Integral Options Cafe is one of my favorite blogs. Its author, William, compiles posts and articles from around the internets that are of interest to the Integral community. Today he shared a very nice piece from DailyOm:

The flow of the universe moves through everything. It is in the rocks that form, get pounded into dust, and are blown away. It is in the blossoming of a flower born from a seed planted in the spring. The growth cycle that every human being goes through is part of this natural flow, which is also the current that takes us down life’s paths. When we move with it rather than resisting it, we are riding on the universal wave that allows us to flow with life.

Many people live struggling against this current. They try to use force or resistance to will their lives into happening in the way they think it should. Others move with it like a sailor using the wind, trusting that the universe is taking them exactly where they need to be at all times. This flow is accessible to everyone because it travels through and around us. We are always riding it—it is just a matter of whether we are willing to go with it or we resist it. Choosing to go with the flow is often a matter of relinquishing the notion that we need to be in control at all times.

The flow is always transporting you where you need to go. It is merely a question of deciding whether you plan on accepting the ride or having it take you there with your feet dragging. Learning to step into it can help you feel a connection to a force that is greater than you and is always there to support you. The decision to go with the flow takes courage because you are surrendering the belief that you need to do everything by yourself. Riding the flow of the universe can be effortless, exhilarating, and unlike anything you ever expected. When you are receptive to being in it, you open yourself to possibilities that exist beyond the grasp of your control.

Welcome to the “No Path”, friends! The path of no path. The Universe pulls and prods you along, tossing you into whatever situation you need to be in. It’s a wild ride, but if you can surrender to it, it’s incredibly comforting and always exciting.

For the better part of my life, I was hell-bent on sticking it to the Universe. It pointed left, I went right. It granted me an opportunity to grow, I invited it to kiss my behind. I actively cultivated my own misery for many years, convincing myself it was a sort of Nietzschean high road.

In the last year or so, I have begun to trust the Universe more, though it is a slow process. Letting go of my old habits and misery-making is often frightening, but it is helping me grow tremendously. I am able to relax slightly (yes, just slightly) for the first time ever. Not only am I able to trust the Universe, but I am entertaining the thought of trusting people. This is an enormous step for me. If you can relate to my path, I highly encourage you to read the Tao Te Ching and the Diamond Heart series by A.H. Almaas. Or feel free to email me (emily at consideringtheuniverse dot com) if you’d like to commiserate.

I am reading Facets of Unity: The Enneagram of Holy Ideas by A.H. Almaas. He makes an interesting differentiation between the perspectives of various traditions.

Some traditions view Ultimate Reality (or God, if you prefer) as, “that which is left when everything that can be removed is removed”. Almaas calls this the Absolute. Other traditions view Ultimate Reality as a state of total completeness which is “all-inclusive, with the manifest and unmanifest existing in nonduality. Everything is present, including the Absolute, which is seen as its inner nature.”

Almaas categorizes the traditions as follows:

The Sufi and Kabbalistic traditions take the view that the Absolute is the ultimate reality. The Indian traditions are divided, with the Vedantists taking the Absolute to be the ultimate, while some of the yogic paths take the state of total completeness to be ultimate. The Buddhists disagree: The Theraveda tradition believes the Absolute is ultimate, while the Tibetan Buddhists are divided.

Almaas does not mention Taoism, but I believe it would fall into the “total completeness” category. We have discussed the difference in Buddhist and Taoist orientation before. I always gravitate towards Taoism, Tantra and yoga, while Laura leans toward Buddhism. Almaas’ explanation of Absolute vs total completeness helped me understand why I felt a fundamental difference between my set of traditions and Laura’s. It is really the difference of understanding oneness as a fullness or an emptiness, everything vs. nothing. Of course, either route leads to the other side of the coin, through fullness you find emptiness, through emptiness you find fullness.

Both orientations lead to nonduality or as Almaas puts it:

In either case, the perception of the unity of all existence - Holy Truth - remains the same. It is the perception that there are no divisions and no duality between things, that everything is one Beingness, one existence. This is the reality beyond egoic reality, true existence independent of the personal mind. It includes everything without any separations, and it does not matter whether you call it God, the One Mind, the state of the Buddha, the Tao, or the Divine Being.

In case you were unaware, we adore A.H. Almaas. We highly recommend his books to anyone interested in understanding themselves and reality.

Laura and I just read The Golden Compass so when I saw this article on a “God particle” I immediately thought of Dust. (If you haven’t read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, this will mean nothing to you.)

Here is what the scientist has to say about the God particle:

Nobel laureate Leon Lederman has dubbed the theoretical boson “the God particle” because its discovery could unify understanding of particle physics and help humans “know the mind of God.”

Fancy! Wikipedia explains that in Pullman’s novels Dust is:

Unlike ordinary particles, Dust is conscious. It falls from the sky and is attracted to people (especially adults) and objects made by people. This makes it of great interest to the Church, which believes that it may be the physical manifestation of Original Sin. It is later learnt that Dust actually confers consciousness, knowledge and wisdom, and that Dust is formed when matter becomes conscious.

Compare that description of Dust to National Geographic’s article on the God particle aka the Higgs particle:

The preferred name for the God particle among physicists is the Higgs boson, or the Higgs particle, or simply the Higgs, in honor of the University of Edinburgh physicist Peter Higgs, who proposed its existence more than 40 years ago. Most physicists believe that there must be a Higgs field that pervades all space; the Higgs particle would be the carrier of the field and would interact with other particles, sort of the way a Jedi knight in Star Wars is the carrier of the “force.” The Higgs is a crucial part of the standard model of particle physics—but no one’s ever found it.

If the God particle indeed functions like a carrier of matter, it could be considered the substance from which matter springs. As a field in which matter exists, we could imagine it as a canvas on which a picture is drawn. The canvas is the field of creativity, of consciousness, from which all matter arises, just as in most spiritual traditions Being arises from Non-Being. I’m not sure that the God particle could be considered Non-Being, but it is an interesting parallel. Pullman’s Dust is consciousness which is creative potential, the God particle is a field of potentiality in which matter exists. Here we have art, science and spirituality converging on the same idea: God is creativity is consciousness is source.

Physicists in the audience, feel free to shoot my conclusion to pieces.

Life is funny. A strange turn of events, inspirations, and coincidences led me to OneTaste on Tuesday. OneTaste has been showing up on my radar for a month or so. On Tuesday I called in sick to work and took a walk to check out a yoga center near my house. The center was closed, but as I was leaving OneTaste popped into my head. I thought, why not take a slight detour and check it out? (I used Google SMS to find the address. I cannot recommend this service enough.)

OneTaste calls itself an “Urban Retreat Center”. Their literature is all very light and airy, young good looking people laughing and hugging. They offer yoga, open-mic events, and a variety of workshops all focusing on connection. Their core curriculum consists of six courses in “Connected Living” that are priced at $500 each (!). I realize this is all quite vague. That’s how they present it themselves. However, OneTaste is better known as a sex cult.

Thought that would get your attention. This allegation has been made by the SF Weekly and by various Yelpers. OneTaste teaches Orgasmic Meditation and has a live-in program where residents conduct “sensuality research”. Huh. Clearly I had to check this out for myself.

On Tuesday I wandered over to OneTaste. It is located (interestingly) on Folsom Street in San Francisco’s SoMa district. As you can see from this map, the neighborhood is no stranger to alternative lifestyles. OneTaste looks like your average San Francisco yoga studio. It’s very clean with hardwood floors, exposed ducts, that sort of thing. Very normal for SF.

When I went inside on Tuesday morning, I noticed that all of the staff was young, thin and good looking. Interesting. They were very friendly but somewhat reserved. They invited me to return in the evening for an introductory course.

In the evening, OneTaste was much busier. There were people sitting around tables in the front area chatting and eating. I was told to go upstairs into a large meeting area. There were three other guests, all men, and two presenters. We played some getting-to-know-you type games and they answered our questions about OneTaste. It was all very interesting. They were reluctant to use the word “sexuality”, replacing it with “sensuality” multiple times. It all seemed to have the appearance of openness, but I did not feel a connection. After the group, I was introduced to one of the young ladies who participates in the Y.Now (ages 18-26) group. I felt much more comfortable talking to her and a genuine warmth coming from her. She invited me to return the next evening for IN Group.

IN Group is a gathering to play connectivity games and practice authenticity. There were a lot of people there, maybe 50. There was a good mix of ages, although the crowd was probably 70% male and 90% white. You could identify the female OneTaste residents easily as most of them were wearing flirty dresses without bras. Huh. It’s also very warm in OneTaste. I theorize this is to encourage less clothing. Maybe I’m cynical.

We played some games. I got questioned on the “Hot Seat”. It was interesting, not exactly fun. After the IN Group people stayed around to socialize. I hate socializing and meeting new people. It required a big effort for me not to run out the door, but people were so friendly! I met a lot of people from the Y.Now group and really enjoyed talking to them. It was refreshing to be completely honest about my anxiety and have them give me feedback. I noticed I felt very disconnected to my body as I was meeting people. It was kind of surreal. Maybe that’s why I dislike those situations.

Overall, I enjoyed my first two visits to OneTaste. I will definitely be going back, but with some reservations. First, I can’t help but feel that I was getting extra attention because I am a young female. I suppose this is normal in any social gathering, but because of the “sex cult” reputation of OneTaste, I was a little wary. Secondly, I would advise anyone looking for an explicitly spiritual community to look elsewhere. Spirit is incorporated at OneTaste, however the focus is on connecting to other people rather than to a higher source. So if you’re working on interpersonal issue, as I am, it might be a good fit for you.

(Btw, OneTaste did get its name from the Ken Wilber book.)

From Laura: I freely admit I’m biased against One Taste and wary of the whole thing (even though I’ve never gone or anything) but I’ve got full confidence in Emily’s discernment skills.