California's--and Liberalism's--Make it or Break it Opportunity

California has a Golden Opportunity to Prove Liberalism Works---or Not.

A strange thing happened in California last week: Democrats gained control of both the state's legislature and the state's governorship at the same time, and conservatives are already warning about what a disaster that will be, but will it? 

The 2012 elections have revealed several things: that the country is becoming more liberal, that the conservative approach of trying to pit us against one another isn't working, and that changing national demographics have resulted in the republican party being labeled as the "party of old white men" (as an old white guy I resent this!). This repudiation of prejudicial and radical conservative views should be a lesson for liberals and progressives in places like California, because the pendulum swings as a result of the failures of whatever political party happens to in control at the moment.

One reason the Republican Party has fallen so hard, is not because there isn't value in conservatism, but because they forgot that---despite its flaws---there's also value in liberalism. But part of the conservative plan to dominate politics was the creation of what they called "the culture wars," a construct designed to separate the country into "us vs. them."

"What’s most amazing is that these very issues that once helped to rally conservatives to the polls and “vote against their economic interests” are now more effective in drawing liberals to the polls. Social conservatism has been increasingly marginalized in American society and politicians are gaining much less traction pushing these issues. The passage of two marijuana legalization measures – in Colorado and Washington – and referendum support for gay marriage in four states shows that the days of GOP culture war wedge issues is coming to an end." (link)

The right---not the "far" right---has considerable soul searching to do. If the Republican Party refuses to move away from the vitriolic hate speech of the Limbaughs and the Hannity's, getting rid of the neanderthals that have dominated the party up until now, they will continue to lose relevance with the culture shift---younger, less white, and more liberal---happening in the country, and it will be caused by the very issue of fear and hatred they've been running on. Time's up. Change or die, because this is just the beginning. 

"If someone believes Barack Obama is a socialist, Communist, Marxist, Muslim, radical, black liberation theologian, non-citizen, illegitimate president or Manchurian Candidate, forget about him. He may have a shot at a career in talk radio, but he's not going to make it in California politics." (link)

So back to California. California has a golden opportunity to prove that conscious liberalism---not political correctness or the mindless egalitarianism that says all opinions carry equal weight---but a liberalism that is mature enough to recognize the value of differing opinions, of the value of following rules, the value of creating abundance as opposed to greed, and providing real value to all of California's citizens. Because if the new supermajorities in California government are tantamount to handing your teenager a credit card, the checkbook, and the keys to a car that will take them to an all-night orgy, they will be replaced---if there's anything left.

Get smart, California. Prove liberalism works, because we'll all know if it doesn't... and as California goes, so goes the nation.

Collapsing into Consciousness

I'm writing this on election Day, Nov. 6th, 2012, while wondering which authoritarian corporate warmonger will wind up "leading" the country for the next four years.

Yes, you're reading that right. I'm done voting for the lesser of two evils, because even a vote for "the lesser" is still a vote for evil. I'm also thinking about The East Coast and the aftermath of Sandy, the Superstorm, hoping that the suffering of so many will lessen soon, and that things will return to normal as soon as possible. Silly me...things will never return to "normal." We---us, the nation, the world---have passed the point where things will never be "normal" again.

I also wonder how so many people in New York and New Jersey find them selves without food, water, gas for generators, and so much more after being warned about what was coming ten days in advance; why they chose to ignore the warnings and did not do even the smallest amount of preparation? 

Are we so locked in denial and our arrogance that we simply refuse to believe these things could happen to us and our communities? I wonder how many people---perhaps even you reading this---now see the "frankenstorm" as a wake-up call to do at least 3 weeks of "prepping" for whatever might come along?

We are now going through a remarkable time in humankind's history and we are being asked---no, challenged---to wake up on all fronts: emotionally, spiritually, physically, and intellectually. Our survival depends on it. We are being challenged to evolve, and evolve we must, or we will perish. We won't be the first. Several versions of Hominids---we're a Hominid---have gone extinct on the planet.

The evolution of our species is the only thing that can save us. It has become painfully obvious that Einstein was correct when he said, "“You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.” Our problems are overwhelming us.

On that cheery note, I'm creating a new website called "Collapsing into Consciousness," a member-based forum---with free sections---to help people learn how to take care of themselves and others. The forum membership pages will be broken down into categories and, ideally, each category will be managed by someone who is an expert or a very knowledgeable person in that category. Some of the topics the forums will include are Sustainability Memes, Evolutionary Metaphysics, Community, Resilience, Prepping, Economics, Energy, Environment, and much, much more, all designed to help conscious individuals to get more conscious while learning how to navigate what's already begun. As soon as the website is up---in the next month or two---I'll be inviting others to participate by being forum managers, and once we have those in place, we'll go live.

In the meantime, here's a gift for you to get started:
TEN STEPS TOWARD COLLAPSING INTO CONSCIOUSNESS

1. Build your internal bunker: The new world will present unprecedented emotional and spiritual challenges. We need to do our inner work, especially around shadow.
2. Physical preparedness: Don't underestimate the logistical challenges. Start now if you haven't already. Work on becoming resilient and self-sustaining. Are you where you need to be?
3. Get out of debt: Debt and our current financial system is designed to keep you enslaved. Take control of your finances.
4. Get local: Think globally, act locally, especially around food and community.
5. Commit to simplicity: Evaluate your possessions and determine what you'll need and what will be a burden. We all have too much crap, anyway.
6. Commit to establishing relationships that support your preparation.
7. Commit to your relationship with your physical body: Some sort of daily exercise or movement. Get in shape.
8. Develop the practices of kindness and gratitude: They will come back to you.
9. Create something beautiful every single day: In service to life and each other.
10. Speak up: because your soul knows what's right.
 
This article appears in the November 2012 Integral Warrior newsletter.

The Matrix Today

A New Future is Evoving....

A Dismal Array of Local Candidates

Jackson County Candidate Forum:
Why all the candidates were pretty much pathetic

I attended our local Candidate's Night Forum on Monday Night, October 15th, at the new Jackson County Public Library. Sponsored on by The Smoky News, The Canary Coalition, The League of Women Voters, and the local Occupy WNC group, I was the assistant moderator at the forum which basically meant I pretty much had nothing to do but listen.

I originally wrote a slightly different version of this post as a Letter to the Editor of the Smoky Mountain News, but since they declined to publish it, I've decided to post on my blog and then tag the hell out if it so it can get picked up locally as much as possible. If you're local, too, you can help get it out there so as many people as possible see it.

Starting at the end, let me state that when the debate was over, I left with the feeling of being terribly let down and disappointed by candidates on both sides of the political paradigm. I thought to myself, “how do we navigate all of the critical problems that we face in Jackson County, North Carolina, and the nation, with the extreme lack of critical thinking, mediocrity, dogmatism, and simple lack of knowledge displayed at the forum by these candidates? This was the best we could do?

In fairness, neither Mark Meadows or Hayden Rogers, candidates for US House of Representative District NC11, bothered to show up. Below, I’ve chosen a couple of examples and am including who I think made the most egregious statements and responses during the evening. There were, unfortunately, many more. 

The first was Senator Jim Davis’ statement claiming Obama gutted Medicare by taking $717 billion out of it to fund Obamacare. This is a statement that was debunked when both Romney and Ryan made it in their respective debates. Independent fact checker Factcheck.org says that’s simply not true. The law stipulates that “guaranteed Medicare benefits won't be reduced, and it adds some new benefits, such as improved coverage for pharmaceuticals." But some Republican politicians, like Romney, Ryan, and apparently Davis, never let the facts get in their way and are claiming the money has already been taken. I will give Senator Davis the benefit of the doubt thinking he may not know this and is just be repeating party rhetoric, but that would be almost as bad. We should all demand integrity from those who represent us. Although I was born into a democratic family, I’ll take a republican with integrity over a Democrat without it anytime…and visa-versa. Ask yourself where your moral compass is on that one. Are you willing to win at all costs, including not telling the truth?

On the other side---the Democrats, particularly John Snow, Davis’ Democrat opponent---failed miserably, much like President Obama in the first debate by not calling out Senator Davis about this gross misrepresentation.  Here was an opportunity to use Reagan’s famous line by saying, “well, there you go again.” Snow seemed out of his league, vague, somewhat confused, and did not carry himself with a confidence that would inspire even some Democrats to vote for him. For example, when the subject of GMO food labeling came up and Davis said that he had been eating genetically modified food for years and he was still living, and added, “I think we have so many other things to worry about, that that is way down on my list,” Snow simply said, “I agree with him.” 

Both of these candidates showed a complete lack of knowledge and understanding about a very serious multi-tiered problem that threatens people from corporate corruption and fascism, to extreme health and crop problems that are beginning to show up. The list of countries that have and are banning GMO foods is rising almost weekly. Apparently, neither candidate has seen the scientific study showing GMO tumors on subject rats fed GMO foods or they are ignoring it. One candidate shows disdain for those of us who are concerned about our food supply and the other isn’t knowledgeable or quick-witted enough to turn that easily-lobbed softball into a run. The Democrats also missed several opportunities to talk about the actual dangers of fracking to our precious and rapidly dwindling clean water supply, instead choosing to amaze us with, “I’m against it.”

NC house Candidate Joe Sam Queen spent much of the evening sounding as if he had lost his compass, and in typical liberal fashion, seemed like he wasn’t sure which direction he should head. I liked Queen, but have to admit that, even though he probably made more sense than any of the other candidates, he did little to inspire confidence. Queen’s opponent, House candidate Mike Clampitt kept making references to his religious perspectives and how they guided him, in a way that made me question if he might be ingenuously playing to that part of the voter spectrum. 

All of the candidates pretty much stuck to the simplistic talking points of their party and were pro-growth and pro jobs, for that, the audience was the loser. There was a clear lack of unique problem solving from either side of the traditional right and left political spectrum, and this, in light of the tremendous problems we face, locally, nationally, and globally, is pretty sad. Paraphrasing Einstein, it was clear from the evening that the level of thinking that was trying to solve our state and local problems, is the same level of thinking that got us there in the first place. We’ve got to do better.

Maybe it's time to start running a new breed of candidates.

You can watch the entire painful debate here:

"Trance-Formation", the Movie

I don't know if you're familiar with Max Igan...but he's an incredibly talented film maker who is apparently the genius behind a powerful documentary movie called Trance-Formation. Max Igan is a pen-name and you can find out a little more about him here. He apparently wants to remain anonymous. But I'm not writing to talk about Max Igan, I'm here to talk about his amazing movie. First, it is extremely well done with top notch special effects, graphics, music, and quality.

Trance-Formation is an important and brilliant movie that pulls "the big picture" together....It's about the creation of a new "meme" and the splitting of the world. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term "meme," it is largely defined as "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture" and "is an idea that behaves like a virus--that moves through a population, taking hold in each person it infects. In a broader sense, and how it is eventually described in the movie, Igan's "meme" becomes a cultural movement and is a creation that results in the next really big evolutionary step for humankind: The Trans-Human.

Only, aspects of trans-humanism, as Igan powerfully points out, are not likely to be a good thing.

The last time humankind made an evolutionary leap of this magnitude, other hominids disappeared from the planet.

The "splitting" of the world comes from what are now are the beginning stages of what is called "Trans-Humanism." From Wikipedia, Trans-Humanism is "an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as study the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies. They predict that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label "posthuman."

Transhumanism is largely promoted by thinkers like Ray Kurzweil, who popularized the term, "The Singularity," which describes the moment artificial intelligence overtakes human intelligence. Scoffed at by many scientists who say the human brain is too complex for this to happen, transhumanism combines supercomputers with the neural paths of the brain, bridging this limitation.

Think that's the stuff of science fiction? See my comment at the end of this article.

Part of the premise of the movie is that it would very easy for "someone" to take control of people who are"enhanced" posthumans, resulting in a totalitarianism that George Orwell and Aldous Huxley could only hint at. Another aspect of transhumanism probably well-known to many of you is what would result in the complete subjugation and dominance of nature. In fact, one of the arguments for transhumanism is that, using this technology to its ultimate expression, we can create "God" and  an earth-community of permanent peace. They would do this through implanted computer chips and ports integrated into the human bio-system and getting your dogs and now your children to accept this technology through fear. There are already people who are willing to get chip transplants so they can process the internet faster. Advocates are also doing it by geo-engineering theough GMO foods, TV, chemtrail exposure, nano-bots (see Morgellons Disease) and more.

There will be those who choose not to be enhanced, and another premise the movie is that these non-enhanced humans could become the modern day equivalent of the neanderthal and may very well go extinct. Not that far out as we recall what man has done to more primitive cultures all over the planet.

What transhumanism advocates probably get--and fear--is that we humans are about to reach the capacity to touch God and to become a peaceful planet, but it's just so much more in their interest to give everyone a techno-lobotomy, and convince them that they're happy, knowing their place is to serve...but serve who? The masters of the planet, the Powers That Be, the Elite. But wait, won't they--and their children--be affected, too? Yes, but they want to become posthuman, with them in charge of the rest of us who do their bidding without complaining or questioning.

What can we do about this? We need as many people to wake up as possible, do their work, and become the shift, the transition, shifting naturally into a posthuman-like consciousness that can prevent this from happening . It is definitely time for us to grow up. Now. Can that happen? In time? That is a very big question.

This is an age-old story that is continuing to play out today in the form of a dominating hierarchy that wants to subdue and control nature and the universe--and the rest of us--and we play right into it because we're experts at creating technologies that we don't have the wisdom to control.

Hmmm...humans vs. the transhumans...the choice of which way to go is a soul choice.

Welcome to the Borg.

Top Ten Transhumanist Movies 

Enhanced TV

Should the Integral Community Support President Obama??

Enabling is Still Co-Dependent, Even At The Integral Stage

 Some of you may be aware that Terry Patten, an acknowledged leader of the rapidly changing Integral Movement, recently created a website called Integral Obama:Integral Evolutionaries for Obama 2012. If you haven't already visited that site and read Terry's impassioned plea to integralists to support President Obama, I invite you to do so now, so you can get a better idea about what I'm writing about.

The first paragraph of terry's argument begins, "The purpose of this website is to offer integral evolutionaries an opportunity to support the re-election of President Obama by speaking with a single voice. Why Obama, again? And why should we, as “integral evolutionaries,” pool our support?"

This seems like a good place to make a couple of points: Unlike some who have commented that integral shouldn't be taking sides in politics, like all good integralists, I'm coming from a place where I believe that, while everyone has a piece of the truth and no one has the whole truth, some truths are more true than others, and so I'm not opposed to Terry supporting Obama per say. At the same time, I also recognize that, as integralists, our obligation is to the health of the entire spiral, not just integral.

There are also some whom are so turned off by Terry's message that they say they are abandoning integral altogether. To those I say, you  never embodied integral in the first place.

Terry goes on to lay out his reasoning for his position, acknowledging Obama's good and only lightly acknowledging there are bad points, ultimately believing "that he is still the best hope we have for more integral policies and politics." If you've read his well-thought out argument, as I asked you to, there are many valid points to Terry's position. A couple of them are:

• I will be very concerned if we find ourselves with Republicans in control of the Presidency, both houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court.
• I believe we are much more likely to get integral ideas included in a Democratic party platform than in a Republican platform, which has now been ideologically purged and purified.

These are great reasons to not vote for Romney, but are they valid reasons to vote for Obama, no matter how much we may like, or want to like, the man? The problem in taking this approach is the "Effective Evil" paradigm.

In a very recent and excellent piece on AlterNet ( Sept.10) titled "Effective Evil" or Progressives’ Best Hope? What to Make of Obama's Presidency, a conversation guided by Amy Goodman, Glen Ford of Black Agenda  Report and Michael Eric Dyson, professor at Georgetown University, spar over Obama's record. Dyson makes Terry's argument, that "Obama is as progressive a figure who has the chance of being elected in America," and that we need to be "in the game," while Ford postulates that Obama isn't the lesser-evil, but rather, the more effective evil, who has, in fact, moved the entire debate to the right. Ford goes on to say that Obama "is the more effective evil because he is able, being a Democrat, to accomplish more of that right-wing agenda than the Republicans ever could," and has. It didn't take long for Obama to take the single-payer option of healthcare off the table, or for Social Security and Medicare to be put on that same table, something Republicans have been trying to do for years.Our first obligation, Ford goes on, is to tell the truth, not just get in the game as the rules of the game have been laid down by either corporate or the political parties---or both. 

“I think it is dangerous to confuse the idea of democracy with elections. Just because you have elections doesn’t mean you’re a democratic country.” --Arundhati Roy

In Terry's initial plea to integralists to throw their support---and their money---to helping re-elect President Obama, Terry does not address the dark side of the Obama administration: appointing a questionable cabinet, some of whom are to blame for the 2007 economic meltdown, refusing to hold these architects---banks and Wall Street criminals---of the economic collapse, responsible for crushing dissent in Amerika, for reneging on closing Guantanamo and moving George W. Bush's policy of detention without trial to one of assassination without trial---including American citizens, secret kill lists, the NDAA, drone wars, amping up spying on U.S. citizens, making Bush junior seem like a...well...bush leaguer, and so much more.

In an article titled, "Another Guantánamo prisoner death highlights Democrats' hypocrisy," Glenn Greenwald states:

"In the hierarchy of evil, consigning someone who has been convicted of nothing to a cage year after year after year, until they die, is high up on the list. And in that regard, this latest episode demonstrates not only the ongoing travesty of the US's war on terror policies, but also the dishonesty of the attempt to exonerate Obama for those policies."

Former CIA Chief  Michael Hayden, Bush’s former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, says "President Barack Obama has closely followed the policy of his predecessor, President George W. Bush, when it comes to tactics used in the “war on terror” — from rendition, targeted killings, state secrets, Guantanamo Bay to domestic spying."  Hayden’s remarks give credence to what many who cared about the topic had already realized: Obama largely mirrors Bush when it comes to the war on terror. More detainees have died at the camp (nine) than have been convicted of wrongdoing by its military commissions (six). This is the fourth detainee who has died at the camp since Obama's inauguration. But, hey, he's a democrat and we like democrats who have balls, right?

"You don't stick a knife in a man's back nine inches and then pull it out six inches and say you're making progress." --Malcolm X

As if there are that many differences between Obama and Romney, here are 100 ways they are just alike...

Enter the Oligarchy

At this point, what will go down as Obama's biggest contribution to history is a merging of the banks and the state, with $16 trillion (to date) being infused into these banks, into Wall Street, under his watch, and the line between corporations and the federal government virtually disappearing.

 

And yet we say we must vote for Obama because he'll protect the rights of women, and we point out that he could very well appoint two or three Supreme Court Justices. Like occasionally and accidentally drone-killing women and children isn't a global assault on women, that undeclared wars with Congress' support---despite the rhetoric---are okay and they aren't really wars if no American soldiers die as in Libya. And we've all seen and continue to see how the courts are already stacked against the people, and if Obama's initial staff appointees don't thrill you, what makes you think his SCOTUS appointments will?

We've been asked, because we're integral, after all, to take the bigger picture a vote for Obama because we have an opportunity to be heard; to express the integral vision. 

What if there's a Still Bigger Picture than even that? 

We're worried we'll move backward, losing the ground we've broken, perhaps having to start over again, as we drop into chaos and maybe even regress into survival mode...well, welcome to history. Every major shift in consciousness on the planet has been preceeded by a dark night of the soul and/or the extreme pathologies of the previous level of consciousness. The enlightenment---the 5th level of consciousness---was ushered in by 400 years of the Dark Ages, and just recently, the 6th level of consciousness emerged in fullness after the great wars of the first half of the 20th century almost decimated the planet.  

We definitely have a choice, and I suppose one's approach to that choice is determined by what one thinks, or believes, is happening in the realms of energy, environment, and economics, perfect storms all coming down on us at once. Let me state right now that I still believe there is time to turn this perfect storm around before we collapse, but only if we address these problems immediately, and I don't see any indication of that happening. The highly dysfunctional U.S. political system, which is paralyzed and hostage to corporate power is unable to respond rationally to the crisis or solve “even the most trivial of problems,” much less the problems that threaten our very survival.

The Greatest Weapon of the Oppressor is the Mind of the Oppressed - Robert Cinque

We can't even face these problems, much less act on them. We're in a national state of denial, and a relatively small number of us have reached the next stage of anger, with even fewer stepping into acceptance. It's looking like the economic path of unlimited growth and credit on a finite planet is the one that will take us down, possibly within weeks or perhaps months. It would be nice to be able to "err on the side of a more constructive type of creativity," but it may already be too late for that. We can't "grow" our way out of this.

So maybe we're down to the proverbial frog in the pot: Do you want the water turned up slowly so you don't notice, or would you prefer to have it turned up quickly enough so that everyone can notice and can jump out of the pot? Imagine what might happen if all those fading middle and poverty class Romney voters realize they've been fucked over by their own party! We might find ourselves united very quickly. The only power the controllers have is the power we give them, and here it's like we are the enablers to our addicted-to-growth selves.

The Way Up is All The Way Down

Look, I'm not saying you shouldn't vote for Obama, or that the Integral Community---whatever that is---or integral individuals and organizations shouldn't work to make things better, try to inform, try to  change, or make things more sane than they are...What I am asking is that WE TELL THE TRUTH. I don't know if Obama is a bad man. I want to like him. He may be be powerless and under threat, but there's only one political party and their common ground is fascism - rule by corporations over the government. Obama and Bush both serve(d) the same money masters for the same goals. Obama and Romney are no different. We must stop glorifying our abusers and speak the truth.

I'd like to suggest that while we do the work of changing the world that we integralistas also move our efforts into getting smaller, not bigger: Creating local communities that become more self-sufficient, less dependent on government, and more dependent on each other; Models of what it means to live integrally, holistically, able to have peace and love but also able to say "no" and back it up when it's needed; communities who grow their own clean food, where integral folks get involved in local government, building the model from the bottom up instead of throwing money into what's looking more and more like a dead political system, investing that money in yourselves and your communities. Invite your families, your relatives, your friends, your integral homies...create a new world: one that doesn't depend on the dying infinite growth monetary paradigm of endless credit. Even if there is no single instant of collapse, the present system is already finished. We've come to an end of a paradigm, a brief moment in history enabled by cheap energy, full well knowing that what cannot be sustained, will not be sustained, that the whole thing is already collapsing. Will you collapse consciously, on purpose, or be dragged, kicking and screaming, helpless, like so many others who are afraid to tell the truth.

Welcome to true Integral Community.

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek" - Joseph Campbell

.

Exploring "We" Space: A Report on the 2012 Integral Community Seminar

I think I may step in it again...I sometimes seem to have a habit of doing that. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I also seem to have a habit of writing about the stuff I'm stepping in without thinking---caring---about the consequences. I'm trying to avoid that with this blog.

But...I call stuff out. As I told Terry Patten last week, I'm a shit-stirrer because shit needs to be called out before it becomes shadow.

This seems to have begun in 2006 and when I chose to speak out about what I thought was a huge mistake by Ken Wilber around what became known as the "Wyatt Earpy Incident." According to an article by Frank Visser on integralworld.net, it was an "attack on reason and free inquiry, basically, which was applauded by the closest of his followers," which promped me in my response to those un-critical thinkers/supporters and coin the term "integral fundamentalism."

Ken's seemingly shadowy "suck my ****" response to his critics (who's pointing at whom?) in the Wyatt Earpy Incident tore some rifts in the Integral community that still seem unhealed today. I believe my own separation with Ken began here, and that I'm still working on getting back in his good graces...but not at the expense of my values. Still, there is certainly the awareness that I owe him so much, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

Today I'm calling some stuff out again. This will no doubt further elevate my status with what I am now beginning to call the "conservative wing of the integral movement" (for years I've railed against a friend of mine calling himself an integral conservative because there was no such thing...perhaps that time has arrived, but not in the way he meant it). I think this may have affected the exposure of my book on "integral" websites---and I was aware of that possibility from the beginning, so I set out to write a book that could not be ignored by the mainstream integral community. However, not one official "integral" site has publicly explored or even mentioned the book, although I do believe I'm making some progress.

What I'm calling out is something that happened at the Integral Community Seminar. I'm not calling out anyone specific (publicly, that is, because I have no desire to embarrass anyone---besides, who is not important: the action is). The people, attendees, staff, presenters (wow!),facilitators, and venue were all amazing and some really deep connections were made. I literally fell in love with everyone. And sometimes I disagree with even the people I love the most, and I certainly don't love them any less because I disagree with them.

It was Friday, the fourth full day of the seminar, and the entire group was in morning circle trying to step deeper into a shared "we" space, a Unity Consciousness, an almost morphogenic field where we really wanted to tune in with each other in a collective consciousness....and we weren't quite getting there. Apparently others felt that way, too, as suddenly, what and how we were doing, what we were trying to do, wasn't good enough so that whatever wanted to emerge, couldn't. And all at once everything shifted; Not to the desired place but backwards. We had largely lost it.

Since the early days of SeattleIntegral---the salon I moderated for five years---we always took the approach of setting up the container, the context, to allow conscious to arise. This allowing is far different than trying to make something happen by forcing it by ignoring the multiple shadow aspects of what might also be arising in a larger group. 

Exploring and evolving "we" space is critical stage-building. But for me the conference was about sharing the state experience of We consciousness, not about what felt to me as trying to force the state into a stage. We are evolving the "we," and the more we do the work at the states level, the closer we get to turning that state (a temporary experience) into a stage, a permanent structure. I have no doubt there were people at the seminar who are capable of being at a stage structure of the We space, but as a group, we're still evolving. We just have to be patient with each other, allow that to happen, keep practicing, and know that we are blessed that there are people with whom we can practice.

My wife Anyaa, who cut her teeth as a psychotherapist in 2nd-stage feminism along with metaphysics (strange bedfellows but she managed to integrate some things in the late 70's that did not want to integrate), says this about the seminar: "I loved the presentations which ranged from opening with a Kosmic view of the Universe and beyond, to the mechanics of cultivating the I, the I-Thou and then allowing the We to emerge. I loved the practices, the facilitation and the setting. What I felt was lacking was a recognition that there are groups and circles and communities of different world-views and orientations that are cultivating this We space and have been for quite some time. Perhaps Integral folks would call these groups Green or New Age, but Green and New Age do a really good job of recognizing group consciousness, from which the We arises. It's also called Unity Consciousness, 5th Dimensional Awareness, Ascension, as well as a Enlightenment and Source Consciousness.We are all in this together, and those of us who have not labeled ourselves Integral deserve credit as well for creating the states that will eventually stabilize us in a solid We Consciousness. It seems to me that if we really want to live Integrally, we must recognize the gifts of the earlier stages."

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

Who Will You Be In The Coming Shift?

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What amazing times we live in! War with Iraq? LIBOR, the biggest and most crushing banking scandal of all time? Climate Change and environment? Economic Collapse? Energy? The complete polarization of our political system? The demise of the middle class? Unemployment? Earth changes?

Who will you be during the perfect storm of events coming down on us? How will you stand? Will you be a positive influence on others to help lead them through these times or will you crumble in panic and desperation as so many others will likely do?

The answer to this question largely depends on the preparation you've done around the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual work required to get you and your loved ones through the shift that has already begun. Will you be fearless, calm, strong, and decisive, knowing what needs to be done, or will you step into the destructive denial and fear modes most people will be in?

Most of us know that it is the challenges in our lives that produce the most change, the most growth, the evolutionary charge that helps us move into even later stages of awareness. After all, happy people don't change. Well, we certainly have our challenges! We can hide from them or we can use them to assist us in our path towards greater awareness and capacities. It's going to take a new kind of human to create a new world out of the world that is no longer serving humankind and is therefore ceasing to be. 

I can't help you with the physical preparation. You have to decide for yourself how you want to physically prepare (but this guy can!), but even FEMA recommends a minimum of two weeks worth of food and water on hand. I think of all those people in New Orleans during Katrina with no food, no water...People on the east coast with food that spoiled very fast without electricity and not even running water for many, not able to access ATMs and their bank accounts...the families who had to evacuate their homes in Colorado on a moments notice, leaving everything behind without even a simple bug-out bag when the fires came.

What I can help with is the emotional and spiritual preparation you're going to need in these times. For men and women and their inner masculine, I invite you to take a step toward being that kind of human.

Activating the New Masculine in 2012: 

The Shamanic Breathwork Process with Gary
For dates, time , location, cost, etc., click on the image at the top of this post

2012 is the Year of the Dragon, the most powerful sign of the Chinese Zodiac. The Dragon man is brave and not afraid to take charge, and if he takes action to realize his dreams, there is no limit to what the Dragon can achieve. The Dragon correlates to the western sign Aries, the Warrior.

We are at the end of the Mayan Long Count of 5,000 years of Patriarchy as we are moving into the 5th world of the Hopi and our planet is aligned with Galactic Center. We will gather together during the Aquarius New Moon window, the archetype of the Revolutionary, the Sacred Activist, and the Visionary. We become deeply aware that what affects one, affects us all.

It is the perfect time to journey into more clarity about what it means to be a warrior at the Turning of the Ages!

Join me in Atlanta on Friday evening July 27th from 7pm to 10pm  for our opening circle and all day Saturday, July 28th from 9am to 6pm at The Inner Space in Sandy Springs. Also, I'll be doing private sessions for men and women around the Inner Masculine the next day at the same location.

Contact me at garystamper.com or at 206-779-5870 for more information or to register for this powerful, timely event.

Cost is $98 if paid by July 21st ($125.00 after) so register early. We only have room for 20 people and this will fill up fast, so don't hesitate.

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REGISTER NOW!

Register Now!

 

Blessings,

Gary