The Integral Stage – Details, episodes & analysis

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

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

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/ 

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

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 

Please consider supporting us to help make more of these videos possible: https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

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 

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

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.  

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

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