The Integral Stage
By Layman Pascal / Bruce Alderman
Additional Audio Podcasts:
Integral Stage Sexuality Series
Integral Stage Metapodcast
Integral Stage Author Series
The Integral Stage is
BRUCE ALDERMAN - Creator, Producer, and Occasional Host
LAYMAN PASCAL - Interviewer, Co-Conspirator, and Digital Shaman
The Integral StageOct 21, 2023
AUTHOR SERIES - "5 Principles of the Middle Way" w/ Robert M. Ellis
Layman sits down again with Middle Way philosopher and author, Robert M. Ellis, this time to discuss his new book, The Five Principles of Middle Way Philosophy -- the second book in a planned 9-part series on the Middle Way. Layman and Robert review the essential arguments of the book, exploring how a post-traditional, universalized middle-way philosophy might show up and what it might contribute to addressing the challenges of the contemporary world. From the book's description: "This second book in the 'Middle Way Philosophy' series develops five general principles that are distinctive to the universal Middle Way as a practical response to absolutization. These begin with the consistent acknowledgement of human uncertainty (scepticism), and follow through with openness to alternative possibilities (provisionality), the importance of judging things as a matter of degree (incrementality), the clear rejection of polarised absolute claims (agnosticism) and the cultivation of cognitive and emotional states that will help us resolve conflict (integration). These are discussed not only in theory, but with links to the wide range of established human practices that can help us to follow them. Like all of Robert M. Ellis's work, this book is highly inter-disciplinary, drawing on philosophical argument, psychological models and values that prioritize practical application." Robert M. Ellis is a philosopher, writer and teacher. He has produced a series of books about the Middle Way, understood as a principle of judgement that throws us onto experience by avoiding absolutes, both positive and negative. He has also founded the Middle Way Society to support the development and practice of the Middle Way understood in this way, and he has recently opened a retreat center, Tirylan House, in rural South Wales. The Five Principles of Middle Way Philosophy: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Principles-Middle-Philosophy-Experientially/dp/1800503032/
AUTHOR SERIES - "Birthing the Symbiotic Age" w/ Richard Flyer
For the forty-second episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman meets with Richard Flyer, founder of the Symbiotic Culture Lab, to talk about his new book, Birthing the Symbiotic Age. They discuss Richard's early life experiences and influences, and together explore how, as the book argues, "we can emerge from our fragmented and conflicted social networks/silos and create sustainable, interconnected ecosystem networks consisting of local leaders, organizations, businesses, and local government — in parallel to our already established systems." Birthing the Symbiotic Age https://richardflyer.substack.com/s/birthing-the-symbiotic-age-new-book Symbiotic Culture Lab https://symbioticculturelab.super.site/
SOUL OF A.I. #12 w/ Lee Chazen
The question of the promise and peril of AI is a proper one for our long-running Love the System series, but we thought it deserved its own spot as a sub-series due to the rapid development and proliferation of Large Language Models and other ground-breaking AI technologies over the past six months. It may be too early to tell yet, but with the clear power of this emergent technology, its potential to take over many of the tasks we used to regard as exclusively human, and its rapid public uptake, it feels like we are on the cusp of an epochal change. How are we to secure the psychological and spiritual health of human beings in the face of such developments? How do we ethically and wisely merge living and non-living intelligences? What wisdom from this corner of the internet -- from our respective integral, metamodern, and spiritual communities -- can help us navigate the monumental challenges and opportunities ahead? For the twelfth episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with Lee Chazen, founder of GliderCell AI Lab, to talk about how artists, creatives, and generalist philosophers can contribute to the development of more fruitful expressions and applications of artificial intelligence, and about his own experiments in AI-related 'meta-fiction.' GliderCell website https://www.glidercell.com/glidercell
NONDUALITY SALON w/ Leeza Edwards
For the 12th episode of Non/duality, Layman meets with nondual teacher, Leeza Edwards, to talk about her early formative experiences, her spiritual practice and transformation, and her insights into the nature of nondual realization and its relationship to or impact on growth, sense of self, relational and communication dynamics, connection to ancestry and lineage, and much more. Leeza teaches self-awareness, embodied peace and mindfulness through the “direct path” lens of non-duality -- principally as self-inquiry and meditation via retreats, online gatherings, presentations and personal sessions. LinkedIn page / leeza-edwards-756b6742 Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! / theintegralstage
METAPODCAST w/ Hoe Math
Several months ago, seasoned integral content creators watched with a mix of amazement and dismay as the integrally informed video, "Levels of Thinking," on a relationship and dating advice channel called Hoe_Math, blew up and got numbers in a couple weeks that no integral video in history has ever approached. Poor Corey DeVos needed to go get therapy, and I'm still recovering. So Layman wanted to find out who the guy behind the viral video is. Check it out. Hoe_math channel / @hoe_math Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/ Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the LIMITED HANGOUT guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
LOVE THE SYSTEM w/ Forrest Wilson
In Episode 25, Layman meets with Forrest Wilson, host of The Forrest Wilson Experience, to talk about healthy, generative relationships to money; the internal and external conditions needed to shift to new, more value-centered, eudaimonic economies; the importance of the cultivation of, and a living relationship with, financial intelligence; and much more. Forrest Wilson is the host of The Forrest Wilson Experience podcast. After his father passed away in his early twenties, Forrest decided to let go of the idea he had for his life based on the expectations, conditioning, and cultural constructs he took on as a young person and dive deep into healing, developmental, and awakening journeys. After nearly a decade of playing in the unseen world, Forrest has found connection to a tremendous passion for supporting a humanity to live life more fully. By embodying a way of being that is palpably alive, clear, penetrative, and illuminating, Forrest invites folks around him to play all out. Forrest Wilson website https://www.forrestbwilson.com/
LIMINAL CAFE w/ Elen Awalom
The Liminal Café is where the locals of the liminal web gather for coffee and conversation. In this new series, Layman chats with the people and patrons who, for some curious reason, find themselves drawn to this sketchy corner of the internet... SHADOW-WORK, DESCENT, AND DEVELOPMENT IN EMBODIED LEADERSHIP For episode 8, Layman sits down with Ēlen Awalom to talk about her experience as an activist, her spiritual awakenings, and her path of self-healing and development on the way to the creation of an embodied, integrally informed approach to leadership and leadership training. Ēlen Awalom is a technologist, creative (writer, exhibiting photographer, poet), human rights activist, trained anthropologist and start-up entrepreneur who lives in San Francisco, California. Born in Khartoum, Sudan to Eritrean parents, Ēlen came of age in the South Bronx and Northern Virginia. Ēlen's Professional website https://www.elenawalom.com/
Public Shadow in the Planetary Age #1 - "The Gafni Within"
This is the first episode of a new series exploring the subtle dynamics of collective shadow, narrative making & our responses to how we are perceived. In the digital epoch, it is unlikely that anyone will escape confrontation with a negative image of themselves existing in the minds of others. Do we learn from it? Fight it? Absorb it? Ignore it? And how do we evaluate anything when information itself becomes dubious?
Layman is joined this time by Dr. Marc Gafni -- the world philosopher of "cosmo-erotic humanism" together with Dr. Zak Stein. Gafni is the co-president with Stein of the Center for World Philosophy and Religion, founded with Ken Wilber in 2010, where they are articulating a “new meta theory story of value in response to the meta crisis”, even as Gafni lives as a character, both beloved and controversial, in the public mind.
Our task in this episode, and in this series, is not to demonize or exonerate. We encourage people to do their own research if they are interested. Facts matter. So do feelings. But that is not our topic in this series where we are focused on something more specific. We are not exploring the content of the narratives but rather how they emerge, how they are perceived by the people inside them, how those people respond under the conditions of the emerging digital, planetary age & what they have concluded about their responses.
We are not exploring content of the narratives but rather how they emerge, how they are perceived by the people inside them, how those people respond under the conditions of the emerging digital-planetary age & what they have concluded about their responses.
Center for World Philosophy and Religion:
AUTHOR SERIES: "The Marianne Williamson Presidential Phenomenon" w/ Michael Fisher
For the 38th episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman welcomes fellow Canadian, fearologist, and author, Michael Fisher, to talk about his 2021 book, The Marianne Williamson Presidential Phenomenon. While the book chronicled Marianne's first presidential campaign, and offered commentary and critique on the strengths and missteps of those efforts, it is relevant now as well as she enters the US presidential race again.
Layman and Michael explore these questions in the larger context of a consideration of the difference between a politics of love and a politics of fear. Dr. Fisher, Ph.D., is an independent scholar, artist, educator and fearologist and is founder and director of In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, The Fearology Center, and hosts the Fearlessness Movement ning as a social platform for building community and sharing resources on the impacts, individual and collective, of the culture of fear. He holds degrees in Ecological Sciences, Environmental Biology, Educational Psychology, Education (Secondary Science) and a M.A. in Adult Education and Ph.D. in Curriculum Design & Instruction (The University of British Columbia). He has specialized in futures, philosophy of education, leadership and organizational development and has long been on a healing and recovery quest, engaging in careers of artistry, research consulting, teaching and rehabilitation for youth and their families. The Marianne Williamson Presidential Phenomenon https://www.amazon.com/Marianne-Williamson-Presidential-Phenomenon-Evolution/dp/143317930X/
AUTHOR SERIES - "The Subtle Body: A Genealogy" w/ Simon Cox
For the 39th episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman cozies up in a yurt with Simon Cox to talk about his recent book, The Subtle Body: A Genealogy.
Simon tells Layman about his history studying martial arts, including six years under a kung fu master on Wudang Mountain in China, and the path that led him to a deep, graduate-level comparative exploration of conceptions of the subtle body in Taoist and Tibetan Buddhist / Bon traditions. What are the similarities and differences between Eastern models of the subtle body and those we have inherited from the Neo-Platonists? How have these models been conflated in past scholarship? What did Crowley bring to the subject? What are the practical and onto-epistemological implications of a deep understanding of subtle body tradition and practice? What are some promising paths of future research? What does this tradition have to contribute to the rising interest in neo-animism in our time, or even the strange stories about interdimensional beings now circulating in the halls of Congress following the recent UAP hearings? Join Layman and Simon as they explore these questions and many more. Simon Cox, Ph.D., is an independent scholar and translator who works primarily in Chinese, Tibetan, and Greek. His research focuses on mysticism and the body. He is also a teacher of Chinese Martial Arts at the Okanagan Valley Wudang center, and a collaborator at the Esalen Institute. The Subtle Body https://www.amazon.com/Subtle-Body-Ge... Okanagan Valley Wudang https://www.okanaganvalleywudang.com/ Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/ Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the LIMITED HANGOUT guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
SOUL OF AI #11 w/ Cris Beasley
For the eleventh episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with healer, artist, and AI entrepreneur and consultant, Cris Beasley, to talk about the interface of art and AI; the narcissistic dynamics that drive much of our modern structures, and bringing healing to those dynamics; "Letting the piranha eat us"; the difference between artificial intelligence and augmented intelligence; the potential for AI to take over the "synthesizing intelligence" and function of our leading-edge thinkers, and what then is left for humans still to develop and do; and much more.
Cris founded a sustainable AI company nine years ago – well before it was the latest thing on the block. It was featured in a cover story of The Atlantic. She stopped Sequoia Capital from trying to build an AI that was obviously never going to work. It was obvious if you bothered to do the back-of-the-envelope math, which Amazon did not do. They attempted the same thing, failed, and wasted a few million bucks. They should've had someone like Cris on their team. Before that, she led the redesign of Firefox support, which resulted in an extra 7MM users per year finding the answer to their questions immediately. Cris was selected to be in the first cohort of ambassadors to the Interledger Foundation. Their $15k grant supported her project about Jungian emotional polarities, Becoming Dragon, which was covered in Forbes. She advises Earthcodes.org on strategy for their regenerative data cycles project, AI for Gaia, in partnership with the Biomimicry Institute. In her copious spare time, she convinces two mischievous black cats to come when they're called, paints with watercolors, makes AI-generated short films, and plays electronic music that takes you into meditative theta brainwave states.
Cris Beasley portfolio
https://www.crisbeasley.com/portfolio
Becoming Dragon Oracle Cards
http://www.crisbeasley.com/
SOUL OF AI # 10 w/ Speaker John Ash
The question of the promise and peril of AI is a proper one for our long-running Love the System series, but we thought it deserved its own spot as a sub-series due to the rapid development and proliferation of Large Language Models and other ground-breaking AI technologies over the past six months. It may be too early to tell yet, but with the clear power of this emergent technology, its potential to take over many of the tasks we used to regard as exclusively human, and its rapid public uptake, it feels like we are on the cusp of an epochal change. How are we to secure the psychological and spiritual health of human beings in the face of such developments? How do we ethically and wisely merge living and non-living intelligences? What wisdom from this corner of the internet -- from our respective integral, metamodern, and spiritual communities -- can help us navigate the monumental challenges and opportunities ahead? For the tenth episode of The Soul of AI, Layman meets with musician and systems change thinker and advocate, Speaker John Ash, to discuss the limitations and misperceptions common to popular discourse about AI; the morally questionable, implicit goals behind the development of artificially intelligent agents; AI and art; possibilities for better and more transparently linking AI output to its sources in training data; revolutions in voting and governance systems that AI may facilitate, and much more.
SEXUALITY & GENDER w/ The Transpersonal Center
To shake things up a little on The Integral Stage, we are dropping down a few chakras to explore all the ins and outs of awakened sexuality, conscious relationship, and sensuously embodied spiritual practice. For episode 22, Layman is joined by Catherine Auman and Greg Lawrence of The Transpersonal Center in LA, to talk about the tantric arts, transpersonal dimensions of development, sexuality as a doorway to mystical or psychedelic experience, psychic integration before and after extended lovemaking, the science of creating a soulmate, the importance of friendship for intimate tantric sexuality, life as lovemaking, and much more. Professional website: https://www.thetranspersonalcenter.com/ Explore The Integral Stage on the Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
INTEGRAL UFOLOGY - Second Panel Discussion
Several years after the original Integral UFOlogy series was published, the Integral UFOlogy panel reconvenes to discuss the latest UAP news and disclosures, and the latest developments in their own research and experiences in these areas. Panelists: Sean Esbjorn-Hargens, Stuart Davis, Chris Dierkes, Giorgio Piacenza, Layman Pascal, and Bruce Alderman. Original Panel Discussion: • Integral Ufology Panel Discussion RESOURCES and REFERENCES Sean Esbjorn-Hargens' Exo-Studies Master Course: https://www.exostudies.org/ Stuart Davis' media Man Meets Mantis: • MAN MEETS MANTIS Stuart's episode on Weird Studies podcast: https://www.weirdstudies.com/37 The IS Language: • Creating The IS Language The Art of Is: • THE ART OF IS Aliens and Artists: https://www.aliensandartists.com/ Explore The Integral Stage on the Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters! Credits Intro and Outro Music: Remix of Sparkspitter's "Pretty Wave"
SEXUALITY SERIES - "Shameless" w/ Dr. Tina Shermer Sellers
For episode 23, Layman is joined by Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers, a sex educator and psychotherapist, to explore questions around gender and sexual development; the impact of shame on sexual development, and the relationship of shame and guilt; the problems in recent and contemporary sex education in the United States; the possibilities for a hedonic education; deeper forms of sexual identity and development available through tantra and entheogens; and much more. Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers is a nationally known speaker, educator, and writer on sexual health and the biopsychosocial-sexual impact of sexual shame and trauma.
She is professor emerita of sexuality and marriage & family therapy at Seattle Pacific University. As a past board member for The American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT), Tina is at the forefront shaping change in the lives of professionals and families. As a preeminent voice on the impact of abstinence education, purity culture, and the failure to provide comprehensive sex education Dr. Sellers is frequently featured on podcasts, TV, documentaries, articles, and radio, including Spirituality & Health magazine, and NPR’s All Things Considered. In her acclaimed 2017 book, Sex, God and the Conservative Church – Erasing Shame from Sexual Intimacy, Dr. Sellers reveals how the western conservative church in collusion with American consumer-driven culture and politics, has infiltrated our core ability to attach to our partners and instruct our children to attach to theirs. Professional Website https://www.tinaschermersellers.com/ Shameless Parenting https://www.amazon.com/Shameless-Pare... Explore The Integral Stage on the Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
AUTHOR SERIES - "Metamodernism" w/ Brendan Graham Dempsey
For the 37th episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman meets again prolific metamodern author and friend of the channel, Brendan Graham Dempsey, to talk about his latest book, "Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics." In this much needed work, Brendan surveys the variety of "metamodernisms" that have emerged in recent years and, using some integrative distinctions, argues for their deep kinship and complementarity. Brendan Graham Dempsey is a writer whose work focuses on the meaning crisis and the nature of spirituality in metamodernity. He earned his BA in Religious Studies from the University of Vermont and his MA in Religion and the Arts from Yale University. He lives in Wolcott, Vermont. Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics https://www.amazon.com/Metamodernism-... Follow The Integral Stage on the Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
MAHAMUDRA & GRAMMAR w/ Terri O'Fallon & Bruce Alderman
Layman Pascal and Bruce Alderman meet with Terri O'Fallon to discuss her recent course exploring the intersections of Mahamudra practice and the STAGES model; the relationship of states and stages, and the role of states in higher psychospiritual development; the linguistic dimensions of development, and developmental assessment; nonduality and the embodied dimensions of language; prepositions and other grammatical forms at the subtle and metaware tiers; AI, grammar, and higher development; and much more. Terri O'Fallon is a researcher, teacher, coach, spiritual director, and designer of transformative containers. She does ongoing research on the Integral STAGES developmental model, which supports a MetAware tier with four later levels of development. Her latest research probes into the relationship between states and stages. Terri is a founder of STAGES International, offering programs based on the STAGES model. She holds Masters degrees in Special Education and Spiritual Direction, and an Integral Ph.D. in Transformative Learning and Change. The Royal Seal: An Introduction to Mahamudra and STAGES course https://www.stagesinternational.com/M... Stages International website https://www.stagesinternational.com/ Follow The Integral Stage on the Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
POST-NORMAL WORLDVIEWS w/ Markus Feenstra
In Postnormal Worldviews, Layman is joined by eco-village explorer and Fourth Way practitioner, Markus Feenstra, to inquire into the question of normalcy, how it gets socially established, and what processes, practices, and sensitivities allow for the establishment of new normals; the problem of mismatches between the 'normal' and what we might sense intuitively as what is deeply right; the shamanoid role of the edge-dwellers; the Gurdjieffian possibility for a third position between the exoteric and the esoteric, the mesoteric, and how mesoteric individuals contribute to the evolution of culture; and much more. Markus Feenstra is a resident of the Earthsong Eco-neighborhood in Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the co-developer of a fractal theory of change and underpinning worldview that assists people committed to enhancing the wellbeing of all beings to renormalize themselves, so they may better embody their gifts for the world in their natural ways of being.
THE FIFTH QUADRANT w/ Aviv Shahar
Layman sits down with Aviv Shahar, host of the Portals of Perception, to explore his attempt at charting a grounded esoteric path that grows beyond our integrative metamodels.
AUTHOR SERIES - "Metaphysics of Exo-Life" w/ Andrew Davis
For the 36th episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman beams Andrew M. Davis up to his orbital studio to talk about his recently published book, Metaphysics of Exo-Life. In this wide-ranging discussion, they talk about the renewed interest in and relevance of the field of cosmo-theology, as scientists are detecting possible indicators of life on remote planets and the government is apparently taking the topic of UAPs more seriously; the implications of extra-terrestrial life for human religions and soteriological models; the nature of God in an evolving universe, and whether humans and alien species could ever arrive at similar theological or moral understandings; the relevance of A.N. Whitehead’s process theology for these questions; the strengths and limitations of Steven J. Dick’s naturalistic cosmo-theology, and what Whitehead has to offer in response; and much more. Andrew M. Davis is a process philosopher, theologian, and scholar of cosmological wonder. He is program director for the Center for Process Studies where he researches, writes, and organizes conferences on various aspects of process-relational thought. An advocate of metaphysics and meaning, he approaches philosophy as the endeavor to systematically think through what reality must be like because we are a part of it. He holds B.A. in Philosophy and Theology, an M.A. in Interreligious Studies, and a Ph.D. in Religion and Process Philosophy from Claremont School of Theology. Metaphysics of Exo-Life https://www.amazon.com/Metaphysics-Ex... Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
SOUL OF A.I. #9 w/ David Swedlow
For the ninth episode of The Soul of AI, Layman meets with coach and Circling facilitator, David Swedlow, to thread thoughtfully between the usual utopian and dystopian narratives on AI; and given the degree of speculation in the face of the unknown that even experts in the field are forced to do, to consider the roles and responsibilities each of us has to think these issues through carefully and creatively.
David's professional website
https://metastorming.com/
Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom!
https://hello.fathom.fm/
Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible!
https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage
Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the LIMITED HANGOUT guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
METASHAMANICS - "Jungian Psychology & Drumming" w/ Robin
Following on several episodes on The Integral Stage where we have discussed subtle energy, neo-shamanism, and related topics, Layman sits down with Robin, a Finnish shamanic practitioner and Jungian, to talk about the history of shamanism, the differences in its forms and manifestations around the globe, the various efforts to reconstruct lost shamanic traditions in our time, its intersections with Jungian psychology, drumming vs. psychedelics, his interest in Bon and the windhorse traditions, and much more. Robin is the host of The Moment Podcast, / @themomentpodcast
LOVE THE SYSTEM - "Post-libertarianism" w/ Jason McClain
In a swanky high-rise apartment, just beyond the Thunderdome, Layman sits down with Jason the McClain to talk about the attractions and the limitations of libertarianism, Jason's early formative experiences with it, and the experiences and insights that eventually led him to leave it behind. From a meta-level, they also discuss what it means, and what it takes, to be ready to let go of one's earlier convictions and to remain open, ongoingly, to further learning, growth, and transformation. Evolutionary Companies website https://evolutionarycompanies.com/ Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
AUTHOR SERIES - "Agromancy" w/ Patrick Gac
In this special, quasi-Author Series video, Layman meets with Patrick Gac to discuss an innovative, natural-cycle based divinatory system that Patrick argues is compatible with and informed by some of the leading theory in our liminal worldspace, from John Vervaeke's 4-E cogsci to Bobby Azarian's cosmology.
Agromancy, meaning "divination of the fields", is a card deck based system that generates mandalas. The Degtras Project https://www.facebook.com/Degtras86/ Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage
METAPODCAST - "Radical Emergence" Dr. Sally & Dr. Jen
Layman is joined by Dr. Sally Adnams Jones & Dr. Jen Peer Rich to talk about the journey that led to the launch of their Radical Emergence podcast, and the ideas and vision that inspire it.
What is meant by "radical emergence"?
In this time of rapid change and transformation, why is it important to explore vulnerability and suffering, descent and embodiment? What are the roots and dynamics of creativity? What are the differences in the ways men and women tend to relate to these things, and what modeling or inspirational roles can they play in integral and metamodern spaces where male voices have tended so often to dominate? Listen in as they explore these and many other questions in a very rich and enlivening discussion. Radical Emergence Podcast https://radicalemergence.org/
THE TRUST CRISIS #1 w/ Alan Watkins & Durwin Foster
In this special episode, Layman is joined by leadership expert, Alan Watkins, and psychotherapist, Durwin Foster, to explore themes from Alan's new book, Lie-Ability: How Leaders Build and Break Trust. What are the seven dark arts of deception? From integral leadership and psychotherapeutic perspectives, how are we to address breakdowns in sensemaking and coherence in a culture where deceit has become common, and will soon be even more powerfully amplified by AI and other emerging technologies? How can we better recognize, and respond to, the tactics of dark triad personalities in our political cultures, workplaces, and spiritual communities? A physician and neuroscientist, and the CEO of Complete, Dr. Alan Watkins is recognised as an international expert on leadership and human performance. Over the years he has coached thousands of individuals to greater levels of performance, transformed organisational cultures and helped leaders discover new ways to succeed. Alan has become a confidant to many of the world’s top leaders over the past 22 years. Alan believes we can create a world with enlightened leaders in all walks of life, but this requires leaders to ‘wake up’, ‘grow up’ and make better decisions. His optimism for the potential of human beings never wavers. He is also the author of many books, including Crowdocracy: The End of Politics and Wicked and Wise: How to Solve the World’s Toughest Problems. Durwin Foster, MA, CCC, has learned the science of effective therapy through rigorous academic training. Completing a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia, Durwin is certified at the national level through the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). Durwin completed all required doctoral level coursework and trained in supervision, while performing research on the benefits of mindfulness training. A close student of Ken Wilber, Durwin has recently trained in Full-Spectrum Mindfulness, an approach that combines mindfulness with developmental psychology to help us wake up from our dreams of separation, while also growing into our greatest potentials.
THE SOUL OF A.I. #7.5 -- Revisiting Jill Nephew's Position
For the eighth episode of The Soul of AI (or maybe this is episode 7.5), Layman sits down again with Jill Nephew to talk to her about her responses to some of the previous guests' positions on AI; the problems with scaling; and to go into more detail on her concerns about the limitations and dangers of this alluring technology. Jill Nephew is the founder of Inqwire, PBC a company on a mission to help the world make sense. The Inqwire technology is designed to enhance and accelerate human sensemaking abilities. The designing of the system required her to attempt to answer a fundamental question: how does technology interact with the mind's ability to do individual and collective sensemaking, and what are the principles that technology should follow to maximize these abilities? Jill's background includes developing tools, platforms, and meta-data-based software languages to help people find solutions to complex, real-world problems. She developed algorithms and models in the area of constraint-based optimization, drug binding, motion control, disease kinetics, protein folding, atmospheric pollution, human articulated movement, complex fluids, and most recently sensemaking. Personal website https://jillnephew.com/index.html Inqwire website https://www.inqwire.io/
AUTHOR SERIES - "Abyssal Arrows" w/ Cadell Last
Layman meets with Dr. Cadell Last to talk about a new philosophy anthology that Cadell co-edited with O.G. Rose, and to which Layman contributed as well: Abyssal Arrows: Spiritual Leadership Inspired by Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Through a review of a number of the essays in this volume, they explore the potential meanings and implications of the notion of Übermensch, especially in our times; the shamanic and tantric dimensions of Nietzsche's thought; the dynamics and scope of Nietzschean education; the relevance of Nietzschean spiritual transformation and leadership in a time of AI and VR; the importance of family and childhood, often missed by revolutionary humanist and transhumanist movements; and much more. Cadell Last, Ph.D., is a philosopher with an interest in anthropology and psychoanalysis, the creator of Philosophy Portal, and the author of Global Brain Singularity; Sex, Masculinity, God; Systems and Subjects; and Enter the Alien.
AUTHOR SERIES - "Human Work" w/ Naryan Wong & Leanne Holdsworth
Layman meets with the co-authors of Human Work, Leanne Holdsworth and Naryan Wong, to explore the leadership mindsets that can help foster more livable, humanised workspaces (British spelling of humanized optional!).
How can our work environments be transformed if learning and growth are regularly emphasized; if everyone is recognized as a leader in some capacity; if greater attention is paid to cultures of belonging, love, and care; and if we better digest the wisdom of human systems? How can indigenous ways of knowing, as Leanne is exploring with Maori colleagues in New Zealand, lead to greater connectedness between workers, and between workplaces and the rest of the living world? Leanne Holdsworth stands for a future where it is normal for work environments to be places where human beings thrive, enabling organisations to succeed whilst at the same time, building social capital through how those humans are able to show up with their families and communities. She is the co-author of Human Work: Five Leadership Mindsets for Humanising workplaces and author of the book A New Generation of Business Leaders and has spent 15 years advising organisations predominantly in the private sector (across most sectors including banking, primary sector, FMCG, tech, pharmaceuticals) as well as the public and not for profit sectors in sustainability strategy and leadership. Naryan Wong is fascinated by how individuals, teams, and organizations think and act in the world. He believes that humanity’s most complex challenges will be solved only through well-coordinated collective sensing and acting. By understanding how individual behaviour contributes to team dynamics, and team dynamics create organizational capacities, Naryan helps organizations and communities to act harmoniously to transform themselves and the world. Over the past decade, Naryan has practised the arts of systems change, network mapping, and organizational development in large corporate environments and not-for-profit community spaces. In 2018, he founded the not-for-profit ThinkBetter to better understand the feedback loops between personal growth and organizational culture. Nowadays, Naryan weaves his network at the nexus of various communities working to improve how humanity thinks and coordinates. Human Work network https://www.humanworknetwork.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Human-Work-Leadership-Humanising-Workplace/dp/B0C52JHK5P/
THE SOUL OF A.I. #7 w/ Jim Rutt
For the seventh episode, Layman meets with Game-B godfather, Jim Rutt, to talk about his recent experiments of using AI to help with screenwriting, the intersections of AI and the creative arts, the likely positive and negative impacts AI will have on human cognitive development, the alignment problem and the seven most likely challenges that AI poses to our civilization, and his ideal vision of an AI-facilitated era of human thriving. Jim Rutt is the former CEO of Network Solutions. The New York Times once referred to him as “the Internet’s bad boy” due to his reputation for creative mischief. He sold Network Solutions at the peak of the Dot Com boom and then went into scientific research. Jim has been affiliated with the Santa Fe Institute since 2002, serving as Chairman from 2009 thru 2012. Currently he hosts the Jim Rutt Show podcast, and is the gun-totin' godfather of the Game B movement.
AUTHOR SERIES - "Belonging Again" w/ O.G. Rose (Daniel Garner)
For the 34th episode of the Integral Stage Authors series, Layman sits down with Daniel Garner of @O.G.Rose (Michelle.and.Daniel) to talk about their new book, Belonging Again -- the first in a series of explorations on the topic of "belonging" in our fragmented age.
As they put it in the book's description: "Our identities, religions, nationalities, occupations, life choices, philosophies, political ideologies, political leaders -- none of these are 'given' anymore: whatever we face, we find ourselves full of questions. 'Is this true? Is this best? Is this valid?' ... Individuals today have more freedom than ever before, but at the expense of 'givens' which would help them determine what they should do with that freedom. Choice has increased while direction has decreased, so where should we go now?"
SOUL OF A.I. #5 - "Silicon Sages" w/ John Vervaeke
For the fifth episode, Layman sits down with John Vervaeke to explore the topic from the three angles John considers essential: the (cognitive) scientific, the philosophical, and the spiritual. John discusses why the initial announcements about LLM breakthroughs left him concerned and dismayed; why he is distrustful of both the apocalyptic and utopian claims around AI; what his greatest concerns and hopes are, and what the best paths forward are for mitigating the alignment problem; and why he thinks theology, surprisingly, will become central and relevant again. John Vervaeke is a professor of psychology at Toronto University and creator of the popular YouTube series "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis" and "After Socrates." AI: The Coming Thresholds and the Path We Must Take https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-_RdKiDbz4&t=0s Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage
SOUL OF A.I. #4 - "Techno-Animism" w/ Tada Hozumi
For the fourth episode, Layman sits down with Tada Hozumi to explore his thoughts on how a Shinto, animist approach to the world of living intelligences might help us wisely interface, also, with new AI systems, and to recognize some of their affordances perhaps not as readily apparent within our pervasive, materialist and reductionist worldviews. As their discussion deepens, they also get into tantric and Kabbalistic dimensions of AI, and an exploration of the possibilities of a techno-shamanist ethics and etiquette for our technological and social media landscapes. Tada Hozumi launched his career in 2017, when he started doing coaching work around undoing racism through somatic approaches. This piece of work evolved into something he referred to as ‘cultural somatics’, which is an approach to both individual and cultural change that posits that cultures are in fact bodies made of bodies. Because of this, individual change and collective change are necessarily embodied processes that have a fractal relationship. One of the great benefits he saw in this kind of ‘cultural-somatic’ approach was that it showed us that everything we learn about our own somatic process can be applied to an understanding of how to work with social transformation. Through these efforts, he met Dare Sohei, who had a great impact on his work as they introduced him to foundational concepts of what he could call contemporary liberatory animism, which led Tada to develop a cultural somatic framework that saw the ancestors and other intangible presences our cultures speak of as beings that live in the ‘cultural nervous system’ of our ‘cultural somas’. Professional website https://tadahozumi.com/ Remember to like, subscribe, and consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to the Limited Hangout guys, Shai Newman, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
METATHEORISTS - "Metaforma" w/ Branden Singletary
Layman sits down with Branden Singletary, aka Nexumorphic, to talk about his metatheoretical model, Metaforma, and the philosophical and psychospiritual influences behind his singular and highly creative work.
Branden is a designer and creator, focused on the demonstration of meaningful design – deliberate, purposeful construction, rich with context and meaning, executed with wondrous precision.
Personal website
https://www.nexumorphic.com/
Fathom app
https://hello.fathom.fm/
Support The Integral Stage on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage
METAMODERN SCENE - "Queer Liminal" with Rachel H.
The queer, liminal, and shamanic all point in their own ways to working fruitfully with 'betweens' and 'crossings,' and yet the possible relations between these worlds and their sensibilities are seldom discussed in the liminal / metamodern communities. Layman sits down with Rachel Hayden to explore these overlaps and to consider what might follow from their more conscious integration. Rachel tends to fret about what to write on a bio. Fortunately, her Personal Medicine of doing tai chi to become calmer is helping her at the moment. She has long been fascinated with mind-body practices, and uses many of these regularly - tai chi, Eastern and Western meditation and philosophy, and karate, to name a few. These have gotten her through some rough patches, kept her generally healthy, and pointed her toward greater insight and meaning. One of her other favorite things is music - listening, playing guitar, singing, and writing songs. Three years ago Rachel switched from being primarily a bodywork therapist and co-op grocery manager to being primarily a peer supporter. It has become part of who she is, and is probably the job she has loved the most, being with people through life's ups and downs. Being a queer trans woman herself, she often works with LGBTQIA+ people and others who are marginalized by society. Rachel became a CPMC to deepen and expand her approach to peer support, and help people find connections to their inner wisdom. She has a profound faith in authentic Personal Medicine, having realized its power in her own life. Remember to like, subscribe, and consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to the Limited Hangout guys, Shai Newman, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
METAMODERN SCENE w/ Hemant Gupta
21st CENTURY HUNTER GATHERERS For episode 7, Layman sits down in the Mumbai branch of the Liminal Café with author and podcaster, Hemant Gupta, to talk about his life and work - in particular, his writings and reflections on the new 'hunter gatherer' roles many of us find ourselves in, in an information ecology which is still in its wilderness stages; and a distinctive, quadratic heuristic he uses to nuance and think through complexity. Together they discuss what good next steps might be to bring a more globally expansive liminal community into being. Hemant Gupta is an author, illustrator, and podcaster residing in Mumbai, India. Meditations of a 21st Century Hunter Gatherer book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRWQ3WHS https://www.youtube.com/@ThisJourneyDialogues
SOUL OF A.I. #3 - An AI-enhanced Developmental Ecosystem & its Geopolitical Context w/ Fionn Wright
For the third episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with Fionn Wright, the creator of an integrative metatheory that draws on Chinese as well as Western integral models, to explore how AI might be leveraged to develop ecosystems of tools and practices for midwifing a Metamodern culture through and beyond the looming poly-crisis. They discuss the importance of tuning these tools, or at least the use of the tools, towards the cultivation of wisdom, and Fionn makes a case for focusing on the benefits this technology can deliver, and the developmental roles it can serve -- without ignoring or downplaying its real existential and social risks as well. Fionn is the Wellbeing Head at Qineticare. Having grown up in a family business in Europe and Africa, he earned his Bachelor in International Business from UBC while learning to speak fluent Chinese. Seeing gaps in Shanghai’s traditional market for corporate training, children’s education and language learning, Fionn founded and ran 3 innovative coaching companies, and led a team to develop the first Holistic Wellness Programs in China. Fionn is also trained in Neuroscience for Coaching, NLP Master Practitioner, Mindfulness-based Somatic Therapy, STAGES Developmental Coaching, Leadership Circle Assessment, Business Coaching, Transformative Leadership and with a Masters in Leadership Coaching, he now teaches over 40 types of meditation. Personal website https://fionnwright.com Universifying website https://universifying.com Qineticare website https://qineticare.com/ Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage
HEIDEGGER FOR A TIME BETWEEN WORLDS w/ Steve March
Layman sits down with Steve March, the founder of Aletheia coaching, to talk about the challenges and rewards of reading Heidegger; his radical focus on the phenomenology of the "everyday" world; his concept of breakdowns in obviousness, and the opportunities such events afford us individually and collectively; being-unto-death; the influence of Heidegger and the concept of 'ontological design' on the Aletheia coaching method; the intersection of technological and poetic attunements in this time of AI; Heidegger's problematic history and associations; and much more.
Steve March became a professional coach in 2000, and in 2003, he became a coach trainer, leading coaching certification courses in the United States, Asia, and Europe. He is the founder and originator of Alethia Coaching, which offers a new paradigm in self-development that helps people move away from a focus on 'improvement', and instead uses a methodology that allows us to 'unfold' into the essence of who we already are.
Aletheia website:
https://integralunfoldment.com/
LOVE THE SYSTEM - "Indigenous Data Sovereignty" w/ Trevor & Lee
Layman meets with two of the co-founders of ChinookX Technologies, Trevor Jang and Lee White, to talk about their efforts to establish and insure indigenous data sovereignty for tribal groups on the west coast of Canada, and to discuss the possibilities and the process of the decolonization of the internet. ChinookX Technologies website https://chinookx.ca/
AUTHOR SERIES - "Crossing the Threshold" w/ Matt Segall
Layman is joined by Matt Segall, this time to discuss his new book, Crossing the Threshold: Etheric Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead. Matt describes his book as "a philosophical experiment in thinking, feeling, and willing beyond the transcendental threshold of Immanuel Kant's critical philosophy" -- an exercise in opening to a "descendental aesthetic ontology," which places us back into participatory relation with reality, and roots us again in cosmic creativity. In thinking together with Schelling, Whitehead, Nietzsche, and other philosophers, Matt is interested in showing that there are resources for transformative spiritual practice, for a new shamanism, here but often overlooked within the Western philosophical tradition. Matthew D. Segall, PhD, received his doctoral degree in 2016 from the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. His dissertation was titled Cosmotheanthropic Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead. It grapples with the limits to knowledge of reality imposed by Kant's transcendental form of philosophy and argues that Schelling and Whitehead's process-oriented approach (described in his dissertation as a "descendental" form of philosophy) shows the way across the Kantian threshold to renewed experiential contact with reality. He teaches courses on German Idealism and process philosophy for the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. He blogs regularly at footnotes2plato.com. Crossing the Threshold book https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Thres... Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/ Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the LIMITED HANGOUT guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
THE SOUL OF A.I. #2 -- "The Great Illusion" w/ Jill Nephew
The question of the promise and peril of AI is a proper one for our long-running Love the System series, but we thought it deserved its own spot as a sub-series due to the rapid development and proliferation of Large Language Models and other ground-breaking AI technologies over the past six months. It may be too early to tell yet, but with the clear power of this emergent technology, its potential to take over many of the tasks we used to regard as exclusively human, and its rapid public uptake, it feels like we are on the cusp of an epochal change. How are we to secure the psychological and spiritual health of human beings in the face of such developments? How do we ethically and wisely merge living and non-living intelligences? What wisdom from this corner of the internet -- from our respective integral, metamodern, and spiritual communities -- can help us navigate the monumental challenges and opportunities ahead? For the second episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with Jill Nephew, an engineer and software developer, to explore her unique take on the hype and dominant discourse around artificial intelligence and large language models. Most of the commentators in this area, she argues, have fallen prey to a game of smoke and mirrors: there are no emergent properties, there is no latent intelligence or spark of consciousness, there is no "there" there at all -- nothing nutritious for the human spirit or human society, and certainly no basis for an emergent wisdom culture. She explains why she regards LLM developers as profit-motivated illusionists, and why we should give a hard "no" to this dazzling but ultimately empty and misleading technology. Jill Nephew is the founder of Inqwire, PBC a company on a mission to help the world make sense. The Inqwire technology is designed to enhance and accelerate human sensemaking abilities. The designing of the system required her to attempt to answer a fundamental question: how does technology interact with the mind's ability to do individual and collective sensemaking, and what are the principles that technology should follow to maximize these abilities? Jill's background includes developing tools, platforms, and meta-data-based software languages to help people find solutions to complex, real-world problems. She developed algorithms and models in the area of constraint-based optimization, drug binding, motion control, disease kinetics, protein folding, atmospheric pollution, human articulated movement, complex fluids, and most recently sensemaking. Personal website https://jillnephew.com/index.html Inqwire website https://www.inqwire.io/ Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/ Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage
LOVE THE SYSTEM - "The WECO Platform" w/ James & Laurence
Layman meets with the co-creators of the we{collective} social media platform, James Weir and Laurence Currie-Clark, to talk about their vision for a collectively owned, holarchically-organized, play-and-learning focused social media platform, and to reflect on the technological and AI revolutions that appear to be upon us. WeCo social media platform https://weco.io/ Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/ Please like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage
THE DREAMING ARTS - "Somatic Dreamwork" w/ Dr. Karen Jaenke
Layman meets with Dr. Karen Jaenke, a holistic educator and dreamworker, to talk about the somatic dimensions of dreamwork, the nature of the subtle body, the importance of dreamwork for navigating the metacrisis, and her unique integration of the insights and practices of Eugene Gendlin, Arnold Mindell, and Robert Bosnak. Dr. Jaenke is the former Chair of the Consciousness and Transformative Studies program and former Director of the Ecotherapy Certificate program at John F. Kennedy University. From 2001-2008, she served as Dissertation Director and Core Faculty at the Institute of Imaginal Studies. Currently an Executive Editor of ReVision: Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, she has edited and published journals on the topics of Imaginal Psychology, Shamanism and the Wounded West, and Earth Dreaming, as well as numerous articles on these topics. In 2000, she founded Dreamhut Consulting to offer consulting services for dissertation and thesis writing, dreamwork, hypnotherapy and mentoring. Her dissertation was titled: Personal Dreamscape as Ancestral Landscape. Her creative vision synthesizes dreamwork, indigenous ways of knowing, subtle body awareness and Gaian consciousness. Dr. Jaenke's professional website www.dreamhut.org Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/ As always, remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage
THE SOUL OF A.I. #1 "Cyborgregores & Artificial Wisdom" w/ Soryu Forall
For the inaugural episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with Soryu Forall, an ordained Zen monk and the head teacher at the Monastic Academy in Vermont, to talk about the ethical and spiritual challenges that confront us with the advent of this civilization-transforming, and potentially civilization-destroying, technology. Soryu discusses what he sees as an emerging (fanatical) religion of data-ism, the compulsion to summon a digital superintelligence or deity at all costs, and the existential risks this poses; and together they explore the concept of the cyborgregore, and the potential to build an Artificial Wisdom system to temper, balance, and constructively direct AI.
Soryu Forall has decades of intensive monastic training, a degree in Economics from Williams College, and extensive experience in social and environmental justice. As a teen, upon learning that monasteries are built for such a purpose, he traveled to Japan in order to study suffering and the end of suffering. Forall was ordained in 1998 at Sogen Temple under the tutelage of the Zen Master Shodo Harada. After training at Sogen Temple for five years, Forall trained further at Hemis Gompa, a Kagyud Tibetan monastery in northern India; Xue Feng Si, an ancient Ch’an monastery in eastern China; and at the Sariputta Ambedkar Monastery in southern India, where he served as head monk (Ambedkar Buddhism is an influential sect that defines spiritual training as social engagement and economic justice). While there, he led peaceful protests and organized community efforts to overcome the injustice of the caste system. He also helped to raise thirty boys with the understanding that all are inconceivably valuable, regardless of family circumstance. Forall, a native Vermonter, returned to his home state in 2008 and has continued to fight against systemic injustice and promote youth empowerment. He has created successful curriculum for mindfulness in education, trained professional mindfulness teachers all over the world, worked with high level athletes and business people on using mindfulness for high performance, and founded the Center for Mindful Learning, where he currently serves as President and head teacher. At the Monastic Academy Soryu dedicates his life to creating the next generation of awakened leaders.
The Monastic Academy
https://www.monasticacademy.com/
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RE/THINKING RELIGION #11 - The Question of Subtle Energy w/ John Vervaeke & Bruce Alderman
In Re/thinking Religion, a new Integral Stage series, John Vervaeke joins Bruce Alderman and Layman Pascal to explore possible points of contact and confluence between their respective approaches to religion and spirituality.
For the eleventh episode, Layman, John, and Bruce explore the question of subtle energy -- its nature, its scientific or religious status, and the roles that subtle energy cultivation and awareness may play in transformative processes. They discuss a number of the major paradigms on subtle energy, including one John has offered; its capacity to bridge subject and object, and psychological and contemplative domains; its moral dimensions; and towards the end of the talk, the reasons this topic is more important than ever for our communities to begin to explore.
SEXUALITY SERIES: Rethinking Yin, Yang & Eros w/ Sally Adnams Jones
Layman is joined by expressive arts therapist, transformative educator, artist, and author, Dr. Sally Adnams Jones, to talk about Eros, Yin-Yang polarity, gender non/duality, boundaries and consent, agency and communion, and the integral Tao of creativity. Sally Adnams Jones is Director of TransformArta and has taught art education at The University of Victoria, Canada. Her Ph.D. research explored how survivors of the HIV/AIDs pandemic in Africa transformed through their art practice. Currently she participates on Integral forums on Clubhouse, leads retreats and workshops, offers counseling and creative coaching, and is an artist and author. Professional website http://sallyadnamsjones.com/ Fathom app https://hello.fathom.fm/ Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage
THE END OF "UNLIMITED HANGOUT" w/ Ezekial-73 & Son-of-Korg
In 2021, Layman conducted a Salon of the Banned interview with Son of Korg and Ezekiel-73 about their experimental online magazine, the Limited Hangout, which was dedicated to exploring a host of paranormal, parapolitical, and "conspiracy"-related themes from an integral perspective. That experiment is now coming to a close, so Son of Korg and Ezekiel-73 (who outs himself in this video) return to talk about the origins and original intentions of the project; what they learned during this several-year journey; the amplification of the uncanny they experienced as COVID unfolded and fringe topics came more to the center of mainstream discourse; the challenges and gifts they experienced navigating alternative sensemaking circles; the reasons why conspiracy or parapolitical thinking now seems to be related to "Right-wing rabbit holes," and why that wasn't always the case; and much more. Limited Hangout website https://limitedhangout.wtf/
THE METAMODERN SCENE: "Voicecraft" w/ Tim Adlin
CATALYZING CONNECTION: A CONVERSATION MID-STREAM For episode 6 at the Liminal Café, we drop in mid-stream on a conversation between Tim Adalin and Layman Pascal. Although we drop in on the couch as eavesdroppers after the conversation has already begun, we can pick up soon enough that this is a rich conversation on conversation itself ... on cultivating the field, working with emergent criticality, and catalyzing connection across challenging boundaries. Towards the end of the conversation, they discuss the religion that is not a religion, dreams of pilgrimages and new formats for collective events, and Tim gets Layman closer than he's ever been to admitting his alien origins. Tim Adalin is the founder and producer of the Voicecraft podcast and a transformative philosopher. Tim's work focuses on the relation between participation and transformation, and integrates metaphysical and scientific modes of understanding. The primary medium of this work lives in embodied relationality with friends, family, and peers. He is concerned with the vital connections between psyche, culture, and nature, and is developing networks and communities that support wiser contexts for education, contribution, and belonging. Voicecraft Podcast https://voicecraft.io/about/
GAMEIFYING REALITY w/ Bobby Azarian
Cognitive neuroscientist and science writer, Bobby Azarian, returns to the Integral Stage for a deep and wide-ranging discussion of the emerging scientific paradigm -- the complexity science paradigm arising out of the intersections of physics, biology, neuroscience, and information theory -- that will likely shape self, culture, and society for the next century. If the universe is now known to be self-organizing through levels of developmental emergence, and if we are, as Carl Sagan once said, "a way for the cosmos to know itself," what really are the implications of such a view for all the domains of life that matter to us? This perspective, of course, is in its general outlines very similar to the one Ken Wilber outlined in Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, but the science has developed since Wilber published SES; so Bobby and Layman explore those developments, and how they further reinforce, and in some cases update, the synthesis Wilber offered several decades ago. Bobby Azarian is a cognitive neuroscientist (PhD, George Mason University), a science journalist, and author of the book The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity. He has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, BBC Future, Scientific American, Slate, The Huffington Post, Quartz, The Daily Beast, Aeon, and others. His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals like Human Brain Mapping, Cognition & Emotion, Acta Psychologica, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. His Psychology Today blog (Mind in the Machine) has received over 8 million views, making it one of the most popular blogs on the website. He has been a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, the Michael Shermer Show, The David Pakman Show, The Jim Rutt Show, The Young Turks, the Singularity University podcast, and many others. He helped develop multiple episodes for Season 2 of the YouTube Premium series Mind Field, which won the show its first Emmy nomination. He is a pro at audio and music production, and is currently working on an educational podcast based on his new book.
METAMODERN SCENE: "Pascal's Integral Batcave & Metaphilosophical Memes"
Bruce joins Layman Pascal under the Wayne mansion to explore Layman's infamous Facebook group, Pascal's Integral Batcave, and the art of metaphilosophical meme-ing.
Pascal's Integral Batcave https://www.facebook.com/groups/162945624115898
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