Integral Processes & Perspectives

Affirmation of the Healing Process

2008-06-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

I state my willingness and intention to heal. I state my willingness and intension to feel my feelings. I am willing to allow the gates to gently open. I am willing to allow the hardness to melt. I am willing to risk allowing the unknown and unexpected to emerge. No matter how painful I will be there to feel what wants to be felt. I take each pain as it emerges and gently hold it in my arms and love it. I do this because it is me that I am holding and loving. It’s OK to feel afraid and lost. I give myself support with my breath and my gentle patient attention. I ask for support from others when I need it.

I feel myself exactly as I am. I feel my forbidden impulses and longings no matter how unacceptable they may seem. There is no part of me that is not worthy of unconditional attention and healing. There is no part of me that does not deserve to unfold, heal and find its rightful place. I sense and trust my innate intelligence and power to heal all of my wounds. I trust my own rate of healing and opening up. Whatever time and patience is required I will give it. I will journey from the outer layers into my heart of heats and explore my unknown territories. I am open to discovering all of what I never knew was there (even when it goes against my previous conception of myself and of the world). I am willing to feel what has never been felt so I can be and discover who I truly am. I am a being of many levels and many processes. I ask the process of life that is within me to teach me and to continue to teach me.

Calling Delusions Delusions

2008-04-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

I believe we need radical social honesty. There are a preponderance of currently existing social delusions. They are delusions.

Every stage of development can develop it own unique delusions.

It is wussy however, to say everyone is "partially right". People with clinical delusions are also partially right, but it does not address what needs to be addressed. The word delusion is a much needed word and a much sharper knife to cut with.

We want to be kind to the reality of others, but this does not mean coddling delusions and not honestly looking at the mechanisms which create them. This social "pathology" goes way beyond what is to be expected from people at a certain "developmental stages".

The definition of "crazy making" is "to treat that which is not sane, as sane." Crazy making invalidates and dis-empowers everyone.

Gestalt Prayer Adapted for Perspectives (rough draft)

2008-04-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

You have your point of view
I have my point of view.

Where one point of view overlaps
we can agree to agree;
where they don't
we can agree to disagree.

Let us appreciate our differences
and morn the loss of what we may not be able to share,
and celebrate the communion of what we do share.

Your point of view may
or may not overlap
with my point of view.

I am not in this world to see
the world from your point of view.
You are not in this world
to see the world through
my point of view.

If by chance and effort I can see your point of view,
I don't need to agree with it and vice versa.

Let us move to the higher ground of perspectives on perspectives,
and if we can move to higher ground together
let us not hold on too tight
to either our perspectives
or our perspectives on perspectives.

Conversions

2008-04-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

Conversions start from the bottom up. If we can't deal with something that arises on one level, we convert it to the next higher level. The more conversions we do, the further we are from reality and the further we are from who we really are.

Nearly everyone does the following conversions, one level overflowing and being converted into the next:

1) Raw arising of object - sensation, feeling - response, memory - need from the core and from the "fertile void".

2) Next, conversion into imaginings, anticipations, expectations, projections, constant mental rehearsals etc. Past is converted into present circumstances.

3) Next, conversion into obsessive thinking & problem solving.

4) Next, conversion into rigid conclusions, beliefs & dogma that are partly unconscious and highly defended.

5) Next, conversion into delusions (which are incredibly robust).
_______________________________

Dying to One's Self

2008-04-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

To lay down one's life for one's self
Allow your self to die into your organism

No longer necessary
a sacrifice of the greatest love

No one is here
no one is here!

Reality itself sees

Be seen by the trees
Be seen by the mountains
Yet there is nothing to see
There is no one to look at

Reciprocal Perception

2008-01-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

Reciprocal Perception means that unconsciously "I won't see, understand or EVEN PERCEIVE what you are saying until I see you perceiving and understanding what I am saying."

Example: The Palestinians and Israelis. They don't get and CAN'T get what each other are saying, not only because as a whole they haven't developed the ability to see things through 2nd and 3rd person perspectives, but also because they don't even perceive the each other's perspective in the first place. Completely unconsciously operating: "If you can't see me, I can't see you"

The Lens / Mirror of Consciousness

2008-01-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

In consciousness, the lens is is not separate from what is perceived.

A dirty lens creates noise and distortion which in turn can be perceived with distortion.

One cannot see the "flies in one's eyes" correctly because of the "flies in ones eyes".

A clear lens can be likened to the surface of a pond. When the water is quiet and not muddy it reflect or (resonates with) the outside world with little distortion and from many perspectives simultaneously.

Likewise the surface of clear quiet water reflects without distortion.

Healthy and Unhealthy Versions of Developmental Stages

2008-01-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

My view of healthy and unhealthy developmental stages for adults

I believe the "90%/10%" rule applies to the healthiness and unhealthiness of the stages most people in the US are in.

That means that very roughly only about 10% of the people are in a healthy version of the " value meme" they are predominantly in, and very roughly 90% are in an unhealthy version of the "value meme" their "center of gravity" is in.

Focus on developmental stages has the potential of eclipsing another reality which is what Welhelm Reich called the "Emotional Plague". This is the "fact" that Neurosis has been passed down from generation to gerenation on a massive scale. This cannot be considered a normal part of development.

Below is a list of the qualities of healthy and unhealthy developmental memes

Healthy (10%)

Developmentally progressing

Open system

Degree of openess to progression

Vibrancy

Positive movement

Appropriate pain, frustration and discomfort

Ego dystonic and syntonic rhythm

Permeable

Self testing

Childlike

Innocent

Unhealthy (90%) None of these qualities need to be a part of ANY level of of development

Developmentally arrested

Closed system

Defended against progression

Stagnation

Stuckness or regression

Avoidance of frustration & pain through artificial support

Overly ego syntonic

air tight defenses

self-fulfilling belief loops

Immature, childish relative to age

Naive, Jaded

Various Non-connected Thoughts Forming

2007-08-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

1: Many of us feel we rationally can approach everything in the universe; however there may me "things" in the universe, relative to which, our mind is utterly psychotic-like.

2: We must distinguish between response-ability (the ability to respond or its opposite: response-inability) and accountability (knowing you are the person who will receive consequences of your actions, inactions and choices.)

The two are entirely different and totally confused.

If you have both predominant response-inability and account-inability, you're pretty much screwed for this lifetime.

We must take responsibility and accountability for what we don't say and what we don't do.

3 There are people who live there live more according to what actually may be inferred
and there are people who live their lives more according to innuendo and what is read in. Most people are of the second type.

4 Most people are utterly incapable of putting everything on the table in terms of what is actually there to be considered and attended to. A shared effort by two of more people to put everything that is truly due concern on the table is nearly non-existent from my point of view.

What may be truly relevant to be on the table, how much attention it initially may deserve and what may be truly irrelevant is a function of intelligence, cognitive and emotional honesty, experience, personal values and developmental level.

Self-Liberating

2007-07-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

Fall from the tree with shimmering leaves and swaying branches
surrendering existence as you fall

Symphony playing itself

One note, One Taste

Bottomless space liberating itself

Motto

2007-06-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

Highest consciousness

Highest creativity

Highest expression

Highest activity

Highest joy

Deepest shadow work

Deepest feelings

Deepest pain

Deepest release

Deepest ground

Deepest flow

Deepest healing

Deepest truth

Biggest whole

Never lose sight of the whole

Never compromise health

Namaste

See Yourself

2007-06-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

To see yourself - look at a flower

Every arrow of attention that shoots out sends a twin arrow of attention within

As Emptiness and Form are the same, so are these arrows

These arrows can kill you

Die this moment and your life is returned to you

"Blessed are those who were born before they were born"

Blessed are those who died before they died

The “Gating” of Attention to Symbolic Realities

2007-05-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

What inhibits our growth and development and prevents real healing? We live in a society where we are taught, since childhood, not to pay attention to what feels important. We find we have to adjust our needs to the world and can only meet them symbolically. We develop "acceptable" substitute, symbolic, deflected, “should”, or trivial activities. From early on, we develop mental structures that, before we even know it, "gate" our cognitions and feelings to regressive secondary or symbolic realities. Our preconscious gaiting mechanisms determine what gets entered into our experienced reality.

These realities become all that we know and can even imagine as reality, even if we imagine ourselves as spiritual beings. Our lives, for the most part, become only a symbolic acting out of what we originally “knew” and wanted. We become “should-ists” rather than "is-ists”. We become obsessed with following (or resisting) “shoulds” and “responsibilities”. We end up believing our own propaganda and story about our lives and "happiness" (or lack of it). Currently many of us do a "spiritual bypass" using “spirituality” as a way of avoiding what is in front of our face.

Naked Awareness - Naked Pain

2007-05-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

Let naked awareness touch naked pain

Unlock that which is bound up

The unbearable is bared one writhe at a time

Don't hide from the wounds you don't know you have

Crack open futility and hopelessness to reveal the unfelt

Quotations and sayings from Dr. Carr

2007-05-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

(Continually under construction)

One man's "too much intellect" is another man's "to simple and unthinking"

Create your life out of whole cloth

Most stimuli are really responses

Consciousness first, other concerns second

That which is not allowed doesn't get heard

You have no business spending a lot of time in your head if you're not yet firmly based in your heart

People with big egos either tout themselves, or put down others who tout themselves

Too much control eliminate possibility

2007-04-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

How Truth Comes Through

The truth comes from all existence.

How could it be any other way?

It comes through in spite of any book.

It comes through in spite of any belief or religion.

When you grasp it you are misled.

When you think about it you are misled.

The most amazing thing is that we have such tremendous abilities to keep ourselves from seeing it

Consider just to stop doing what keeps you from the truth.

Consider awakening your passion to discover and find out.

Religion, beliefs and books can often be the tools of the sleepwalker. (We all start as sleepwalkers.)

Relying on them, without transcending them

is like stationing yourself at the sign post without moving on down the road in the direction sign is pointing.

It is also like wearing your clothes in the shower.

When you put them aside you get the full shower.

This "shower" washes away that which is not true.

It washes away our own bull shit and the bullshit in the world.

The water reaches the roots of your being.

What is left is a delightful spacious emptiness that cannot be compared.

Get naked.

In this space you can grow fast.

Feeing Felt

2007-04-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Feeling Felt

Breath Breathed

Thought thought

Existence existed

Nothingness nothinged

Not this, not that. What a relief!

Catch What Eludes You

2007-04-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Catch what eludes you.

Move along dimensions you haven't imagined yet.

Loosen the tight helmet of your own conditioning.

Embody the message of your own experience.

Breathe breathing. Feel what you haven't felt yet.

Waves lapping on the lakeshore for no reason, giving birth to each moment

Each a page in the true book of revelation

Future Articles to be Published

2007-03-28T04:48:00.000-07:00

In the near future I will be posting articles on the following topics:

The Huge Power of Congruency

Integral Poetry

Books, Beliefs and Religion

The fundamental distrusts we have of the human organism: Feeling, spontaneity, self-regulation, anger, intellect, pain, consciousness, non-locality, intuition, ego, spirituality, direct experience, hunger & need.

The largely unrealized implications of non-locality

Liberal vs Conservative: Basic Differences

The "Impass"

Emotional Literacy

Cognitive Literacy

Skepticism and Skeptics

Scientific Stupidity

Integrative Conversations

Basic Tools of Therapy

Self Therapy, Self Primaling

The Role of Pain

Seeing vs Imagining

Data deficits, Data receptors, Data distribution

Existence vs Meaning

Stimulus orientation vs Response orientation

The "If then" Fallacy

2007-02-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

Very very often people will formulate an argument based on an "if" that to some degree simply begs the question. These arguments when simplified sound something like: "if people would change they would be able to change" or "if something was different than what it was, it would be different than what it was". In some ways these kind of contributions can be meaningless. It is like saying " if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a trolley car".

If the "if" part is not very implementable, then the "then" part is not very implementable. Statements like: "If everyone voted responsibly we would not elect incompetent people" and "If we all listened to each other more, there would be less chance of war" are not very productive because the "if" part is not very implementable. Despite this, go to any group discussion and you'll hear plenty of contributions in this format. This is one reason why committees tend to have the reputation of not getting very much done.

Seduction

2007-02-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

When I go to the supermarket and look at the physiques of the people around me; when I look in their shopping carts, I get a sense of the average person being seduced. Seduced by their own appetites, seduced by the advertising, seduced by their own self talk & propaganda, seduced by the media, seduced by their peers, seduced by their own "contentment", seduced by strong resistances to eating what one should eat, seduced by the comfort of their own traditions and habits, seduced by what they see everyone else doing.

I then wonder if the process of seduction is one of the main destroyers of our society. People who try to change our society, like politicians, make the mistake of resorting to further seduction. Perhaps the problem is seduction itself.

It seems to me the main counter to this toxic seduction is the feeling of healthy discontent. I then have to ask: what have I been seduced by and what is my unfelt discontent?

---

A newborn, and toddler are supposed to be seduced by their parents. In a healthy "safe" family, they're supposed to be seduced by their mothers tit, their mothers touch, their mother's voice, their own needs and appetites. They also have the means of letting the mother know when they don't want something, when they've had too much of something and when they're discontent. In a healthy family the mother responds appropriately and the child develops appropriately.

In an unhealthy family with a toxic mother the infant's "yeses" and "no's" are not heeded properly and the infant develops defenses and resistances against its own yeses and no's. It still however longs to be "seduced" by its mother and its own needs. Eventually this longing breaks through in adult behavior. The adult is either seduced by his own original longings or seduced by his resistances to his own original longings.

Integral Remote Viewing

2007-01-19T14:23:00.000-08:00

What is Remote Viewing?

Remote viewing is a "non-local" technique whereby one can experience being present at an undisclosed location that can be thousands of miles away. One can see, feel, touch, smell hear and be at this distant location just by using one's mind and attention in a special way!

Remote viewing differs from what is referred to as psychic in that it is a highly refined specific sequence of attentional operations that takes about an hour to do. It has built in safeguards to minimize contamination by one's own imagination and belief systems. It creates the possibility of a new "signal purity" and "signal strength" previously attainable by only a few if any.

Exactly what you are remote viewing is disclosed to you only after your session, by the person who possesses the photo or description of the “target” to be viewed. An example of a "target" could be: the pyramids of Giza at the time of construction.

Extremely well controlled research has demonstrated that these sensory-emotional-conceptual experiences can be very strong and very accurate. Remote viewing has been used very successfully to locate previously undiscovered buried archaeological structures in the Mideast. It was used by the U.S. intelligence community to single-handedly accurately describe and locate a previously unknown about, new Russian submarine. When spiritual targets are viewed, such as the Buddha, people often have the most profound experience of their life.

Non-Locality
Remote viewing is an example of using the “non-local” abilities of the brain. It means the brain can and does non-locally connect and exchange information with what so far seems to be anything in the universe. For anyone unfamiliar with or skeptical about the brain’s non-local abilities, please pick up the book Entangled Minds by Dean Radin. (You will become aware of the huge amount of research and meta-analyses with staggeringly high levels of significance.) The implications of the non-local abilities of the brain/mind are so staggering that it will take many many years for them to dawn on people. Most people simply do not know what to do with the concept or they simply plug it in to a new age pre-rational belief system.

More Examples of What Can Be Remote Viewed
One can remote view one’s father or mother at the time when one was 10 years old. During this time, one can reconnect with one’s father in a totally new and healing way. One can also choose to walk in one’s father’s shoes and see the world through one’s father’s (or anyone else’s) eyes.

One can remote view the historical Buddha at the time of his enlightenment. While remote viewing the Buddha, some will feel entirely safe for the first time in their life. During this time, some will experience their heart being opened up on a very deep energetic level. Deep tears of joy are common for this kind of viewing.

While remote viewing a pod of Dolphins one may feel oneself swimming in the water while emotionally connecting with the rest of the pod. (A bipolar woman who remote viewed a pod of Dolphins was able to feel stable for the first time in her life. She was able for the first time to grasp the meaning of stability (creating a new prototype of experience for her self.)

One can remote view the eruption of Old Faithful geyser at a certain date and time. While remote viewing the Geyser’s eruption, one can experience droplets of water on one’s skin. One can feel the ground rumble with one’s whole body. One can hear the roar and sense the energy and power of the hot water being forced upward. One can look around the area and see, smell and hear the trees, the lodges and the people. One can sense the excitement of the people as they watch the eruption. One can pick out a particular onlooker and go inside his mind to find out what he was thinking. (Usually done with permission and with positive intent)

What is an Integral Perspective?
An integral perspective takes into account all aspects and levels of “reality”, the self and others. It tries to leave no aspect neglected. It takes into account our conscious states, our past current & future stages of development, the subjective and objective parts of ourselves, our society & culture, the physical universe, spirituality etc. It sees the importance of dealing with our shadow as well as having a spiritual practice that “transcends and includes”.

It discriminates between the pre-rational (much new-age stuff), the rational (including science) and the trans-rational (seeing the previously unseen (and un-see-able) by being exquisitely rational, intuitive, sensitive and discriminating as well as being highly awake and clear-headed)

Remote Viewing from an Integral Perspective:

This Means:

1) Conceptualizing and formulating remote viewing theory and techniques that take into account, conscious states, our stages & lines of development, our subjective experience, our society & culture, the physical universe etc.

2) Actually viewing "targets" relating to conscious states, our stages of development, our society & culture, the physical universe, the nature of the heart the mind and reality. It also means remote viewing that deepest ideas that can conceptualize these things.

3) It further means remote viewing therapeutic targets that:

a) help heal our shadow and

b) facilitate and accelerate our moving on to higher stages of development and taking new perspectives.

What is so remarkable about Remote Viewing from an Integral Perspective?

1) Taking previously impossible perspectives

Remote viewing remarkably allows one to see from first person, a second person, a third person and a fourth person perspective! One can do a “collective deep mind probe” to get a sense of what a whole group of people are thinking and feeling collectively. One can go inside the human body and observe microscopic events. One can potentially observe the activity of cells, viruses, molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles. The observation of dark matter, dark energy and other universes is conceivable through remote viewing. One could formulate extremely abstract targets involving concepts and perspectives relating to mathematics, other dimensions, and previously unconceived of notions. One can see conceivably through the eyes of future scientists, philosophers and intelligent nonhuman entities that may exist elsewhere in the universe.

2) Seeing the world through other people's eyes

As mentioned, one can see the world through the eyes of another being, for example you can see through the eyes of your parents, your spouse, an enemy, or a spiritual master, or someone on a much higher or even lower level of development. In this way one might accelerate one’s progression to their next developmental phase by putting a “crack in the door” and by creating "prototypical experiences" of the next stage. If you are remote viewing your spouse under "blind" conditions then you can conceivably discover your spouse through totally new and unbiased eyes. You can literally stand up and walk in his or her shoes. This has the potential of transforming your empathy and communication with the ones important to you.

3) Seeing the world through the eyes of your future and past selves

One can remote view oneself at a future level of spiritual-emotional-cognitive development. One can then see the world through the eyes of their future self. The same can be done for yourself at a past moment of time, for example your birth, or a past traumatic or enabling event. It is not uncommon for someone who is remote viewing their birth to want to curl up in a fetal position and cry like a baby without any prompting. Since this is done single blind or double blind, you beliefs about yourself won’t get in the way to distort your experience. New and powerful possibility exists of integrating past, present and future selves.

4) Learning from, experiencing and taking perspectives from the Future

Since the non-local abilities of the brain transcend time and space, it is possible to bring back information and perspectives from timelines that haven’t happened yet. This has been demonstrated in well-controlled research. This blows wide opens the possibilities of individuals and groups reaching developmental stages never reached yet. Higher, not yet conceived of, memes or stages can be accessed now and integrated into one's current world-view. Of course, when this happens the defacto timeline will change.

5) Go beyond taking different perspective to taking temporarily taking different Identities

You can Temporarily “blend” with the identity of another person such as an historical figure, a spiritual master or significant other. When one pass this once begins to see how transient identity is. This also facilitates not identifying so much with the personal ego. One can sense what it is like to simultaneously think the thoughts, have the intentions of, and feel the feelings of and have the body sensations of another person or even an animal. This takes the empathy to an entirely new level.

6) Creating “Prototypical Experiences”

Remote viewing offers the possibility of experiencing aspects of reality you have never experienced before, from a perspective you have never experienced before. On a feeling level this means feeling what you have never felt before. Most of us imagine that future experiences will in some way fit within the bounds of what we have experienced before. A remote viewing experience however, can be totally outside your current “reality box” or completely outside the range of experiences you’ve had before. Healing Prototypical experiences can be created during the remote viewing process.

Not having prototypical experiences early in life, for example, really feeling safe and secure, is one of the main things that blocks people from moving to higher stages of development. If you have never really felt safe in your life, part of you will be stuck in the past at that time where developmentally your safety needs should have been met. On the higher end of the developmental ladder one can have prototypical experiences necessary for the more highly developed parts of ourselves to move to the next rung of one's developmental ladder.

7) Seeing from several different perspectives simultaneously

When you are remote viewing you're using the brain in unknown ways. No one knows how the brain/mind accesses non-local fields. The physics of neuronal functioning and neuronal connections during remote viewing may not be understood for a long time. Occasionally during intense remote viewing sessions viewers often report being able to see an object from several sides at once. In this case, consciousness is functioning in a very unusual manner. It is hard for ordinary consciousness to even conceive of this possibility. Viewers also report something that has been referred to as a "thought ball". A thought ball is a form of cognition that arises that is holographic in nature. It contains many few points simultaneously plus many thoughts and cognitions simultaneously. The potential for this kind of comprehension is monumental and may even be part of future human developmental stages not yet reached.

8) Taking the non-local and paranormal out of the realm of belief or disbelief into the realm of actual direct experience

It is one thing to believe something or to understand it intellectually however, it is an entirely different thing to experience it. It is similar to studying and talking about a river vs. jumping in the river in swimming in the cool water. One can never fully grasp what a river is until one has swam in a river and felt it's currents. The actual experience accurately remote viewing an event and gaining a strong sense of presence at the target can be an experience that sends ripples through one's entire being for years to come. To not take into account up the fact that we are constantly interacting with a everything around us on and on local level is to ignore an important slice of reality and to make one's life smaller.
The implications of the non-local abilities of the mind are beyond profound.

9) Seeing things with relatively little bias, prejudgment, pre-categorization or belief

As mentioned before, when one remote views one does not known what the "target" is until after he views the target. This keeps the viewer completely open and honest in his approach. As soon as the viewer thinks he knows what the target is his session is doomed. He must continually stay open. Through practice, one can learn to approach what arises in one's own consciousness without bias and pre-categorization. After the session, one receives corrective feedback on which impressions were accurate and which were not. This approach is incredibly useful in other parts of one's life. It is important to approach most of what one encounters in life with a consciousness relatively free of bias and prejudgment and then be open to corrective feedback; this of course is something easier said than done.

10) Remote viewing issues, topics and questions of paramount importance. For example remote viewing: the nature of dark matter and dark energy, the omniverse, God, consciousness, DNA, and evolution

Remote viewing has large potential uses in virtually all disciplines and in all aspects of life. One need merely formulate an appropriate target relative to a particular question.

11) Remote viewing therapeutic issues topics and questions

One can remote view one's unconscious, the unconscious of another person, one's defenses and fears, one's blind spots, significance events in one's past, one's current or future spouse, possible choice points in one's future, one's true nature, departed loved one's, one's own death, oneself after death etc. etc.

12) Distinguishing between non-local "seeing" and ordinary imagining.

There is a large but subtle difference between actually seeing an object or event non-locally and just imagining it in the theater of your mind. This ability to discern can be extremely important when navigating through daily life using one's "intuition".

IN SUMMARY the possibility exists for the unheard of acceleration of movement into one's next level of development by accessing that which was not previously accessible. It opens the possibility of very long immersions in perspectives an emotional/spiritual states that were not previously accessible. These new kind of immersions maybe a key to accelerated stage change. This opens up a whole new area of research. This is a whole new field and frontier using a new highly sharpened tool that harnesses our ancient non-local abilities. Some of these possibilities have already been demonstrated in Dr. Carr's workshops.

What is spirituality, really?

2007-01-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

Spirituality is a loaded word, but what is it really? Can it be put in terms that are perhaps a little more down to earth that speak to different people who are on different developmental levels?

From my point of view, spirituality is "contactivity" and connectivity on many levels. It is a willingness to have contact with that which isn't known. It is a willingness to surrender to that which isn't known.

It is an acknowledgement of, and awareness of a sense of connection that seems to transcend linear thinking. It is an awareness of the power (and potential power) of this sense of connection. It is an awareness of the immediacy of this sense of connection. It is a willingness to explore this sense of connection.

It is allowing this sense of connection to occur when one walks, when one is face to face, when one is occupied, when one is feeling, when one is thinking, when one is quiet, when one is hurting, when one is sensing, when one is confused, when one is sensing amorphous energy. It is an awareness that the sense of connection can precede permeate and follow everything that arises in one's awareness.

Integral Primaling

2007-01-17T14:28:00.000-08:00

Under construction

Let us approach the topics of consciousness, emotion and spirituality with an attitude of openness and humility, with an intention to discover something fresh and new about ourselves and the universe. Let us question any previous conclusions and beliefs so that we can replace “been there, done that!” with “be here, discover this!”

We are all at different stages on our developmental ladders with many rungs behind us and many rungs yet ahead of us. What helped us up to the last rung may yet hold us back from the next. To climb to the next rung we must sometimes learn to see the world through new eyes, even when what we do is to help others see the world through new eyes. May we resonate with the universe in ever-changing and ever-transcending ways as “I”, “you” and “we” are revealed to ourselves and the world.

In our society, consciousness, spirituality, emotion and deep emotional processing are often attended to as separate realms with only some overlap. This can be a detriment to a total healing process. Sometimes delving into spirituality alone can even be used as a means of avoiding painful emotional feelings. On the other hand, sometimes people do deep feeling work and ignore their own spirituality and transpersonal abilities. Despite this, many who people primal have spiritual experiences during their primaling process. They can notice a radical change in their own consciousness and a deep sense of oneness with others and the universe after a deep primal. Obviously consciousness emotion and spirituality can deeply interface with each other during primaling and during other spiritual / conscious processes such as meditation.

This integral approach is timely because there is now a large body of well-controlled research in parapsychology and quantum physics that suggests that all particles and even consciousness itself, in fundamental ways transcend time and space. (referred to as “non-locality”). Science is showing that in fundamental ways everything is simultaneously connected; the heart, the mind, the body, the DNA and the universe.) For those of you who are more interested in the science supporting these connections please read past Princeton Professor Dean Radin’s recently published book “Entangled Minds”. It is now possible to approach and integrate these arenas, in grounded, non-flaky, mindful, and practical ways.

It is not an accident that people sometimes have "spiritual primal experiences” as well as “past life experiences”. As infants we were especially open and vulnerable to the spiritual, cognitive, emotional “non-local” energy around us. If this energy was overwhelmingly negative or not nourishing we had to close off to it and bury the pain (as we had to do for other kinds of emotional pain). Part of primaling is to regain these lost initial connections to this non-local energy, and to the universe around us.

When we regain our initial and current spiritual connections we can progress to higher emotional-spiritual developmental stages. As American philosopher Ken Wilber suggests, we need to move from the initial pre-rational, to the rational, to the trans-rational. During proper development the infant, toddler, child, adolescent, adult, and elder all unfold different forms of feeling spirituality and consciousness. This is all part of the waking up process both in ourselves and in our society. We can only perceive our world from the developmental level we are currently on.

Common Psychological Defenses

2007-01-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

(Guess what?, If you don't see any of this in yourself, of course it's a defense)

"Crystal balling": looking into the crystal ball of one's own imagination and determining one's behavior primarily from that. For example "I knew that that was probably what you would think, so I didn't bother." or " I didn't borrow your lawn mower because I knew you were going to borrow a lot of my stuff later on."

"Categorizing and dismissing": Perhaps the granddaddy of all defenses. Before you even realize it, your mind takes an impression or perception from the outside world places it in a box (category) and put it on a shelf. It never had a chance to be mindfully processed and you are only lucky if you ever get corrective feedback again. As the gap between a stimulus and it's immediate categorization narrows the defense becomes airtight.

"Talking oneself and in and out of things": Here you convince yourself of things; you try to come up with a good argument to talk yourself into something. You believe your own propaganda. You will to believe supersedes your will to really find out. You believe what you want to believe and unconsciously arrange and select facts in a way that fits your beliefs. You split yourself into "convincer" and "convincee". It's a dishonest state where it's too painful to admit what you don't know what to make the effort to really look.

"Wound oblivion": Here you are clueless to the extent of your own wounds. This is a very understandable state and is true for every one. It's just a matter of degree. You both convince yourself you're not wounded and your wounds are so encapsulated you are not even aware of them. If you were wounded at a time before you had the ability to cognize you'll have absolutely no conscious connection to the wound. For you, that wound will not exist. That part of yourself which has never seen the light of day will not and cannot exist to you.

"Decorating the prison walls": You suffer from "wound oblivion" and rather than dealing with your wounds and getting out of the prison of your wounds. You change "window dressing" thinking you're changing things on a deeper level. You talk yourself into believing you're making all sorts of marvelous changes.

"Sheathing the irrational in the rational": Deep confused irrational thinking is frosted over with a layer of rational appearing thoughts. All of a sudden we think we're making logical sense. It is too painful to look at our honest confusion.

"Blind spot denial" : Here one does not take into account the fact that when one navigates through the world one will have blind spots just as we have blind spots that our mirrors don't pick up on when we are driving. If you drive a car and you do not take into account your mirror blind spots you will eventually have an accident. In this blind spot blindness you "can't see the flies in your eyes because of the flies in your eyes". Similarly in falling for "The myth of the given" you believe that what you perceive has no or few blind spots and needs no further exploration or consulting with others for corrective feedback.

"The essential need for the active attainment of corrective feedback is given a low priority": Here one assumes that if feedback is needed for one's behavior it will be obvious and forthcoming. One does not need to actively check out one's assumptions. This defense allows a person to live in their own world and comfort zone and not have passed to change.

"Whistling in the dark": here one avoids the unknown, the undifferentiated, and the amorphous within oneself by clinging to the known or overlaying the unknown with the known. One holds onto easy explanations of what one sees and oneself. One may feel uneasy and in the dark (in the background) and one covers that feeling by telling oneself "this (whatever) reason must explain my experience, there's nothing to be deeply concerned about or afraid of".

"Denying the unexpressed": Here one becomes oblivious to unexpressed anger, appreciation, hurt resentment etc. They're not aware that anything needs to be expressed and they will report that they have nothing to express. Later on they will somatize what they didn't express by experiencing headaches, fatigue, withdrawal, muscle tension etc.

"Comfort zone addiction": Here "wussaholics" want to stay in their comfort zone at all costs. The status quo is held on to very tightly as a means of security. It is a defense against being overwhelmed that causes one to become overwhelmed even more easily as one's settles into it.

Much of what is out of one's comfort zone is looked on with distrust and as abnormal. The trying of new things is looked at as impractical sense what they do already "works" for them.

"Sugar Coating":