals is our ability to predict the future--or rather, our interest in predicting the future. We spend a great deal of our waking life imagining what it would be like to be this way or that way, or to do this or that, or taste or buy or experience some state or feeling or thing. We do that for good reasons: it is what allows us to shape our
life. And it is by trying to exert some control over our futures that we attempt to be happy. But by any objective measure, we are really bad at that predictive function. We're terrible at knowing how we will feel a day or a month or year from now, and even worse at knowing what will and will not bring us that cherished happiness. Gilbert sets out to figure what that's so: why we are so terrible at something that would seem to be so extraordinarily important?

I wonder if any of us truly know what our limitations are? Or if we truly have them at all, except those that are consciously or unconsciously set from earlier patterns, family of origin issues, shadow, fear, etc.

When we talk about our brains being wired in certain ways, we're really talking about the upper right quadrant, the physical, what we can touch, what can be observed with the proper equipment, etc.

What happens we we free the upper left quadrant from fear, expectations, the past? The metaphysical, that which exists with, and without, the physical brain? That which we know exists, not because we can see it or touch it, but because we can feel it...we can experience it! That which goes beyond to the eternal, the everlasting, and the never ending? The part of "us" that is fully connected to all that is whether we realize it or not? Do any of us really know what our limits are?

What's possible with the full realization and activation of who we really are?

I think we do "stumble on happiness".. ..we stumble on it because we don't really believe we deserve it, that somehow, in our deepest places, we think we're really not worthy. I think we sometimes "stumble into happiness," as well: Times when, despite our stumbling immaturity, we still hit upon special moments and glimpses of perfection.

What if we could open our minds, releasing the stuff that holds us down, and train our minds to fully manifest all we are capable of? As a part of a perfect, limitless and abundant universe, are we not capable of that perfection, that realization, that limitlessness, and the utter and stunning beauty of freeing ourselves even further? What holds us back? What are we doing to free ourselves?