Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:38:03 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/ Integrative Spirituality RSS Feed en-us http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/images/logo.jpg http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/ manage@integrativespirituality.org (Webmaster) http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Topics&file=index http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Topics&file=index There are 99 news stories in our archives Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:43:33 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=587 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=587 A worldview is a centering meta-paradigm of reality, a unifying cultural consciousness that both underlies and almost always invisibly conditions and controls an individual’s (or a culture's,) way of knowing, seeing, valuing and most importantly, acting in the world. A new worldview always emerges and evolves naturally when the previous worldview no longer adequately solves the new critical problems that are arising for the individual and the society. Each new worldview expansion provides transcending more effective solutions that simply cannot be seen from within the constraints of the previous worldview. Each new worldveiw encompasses and includes the best of the previous worldviews. Each new worldview eventually causes a Great Re-Alignment of how individuals and cultures now view their world and this eventually re-aligns how they act in it. Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:38:03 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=586 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=586 Is there a direction imbedded in the very fabric of evolution?  Are we moving toward something, or is reality as we know it just an infinite process of trial and error, with no overall wider evolutionary directive. What are some of the most current observations of the nature of our universe, and what deeper knowledge of our existence is this information communicating? Jonas Salk made the following statement of what he thought the process of directional evolution appears to be:"The most meaningful activity in which a human being can be engaged is one that is directly related to human evolution.  This is true because human beings now play an active and critical role not only in the process of their own evolution but in the survival and evolution of all living beings.  Awareness of this places upon human beings a responsibility for their participation in and contribution to the process of evolution.  If humankind would accept and acknowledge this responsibility and become creatively engaged in the process of metabiological evolution consciously, as well as unconsciously, a new reality would emerge, and a new age would be born."  Jonas Salk Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:21:11 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=585 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=585 Within the inherent spatial and quantum qualities of the physical universe are found result-conditioning attributes that effect and condition most all actions and results that take place within the physical universe --- and, that makes them critically important! These inherent result-conditioning spatial or quantum attributes and values can easily be converted into and called universe "attitudes" or "values," which also can be used for empowering your success in all areas of life. The following article lays out these result-conditioning universe qualities, attributes and values. They have been extrapolated from the most current cosmological and progressive evolutionary science. Knowing and utilizing these time-tested 13.7 billion year old reality-conditioning attributes can dramatically improve the immediate quality of your life not to mention your future success. These universe attributes and values also can become an empowering lifestyle practice and part a new ethical code for conscious evolutionaries. As you review these physical universe attributes and values you may also discover that they both transcend and yet still creatively include many of the most life-affirming virtues and perspectives from humanity’s greatest philosophic and spiritual wisdom traditions. Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:47:06 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=584 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=584 The directional impulse of evolution is complex and multi-leveled. Evolution is not "survival of the fittest" as a key principle of the Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory is so often commonly misunderstood. Evolution’s most powerful core principle and meta pattern is "survival of the most cooperative." Since the Big Bang and for the foreseeable future on evolution's organic, biological and cultural levels, the branch of evolution know as progressive evolution tell us evolution is inexorably moving toward creating more cooperative wholes (unions,) at increasing scale (size,) whose sustainability is always facilitated by appropriate energy exchanges. But, that is not all that 13.7 billion year old impulse of progressive evolution is bringing into being --- by far! Progressive evolution is simultaneously "parallel-processing" and muti-tasking many other levels and steps of progressive processes (impulses or intentions if you like,) in a specific direction toward some amazing evolutionary "products". As evolution progresses along the directional line of expanding complexity unpacks each process level and step produces evolutionary results which are not only more complex but also genenerally more rare in the universe. Progressive evolution is best defined by describing its known process levels and steps of increasing complexity. A quick summary of the main processes levels and steps (the core patterns and "products,") of the directionality of progressive evolution are  as follows: Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:34:44 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=583 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=583 Albert Einstein said that “you cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it.” Unfortunately, our current planetary consciousness also is not the consciousness that will solve our current planetary problems. It will take the new and larger universe-informed consciousness to do that! Universe Day (Aka New Universe Day or NewUDay,) occurs every January first. Universe Day specifically came into being to promote the larger and more solution-effective universe consciousness contained within the rapidly emerging and science-grounded New Universe Worldview. The New Universe Worldview has powerful life system critical planetary and personal benefits and is ... Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:45:22 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=582 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=582 How do we globally accelerate and capture the momentum of what is already emerging in terms of the growing awareness amongst political, corporate, and grass root leaders? How do we most effectively inform a global movement that is ensured to have success in reaching the critical mass that is necessary to tip the scale for massive collective change? We are at the beginning of the UNISSANCE, a neo-enlightenment and neo-renaissance of science, consciousness and life. It is great shift and great turning toward a greater alignment based upon a unified understanding of the evolution of life and consciousness from the largest possible time and space perspective that exists--- the universe as a whole system perspective. We have arrived at a critical juncture in human history where it is prudent and critically necessary to expand the collective metaphors and worldview that informs our lives, values and ethics. We must look beyond our current cultural, political, economical partial views and perspectives. It is due time to facilitate a new framework of metaphors that we call the Unissance and a new worldview that we call the New Universe Worldview. This new worldview and Unissance is awakening individual and collective consciousness. It informs and habituates a sustainable global culture, includes and celebrates all of our collective partial views of the past, is in alignment with the science that we are just coming to know about ourselves and our universe and, it artfully and joyously reverences the miracle of our beingness in the universe.  Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:37:47 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=580 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=580 The following is a most recent article of a new informed evolutionary meaning of the Great Story of Christmas as we are an evolved intricate part of the wondrous diversity of this planet, solar system, galaxy, and the bubble we view as our universe, floating in an unknown territory of internal inflation (a most recent explanation of why the big bang occurred).  We are the current peak and the visible luminant reflection of 13.7 billion years of the evolutionary 'big bang radiance' a creative progression of trial and error SELF, ESSENCE, SPIRIT, DARK ENERGY, AND MATTER shaping and forming endless/infinite potentiality BIRTHING ITSELF through the many expressions of diversity in matter. We are possibly an intricate part of a web of subtle and physical energies that is informing, synthesizing, and evolving the I, we, it, and it's into an expanding  THEOGENESIS. We are the SELF awakening in the illuminated playground of matter.  Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:06:29 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=578 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=578 Evolutionary thinking is the zeitgeist of the 21st century. Not since the Copernican Revolution have we experienced comparable revelations about the natural world and our place in the universe. How will society ultimately reconcile science and religion? "Marry them!" exclaims Reverend Michael Dowd, author of THANK GOD FOR EVOLUTION: How The Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World . Michael Dowd, a minister and author, and Connie Barlow, a biologist and author, have created and facilitated a body of work consisting of numerous books, educational programs, and  Dvd’s that are ground breaking and inspiring. They articulate an inclusive and a transcendent vision of a universe that has creatively conspired for our individual and collective greater learning and becoming.  Our cosmic and terrestrial place in  history is to be understood and embraced from an emerging inclusive perspective in harmony with our sciences, including and honouring the many partial views expressed in myths and stories that have guided and inspired our collective journey. Their contribution is informing a spirituality in harmony with an engaged sustainable living ecology. "Creation and evolution are one and the same," explains Dowd. "Science and religion go hand in hand. One without the other leaves humanity lost in the literature, searching in vain for answers to post-modern problems in ancient religious texts written when people believed the world was flat. Only by looking through evolutionary eyes can we see our way out of the current global integrity crisis that is destroying economies and  ecosystems around the world.” Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:54:05 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=577 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=577 It's official! On December 10, 2009 the 21st century was officially declared "The Century of Women." This new Century of Women designation is designed to focus attention and resources upon improving the conditions of women all over the planet through education and rights empowerment activities. Having the entire 21st century being dedicated to the advancement of women could not come at a more needed or advantageous time.  Achieving the women's educational and rights empowerment goals as set out in the vision for the Century of Women is vital because not only is this fairness for women (who constitute over 1/2 of the planet's population,) long overdue, it also is a practical, proven and major way to help solve the current environmental crisis as well as many other of our social problems such as overpopulation social injustice etc. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that educated women who know and exercise their equal rights help create a healthier long term balance and sustainable quality of life within their families and communities and therefore immediately improve the sustainability and quality of life conditions of life for more of the world’s population. The specific Century of Women Goals are… Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:37:27 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=576 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=576 “We are beings of cosmic connection who are learning to live in a living universe…” Our Supreme Test and Time of Initiation Evolution moves forward on a bending curve and there is no going back. The starting gun of history has gone off, and humanity is moving rapidly into a new world. We humans have always been tested by adversity. However, our current times are unique in one crucial respect - and this makes all the difference. The circle has closed and there is no escape. Now the entire Earth and whole human community is at risk. Now the entire human species must deal with the reality of climate disruption (with resulting crop failures and famine), the dwindling supply of cheap energy, an enormous global population with most people living on the edge of subsistence, a massive wave of extinction of plants and animals, the spread of weapons of mass destruction in an ever more interdependent world, and much more. All of these are occurring at the same time the global communications revolution is making the world transparent to itself. Our supreme test is to grow consciously into this new world and learn to live in balance with the Earth, in peace with one another, and in gratitude with the living universe.  "The circle has closed and there is no escape. Now the entire Earth and whole human community is at risk."  Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:16:20 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=575 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=575 In 1543 Copernicus announced to a startled Europe that the Earth was not stationary, but was sailing rapidly through space as it spun around the Sun. This was difficult news to take in all at once, but over time the Europeans reinvented their entire civilization in light of this strange new fact about the Universe. The fundamental institutions of the medieval world, including the monarchies, the church, the feudal economic system, and the medieval sense of self, melted away as a radically different civilization was constructed. We live in a similar moment of breakdown and creativity. The cosmological discovery that shatters nearly everything upon which the modern age was built is the discovery that the Universe came into existence 13.7 billion years ago and is so biased toward complexification that life and intelligence are now seen to be a nearly inevitable construction of evolutionary dynamics. Our new challenge is to reinvent our civilization. The major institutions of the modern period, including that of agriculture and religion and education and economics, need to be re-imagined within an intelligent, self-organizing, living Universe, so that instead of degrading the Earth's life systems, humanity might learn to join the enveloping community of living beings in a mutually enhancing manner. This great work will surely draw upon the talents and energies of many millions of humans from every culture of our planet and throughout the rest of the 21st century. - Brian Swimme Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:53:13 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=574 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=574 The View from the Center of the Universe takes on big questions: the nature of time and our place in the cosmos (bigger than we might imagine, they suggest). They remind us, in case we've forgotten, that we're made of stardust.  Written by a duo consisting of a cosmologist and a philosopher, this very important and fascinating book powerfully describes the scope and depth of human connections to our universe. The very revolutionary concepts and implications of the modern understanding of time, space, dark matter, dark energy, eternal inflation, and the stardust filling our bodies,  affect our feelings about ourselves and our future.  Drawing lessons from the history of creation myths in many cultures, and from the changing perspectives of science over the centuries, the authors paint a comprehensive picture of the value of our place in the universe as we now know it, and the very opportunities for action in this critical century.  Their well-supported admonition to "think cosmically, act globally" can be a vital guide to build a "sustainable prosperity."  This topic demands the attention at a time when our impact on our home planet is rising dramatically, as are conflicts between science and religions.  So far, scientists have not succeeded in helping most people sense meaning or purpose when considering the vastness of space that astronomy has revealed over the past few hundred years.  The View from the Center of the Universe has big ambitions and a novel approach for conveying the content and excitement of the current revolution in cosmology. If your curious about all of the big theories of the universe's evolution explained simply or, your interests are in looking at the really big history of everything, life and the big meaning of it all, this amazingly well written new book is a must read for everyone who wants to know more about the ultimate physical "big picture." Our staff who have read it absolutely love what it has done for expanding their perspectives on supporting and living a prosperous sustainability.  Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:14:06 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=573 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=573 John Stewart explores "The Evolutionary Significance of Spiritual Development" in the essay below. Humans have developed a new kind of adaptation strategy based on "mental modelling," but "We use our mental modelling to work out how to achieve the goals set by our internal reward and motivation system-goals that we have been fitted out with by natural selection and that are modified to a limited extent by conditioning during our upbringing... But when our evolutionary interests clash with these motivations and emotional responses, our evolutionary interests lose out. We have not yet developed a comprehensive capacity to free ourselves from the dictates of our biological and social past."Stewart argues that humanity's adaptability is "seriously limited" in our inability to pursue "evolutionary ends." Thus enters religion and spirituality:"If humanity is to realise the full evolutionary potential of mental modelling, we will have to free ourselves from our biological and cultural past... [T]he world's major religious systems all advocate the development of an ability to free oneself from particular emotional responses, desires and motivations."If you are an cultural, spiritual or integral evolutionary, a spiritual pioneer, a cultural creative, a person who is spiritual, but not religious or, an individual who is curious about what role and purpose religion and spirituality play in evolution this is a must read article.  Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:04:35 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=572 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=572 This article is based in part upon the universe and progressive evolutionary science and theories expressed by Teilhard De Chardin, Erich Jantsch, John Stewart, Duane Elgin, Michael Dowd, Connie Barlow, Nancy Ellen Abrams, Brian Swimme, Thomas Berry, Joel Primack, David Christian, David Ray Griffin, Sri Aurobindo, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Ken Wilber, Andrew Cohen, Steve McIntosh as well as numerous other evolution theorists, scientists, authors and speakers. The universe success action principles below are useful to anyone who wants to create an authentic life congruent with the REAL life processes of the universe and who seeks to create a sustainable and thriving life and planet. It is ideal for anyone who considers themselves a cultural creative, big history student, sustainability advocate, integral evolutionary, eco-spirituality practitioner or environmentalist.) This article is an integral, comprehensive statement containing the universe principles in two complimentary flavors; success-action power principles and result-conditioning "in the zone" flow principles. As you review them, you may also discover that these universe principles both transcend and yet still include the most life-affirming perspectives and the classic virtues of humanity’s greatest philosophic and spiritual wisdom traditions. When both types of the universe principles are integrated into one's life they also become a de facto lifestyle practices guide and new ethical code for conscious evolutionaries, effective principles for effective evolutionary activism, a good collective statement of the core attributes of progressive evolution and even a partial sense of the emerging values, perspectives and principles of the New Universe Worldview...   Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:11:06 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=571 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=571 Within the spatial and quantum qualities of the universe are found result-conditioning attributes that effect and condition the actions and results that take place within the universe. These result-conditioning spatial or quantum attributes can easily be converted into and called universe "attitudes"or "values," which also can be used for empowering your success in all areas of life. The following article lays out the essential 9 primary and 14 secondary result-conditioning universe attitudes and values. These universe attitudes and values have been creatively extrapolated from the most current cosmological and progressive evolutionary sciences. Knowing and practicing these 13.7 billion year old time-tested and reality-conditioning attitudes can dramatically improve the immediate quality of your life as well as your future success. When both parts 1 and 2 of the New Universe Principles of attitude and action are fully integrated into ones's life they also become an empowering lifestyle practice and a new ethical code for conscious evolutionaries as well as effective principles for evolutionary activism. As you review these essential universe attitudes and values you may also discover that they both transcend and yet still creatively include many of the most life-affirming virtues and perspectives from humanity’s greatest philosophic and spiritual wisdom traditions. Read about this practical application of the new science from cosmology and progressive evolution and get all of the life empowering New Universe Principles and, also get a partial sense of the emerging New Universe Worldview...  Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:55:46 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=570 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=570 This article is based in part upon the universe and progressive evolutionary science and theories expressed by Teilhard De Chardin, Erich Jantsch, John Stewart, Duane Elgin, Michael Dowd, Connie Barlow, Nancy Ellen Abrams, Brian Swimme, Thomas Berry, Joel Primack, David Christian, David Ray Griffin, Sri Aurobindo, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Ken Wilber, Andrew Cohen, Steve McIntosh as well as numerous other evolution theorists, scientists, authors and speakers. The universe success action principles below are useful to anyone who wants to create an authentic life for themselves that is also congruent with the REAL life processes of the universe and who seeks to create a sustainable and thriving life, organization and planet. It is ideal for anyone who considers themselves a cultural creative, big history student, sustainability advocate, integral evolutionary, eco-spirituality practitioner or environmentalist.) This article is an integral, comprehensive statement containing the universe principles in two complimentary flavors; success-action power principles and result-conditioning "in the zone" flow principles. As you review them, you may also discover that these universe principles both transcend and yet still include the most life-affirming perspectives and the classic virtues of humanity’s greatest philosophic and spiritual wisdom traditions. When both types of the universe principles are integrated into one's life they also become a de facto lifestyle practices guide and new ethical code for conscious evolutionaries as well as effective principles for effective evolutionary activism or, even a good collective statement of the core attributes of progressive evolution and the new universe worldview coming into being.   Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:14:27 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=568 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=568 This is part 2 the continuation of the article Strategies for Advancing Evolution by John Stewart. This article is the must-read "how to" manual for every conscious evolutionary and sustainability or environmental advocate!  It is a detailed principle-by-principle strategic instruction manual for consciously advancing the evolutionary process on this planet as an active co-creator with evolution. It contains step-by-step strategies for effectively growing the conscious evolutionary movement to better create a sustainable global society and to deal with global warming. As a master plan for conscious evolutionaries world-wide, it even describes how to use the resources of governments, corporations and other institutions to these worthy ends as well as how to build the individual and collective evolutionary intelligences needed for global sustainability and optimizing one's own life. We at Integrative Spirituality have posted this article because we believe that it is now Job 1 for every spiritual person on earth who honors that Great Mystery that interconnects all things to be aware of how to be a better steward of our planet's vitality and resources as well as know how to work together with others to solve the pending environmental problems that directly and imminently threaten the future of the current and future generations. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:39:33 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=567 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=567 This article by John Stewart is the must-read "how to" manual for every conscious evolutionary and sustainability or environmental advocate!  It is a detailed principle-by-principle strategic instruction manual for consciously advancing the evolutionary process on this planet as an active co-creator with evolution. It contains step-by-step strategies for effectively growing the conscious evolutionary movement to better create a sustainable global society and to deal with global warming. As a master plan for conscious evolutionaries world-wide, it even describes how to use the resources of governments, corporations and other institutions to these worthy ends as well as how to build the individual and collective evolutionary intelligences needed for global sustainability and optimizing one's own life. We at Integrative Spirituality have posted this article because we believe that it is now Job 1 for every spiritual person on earth who honors that Great Mystery that interconnects all things to be aware of how to be a better steward of our planet's vitality and resources as well as know how to work together with others to solve the pending environmental problems that directly and imminently threaten the future of the current and future generations. Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:11:56 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=566 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=566  On March 27th, 2009 Craig Hamilton gave a talk at the 2008 Integral Theory in Action Conference. It is a thought provoking discussion of a spiritual common sense that is not so common. It sheds new light on the factors behind how so many of us have been deeply confused, angry, or even disillusioned to discover that a great, seemingly enlightened spiritual Master we looked up to was either abusive, financially corrupt, or a sexual deviant who lied openly to cover up the fact that they were sleeping with a harem of attractive disciples behind their wife’s back (or while proclaiming to be celibate—take your pick)?   Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:17:39 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=565 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=565 Today, understanding the science-proven probabilities on the deepest integral reoccurring patterns of life as well as the evolutionary directionality of the universe from a whole system and deep time perspective may be the most direct, effective and integral way to supercharge not just your day-to-day success and spiritual practice, but also to inform a new, deeper tolerance level between today's religions. This is because In many ways the universe has always been the original religion. Just as the fruit of a seed must always reflect the nature of the seed's inherent qualities, the physical universe has also always been the most direct way to be objectively informed as to both the most probable qualities and the most likely "intentionality" of that great remaining Mystery --- that, which originated the universe itself! In the following universe science summary you can review these and other critical implications of the cutting-edge science on the universe's integral and deepest evolutionary patterns and developmental directionality. Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:59:19 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=562 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=562 Did you really receive a proper life education --- the one that was the bare minimum known to be necessary to adequately empower you to create a successful, happy and meaningful life? Are your children’s schools really delivering the bare minimum life education needed to prepare them to create their success in life? What would happen to your current success level if you could discover and remedy exactly where your past education was deficient in the minimum life education essentials? According to great minds like Aristotle and Socrates, to have the best probability of being successful and happy in life we ALL need to both possess and integrate three critical kinds of life knowledge. Those three critical areas of knowledge are: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:06:22 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=560 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=560 As parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, we want the children we love to be happy. We want them to achieve great things. But we also want them to be good people. We want to be as proud of their kindness and integrity as we are of their achievements. How do we help them get there? Wed, 06 May 2009 00:17:18 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=559 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=559 Do you want to learn how to increase your creativity and become more self integrated? The integrative power of the arts offers us a means to identify and express ourselves in our uniqueness, as well as connect us with the universal. This new article through its integral perspective helps illuminate the relationship between creative self-expression and personal and spiritual self-integration. In it are models and frameworks and inspiring graphics through which you can both deepen and expand your understanding of why and how creativity supports the unfolding and realization of both human potential and spiritual growth. In this exciting new integral article by Audette Sophia you will also be introduced to 4 key psychological pioneers of the emerging field of Integrative Arts. Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:09:39 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=558 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=558 In the three essays of this series we are going to be leapfrogging through discussions about spirituality, a greater understanding of integral spirituality in particular and a fuller discussion of integral Christianity. The third essay found in this part 2 picks up from the end of the second essay with a discussion and exploration of the meaning of integral Christianity. Also, stayed tuned for an upcoming new online course on Integral Christianity. Mac Broussard Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:16:18 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=557 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=557 Remember the famous and popular Bud Lite Super Bowl commercial where the frogs were on lily pads repeating “Bud” –“Lite” in unison and repeatedly. In the following three linked essays we are going to be leapfrogging through discussions about spirituality, a greater understanding of integral spirituality in particular and a fuller discussion of integral Christianity. The first essay, called Building an Integral Spiritual Life, is for those persons new to the spiritual life, who have confusion and questions about how to begin a spiritual life and for those who feel a need for more focus and discipline in their spiritual life. The second essay invites you into an exploration of the meaning of integral spirituality. The third essay picks up from the end of the second essay with a discussion and exploration of the meaning of integral Christianity. Hope you have as much fun as the frogs did on the Bud Lite commercial. Also, stayed tuned for an upcoming new course on Integral Christianity. by Mac Broussard Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:56:32 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=556 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=556 Part 2: A lot of new information has evolved Darwin’s original theory of evolution. The new post-Darwinian theories and qualifications of evolution can tangibly teach us how to live more integral and successful lives and, they show us how evolution has repeatedly solved problems such as global warming in the past by replacing destructive competition with larger-scale cooperative organisation. The ground breaking Evolutionary Manifesto by John Stewart contains a new evolutionary way to see the planet and live ethically. While it only indirectly mentions spirituality, it is essential life information for anyone who resonates with evolutionary spirituality or eco-spirituality or, who believes that life and spirituality should be informed and assisted by the science of evolution. And after all, is not evolving life --- itself the deepest core essence of what spirituality and religion is supposed to be all about? Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:01:37 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=555 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=555 Part 4: A lot of new information has evolved Darwin’s original theory of evolution. The new post-Darwinian theories and qualifications of evolution can tangibly teach us how to live more integral and successful lives and, they show us how evolution has repeatedly solved problems such as global warming in the past by replacing destructive competition with larger-scale cooperative organisation. The ground breaking Evolutionary Manifesto by John Stewart contains a new evolutionary way to see the planet and live ethically. While it only indirectly mentions spirituality, it is essential life information for anyone who resonates with evolutionary spirituality or eco-spirituality or, who believes that life and spirituality should be informed and assisted by the science of evolution. And after all, is not evolving life --- itself the deepest core essence of what spirituality and religion is supposed to be all about? Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:19:11 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=554 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=554 Part 3: A lot of new information has evolved Darwin’s original theory of evolution. The new post-Darwinian theories and qualifications of evolution can tangibly teach us how to live more integral and successful lives and, they show us how evolution has repeatedly solved problems such as global warming in the past by replacing destructive competition with larger-scale cooperative organisation. The ground breaking Evolutionary Manifesto by John Stewart contains a new evolutionary way to see the planet and live ethically. While it only indirectly mentions spirituality, it is essential life information for anyone who resonates with evolutionary spirituality or eco-spirituality or, who believes that life and spirituality should be informed and assisted by the science of evolution. And after all, is not evolving life --- itself the deepest core essence of what spirituality and religion is supposed to be all about? Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:02:16 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=553 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=553 Part 1: A lot of new information has evolved Darwin’s original theory of evolution. The new post-Darwinian theories and qualifications of evolution can tangibly teach us how to live more integral and successful lives and, they show us how evolution has repeatedly solved problems such as global warming in the past by replacing destructive competition with larger-scale cooperative organisation. The ground breaking Evolutionary Manifesto by John Stewart contains a new evolutionary way to see the planet and live ethically. While it only indirectly mentions spirituality, it is essential life information for anyone who resonates with evolutionary spirituality or eco-spirituality or, who believes that life and spirituality should be informed and assisted by the science of evolution. And after all, is not evolving life --- itself the deepest core essence of what spirituality and religion is supposed to be all about? Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:52:55 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=552 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=552 Not since the Great Depression of the 1930 has there been so much economic turmoil and uncertainty. This economic turmoil and uncertainty is not found just in the US, but it is worldwide. These tough economic times are causing people to rethink their values and behaviors based mostly on material desires. In this challenging time, maybe it would be helpful to relook at new great spiritual news and values that can help each of us rebalance and adjust our lives and perspectives toward more meaningful and satisfying non-material ways. Curious? Thu, 25 Dec 2008 18:25:48 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=551 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=551 This is the first in a series of articles by Terrance Bishop on the elements and ideas that constitute what makes a spiritual practice integral. This series of articles is derived from our free access, online course found in our online courses section with the same name. The integral spirituality subjects that are covered in this series of articles are; levels of consciousness, why levels are so important, personal evolution, evolution of relationships, evolution of the collective, summary of the first tier, boomeritis, the pre-trans fallacy, the incredible leap to 2nd tier, why is 2nd tier so rare, how to grow to 2nd tier states of consciousness, the great states, the shadow, The nature of projection, 3-2-1 of shadow, subtle theory, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Person perspectives, 1-2-3 of God, domains of spiritual practice, masculine and feminine approaches to spirituality, ascending and descending currents of spirit, gender preferences in practice, relationship of states and stages of consciousness, Integral Life Practice, ILP rubber on the road, the Great Chain, the two roles of religion, spiritual versus religious as well as much more.   Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:45:49 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=550 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=550 Most discussion on science and religion tends to focus on creation and evolution, at least this has been the dominant theme in the media of late. Yet the subject of creation and evolution is not the only concern in a discussion of science and religion. Other themes are also present: science and belief in the supernatural, science and the soul, science and the transformation of consciousness, science and the virgin birth, science and the resurrection, science and near-deaths experiences, science and the Bible, science and eschatology, science, faith, reason and wisdom, science and human Development, etc. All of these themes are part of a “new convergence” that is emerging in the dialogue between science and religion. “We are entering the greatest era of science-religion fusion since the Enlightenment last attempted to reconcile the two, three centuries ago.” So writes Gregg Easterbrook (2002) in the special December 2002 issue of Wired magazine devoted to a science and religion... By Caleb Rosado Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:43:45 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=549 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=549 Spirituality is all-inclusive, expanding into every aspect of life, because spirituality is the infusion of spirit into living life. Spirit is always there for us and a part of us, so how can anything be separate from that? It is only our minds that create the separation, from the Infinite. Given this perspective, love and sexuality is the perfect topic to relate to the development of relationships and spiritual connection. We at Integrative Spirituality feel it is important to openly discuss and support the healthy integration of spirituality and sexuality. The value of sexual expression in relation to spiritual laws has been controversial for eons. However, we have been provided with the gifts of biologically designed bodies that can not only procreate life, but experience immense delight, enjoyment and energy in the process. There are many spiritually focused groups who do not recommend wasting life force energy in sexual activity, because if not practiced properly can drain the body of power and distract the mind, creating suffering and confusion. There are also many teachings, such as the Kama Sutra and Tantric traditions, who highly value sexuality and the practices of spiritual energy flow to increase the sacred connection with another person and the Infinite. From these traditions, sexuality is a spiritual path of transformation, as powerful a tool as any.   Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:30:34 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=547 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=547 Have you ever asked yourself, "Am I doing what I really should be doing?" Did you ever wonder if you had really selected the BEST goals for your life, or at least the ones you had the best chance of attaining? Did you ever think about how your life would be different if you knew what you really wanted to do, and then started doing it? If your curious about how these questions apply to your life right now... Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:09:10 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=546 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=546 Evolutionary means “of or relating to a process of change,” particularly as it relates to the processes of change of the physical universe and its history. Evolutionary Spirituality is that which relates to the knowledge that can be learned about Ultimate Reality and how to live our lives by looking at the deep patterns and objective/scientific information about the evolution of the universe. Evolutionary spirituality is critically important today more than ever because it offers all of humanity a common and uniting genesis story and it offers each individual a common and uniting identity with all other individuals at the deepest levels of meaning and living. From these two things naturally emerges a myriad of rational, non-polarizing spiritual and secular behaviors as well as an implied near-universal set of ethics, morals and virtues for living both authentic and successful spiritual and secular lives in the 21st century...   Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:22:38 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=545 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=545 We are all engaged in a great open and co-creative spiritual adventure and partnership with Ultimate Reality however you define it. It is the ultimate adventure in that it is intimately concerned with the quality of your life in this very moment. It is equally concerned with improving your community, the world and the quality of your existence beyond your physical form. This open source, integral and integrative meta-spirituality holds the promise of new hope to the many who have become isolated and cynical in today's polarized world. It also brings new, realistic and practical solutions to what just yesterday seemed to be near unsolvable spiritual, social and personal problems. We provide this "Great News" about the basic postulates of this (r)evolutionary, open source meta-spirituality not as some final or special authority, but as a support resource for your individual contemplation, growth and joy. You are the final authority who decides upon its wisdom, value and usefulness. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:52:56 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=544 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=544 There is a new spiritual movement that transcends and includes not only the Interfaith movement it also transcends and includes the best of today’s progressive Eco-spirituality, Women's spirituality, Integral spirituality, Participatory spirituality (P2P) and Evolutionary spirituality movements. If fact, it strives to include the most life affirming aspects of all of humanity's religions without their worst. In some ways it is a child of the Internet generation where all human knowledge is rapidly becoming accessible, yet it is far, far more than just a new synergy of all spiritual and religious data. Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:58:24 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=543 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=543 Have you been in o­ne or, do you know someone in an authoritarian religion with a Guru or particularly dominant leader? Do you feel that something was very wrong with this form of religion and this leader? The following is o­ne of the two chapters that we have been given permission to republish from John Heron's great new book Participatory Spirituality: A Farewell to Authoritarian Religion. It is a great read for anyone who has been harmed by the projections of dominant leaders in authoritarian religions or who seeks what healthy forms of religion would look like… Fri, 23 May 2008 10:18:36 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=542 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=542 Welcome to the Deep Time Integral Spirituality Word Puzzle Contest! If you love difficult word puzzles, this o­ne will show you just how much conceptual complexity you can break down and manage as well as how integratively smart you really are. This is a whole new kind of creative word association puzzle that for depth of challenge rivals the New York Times’ or for that matter, anyone else’s word association puzzles. Would you like to play this genius new puzzle and enter the contest? Wed, 21 May 2008 13:38:23 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=541 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=541 In the reoccurring deepest patterns of the 14 billion years of successful evolutionary process and progress you can see the most basic patterns and laws for success that every individual, family, organization, corporation, nation, system or thing must sooner or later acknowledge and follow --- if that grouping or thing wishes to survive and/or thrive. Evolution “is a general condition to which all theories, all hypotheses and all systems must bow… Evolution is a light illuminating all facts, a curve that all lines must follow.” Pierre Teilhard De Chardin...  Explore these deep evolutinary success patterns in this article and test how your life can improve! Thu, 15 May 2008 15:31:59 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=540 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=540 There are many implicit or implied genesis stories within the diverse cultures and religions of our world. Genesis stories are more than just stories about origins. They instill a powerful behavior molding sense of identity, values, entitlement, natural truth and destiny. As we are now a new type of global tribe with far more information about our world than our ancestors, it is well past the time for the Great New Genesis story to be completed for the use of all humanity. This new story will greatly facilitate humanity naturally evolving, improving and shifting it’s identity self concepts, worldview, values and perspectives o­n natural truth so that we collectively and individually can better manage our potentially biocidal global challenges and shared future. Luckily the future-critical work o­n humanity's shared Great New Genesis story is progressing nicely... Wed, 14 May 2008 12:58:52 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=539 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=539 Have you been o­n o­ne or, do you know someone in an authoritarian religion? Do you feel that something was very wrong with this form of religion? The following is o­ne of two chapters that we have been given permission to republish from John Heron's great new book Participatory Spirituality: A Farewell to Authoritarian Religion. It is a great read for anyone who has been harmed by authoritarian religion or who seeks to know what healthy forms of religion would look like… Tue, 13 May 2008 09:56:36 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=538 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=538 What if the current Webster's dictionary definition of peace and the popular definition of normalcy were so wrong that if you used them to evaluate your life or the world you would probably not o­nly come up with incorrect evaluations, but you most likely would also feel deeply frustrated about how things are going. What if simply knowing what science has discovered about the deepest success patterns of 14 billion years of evolution and what those success patterns indicate about what the real definitions of these words should be could radically enhance your whole perspective and attitude about your life and the world? Would you take 3 minutes to explore this new information... Fri, 09 May 2008 10:39:55 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=537 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=537 Almost everyone has had an experience where they skipped or underestimated a simple earlier step and then noticed that everything later becomes considerably harder or less effective until they go back and fix or do the skipped or under done earlier step. This principle is just as true with building an empowered and authentic spiritual lifestyle. Consider the following 5 minute exercise and see if there a simple and easy way to empower and expand your spiritual lifestyles' richness and effectiveness in a more integral way… Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:17:07 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=536 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=536 When lived in a balance, the list of virtues and values found in this article are the resultant authentic fruits of the Spirit. These fruits of classic, modern and post modern virtues are a reliable and observable broad spiritual community validity "proofs" for the results of authentic and effective spiritual practice, spiritual growth and a congruent spiritual lifestyle for an individual within the world. Compare your current spiritual lifestyle against these virtues criteria now... Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:59:01 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=535 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=535 A Protestant theologian, who has written provocative books about Archbishop Rowan Williams and the disestablishment of the Church of England, says that Christianity must dismantle the concept of church and become a faith of spontaneous celebration and action.Theo Hobson is author of 'Against establishment: An Anglican Polemic and Anarchy', 'Church and Utopia: Rowan Williams on Church'. Writing recently in The Guardian newspaper, he claims that "the dominant trend of contemporary Christian theology might be called ecclesiastical fundamentalism." Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:46:47 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=534 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=534  How much of your current spiritual practice incorporates the most validated methods for building a balanced and spiritually congruent life and an authentic and empowered spiritual lifestyle? We invite you to review the key practices used by history's greatest spiritual leaders, mystics and saints and compare your current spiritual practices to theirs. You just might find out that you are doing a lot better than you ever dreamed on your spiritual path... Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:18:25 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=533 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=533 by Oscar Del Santo Ever since our remotest ancestors began to cover the walls of the caverns they inhabited with their primitive paintings, beautiful as they were in their simplicity, Life and Art have had at best an uneasy relationship. Unlike Art and its finished perfection, Life – as we all know from painful experience - usually botches its own narratives and in the end, despite our best efforts, never fails to disappoint. We can confidently state that our forebears drew not in order to somehow reflect reality – as it was once believed – but in order to influence it. At the dawn of civilization, they were beginning to discern what we now know for certain thanks to the man that occupies us here: that it is not Art that imitates Life but Life that imitates Art. And it is only in those unique, precious moments in which they are in unison when we are allowed to fully comprehend the wonder and the majesty of both. Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:45:35 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=532 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=532 Is there a unique new form of absolute God, Buddha or Consciousness emerging both in our inter-relationships and through our collective group US-ness? Is there a unique new form of God, Buddha or Consciousness emerging both into individual and collective consciousness which is only concerned with the wellbeing of humanity as a whole? Is this new co-creational form of spiritual relationship as well as this new form God, Buddha or Consciousness emerging a completely new form of evolutionary spirituality? If this is real, how can you become an active, equipotential partner in this exciting relational and participatory peer-to-peer spiritual evolutionary process? Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:58:42 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=531 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=531 Is there a unique new form of absolute God, Buddha or Consciousness emerging both in our inter-relationships and through our collective group US-ness? Is there a unique new form of God, Buddha or Consciousness emerging both into individual and collective consciousness which is only concerned with the wellbeing of humanity as a whole? Is this new co-creational form of spiritual relationship as well as this new form God, Buddha or Consciousness emerging a completely new form of evolutionary spirituality? If this is real, how can you become an active, equipotential partner in this exciting relational and participatory peer-to-peer spiritual evolutionary process? Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:35:30 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=530 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=530 This brief article explores some of the hidden aspects the life of famed renaissance artist Michaelangelo, weaving in philosophy, spirituality, psychology, and what art really is. Because we promote the vital role of art with spirituality this article offers fresh insights into this relationship from o­ne of the most recognized artistic geniuses in history. Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:18:07 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=529 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=529 The following is an interview from the Australian branch of the ABC television network on December 23, 2007. Dr. Richard Eckersley was kind enough to give Integrative Spirituality persmission to reprint the transcript.Dr Richard Eckersley researches progress and well-being and is a Visiting Fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the ANU in Canberra. In this talk he ponders the question whether there is a road to peace in the war between science and religion. Dr Eckersley suggests that science and religion can co-exist, but both sides need to give ground. Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:07:18 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=528 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=528 This article was originally published on Integral Spirituality on July 1, 2005 Sankara Saranam's book is about establishing a personal relationship with God, unhindered by dogma, creed, or ritual. The ultimate goal is to spread peace and understanding. Is religion gaining ground in America, or are people simply looking harder for answers? Religion and spirituality books are selling strongly, while the number of Americans not identified with a religion is rising. It appears that more and more people are seeking God on their own rather than through established belief systems. The groundbreaking book "God Without Religion: Questioning Centuries of Accepted Truths" by Sankara Saranam shows seekers how to develop a direct understanding of God, unhindered by dogma, creed or ritual. Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:47:21 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=527 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=527 by Tyler EnfieldA series of 16 short Zen-inspired poems, written and painted over the course of several months in 1997 expressing the radical spirituality of generation x. We invite you to enjoy this quick read. Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:39:28 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=526 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=526 May your holiday season be blessed with love, health and success. We invite you to join our members and others all over the world for the holiday celebration of World Spirituality Day On December 31st. For more information about the celebration of World Spirituality Day Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:54:51 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=525 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=525 by Mariana Caplan Excerpted from the forthcoming Adventures of a New Age Traveler (Hohm Press, 2002). There were no welcome banners at the entrance to California as I had imagined from the way Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Kate Wolf sing of it. The Rainbow Family didn’t throw a welcome party just because I had arrived. Instead, I spent my first weeks in Oakland, looking out between the steel bars of a dusty attic-bedroom window, wondering what the hell to do with my life. Occasionally I would dare the walk between myself and the Underground, where I would pass the afternoon getting on and off at random stops, trying to figure out where I was and waiting for something significant to happen. Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:06:03 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=524 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=524 Each year on December 31st the World Spirituality Day celebration grows. It is now a global celebration of the delight and essence of a personal, integrative and integral spirituality. No matter where you will be on New Year's Eve day, you can become a part of this global, personal spirituality celebration or create a local World Spirituality Day event with your friends. For more about this amazing and (r)evolutionary annual celebration of trans-denominational integral and integrative spirituality... Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:05:44 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=523 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=523 By Vipassana Esbjörn When Life Stopped Being A Problem Moss-and-ruby hummingbirds flutter outside my window on a passing breeze. The pungent scent of blooming roses drifts through the house as afternoon flies get stuck between the screen and the window, buzzing for their lives. Shriveled giant cacti ferment on the porch, flooded by El Niño rains, while fluorescent magenta petals poke through the nearby soil. This collage of birth and death, growth and rot is a reminder of my own fragile, temporal existence in this flesh. Here is a story about that collage, a story about a young girl growing up; it is my story. It is also a tale about seemingly opposing forces—life and death, East and West, the relative and absolute—and the transformational possibilities of two worlds in collision. Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:09:55 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=522 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=522 By Erik Davis It would be nice to begin the journey with who we are. But "who we are" is a house of mirrors, a tangled knot, a great and terrible Oz that in the final analysis may consist of nothing more than, well, nothing. The self, I am afraid, may be more of an onion than a fruit, and "who we are" is the skin we shed. Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:20:24 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=521 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=521 by Michael Dinan My name is Michael and I am an addict. When I first made that statement over nine years ago, it felt like a shameful straightjacket. It choked in my throat as I coughed it up in a cloud of noxious cigarette smoke at my first Narcotics Anonymous meeting. Over the course of my recovery, the edge of judgment in the word “addict” mellowed. It slowly changed tone and became instead a soulful liberation. I scrutinized the rest of humanity through this lens of addiction and found them all qualifying in some respect. Now the phrase sounds to me more like a gentle observation of a universal truth on a par with the noble truths of Buddhism. Simply substitute attachment for addiction and it translates: Anyone still manifesting in a clunky 3-D body should be under suspicion of suffering from some degree of addiction and could certainly benefit from the 12-step yoga of letting go and yoking their ego to its soul source. How many king and queen babies today have been weaned at the military-industrial teat and can't be pacified by anything short of total remote control from a cushy sofa? Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:20:44 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=520 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=520 From the Color Purple: Shug: More than anything God love admiration. Cecily: You say God is vain? Shug: No, na--- ……. not vain, just willing to share a good thing! I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field and don’t notice it! Cecily: Are you saying, it just want to be loved like it say in the Bible? Shug: Yes, Cecily, every thingh want to be loved. Us sing and dance. And holler just trying to be loved. -- --- ---God delights in the color purple, do we have eyes to see this delight? The Creator delights in all! She has made human persons of particular notice. The mission of Integrative Spirituality.org is a teasing invitation to be led into this delight . . . Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:03:45 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=519 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=519 by Phoebe Garfield "Graaandmaaa, buy me a pair of Jordache jeans," my voice would sing out in a whine as we stepped through the wide glass doors of the department store. My dad used to joke that I was the only person he knew who called her jeans by name: "my Guess jeans, my Jordache, my Calvin Kleins." I knew when Esprit was in and I wore Esprit matching outfits — starched cotton shirts with pleated shorts, joined at the center by the essential thin leather belt. It was, in fact, too time consuming to figure out what to wear each morning; thus, I would scour my closet the evening before, picking out just the perfect clothes for school the next day. Back then, every season demanded new clothes: back to school clothes, summer clothes, spring clothes, birthday clothes… Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:48:46 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=518 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=518 What if there was a set of community validity tests drawn from spiritual communities from every cultural and spiritual developmental level and from every era from pre-modern to postmodern by which you could measure your current spiritual state or stage and test if you are truly manifesting authentic spirituality. What if there were near universal standards that would clearly demonstrate that you are not just involved in some overly-heady exercise of glibly thinking about or discussing the many new and complex integral spirituality theological concepts as a spiritual dilettante, but that you have a spiritual practice that was producing in you what has been sought by every mystic and saint since the beginning of time. We invite you to examine the basic standards found on the following three validity tests and test yourself now. We think you will be quite surprised by your results... Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:26:49 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=517 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=517 by Rachel Medlock I am driving north on I-85 towards Washington, DC, to see a Van Gogh exhibit with Kristin, who is sleeping in the passenger's seat beside me. It is already December 20, but the sun shining through the car windows is so warm that I've turned on the fan. We've just crossed the state line into Virginia, and it's about time to fill the tank. I wait for an exit with a cheap gas station and turn off. The slowing momentum of the car wakes Kristin, who sits up and blinks in the bright sun. She tells me she's getting hungry, so we look around the main strip to find a suitable place to eat. Nothing but fast food. We resolve to wait for a better place, but as I'm leaving the gas station, Kristin spots a small sign for "Bagels, Inc." peeking out from behind a much larger Wal-Mart sign. I pull into the lot, and we head inside. Mon, 12 Nov 2007 02:53:27 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=516 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=516 Extensive religious research has shown that there are four distinct and classical stages of spiritual growth. Even those individuals who do not normally consider themselves spiritual or religious lie somewhere within one of these four evolving stages. Knowing what stage you are in can help you predict what lies just ahead on your own integral spiritual path or help you better understand how others are responding to life from their spiritual stage. By M. Scott Peck, M.D. Abridged by Richard Schwartz Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:29:53 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=515 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=515 by Elizabeth Shaver Some say the soul transcends this mundane body, but I say the body is the transmutation of soul into dense fleshy form. Rather than profane, the body, the soma, is literally a medium of sacred transmission, the organic venue for the soul's voice. In our reaching, our holding, in our opening and closing, in each expansion and contraction within the pulse of a heartbeat or the rhythm of a breath, is the physiological signature of the soul. Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:39:21 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=514 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=514 By Ocean RobbinsI come from an unusual background. My dad, John Robbins (author of Diet for a New America, and an inspiration to millions) and my mom, Deo, are not just parents to me, they are also my dear friends. From an early age, they helped me to look at problems in the world not as monsters to fear, but as opportunities for healing. “However bad things are,” my mom used to tell me, “is exactly how much better they can be with a change.” Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:39:15 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=513 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=513 What if there was a (r)evolutionary new meditation that could dramatically improve your relationships, was easy to learn and took about a minute or less to do? What if it could be used by an individual of any denomination to improve almost any situation anywhere or anytime? If such a meditation really existed, would you take a few minutes to read about it and test it for yourself? Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:04:05 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=512 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=512 by Daniel KohnThe Search for David CainAs a fairly typical midwestern male, I was always attracted to the "macho" side of life; guns and war filled my childhood imagination. Growing up watching the T.V. show "Kung Fu" I had admired the central character David Cain's prowess in martial arts combined with his profound commitment to peace and harmony. Although I dabbled in Karate and Ninjitsu, I never found a real-life version of David Cain or his martial and spiritual discipline. Nonetheless, I had faith that somewhere there must exist a discipline combining the best of enlightened eastern philosophy with the discipline and grace of martial arts. Mon, 22 Oct 2007 05:30:07 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=511 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=511 The integral spiritual perspectives of Universe Spirituality are great news for anyone who is open to a more inclusive, transcendent, embodied and non-authoritarian spiritual message. At its heart, Universe Spirituality is an open source, evolutionary process integrating and connecting the core spiritual wisdom of humanity’s western and eastern spiritual traditions while at the same time striving to transcend the ineffective, inapplicable or pathological elements of those same spiritual traditions. Although it is a spiritual process designed to maximize safe spiritual growth, inner spiritual empowerment as well as personal spiritual healing and transformation just what specifically is in it for you with its regular practice? Tue, 16 Oct 2007 10:27:57 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=510 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=510 by Stephen Dinan Kali is the dark Goddess of the Hindu pantheon, a representation of both time and death as well as the raw and wild sides of the Divine. Kali eliminates what is less than holy in us, what we use to shield ourselves from a frightening world. During a long foray through India, I lingered many times on this vision of Kali stamping out the proud postures of my ego. Kali proved to be an apt symbol for the stripping of those months, a stripping that ultimately revealed something transcendent. In this context, already more than a bit bruised, I entered my first serious meditation retreat, nervous but willing to go deeper. This is the chronicle of that inner journey. Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:26:53 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=509 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=509 By: Kyva Holman Lately, I’ve been obsessed with finding ways to experience a deeper, truer self, to cultivate the elemental creational force that lies within every one of us. A serendipitous encounter with Nirvana during a meditation retreat in 2003 demonstrated to me experientially that we are so much more than physical bodies. I’d say we have the barren view of humankind as mere accident of genetic mutation to thank for our current state of affairs. Given the perilous times we live in, the need to reach for higher, more altruistic values – what German poet of freedom Friedrich Schiller called a ‘beautiful soul’ – has never been clearer. Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:16:45 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=508 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=508 by Soren Gordhamer It took eight months to begin meditation classes at the local juvenile hall — seven months of talking about it and one month of letters, phone calls, and meetings. The director was not sure the kids would go for it. He said that if we expected the kids to sit down, cross their legs, and watch their breath for forty-five minutes, we were mistaken. My co-leader, Jason Murphy, was a former resident of the hall and worked as a drug rehabilitation counselor with a similar population. He said, “We could teach basket weaving and if we are genuine, they will go for it. They watch you, not what you say.” The director warned us: “You need to be a master of your art. If you show signs of weakness or doubt, they will see it and blow you away. They won’t hold back.” Mon, 08 Oct 2007 03:08:46 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=507 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=507 There really is something revolutionary under the meditation sun. It is called Integrative Relationship Meditation (IRM.) It can be used in same denomination or mixed denomination groups of meditators. Because some things are just “too good not to share,” please find below our first release of "How to do Integrative Relationship Meditation." (The integrative relationship meditations that we use with Universe Spirit members at our San Francisco center in this article are designed to take the principles of integral, open source spirituality and make them practical and useful for real life needs and authentic spiritual practice.) Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:10:36 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=506 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=506 by Abigail Sutkus After eighteen years of strict Catholicism, hearing the words, "God as Female" in my theology class freshman year of college was life-altering. For me, God was synonymous with He, and the possibility of God as She opened the door to a whole new world. At first, it was a struggle to even hold the possibility of a female God in my mind, God as He was so deeply ingrained. Yet, I searched for images of Her, information about Her, and gradually She was revealed. Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:48:22 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=505 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=505 Evolutionary biologists and astro-physicists tell us that the need for all living and non living systems to establish an in and out dynamic energy exchange balance with their environments to be sustainable is one of the four oldest and most fundamental physical success laws and repeating deep truth patterns found in our 13.7 billion year old evolving universe. Ignoring this fundemental exchange success law of life and cultural system sustainability has been traced to the core causes behind most, if not all, personal and social hostilities, resentments, conflicts and even wars in the world today. So, how can this indispensable universal exchange success law be used by you right now as a concrete tool to improve your personal success in almost every aspect of your current daily life? Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:00:22 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=504 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=504 by Susana Herrera At the end of the rainy season in the desert of Northern Cameroon elephants the color of sweet ripe mangoes walk across the rising sun, playing jazz on their golden saxophones, leaving footprints behind their song. Nearby in a small bush village of Guidiguis, the call to prayer rings out, waking the Foulbe and Tapouri and bringing those who are Muslim to chant at the mosque. After morning prayers, the young men herd goats, the older Foulbe lead their cows to water holes and the women and children begin their endless quest for water and enough food to live one more day. Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:19:58 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=503 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=503 by Denise FuehrerWe are the Sculptors shaping the face of possibility trying to mold tomorrow into something meaningful. The tools of our ancestors lie dull and broken at our feet as the clay of life hardens in our hands. An unfinished masterpiece stands taunting us. Its ruinous and misshapen features an excuse for our indifference. Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:58:12 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=502 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=502 By Lawrence Wollersheim for integrativespirituality.org Almost everyone knows someone who has been abused and still shows the life limiting and debilitating effects of that abuse. Unfortunately, many individuals and psychologists still think of successful abuse recovery in terms of “getting back to as close to as possible to where you were before you were abused.” Today, because of the following new abuse healing steps, the old abuse healing standards are too low, no longer applicable and, profoundly better than you were before new levels of abuse recovery are now available to you or your friends. Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:16:45 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=501 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=501 by Ashley Wain"Right from the first moment when one begins to explore the possibilities of man, whether one likes it or not, whether one is afraid of what this represents or not, one must face up squarely to the fact that this search is a spiritual search"-Peter Brook, Grotowski, Art as a VehicleIn the film Muriel's Wedding, there is a scene in which Bill Hunter, an actor who has built a distinguished career playing "ordinary" Australians, stands on his balcony watching his no-hoper son Perry playing footy alone under the Hills Hoist. Perry is commentating on his own performance and indulging a fantasy of scoring a miraculous try (or "touchdown"). Bill's character, a corrupt and adulterous local councilor, watches him for a while. You can see in his eyes what a disappointment Perry is, how he can't quite believe this complete bloody idiot in the backyard is his son. After a few moments he loses patience and barks out "Perry! Wake up to yourself!" Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:07:34 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=500 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=500 Radical Authenticity by Bob Dearborn All that matters is that the miraculous become the norm. — Henry Miller The Life I am trying to grasp is the me that is trying to grasp it. — R.D. Laing Sometimes life is extraordinary. A magical night on the town, a deep conversation under the stars, a wave of creative inspiration, falling in love. It’s as if windows of clarity, of sharpened perspective, of really being here open up amidst the relatively listless routines of daily life. During these periods of clear, wakeful presence, life is just plain juicier than usual. And whether sweet or sour, packing a lasting buzz or momentary high, these juicy bits of experience are simply those times when I feel particularly full of life, especially present to whatever I’m engaged in, more “on,” more “there,” more deeply who I am. Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:49:18 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=497 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=497 Traditional and even progressive religions are being turned on their heads by an integralizing rapidly growing Personal Spirituality movement. But what is it? Why did occur now? Who is involved? Where is it going and --- should you be involved? Mon, 13 Aug 2007 17:05:17 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=494 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=494 People fight passionately for their human rights, but these rights also have their corresponding and equally important responsibilities. This quiz and article is the responsibility-side companion to the the rights defined in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As you review it, you may find yourself repeatedly surprised by the integral perspectives held within every true global citizen's social and spiritual responsibilities. Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:00:32 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=492 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=492 by Claudia Horwitz Like many people, my life has been shaped by a quest. In the mythic tale of the hero's journey, we leave the world we know because we sense there is something lacking in our experience. And we hope that whatever we find will be radical and new and that it will have the potential to bring great changes to the world we left. There are wondrous precedents for this journey... Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:26:23 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=491 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=491 by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D. We live in times of the witnessing of global transformation. Such a scale of planetary changes has happened before, but humans are integral to this one – participating in and witnessing it. These times have been expressed and foretold by different religious traditions – in the Celtic tradition as the Age of Cailleach – the Old Woman whose song heralds changing tides, in Hindu tradition as the Age of Kali – an awesome Goddess not shy about the process of destroying for the purposes of Creativity: it is her passion for Being, for birthing the New. She, like many of Her Dark Sisters around the globe embodies the truth that this Life is built on the death or transformation of all that went before: that we are here by the grace of the Space, and the knowledge of the eons. Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:57:01 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=490 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=490 By Stuart Davis Meditation and Creativity Three A.M. Though I’m lying in bed next to my zonked-out girlfriend with my eyes nearly closed, I’m wide awake. Or maybe I should say wide aware. This year, in addition to sitting meditation, I’ve started meditating in bed before and during sleep. I use simple practices focused on breathing in order to move my awareness to a place where I witness events (internal, external, physical, cerebral, et cetera) without identifying with them. Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:25:33 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=489 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=489 By: Julia Butterfly Hill I was born into a deeply religious family. My father was an itinerant preacher and we traveled across the country offering our service to rural communities. My father would preach, my mother would sing, and my brothers and I would perform puppet shows to entertain the young ones. My early life lessons were to respect my elders and to offer myself to the greater good. Mon, 21 May 2007 19:28:49 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=488 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=488 By: Chandra Alexandre "I do think there needs to be a revolution in education – from focusing so heavily on what you need to get ahead in life, towards values and character building." – Lord Richard Layard Why is it that as people become richer, they do not necessarily become happier? Or that the very things we think we need to do to make us happy are the main source of our unhappiness, with our strivings for happiness being, paradoxically, the main cause of the suffering we inflict on ourselves and others? The argument of many, like Lord Richard Layard, Professor at the London School of Economics, is that, despite growing prosperity, people are no happier than they were some 50 years ago. In fact, Layard believes that it is “our striving, mobile, consumerist society that is eroding the very things we most need to feel good about life: a secure job, a sense of family and community, good health, freedom and a positive attitude. And simply teaching young people to aim for individual self-advancement, which by and large is what schools do, is part of this.” Mon, 14 May 2007 16:13:32 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=487 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=487 Finding a Livelihood for the Modern Spiritual Life - By: Georg Buehler In college, I became passionately involved in spiritual matters. I devoured books, I visited teachers, I meditated. I chartered a student organization called the Self Knowledge Symposium and hung out with other people equally enthralled by the possibility that we could find Answers for ourselves. And then, as we neared graduation, we started to ask the same real-life profound-yet-mundane question that dogs every college student: what am I going to do now? Which is really a euphemistic way of asking what your parents are asking: “When are you going to get a Job?” Tue, 08 May 2007 12:37:54 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=486 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=486 By: Byron Belitsos Aristotle defined the virtues that lead to happiness. Buddha taught the way to happiness through an end of suffering. Jesus preached that happiness springs from faith in the goodness of God. And in the last decade, the academic movement for Positive Psychology has created an empirical science of happiness. The findings of today’s pioneering scientific researchers into happiness strongly echo the world’s wisdom traditions, as Professor Jonathan Haidt shows in The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom (Basic Books, 2006). Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:34:27 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=485 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=485 By: Paulo Vieira de Castro For the Buddhists, Dharma is that which guides the mind. Dharma Marketing wishes to set the conditions for the necessary spiritual changes to occur, aiming to reach a sustainable proximity of all stakeholders. The best way to do it is assuring the organisations understand that, in order for this change to happen, they need to follow the example of the oriental management, where the enterprising spirit has an ascetic dimension, which has been stated for centuries, mostly recurring to spiritual values. Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:14:41 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=484 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=484 By: Sola Williams with Terra Williams (from the book Radical Spirit, edited by Stephen Dinan)"Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you love. " Jallaludin RumiRumi’s compelling call had been guiding my life for perhaps twenty years before I placed his words on the altar of my jewelry studio in Oakland, California. I had not heard of the poet-mystic back then, but there was a moment in my early childhood in Jamaica when I began to sense something going on "behind the scenes" in life. Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:29:26 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=483 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=483 By: Riane Eisler & Alfonso Montuori "Beginning to recognize and acknowledge Partnership in ourselves and in others, and finding creative alternatives for Dominator thinking and behaviors is a first step towards building a Partnership organization." OVER JUST ONE generation, there have been many changes in organizational development, management, and consulting. These changes have not occurred in a vacuum. Along with scientific and technological advances, there are major social, economic, and environmental pressures for change. Different terms have been used to describe this change: from modernity to postmodernity, from the Industrial to the Information age, from the Machine to the Systems age. But there is little question that we are rapidly shifting toward a very different world. Fri, 06 Apr 2007 11:03:54 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=482 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=482 Ecospirituality is based in a fundamental belief in the sacredness of nature, Earth and the universe. From an ecospiritual perspective, God, Spirit, and/or the Divine is very much a part of creation; a part with which we can interact on a daily basis through our senses and from such experiences gain greater insight into the wonder of reality. On a personal level, this inherent sacredness of nature generally leads to a spiritually-motivated engagement in the environmental and social crises of our planet and a dedication to the long view of sustainability. Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:50:44 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=481 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=481 By: Byron BelitsosThings fall apart, the center does not hold. —Poet W.B. Yeats, at the close of World War IIn the last few generations, the “modernist” consensus of rationality, democracy, and enlightened self-interest has broken down. The relentless modernist attack on religion and the reality of consciousness itself has diminished the moral heart of civilization, unleashing a reign of scientific reductionism that tells us that we are nothing but biochemistry and neuron impulses. Lacking a moral center, today’s anarchic reign of materialistic economic globalization has contributed to war, environmental destruction, and inequality. Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:11:44 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=480 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=480 By: Steve Beckow The spiritual Phenomenon called the Divine Mother has always been deeply interesting to spiritual seekers. Known to sages and saints throughout history, it is the Divine Mother whom we in the West address as the Holy Spirit and Mother Nature. In India, Hindus address Her as Shakti, Maya, Kali, and Durga. She is also known as Wisdom, Aum, Amen, the Word of God. By whatever name we refer to Her, She is an actual Entity that exists and can be directly experienced. In this paper, I present a number of conjectures about Her identity based on the recorded experiences of these saints and sages. Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:35:06 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=479 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=479 This is the first in the series of articles from the book Radical Spirit that we will be posting on a regular basis and is focused exclusively on Generation X spirituality. Albert Wong the author of this article is a past Marshall scholar and has assorted degrees in physics, philosophy, politics, and economics from Princeton, Oxford, and the University of Michigan. He won numerous national awards as a budding young scientist before working for the Esalen Institute for five years. He now works with Jeremy Tarcher in Los Angeles as chief research director at a think tank start-up that studies independent thinking and pioneering individuals. Fri, 16 Mar 2007 15:00:08 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=478 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=478 For many of the estimated 30% of the population that calls itself "spiritual, but not religious," the very word religion creates an unpleasant and aversive reaction. One does not have to go far to see the pathological aspects and abuses of religion today or remember the pathological aspects and abuses of the past. But, what if a group of spiritually mature individuals could co-create a new form of evolutionary spirituality in a completely new type of organizational form that could perform the beautiful social and spiritual functions that healthy, non pathological religions should perform, such as: Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:04:31 +0000 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=477 http://www.integrativespirituality.org/postnuke/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=477 By Ross Gittins, Sidney Morning Herald Martin Seligman, one of America's top academic psychologists and its leading happiness guru, is visiting Australian on a lecture tour sponsored by, of all outfits, the Australian Institute of Management. His thesis - for which he admits he doesn't yet have scientific proof - is that happier managers and workers lead to higher productivity and profits. Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:44:58 +0000