More on Insight Dialogue

It's been too long since I've posted, but the SeattleIntegral list, which I moderate and administer, just exploded this month! We've had over twice the postings from any previous month, and the quality of the various discussions has been exceptionally high. There are a lot of reasons for this, not the least of which, we're 135 strong and growing, and perhaps I'll touch on that in a future blog.

The SeattleIntegral ITP/ILP Insight Dialogue event with Terri O'Fallon, was this last Saturday. We had a full house, and for the first time we sold out an event prior to the event! All of the proceeds from the event were donated to Pacific Integral's "Generating transformative Change" International Travel Fund.

From Terri: "I am humbled by the possibility of having you folks sponsor our international people. Right now we have a young woman from Palestine who is in our program, and she is struggling with no electricity no wages, and is having a terrible time over there. She is only 23 years old and yet has completed her legal degree and has already passed the bar, and is working on the equality and child laws over there in Palestine. Her mom passed away and she is raising her younger siblings. She waited for an entire year to save enough money to pay for her first ticket here to be in the GTC program - an amazing young woman. We aren’t sure she can even make it even if she has the money right now, but we will do what we can to bring her back over here, and you would be one of her sponsors with these donations. I am truly grateful for any offerings you would lend.”

I wasn't able to attend, as I was in Boise for a long overdue visit to my youngest daughter and two of my three grandkids. However, I've been through an extended ID session with Terri before, and that's why I was so excited to bring this to the group.

The feedback from the event has been excellent. The one complaint seems to be that there wasn't enough time to really get into the process....and that's part of the point. I want to encourage those who attended to take the excellent handouts Terri provided, get more familiar with the process, and take it out to the various sub groups we work with. As an example of that, our ITP/ILP group used the process last night at our regular meeting, instead of the usual "check in" we've used for the last year and a half. I lead a brief Insight Dialogue induction after our regular meditation. The feeling of an altered state with the group was palpable. We then went on to have one of the most open and heartfelt discussions we've had to date.

It's easy to see that ID can open up the participants to deeper conversations. The check in we've been doing sometimes feels forced, as everyone is "expected" to check in. With ID, interaction comes from a deeper space, and the conversation is much more intimate and real.

This process can be used in a multitude of ways. Jay Allen talks about some of them on his excellent blog, and I'd like to support Terri's proposal that the process can be used with online discussion groups, as well.

Again, from Terri: "It is an engaged practice of deeply mindful interchange involving a natural resting in intrinsic awareness in which all phenomena arise and fall within oneself and within the community.

"The inclination towards mindfulness while speaking and writing that is fostered in ID supports the practice of awareness during the complex tasks and social interchanges of day to day living and allows individuals practicing ID without other dialogic meditators to develop their own intrinsic awareness and to foster it in the people around them by example.”

This is exactly the kind of paradigm-producing practice that can take the Integral Life Practice Starter Kit and turn it into a group process, and exactly the outcome we wanted, and anticipated.

Well done, everyone, and special thanks to Elle for all her hard work!

What we write, is how we are.....

I'm really late in posting this, but I've been a little busy! If you're one of the few integrally informed people who haven't read Ken's blog, heard or read the uproar and the responses in the blogosphere, and then his explanation, you should do it now. Otherwise you won't understand what the hell I'm talkin' about.

I was not one of the 200, or so, people who were asked what they thought about the blog before it was published, and I don't have a problem with that. However, had I been asked, I would have fallen in the 30% that thought it was over the top.

I was not offended by the original post. I was, however, disappointed by the explanation, as it seemed to be a little too clever, too cute, and slightly manipulative. But hey! That's just an opinion, and I don't take that too seriously, either!

It's not the criticism of the critics. Ken's responses to those critics is perfectly valid. I've been to a lot of the "anti-Wilber" sites, and while there is occasionally a good point worth pursuing, most of the criticism is wrapped up in narcissism of the worst kind.

However, it's the "how" the message that was delivered is bothersome to me. Oh, I know, the point is "how" it was delivered is supposed to be irrelevant, and I'm to examine why it might bother me, providing an opportunity for self-reflection and growth. So what I'm seeing for myself is that I am uncomfortable about the "how," and here's a couple of reasons why:

• It's not the way I would have handled it. Anyone who has been around integral very long knows that even people at the same stages can have differing perspectives. This is partly cultural, and I'm not particularly fond of the "suck my dick" language, but I recognize my aversion for what it is, and it's clearly not shadow. The point is, you can disagree with the delivery without having shadow elements. If someone says the disagreement requires introspection and shadow work, they are being shallow, and, well......partial. Maybe it does...maybe it doesn't! It is up to the individual to take responsibility for this, but to say disagreement constitutes a need for shadow work?
  
• It will be misinterpreted by the very people it's aimed at as permission to act in kind, and the level of discourse will not benefit. The same people who used "skillful means" as a weapon to silence their critics may now think they have tacit permission to go off on others, claiming a higher purpose.
  
• Some are saying the the blog, and now the response, is aimed at particular audiences. It has also created what appears to be a certain smugness from some who seem to be saying, "I get it, I'm second-tier, and here's your opportunity to be as advanced as I am." It seems prudent to point out that narcissistic tendencies aren't just limited to green (transcended and included), and it might be worthwhile for some to closely look at if, and why, they might have this smugness.

It's been said that the pathologies of second-tier have yet to manifest, but when they they do, they will carry more compexity, and create even bigger problems than we have today, and that, eventually, the path to solving those problems will push us into even greater levels of complex thinking.

I appreciate what Ken was trying to do, here, hell, he's profoundly changed my life, but my personal opinion is that it was not the best way to approach this. My closing thought is to urge caution and introspection: If this was a clever test, what makes you think it's over? What makes you think that what we're doing right now, in this moment, and in the moments to come, how we've responded, how we will respond, isn't part of a larger test?

"Things are not as they seem. Nor are they otherwise." -- from the Lankavatara Sutra

"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." -- Mark Twain

(thanks for the quotes, Jake!)

Integral Salons

Alex Rollin, from Washington DC, and I had a conversation about integral salons, and the newly forming, still storming, integral salon network we've co-created with Shannon Sullivan (now in Chicago). isalonsnet. It's thirty minutes, so proceed at your own risk.

Click on the audioblog bar at the top right.

An Inconvenient Truth: An Era of Consequences

I'n not going to write a lot about this movie, except to say, you must see it, and you must take everyone you know.

"Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced."

An Inconvenient Truth

Time to Take Out the Trash: Peaceful Warrior, the Movie

Perhaps the best known integral blogger, Coolmel (Also known as ~C4Chaos, one of the bloggers on Ken Wilbers' website, and a member of Seattleintegral) has posted this review of the movie Peaceful Warrior, based on Dan Millman's book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior.

Several SI moviegoers gathered last night at a special screening, followed by what was billed as first-time 6-city video conference of movie audiences in Phoenix, San Diego, LA, SF, Portland, and Seattle, with Dan Millman, the actors, the producers, and various "celebs."

~C4 is right on with his review. This is a good movie!!! It is very well done, well acted, quality production, all in all, I give it a 5 on some sort or other of scale. Yes, it's not a new message, but it's a timeless message.

Besides just going to see it because it's a damn good movie, there's one other area in which I think the movie can be valuable: You know how your co-workers, some of your friends, maybe even members of your family seem to just kind of tune out when you tell them about your practices, or integral, or make any reference to consciousness or awareness?

Take those friends, family members, and loved ones to this movie, and at the end, stand up and yell at the top of your voice, "That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!"

No, seriously, just say that's what you feel, model it for them, love them, and just be with them. If you can't do that, what's all this awareness and conscious stuff for, anyway?

The "What is Integral" Elevator Speech

Anyone who has done any sort of management or sales training knows about the "elevator speech." What do you say to someone, in an elevator, when they ask what you do, and you only have "x" amount of seconds before they get off on their floor?

Those of us who are "integrally informed" have the same problem. Have you met anyone who could tell what integral is, in 30 seconds or less? Ha! you say...that's impossible!...and you'd be right. But you can give a brief overview without stumbling all over yourself.

When SeattleIntegral was just new, several of us took on that task, and wrote our own elevator speeches. What I am presenting here is the evolution of my elevator speech.

My first draft effort said:
"Integral, meaning composed of parts that make a whole complete, refers to an emerging philosophy that provides a comprehensive picture of our universe, and a way of thinking that leads to a better world."

"It's a multi-dimensional philosophy as well as tool with broad implications for the arts, business, science, religion, and philosophy. It unifies east, west, past and present, focusing on spirituality and human development, and is a vision for problem solving and enlightened living."

Phew! In an effort to simplify my "commercial." then i wuz thinkin'.....
"Integral is an emerging multi-dimensional philosophy with a heart-centered worldview and strategies that create the potential for trust, understanding, and transformation of ourselves, our communities, and our world."

After listening to other SeatleIntegral members' responses, particularly my dear friend Tom Mull's contribution, I came back to this, which was basically where I was before this exercise:
"Integral is an emerging all-inclusive philosophy that combines science, religion, western and eastern philosophies, and the great wisdom traditions into models for personal, community, and global growth, and greater enlightenment."

The problem with some of these is that when you start talking about enlightenment to blue and orange vMemes, you lose them.

So here's my most recent version:
"In a nutshell, 'integral' is a comprehensive and inclusive philosophy, and on a deeper level, an emerging consciousness; a grand sysnthesis uniting eastern and western philosophy, religion, science, politics, business, art, morals, values, meaning, etc., that can apply to any contemporary issue. It's a new way of looking at the world, it's problems, and their possible solutions....here...let me give you my card...." :)

Any of these, and your own, should be short enough to prevent the familiar "glazing over the eyes" that we've all experienced when explaining "integral" to our families and friends. You're welcome to borrow anything I've written here, but if you haven't done this exercise, you should, I believe it's a critical step in solidly formalizing your cognitive awareness of what integral means....even if you never wind up in an elevator.

More on Insight Dialogue

One of my favorite people in this world, or any other, is Terri O'Fallon. Terri is a long-time member of seattleintegral, one of the principals in Pacific Integral, and a member of the Integral Institute's Integral Education Committee. My understanding is she is developing a lot of the online classes I-I will be offering so people (like me!) can get AQAL Kosher I-I certified. Terri has a long history of developing online learning communities, having also been a mentor for masters' students at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS).

Terri is one of my favorite people for a lot of reasons. Besides all of the above, Terri walks into a room in full presence , and unassuming humility, unlike anyone else I have ever seen. In my non-expert opinion, she radiates and embodies Spiral Dynamics' Turquoise level of development.

All of this aside, Terri introduced our first-year "Generating Transformational Change in Human Systems" cohort to Insight Dialogue, for which I will be forever grateful. It was co-developed by Terri and Greg Kramer in 1994

Here's how Insight Dialogue listening and speakingworks in a nutshell (thanks to Cain at Zaadz, for this outline):

• Commit to the process---bring your awareness to the present moment
  
• Pause–call forth to slow down, to drop ignorance, to see more deeply, and brighten the mind.
• Relax—call forth in the face of stress, of challenging truths, and to bring ease to the body-mind.
• Open—call to move out of isolated practice, loops, and selfish patterns, to be out of contraction.
• Trust Emergence—call forth for energy, to end doubt, and to ride the moment.
• Listen Deeply—call into inquiry, receptivity, and to extend the heart.-
• Speak the Truth—call forth to end stasis, to enhance generosity and courage, to bring meditative interaction.

Insight Dialogue is a meditation practice that includes listening and speaking, and in an on-line format, reading and writing. It expands Insight Meditation and Bohmian dialogue into interaction, turning conversation into a transformative, creative vehicle where something brand new and unanticipated might emerge into a deeper awareness. The process also creates an amazing field of shared consciousness between particpants.

This is, by far, the deepest, most powerful, mediative experience I've ever had, and to share it with others is even more amazing.

3 Months Down the Road with ILP: Group Practices

After more than a year of ITP (Integral Transformative Practice), the SeattleIntegral ITP group has been alternating between Murphy and Leonard's ITP and Integral Institute's Integral Life Practice (ILP) 3-Body Workout.

Perhaps not exactly what has been described by Wilber as "transcend and include,", where earlier developmental levels have been differentiated from, transcended, and included in our repertoire of practices, but pretty damn close!

We've loved the ITP we've been doing, and a couple of members still prefer it, but everyone in the group pretty much agrees, there's a deeper spiritual presence in the ILP 3-Body Workout than in ITP. It's certainly not that spirit is lacking, or not present (spirit is ever-present), in the ITP, but with the gross, subtle, and causal body movements, and awareness created by the moderators and theme on the ILP DVD, spirit is right up there in your face. I like that my awareness of spirit is brought to full presence in the ILP DVD. It reminds me to be more present when switching off to ITP on alternating meetings.

Let me also say that ILP owes it's very existence to ITP, and we should never lose sight of that.

One small critique of the 3-Body Workout DVD with an eye to the future: the Home Study Kit is just that - a home study kit. There is no group practice as such. Oh, a group can do the Kata (form), but that would only involve the lower right quadrant. The 3-Body Workout is hyper-agentic, or masculine in its approach, and most of us guys would be probably go right along with that, no problem. But for women, or men who recognize the importance of balancing the masculine and feminine, it's just not there. The group process must pay attention to all four quadrants.

And while I-I is working on creating a group process, SeattleIntegral is already doing it. We are developing the community aspects of the 3-Body Workout, and the first element is community dialogical processes that open up our hearts, communication, and a sense of intimacy for our members.

High on my list to bring to the group is Insight Dialogue, co-created by Terri O'Fallon, one of SI's beloved teachers, and member of I-I's Integral Education Committee. I'll write more about Insight Dialogue and how it brings the feminine to ILP in a future blog.

Integral Relationship: One on One

There have been more than a few postings on Integral Relationship.....like Joe Perez' posting on polyamory. Integral Options Cafe actually shares the pain and effort that goes into growing an Integral relationship (I heartily applaud your extraordinary bravery, William and Kira), Meetups have been organized around the subject, and relationship in any form, evidenced by the proliferation of internet dating services and sites, weighs heavily on our individual and collective minds....and trust me...there's a dating service for every imaginable seeker!

Some of the newer and more interesting dating sites, from my perspective, that is, are David Deida's Spiritually Sexy, Conscious Singles, and Enlightened Match, just to name a few.

Like most people, I have gobs of friends in relationships of all kinds, and, DAMN, if I'm not just a little envious!

I've been married once, for seventeen years, and I was really good at it. I'm someone who should be deeply involved in a relationship, and yet, here I am, almost 61, and so solidly single I can't believe it. My whole foray into integral began with my marriage falling apart in the late 90's, and then, several years later, a painful, and painfully short and unsatisying relationship that sent me into psychotherapy. It was through that therapy that I began meditating, and well, one thing led to another. I find it amazing how many people come to radical change in their lives through painful means. I have come to call these painful paths "AFGO's", or, "another fucking growth opportunity"....please......no more AFGO's!

So what is with me and relationships? I want one, but don't have one. I suspect there's more than a little shadow work to be done, here. I have filled out profiles on five different dating sites, and not one is active. Wha's up wid 'dat? I keep telling myself I'll come across her profile, join the site, and tell her I only joined to meet her (been there, done that). Okay, when would I have time?....excuse. I'm okay alone...I am, but know it would be fuller not to be. A woman handed me her card and phone number in the grocery store this weekend....nice, but not my type.....what's my type? There's also a bit of not wanting to be disappointed, again.

Maybe it all comes down to having loved someone intensely, fully, passionately....seeing and recognizing the divine person within them that they wouldn't allow to come out.....watching helplessly as their fear drove them away.

Once you've experienced that, how do you accept anything else? I think by trying to recognize the divine in each and every person that you meet. And then you're never alone....and practice....lots of practice....I want to make this part of my practice, but it's not like you can start doing relationship, as if it were weights or meditation!

Somehow, I doubt this will be my last word on this subject.

Satori at the strangest time

I was on my way to the first SeattleIntegral Integral Spirituality meeting last Sunday, sitting at a stoplight in Fremont, when I had a sudden overwhelming recognition of the connectedness of everything. It's a good thing my windows are tinted, because I started crying at the realization (once again) of ever-present awareness.

Actually, I didn't give a hoot if anyone was watching, or not. Such is the ground of being.

Satori is a key concept in Zen Buddhism. It is the goal of Zen Buddhism, and roughly translates into individual Enlightenment, or a flash of sudden awareness. I have no doubt that mine was a "state," or peak, awareness: that is, a temporary state. It's the fourth Satori I've had, the first at 14, but I had absolutely no idea what the hell that was! I had already pretty much disassociated from the mythical relgion of my youth, and had not yet discovered the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. Unknown to me, I was in Satori limbo.

What I now know is that each of these peak experiences brings me closer to the next level of consciousness, and that while I patiently wait for that state awareness to become vertical (transcendent) stage awareness, I'll continue to work on my horizontal (translative) development, as well. Ah, span vs. depth.....another blog.

An Integral Governance System?

About three weeks ago, in a conversation with Ken Wilber, I was introduced to a unique governing system called "Sociocracy." During that conversation, Ken referred to it as "Sociocracy" and "Holacracy."

In a nutshell, Sociocracy is all about agile organizations, natural holarchies, and integrating the world, and is a form of government based on synergic consent, wherein everyone wins.

Brian Robertson, founder and CEO of Ternary Software, Inc., was pioneering Agile software development processes long before the term "agile" was coined, and presented at SD Best Practices 2005. Ternary's unique organizational design, governance structure, and business practices have forged new ground and tested new possibilities in the fields of human organization and culture.

There are four primary practices of Sociocracy:

• Decision making by consent: Consent is a method of decision-making whereby the arguments presented in discussing a decision are of paramount importance, and the the result of the discussion is that no one present has a reasoned and paramount objection to the decision being made.
• Circle Organization: The organization is built of a hierarchy of semi-autonomous circles. Each circle has its own aim, given by the higher-level circle, and has the authority and responsibility to execute, measure, and control its own processes to move towards its aim.
• Double-Linking: A lower circle is always linked to the circle above it via at least two people who belong to and take part in the decision making of both the higher circle and the lower circle. One of these links is the person with overall accountability for the lower-level circle’s results, and the other is a representative elected from within the lower-level circle.
• Elections by Consent: People are elected to key roles exclusively by consent after open discussion (this is not a democratic majority-vote election!). Most notably, the election process applies to the representative elected from a lower-level circle to a higher-level circle.

Sociocracy needs to be understood as a whole, not as a collection of independent practices – for example, consent-based decision making (the first practice) doesn’t work well unless it is done in the context of a circle of individuals with regular contact working together towards a common aim (the second practice).

We used a trial of this process at a recent SeattlIntegral Core Group meeting, and everyone was favorably impressed with how it works. Of course, we have much to learn about this process, but, upon first glance, it trully appears to be an integral approach to governance.

Creativity, Spirituality, and the Integral U-Process

I presented my first 2-hour workshop this past weekend, and judging from the feedback I've received, it went well. I'm delighted, because I busted my butt putting it together after feeling I'd been roped into doing something I didn't have enough time for!

I was first introduced to the "U-Process" last year at Pacific Integral's 2-year program on Generating Transformative Change in Human Systems. The "U-Process" is thoroughly described and documented in the book Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future. Ken Wilber and Otto Scharmer (one of four authors of Presence) expanded on the "U-Process," showing how the process can effectively plunge someone at intermediate or upper level stages into the gross, subtle, and causal states of consciousness, and help speed along the transformation to higher stages.

The process consists of gross/waking cognition fixed on anything that can be described "it" language ("Seeing" from the outside, using cognition that is distancing), "Sensing from the whole," in the subtle realm, reflecting to allow an "inner knowing" to emerge, and "Presencing," accessing your Self, or Source, which is a simple version of the causal Self. You have to contact this vast open Self expanse to have intentionality, the only time we truly have free will.

Again, this process allows people to fluidly access these states, at whatever stage they’re at. When we come out of these states we crystallize and institutionalize them. This is basically taking these subtler causal forms and materializing them in the near future. So, you’re essentially calling forth the future and embodying it by working with these creative states. The U Process means you can teach somebody who, in terms of Spiral Dynamics, is Blue or Orange or Green to be the most effective change agents that they can be at their stage.

If you haven't read Presence, I highly recommend it.

Or, you could book me for your next event!

How full can a life be?

I am moved and settling in to my new digs. My eldest daughter is married and in Cancun with her new husband. I'm recovering from the whirlwind 4-day wedding weekend in Houston and the two seven-hour flights to get there and back, and from the heady thrill of being able to sing James Ingram's "Give Me Forever (I Do)" for their first dance....not a dry eye in the house!

Now I'm jumping in with both feet to prepare for the workshop I'm participating in with members of the Integral New York City Salon at the end of the month, a first-time ever collaboration between integral salons on both coasts, and a little bit of "who cares" integral history. I care.

What a remarkable event! Leaders and participants of two salons on opposite coasts, uniting to present an all day integral event on "Art As A Transformative Practice." Go here and here to find out more about the event and the presenters. I love that we keep creating new paths, new opportunities, and new models for the integral approach!

In addition, I am in the process of designing the jacket (book cover) for the re-release of the book Don Beck co-authored with Graham Linscott, The Crucible: Forging South Africa's Future. This fits right in with a personal goal to serve the integral community with my design abilities. Imagine talking to someone about your graphic and presentation needs that you don't have to teach a new language!

Hmmm....what will I do with my spare time? Oh, yeah....Help create the first local Integral Spirituality group and group processes for the ILP Home Study Kit.

God, I love my life!

Moving beyond a Post-Modern Spirituality

While fundamentalism militantly expresses it self in various religious forms around the world and here in the USA, others are struggling to reassess their religious traditions: traditions and visions of God that were born of a different time. In other words, many are trying to find new ways to be religious.

There's a verse in the Qur'an that says, "Therein God will not change the state of the people unless they change the state of their own selves."

An Integral Spirituality means we participate in divinity, and that our own evolution is the evolution of God.

In a conversation I had with Ken Wilber yesterday, Ken pointed out that the leading edge of progressive consciousness today is Turquoise (2nd tier), a self that goes beyond ego and individuality. Maybe a thousand years from now, this "2nd tier consciousness" will be the conservative viewpoint, and the leading edge at that time will look back and smile.

But like today's conservatives, amber and orange (1st tier conciousness that was once the leading edge), we pioneers, stumbling and erring, will have laid down the framework for that new leading edge.

In the meantime, one of our responsibilities at the current leading edge, is to create tension that compels and challenges others to meet us at higher and deeper levels. And unlike our 1st tier green bretheren (think today's Democratic Party), we can't be wimps about it.

For an amazing viewpoint of both our insignificance and our magnificence, check this out.

A quick note....

A message to my readers....both of you: practice, shmactice, moving is a pain....I officially move next weekend, but am pretty sure getting settled will be much harder than packing.

I will get back to blogging.

All Day ILP

Today, our 11-member ITP/ILP group will spending the whole day in sangha examining, practicing, evaluating, and discussing Integral Institute's ILP home study kit. I'll write about it soon.

Stay in the moment.....

Moving is a wonderful practice! If you can stay in the moment while you're looking for a place to live, checking online rentals, reading papers, driving around to look and talk to owners, leasing agents, managers, enter a possibility and stay in the moment, you are a more evolved human being than I.

Everything in this process demands that you look forward: do I like the area, can I see myself living here, how will my possessions fit in this space....how will I fit in this space? How does this all fit in with planning for my future?

Ah...blessed balance. I am maintaining my meditation, weight lifting, have picked up the pace on my cardio/walking, and further refining my diet with more complex carbs, less "bad" stuff (I know...."who is to say what is good or bad"...favorite Chinese story).

New study indicates two glasses of red wine a night has a positive effect on longevity....In addition, red wine also reduces the number and size of fat cells in our bodies.....finally, some good news!!! I think I have a new affirmation for my ITP!

Oh, yeah....I did find a place with more than a little help from a friend. Think I'll like Fremont!

Now I'm packing.....There's a task you can stay in the moment with! My posting may be sporadic for a bit.

Assessing an organization

What does it mean, and look like, to lead from a second tier capacity? Seattleintegral's Core group, the leadership group trying to develop that second tier capacity, has some specific tasks for the individuals in that group before our next meeting in March.

Specifically, we have asked ourselves to answer the following questions:

• What is the the purpose of the group?
• Why does this group exist?
• What are our individual passions and how might they relate to the Core Group and to SeattleIntegral in general?
• Map these answers into the 4-Quadrants.

An integral assessment using the 4-Quadrants is one of the most useful applications of Ken Wilber's AQAL model. The quadrants are four basic dimensions that any sentient being possess, and they can be summarized as the interior and exterior of the individual and the collective.

We can assess ourselves and our organizations by reflecting on these four dimensions:

1. What are our intentions and reflective practices?
2. What are our relationships and of what quality?
3. What behaviors and skills do I/we possess?
4. What are the systems within yourself and those you are a part of?

By accurately and honestly responding to these questions, and others, we can determine where the organization is weak, and needs attention and strengthening.

"Food Fight!"

Yikes, every body's lining up for the"Food Fight."

I never liked the term "food fight" when talking about 1st tier memetic warfare. It minimizes the distress and sometimes terribly real pain that accompanies defending ones values. In the case of abortion rights, it's easy to see how conservatives and fundamentalists can, and do, believe in life begins at conception. No matter what scientific facts one might present to contrary, the facts just aren't going to change their minds (The jury is still out on evolution....heh, heh - G.W. Bush). For them, it's not about science.

Likewise, those who support a woman's right to choose/the right of privacy (not the same thing as supporting abortion...I know, I'm one of those) authentically believe that no one has the right to tell someone what they can and can't do to their own body.

Can both be right? Well, yes, from their own perspectives.

But what about a larger picture that transcends these two opposing views?

I'm going to suggest something that will, no doubt, piss a lot of people off. I'm going to suggest that we give the conservatives and the fundamentalists Roe v. Wade. Well, for a while, anyway.

Huh? I can hear the howling beginning already. hear me out.

How many voters in this country are single-issue voters? What number of those voters have abortion as their "one issue?" I did a quick google search, and while I couldn't find any statistics, I'll bet there's a lot of them.

How about enough to swing elections away from the far-right Bushie neo-cons to a more moderate middle if they are taken out of the equation? Here's what I think would happen if abortion were no longer an issue.

Voters who now include abortion as part of voting their moral values would have an opportunity to consider other "moral issues" such as:

• not raising our hand to those who haven't harmed us
  
• helping the homeless, the sick, and the poor
• providing education for our children
• loving our neighbors instead of fighting with them
  
• spreading the wealth around, not letting just a priviledged few control it

Do these sound familiar? If you came up through Blue, they do.

Meanwhile, we give up Roe v Wade for a few years. There's a whole new generation of people coming who, because of technology, will look at the world very differently, We need to be nurturing that for the long run.

Consider it. Shoot holes in it. Play "what if" with it. There's more than one way to change the world, and maybe it's time we got smarter.

Just thinkin'......

Rambling.......

I found out recently that the condo I've been renting for the past six years is for sale, and I've been spending a lot of time looking for another place to live. I've dropped my weight training down to 2X a week, but I'm still meditating every day. My ITP practice is still intact. My blogging has slowed.

SeattleIntegral hit a new milestone this week....Laura from Sacramento was member 110.

I make my living as a graphic designer and I've also been working on a freelance book jacket design for a re-issue of a book by an author most of us know. When I was introduced to the "U" concept of Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future, I immediately got it. As an artist called upon to find design solutions, I had been using the "U" process most of my adult life, but here it was, laid out in clear terms exactly what the creative process is, and how it happens: "Downloading" (operating with habitual ways of knowing and doing) to "presencing" (awareness of the present moment). Presence is about what it means to be an authentic agent of change.

I'm very concerned about what's going on in the world. On one hand, I remain calm and accepting, and on the other, I embrace imbalance..... of corporatocracy with no concern for how it affects people's lives; the incompetence of a failed U.S. administration who has never spoken for me, or to me; The out and out civil war that appears to be emerging in Iraq and the U.S. role in creating that and other chaos; Out of control debt that requires that the U.S. sell off assets, today, terminals within ports; U.S. debt held by foreign countries that is pushing us to a possible collapse of the dollar; U.S. imperialism of a hundred years creating an empire most of us are unaware of and the resentment that goes with it; Gobal warming.....On and on. It's almost time for the shift. It appears to unfold before us.

Chaos and change: What will cause that shift? Global chaos with millions of lives as the price? Or will we awaken in time and face the hard truths before us? Who will we choose to become? Who will we be forced to become?