Pray for Ken ...

 …. whose health is suffering right now, according to Nomali's ISC post here –http://multiplex.integralinstitute.org/Public/cs/forums/16007/ShowThread.aspx#16007

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Amen!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I love, love, love this guy. I don’t care if anyone else thinks he’s wrong, flawed, whatever. ..Kenji, you dazzling, unfathomably huge, great, wide and all-inclusive American Buddha, I want you to have the best freakin’ high time while you’re still on earth! Do you hear? You must be healed and whole and bouncing along full steam ahead.

Wilder prayers for Wilber, my Man!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

While recognizing that Ken is just as human as any of the rest of us (as his health problems unfortunately illustrate) I have endless gratitude for how his vision has inspired and informed my life.  His work and what flows from it have changed my life for the better, and I am amazed that he shares as much with us as he does.  Words are not adequate to express how much love, respect, even awe I feel for him.  I send prayers and metta to you, Ken Wilber.

Maryw, thanks for starting this thread.

arthur

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Sending boundless love and  healing thoughts to you Ken, dear teacher.

Love,
Monica

Re: Pray for Ken ...

In the spirit of “laughter is the best medicine” I re-post (from one of the IN forums) the following:

I think it's time to revisit the practice - first developed on the original forum - of Okendo, a focused tantric meditation in which sexual energies/orgasms are used to facilitate healing and sustaining Ken Wilber.  Okendo has been a core aspect of my ILP for some time now and I encourage others to come on board as well.  Please see Jana/Plasmafly's Pray for Ken thread for an explication of this practice, particularly this post in which the term/practice of Okendo proper was born. 

Well, why don't I just duplicate that particular post here?  This is me responding to Jana:

Kenantra, KWorgonathon, Kensex, Kenorgy,
I think I like Kenorgy best.

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Ken is in the ICU. Keep those prayers coming, folks. I wish we were all together. I'm trying not to cry at work.

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

thanks for letting us know.



i'm lighting these digital candles and sending my prayers.
hang on Ken…

Re: Pray for Ken ...

All my Love and Prayers, to you, KW.  Get well soon!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Hugs, Hearts, & Loving prayers to you Ken, my inspiration!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

much love to you, Ken.

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Liz, do you know where more information and updates can be found?

I'd like to let our local meetup group know and give them a link to turn to…

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I got my info at the Integral Naked site, from Nomali.

http://multiplex.integralinstitute.org/Public/cs/forums/thread/2663.aspx

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Dearest Bodhisattva Ken, may the blessings of more than all the atoms in a quintillion universes in each of the ten directions be yours… much love and much strength.  Blaine

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Hi everybody

I just heard from Nomali that Ken has been unconscious for many hours now, and the doctors don't know what's wrong, which isn't reassuring.  My heart is feeling very heavy right now.  Please send all the love and energy you can to Ken.

love to all
arthur

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Dearest friends,

I have just received this email. Ken is in a very serious condition but in very good hands. I do not know if it is ok to post this here but i see the love and care that is pouring in from everywhere and i think that it is ok to copy his email here. First of all, to everybody on the Zaadz thread and Multiplex thread - thank you all SO VERY MUCH. Your love and healing energy is I AM SURE making a difference. I have complete faith that Ken is going to be well again.

Prayers and Blessings,

Nomali

Email from Colin-

—–Original Message—–
From: Colin Bigelow
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 10:12 PM
To: IUhosts; Colleagues; Staff
Subject: RE: Ken

Hello Friends,

Ken is in stable condition at a local Denver hospital.  It's difficult to explain more about what happened today, but a whole team of wonderful doctors are working with Ken, and he's in very good hands.  Roger Walsh was even good enough to fly out today, and we're very grateful to have him here.

Once we gain a better understanding of the overall situation and run a few tests, we will be sure to let you all know.  It appears that the situation is extremely serious, but not catastrophically so.  Again, we will let you all know as soon as new information becomes available. 

Please hold Ken in your Heart, Mind, Soul, and Spirit….

Love,

Colin   

Colin Bigelow

Personal Assistant to Ken Wilber

Integral Institute

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I also want to say Thank you to so many of you who have been lighting candles HERE for Ken and those who are helping him.

Ken WILL get all these messages and candles from you all.

Deep bow,
Nomali

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Dearest Ken, you're in my prayers. 

I'm throwing my all of my Love into you.

Hang in there.

Thank you, Nomali, for the updates. Big hugs to everyone out there.

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I am sending love and and prayers to you, Ken….

om mani padme hung.

Nancy

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Hi Nomali

Thank you so much for the updates, and for linking to the candle thread.  I just lit several candles for Ken, and it feels good to take a “tangible” action, even as simple a thing as setting alight a virtual candle and sending love and prayers with it…I guess it's the ritual element.  I recommend lighting candles, it's a good thing.

arthur

Re: Pray for Ken ...

from “One Taste”:

“I am timeless
in essence I am all
the lines in my face
are cracks in the cosmic egg
supernovas swirl in my heart
galaxies pulse through my veins
stars light up the neurons of my night”

Much Peace, Love and Healing to All,
Chris

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I posted a Hafiz excerpt the other day here.  It has some of my favorite instructions for prayer.  What seems to me to be most important is to pray from a place of joy.  I know how hard that can be when we are all programmed to feel like crap when someone is in real trouble, but think of this quote and it might make sense: “You can't feel bad enough to make me feel good.”  In other words, the better you feel, the more empowered you are to make me feel good. So, I say, God Bless Ken, well-body or not.  We rise together in prayer and dance and laugh at the pain we pretend to feel.   When I pray for Ken, I will be smiling and thanking him for greeting me in the temple.  There he is.  His indestructible Self is smiling too.

Love and prayers,

Keith

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Thanks for this post, Keith. I've been thinking about some pretty grim stuff these past few days, not just about Ken but about my whole life and relationship to it.

I've felt so selfish to be sad about this–really, I've been worried about how I feel most of all. But I couldn't think of a way to turn it around and make it something helpful to Ken and everyone. I want to be putting out that positive energy.

So many of us treat our bodies as if they're somehow endlessly renewable resources, while hating them at the same time, as something other than ourselves, something taken completely for granted. Over-indulging, not giving it enough rest or exercise, not loving our bodies the way that we are intended to.

And there is Ken, doing everything in his power to keep his going. The King of the ILP, brought down low by his own body attacking itself. The irony is so palpable, it feels like a badly written book–hitting us over the head with the idea.

So here's my idea. I'm going to get a whole lot more serious about taking care of my body. Really loving it every day, as if I'm taking care of my own child or Ken Wilber. What wouldn't I do for them? I will do these things for my body, in honor of Ken and of everyone. I will take good care of myself so that I can further integral awareness and be with my loved ones as long as possible in the most healthy way, for this is the foundation upon which all the other holons in my life depend.

I can never, ever thank Ken enough with words, so I'm going to have to put a lot more of myself into it than that. Bless you, Ken, for showing us through your example.

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Beautiful advice, Keith!

Although I do believe it's healthy and honest to express – to the Spirit – feelings of pain and anxiety in prayer, I think it is good to mix the groaning with gratitude and light.

Today is a bright, incredibly clear, sunny day in southern California. In my heart, I am sending that sun and that warmth to Ken – and to you all …

Love,
Mary

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Dear Friends,

I have talked to Colin today and the good news is that Ken's condition has not worsened. I am choosing to embrace that fully as good news while holding gently and firmly the fact that the condition has also not improved.

let us be together at this time.

I thank you all for your prayer, kindness, dignity and integrity.

Maybe I will have more updates in the evening…

Love to you all,

Nomali

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Nomali,

Thanks for the updates, here's lending energy to Ken's healing.

In the Spirit of the Season,

Paul H.

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I am hoping and praying for Ken's recovery.  He is obviously an incredible human being, and has given so much and worked so hard.  His work and his being have totally transformed my life.  I hope we are given the gift of his continued work for many years to come, but mostly I hope that Ken gets to live a happy life that isn't continually sabotaged by his health issues.

Ever since I had my literally life-altering dream about Ken, his work, and his impending death (in the dream, mind-you), I have realized that it is up to me, you, and us to take what we have learned and *do something* with it.  It's not enough to study his work.  It's not enough to have Ken as a hero.  It's not enough to discuss his theories in like-minded communities.  I hope we all take this opportunity to think about what Ken's impermanence means to us, and how we can contribute to this Integral movement.

That being said, I'm extremely fucking sad right now and am holding Ken in my thoughts.  May he recover and be well soon. 

With a heavy and hopeful heart,
Aeryck

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Just checking for news before I go to bed. Thanks Nomali for sharing what information you have.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring better news.
Goodnight all
Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Hello dear friends,

I have talked to Colin and Dr. Roger Walsh. Ken has had some more tests done today. He is still in serious but stable condition and very loving hands.

We continue to send you our love and prayers.

Much Love
Nomali @ ISC

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Hi All,
Please read www.kenwilber.com blog page tomorrow morning for an update from Colin.
Thanks
Nomali @ ISC

Re: Pray for Ken ...

This has been posted by Colin on KW.com.

:-)

Nomz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Dang - I still can't read that blog because I don't have the very latest version of flash media.  Once I get to work I'll be able to read it, but I don't work Saturday or Sunday.  Would someone mind quoting here whatever appears on the blog?  And/or link to the actual blog entry - my browser can accept a link, but I can't get past the “you need to upgrade flash” if I go to the main page.

arthur

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Here you go:

Ken's Health
December 08, 2006 03:00

Dear Friends,

Early Wednesday morning Ken was admitted to a local hospital for repeated seizures and an abnormal cardiac pattern.  Ken is currently in stable condition in the Intensive Care Unit.   

Ken does not have a history of seizures, and there was zero warning that something was about to go wrong.  In fact, Ken had a fantastic day Tuesday, writing all morning and then meeting with several folks at the loft.

Doctors believe that they understand why these seizures occurred, and the good news is that it's nothing intrinsically wrong with Ken's physical well-being.  In other words, we have strong reason to believe we can avoid these in the future.

Ken has been sedated since admission to the hospital in order to help prevent additional seizures, and doctors are planning on slowly backing off the sedative in the next day or so.

This is clearly an extremely serious situation, but it does not appear life-threatening, and according to the lead doctor at the hospital, she has no reason to believe that any of these conditions are irreversible. 

If you would like to express support for Ken, please pray, do tonglen, or simply hold him in heart and mind with loving-kindness.  Ken has always said that these practices work wonders, for both giver and receiver, and all of your love and care will be deeply appreciated by him.

Please do not send flowers; if even a dozen kind souls send flowers, the doctors will have no space to work.  And naturally, please do not try and visit Ken in the hospital.  Ken is in Intensive Care, and only family or extremely close ties are allowed in, nor is the hospital allowed to disclose that Ken is a patient there.

For the time being, I will be posting short updates on Ken's condition daily.  As might be expected, we are looking at days and weeks in terms of recovery, but even just 48 hours after all of this started, recovery does indeed appear to be the path we've already begun.

Please, friends, walk with Ken on this path.  Lift him with your heart, touch him with your mind, bless him with your soul, liberate him with your spirit.  He will feel you, and you will feel him, and this miracle of we shall embrace us all, radiantly erupting as the bliss-agony of One Heart pulsing in so many bodies.  Ken is nearer to you than your own skin; feel him with reckless abandon.  Nourish this precious body of our beloved friend with all the love available to you.  Let that love open you to infinity….

Prajnaparamita,

Colin

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Thank you, Liz.  This is good news.  :)  I continue to pray and do metta for Ken.

arthur

Re: Pray for Ken ...

That was very nice and thoughful of you Liz to post on the I-I boards for those with tech issues … you guys are still alays on top of things ( :-) )

This is still very difficult to read though … . not fun …

Prayers …

Re: Pray for Ken ...

No kidding, Tim. This has been a horrible week for me and so many people.

Always with the growth opportunities! Feh!

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Don't you think one of the lessons here -at least as far as I am seeing it-is the connection of the collective shared interiors, and how either difficulties (or in happier times inspirations) just systemically branch out and touch and affect all involved? Sorry if I am putting that too theoretically, but

there is no question that we were all -or so many of us-affected in some sort of real, deep and substantial way by the whole forum/spam debacle (and maybe even just a whole collective and gradual “forum death”) and there is no question that this was related to major difficulties occuring “inside” (and literally inside) of I-I. Things come through the space like waves that deeply affect the entire collective. I hesitate to use the ripples analogy becasue it is so cliche but that is exactly what it is. Deep waves and ripples that we might not even be conscious of. And yet where it starts nobody knows. It is only certain that something is moving and we are all affected by it.

And then now this and we are all affected even much more deeply and-finally-consciously.

It's just all the many ways we touch and the sometimes tragic miracle called “we.”

I guess what I am trying to say is that there has been quite an UN-conscious collective struggle occuring, or at least a “what's going on?” thing happening happening in interiors and being expressed in many ways. I have felt it for MONTHS! and as I think you have been implying, in ways that are seeminlgy unrelated

And in retrospect, the timing is very much in relation to what we now know as the advent of internal struggles within our collective epicenter here, I-I.

And now?

Is this a collective opportunity/wake-up-call to turn it all around?

I think we can … . and beginning with just little, little bits of love, care and concern … . once again rippling back out from all … . Hence, like your little gesture to make sure everyone could read the latest blog.

Cool.

Prayers …

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Tim wrote: Don't you think one of the lessons here -at least as far as I am seeing it-is the connection of the collective shared interiors, and how either difficulties (or in happier times inspirations) just systemically branch out and touch and affect all involved?

So true, Tim! And thank you for your post, for putting it all into words …

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Dear Timelody,

Your insight above is very accurate. There was SO much going on - and will continue to in many ways - and so little that we could actually publicly announce. It still breaks my heart at what happened in the forums, at II, between all of us and wanting to help and being helpless and trying to hold it all together and drop it all too. So much truth in what is being said across the blog world and also, so much distortion - by those inside II and outside, still here or departed. No time in the short history of II has so much gone on and very little anyone could intelligently do about it all.

Right now, it is Ken's health that matters. All of your love and support is INCREDIBLE. Please let us not lose faith and hope. I very nearly did - i mean with, II. But I am still here.

STILL HERE, PRAYING and WANTING YOU ALL!

Much Love
Nomali

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Indeed, Nomali, if not for you, I probably would have quit I-I entirely by now.

Tim–There are other ideas in my head not quite formulated, but I'll bring it up on another thread when I do formulate them.

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

With Vajra Body, Voice and Mind conjoined

I pray to and exhort the Supreme Protectress

Arya Tara, mother of all Buddhas,

To hold our dear Ken in her compassionate embrace

Hold him safe for the benefit of all sentient beings

Om tare tuttare ture svaha

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Dearest teacher….

Iam through you so I
and for that I bow in gratitiude.
your light has let a thousand I-I's see
both their light and shadow

And now…
you lay in limbo
and I wonder who I feel more pain for…
you, I, we

Not yet dear teacher.
Not yet…

Their is work to be done.

Big Heart Aches…

Re: Pray for Ken ...

This lovely message has just been posted in the ISC Editor's Weekly Blog: 

 

Prayers for a teacher…

New this week on ISC……

Brother David Steindl-Rast at Integral Contemplative Christianity Seminar

Fierce Grace from Elizabeth Lesser@ ISC

Still to come this week - Interview with Swami Sally Kempton

Beloved Friends,

Your prayers, loving care and concern pouring in from all corners of the world for Ken Wilber are beyond us, divine and precious.  We just cannot thank you enough. Your being right here with Ken at this time when his health has been hit the hardest is a pillar of strength to Ken, those who are closely caring for him, and all of us at Integral Institute. The chain of prayers that continues to build here in the Multiplex, and II-Zaadz is the good, true and beautiful shining through you at its best. Our dear friend Colin also will bring you updates here.

We would also love to take a moment here to thanks Brother David's Light a Candle feature on his website http://www.gratefulness.org/ which has allowed for so many to pray and contemplate in one place. Arthur, one of our dear members said ”Thank you so much for linking to the candle thread.  I just lit several candles for Ken, and it feels good to take a “tangible” action, even as simple a thing as setting alight a virtual candle and sending love and prayers with it…I guess it's the ritual element.  I recommend lighting candles, it's a good thing.” Thank you all so much for holding this beautiful vigil. It has now become a daily practice for several of us. What brilliant use of technology! (If you would like to light candles, please see here)

Dearest Ken, Colin, Becca, Ken's family/close friends, Dr. Roger Walsh, all others doctors, nurses who have been taking care of Ken and all sentient beings in need of the wealth of good health, we pray, we pray, we pray…

On another note, keep your eyes and ears open - Stuart & Marcy Davis are just about to have their second little bundle of joy. Any time now, guys! We saw them yesterday with soon-to-be big sister Arabelle and they are all simply glowing and radiant as ever.

So much Love to you All,

Deep Gratitude,

Nomali and Rollie @ ISC

PS- I made a very difficult demand of Rollie Stanich recently. I think it is time his yellow shirt here is given away. What do you think? Am i right or am I right?

Published Friday, December 08, 2006 7:52 PM by perera

Re: Pray for Ken ...

What a beautiful message and a ray of hope …

I hope this is appropriate to post here now - one might want to bask in the beauty of the above message for a while before moving on to this -but I wrote it in response to Nomali above whose message seemed to give me an opportunityto put words to something I have been desperatley wanting to say… so here it is …

Nomali wrote:
  

Dear Timelody,

Your insight above is very accurate. There was SO much going on - and will continue to in many ways - and so little that we could actually publicly announce. It still breaks my heart at what happened in the forums, at II, between all of us and wanting to help and being helpless and trying to hold it all together and drop it all too. So much truth in what is being said across the blog world and also, so much distortion - by those inside II and outside, still here or departed. No time in the short history of II has so much gone on and very little anyone could intelligently do about it all.

Right now, it is Ken's health that matters. All of your love and support is INCREDIBLE. Please let us not lose faith and hope. I very nearly did - i mean with, II. But I am still here.

STILL HERE, PRAYING and WANTING YOU ALL!

Much Love
Nomali

It is cliché to say that it is the little things that matter, but again, just as with the ripples above, it is also true. And also very powerful. After all, oaks grow from acorns, Buddha's and Christ's come forth from microscopic organisms and those from subatomic molecules and atoms and even those from absolute Emptiness …

But Nomali, Liz is correct-or her sentiment is surely shared by many others-that just your little messages over these last few months have been enough; acting like a powerful glue, little by little, ever so softly and powerfully, holding major parts of this community STILL together.

I felt the same way this morning when I woke up and was somehow just so profoundly touched by the fact that Liz did something so incredibly little and somehow incredibly powerful too. Because Arthur had a problem with the blog, she posted it for all or for anyone else who might experience the same problem. Once again, just a little powerful love-glue, that is going to stretch for miles and eons in holding something magnificent and beautiful and new, and good and true -together.

The thing is that we have here, now, an opportunity. And in a very real way the timing of certain things has been -or is, in fact- perfect.

The opportunity is to, while we have the chance, simply stop, and observe the weather.

There is a storm brewing… . it is not only creeping on the horizon, but has already given its first signs; a little sprinkle shower that almost got out of control very quickly … but it is being held back … for the moment.

(And I might add, largely it is being held back Nomali, once again, because of you!)

Held back, for the moment, but there can be no doubt that it is waiting there, to erupt, quickly, spiral out of control and bring us all once again on a lovely trip into the depths of endless acid rain in useless complaint ridden, shadow entwined, no good, gossipy useless hell; a Seventh Circle no longer constrained to one small tiny place, nor to mostlybits of humor, but now overtaking the entire community in its wild abandon, showering us all with its magnanimous 'love' …

Or simply, a new and massive storm awaits its opportunity to make it's home is our shared collective interiors, and ultimately to no one's benefit.

And we have the chance to diffuse it and exhaust it, obliterate its potential - now. We have the opportunity to cease the storm before it arrives, and turn it into something useful. Something Good and True and Beautiful. Something for which all of us are in truth all really after and interested in here in this community, in this shared collective, in the first place.

It is, of course, sadly unrealistic that all involved in the collective cultural-interior holon would or will actually listen to or see the truth in such a sentiment. Or realize such on their own, or even, sadly, be capable of realizing what I am saying. That needn't really be an insult, but put another way, it is unrealistic to believe that there will be no storm, and no storm lovers waiting and foaming at the mouth to finally join in on all the suffering fun and bask in participation in the lovely, surely coming, acid rain. Most sad of all, many of whom who will believe that they are truly doing something good -while they aren't or wont be. Just further useless firewires dragging the shared space into compounded samsara by their -however normal and natural and understandable and compassion worthy-inability to be conscious of what it is that they are actually doing.

But at the same time I know that there are already those out there who consciously know what I am saying, and many more, I think right here on this thread and already within earshot-those who I am most interested in reaching with whatever single small voice I can in most passionate humility, service and surrender, muster-who will get it, with just the slightest prompting.

Another shit-storm, another torrential vomit, snot and diarrhea tsunami filling the integral we-space and sending it spinning into a collasal toilet-as I am sure those who would get what I am saying surely must know is coming, is going to do nothing but once again choke and gag the emerging, aspiring integral community

- and this time, I fear, even worse than it ever has before. This time, it might kill it.

An emerging conscious and consciousness collective may die … That is, it seems right now and I don't think I am being overly-dramatic, a very real possibility (especially considering that it has almost already happened!)… and all for what and why? 

… . unless we realize it before it happens.

At which point, the torrential manure will or may or can potentially become the richest fertilizer yet for this our truly sincere and collective garden. A real one, not a metaphor …

We have an opportunity, in the real-time flow and progression of ever-passing time … to make this not happen … and to make what we are really interested in actually happen.

I, as one small member of this community, do hereby humbly beg all of you and any who will listen, to hear and stop and see-consciously realize- this pause before the coming storm  … as an opportunity … for consciousness, Awakeness, for Genuine Growth.

(WARNING: the following may be a bit powerful, but it truly does come from my Heart)

If Ken Wilber dies what will we be left with and what will we make of all that has happened and what will we make of what happens next?

So too, if Ken should ever regain consciousness-and you know that we hope and pray that he will … what will be waiting to greet this consciousness? What will be waiting to greet  the real I-I -OUR OWN real I-I- when the epicenter of this shared togetherness of consciousness, the catalyst that, sure, may not “own” it, but also sure as fuck brought us all together here now- what will be waiting to greet him? Consciousness and aspiration? Or a shit storm?

Hero or not , human being or not, man or not, piece of garbage jerk bad leader or not … who will be responsible for one more horrendous thorn piercing the Heart of the world or one more truly beautiful, hopeful, life-giving and uplifting flower?

I am vying for the latter … and that is where all of my prayers are going …  and at this moment, all of my energy. Metaphors aside, I am vying for this in a very real and hopful and practical way.

Namoli, Liz, Mary, Arthur and all, on the day that we seemed to finally get some response from inside I-I on the spamming issue and so on, I wanted to respond in a certain way but I just did not feel it would be appropriate at the time. I could hear the struggle in Corey's post and the struggles that surely must have been going on inside I-I and causing all of us pain in so many ways -and as you say Nomali, in so many ways, also the struggle to FIND A WAY OUT!

And this moment now is our opportunity. All of us. Or at least those who will listen.

I wanted to send a message of hope, because there is ALWAYS hope, but I though it would not work at the time. It would be inappropriate and would even come off as an attempt to brownnose or be a falsely positive weasely sycophant jumping on an opportunity to “get in good' with I-I 9at the wrong and suffering moment) …

But none the less that did not change the sentiment.

And then this arrived in my email box, expressing perfectly the sentiment, but I have sat on it and simply saved it until now. Here is the message that may indeed have been intended to reach us all,… from Shambhala's Ocean of Dharma weekly email series … (emphasis mine)

November 16, 2006

PATIENCE WITH CLARITY

“Patience, ksanti in Sanskrit, is usually taken to mean forbearance and the calm endurance of pain and hardship. But in fact, it means rather more than that. It is forbearing in the sense of seeing the situation and seeing that it is right to forbear and to develop patience. So ksanti has an aspect of intelligence, in contrast, one might say, to an animal loaded with baggage which must go on and on walking along the track until it just drops dead. That kind of patience is patience without wisdom, without clarity. Here we are referring to patience with clarity, and energy with the eye of understanding.”

From “Patience,” in MEDITATION IN ACTION, the Shambhala Pocket Classic Edition, page 85.

We have an opportunity.

As my own Enlightened Bodhisattva teacher, a friend and student of Trungpa (whose quote that is above) used to say

“You have a right NOT to be negative.”

Let us all begin to seize that right, right now, and our opportunity; this blessed, blessed, blessed opportunity, come what may  -NOW.

Peace and Love and Love and Love,

Tim

 … and hoping this all makes sense and might have some bit of meaning to anybody else …Sorry if this might have sounded like  sermon …

Peace

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Timelody, dear friend,
i am in tears.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for every single word you have taken such care to write. You have, i am sure, inspired us all. ALL of you, have profoundly touched my heart and the heart of Ken and II. 

I have to be honest. I am so touched, i don't even know what to write.
I fall to my knees over and over again.
For you, for us…this miracle of We.
-nomali

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Nomali,

Thank you for all you have done to keep everyone informed. Tim is right, you are acting like the glue our we space so sorely needed, I only wish there had been a different opportunity for the strengths in this community to come through.

Sometimes it takes a crisis to help us all see what is really important.

Does anyone else remember as a little kid, praying on a bargaining way, sort of “Please God, give me this one thing and I'll either (option 1) do something good and virtuous from here on, or (option2), I'll never do X again so long as I live (option 3) never ask for another favour again ?If it really worked like that, we have a lot to trade……..collectively.

Huge appreciation for all you and Colin are doing for us in the midst of your own difficult week. Continued prayers for Ken.

love
Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Tim,

Thank you for this post.  I have watched myself shift among several perspectives over the past several weeks (months/years):  challenged and excited by the potential of II and the community and forums; attached to the primary players and connectors in the forums; concerned about the legitimate issues raised and the ensuing deep frustrations; and yes, intrigued and entertained by the daily unfolding drama…

and now I am saddened that I am not doing more to help bring/keep this precious, very young organization vibrant and moving forward.   Thank you for letting me/us see a bit more of the picture….this is a precious moment in the life of II.  We have an opportunity as others have said.  Let's use it.

I have worked in and been a part of many different kinds of organizations and communities.  There are always challenges and tensions and growing pains.  Its so easy to sit back and criticize, to trash the ones who took the lead to move forward.  We called this “trashing” in the earlier days of the womens movement.   Everyone wanted a strong movement, but as soon as one or a few women came together to make new strides publicly, some elements of he community would begin to cirticize and tear them down – trashing.  

 Who should know this better than all of us, who study the AQAL model, understand and live the experience of developing through the spiral, dealing with the shadows that arise, always, when new ground is taken, etc?  The tension between the visin of a great leader/teacher and the organizational needs that develop as the teacher's vision becomes manifest is very common in spiritula and other communities.  It's a healthy part of development.  Let's let the process work itself through, with the support of the best organizational coaches, management gurus, and mentors we can find, and lets all allow the process to succeed –beyond our wildest expectations.

For my part, I will not demand to know every detail of whats happening inside II for the sake of “transparency”, when a part of me also is fascinated and riveted by the drama.   I urge the new iterim CEO/President to seek the best guidance and support available (and it certainly is available to this community), work with the board, the staff, and with Ken when he is well again, to create an organizational environment that can hold this vision and the people,  and create new forms to bring integral into the world.  I will suspend and my positions, my judgements and allow the organization to move through this time of “breakdown” so it can reach a new transparency, a new breakthrough.  Meanwhile I will participate and not just lurk, I will attend to my own ILP practices, I will reach out to the community for help when I need it, and take my share of responsibility for creating the evolving “we space” in our beloved II community.

My prayers and love go to Ken for his full recovery and freedom from suffering.

Love to you all,
Nancy



      

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I saw The Fountain earlier tonight and damn if that bald Hugh Jackman doesn't look a little like you Ken!
I am praying for a return to good health for you Ken.

Re: Pray for Ken ...

 He will be in my meditation.

Love to you and thanks for the updates.

Patrick

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Ken,

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. 

My Heart and prayers are with you.

Elizabeth

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Tim

Thank you for your kick-ass level of insight and clarity, not to mention the outpouring of love. Your presence in the integral we-space is so very important.

Pelle

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Thanks all of you. I had a dream last night that left me with the most wonderful positive feelings this morning that I took to mean-and actually be-some kind of connection with so many or all of the wonderful members of this community. (there were all these friends, it was a gathering in a holy place, etc.) and I woke up with just such wonderful positive feelings about it.  Someone else (Balder) mentioned having a very positive dream as well and I don't know how to take that except as a wonderful sign! and gift. Let us continue to direct all of that love to Ken and those around him, who I am feeling more and more positive that i know will be well.

You hear that Ken?!

Nomali, I really think you have stood as an example of “forbearance becasue you see the situation and see that it is good and right to forebear” (if I quoted that right). So thank you from all of us. ISC is in good hands and good Big Heart!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Heart full with wishing for you Ken

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Ken, may the light surface blaze through you again and the fierce brilliance and compassion strike through us again.

The problem I have the critics and people urging transparency is their lack of fresh insights. The day all these people are able to practice, work and provide maps that inspire me, I will take their point of view. I see all of them hiding behind Ken's work, persona and deconstructing them. And for anyone who has worked in large corporations and companies,  the differences that have been highlighted are standard operating proceedures in companies and never result in such catharises. My view is critics in the Integral movement need to work in orange organizations then they will realise the value of clear unambiguous leadership. Microsoft was not built by consensus but management executing the vision of Bill Gates and more by adapting to the Strenghts and weaknesses of  Bill Gates.

I am sure Ken wil return to continue the Sadhana as he as..

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I just cut and pasted the from I-I (“Ken's Health):  Great news!!

****************************************
Dear Friends,   Ken was taking a prescription medicine known to cause seizures.  He had one.  Don't worry, he will be completely fine.  Sadly, he cannot have visitors, because they're keeping him for a week in the hospital for dialysis.  He sends all of you his love and he says, “Enjoy the vacation, I'm coming back!”   Colin

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Beat me to it Nancy! Still, I'll post it again for emphasis -and I hope/am sure Mark wont mind … .

At about 8 this morning
 

mrksteele:

There's still no update on the blog and nothing here for close to 18 hours, I'm getting worried again.

There are a couple 1000 people in the virtual hospital lobby here who are axiously waiting for any news at all, you know how it is when a loved one is in the ICU and you are stuck in the lobby and would love to know what's going on, time seems to slow to a crawl, I've been there…

Mark 

mrksteele:

Never mind, spoke to soon….. I just saw this on an email list 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Friends,

Ken was taking a prescription medicine known to cause seizures.  He had one.  Don't worry, he will be completely fine.  Sadly, he cannot have visitors, because they're keeping him for a week in the hospital for dialysis.  He sends all of you his love and he says, “Enjoy the vacation, I'm coming back!”

Colin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HALLELUJAH!!!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

On your feet, Cowboy!
Big Love,
Cori

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Wonderful news.
Grateful thanks

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Liz wrote: Tim-There are other ideas in my head not quite formulated, but I'll bring it up on another thread when I do formulate them.

Liz


Liz and all,

I started a thread on this -the holonic “energy grid” -per your comments …

I think it's an important (if complicated) subject.

Peace, Tim

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Dear, dear Friends, we will send updates soon but Ken is getting better! Yeah!

I have one kind request of you all. Some of you receive emails (official or private) that are sent from Colin, Ken, etc through various lists that they use. I kindly request that they are not posted on the web unless they have already been posted by an II site or KW.com site.

We appreciate your cooperation very much.

Thanks, our dearest friends.

All Love
Nomali

Re: Pray for Ken ...

deep prayers into the great heart mother and in the same breath creating the healing power of perfect evolution.

“what will be
will be well
for what is
is well”
-walt whitman-

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I also posted about my support and hope for him in a couple of pods.

To Ken:
You have my love and support.  You will be in my thoughts and prayers.  Thank you so much for affecting my life in such a profound and positive way!  I wish you a full and speedy recovery, my friend!!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Get better, feel better, beloved teacher and at-heart friend. 

Sending all love from Stockholm,

Brian Levy

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Hello Dear Friends,

Things are looking good. We have information that Ken is out of ICU and beginning to feel much better. It may take a while before 'K-dawg' is back to normal but given how critical things got, it is an amazing and wonderful occasion that he is recovering. In all my time here, he never had to be hospitalized. As Ken often says, “Sheeeeeeesh….!”

I am ever so grateful to you all for walking with Ken, Colin, Becca, everybody at II and each of us around the world during happy and not so happy times. Good health indeed is precious. Your continuing prayers, love, and concern, however, is beyond precious. That is the true miracle of We.

May all  beings be blessed with good health and community.

Love

Nomali

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Coolness.  This is the miracle of wheeeeeeeee!  :)

arthur

Re: Pray for Ken ...

“This is the miracle of wheeeeeeeee! ”

–Arthur: I can't explain it, but somehow, reading this phrase just made my day!

                                           :-)   :-)    :-)

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Glad to hear it, Mary - I'm so glad you're part of my “wheee-space.”  :)

Many of my close friends came into my life through my forum activities, and all of that flows from the BBG setting up Integral Institute.  I have a lot of gratitude for that, for setting up spaces where we could begin to meet and become part of each other's lives. 

And I am so glad that Ken will be hanging out in wheee-space with us for a while (hopefully a long while) longer.  Yippee!

arthur

Re: Pray for Ken ...

During this time of intense emailing, blogging, respecting what is confidential and what is private, I still have a gut feeling that letting you all know a little something about Ken from last night should be ok. I got a kick out of this.
Last night he had craved and made sure he got himself a large chocolate shake! no kiddin.

Thank God for Chocolate!

And we love it that you are getting better, Ken!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Man, I'd love to sit in a room with Ken for an hour and talk about his health and his diet etc….I have this maternal instinct (as you well know, Nomali) that makes me want to go to his house and cook him some chicken soup…

Chocolate shake, indeed. I could smack him. He should be eating organic free-trade high-quality chocolate at times like that, lol!

Anyway, the whole notion that he's eating and better and kicking chocolate shake ass is pretty wonderful.

And I'll be damned if this whole thing hasn't had all kinds of positive effects. I hate that the growth opportunities are so helpful. Couldn't Ken please be the first person not to ever die? Sheesh.

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Liz said, “Couldn't Ken please be the first person not to ever die? Sheesh.”

LOL… and no, he couldn't.  That's a race without a finish line!  There IS no first :)  But I hear ya on that!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Ha ha, chocolate shake… that says a lot. Thanks for the update, Nomali. Now, who is going to keep our visionary from trying to do too much too soon for too many others?

Anybody?

For what it’s worth: Ken,

small & simple is beautiful. Less is Grrreat, okay?

Love,

M

Re: Pray for Ken ...

No Liz, it's times like this that what we really want -nay, what we really NEED-is a good, old fashioned actually-somehow-made-from-plastic, rubbery chocolate shake from McDonald's -the honest way the good Lord ment them to be. :-)

Put some hair on the chest.  Good for character. Make a man outta ya …

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Thank God

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Hmm…not exactly what I'm going for, “Timelady”…

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Hmm. Timelady highly recommends the plastic chocolate shakes. Although, the timelady is not sure which happens exactly: does the plastic help “glue” the LR together, or simply work to eventually purify such a thing by killing it? Timelady will continue to ponder.

Timelody is only know to have either chocolate or a chocolate shake on rare, special occasions (when the moon is in the 7th house and Jupiter eclipses Mars on the night of the blue moon … and when Timelady meets up with Helene.)

Tim Melody, loves that no one can figure out his freaking name. ;-)

Oh, Be wll Ken!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

It's ultra-top-secret and I can't tell you more, or I'd have to kill you, but I may just meet Helen soon…I solomon-ly swear I will get plenty of pictures and first-hand tales if I do, ok?

hehe

Liz

P.S. Oh, and Ken, don't make me come over there and take the naughty food away. Glad to have you back amongst the very-most conscious, Ken-babee.

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Liz and all,
I hate to say this but i cannot help it! Shoot!

I really censored and only mentioned the chocolate shake.

The actual order was something like, ehem… 4 cheese burgers, 1 big mac, large fries and a chocolate shake.


! ! !

I love it!

He is human after all, guys.

(maybe he did not eat all of them burgers in one sitting - I hope)

Re: Pray for Ken ...

No way! Hilarious, Nomali. Hey, it's just food…not state secrets.

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Yeah, 4 cheeseburgers, a big mac……….

Um, Ken isn’t coming out with a diet is he? LOL

Seriously, I’m glad he’s doing better. I tend to eat “shit” food when I am recovering from an illness as well. Comfort type stuff, and I guess we can throw MickyD’s into that realm.

Re: Pray for Ken ...

The Ultimate Integral Meal. HEY, THER' S THE NEW I-I FUND RASING MARKETING PLOY!!!!!!

Like the Happy Meal, no longer just for kids, it's the Integral Meal -killing you on all four quads (except the LR, since it's SO cheap!) One lovely delight in celebration of all four quadrants; four cheesburgers, four fries, four chocolate shakes and four apple pies. Complete with weekly I-I action figures and coming soon, you guessed it, the Integral Map Decoder Ring (Causal Essence not included).

L-O- L!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

ROTFLOL! I needed a good laugh today Tim!

Love,


Nicole

Re: Pray for Ken ...

4 cheese burgers, 1 big mac, large fries and a chocolate shake.

i think now's the time to Really pray!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

“i think now's the time to Really pray!”

Just waiting for the Ken/Ronald McDonald photo opt.

“In clinical studies, Integral Meal has been known to have a healing effect on indivuals recovering from drug induced seizures. Results not typical. May cause side effects. Do not take while pregant or nursing a child -unless, of course, you are pregnant and nursing a child …”

Re: Pray for Ken ...

The actual order was something like, ehem… 4 cheese burgers, 1 big mac, large fries and a chocolate shake.

Please don't broadcast this in Memphis, Elvis fans will surround the hospital!
Elvis lives!!!!!!!!!!!

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Funny anecdote that I can finally post now that Ken's health is stable.  I have a friend who hasn't really studied Integral or Ken Wilber much, but is interested and has watched several of the IN videos with me and hears me talk about the theories and Integral lore.  We had previously watched the video where Ken is hooked up to the brainwave monitoring machine.

I told him that KW was in the hospital and had been unconscious for like 48 hours.  He asked, in a completely serious voice, without skipping a beat, “Are they sure he isn't just meditating?”  In the midst of my worries and fretting over Ken's health, I have to admit I laughed my ass off for a while after that one.  Imagined Ken opening his eyes in the hospital… “What are you doing?  I'm trying to gain enlightenment here!  Sheeeeeesh…” 

I'll have to get a milkshake today and raise it high in a toast to Ken's recovery and Integral humor.

Aeryck

Re: Pray for Ken ...

A milkshake would be a little over the top for me, but I DID have some caffeinated bubbles today, in the form of Cherry Vanilla diet Dr. Pepper.  Good for what ails ya!

Rock on, Ken!

arthur

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Arthur,

 Could you pick something a little more appetizing? I'm getting sick to my stomach.

Dan

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I guess I'm more into Arby's or Taco Bell, but pass the triple fuc*in Cheesburger.

Happy meals with the AQAL map pictured on the side. Minature KW babble heads in the kids meals.

You guys are hilarious.

But serioursly. Where is integral without Ken? Obviously the UL in each of us carries the map like a part of our conscious genetic code, but I think that Tim Loody and you all hit on an important point.

THe real thing that KW and II is offering, (or attempting to offer) is a stabilization of our own awareness in the world. 

We NEED a LR form, structure to guide us.  We need an institution so that we can escape from emptiness and birth into form.

We need a LL so that we can express with words and ideas a shared context.  We need the awareness and the awareness needs this form.

Tim mentioned that this all hangs in the balance.  How easily this whole movement could just scatter. All of us just jaded and pisst off (and not without reason for some of you).

But I-I think that we need to offer ourselves up ( at least temporarily) in a collective sacrifice, dealing with the dysfunctionallity of the institute. Throwing our bodies minds spirits and shadows into the fire of the emerging, yet feeble and helpless LR and LL. 

WE MUST carve out this cosmic groove.  We must attempt to do it right, transparently, honestly.   However each new level comes equipped with its own set of problems, horrors, nightmares. 

I believe that we are starting to see the first creeping nightmares and disfunctions of 2nd tier. Problems that are too sophisticated to have ever arisen before.  And KW's health is just the tip of the iceberg.

We MUST NOT turn our backs on integral or this fledgling movement.  If this movement evaporates now, how long until another cultural wave tries to push through. 10 years 20 years. 

We don't have the luxury of time, or of turning our collective nose up at the horror show that the institute can appear to be.  I-I needs us, and we need I-I.

With hope!

Benji

Re: Pray for Ken ...

“Could you pick something a little more appetizing? I'm getting sick to my stomach.”

No shit, Dan. I've actaully seen him drink that stuff. It's nasty.

But we all have some sort of disgusting food thing, don't we? As a kid, I used to eat liverwurst with a spoon. Massive quantities. I'll never forget the day I just stopped liking it halfway through the package. I remember thinking something like, “Wow, liver is really gross.” Perhaps this will dawn upon Arthur at some point before I have to see him again…

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Happy to read that Ken is doing better!!! :)

Continued thoughts of love and light, for strength.

Giving only thoughts of healing energy, radiant health, and love.

Through adversity one will grow and discover,

so it is.

Peace and love,

Alissa

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Hello Dearest Friends,

I have the best news ever for everybody who's been waiting. Finally, Ken Wilber has returned home from the hospital. We hear that he is happy and excited to be back. Let's give him a little time until he is ready to hop around the block again. We want you resting and taking all the time you need, Ken. Don't make us come get you, if you getting too adventurous too soon!

Do you folks even know how much your being with us at this time meant to us in the past few weeks and days? Your prayers and love had an incredible effect; I believe that without a doubt. I am and We are honored - Profoundly Honored - to have you on this wild ride that is ‘integral' with all its beauty, chaos, ups, downs, and most especially, during sickness and in health.

Also in the news is LeeLoo! While Ken was away in hospital, he and Rebecca became the proud parents of LeeLoo - a cute little piglet, no kidding! We heard that he was thrilled to come home and find this new baby, eagerly waiting for her philosopher dad. Please see picture here.

Your support, friendship and love means so much.

Hugs to you all,

Nomali @ ISC

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Well, … either this newest development spells the certain and impending ruination of I-I … or it's time to start really … bringing home the bacon. (Boom, Boom, Ching! ;-) Thank you, I'll be here until Sunday …)

(Just don't let my wife know about this or see that picture. I can here it now -“See! All integral households need a pig!” :-( )

Re: Pray for Ken ...

And my kids just went to go see Charlottes Web!

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Tim, you're killing me! lol

nicole

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I admit, since the old cartoon movie was a former favorite of my daughter's, we did the play once at our old theatre -and not to mention (right?) the Green Acres association- Wilber! is just what I've always thought of in the back of my mind in association with Ken.

A true Nebraska down home name …

Sorry Ken! But always a Noble character! (Except, not really on Green Acres.) :-(

:-)

Re: Pray for Ken ...

i admit the same of me! but not just because of my kids, but charlotte's web was one of my favourite books as a small child, and I have read it many times…

i'm one of those adults who goes back and re-reads children's books to get more out of them, and also who reads new children's and YA fiction - i often enjoy it more than adult fiction…

so when i hear wilber i think of a little pig! sorry!

love

nicole

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Okay, the cat is out of the bag! My wife saw the picture and wont stop asking for a pig! Going on the internet, explaining to me how “clean” they are …

Damn you Ken!!!

(But, Hey Leeloo, take good care of him! No oinking in the wee hours while Ken is trying to work. :-) )


(On another note, I have been informed that the Green Acres pig was named Arnold. My memory must have been morphing early developmental associations with Charlotte, Green Acres and Mr. Ed. None the less, I am with ShaSha Gabore - “New Yok is where I'd rather be, I get allergic smelling hay …”)

Re: Pray for Ken ...

I love Wilber too in Charlotte's Web…”some pig”…

“we like you less than nothing” said the lambs.

“well then nothing must be something, even if it is a very small bit of something,” said wilber…..
 Maybe all Wiber's are alike.

Re: Pray for Ken ...

thanks jane for that interesting connection lol - you just reminded me of what domus calling himself “some kid” kept almost bringing to my mind but never quite got there :)

tim, you are sunk now! let us know when the pig arrives at your home ;)

love

nicole

Re: Pray for Ken (MESSAGE FROM KEN)

MESSAGE FROM KEN WILBER

Dear Friends,

At 8:30 PM on Tuesday, December 5, 2006, while Becca and I were watching a movie, I had a grand mal seizure that was quite severe.  Although these are common with CFIDS/REDD/ME, it has only happened once to me before, as far as I can tell.  A really major grand mal seizure can kill you.  Although this one didn't do that, it came damn close, and was in any event severe enough to precipitate ten more equally severe seizures-one after another after another.  By the time they got me to the ER and stabilized-about 12 hours later-not only had I suffered around a dozen grand mal seizures in a row, I had essentially flat-lined three times and had the electric paddles applied to my chest three times-overall, a pretty gruesome ordeal. 

Every one of the eight physicians (each specialists) who worked on me, told me afterwards that they honestly did not think I would pull through.  The good news is that I got several nights of really terrific sleep-actually I didn't come to until three days later, in part because I was kept unconscious inasmuch as most patients panic if they awaken on all the life support systems I was hooked up to-no real polite way to say all this, but there was a tube up my ass, one in my penis, major catheters in the groin and carotid, and for three days was intubated (which means a breathing tube inserted past your larynx and into your lungs).  My tongue was nearly bitten off in several places, and it was swollen to the extent it completely filled my mouth-basically it was the size of a tangerine, making intubation necessary for me to breath.  I also had what's known as aspiration pneumonia (which means that during several of the seizures, I vomited into my lungs, where the stomach acid eats away the lung tissue, leaving it open to serious infection, which is what happened).  Creatine levels, which they wanted under 5000 before I could leave, were over 150,000.  This could be an indication of extremely serious and irreversible kidney damage, making dialysis a life-long necessity.  It was pretty easy to see why the doctors didn't think I would make it.

During the three days and nights that I was unconscious, there actually was quite a bit of conscious activity going on in me-half of which was quite familiar, and half of which was just plain weird.  On the one hand, there was ever-present Big Mind and an awareness of one's True Nature.  On the other hand, I kept dreaming that I was in this really strange room of blue and pink pastels done up in a rather wretched aesthetic.  I kept thinking, “This is a horrible dream-actually, with that color combination, it's more like a nightmare”-and then I would think that I have really got to wake up.  Then I would shake my head really hard, open my eyes, and find myself in that same wretched room.  I distinctly remember that happening at least three times.  This wasn't happening to the frontal personality of Ken Wilber (who often wasn't present); it was simply happening as a modification of Big Mind.  That's one of the wonderfully weird things about that part of the experience; instead of Big Mind dreaming an entire Kosmos, it was simply dreaming this wretched pastel room.  Big Mind was awake as Big Mind, and I was fully aware of, or rather as, that.  That wasn't what was bothering me.  What was bothering me is why nondual awareness couldn't shake off this horrid little pastel display (it reminded me of the last words of Oscar Wilde.  The last thing he is reputed to have said on his deathbed was, “Either me or those drapes have got to go.”) 

On the fourth (or technically, third and a half) day, when Ken Wilber awoke, there was considerable confusion about this Ken Wilber character.  Big Mind was still Big Mind, no problem; the external nightmare of the pastel room had been replaced with the “objective reality” (i.e., relative reality) of the actual pastel room-no problem there either, ugly as the room was.  But I couldn't remember anything about this KW fellow.  As a matter of fact, all short-term memory had been thoroughly scrambled.  During the three-day period that I was “unconscious,” I had at least one and possibly two experiences that were roughly similar to the near-death experience of light and tunnel (probably when they were using the electric paddles to stabilize my heartbeat).  But even then it didn't involve any choice that a Ken Wilber was making.  KW just wasn't there (the “choice” about whether to come back or not had to do with the destiny of the Integral Vision in today's world; and I had fully consented to come back and serve that Vision, but there was no “me,” just ever-present nondual awareness.  But even then I remember thinking this is the kind of dilemma or “choice” that regularly arises on a day-to-day basis, and so there was nothing especially new here).  But it was after I had regained normal consciousness, sometime on the fourth day, that there was confusion for the first time, because this KW personality was starting to form, in addition to Big Mind and objective room.   

The next several days were pretty intense, to put it mildly.  First of all, it was pretty clear that my tongue was in a pretty bad way.  For quite some time I thought it had literally been bitten off, and that I might never speak again, or that if so, it would require extensive reconstructive surgery.  Even more concernful to me, however, was that several doctors had, no doubt trying to prepare me, began indicating that they were following my kidney function carefully, because the kidneys were about as sick as they could possibly be and this might indicate I would need dialysis for the rest of my life, a truly unpleasant prospect.  

I'll have those who were there speak more directly to this issue, since they witnessed it, but, despite all of the true gruesomeness of the situation, I remember my distinct and first concern was the personnel who came into the room-making them feel at home, making them feel comfortable, making them feel happy, making them aware of their own True Nature to whatever extent possible.  As I said, I'll have a few others address that in a moment, but I believe to a large extent this succeeded.  Odd as it might sound, that hospital room became a place of true joy and happiness for pretty much everybody on the sixth floor of the Intensive Care Unit.  (Of course, I had been trained by the best in this-Treya.)  But that room lit up with laughter and light and so much care…. 

Still, this was without doubt the most horrific experience my life, and I commented frequently to friends that I honestly didn't see how people who didn't meditate could possibly endure something like this, let alone make it an occasion for levity and luminosity.  And not just meditation.  The doctors told me that the only reason I survived was that I was in such good physical shape at the beginning of the ordeal.  When people started asking how I managed to get through something like this, I therefore started joking, “Meditate and eat your veggies.” 

In other words, get Integral. 

Which is what a lot of the physicians and nurses started looking into during our stay.  By the time I came to, pretty much everybody had googled me and were well into starting their education on Integral Medicine.  I stayed in Intensive Care two more days and then was transferred to another floor for another two days, and much of that time was spent in wonderful discussions with the entire staff on what Integral meant, and especially on the necessity of Integral Medicine-which they all intuitively understood is necessary, but I don't think any of them really had a framework that actually worked-up until now, anyway.  We brought books up for everybody, and I ended up signing probably 20 or more books all with variations on, “Thank you very much for helping to save my life….”

When I said “our” stay, it really was plural.  As has happened in the past, Colin, Rollie, and Becca stayed with me 24 hours a day (or took shifts doing so).  They made an absolutely hellish circumstance so much easier to tolerate.  I still had tubes coming out of virtually every opening in my body (at least I didn't have to get up and go to the bathroom); was strapped down so as to not accidentally pull needles or catheters out; had major needles still in my neck and groin and catheters in penis and anus; and, at this point, had not been able to even sit up for four days.  I still could feel no tongue at all (just a round ball, about the size of a tangerine, that filled my mouth); kidney functions were improving, but were still alarmingly high.  Having these dear friends there around the clock was truly a godsend.  During all that time, even with all the horrifying news, I don't think anyone ever saw me upset or angry or even irritated-but acts of kindness would just start me sobbing, and there was so much love and kindness shown by all of them it was so extraordinarily touching. 

So, how am I doing now?  Essentially, really well.  Once I regained consciousness (i.e., gross-body consciousness), things seemed to improve quickly and dramatically.  I am now over the aspiration pneumonia, and, most important of all, it looks like my kidneys have not suffered any serious permanent damage.  This is really good news.  I used to joke that the only major reason for having kids was for organ donors; since I don't have any kids, I really would have gotten stuck on four hours of dialysis several times a week, not to mention all the peripheral damage.  The one lingering problem is that I have one hell of a lisp.  I'm told that it will continue to significantly improve; the tongue is so highly vascular that it has a high degree of healing capacity.  But for the next month or two, if you talk to me, you'll see what I mean by “one hell of a lisp.”  I was thinking about having a t-shirt made that said: “I Had Twelve Grand Mal Seizures and All I Have to Show for It is This Stupid Lisp.” 

(The first day that I had regained consciousness, and before I knew that I would regain any speech capacity at all, I knew that the staff at Integral Naked and I-I would of course be primarily concerned for my health as a friend, but that they also couldn't help but be worried sick that this might mean the end of Integral Naked, because I could no longer talk, and because Integral Naked is our primary source of income, the end of I-I as well.  So I spent the better part of that day trying to think of some way to handle that situation and thus mitigate their worry as much as possible, and finally hit upon what seems to be a really terrific idea.  I leaned over and whispered to Colin, “I figured out how to save Integral Naked-let the staff know.”  He lit up when I wrote the idea down, and agreed it would work.  Basically, the idea-a version of which we still intend on doing while my mouth continues to heal-is that I will ask each of our Integral Naked guests to pick one of their best friends and interview them for IN, and then we would carry that-in a sense, a guest host and a guest guest.  This could bring us over a year's worth of absolutely fascinating dialogues by and with some of the coolest people around.  All of us still just love this idea-which happened under the oddest of circumstances, because I was still strapped down in bed on my back; I didn't have to get up to urinate or defecate because the catheters coming out of my body automatically handled that; I didn't have a tongue, but more what looks like a golf ball; and worst of all, I'm in this horrid little pastel room.  Anyway, despite whatever fortitude with which I may have handled the thought of not being able to speak again, I can't tell you how relieved I am to slowly have speech returning.  This stupid little lisp is the sweetest sound I've ever heard.) 

The other thing you might notice when you first talk with me is that lots of short-term memories are still reassembling themselves.  Sometimes even really obvious things-from a person's name to even who they might be-need to be mentioned, but once they are, everything falls back into place.  So don't worry if we are talking and I ask you to remind me of several really obvious things; also, if there seems to be something important about a topic that I'm not reflecting, don't be shy in mentioning it.

What Caused the Seizures?

Initially, there was quite some confusion among authorities on exactly what caused this series of seizures.  Several orthodox doctors believe it was caused by Neurontin, one of the prescription medications that I am on for CFIDS/REDD/ME.  That never made sense to me, for several reasons: (1) I've been on this amount of Neurontin unchanged for several years; (2) the primary reasons Neurontin is prescribed is precisely because it's an anticonvulsant and reliably prevents seizures.  Neurontin really isn't even a drug; it's a simple sugar, much like table sugar; and experts such as Teitelbaum recommend doses up to 6 grams.  Although you can't rule out paradoxical affects of any med, this explanation never made much sense.  I don't do street drugs, so it wasn't that (indeed, that was one of the first things the ER tested for).  At one point it seemed somehow connected to a CPAP machine, but that didn't hold much water, either.

When the intensive care doctors asked me what I thought it was, the first thing I always said was that we can't rule out the most obvious: it comes with the territory of CFIDS/REDD/ME.  In fact, the reason that this illness is often referred to as M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) is that, as one of it's leading authorities, Byron Hyde M.D., put it, “By definition, all M.E. patients will have some level of seizure activity as part of their illness.” And as for types of seizure activity, a standard comprehensive guide to M.E. lists them as: “simple partial seizures, petite mal seizures, and grand mal seizures.” 

I had not had, to my knowledge, any major seizure activity up until this point, and so I had simply assumed I had lucked out on that symptom.  However, it now appears almost certain that the incident around a year and a half ago where I broke my shoulder actually involved a grand mal seizure.  We'd always assumed that I had gotten up in the middle of the night, pitch black, on a slippery wooden floor, and taken a dive.  That probably happened, but it never made sense at the time that I couldn't remember the actual accident itself-incidences that painful are rarely forgotten (whereas with grand mal seizures there is usually total amnesia).  Besides, my tongue was banged up quite badly and I had popped a crown, all symptomatic of possible seizure.  Put that incident together with this recent one and there is little doubt in my mind about the cause.  The good news in all of this is that, as deeply unpleasant as these last two weeks have been, at least I now know about it and am on dilantin, the top-of-the-line med for seizures.  If this incident had happened any place other that a few blocks away from the finest ER in Colorado, I'd be dead.  All in all, I consider myself one lucky boy. 

A Few Other Perspectives

Ordinarily I wouldn't do this, it can be so self-serving, but so many have asked how things really went in the ICU, I asked the three folks staying with me to respond:

[From Colin]

On December 8^th I had posted a short blog explaining that Ken was in the Intensive Care Unit and to please send him all the love and healing energy you possibly could, through prayer, tonglen, or simple loving-kindness.  Well, excellent job everyone, because 24 hours later Ken regained consciousness wondering what all the gosh-darn fuss was about.  We decided not to blog publicly about this event until we had a better understanding of the situation, which, thank goodness, is much clearer today than it was then. 

Towards the end of his stay at Chateau de Hospital, I was astounded to notice that Ken looked happier, healthier, and more rested than I'd ever seen him.  He looked, I kid you not, twenty years younger.  In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a more radiant, energetic, and wickedly funny hospital patient.  I know the folks in the ICU had never seen anything like Ken before-the doctors weren't cheering Ken up, Ken was cheering the doctors up!  Ken made sure that everyone who entered that room left happier than when they arrived, and many doctors and nurses told us, “It's patients like you that make this whole job worth it.”  One doctor even told us, “My career was at a point that it really needed something like this.”  It truly became a room of love, light, and levity….

Colin

[From Rebecca]

Ken's surprisingly ubiquitous and inviting sense of humor has not only kept him alive and well during this otherwise bleak and unexpected hospital stay, but has also (and just as importantly) lit many fires in many others-fires that actualize immediate and visible bridge-building between heart and mind leading directly to experiential and causal communion among absolutely everyone with whom he came in contact, whether they were consciously aware of it or not.  Ken often uses humor as transmission: levity = light = luminosity (“vast emptiness, nothing sacred”), and it was apparent constantly.

The doctors and nurses who visited him showed their happiness: one brought him home baked cinnamon rolls, many googled his work on the internet before their shifts with him, and still more were grateful to receive signed copies of their book of choice by the famous author.  And they were aware that something extraordinary was going on.  Ken's primary physician, who doesn't often gush, said, “Well, we think they're going to name a species after you….” 

I am so very grateful for how adeptly his unyielding humor, good spirits and open warm-heartedness have bloomed and left their mark in this quick healing.  Now his full efforts have returned to sharing with YOU and for YOU, his integral life vision. THANK YOU DEARLY FOR YOUR LOVE AND PRAYERS. You are all forever in ours. Yours, Rebecca Maria Carlson

[From Rollie]

I'm humbled by the honors bestowed upon me in the past couple of years: to meet, work with, and study with a man who writes as none other.  And through the past couple of weeks, I've had perhaps the greatest honor of all: that of sitting with Ken Wilber, keeping vigil as he fought for his life in Intensive Care, and walked steadily and surely back toward health.

All of us were speechless after my Blackberry rang with news of Ken's hospitalization.  Five of us from Integral Institute had just begun our “Date with Destiny” in Palm Springs at Ken's good friend Tony Robbins' invitation.  After consulting with one another, it became apparent that none of us had the heart to stay, given the news from home.  Even as Tony began to address the crowd, we spoke with his wife Sage, who conveyed the concern that they shared for Ken.  She assured us of her prayers, and we began the journey back to Denver.  The journey was spent partly in silence, and partly in some of the most extraordinary conversations I have ever partaken in.  Each of us echoed what was soon apparent as a worldwide phenomenon: the hope and the faith that Ken Wilber had not yet spoken his last word.  Prayers and good wishes poured in from every corner of the globe, so much so that it began to look like Ken would eclipse even Barbaro the race horse as the sentient being for whom the most candles were lit on Br. David's website, Gratefulness.org.

From the airport I drove straight to the hospital and hurried toward the ICU.  There I met Colin, Roger Walsh, and Stuart, Marci and Ara Davis.  I shared some quiet moments with them, then walked into Ken's room.  I don't know that I had ever seen him with such quiet strength.  I sat with him for a time and uttered the words closest to my heart, somehow knowing that they would be heard and received.

Ken's progress defied all expectations.  His vital signs quickly approached normal levels, and within a day or so he came back to consciousness.   I have never seen someone quite so glad to see me as Ken was that day.  And in that moment I knew him to be something beyond my boss; something beyond my teacher.  I knew him to be deeply my friend.

Soon, it seemed to me, the ICU became an altogether and uncharacteristically festive place.  Ken was having a grand old time with the doctors and nurses, signing books and discussing his work.  More than a few of them Googled him on their breaks, and came to know that the patient in Room 600 was not a typical one.

To me, the surest sign that Ken was doing well was a phone message I received one night just prior to driving to the hospital.  It was Ken, saying he looked forward to seeing me, and wondering if I might stop by McDonald's and “pick up 3 or 4 cheeseburgers, a Big Mac, large fries and a chocolate shake.”  In that moment, I knew that all was well (especially since he normally doesn't eat like that!).

I sat with Ken during the night shifts.  It was an incredibly powerful time, as I sat in prayer with him and over him, and health returned, quickly, quietly.  As is his habit, he rose early in the morning hours, and we talked, laughed, and shared more deeply than we ever had.

It was with great joy that he returned to the loft, which we affectionately began referring to as “the farm,” home to two dogs and a brand new piglet.  Ken was incredibly happy to see Bodhi and Kailin, and to meet LeeLoo for the first time.  Things have slowly begun to get back to “normal,” as normal as can be surfing the Integral Wave, with its exhilarating rushes and its occasional wipeouts!  I treasure those moments in Room 600 and the knowledge they've imparted of the gift of life, ever precious, ever precarious.  And I am grateful beyond words for another day in the life of Ken Wilber, and another day in my own life.  May I use it well….

Rollie

CFIDS/REDD/ME

The medical team I had really was the finest ER team in Colorado, and they really did save my life.  But, as orthodox physicians, they knew pretty much nothing about CFIDS/REDD/ME.  I had to point out to each of them that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta) had finally conceded that not only is this a brutally real illness, it's approaching epidemic proportions.  The CDC now estimates that at least one million Americans have this illness, although expert opinion puts it at at least double that.  More people have it than have HIV, and quality of life studies indicate that the quality of life for those with active CFIDS is comparable to those undergoing chemotherapy.  The parameters of this illness are actually fairly well understood.  The exact trigger mechanism is not yet known, but it's mechanism of action is-it involves the damaging of the human body's production of the enzyme RNase.  This defective enzyme then begins to dissolve the body's own RNA, and does so in literally every cell in the body, which is why so many different organ systems can end up involved.  There is now even a test for this defective enzyme that is 95% accurate.  All the other symptoms of this illness are caused by this central mechanism, which is why the only really accurate name for this illness is REDD (RNase Enzyme Deficiency Disease).  “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)” is almost a complete misnomer, first, because it's not really fatigue but paralysis that one experiences when there is a flare-up; and second, because that “fatigue” is the least of your worries in any event (it's definitely a problem, but quite far down on a list that includes everything from seizures to organ failure).  For years now there has been a concerted effort to get the name changed, but so far the only alternative to CFS that one sees in this country is CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome)-which is at least a slight improvement since the immune system is one of those systems hit hardest.  In Britain it is referred to as M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis)-reflecting the neurological damage that is in fact quite similar to M.S. (Multiple Sclerosis).  As “A Hummingbird's Guide to M.E.” puts it: “In reality having M.E. is like having parts of Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, Alzheimers, Arthritis and Epilepsy all mixed together at once, with some extra horrific symptoms thrown in that are entirely its own.  M.E. is a neurological illness of extraordinarily incapacitating dimensions that affects virtually every bodily system-not a problem of ‘chronic fatigue.'” 

For those of you who would like more information on this syndrome, the aforementioned Hummingbird's Guide is one of dozens of sources of information that have finally become available that are quite accurate and useful.  The resources they recommend are also ones that I highly recommend.  Also check out ImmuneSupport.com and my own discussion of this illness and how it has affected me can be found here (as well as ”A Sudden Illness” by Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit).

Karma and Illness

I've dealt extensively elsewhere with the concept of karma and illness-in Grace and Grit, for example, and more recently in Excerpt A of volume 2 of the Kosmos Trilogy.  But it remains one of the most confused areas of understanding imaginable.  I'm not going to get into it at any length here, but just let me make a few very brief points.  Many people hear of situations like this, or perhaps suffer similar ones themselves, and imagine it must somehow be retribution for some horrendous crime in one's past.  But keep in mind that karma doesn't mean that what happened earlier in this life is finally catching up with you; the orthodox doctrine of karma actually means something that happened to you in a previous life.  According to the doctrine of karma, in this life you are reading a book that you wrote in a previous life.  Many people draw the erroneous conclusion that because, e.g., they used to yell at their spouses, they now have throat cancer-but that's just not the way it works.

As a matter of fact, from at least one angle, the “bad things” that are happening to you now actually indicate a good fruition-it means your system is finally strong enough to digest the past karmic causes that led to your present rebirth.  So if you were reborn-that is, if you are alive in a body right now-then you have already horrifically sinned, and unless you work it off in this lifetime, guess what?  You're coming back.   Illness itself does not cause more karma; your attitude towards illness, however, does.  Therefore, if you are undergoing some extremely difficult circumstances right now, and you can meet those difficulties with equanimity, wisdom, and virtue, then you are doubly lucky-the causes that led to your being reborn now are starting to surface and burn off, and you're not generating any new karma while you burn them (as long as you meet them with equanimity and awareness).

I only mention this because all too often, people undergoing difficult circumstances of one variety or another add a type of New Age guilt or blame to an already difficult enough circumstance, and truly, that's not only inappropriate, it's inaccurate.  If you would like to pursue some of these concepts in this more integral fashion, please check out Excerpt A.  In the meantime, if you're undergoing some sort of truly difficult or even horrific circumstances, please don't kick yourself when you're down.  That, indeed, would create bad karma.  The good news is that you are finally ready and able to burn off the karma that led to this rebirth, and this is good news indeed-if you meet it with love and openness and a smile.

Next for Integral Institute

Aside from being set back a couple of months, Integral Institute is moving forward just fine.  As a matter of fact, we are extraordinarily fortunate in that we escaped a proposed change in middle and upper management that would have spelled absolute disaster for I-I.  We have completed our first round of looking for a new CEO, and are delighted with what we found. 

(My only major regret is that we did lose one terrific person who was also our main financial contributor, and we are definitely hurting because of that.  But we will simply put the word out and begin looking for some person or persons who can step in and help us out in a similar fashion as benefactor, in addition to the wonderful contributors that we still have and that are a central part of I-I's organization.  If you know anybody, or you yourself would like to work directly and closely with us in this regard, you know my email address-or simply email us from the President's Circle page on the Integral Institute website.  But we are beginning a serious search for patrons and benefactors, and would love to hear from you.) 

In the meantime, the business aspects of things are going extraordinarily well.  We have found our CEO candidate who will start with a two-month trial period-we are extremely happy with this person.  (For those of you who applied for CEO, and have not yet heard from me, please forgive the delay, as I will personally be getting back to you.  Also, because we might have found our CEO, there are also some other positions available that we would like you to consider-again I will be getting back to you on all of this.) 

My own writing is continuing to go extraordinarily well.  My first truly “popular” book, The Integral Vision, will be out this summer from Shambhala.  Further, I'm about 90% done with what I think is one of the most important works I've written, Transformations of Consciousness (which is the original book of that title with some 400 new pages of material-exploring healthy and dysfunctional forms of both states of consciousness and structures of consciousness-and in what I believe is a landmark fashion).  The Many Faces of Terrorism, as some of you know, has grown into a trilogy (three books at about 450 pages each), which we simply call the “terrorism trilogy” and which I'd say is about 70% done.  We are, however, going to excerpt three of its main chapters that present a full-fledged theory of Integral Politics-and these will be included in the first two issues of The Integralist, Integral Institute's membership magazine (the first two chapters are also available on kenwilber.com right now, here and here, with the third yet to be posted), whose first issue is due out sometime this spring/summer.  All in all, some really good stuff, I think, coming down the pipe. 

A Little Help from My Friends….

I'd like to thank again Colin, Becca, and Rollie for staying with me (or taking turns) every minute, day and night, for the week that I was in the hospital, either in intensive care or telemetry.  When you've been strapped into bed on your back, with tubes coming out of every orifice, and with no chance to even sit up, things like having some crushed ice to suck on can make all the difference in the world.  These are always such clarifying moments and, paradoxical as it might seem, there was an astonishing amount of love and clarity and laughter and care coming out of that room all week long, it was obvious to everybody. 

I also want to thank Dr. Roger Walsh for dropping everything he was doing and flying out from California.  Roger is one of my two or three oldest and best friends and it meant a great deal to me.  Dr. Mike von Gortler saved my life yet again, this time very literally, and reminded me how in debt I am to that incredibly decent human being.  And thanks to Stu, Marci, Ara and Aja.  But outside of these few folks, however, we tried to limit, at least at the beginning, the amount of information that went out, because many of my friends would want to come out immediately to see if they could help, and they would feel horrible if they didn't-and since there really was nothing that could be done, we didn't want people feeling bad about this.  I still haven't really made contact myself yet with hardly anybody, and that will still take a few weeks to a month or so, so please bear with me (my body really got creamed and is moving pretty slowly).  But I thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes, the flowers, the candles lit online, and other deeply appreciated gestures of care and love and concern.  Rollie said literally thousands of responses came in from all over the world, and I will never forget it.  I have no doubt that's why I pulled through this as quickly as I did.

Sending all my love and care and life and light,

Ken

(PS Please feel free to direct any concerned friends or colleagues to the blog version of this letter: http://www.kenwilber.com/blog/show/214)   

Re: Pray for Ken (MESSAGE FROM KEN)

Thank you Ken - that was scary and fascinating at the same time, and I'm touched that you shared all that with us (although you didn't mention what movie you were watching). I'm delighted that you're still with us, and I hope that you will be here for a long time to come - keep eating those veggies! - and please don't push yourself too hard. Thanks for all you've done for us and the world.  I feel so much love and gratitude for you.

I'm happy to hear about all the new books that are on the way, and I love the idea of all the guests doing interviews - it's a great way to expand the range of material available at Integral Naked.

I hope that as I-I moves forward there will be a more realistic assessment and presentation of what is possible with current resources, and I'm heartened by the increased engagement of the staff in the forums. Thanks particularly to Rollie and Nomali for being so involved and keeping us up to date on what's going on.

love to all
arthur

Re: Pray for Ken (MESSAGE FROM KEN)

I already know who I'm going to interview: my friend Pam. Integral astrologer and lifelong meditator. We cry nearly every time we talk, we're both so heart-open with each other.

I think we should get started on the interviews now, so that we still have Ken with us, and it's not some sort of grim task after he dies and causes another great wind storm in Colorado.

I'm also grateful for the clearing-up of the mystery of the “Great Fall” in which he bruised his side so badly. I just knew there was more to the story than that. It just didn't make sense.

More thanks to Becca, as well. What an incredible preson you must be.

Blessings on all of you.

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken (MESSAGE FROM KEN)

“I already know who I'm going to interview: my friend Pam. Integral astrologer and lifelong meditator. We cry nearly every time we talk, we're both so heart-open with each other.

I think we should get started on the interviews now, so that we still have Ken with us, and it's not some sort of grim task after he dies and causes another great wind storm in Colorado.”


I thought Ken was saying that Integral Naked Guests - those who have dialogs on the site (not forum members or even current/former moderators or I-I staff) are going to be doing interviews?  Although, there's nothing to stop any of us from doing interviews and posting them, could be kinda cool.  :)

spiral out,
arthur

Re: Pray for Ken (MESSAGE FROM KEN)

That was my understanding too, though it couldn't hurt to do our own IN-style stuff and post it on Youtube or whatever….

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Oh, Ken…It's we who are grateful, and rightfully so.

Thanks, Nomali, for being the bridge to I-I that we so desperately needed, and for being so unabashedly passionate about the work you do.

And this does answer the question that was rattling around in my head about him being conscious. Cool.

Liz

Re: Pray for Ken ...

Oh.

I think my idea is better, actually. Taking the initiative and doing our own interviews would help the movement grow while giving people alternatives to what they perceive as orthodoxy or Ken's control over everything. I think he'd really like it, too.

The written word can do only so much, especially on a computer screen.

Let's do this.

Liz