When you raise a child, the subject of religion comes up pretty early usually. For most people steeped in a nice Mythic tradition, this is not a hard discussion. They tell the kid how things are, and the kid believes. Hopefully, later in life, the kid figures out more stuff on its own too.
How would you raise a child to adopt an Integral approach to spirituality though?
Can you imagine talking to a three-year old about Oneness and ego and living in the Now? Not gonna happen...
The interesting thing about the spiritual line of development is that EVERY human being must pass through each stage. We are all born at Stage 1, an infant that does not know the difference between itself and its surroundings. From there, we ALL go through a period where the world is magical to us. Many of us then get into the doctrine and mythology of it afterwards, as we proceed to the Mythic stage. Hopefully, people then go on from there to Rational, Pluralistic, Integral, etc.
When raising a child, each approach and each stage must be taught at the appropriate time. Even into adulthood you proceed through stages, if you do not get stuck at one of them. It is a lot like the regular development of a human from infancy, to childhood, to adolescence, to young adulthood, to adulthood, to middle age, to old age.
On the other hand, training people to be doctors is not like that.
Can you imagine going in on your first day of medical school and learning about bloodletting, leaches, and the Four Humors? Then as you proceed through your four years you eventually get to complex clinical diagnosis and treatment? Not gonna happen...
In this line of development you do not need to start out learning what doctors learned 1000 years ago. In fact, doing that can make for a really crappy doctor!
Most lines of development that deal with information seem to be like this. It helps to get information that is useful to your population during your current time period. Religious and spiritual information is not like this for some reason.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Putting some of this together
Hopefully, I have simplified some of this complicated material to the point where someone can see that it is extremely useful. Believe me, when I read all of this for myself, which I still am in the process of doing, it is not so simple to comprehend. It takes a bit of time to digest.
I have talked about States and Stages according to the Integral take on them. Now I want to convey how States and Stages go together according to this scheme.
All States are accessible in each Stage. In English, that means if you are a bible beater stuck at the Mythic stage, you can still be awake, dreaming, having a dreamless sleep, or even a non-dual experience of Oneness. Those things correspond to the gross, subtle, causal, and non-dual States. You could also have other states as a bible beater, such as meditation, drunkenness, and an LSD trip.
It really does not matter what Stage you are at. You can always access these States, though some are easier than others. A tribal commoner in the back jungles of Africa that worships the Earth can have an experience of peace and Oneness every bit as much as the Zen Buddhist monk sitting in a monastery in sunny California. The differences between these two are how they would [i]interpret[/i] the experience, based on their cultural and religious upbringings, as well as the perspective they would take on the experience. The tribesman would talk about how he merged with his deity and walked together with him everywhere, whereas the monk would talk about a complete cessation of experience dissolving into an inexplicable nothingness.
So, if there are at least seven Stages and there are at least 4 States at every stage, that means you could have at least 28 different kinds of spiritual experiences. Youch!
This layout is called the "Wilber-Combs Matrix", which shows how at each Stage you can have four States.
A hat tip goes to Kelly Sosan Bearer at her blog for the image.
I have talked about States and Stages according to the Integral take on them. Now I want to convey how States and Stages go together according to this scheme.
All States are accessible in each Stage. In English, that means if you are a bible beater stuck at the Mythic stage, you can still be awake, dreaming, having a dreamless sleep, or even a non-dual experience of Oneness. Those things correspond to the gross, subtle, causal, and non-dual States. You could also have other states as a bible beater, such as meditation, drunkenness, and an LSD trip.
It really does not matter what Stage you are at. You can always access these States, though some are easier than others. A tribal commoner in the back jungles of Africa that worships the Earth can have an experience of peace and Oneness every bit as much as the Zen Buddhist monk sitting in a monastery in sunny California. The differences between these two are how they would [i]interpret[/i] the experience, based on their cultural and religious upbringings, as well as the perspective they would take on the experience. The tribesman would talk about how he merged with his deity and walked together with him everywhere, whereas the monk would talk about a complete cessation of experience dissolving into an inexplicable nothingness.
So, if there are at least seven Stages and there are at least 4 States at every stage, that means you could have at least 28 different kinds of spiritual experiences. Youch!
This layout is called the "Wilber-Combs Matrix", which shows how at each Stage you can have four States.
A hat tip goes to Kelly Sosan Bearer at her blog for the image.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
On a political note...
I thought I would say something briefly now that President Obama has been sworn in.
As Robb Smith over at Integral Life has said, I sincerely hope that Obama is something of an enigma in politics: an evolved person. So far in his transition, there are signs that he is. He seems to have an ability to connect with all sides of the spectrum, not by surrendering, or by completely accepting their garbage, but by including. He is able to disagree wholeheartedly with portions of the beliefs espoused by various political and social entities, yet he does not hate them, or even disdain them strongly. Instead, he stresses the commonalities and areas where the real truth seems to lie, and tries to bring those relationships forward in a spirit of "mutual interest and respect."
That's a pretty important characteristic of an Integral person, and an Integral network of societies. Every race, religion, tribe, family, individual has issues. Every one of them has portions of their belief systems and practices that are not conducive to development. However, every one of them ALSO has unique and important pieces of information that ARE essential for development. The trick is to sort out the useful from the useless.
In the world today, there are a lot of Stage 3 (Mythic) societies and people that conflict with Stage 4 (Rational) people. What we are seeing here is a world where Religion is stuck at Mythic and Science is stuck at Rational. It's a nightmare situation, because Science holds back Religion and keeps it down, preventing it from evolving to the point where tolerance develops. Conversely, Religion holds Science back by constantly keeping it on the defensive, sapping all the energy it would normally take to move itself forward.
Islamic extremism, Christian fundamentalism, Jewish nationalism... all of these are examples of Mythic societies that are stuck. Multiculturalism, relativism, extreme "scientism"... these are examples of entities stuck in the Rational. The point is to move forward to Pluralistic, Integral, and stages beyond.
I hope Obama can contribute to that by helping to thread everyone together. He won't change billions of people and suddenly make them Integral-level beings. His task is hard: creating harmony between a huge spread of Stages, but I pray that he succeeds somehow, whatever success is in this case.
As Robb Smith over at Integral Life has said, I sincerely hope that Obama is something of an enigma in politics: an evolved person. So far in his transition, there are signs that he is. He seems to have an ability to connect with all sides of the spectrum, not by surrendering, or by completely accepting their garbage, but by including. He is able to disagree wholeheartedly with portions of the beliefs espoused by various political and social entities, yet he does not hate them, or even disdain them strongly. Instead, he stresses the commonalities and areas where the real truth seems to lie, and tries to bring those relationships forward in a spirit of "mutual interest and respect."
That's a pretty important characteristic of an Integral person, and an Integral network of societies. Every race, religion, tribe, family, individual has issues. Every one of them has portions of their belief systems and practices that are not conducive to development. However, every one of them ALSO has unique and important pieces of information that ARE essential for development. The trick is to sort out the useful from the useless.
In the world today, there are a lot of Stage 3 (Mythic) societies and people that conflict with Stage 4 (Rational) people. What we are seeing here is a world where Religion is stuck at Mythic and Science is stuck at Rational. It's a nightmare situation, because Science holds back Religion and keeps it down, preventing it from evolving to the point where tolerance develops. Conversely, Religion holds Science back by constantly keeping it on the defensive, sapping all the energy it would normally take to move itself forward.
Islamic extremism, Christian fundamentalism, Jewish nationalism... all of these are examples of Mythic societies that are stuck. Multiculturalism, relativism, extreme "scientism"... these are examples of entities stuck in the Rational. The point is to move forward to Pluralistic, Integral, and stages beyond.
I hope Obama can contribute to that by helping to thread everyone together. He won't change billions of people and suddenly make them Integral-level beings. His task is hard: creating harmony between a huge spread of Stages, but I pray that he succeeds somehow, whatever success is in this case.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Anyway... now for the last quadrant
Hello, folks. Sorry about the long delay between posts. Since the New Year hit, I've been busy with a new baby and starting proceedings for moving into a new place. That leaves little time to write.
I'd like to pick up again on the discussion on quadrants. Remember, the Upper Left quadrant is the "I" quadrant,dealing with personal internal development, and it represents all viewpoints of the world that stem from that perspective. The Upper Right quadrant is the "It" quadrant, dealing with the forms that "I" takes. It is the realm of hard core physics and science. Then we had the Lower Left quadrant which is the "We" quadrant. It represents the internal part of the collective. Whenever you are taking the perspective of "I, you and them" or "all of us", you are looking at things from this quadrant.
The last quadrant, the Lower Right, is the form that the "We" takes. In other words, this quadrant represents all societal constructions: houses, villages, towns, cities, national infrastructures, space stations, etc. It also encompasses whatever forms institutions take.
If you are the kind of person that believes that all reality can be represented by societal constructions, and that everything we experience is nothing but man-made institutions and objects, then you are looking at the world from this standpoint.
Now that we understand all four quadrants, it is important to reiterate some things. ALL of these quadrants make up reality. ALL philosophies, both personal and formal, fall into one or more of these areas, and some concentrate wholly on certain quadrants more than others. The point of Integral thinking is to realize that not focusing on all 4 quadrants makes for an incomplete accounting of Reality.
The other great thing about this is that it means that EVERY viewpoint is valid from a certain point of view, i.e. from a certain quadrant. Viewpoints are not often "wrong". They are however very often limited, primitive, and incomplete.
I'd like to pick up again on the discussion on quadrants. Remember, the Upper Left quadrant is the "I" quadrant,dealing with personal internal development, and it represents all viewpoints of the world that stem from that perspective. The Upper Right quadrant is the "It" quadrant, dealing with the forms that "I" takes. It is the realm of hard core physics and science. Then we had the Lower Left quadrant which is the "We" quadrant. It represents the internal part of the collective. Whenever you are taking the perspective of "I, you and them" or "all of us", you are looking at things from this quadrant.
The last quadrant, the Lower Right, is the form that the "We" takes. In other words, this quadrant represents all societal constructions: houses, villages, towns, cities, national infrastructures, space stations, etc. It also encompasses whatever forms institutions take.
If you are the kind of person that believes that all reality can be represented by societal constructions, and that everything we experience is nothing but man-made institutions and objects, then you are looking at the world from this standpoint.
Now that we understand all four quadrants, it is important to reiterate some things. ALL of these quadrants make up reality. ALL philosophies, both personal and formal, fall into one or more of these areas, and some concentrate wholly on certain quadrants more than others. The point of Integral thinking is to realize that not focusing on all 4 quadrants makes for an incomplete accounting of Reality.
The other great thing about this is that it means that EVERY viewpoint is valid from a certain point of view, i.e. from a certain quadrant. Viewpoints are not often "wrong". They are however very often limited, primitive, and incomplete.
How enlightened are you? A test!
This comes from Dan Millman's latest news letter... a classic.
"How Enlightened Are You? A Test:
Well. . .
If you can live without caffeine or nicotine;
If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains;
If you can resist complaining;
If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you any time;
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment;
If you can ignore friends' limited educations and never correct them;
If you can treat the rich and poor alike;
If you can face the world without lies or deceit;
If you can conquer tension without medical help;
If you can relax without liquor;
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs;
If you can have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, gender, sexual preference, or politics —
— then you have almost reached the same level of spiritual development as your dog."
hahahah!!! I love it.
"How Enlightened Are You? A Test:
Well. . .
If you can live without caffeine or nicotine;
If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains;
If you can resist complaining;
If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you any time;
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment;
If you can ignore friends' limited educations and never correct them;
If you can treat the rich and poor alike;
If you can face the world without lies or deceit;
If you can conquer tension without medical help;
If you can relax without liquor;
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs;
If you can have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, gender, sexual preference, or politics —
— then you have almost reached the same level of spiritual development as your dog."
hahahah!!! I love it.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
What's this "we" stuff, fanboy?
So, if you have been looking at these quadrants in the AQAL model, you should now realize that the left-side quadrants are internal parts of Being and the right-side quadrants are external parts of Being. The Upper Left, or "I" Quadrant, is the inside of the individual, while the Upper Right Quadrant, the "It' Quadrant, is the outside of the individual.
Let's take that further. The Upper quadrants are the individual. The Lower quadrants are the collective, i.e. not just you, but everyone with you.
So, the Lower Left Quadrant is the "We" quadrant. It is the internal side of the collective.
What does that mean in English?
You do not exist alone. There are many other individuals out there with you. Whenever you come into contact with some other person or group, there is a relationship that sets itself up. That relationship can be thought of as an entity in itself, really.
When you date someone, or marry them later on, you have your identity. Your partner has his or her identity. The both of you also have your fused identity together. There's three identities there. In a healthy relationship, all of them are cared for. In unhealthy ones, one or more of those identities gets out of balance.
That fused identity with your partner is not the only fused one you have. If you have children, you also have a fused family identity, or collective. If you work for a company, you are a member of that company's collective identity. If you are on a sports team or in a class, the same thing applies, and so on.
Identities can be short-lived or more or less permanent. When you are on an airplane, you are part of the "We are all on this plane together now" identity, until the trip ends and that collective disperses.
If you can open yourself up to this, you can feel the collective identity around you. In ancient times, these identities were worshiped as household deities, or saints, or ancestors. They can be felt and maintained, and they can be screwed with.
Just like everything else, "We" entities grow and evolve and unfold. You may identify with yourself early in life. Then you get a family and you identify with them. Perhaps, you are part of a tribe or a national group that you identify with. Tribes and national groups are a larger sphere of concern than families, so becoming concerned with members outside your immediate household represents an unfolding or advancement along a line of development in the "We" quadrant. Ultimately, your care can extend to "All of us", or the world's population as a whole. People at that Stage in this developmental line think of themselves not as a "Smith" or as "an American" or a "European", but as a "member of the human race on Earth".
Perhaps as time goes on, even that identity will expand, somehow.
In any case, reality in this quadrant is not about some supreme individual being, or a concrete physical existence, but rather it's about the understanding that all beings and individuals are one Entity.
Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." That has a lot of meanings along this line of development. In the early Stages, it is literal: be nice to your neighbor even if he's mean to you. Later, as you develop along this line, you understand it to mean "Love your neighbor because you ARE your neighbor."
Let's take that further. The Upper quadrants are the individual. The Lower quadrants are the collective, i.e. not just you, but everyone with you.
So, the Lower Left Quadrant is the "We" quadrant. It is the internal side of the collective.
What does that mean in English?
You do not exist alone. There are many other individuals out there with you. Whenever you come into contact with some other person or group, there is a relationship that sets itself up. That relationship can be thought of as an entity in itself, really.
When you date someone, or marry them later on, you have your identity. Your partner has his or her identity. The both of you also have your fused identity together. There's three identities there. In a healthy relationship, all of them are cared for. In unhealthy ones, one or more of those identities gets out of balance.
That fused identity with your partner is not the only fused one you have. If you have children, you also have a fused family identity, or collective. If you work for a company, you are a member of that company's collective identity. If you are on a sports team or in a class, the same thing applies, and so on.
Identities can be short-lived or more or less permanent. When you are on an airplane, you are part of the "We are all on this plane together now" identity, until the trip ends and that collective disperses.
If you can open yourself up to this, you can feel the collective identity around you. In ancient times, these identities were worshiped as household deities, or saints, or ancestors. They can be felt and maintained, and they can be screwed with.
Just like everything else, "We" entities grow and evolve and unfold. You may identify with yourself early in life. Then you get a family and you identify with them. Perhaps, you are part of a tribe or a national group that you identify with. Tribes and national groups are a larger sphere of concern than families, so becoming concerned with members outside your immediate household represents an unfolding or advancement along a line of development in the "We" quadrant. Ultimately, your care can extend to "All of us", or the world's population as a whole. People at that Stage in this developmental line think of themselves not as a "Smith" or as "an American" or a "European", but as a "member of the human race on Earth".
Perhaps as time goes on, even that identity will expand, somehow.
In any case, reality in this quadrant is not about some supreme individual being, or a concrete physical existence, but rather it's about the understanding that all beings and individuals are one Entity.
Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." That has a lot of meanings along this line of development. In the early Stages, it is literal: be nice to your neighbor even if he's mean to you. Later, as you develop along this line, you understand it to mean "Love your neighbor because you ARE your neighbor."
Sunday, December 21, 2008
The Concrete Quadrant
Let's take a look at the Upper Right quadrant in the AQAL model given in the last post. (AQAL stands for "All Quadrants, All Levels, All Lines, All States, All Types", or just "All Quadrants, All levels" for short. This is the short hand name for Ken Wilber's Integral Operating System (IOS), which is the name of this philosophical system.)
Quadrants are all about what you believe is real. What do you believe is real?
If you believe that reality can be reduced to nothing but a bunch of atoms, molecules, and electrical impulses zipping around, then you are right! If you believe that all manifestations or feelings or knowledge of God or the Universe or Oneness is nothing other than what your biological brain is capable of experiencing, then you are right!
The Upper Right quadrant says that reality is a concrete scientifically knowable existence. Just like in the other quadrants, there are Stages here too. Quarks make up protons, and neutrons. Protons and neutrons make up atoms, along with electrons. Atoms make up molecules. Molecules make up substances which in turn make up all kinds of stuff as we know it. Planets are in solar systems. Solar Systems are in galaxies, galaxies are in universes. Hell, in today's science there are even theories about clusters of universes! Those are Stages.
The Upper Right quadrant is the exact opposite of the Upper Left, or "I" quadrant. If instead you believe that reality is truly some unknowable mystical existence and that all physical things are really an illusion manifested by this unmanifest reality, then you are looking at it from the perspective of the Upper Left quadrant.
Here's the thing... All the quadrants are right.
Reality (with a capital "R") is made up of all four perspectives simultaneously. However, most people only come from one perspective. That does not make them wrong. That only means they have a part of the whole.
So those "science people" who are extreme in their views of reality and don't believe in any "mystical hoopla" are right. However, they are only partially right. By the same token, the ones who believe that science is a "trick of God to test our faith in what is true" are also right, but again, they are only partially right.
Quadrants are all about what you believe is real. What do you believe is real?
If you believe that reality can be reduced to nothing but a bunch of atoms, molecules, and electrical impulses zipping around, then you are right! If you believe that all manifestations or feelings or knowledge of God or the Universe or Oneness is nothing other than what your biological brain is capable of experiencing, then you are right!
The Upper Right quadrant says that reality is a concrete scientifically knowable existence. Just like in the other quadrants, there are Stages here too. Quarks make up protons, and neutrons. Protons and neutrons make up atoms, along with electrons. Atoms make up molecules. Molecules make up substances which in turn make up all kinds of stuff as we know it. Planets are in solar systems. Solar Systems are in galaxies, galaxies are in universes. Hell, in today's science there are even theories about clusters of universes! Those are Stages.
The Upper Right quadrant is the exact opposite of the Upper Left, or "I" quadrant. If instead you believe that reality is truly some unknowable mystical existence and that all physical things are really an illusion manifested by this unmanifest reality, then you are looking at it from the perspective of the Upper Left quadrant.
Here's the thing... All the quadrants are right.
Reality (with a capital "R") is made up of all four perspectives simultaneously. However, most people only come from one perspective. That does not make them wrong. That only means they have a part of the whole.
So those "science people" who are extreme in their views of reality and don't believe in any "mystical hoopla" are right. However, they are only partially right. By the same token, the ones who believe that science is a "trick of God to test our faith in what is true" are also right, but again, they are only partially right.
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