On The Meta-Podcast (formerly Integral Podcasters), we talk with podcasters, YouTubers, and other media producers who are trying to offer, or who can't help but offer, more integrative perspectives. Who are these people, what do they collectively understand and point towards, and how can they be interlinked, mutually supported, clarified, and amplified? For episode 41, Layman is joined again by Dr. Sally Adnams Jones and Dr. Jen Peer Rich, this time to talk about their experience with successfully running and concluding their Radical Emergence podcast project. What did they accomplish, what did they learn from it that can inform our larger community, and what do they plan to do next? Radical Emergence Podcast https://radicalemergence.org/

Layman sits down again with Middle Way philosopher and author, Robert M. Ellis, this time to discuss his new book, The Five Principles of Middle Way Philosophy -- the second book in a planned 9-part series on the Middle Way. Layman and Robert review the essential arguments of the book, exploring how a post-traditional, universalized middle-way philosophy might show up and what it might contribute to addressing the challenges of the contemporary world. From the book's description: "This second book in the 'Middle Way Philosophy' series develops five general principles that are distinctive to the universal Middle Way as a practical response to absolutization. These begin with the consistent acknowledgement of human uncertainty (scepticism), and follow through with openness to alternative possibilities (provisionality), the importance of judging things as a matter of degree (incrementality), the clear rejection of polarised absolute claims (agnosticism) and the cultivation of cognitive and emotional states that will help us resolve conflict (integration). These are discussed not only in theory, but with links to the wide range of established human practices that can help us to follow them. Like all of Robert M. Ellis's work, this book is highly inter-disciplinary, drawing on philosophical argument, psychological models and values that prioritize practical application." Robert M. Ellis is a philosopher, writer and teacher. He has produced a series of books about the Middle Way, understood as a principle of judgement that throws us onto experience by avoiding absolutes, both positive and negative. He has also founded the Middle Way Society to support the development and practice of the Middle Way understood in this way, and he has recently opened a retreat center, Tirylan House, in rural South Wales. The Five Principles of Middle Way Philosophy: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Principles-Middle-Philosophy-Experientially/dp/1800503032/

For the 39th episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman cozies up in a yurt with Simon Cox to talk about his recent book, The Subtle Body: A Genealogy.

Simon tells Layman about his history studying martial arts, including six years under a kung fu master on Wudang Mountain in China, and the path that led him to a deep, graduate-level comparative exploration of conceptions of the subtle body in Taoist and Tibetan Buddhist / Bon traditions. What are the similarities and differences between Eastern models of the subtle body and those we have inherited from the Neo-Platonists? How have these models been conflated in past scholarship? What did Crowley bring to the subject? What are the practical and onto-epistemological implications of a deep understanding of subtle body tradition and practice? What are some promising paths of future research? What does this tradition have to contribute to the rising interest in neo-animism in our time, or even the strange stories about interdimensional beings now circulating in the halls of Congress following the recent UAP hearings? Join Layman and Simon as they explore these questions and many more. Simon Cox, Ph.D., is an independent scholar and translator who works primarily in Chinese, Tibetan, and Greek. His research focuses on mysticism and the body. He is also a teacher of Chinese Martial Arts at the Okanagan Valley Wudang center, and a collaborator at the Esalen Institute. The Subtle Body https://www.amazon.com/Subtle-Body-Ge... Okanagan Valley Wudang https://www.okanaganvalleywudang.com/ Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/ Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible!   / theintegralstage   Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the LIMITED HANGOUT guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!

You may have noticed that, as with "Integral" back in the day, the label "Metamodern," is a bit of contested real estate. It appears to mean something pretty specific to the cultural metamodernists, Vermeulen and van den Akker, who first applied it back in 2010 to certain emergent post-postmodern sensibilities in art and media.  But does it mean the same thing to the Hanzi Freinachtian political metamodernists, or to the integrally influenced Metamodern Spirituality crowd?  

In this special Integral Stage dialogue, Layman Pascal meets to speak -- and, perchance, debate -- with Metamodern cultural theorist Greg Dember about the historical emergence and cultural situatedness of the term, the validity of its accumulating associations and uses, and possible ways forward to avoid misuses of the term while still allowing for proper evolution, expansion, and development.  They take time to carefully distinguish it from postmodernism, to explore a number of artworks and films that most clearly embody it, and to consider the multiple forms of spirituality to which it might give rise.  

What Is Metamodernism? (by Greg Dember & Linda Ceriello) https://whatismetamodern.com

What is Metamodern? (YouTube channel) https://www.youtube.com/c/WhatIsMetamodern

 After Postmodernism: Eleven Metamodern Methods in the Arts https://medium.com/what-is-metamodern/after-postmodernism-eleven-metamodern-methods-in-the-arts-767f7b646cae

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A WHEEL OF PERSPECTIVES Panel Discussion on the topic of evil and the shadow, with statements by Layman Pascal, Rev. Trevor Malkinson, Gaia Orion, Meister Wagoner von Porter (of the League of Rebel Eve), and Colin E Davis & Melissa Mari.  

Cover Art:  B. Alderman, public domain image run through Prisma art filter Transitional Art Meditations:  Christopher Padgett Hunicutt and The 01Experience Music:  The 01Experience  

For further information on the panelists: 

Rev. Trevor Malkinson:  https://independent.academia.edu/Malkinson

The League of Rebel Eve (LORE): https://www.lorenyc.com/

Gaia Orion:  https://gaiaorion.com/

Shadow Tech:  https://www.shadowtechtheory.com/

The 01Experience: http://01experience.com/

Christopher Padgett Hunnicutt:  https://www.artofchristopherpadgetthunnicutt.com/

Although the Liminal Web community aspires towards rooted cosmopolitanism and worldcentric values, many of our social media conversations nevertheless tend to privilege or confine themselves to a limited set of cultural perspectives and geopolitical concerns.  In this new Integral Stage series, Global Voices, we would like to hear from members of our extended community who inhabit, or hail from, cultures and regions of the world that are not as frequently highlighted, and may be poorly understood, in these general dialogue spaces.  

For the inaugural episode of the series, Layman sits down with integral leader and teacher, Nomali Perera, to talk about the current crisis situation in her home country of Sri Lanka, and to get her sense -- from both personal and integral perspectives -- of the history, challenges, and emergent potentials of this ancient Buddhist island nation.  Nomali shares openly her disappointment about the provincialism she has encountered here in the west, even among professing worldcentric integralists, and speaks poignantly to the mixed feelings and concerns of many like her who have left their homes and "abandoned" their cultures to make their way in a new world.  

Nomali Perera, MA, PCC, joined the integral world in Colorado in the early, exciting days of 2002 as a volunteer and, later, co-director of the Integral Spiritual Center at the Integral Institute. Professionally, Nomali is an executive coach, certified facilitator of Polarity Management and the Immunity to Change™ process, and is a Master Coach through Integral Coaching Canada. Currently, she’s in a year-long course in trauma-informed Compassionate Inquiry with Gabor Maté’s school.  

Practical Integral website https://www.practicalintegral.com/ 

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In this episode of New Education Systems, Layman sits down with Brad Kershner to talk about his extensive experience working for and managing alternative and progressive schools; the strengths and unique contributions of the Waldorf method; the challenges of education in a time of media saturation and rampant disinformation; the qualities of a good teacher and student; the need to get away from "teaching to the test"; the importance of a developmental understanding for sensitive and transformative pedagogy; balancing complexity and simplicity; and much more.  

Brad Kershner reads books, teaches meditation, leads a school community, and loves a lot of people. He writes and speaks about a wide range of interdependent topics, e.g. education, parenting, integral theory, metamodernism, Buddhism, human development, complexity, and sociocultural emergence. Some of his public lectures are available on YouTube. You can learn more about his work and access recordings of his guided meditations on Patreon.  

Guided Meditations, Lectures, Podcast Interviews, and Updates https://www.patreon.com/bradkershner 

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In THE ABS-TRACT (or, BRENT COOPER IS JESUS), Layman sits down with Brent to discuss his Abs-Tract project, the importance of critique, the alignments and tensions between Metamodernism and other adjacent communities, the "Fliminal Web," Metamodern politics and the problem with reactionaries, mindfulness and spiritual practice, and a number of Brent's recent writings.  At the end of the discussion, he offers a devastating critique of Layman that leaves him bloodied, gasping for breath, and asking for more.  

Brent Cooper is the Executive Director of The Abs-Tract Organization, a meta think tank and transmedia project specializing in abstraction and meta theory/ metamodernism. Abstraction is at the root of everything in life, from mental, physical, social, and material processes, spanning various fields from philosophy to art to artificial intelligence. And it is at the root of our meta-crisis of capitalism, how finance is abstracted, and politics are abstracted.  

The Abs-Tract website http://abs-tract.org/ 

Brent Cooper's Medium page https://medium.com/@brentcooper 

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For episode 18, Layman is joined by bird-woman hybrid, Philosopher Queen and Dark Renaissancer, Raven Connolly, to talk about erotica; working with darker impulses and taboo; bravery to explore, push boundaries, and constructively embrace conflict; the archetype of the Fool; power literacy, and the social manipulation of desire; adult development, sexual maturity, and Raven's own journey towards these things; male-female polarity, and the interplay of the shell and the core; embracing the Void; the moral and social consequences of unhinging sexuality from reproduction, and reproduction from biology; gender roles, and hard and soft power; the repeated refrain in Liminal Web communities of "Where are the women?"; and much more.   

Raven Connolly is a socialite in a mosaic of independent intellectual milieus, ranging from Justin Murphy’s IndieThinkers, to Peter Limberg’s The Stoa. She hosts and interviews guests at The Stoa, and is currently developing a philosophy of the ovum, secrecy, and marriage.  

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Gurdjieff's teachings have had a significant impact on Layman's thought, but they are often mentioned more obliquely than directly in his conversations.  Recently, however, several people approached Layman to talk about Gurdjieff's influence on their own work, so we recorded a few conversations, as well as conversations with a few guests on other important historical visionaries, and a mini-series began to assemble itself.    

For this episode, "On the Surrealistic, Sci-Fi Masterpiece, 'Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson,'" Layman meets with long-time student of the Work, Trevor Stewart, to discuss the origins, historical value, artistic influences, and unique pedagogical properties of this challenging and enigmatic book. Although they focus throughout the conversation on the novel, this isn't just a book review.  Over the course of their explorations, they open up many important and often under-appreciated aspects of Gurdjieff's life and work, and touch on how this text was written, not for its time, but for a future generation that would be better prepared for it ... perhaps our own.

LUCID CUBED https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9fEwt0FSjCZ6S8_KlNAEJQ

For episode 2 of The Dreaming Arts, Layman Pascal meets with Bruce Alderman to talk about their early, formative dream experiences; the four most common approaches to working with dreams; the qualities of an integral approach to dreams; techniques for inducing lucidity in dreams; and the nature, scope, history, and practices of the Tibetan yogas of dream and sleep.  

Beginning in the 1990s, Bruce worked with and studied under Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, the author of The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, and later offered several workshops on dream yoga in 2005 and 2007.  

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For episode 1 of The Dreaming Arts, Layman Pascal meets with teacher, dream guide, and co-author of Integral Dreaming, Daniel Deslauriers, to lay some of the groundwork for this new Integral Stage series.  Together they discuss Daniel's early formative experiences with dream work; his work on developing an integral approach to dreaming; dreaming as a relational practice; the cross-cultural history and multiple methods of dream work; the somatic and neurochemical dimensions of dreaming; lucid dreaming; Freudian dream analysis; the dream lives of non-human beings; dreaming as philosophy; and much more.  

Daniel Deslauriers, PhD, received his doctorate (1989) in Psychology from the University of Montreal (Quebec) and conducted research at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) and the Chronopsychology Laboratory, Carleton University (Ontario). He lived in Indonesia and has studied the religion and sacred arts of Bali, and trained in Gamelan music and Balinese dance. 

He was co-founder of the Montreal Center for the Study of Dreams. Daniel co-authored Le rêve: sa nature, sa fonction et une methode d'analyse (P.U.Q., 1987), has published articles on epistemology and narrative research, and and has co-authored (with Fariba Bogzaran) Integral Dreaming (SUNY Press, 2012). His professional interests in consciousness studies include: traditional and contemporary approaches to dreams and imagination, altered states of consciousness, spiritual intelligence, and integral psychology. He is also a practitioner and teacher of Unity in Motion, a bodymind integrative practice.

Integral Dreaming https://www.amazon.com/Integral-Dreaming-Holistic-Approach-Studies/dp/1438442386/

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Bruce and Layman assemble with other Austin Emerge attendees to reflect on their experiences, learnings, appreciations & criticisms, and thoughts for moving forward.  Joining the discussion are Roger Walsh, Ph.D.; Ivo Mensch; Nomali Perera; and Ēlen Awalom.

For the eleventh episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with healer, artist, and AI entrepreneur and consultant, Cris Beasley, to talk about the interface of art and AI; the narcissistic dynamics that drive much of our modern structures, and bringing healing to those dynamics; "Letting the piranha eat us"; the difference between artificial intelligence and augmented intelligence; the potential for AI to take over the "synthesizing intelligence" and function of our leading-edge thinkers, and what then is left for humans still to develop and do; and much more. Cris founded a sustainable AI company nine years ago – well before it was the latest thing on the block. It was featured in a cover story of The Atlantic. She stopped Sequoia Capital from trying to build an AI that was obviously never going to work. It was obvious if you bothered to do the back-of-the-envelope math, which Amazon did not do. They attempted the same thing, failed, and wasted a few million bucks. They should've had someone like Cris on their team. Before that, she led the redesign of Firefox support, which resulted in an extra 7MM users per year finding the answer to their questions immediately. Cris was selected to be in the first cohort of ambassadors to the Interledger Foundation. Their $15k grant supported her project about Jungian emotional polarities, Becoming Dragon, which was covered in Forbes. She advises Earthcodes.org on strategy for their regenerative data cycles project, AI for Gaia, in partnership with the Biomimicry Institute. In her copious spare time, she convinces two mischievous black cats to come when they're called, paints with watercolors, makes AI-generated short films, and plays electronic music that takes you into meditative theta brainwave states. Cris Beasley portfolio https://www.crisbeasley.com/portfolio Becoming Dragon Oracle Cards http://www.crisbeasley.com/

In Re/thinking Religion, a new Integral Stage series, John Vervaeke joins Bruce Alderman and Layman Pascal to explore possible points of contact and confluence between their respective approaches to religion and spirituality.  For the fifth episode, they reflect on an ecological reading and extension of Nietzsche, the nature of virtue and the virtues needed for navigating the meta-crisis, and the kinds of vision and practice systems necessary to contain and process the trauma of our grief for the world.

Jim Rutt joins Layman Pascal on The Integral Stage to talk about his recent essay, Musk and Moderation.  

Does Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter represent a threat or opportunity for social media and the freedom of speech?  That isn't clear yet, but Jim Rutt has some advice for Musk, and he discusses it with Layman in a convivial, insult-filled exploration of the challenges of free speech in radically pluralist environments; the new oligarchs and their threat to democratic values; social media and the evolution of public squares; "decorum" moderation versus "point-of-view" moderation; opportunities to move towards GameB values; incentivizing companies to better caretake and preserve free discussion spaces; and much more.  

"Musk and Moderation" essay: https://quillette.com/2022/04/27/musk-and-moderation/

Jim Rutt is the former CEO of Network Solutions. The New York Times once referred to him as “the Internet’s bad boy” due to his reputation for creative mischief. He sold Network Solutions at the peak of the Dot Com boom and then went into scientific research. Jim has been affiliated with the Santa Fe Institute since 2002, serving as Chairman from 2009 thru 2012.  Currently he runs the Jim Rutt Show podcast, and is the gun-totin' godfather of the Game B movement.  Additional Links and Resources  

Jim Rutt Show Podcast https://www.jimruttshow.com/ 

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For the fourth episode, they turn from reflection on grieving the death of God and the loss of the transcendental sacred, to grieving the state of the world and the impending loss of the immanent sacred.  They  discuss Nietzsche's insights into the pervasiveness of affective  nihilism in modern cultures, and the strengths and shortcomings of his  prescriptions; the problem of "god surrogacy," in a world that has lost  its center; the dynamics of a culture of make-believe and the  impediments to facing collective cultural shadow; the process of  grieving the state of the world and our implication in many of its  crises, environmental and otherwise; the radical challenge of moving  beyond anthropocentrism in our social organization and self conception;  and much more.

For the third episode, we continue our discussion of griefwork and reflect on the meaning of the "death of God," the factors that have forestalled many in the modern world from properly grieving this loss, and what such a grief process would look like.

Is Integral Theory a "poisoned chalice" -- wondrously made in some regards, but poisoned from within?  Has it failed in its promise and become unusable?  Bruce and Layman sit down with Daniel Görtz, one half of the metamodern avatar, Hanzi Freinacht, to discuss both the strengths of integral theory, but also the criticisms that have driven a number of people to abandon it -- whether in rejecting it altogether, or in forming counter projects (Hanzi's Metamodernism, various Integral 2.0 efforts), or just in the gradual dispersion of the "integral diaspora."  What is the future of the integral movement?  Will it fade in influence going forward, or is its full promise still yet to come?

Layman is joined by Jason Medland to talk about the wisdom and insight from both software engineering and long-running Western esoteric traditions, such as the Free Masons, for organizing effectively, preventing system stagnation, maintaining high-level sensemaking and moral commitment, promoting the continued growth of members, and much more.  Jason Medland is an OpenSource Software/Systems Architect, Free Mason, firearms and combat sport enthusiast, a Natural Born Psychonaught, and a Meanderthal.  

Jason's Medium page: https://jasonmedland.medium.com/ 

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In Re/thinking Religion, a new Integral Stage series, John Vervaeke joins Bruce Alderman and Layman Pascal to explore possible points of contact and confluence between their respective approaches to religion and spirituality.  For the second episode, we discuss the distinction between absolute and relative in traditional and modern metaphysics, the Two Worlds mythology, and the Ascender and Descender paths, and we consider some historical and contemporary approaches to reconceiving their relations.  

In the second half of the dialogue, we turn towards the emotional or 'felt' dimensions of a fundamental shift in perspectives, including David Michael Levin's notions of 'crying for a vision' and gelassenheit as the resolution of dualism; and we begin to touch on the importance for a Religion that is Not a Religion of 'moving into the lack' and fully grieving the death of God.  

John Vervaeke is a cognitive scientist, a professor of psychology at Toronto University, and the creator of the popular YouTube series, "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis."  "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis" Playlist:

In this episode of New Education Systems, Layman is joined by Bonnitta Roy to talk about her new experiment in serial, transformative education: The Pop-Up School.  They discuss her inspirations and intentions for the school; her life-long history as an educator; the shortcomings of many current educational models; her ideal transformational curriculum; and the importance of education for the senses, the stages of the self, grief and 'dark nights,' and much more.  

Bonnitta Roy is a process philosopher, the founder and president of Alderlore Insight Center, an associate editor for Integral Review, and a consciousness studies and transpersonal psychology professor at The Graduate Institute.  She is also the inspiration and instructor behind The Magellan Courses and the Pop-Up School.  

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In this special Integral Stage episode, Layman Pascal is joined by Cadell Last to inquire into the concept of self-relating negativity; the place of lack and the 'gap' in our thinking; the importance of Hegelian and Zizekian perspectives for emerging integrative and metamodern worldviews; the status and problem of the "One"; the question of suffering and our relationship to psychopathology and the symptom; Osho, mysticism and psychospiritual development; and much more.  For, as Hegel observed, "The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk."  

Cadell Last is a philosopher (Ph.D.) with an interest in anthropology and psychoanalysis, and the author of Global Brain Singularity, and Sex, Masculinity, God.  

Philosophy Portal https://www.philosophyportal.online 

Home page https://cadelllast.com 

YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCtCqYQFPhnU1OnHPveEnYw

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John Bunzl joins Layman to take a deeper look into Simpol, following his Integral Stage presentation for the Eutopia series.  What was the origin of the Simpol idea?  How does it relate to evolutionary process?  How can it serve worldcentric and healthy nationalist interests simultaneously?  How does it manifest in all four quadrants?  How can it serve global health and flourishing, without triggering concerns about the over-reach or oppressive dynamics of a 'one world government'?  

Bunzl is a global political activist and businessman. In 2000, he founded the Simultaneous Policy (Simpol) campaign, a way for citizens to use their votes to drive politicians towards global cooperation. It has supporters in over 100 countries and enjoys the support of a growing number of Members of Parliament around the world. He has authored or co-authored a number of books including The Simpol Solution, Monetary Reform – Making it Happen!, People-centred Global Governance – Making it Happen!, and Global Domestic Politics. He has published numerous articles on global governance in the Journal of Integral Theory & Practice. He has lectured widely, including to The Schumacher Society, The World Trade Organisation, The Lucis Trust, and various universities.   

The Simpol Website:  https://www.simpol.org/

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https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

The question of the promise and peril of AI is a proper one for our long-running Love the System series, but we thought it deserved its own spot as a sub-series due to the rapid development and proliferation of Large Language Models and other ground-breaking AI technologies over the past six months. It may be too early to tell yet, but with the clear power of this emergent technology, its potential to take over many of the tasks we used to regard as exclusively human, and its rapid public uptake, it feels like we are on the cusp of an epochal change. How are we to secure the psychological and spiritual health of human beings in the face of such developments? How do we ethically and wisely merge living and non-living intelligences? What wisdom from this corner of the internet -- from our respective integral, metamodern, and spiritual communities -- can help us navigate the monumental challenges and opportunities ahead? For the tenth episode of The Soul of AI, Layman meets with musician and systems change thinker and advocate, Speaker John Ash, to discuss the limitations and misperceptions common to popular discourse about AI; the morally questionable, implicit goals behind the development of artificially intelligent agents; AI and art; possibilities for better and more transparently linking AI output to its sources in training data; revolutions in voting and governance systems that AI may facilitate, and much more.

For episode 15 of LOVE THE SYSTEM, Layman is joined by Welf von Hören to talk about his work co-founding the company, and launching the app, Potential, which aims to transform users' phones to help them unlock better choices.  Together they explore the potential for technology to help individuals strengthen agency, set and keep intentions, outgame the attention economy, and interface with AI to make omni-win decisions.  How can social media, wisely used, help individuals and communities develop and transform?  What is the role of profiling, and how can already-pervasive data collection be refined and improved, and turned towards individuals' and communities' health and benefit?  For Integral, GameB, and Metamodern communities, what is the right relationship to money, and how can these communities be empowered to really impact the world?  

Welf von Hören is the co-Founder and CEO of Potential company, which produces an app to transform users' phones to help them unlock better choices.  He is an applied philosopher, product designer, and software engineer.  He studied at CODE University of Applied Sciences, trained with Human Systems, and co-hosts Humane Tech Berlin. 

Personal website https://welf.co/ 

Potential app https://potential.app/ 

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Layman is joined by Krishna Gauci, a spiritual teacher and a disciple of HWL Poonja, to discuss the traditional and contemporary value of satsang; his experience and understanding of the nature and dynamics of spiritual transmission; the qualities needed in students and teachers to amplify and most benefit from satsang or other 'transmissive' contexts and encounters; healthy, unhealthy, and difficult student-teacher relationships; and much more.  

Krishna Gauci was born in Monterey, California, and was raised in New York City. Thirty-four years ago, he moved to the Pacific Northwest. He presently lives in Portland with his wife, Vivian. While pursuing his spiritual endeavors, he has worked as an auto assembly line worker, a New York City taxi cab driver, a cabinetmaker, and a bus driver. Krishna has a background in the practice of Buddhist Meditation and has been a devotee of the Spiritual Master HWL Poonja (Papaji) since 1993. He has been a part of (what is now) the Trillium Awakening Community since 1998, and is a founding member of the Trillium Awakening Teachers Circle and the Institute of Awakened Mutuality. He has been holding Satsang since 2000.  

Krishna Satsang website http://www.krishnasatsang.com/ 

Trillium Awakening website https://trilliumawakening.org/ 

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Layman is joined by Charlotte Cecil and Sophie Allen, the founders of Thrivespring, an organization dedicated to fostering community resilience and disaster preparedness.  Layman introduces his new Ontario Depth Adaptation (ODA) project, and then discusses with Charlotte and Sophie the genesis and mission of their Thrivespring project, and the practical,  political, and psychological dynamics of preparedness for an uncertain future and the likelihood of systemic disruption or collapse.  

Charlotte Cecil studied emergency management at George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. She has been a volunteer responder with various response and recovery groups, and worked for many years as a security consultant in the UK. Following a life-threatening incident in her early 20s, she became interested in emergency preparedness and security, which evolved into a passion for community resilience. She strongly believes that communities which engage in inclusive resilience-building help create safer, healthier and more cohesive societies.  

Sophie Allen studied Climate Change, Development and Policy at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, and Environmental Hazards and Disaster Management at Kingston University, London. Her professional experience includes disaster risk reduction and response, sustainable development and volunteer management. Having been involved in a wide range of community projects, Sophie is continually inspired by what people can achieve when they work together toward a common goal.  

Thrivespring website https://thrivespring.com/ 

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In Re/thinking Religion, a new Integral Stage series, John Vervaeke joins Bruce Alderman & Layman Pascal to explore possible points of contact and confluence between their respective approaches to religion and spirituality.  For this inaugural episode, we feel into some of the commonalities and differences between Integral Postmetaphysical Spirituality and Integral Transformative Practice, and John's "religion that is not a religion" and his work around developing an ecology of practices suitable for addressing the meaning crisis.  We touch on a number of related themes:  the creative deployment of mythic or literary figures, from Cthulhu and zombies, to the Centaur, the Minotaur, and the khora;  the importance of wrestling with existential and epistemological limit conditions, and the role of ambiguity in higher forms of rationality; the relation of non-theism to classical theism and atheism; the history of integrative practices, and the 'traps' in conventional practice that can thwart balanced development; and much more.  J

ohn Vervaeke is a professor of psychology at Toronto University and creator of the popular YouTube series "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis."  

"Awakening from the Meaning Crisis" Playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... 

Voices with Vervaeke: Metamodern Wisdom about Religion with Layman Pascal: https://youtu.be/bPy6W-c5_9Y 

Vervaeke and Hall Begin to Design the Religion That is Not a Religion: https://youtu.be/nl48eFZGRq8 

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In this episode of new Education Systems, Layman Pascal talks to Jim Rutt about potential pathways to Game B models of education.  Jim Rutt is the former CEO of Network Solutions. The New York Times once referred to him as “the Internet’s bad boy” due to his reputation for creative mischief. He sold Network Solutions at the peak of the Dot Com boom and then went into scientific research. Jim has been affiliated with the Santa Fe Institute since 2002, serving as Chairman from 2009 thru 2012.  Currently he runs the Jim Rutt Show podcast, and is the gun-totin' godfather of the Game B movement.  Links and Resources  

Jim Rutt Show Podcast https://www.jimruttshow.com/ 

What is Game B video https://youtu.be/HL5bcgpprxY 

The Story of Game B video https://youtu.be/Glgcl9AVWbA

Layman is joined by Creston Davis, Ph.D., to discuss his innovate, blockchain-modeled higher education project, The Global Center for Advanced Studies (GCAS).  They discuss the genesis and intentions for the project; the problems of the debt-strapping of so many students, and the overwork of faculty, under our current system; the promise of P2P, decentralized approaches to education going forward; the nature of truly liberative education, and the need for the promotion of post-ideological, critical thought; the potential promise and problems of the Austin University project; the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and possible approaches to the cultivation of wisdom in higher education; and much more.  

DISCLAIMER:  Regarding Creston’s statement at 3:21 that his students reported to him their frustrations with having so much student debt while being underemployed. this is not to be taken as all of Rollins’ graduates but only the ones that talked to Creston about this situation. In other words, this statement does not reflect graduates of Rollins but only the graduates that spoke about their frustrations with Creston.  Creston Davis, (Ph.D. University of Virginia, MTS Duke University) is the founder and director of The Global Center for Advanced Studies (GCAS) and the Chancellor and CEO of GCAS College Dublin.  Creston was promoted to Associate Professor at Rollins College (2012) and has published books with The MIT Press, Columbia and Duke University Press. He is the creator of and co-edits the Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics and Culture series, an academic book series published by Columbia University Press. He currently researches future consciousness, sustainability, and advanced technologies.  

The Global Center for Advanced Studies http://globaladvancedstudies.org 

GCAS College Dublin https://gcas.ie/

Integral Stage on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

Layman is joined by Rich Tafel, a conservative, gay, integrally informed and mystically inclined Swedenborgian pastor and Washington political operative, to talk about communitarian conservatism, the pragmatic dimensions of post-postmodern political change, the spiritual dimension of the American zeitgeist, the opportunities for a hybrid of healthy progressive and conservative values that just might be able to grow beyond the deadlock of polarized and stagnant modernity, and much more.  

Rich Tafel is a transformative leader in the areas of faith, politics and social impact. As the Managing Director of Raffa Social Capital Advisors he matches impact investors to vetted social ventures. Partnering with investors his team provides back office support, public policy and strategic coaching to social ventures. Rich is also the Director of the American Project a new Democracy Fund supported effort to bring together leading thinkers to imagine new solutions to America’s broken political system. The project is housed at Pepperdine School of Public Policy. Tafel is also pastor of Church of the Holy City in Washington DC, where he is launching a spiritual entrepreneur hub. Tafel is the founder of Log Cabin Republicans. Before moving to Washington DC, Tafel was Adolescent Health Director for the State of MA and served as Assistant Minister at Harvard’s Chapel.  

Professional website https://www.richtafel.us/ 

Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

In the early 2000s, Ken Wilber began to publish excerpts from his long-awaited follow-up to Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, tentatively titled "Kosmic Karma and Creativity" or "Sex, Karma, Creativity."  In it he was no longer writing, as he said, for the general public; he was writing for serious students of his vision.  That version of a promised second volume of the Kosmos Trilogy never appeared, however, and the excerpts (A, B, C, D, and G) have remained our only tantalizing glimpse of what promised to be a postmetaphysical tour de force.    In their new Integral Stage series, Reading the Kosmos Trilogy Excerpts, Bruce and Layman will take a deep dive into these five thought-provoking and in many ways revolutionary documents, not only to give them some overdue attention and engagement, but to highlight them also for their prescience and relevance to many of the issues and challenges we confront in the third decade of the 21st Century.  

We start with Excerpt A: An Integral Age at the Leading Edge, which discusses an emerging integrative tipping point in the culture across multiple fields; a reading of the relational and causal dynamics of the four quadrants through the lenses of Whitehead's prehensive unification and Sheldrake's morphic resonance; revolutionary integral pluralism and an AQAL reframing of Marx; the dialectic of facts and interpretations; and the promise of integral methodological pluralism for promoting transdisciplinarity and deepening holistic vision and practice.  

A: AN INTEGRAL AGE AT THE LEADING EDGE

Excerpt A: An Integral Age at the Leading Edge (kenwilber.com)

Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

For episode 10 of the LOVE THE SYSTEM series, Layman is joined by Dr. Marc Gafni, the co-founder of the Center for Integral Wisdom and the author of multiple books and essays on integrative spirituality and spiritual activism.  Marc presents his vision of what a planetary politics could and should be, and together they explore the question of AI and the enormous challenges manipulative algorithms pose not only to informed voting, but to sensemaking in general; the emergence of techno-feudalism; the problems with voting protocols rooted in rivalrous dynamics, and the possibilities for liquid democracy or a synergistic democracy; the viability and role of nation states in a globally interconnected and interdependent society; the dynamics of intimacy, and the importance of shared first principles and a shared story; and much more.  

Dr. Marc Gafni is a visionary thinker, social activist, passionate philosopher, and author of ten books.  He is the co-founder of The Center for Integral Wisdom, and a rabbinic lineage holder in Bible, Talmud, and Kabbalah.  He self-describes as a “citizen” of both Integral World Spirituality and classical Hebrew practice.  He has been an editor of the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice on issues of Integral spirituality and a faculty member of J.F.K. University.  In 2014, Dr. Gafni co-initiated the Success 3.0 Summit and Rise Up movie, with John Mackey and Kate Maloney whose method and movement is to bring together key thought leaders and change-agents to collaboratively evolve a bold new Integral vision of Success, rooted in the entrepreneurial values of Wake Up, Grow Up, Show Up, and Evolutionary Love.  

Professional Website https://www.marcgafni.com/ 

The Center for Integral Wisdom https://centerforintegralwisdom.org/

Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

In this episode of the Metamodels series, Bruce and Layman are joined by Ken Wilber, one of the greatest metatheorists of the past century, and a primary inspiration for many of us on this channel.  Armed with vision-logic machetes, Bruce and Layman take a trek into the Wilberness to explore the guiding drive or call behind Ken's metatheoretical work for the past 50 years; his thoughts on what he would be working on now if he was just launching his career; his understanding of the difference between sense-making and meaning-making in relation to the meta-crisis; the nature and scope of cognition, and the role of 'relationality' in his AQAL model; how to cultivate communities of integrity, and navigate the culture wars; his perspective on the paranormal and subtle energies; what the Integral community should do to continue thriving in his absence, whenever that day eventually comes; and much more.  Ken Wilber, a visionary thinker of inspired genius, is the developer of an integral “theory of everything” that embraces the truths of all the world’s great spiritual, scientific, and philosophical traditions. He is the most widely translated academic writer in America, with 25 books translated into some 30 foreign languages. 

Ken Wilber currently lives in Denver, Colorado, and is still active as a philosopher, author, and teacher, with all of his major publications still in print. Often referred to as the "Einstein of consciousness studies," Ken Wilber is a preeminent scholar of the Integral stage of human development. Ken Wilber is also the founder of the Integral Institute, which is the first organization fully dedicated to advancement and application of the Integral Approach in relation to contemporary global issues. It was formed in collaboration with over 200 scholars and experts, specializing in education, politics, business, medicine, psychology, spirituality, as well as, law and criminal justice.   

Integral Life website https://integrallife.com/

Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

To shake things up a little on The Integral Stage, we are dropping down a few chakras to explore all the ins and outs of awakened sexuality, conscious relationship, and sensuously embodied spiritual practice. For episode 22, Layman is joined by Catherine Auman and Greg Lawrence of The Transpersonal Center in LA, to talk about the tantric arts, transpersonal dimensions of development, sexuality as a doorway to mystical or psychedelic experience, psychic integration before and after extended lovemaking, the science of creating a soulmate, the importance of friendship for intimate tantric sexuality, life as lovemaking, and much more. Professional website: https://www.thetranspersonalcenter.com/ Explore The Integral Stage on the Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon!   / theintegralstage   Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!

Bruce Alderman, Layman Pascal &Gregg Henriques continue their trialogue on the meaning and promise of a sacred or sophianic naturalism for our time.  In part three of the discussion, they take a deep dive into the topic of shamanism -- considering the nature and function of the shaman historically, in contemporary cultural and psychotherapeutic expressions, and as an archetype for the kind of transcultural, metapsychological wisdom figure we might need to respond adequately to the meta-crisis.

Bruce Alderman, Layman Pascal, & Gregg Henriques continue their trialogue on the meaning and promise of a sacred or sophianic naturalism for our time.  In this second episode, they reflect on the relevance of insights from "The Elusive I" & "An 'I' for an Elusive I" discussions for this project, and the relation of John Vervaeke's and Gregg's models to evolutionary spirituality; the meaning and significance of 'sacred' in sacred naturalism; the notion of sacred materialism or 'matarealism'; Gregg's justification systems theory and Kierkegaardian or Zen trans-justificatory stages of development; the importance and nature of centauric development, and the contrast of the centaur (or satyr) and the minotaur; guidelines for a sacred naturalist education; and much more.

Layman is joined by Forrest Landry, philosopher of Immanent Metaphysics, a great lover of trinities, a possible mentat, and through his work on human assembly and ephemeral group processes, among other things, a serious contributor to both the theory and practice of more agile, more benevolent, and more satisfying group behavior.  In their conversation, they focus on some of the core concepts of human assembly and ephemeral group process, and then broaden the lens to reflect on other topics related to the meaning crisis, spirituality, attention to the wild fringes of our knowledge systems, and much more.  

Forrest Landry is a philosopher, writer, researcher, scientist, engineer, craftsman, and teacher focused on metaphysics, the manner in which software applications, tools, and techniques influence the design and management of very large scale complex systems, and the thriving of all forms of life on this planet.  His research interests and activities generally center on questions and concerns in three main related areas: 1, the manner and degree to/by which product and systems design influences culture and ecology; 2, an exploration of the nature of the interface between the organic and the inorganic, particularly as realized in the relationship between concept and computation; and 3, the manner and models by which effective personal and social governance could potentially be achieved.

Immanent Metaphysics

mflb.com/uvsm_8/index_uvsm_5.html

Human Systems

www.magic-flight.com/pub/uvsm_1/sgrp_small_group_2.pdf

Layman welcomes author, entrepreneur, and psychometric AI pioneer, Avi Tuschman, to talk about the pollution of the knowledge ecology through rampant dis- and misinformation, and how Wikipedia might be used as a model for bringing greater integrity to our social media knowledge commons.  

Avi Tuschman, Ph.D., is an evolutionary anthropologist, an expert on the hidden roots of political orientation, and the author of Our Political Nature: The Evolutionary Origins of What Divides Us. He began his career in politics as the youngest advisor in the government palace in Lima, Peru. While serving as the senior writer to Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), Tuschman produced numerous articles and speeches designed to shape public opinion. In 2009, Tuschman joined hands with Toledo and seventeen other former presidents to co-write a regional policy agenda on democratic governance. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon lauded the document and called it historically unprecedented.  Avi is also a Stanford StartX entrepreneur and a pioneer in the field of Psychometric AI.  

Rosenbaum's Magical Entity: How to Reduce Misinformation on Social Media ourpoliticalnature.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Rosenbaums-Magical-Entity_How-to-Reduce-Misinformation-on-Social-Media_by-Avi-Tuschman_August-2020.pdf

Professional Website http://ourpoliticalnature.com/

Layman is joined by evolutionary enlightenment teacher, Andrew Cohen.  

Andrew recounts his early experiences with his teacher, H.W.L. Poonja, and he explores with Layman the questions of what factors might serve to amplify transmission in certain people or places; the nature and role of subtle energy in relation to transmission dynamics; transmission in intersubjective or group contexts; the role of pomp and mythopoetic symbology in postmodern and metamodern transmission contexts; evolutionary enlightenment and the evolutionary impulse; the relationship dynamics of enlightened teachers with one another, and what might be done to overcome competitive ego dynamics and foster greater collaboration; Andrew's experiences with American Baul spiritual teacher, Lee Lozowick; and much more.  

Andrew Cohen is an American-born, internationally known integral spiritual teacher and writer, and the founder of Evolutionary Enlightenment.  He has been teaching meditation for over three decades, and created the magazine, What is Enlightenment? -- one of the most successful publications ever in its genre.  His teaching work grapples with the challenges of bringing the revelation of enlightenment to a contemporary Western audience, integrating postmodern cultural and scientific understanding with an original and sophisticated non-dual philosophy.  After his organization, EnlightenNext, dissolved in 2013, he went on sabbatical for several years, but now has returned to teaching and is leading an online spiritual community called Manifest Nirvana.  Links and Resources  

https://www.andrewcohen.com/ 

https://www.manifest-nirvana.com/

Layman and Bruce continue their trialogue with Alexander Bard, this time focusing in Nietzsche and nihilism -- the types of nihilism and its stages; its role in paradigm transition; its relationship to cynicism and enlightened false consciousness; the roles of the trickster, priest, and chief; Dionysian vs. Cybelian sensibilities; sutric vs. tantric orientations; transformation in light of the dynamics of process and event; and much more.    Alexander Bard is a Swedish author, lecturer, artist, songwriter, music producer, TV personality, religious and political activist, and one of the founders of the Syntheist religious movement alongside his co-author Jan Söderqvist.

Bruce Alderman sits down with Lee Nichol to discuss some of the intricacies of David Bohm's work.  In our broader integrative meta-community, and here on The Integral Stage as well, there has been a lot of concern recently with what John Vervaeke calls the 'meaning crisis.'  Back in the late 70s and 80s, dimensions of this crisis were already quite apparent to a number of thinkers, from David Bohm and Krishnamurti, to Fritjof Capra, Joanna Macy, Ken Wilber, Henryk Skolimowski, and others.  David Bohm's work is especially consonant with John Vervaeke's project.  From his position as a scientist, a quantum physicist in his case rather than a cognitive scientist, Bohm began to reflect on, and attempt to address, the breakdown in meaning he was witnessing -- the fragmentations in consciousness and culture that were leading to untold, and perhaps largely unnecessary, conflict and suffering in the world.  And like Vervaeke, for Bohm, one of the primary ways forward -- toward the cultivation of greater wisdom and insight -- was through the practice of dialogue.  Not just regular conversation, but a deeply somatically rooted process of inquiry and transjective encounter.  From fairly early on in his work on dialogue, Bohm was joined by Lee Nichol, a teacher at one of Krishnamurti's schools, and a deep thinker in his own right.  Over the years, Lee helped Bohm to refine and implement the practice of dialogue, and since Bohm's death, he has attempted to take the practice further -- most recently, through exploration of, and experiments with, Bohm's notion of holomovement or the holoflux.  In the discussion that follows, we will get into just what Bohm meant by holoflux, and how it relates to the process of dialogue, and to the deep transformative work needed to begin to address the roots of our present meaning crisis.  

Entering Bohm's Holoflux free e-book Entering Bohm’s Holoflux by Lee Nichol - The Pari Center

Beyond Bohm: Contemplation and Creativity course Beyond Bohm: Contemplation and Creativity - The Pari Center

For the seventh episode of the FIRE FROM HEAVEN series, Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder return for a follow-up dialogue with Layman, this time to discuss an upcoming book, and then to explore the concept of spiritual democracy; the place and dynamics of transmission in a democratized spiritual context; the importance of embodiment and ecological awareness in developing or emerging spiritual traditions; the cultivation of collaborative mutuality among spiritual teachers and adepts, not just among followers; and much more.  

Saniel and Linda:  http://www.sanielandlinda.com/ 

Free intro video, The Heart and Waking Down in Mutuality http://www.humansuninstitute.com/the-... 

Free daily ‘Unshakable Joy Immersion’ meditations on Saniel's Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/saniel.bonder

Layman Pascal and Bruce Alderman offer some riffs and reflections on John Vervaeke, Gregg Henriques, and Christopher Mastropietro's excellent 12-part dialogos on the nature and function of the self, "The Elusive I."    What kind of language can mediate between objective models and subjective experiences of the self, between science and clinical practice?  What is the dance between the elusiveness of the I and anatman, or the emptiness of the self?  How does the model of the self in The Elusive I relate to the models developed in transpersonal, integral, and esoteric psychologies?  What can Kierkegaard teach us about the nonduality of the self, and what are its farther reaches of development?  What is the role of the centaur in developing character?  Under the pressure of so many conditioning forces in culture, how might we be served by practices of self-transgression as well as self-transcendence?    Layman and Bruce consider these questions and more in developing a model of the self as a self-approximating hypersubject, a prepositional wild knot, an autopoietic living system, modulated dialogically, and described in a manner that is open both to naturalistic psychology and deep participatory spirituality...

The Elusive I - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fnmp6UVafM

Layman welcomes Andrés Bernal, a lecturer at CUNY Queens College, to discuss Modern Monetary Theory -- how he became interested in it, its major claims, its main proponents and detractors, and what it would take to begin to put it in action.  Andrés discusses his work with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; the development and implementation of the Green New Deal; the potential for South American countries to lead the way in monetary and economic reform; the role of AQAL, existential philosophy, and spiritual practice in his activism and the formation of his ideas; and much more.  Andrés was born in Bogota, Colombia and immigrated to the United States as a child. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley with a focus on Existentialism, Political Economy, and Social Theory; and a Master of Arts from the University of San Diego's School of Leadership and Educational Sciences with a specialization in group learning and development and organizational leadership under the mentoring of renowned scholar-practitioner Zachary Green of Group Relations International.   Andrés has over a decade's worth of experience in youth leadership development and community building and serves as the Director of Political Education for the Young Progressives of America. In the Summer of 2017, Andrés began supporting the Congressional campaign of former colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a policy advisor and organizer. His work facilitated the incorporation of the Federal Jobs Guarantee policy onto the official campaign platform and helped in the vetting process of various academic resources. Alexandria would go on to become the youngest woman in history to be elected to the United States Congress.   Currently, Andrés resides in New York City where he is a Lecturer of Urban Studies at CUNY Queens College and Doctoral student at The New School For Public Engagement, Division of Policy Management and Environment. His research focuses on the Green New Deal as a site of political communication and policy analysis. Andrés is a leading voice and proponent associated with the heterodox school of economic thought known as Modern Monetary Theory. He is a Research Fellow at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity and a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Missouri Kansas City Department of Economics.

https://www.andres-bernal.com/

Several years after the original Integral UFOlogy series was published, the Integral UFOlogy panel reconvenes to discuss the latest UAP news and disclosures, and the latest developments in their own research and experiences in these areas. Panelists: Sean Esbjorn-Hargens, Stuart Davis, Chris Dierkes, Giorgio Piacenza, Layman Pascal, and Bruce Alderman. Original Panel Discussion:    • Integral Ufology Panel Discussion   RESOURCES and REFERENCES Sean Esbjorn-Hargens' Exo-Studies Master Course: https://www.exostudies.org/ Stuart Davis' media Man Meets Mantis:    • MAN MEETS MANTIS   Stuart's episode on Weird Studies podcast: https://www.weirdstudies.com/37 The IS Language:    • Creating The IS Language   The Art of Is:    • THE ART OF IS   Aliens and Artists: https://www.aliensandartists.com/ Explore The Integral Stage on the Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon!   / theintegralstage   Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters! Credits Intro and Outro Music: Remix of Sparkspitter's "Pretty Wave"

Layman, Bruce, and Gregg Henriques convene for part one of a long-form dialogue on the meaning and promise of a sacred or sophianic naturalism for our time.  In this first episode, they explore some provisional framings of sacred naturalism, from Integral and UTOK perspectives; the place of consciousness in a sacred naturalist account; the tree, coin, and garden elements of UTOK; the importance of Dionysian as well as Apollonian approaches to the topic; ecological ethics and embodied practices; and much more.

In this episode of the Integral Stage's Fire from Heaven series, Layman continues to explore the nature, significance, perils and possibilities of "spiritual transmission" -- this time with Waking Down in Mutuality teacher-transmitters, Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder.

http://www.sanielandlinda.com/

In this episode of The Future Faces of Spirit, Andrew Cohen joins Bruce Alderman & Layman Pascal for a trialogue on his pioneering efforts in developing an integrative, evolutionary spirituality that is responsive to the unique challenges of our times.  

Andrew is candid about the successes and shortcomings of his earlier work with the EnlightenNext community, and focuses in our conversation here on working productively with the genuine insights, breakthroughs, and lessons learned over the past 30 years, emphasizing the ongoing importance of spiritual awakening, the nature of intersubjective nonduality, the challenges of our contemporary meaning crisis, the indispensability of clear intention and earnestness in transformative practice, and the value of an evolutionary understanding and a metaphysics of becoming for engaging *with* the world instead of pursuing a mystical retreat from it.  

Andrew Cohen is an American-born, internationally known integral spiritual teacher and writer, and the founder of Evolutionary Enlightenment.  He has been teaching meditation for over three decades, and created the magazine, What is Enlightenment?, one of the most successful publications ever in its genre.  His teaching work grapples with the challenges of bringing the revelation of enlightenment to a contemporary Western audience, integrating postmodern cultural and scientific understanding with an original and sophisticated non-dual philosophy.  After his organization, EnlightenNext, dissolved in 2013, he went on sabbatical for several years, but now has returned to teaching and is leading an online spiritual community called Manifest Nirvana.  

https://www.andrewcohen.com

https://www.manifest-nirvana.com/