This weekend the YNow kids and I went *camping* at Harbin Hot Springs. Harbin is a little hippie getaway north of San Francisco. Clothing is optional.

Yep, I spent the weekend with a bunch of naked people. I am very self-conscious about my body. Usually even wearing a swimsuit in front of people is stressful for me so I wasn’t sure how this would unfold.

There were about 20 of us caravaning up to Harbin and my car arrived first. It was a very warm day and the boys took their shirts off immediately. I figured this was my chance to get things started without a big, intimidating audience so I followed their lead (swim top still on). This was probably the most interesting part of the weekend because as the other cars arrived I could feel my self-consciousness increasing, especially as people voiced their surprise that I was so quick to disrobe. Rather than shriek and put my shirt on again, I just stayed with the discomfort until it burned off. I followed the same pattern in taking off my shorts, swim top and finally bottoms. I was naked! It was uncomfortable for a few minutes, but those feelings burned away quickly. I survived!

This weekend was really freeing in a lot of ways. I got much more comfortable with my body and with my friends. The body image edge is a big one for me and this weekend really helped me conquer a big part of it.

My friend D was also nervous about nudity, so we agreed to take our bottoms off at the same time. On the ride home we both felt triumphant over our fear, ready to take on the next challenge. I think this is an important point in spiritual growth: once you’ve taken your pants off, they’re off. Sometimes we get so enamored of the high that comes with breaking down a barrier that we try to repeat it; we keep putting our pants on just to take them off again. D and I left our (figurative) pants at Harbin and said, “Good riddance!” We can now use that power to break through our next edge.

Which brings me to the OneTaste update. I’ve been trying to keep the OT posts to a minimum for a few reasons:

1. My parents read this blog.
2. People from OneTaste read this blog.
3. Other friends read this blog.
4. Laura is not a fan of OneTaste.

OneTaste is the biggest thing going on in my life right now. I have been giving a different story to each of those four groups of people about my experiences there. I’m done with that. For better or worse, I am going to be blogging more about OT and everyone in my life will have equal access to my writing. That’s kind of scary right now, but it feels more authentic.

I’m planning on moving into the OneTaste residency program in July. It will be nearly impossible for me to keep OT out of the blog once I move in. It’s hard to expose things that are truly important to you, that’s why I haven’t shared my decision to move into OT prior to this post. I’m eying the “publish” button on my WordPress dashboard with trepidation. What will happen when I share this with the world?

And thus I remove my pants…

Ok, truth be told, I’m getting tired of blogging about the conference. I think the first three days filled my head with so many great ideas, I could hardly fit anything else in toward the end.

Most of the presentations on the last two days were about specific projects. The projects were incredible, but I was much more excited by the theory discussions than the details of actual projects. What does that say?

What I did take away from the last two days of the conference was a big sense of hope that Integral is a powerful tool for reframing problems and taking new perspectives. I was especially impressed with Anna Cowen’s work in South Africa and Anne Caspari’s work in Syria. They both seem to be using Integral to solve unique problems. Keep up the good work, ladies!

I also felt that we had built a very strong community space by the end of the conference. It was very sad to see everyone go home. I look forward to seeing many of the same faces at the Integral Theory Conference in August.

(Sorry about this anticlimactic conclusion to the conference blogging. I’m just not feeling it anymore.)

Day Three of the Integral Without Borders Conference was the first day of presentations. I am not going to attempt to recap each presentation in its entirety. I will give you the interesting points that stood out to me.

Vernice Solimar - Integral Spirituality and Social Change

Love = expansion = transcend and include

Love = capacity for presence

How love is expressed at various altitudes:

• Red - Love is power. Domination/submission.
• Amber - Helping, serving, loyalty
• Orange - Self-love, self esteem, self reliance, values freedom & justice
• Green - Love another by empathizing with their path, dialog, holding space for another
• Teal - Understand levels of love, interconnection of all beings, each person’s truth is a partial truth
• Turquoise - Everything as a dynamic unfolding of consciousness

Carissa Wieler - Integral Perspectives on Resilience

Resilience = Being present to paradox

In individuals resilience looks like bouncing back from challenges and being present to ambiguity and loss.

In systems this is the capacity to absorb resistance, to change and develop.

Panarchy: growth -> conservation -> release -> reorganization. Think of a forest. It grows and settles. Then a fire comes along and it has to restart. It’s capacity to thrive in this cycle is its resilience.

Lisa Chacon & Julian Gonzalez - Towards an Integral Theory of Human Needs

This was a very interesting presentation of Manfred Max-Neef’s fundamental human needs as an alternative to Maslow’s hierarchy. I’ve always been sort of fascinated by Maslow’s nifty pyramid, but lately it hasn’t been sitting well with me. After Lisa and Julian’s presentation I have a lot of new ideas on this topic. Let’s begin by looking at Max-Neef’s needs, which arise simultaneously, not hierarchically (with the possible exception of Subsistence for obvious reasons); in no particular order:

• Understanding
• Identity
• Freedom
• Affection
• Transcendence
• Subsistence
• Protection
• Creation
• Idleness
• Participation

A person can have a poverty in any of these areas which they will attempt to fill with satisfiers and sometimes false satisfiers. For example, to satisfy my need for affection I might find a fulfilling relationship. Or I might sleep with a prostitute, which would be a false satisfier; I’d feel better for a little while, but the poverty would not really be alleviated.

I have a lot of thoughts on this topic that I will dedicate a full post to. I look forward to hearing more from Lisa and Julian at the Integral Theory Conference in August.

Emine Kiray - Integral Politics: The Islamist Movement and the Recent Political Crisis in Turkey

This was fascinating, but very complicated. The best I can offer is a post by Emine on this topic from last year and my encouragement to come to the Integral Theory Conference so you can hear her talk firsthand.

Karen O’Brien - Climate Change Adaptation

Karen is trying to bring an Integral awareness to her work on climate change. Essentially, until we address the problem through all four quadrants, we will not be able to solve it. Again, you can hear more about this at the Integral Theory Conference. Can’t plug it enough.

That’s it for Day Three! See you tomorrow for Day Four.

I *heart* Big Mind! Zen Master Genpo Roshi devised the Big Mind process as a bridge between East and West. It combines Zen Buddhist practice with Jungian archetypes to allow one to reach higher states of consciousness quickly. On Day Two of the Integral Without Borders Conference in Istanbul, we were treated to a full day of Big Mind facilitated by Genpo Roshi’s student and fellow Zen master Diane Hamilton. This was my favorite part of the conference.

The facilitator of Big Mind asks the group to call upon and speak as different voices they have within themselves. Here’s how:

Facilitator: I would like to speak to the voice of the Skeptic.

Group: (shifts position to reset the mind and body as the Skeptic)

Facilitator: To whom am I speaking?

Group: The Skeptic

Facilitator: And what is your job?

Group: To be skeptical.

From there the facilitator will ask a series of questions to illuminate that voice’s role in your life. In the case of the Skeptic, you might learn that this voice is useful in helping to protect you from false information, however it is always skeptical and never satisfied. This is an aspect of yourself that is never trusting, however it is not who you are at the core.

There are a number of videos on YouTube showing Genpo Roshi facilitate Big Mind. You can also follow the course at Integral Naked if you are a member.

Now for my personal experience using Big Mind.

We began with the voice of the Controller. As soon as Diane asked for that voice, I knew I was in for trouble. The Controller is a very strong and very problematic aspect of my personality. It was very easy for me to embody the Controller, but also very uncomfortable. My whole body tensed up, as the Controller I was not going to let Emily out of my clutches for a second. Later we did the voice of the Protector. This was much more comfortable for me as my Protector voice tends to deal with outside threats by being apathetic and detached, whereas my Controller is convinced that I am about to fly off the handle unless it keeps me bottled up tight. See the difference? Both are problematic, but the Protector’s tactics are much less uncomfortable.

Next we did the Skeptic. This was also easy for me and very comfortable. This voice used to be much stronger in my life, but it has calmed down over the last year or so. No problems here.

Then Diane asked us to go to the Wounded Self. Huh? I could not find the Wounded Self anywhere! I was trying to summon this voice, but nothing came out. The rest of the group easily found their Wounded Selves and seemed to get very sad in this voice. I was at a loss. This happened again when we were asked to find the Victim and Egocentric Compassion. See a pattern? I am generally unwillingly allow myself to feel that I am damaged or that I have been wronged. I usually think everything is my own fault or that I deserve it. No Wounded Self, no Victim, no Egocentric Compassion. If I can’t recognize my own Wounded Self, how can I recognize it in others? This makes it very difficult for me to feel compassion towards individuals’ suffering. Big Mind pointed all of this out to me.

We also did the Innocent Child, which I loved although some people could not get into, the Oppressor, Compassion, and Forgiveness. With some of the voices we explored different altitudes: egocentric, ethnocentric, worldcentric, and Kosmocentric. This was very interesting, let me take you through an example.

Egocentric Compassion: I can (presumably) feel my own suffering and see how I have been wronged by other people and life circumstances. I can extend love towards myself at this level.

Ethnocentric Compassion: I can feel the suffering of my people, my family, my nation and any other group I identify with. I can extend love toward my people.

Worldcentric Compassion: I can feel the suffering of all of humanity, this includes “oppressor” groups like Nazis.

Kosmocentric Compassion: I can feel the suffering of all living things, of all non-living things, of stars, of ideas, of beings in other realities. I can love all of it. My compassion is infinite. This is also known as Big Heart.

Fun! Later we were in the middle of Forgiveness when the afternoon prayers began in Istanbul. The conference was held right next to the Hagia Sofia, so the prayer was extremely loud. Diane asked us to sit in Forgiveness and listen to the prayer. So there I am as Forgiveness, listening to this beautiful Muslim prayer and suddenly I slip into Ethnocentric Wounded Self and I have all these visions of 9/11 and the towers falling. It was totally bizarre. Then I felt this big Forgiveness for what happened on 9/11 and I started to cry. I didn’t even know that I cared that much about 9/11. It was crazy.

But let’s not forget Big Mind itself. When we got to the voice of Big Mind, we had already been working up the altitudes. Big Mind is a sort of non-dual state where you identify as everything, as the Kosmos, as infinity, or as the Tao if you prefer. It was pretty trippy, needless to say, especially for a non-meditator like me. Big Mind is being all and Big Heart is loving all. I had a much easier time with Big Mind, but everyone was different. Big Mind felt a little cold for some people.

That about wraps up Day Two and Big Mind. I highly recommended trying Big Mind for yourself. My descriptions pale in comparison to the actual experience.

Day One of the Integral Without Borders Conference was dedicated to getting everyone updated on the latest in Integral Theory. I am not going to go into the basics of theory; if you’re not familiar you’ll have to read up elsewhere.

First we discussed zones (please see the graphic). Zones break the four quadrants down further, giving us more perspectives to consider. We can examine the inner and outer realms of each quadrant:

1. Inside of “I”: introspection, how I’m feeling/thinking
2. Outside of “I”: structuralism, what I’m feeling/thinking
3. Inside of “We”: collective joy/humor, mutual understanding, solidarity
4. Outside of “We”: culture, etc.
5. Inside of “It”: autopoesis, “the dashboard of a frog”
6. Outside of “It”: science, materialism
7. Inside of “They”: social autopoesis, how a tree communicates with the forest
8. Outside of “They”: systems, political science, economics, ecology

We had a big discussion about zones 5 and 7. They are mysterious and confusing to even the most dedicated theoreticians. If you have ideas, send them my way.

Another theme was social holons, and how they are a bit different than other types of holons. Individual holons (people) are members of social holons, not components. More simply: you can take the homie out of the ‘hood, but you can’t take the ‘hood out of the homie. Unlike other types of holons, you can remove smaller holons from a social holon without compromising its integrity. For example, if I decide Ken Wilber is a crackpot and leave the Integral community, the Integral community does not cease to exist, whereas if atoms ceased to exist all the holons above atoms would cease to exist. Similarly, if a social holon makes a change, let’s say societal norms shift, the individuals in the social holon do not have to adopt the change. If my community decides that Amish bonnets are fashionable, I do not have to participate in that trend, however my pancreas cannot decide to stay home when I go to work. Make sense?

Social holons are related to another new topic in Integral Theory: Integral Politics. There are four dimensions to consider when evaluating a political movement:

1. Internalist/Externalist: Am I responsible for my own suffering (conservative, pull-yourself-up-by-your -bootstraps thinking) or does the structure of society cause my suffering (liberal, social justice, the-system-is-corrupt thinking)?
2. Individualistic/Collectivist: Think Ayn Rand vs. Soviet Communism (sorry if that is a biased example)
3. Transformation/Translation: Let’s change to something new vs. Let’s fix what we’ve got
4. Altitudes

So according to my analysis, the American Republican Party would be Internalist, Individualistic, Translative, hovering between amber and orange altitudes. Interesting.

Something else to consider: the socio-economic structure (LR quadrant) of a country is the most important indicator of its social average. Look at the US, in farming communities with light industry you find primarily amber world views, while in a place like San Francisco, with a white-collar information economy, you find orange and green.

Of course, Georgian politics came into my mind during this session. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Georgia’s economy fell from heavy industry to subsistence farming. This dragged down the overall social holon from emergent orange to just barely hanging onto amber, with many people in red. So Saakashivli comes along, a thoroughly orange if not emergent green kind of guy. In order to get into power he had to appeal to Georgian nationalism (God knows there’s no lack of that) which is a very amber tactic. Once he got into power and tried to make all kinds of orange reforms, the red/amber Georgians weren’t quite so enthusiastic (taxes?!). The discrepancy between the Georgian government’s altitude and the Georgian people’s altitude explains why the Rose Revolution is on rocky footing at best. A similar story followed the Orange Revolution in Ukraine.

That about sums up Day One of the conference. Forgive my amateur explanations and analysis of Integral Theory. If you have corrections or would like to clarify something, please do so in the comments.

Merhaba, friends! I’m back from Istanbul with tons to share about the trip and the Integral Without Borders conference. I’m going to give you an overview today and get down to specifics over the next week or so.Istanbul was beautiful. If you haven’t been, go. I didn’t get to do much sightseeing, but hit the major monuments and made it over to the trendy Taksim area. It may be hard to believe that anyone could drag their attention away from a city like Istanbul to focus on a conference, but it was easy in this case. The six day schedule was packed with cutting edge Integral Theory, spiritual inquiry and discussion of projects being implemented around the world. Here is an overview of the schedule:

Day One: Review of Integral Theory & the latest ideas from Ken Wilber

Day Two: Big Mind/Big Heart with Diane Hamilton (this was fantastic!)

Day Three: Presentations on Integral Spirituality, resilience, human needs, Turkish politics, and climate change

Day Four: Presentations on projects in Peru, AIDS in Uganda, Integral Africa, waste management in Ethiopia, and social power dynamics

Day Five: Presentations on projects in Syria, South Africa, Chile, sex work in Vancouver and Integral coaching

As you can see, the topics were quite varied. It was really inspirational to meet people from around the world who are dedicated to making a difference. It was also great to hang out with fellow Integral-heads. People actually laughed at my jokes referencing Spiral Dynamics! Love it!

This conference was exactly what I needed to get excited to the Integral Psychology program at JFK. I really felt welcomed into the Integral community at the Istanbul conference. I encourage anyone who is even casually interested in Ken Wilber’s work to attend the Integral Theory Conference in August. It is being hosted by JFKU near San Francisco.

More to come on the conference. Feel free to send me your specific questions so I can be sure to cover everything.

If you like the TED talks as much as we do, but just can’t afford to attend the conference ($6,000!) maybe you can try BIL.

BIL is a free conference after TED, anyone can attend and anyone can speak. It’s in Monterrey, CA, March 1 & 2. I will not be able to attend, but I hope some of our readers will be able to go and report back.

BIL is being put on by, guess who, the Singularity Institute! So the usual suspects, like Tyler Emerson, will be speaking. Aubrey de Grey of life extension fame is also on the schedule.

It looks like a great event, especially for the price.

For those readers who are interested in Wilberian Integral Theory, the First Biennial Integral Theory Conference will take place in August near San Francisco. It’s pretty reasonably priced, especially if you are a student and live in the area. I’ll most likely be there.

(Thanks to Integral Options Cafe for bringing this to our attention.)

I’m going to the Integral International Development conference in April. Hooray!

I found out about the conference through JFKU, where I’m applying for grad school. One of the organizers is a professor at JFK. This is going to be a great way to jump right into the program. Not only that, the conference is in Istanbul! What could be better?

I’ll be sure to keep you updated on the conference just like we did for the Singularity Summit. If any of our readers are planning on attending the conference, please let me know.