“Integral Life” offers a new 2-disc DVD entitled The Future of Christianity: A Startling New Vision of Hope for the 21st Century. Join Ken Wilber and renowned Christian contemplative Father Thomas Keating as they present their newest—and some say most interesting work! Discover a vision of the Christian journey that has radical implications for our spiritual lives and for the world as a whole.
To watch this 2-minutes trailer, just click below:
On January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Integral Life asked several former Integral Life and Integral Naked guests to share their impressions of this historic election—and here they are!
I suggest you to read below the Ken Wilber impressions published in the website:
“There probably hasn’t been as much rampantly enthusiastic idealism surrounding a president since the election of John F. Kennedy than there is around Barack Obama. In the Integral community, this naturally translates into the question, “Is Obama Integral?”
I have put off responding to this question until now, first, because I didn’t want to get involved in active politics (because there is as yet no Integral Politics in place), but second (and over-riding the first), I don’t think we’ve have enough genuine information to tell. Notice, for example, that a major watchdog organization ranked Obama in the top 1 or 2 most liberal senators in Congress—hardly a badge of integral inclusiveness.
And yet, particularly as the campaign progressed, Obama began making increasingly Integral-sounding pronouncements. In fact, an Integral analysis of his acceptance speech by Corey deVos and Clint Fuhs showed a genuinely high percentage of Integrally-comprehensive language and ideas (especially compared to the other candidates). It seems, in fact, that somewhere during the campaign itself, Obama went from green exit (the pluralistic stage of development, with its inherently high liberalism) to initial teal Integral waves (the first Integral stages of development, with inherent Integrally-oriented political stances). Increasingly his language and his values systems seemed to shift, right before one’s eyes, into Integral spaces.
It is, of course, still too soon to make a solid judgment about this, but it seems safe to say that Barack Obama is likely moving into truly Integral waves of development and therefore beginning to evidence truly Integral values and positions. Combined with his already significantly developed states (which gives the very notable Radiance and Presence to his being), this means we might very well be seeing, certainly for the first time in this century, a truly Integrally-oriented President of the United States. In this climate of possibility, reigns the intense idealism and sense of promise that this new President brings with him: the hope and promise that a new tomorrow is truly possible, and that it is beginning now, right now. If so, this is indeed a genuinely historical moment, when Integral consciousness has actually descended in and through the voice and vision of the most powerful person on the planet. We are truly beginning to enter the Integral Age, and Barack Obama’s voice might be the most notable and important Integral voice in the political arena. How can we know for sure? Stay tuned!”
One of the topics I am interested in is the debate around the concepts of “religions” and “spirituality”.
This is something that really challenges me, because, even if I come from a catholic tradition and education, I have always been interested also in other religions, their contemplative and meditative traditions and experiences.
But the concept of religion, in itself, is very different studying the asian spiritual traditions (like the buddhist and the induist, for example), rather than the meaning it has in the three main monotheistic traditions.
On the other side, but this is my personal experience, I believe in the interreligious dialogue, searching for what is essential and common in every tradition, experiencing different forms of meditations and prayers, without losing my catholic membership.
In the two “You tube” videos added below, I propose to you:
1. a Ken Wilber reflections on “The spirituality of tomorrow” (which, of course, is based on the “integral” Wilber perspective);
2. a chat among Ken and father Thomas Keating, entitled “Religious, but not spiritual?”.
Father Thomas Keating”is a trappist monk, living at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado (U.S.A.). He is co-founder of the Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., an international, ecumenical spiritual network that teaches the practice of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina, a method of prayer drawn from the Christian contemplative tradition.
One of my favourite intellectual interests, at the moment, is the integral perspective in many sectors of daily life, such as spirituality, social issues, politics, among others. Ken Wilber is the leader of this “movement” (even though I know he would not be happy me to use this term…)
I want to share with you his ideas about the integral perspective in politics, through a “You Tube” video recorded during a conference, some months before Barack Obama became the U.S. president elected.
In this speech, Wilber speaks about Don Beck‘s “Spiral Dynamics” theory which can be useful to know if you want to fully understand the Wilber’s integral politics perspective.
I believe a real “change” in politics should be “integral”. In my blog, I will soon add other papers, videos and links about this topic. Stay tuned…
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