A Different Idea of What *Integral* Practice Means

Hey all, I”ve posted an essay that, perhaps, is worthy of reading. It focuses on a different meaning of what an *integral* practice is, different, that is, then where Wilber, Murphy, Leonard, and Walsh are pointing. It’s at:

http://enlightenmentdotcom.zaadz.com/blog/2006/6/a_practice_thats_integral_to_your_life

Enjoy, and let me know: what practice is integral to *your* life?

Re: A Different Idea of What *Integral* Practice Means

Hi Jordan,

I fully agree with you and espcially with this part:” Remember: you can really only do one thing at a time anyway. Conversely, any practice can become integral to you if you are truly - and regularly - present for it. What's integral about a practice, then, isn't its external form or trappings, but rather, the consciousness that you bring to it, and give through it. ”

Integral approach's goal is to to developp human beeing on all quadrant evenly. The risk is to divide energy and not realise much. Some tradition emphasize one technique in order to reach a non-dual state. And the risk is to neglect the body (usually).

So there's no end to it!  So what you are saying seems a good way. I would add something: If the practice makes you joyfull, follow it.

In the end, no system will bring us where we wanna go. Will have to do it on our own.

“It is good to be born in a church, but it is not good to die int it”

Patrick

Re: A Different Idea of What *Integral* Practice Means

Hi, I enjoy reading different perspectives on “Integral Practice” and it's application - it gives you additional ideas to possibly incorporate and reinforcement to continue.  I think that the world of computing has given everyone the misconception that we can multi-task; however, the results of linear development does have positive results for daily performance on a holistic level.

That said, I'm a procrastinator…lol…here's what I'm up to for ILP:

Planning:
I begin to create a goal sheet and a weekly schedule (sigh…I'm a project manager) which included the ‘five free therapies' (ref. Dan and Marty Butterfield in Boulder Colorado - Neuromuscular Therapists), 1) Diet, 2) Movement, 3) Breath, 4) Creativity, and 5) Spirituality.  Enter Stage Left…an introduction to AQAL, MyILP and Spiral Dynamics (ref. Graves). I then stumbled across Dr. Candace Pert's “Molecules of Emotion” on the web, which neatly holds hands w/ Tolle, describing us as mind-bodies and she states that the future of medicine would be based on three principles, 1) how we move, 2) what we think, and 3) what we eat.  

The Practice:
I try to consistently fit into my daily routine (mapped to the five therapies mentioned above) 1) Live/organic foods, and lot's of them + green teas, etc. (caffeine and fast food out the window…well almost ;-), 2) A combination of 1-2-3 (ref. MyILP Kit), Yoga positions, hiking, soccer, biking and basketball (some of these I find to be spiritual, too), 3) Vinyasa Yoga, 4) Expressing myself through art and guitar, reading,  5) Meditate, Tonglen, Mantras (I made a mala…more creativity!), Big Mind, and soon-to-be-introduced Shadow work (this will likely be monumental task in itself).

Re: A Different Idea of What *Integral* Practice Means

Hay Antlion,

Thanks, I'm going to check into Candice Pert… I like that direction… and in fact I like or resoate … or shoot… words don't cut it…

I could say I got more from your little post there than anything I've read here since I've been on… it's been fun, telling everyone all the cool stuff I've been doing, and how great I am… etc… but have not really gotten any sort of … transfusion back… (still words don't make it…) but your post is different.

Peace

Donald

Re: A Different Idea of What *Integral* Practice Means

Nicely put: the risk is that we’ll be divided, and not really “get” anywhere (as if there were anywhere to get). And I like your notion of joy. Without it, why bother? And without it, you won’t continue the practice anyway.

Re: A Different Idea of What *Integral* Practice Means

Super post!

I grabbed a copy of Wilber's new Integral Life Practice ITP DVD some monts ago, gave it a careful look, and did some thinking. Years ago an old friend suggested she was pursuing Aristotle's Life of Excellence by engaging the Aristotelian elements:

• Earth: Body practice
• Water: Emotional relationship
• Air: Intellectual pursuits
• Fire: Spiritual involvement

It's been about thirty years since she suggested those to me, and over time I've evolved my own 'Gang of Four'. So encountering the suggested practices in the ITP kit caused me to think through what I've been doing - and I decided mostly to stick with what I've been doing. (The one exception is that I've added Focused Intensity Training to my physical workout routines - it's been very helpful, indeed.)

Your essay speaks to me about the need to do fully regardless of what you do.  My old Zen Buddhist teacher said the same thing to me years ago when she reflected on listening to an elite athlete talk about his training. His attitude of mind - the Hows, as she put it - were exactly the same as someone sitting zazen. The physical practice was different, but that wasn't important.

Now, for me, I need to keep in balance because I'm prone to what the ancients called enthusiasms.  So my gang of four goes like this:

• Earth: walking the Iowa countryside with my partner, John, in every season. I get to see the transformations going on all around me - which I often miss because I'm so head-bound. Earth is also aerobic and weight training - and these days some neo-pagan ritual work.
• Water: the alchemical marriage with John. Alchemical language is a large part of my inner landscape. The alchemical marriage is creating a new energetic entity from the union of the energies of two lovers - a life-long practice that gives me great joy.
• Air: a bit of philosophizing and communicating (like this message).
• Fire: meditation to realize unitive consciousness - for me, mostly vipassana meditation with some inner visualization work. 

Back to integral practice for a moment: I found Wilber's essay in the most recent

Thanks for your insightful essay!

Tom 

Re: A Different Idea of What *Integral* Practice Means

My previous post was cut off in the next to last paragraph. Here's the remainder:

Back to integral practice for a moment: I found Wilber's essay in the most recent What Is Enlightenment very helpful when he discusses the difference between horizontal and vertical practice. A yogin or Buddhist master may have profound practice at a particular worldview - and yet be limited by that worldview. Wilber discusses the importance of vertical practice to move between worldviews.

The Tibetan Buddhists have a similar notion when they describe Sustaining and Analytical meditation. Sustaining meditation works to maintain and to deepen practice at a particular level. Analytical meditation probes deeply. We need both.

T 

Re: A Different Idea of What *Integral* Practice Means

I agree with you Tom! We have a tendency to over look the very critical difference between horizontal and vertical practices. Thank you for bringing up the Tibetan perspective on Stabilizing and Analytical meditations, I was unaware of the concepts. Wilber does a great job of making the distinction between vertical growth and horizontal unfolding. I think an Integral Practice must contain both. The Stabilizing practices work like Agape…they are reaching down and into, where as Analytical practices continue the Erotic drive upward to higher stages of consciousness.

Namaste

Re: A Different Idea of What *Integral* Practice Means

I see the analytical meditation as providing access to vertical growth, exactly as you say. The stabilizing meditation, though, I see as providing increased breadth of understanding at a particular level of View - rather than reaching downward. The View (and here I'm using my translation of the German term Weltanschauung) is the complete world that one can apprehend and operate on within a particular way of viewing the world. Stabilizing meditation helps refine the View without moving it upward or downward. It increases its capacity without changing the viewpoint. Analytical meditation helps to move between levels of View.