Including the Self Beyond Self Through Me.... or Remember Meditation

All Day Practice

The Integral Spiritual Centre recently posted a video of Father Thomas Keating and Diane Musho Hamiltion talking about spontaneous practice outside the consecrated space of prayer or meditation. I loved the way their chat coursed around an underlying theme of unconscious competence being the hallmark of stabilised transformation.

The video caught my attention mainly because I've been noticing a marked improvement in my ability to carry the embodied wisdom cultivated in mediation and prayer into my daily interactions since recommitting to daily practice a few months back.

The big one's been finding innovative ways of practicing 'not this, not that' with the thought process that seeks to define categories and concepts outside of my proximate self as I (e.g. judgements or expectations at work or old concepts of who I am in relation to family). I've been finding that I can hold that mind in a not this, not that state to reveal a deeper level of presence, and then from that state of presence, allow the conceptual mind to do its work. It's been great practice. I'm finding myself aware of my self system as an undefinable process, and then in not suppressing any part of it, I'm able to experience a more unconditioned presence as self and a healthy self concept in perpetual motion.

When doing it today, I noticed an interesting way of returning to consciousness which is able to be found when I try to not define myself. I open myself to the realisation that everything is in flow, then notice it through my thinking processes (which is where my attention is when I feel the need to return to consciousness other than thinking!) that this is true, and then commence the not this, not that from there. What happens is that my thinking mind is satisfied that it has worked out that the entire universe is flow, then turns to defining me, and from that spot quickly realises that the rules outside also apply inside, and then rests. It's a nice neutraliser for my neuroticism!

Resting as open presence at work has been really pleasing for me. It's given me the ability to get through this rather incongruent temporary compromise with more equanimity and also allowed me the space to challenge my assumptions of what "this is". The mix of the two has been a critical insight. In the past I've thought that being in deep presence would just end up pointing out the pains of this compromise, and so I engaged in avoidance. I've also existed in the concepts of what I think this thing "is" so deeply that I've not been able to locate my presence beyond the clockwork universe I'd sealed myself in. With the two together, I get to notice that I'm not stuck beyond the inevitable slips into unconsciousness, and that I'm also able to inhabit perspectives relating to this work which are pleasing and productive for my health and wellbeing.

Beyond that, I'm also noticing that through holding this practice throughout the day, I'm also able to see the distinction between presence and the self-structure more. It's given me a cool insight into application of a Wilber-Combs matrix type analysis of my own path forward. From the distinctions I'm inhabiting, I'm able to be my present less-conditioned self anywhere, and yet, I also need to have a healthy ego which is happy and engaging in activities which are developmentally appropriate. This has been a big shift for me. I've been trying to overcome a horrible greeny/spiritually pluralistic defence inside me which has been either seeing wide presence and thinking that all is manifest so there's no good grounded reason for allowing myself to do things which are at my edge (a terrible neurosis around seeking permission for being myself to avoid the revocation of love in previously contingent relationships), or seeing my edge of development and then losing presence in the sole identification with that ego. This healthier space between the two is very bright indeed.

It's a place where I can intersect my own state capacities with my own stage capacities (across various lines). It's a bit like the triangular conception done by Terri O'Fallon at Pacific Integral on charting through the matrix what you can and can't see. To me, by knowing where my presence is, I don't have to be at the mercy of the self-concept all the time. By not being at the mercy of the self-concept, I can get enough subject-object distance on it to engage in transformative work, anywhere, in real time. With that, I'm able to be in process while I engage with the ways my stage-structure conceptions (rather than my defences and disillusionment) want to interact with the world(s) that stage-concept discloses to my perceptions and analysis... and all that's happening across my self-system continuum (proximate, distal etc). It's a very liberating practice for a dude who has been stuck in emotional and physical turmoil (and the scripts inside that turmoil) for a while.

Present Centred

My friend Trish has a fantastic blog which charts her journey as an erudite psychology student, integral theorist, poet, Christian Nun, and, at times, woman traversing the uncertain drifts of sickness and pain. Given my recent past, our blogs have got a lot in common!...

... and she writes a great turn of phrase.

This is a recent post which really got me:

"There are fingernail marks in the tight grip I have on the words of a beautiful angel called Ana, who a month ago told me to stop doubting the validity of my perceptions. It's healthy to doubt the knowledge that I have about those perceptions, but don't doubt the seeing".

http://calmclarity.blogspot.com/2008/05/present-centred.html

Integral Cente, Integral Foundation - Sydney, Australia.

I'm a trustee of the Integral Foundation here in Sydney, and one of the main activities of the Foundation is to offer microfinancing to Integrally-informed projects in Sydney. The Integral Centre here in Sydney is a brand which sits to move in and with these projects as they arise. This September, we'll be launching the new structure through a retreat and speaking tour by Diane Musho Hamilton Sensei. It's an exciting turn of events for the integral crowd here in Sydney, and hopefully a launching pad for much more intelligent work to come. Come along!

Integral Meditation
A 5-Day Retreat

with Diane Musho Hamilton Sensei
Friday 5 – Wednesday 10 Sept 2008

This five day retreat gives you space and time to explore the depths
of Big Mind and Big Heart through an Integrally-framed range of
meditative, psychodynamic and body practices.

Diane Musho Hamilton Sensei is the dharma successor of American Zen
Master Genpo Roshi, and is his first successor in the Big Mind
lineage. Diane's program will lead you through Zen meditative
practices, psychodynamic shadow work, and the Big Mind process. The
retreat will also include bodywork and energetic practices to
provide you with a rounded transformative experience that engages
the full depths of your self through mind, body, spirit and shadow.

Big Mind is the name given, by Genpo Roshi, to a straightforward and
effective method of self investigation designed to give you an
experience of your unconditioned nature. This process is a new
synthesis of methods from western psychology and the non-dual wisdom
traditions which successfully navigate core aspects of your psyche
to reveal the compassionate nature of your heart and to cultivate a
better understanding of the limitless wisdom and presence of your mind.

Diane is a truly impressive teacher who uniquely holds status as a
Zen sensei, Big Mind process facilitator, and as a key teacher with
Ken Wilber's Integral Institute. She is also a professional
mediator, group facilitator, and trainer in conflict resolution.

With a demanding international teaching schedule, this retreat
presents a rare opportunity to study and practice with Diane on her
first teaching visit to Australasia.

*Venue: *Brahma Kumaris Centre, Wilton
*Dates:* Fri 5 – Wed 10 Sep

*Cost:* $750 -includes accomodation and food;
Scholarship places are available.
http://www.integralcentre.org/bigmind

Places limited – to reserve a place or recieve further information,
email: integralcentre@gmail.com

/Visit and retreat sponsored by The Integral Centre, Sydney/

Theopoetics

In researching for a poetry project I've been working on, I happened this morning on the interesting work of the theopoetic movement. I'll let them tell you more about it:

Madeleine L'Engle: … I sometimes think God is a shit-and he wouldn't be worth it otherwise. He's much more interesting when he's a shit.

Melinda Henneberger: So… to you, faith is not a comfort?

ML: Good heavens, no. It's a challenge: I dare you to believe in God. I dare you to think [our existence] wasn't an accident.

MH: Many people see faith as anti-intellectual.

ML: Then they're not very bright. It takes a lot of intellect to have faith, which is why so many people only have religiosity.

--Newsweek, May 7, 2006

Theopoetics offers us another path, another tool to help us deepen our faith and challenge passivity and oppression toward a deeper becoming. And unlike the proof and comfort of assurance that the tools of religiosity can seem to provide, theopoetics replaces certainty with Beauty and sureness with Art. It lets us open old drawers and crates, unpack grandmother's theology, great-grandfather's books, and read them in the light, their dust swept aside by the movement of the breath: Spirit.

For all that it offers, theopoetics is not a readily found idea, and as such, has not garnered as much attention as perhaps it might be due. In fact, without access to a specialized library, much of the information pertaining to it, and certainly direct access to its literature, is not available. Should one begin their search online, the smatterings of reference to it are few and far between.

A handful of articles and texts are repeatedly found, and yet they are just a few facets of the jewel.Consequently, after I had begun to look around for theopoetics materials, and found them to be relatively rare and far flung, I came to believe that there should be a means of corralling the available information so that it was more accessible to those seeking. After some months I decided to move on the idea and make a site (even if an asynchronous, non-spatial one) from which people could begin to explore. From that point forward, working, reading, and exploring for the site has only made me more certain that there needs to be more work, reading, and exploration.

I believe that the site can become the digital nexus for what I imagine will become an increasingly covered and interesting topic. While I am unabashedly Quaker, it is not. Though my selections are undoubtedly influenced by my Membership in the Religious Society of Friends, I intend for this little corner of the web to be useful to a broad range of spiritual and poetic thinkers; my desire is that it serve as a crossroads for all those interested in the field, process, and potential of this Art as theology. I would like it to become a ready reference for all things theopoetic. For students and teachers and for all of us that read, aware of the Breath.

While what I present here is not complete, I believe it covers most of the major work and workers to date. I will continue to update content substantially in the following months: in the future I plan for, there will be more names, texts, details and conferences to add. To that end, if there are desires for additional information to be included here, or clarifications/corrections, I hope to learn of them and will do my best to accommodate. The only thing I ask is that you send me an email if you find this site useful and/or interesting. Contact from others helps to lubricate the gears.

http://theopoetics.net

There's also a really interesting article co-authored by process philosopher Catherine Keller here.

Salon.com Interview with Ken Wilber

Ken Wilber was interviewed by salon.com last week. I found it to be a stellar summary of his recent thought.

Watch out for Steve Paulson's vocal shift toward the end of the interview where he starts twigging that Wilber may be on to something liberating and gets all acquisitive. It's a terribly amusing turn, and I dare say, a very familiar one for me.

You Are The River: An Interview with Ken Wilber
By Steve Paulson April 28, 2008

Ken Wilber may be the most important living philosopher you've never heard of. He's written dozens of books but you'd be hard-pressed to find his name in a mainstream magazine. Still, Wilber has a passionate - almost cultlike - following in certain circles, as well as some famous fans. Bill Clinton and Al Gore have praised Wilber's books. Deepak Chopra calls him "one of the most important pioneers in the field of consciousness." And the Wachowski Brothers asked Wilber, along with Cornel West, to record the commentary for the DVDs of their "Matrix" movies.

A remarkable autodidact, Wilber's books range across entire fields of knowledge, from quantum physics to developmental psychology to the history of religion. He's steeped in the world's esoteric traditions, such as Mahayana Buddhism, Vedantic Hinduism, Sufism and Christian mysticism. Wilber also practices what he preaches, sometimes meditating for hours at a stretch. His "integral philosophy," along with the Integral Institute he's founded, hold out the promise that we can understand mystical experience without lapsing into New Age mush.

Read full article: Here

Another gold moment:

Q: But somewhere down the road—50 years from now, 500 years from now—once neuroscience becomes much more advanced, will scientists be able to pinpoint where [our] values and thoughts come from?

KW: I'm saying we'll never understand it. The materialists keep issuing promissory notes. They always promise they're going to do it tomorrow. But interior and exterior arise together. You can't reduce one to the other. They're both real. Deal with it.

St Uriel the Archangel Gnostic Community has a new home...

"Enlighten your mind... Light the lamp within you. Knock on yourself as if upon a door and walk upon yourself as upon a straight road. For if you walk on the road, it is impossible for you to go astray. Open the door for you so that you may know what it is."
– Silvanus

My friend Tim has recently been given news that the Apostolic Johannite Church is to ordain him a preist in May. He's been a seminarian in the chuch for a while now, and will continue his seminary training while serving his Sydney Parish, St Uriel's, upon his return.





As part of this irrovocable new step in the path of his humanity, he has established a chuch space for services every Sunday night at the Sydney Unitarian Church (1-15 Francis St, Darlinghurst). If you're interested in authentic spirituality and are wondering how you might hold that within the frame of your own western Christian culture, St Uriel's might be a refuge worth considering along your path.

The Apostolic Johannite Church is a modern, gnostic, christian esoteric church with valid apostolic succession (all the way back to JC!). Tim's a kind, intelligent, warm man who is putting a lot of heart, mind and spirit into his development and transformation into a priest. I'm sure he'd love to see you there sometime.

Check out the blog he has created to chart his journey along this path.