I made it to the second round of the Knight Brother's News Challenge grant for The Echo Chamber Project, and I was wondering some folks in the Integral blogosphere would be willing to help brainstorm and explore a couple of questions:

* How would you describe Integral Truth in the context of journalism?

* So if you were to redesign the journalistic process in an integral fashion, then what might that look like?

I've thought a lot about this for The Echo Chamber Project, and have written a number of thoughts about it over the last couple of years, which I'll share below.  I was hoping to get some feedback and to hear other perspectives on this as I write the second round grant application.

I think that there are new ways of attaining individual and collective truths in order to exist in our relative society.  Wilber's Integral Quadrant Map offers a great framework for conceptualizing a holistic ontological truth, but there have been a number of epistemological  barriers towards actually combining the silos in an integral way.

There has been a tension between subjectivity and objectivity in journalism stemming from reductionistic science.  There is a clear righthand/lefthand split with through separating newspaper sections between "Just-the-Facts-Ma'am" News and opinionated Op-eds and editorials.  The News and Editorial divisions even operate as autonomous entities with different bosses who don't even talk to each other in their daily production of a newspaper. 

In reality, these objective and subjective divisions are artificial since they can't really be separated. But yet journalists constrain themselves in a number of ways to these artificial barriers.  And this mindset may be contributing to the declining credibility of what they're trying to accomplish, which is to be a watchdog of power and to be providing us with maps of reality so that we can govern ourselves.
 
So I conceptualized another way to bridge the subjective and objective in a “New Media Ecosystem Flowchart” that was laid out according to the Integral quadrants.  It is shown in the picture above, and in more detail here.

UR = Objective Facts
UL = Subjective Hypotheses (The Narrative to connect facts)
LL = Aggregated Wisdom of the Crowd via tags, ratings, playlists
LR = Hypertext-linked Network of Facts (or something else entirely)

The bridge that connects the UR facts with UL hypotheses is the technique of Analysis of Competing Hypotheses, which is a matrix of UR objective facts on the X-axis, and list of UL subjective hypotheses to explain those facts on the Y-axis.  This is a methodology that the CIA uses for its analysis, and I've written about it in more detail in these two places:
* Analytical Techniques for Coordinating Decentralized Journalism
* Echo Chamber Project's Path for Integrating Intelligence Analysis Techniques

Briefly, ACH is a process of weighing the most relevant facts, and trying to disprove hypotheses until the most likely hypothesis emerges.  This could also also be informed by LL aggregated collective wisdom and presented in some sort of system LR interconnected network that would then be distilled into a linear news story.

Anyway, I'd love to hear any feedback on some of this or any other thoughts about an Integral Approach to Journalism, and an Integral Approach to "Truth".

UPDATE: Daniel from For the Turnstiles gives a preliminary reponse here, and I left a few comments which I'll crosspost in the comment thread here as well.

UPDATE: Another brief response from Daniel from For the Turnstiles  here, and my comment is crossposted in the comment thread below...

UPDATE: Joe Perez over at Until gives a detailed reponse  here.

Our global society faces the challenge of moving from an industrial-growth society to a life-sustaining society. This shift is often referred to as “The Great Turning.”

We spent some of our New Year’s holiday collaborating on this videoblog to create a positive vision for the New Year. We used Creative Commons-licensed material detailed below.

Here are some resources that we find useful in describing some optimistic social change approaches for the future:

COMMUNICATION
Non-Violent Communication is an approach to communicating that focuses on creating deep connection and satisfying relationships based on mutual respect, compassion and cooperation. Kent summarizes a weekend workshop of NVC here.

COMMUNITY
Joanna Macey wrote the book “Coming Back to Life,” which teaches community practices for facing despair and how to prevent from going psychically numb in the face of global challenges. Macey says, “When we deny or repress pain or treat it a private pathology we miss out. When we acknowledge and willing accepting the pain of larger world we open a path for a sense of interconnectedness.”

HEALTH
“The New Medicine” website by PBS is an excellent resource for understanding mind-body medicine and finding therapies that treat specific conditions with a integrative approach.

CONSCIOUSNESS
The Institute of Noetic Science’s ShiftInAction.com hosted an Essential Shifts Series consisting of interviews with some of the world’s best visionary thinkers talking about the current global situation and what we can do about it.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
We bought the book “Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century,” which describes some of the latest and greatest solutions for a bright green future. It is packed with sustainable technologies that provide a lot of hope for what is already possible.

---

VIDEO CREDITS

Creative Commons Music:
“Mind Field” by DJBLUE from ccmixter.org

Interview Audio:
Angeles Arrien from ShiftInAction.com

Creative Commons Video
Arin Crumley’s “Humanity Lobotomy”
freakypups’ “Free Hugs for Phoenix”
And the following Stock Footage from WGBH Labs Sandbox:
Clock, La Plaza Newspaper, New Yorkers 1939, Journey into DNA, This Information, Blood Flow, Splashes of Sparks, Of Human Bondage, Nubian Fisherman on the Nile, Crops in the Mist, Ocean Waves at the Shore, Baby Naming Ceremony, King Montgomery, Waikiki Counterclockwise, Nautilus Animation, Time Lapse Nature, Slow Motion Track

Creative Commons Flickr Photos
monkeyc, blumsy, neoncoil, kevint, benjamin_ellis, blogumentary, joyrex, ousby, tjt195, hawkey, sigman, hawkey, paulbence, hawkey, vithassan, hawkey, weston, lapidim, scatti_frullati, thomashawk, willpate, hawkey, scatti_frullati, cyberscorpion, scatti_frullati, hawkey, docman, k-girl, willemvelthoven, alfredoneto, hawkey, istanbulmike, sigman, tasteful_tn, jamesxv7

Falstad.com Physics Applets:
Ripple Tank (2-D Waves) Applet
2-D Circular Square Well Applet

Want to Share this Video? More information under the share link here.

 
I was tagged by Jen for the 5 Things People don’t know about me.

1.) I won a Twister Tournament in college. Bring it.
2.) I love to dance, and am known to go out on a dance floor even if there is no one else dancing.
3.) I recorded an audition tape to be on the very first survivor, but I never sent it in.
4.) I helped produce two 16mm films — a college comedy and a kung-fu action film — before directing my first documentary about a summer camp for adults who are mentally disabled — all while working an engineering day-job
5.) I just received an anonymous grant to support the next year of The Echo Chamber Project.

The five people I am tagging are:
William Harryman of Integral Options — UPDATE: Here's his Five Things post.
~C4Chaos — UPDATE: Here’s his Five Things post.
Charles Hope — UPDATE: coming soon.
Mike Lensi  UPDATE: Here's his Five Things post.
Darshan — UPDATE: Here’s his Five Things post.

[Image Source]

Here's a summary of Russian filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky's 10 Rules that he follows for documentary filmmaking:

1.) Film only if you can't live without filming
2.) Film only when you want to show something
3.) Allow the film to change you while you discover the world
4.) Film something only if you hate and love it at the same time
5.) Film using your instinct and intuition, not your brain
6.) The best films capture the unrepeatable moments of life
7.) Include shots that provide new impressions that the viewers never had before
8.) Structure your story around the arc of changes in the viewers' feelings
9.) Ethics and esthetics are intertwined in documentaries so be human yet "not nice."
10.) Don't follow these rules.  Find your own rules.

(via Re:Sources)

Wow!  These could be applied to narrative films as well as to videoblogging. Go read his full version as he adds a lot of other things NOT to do as well.

These rules really resonate with me because I find that I've been following them as I've been making The Echo Chamber Project.
* I felt totally compelled to document the pre-war news media by recording over 800 hours of coverage.
* I wanted to show the world how the media was glibly treating the war as inevitable
* I allowed myself to be profoundly transformed through the journey of learning why the media does the things that it does
* I was infuriated by how the media performed leading up to the war, but yet I love the idea of intrepid journalism so much that I'm driven to help heal the underlying illness.
* I was using my instincts on who to interview and my intuition for which questions to ask
* The pre-war television news is unrepeatable for everyone who wasn't recording hundreds of hours of coverage
* Aggregating and recontextualizing the pre-war news coverage with interview analysis will hopefully provide a new perspective on it
* There is a balance between allowing the journalists to defend themselves and calling out their combination of laziness and ineffectiveness.

Okay, time to start putting these into action!

My partner Jen and I will be visiting to Boulder, CO from the morning of Wednesday, December 27th and leave early morning on Tuesday, December 2nd.

We're looking for Zaadsters to meet up with – as well as a New Year's Party with a good mix of spiritual activists and integrally-minded folks.

We've moving in early April and have narrowed down our choices to Boulder or San Francisco.

Please let us know if you have any suggestions for some places we should check out while we're in town to get a good sense of the community. 

Below is a compilation video blog of us over a six-month period that we did during videoblogging week 2006.

Thanks,
-Kent.

We attended a Non-Violent Communication (NVC) Level I Workshop this weekend, and there are quite a bit of profound insights packed into this approach to communicating.

It is such a powerful strategy for communication because it aims to create a safe context for connecting to others in an authentic and vulnerable way. Rather than judging, blaming or attacking, it is about starting with the neutral common ground so that you can connect on an empathetic level by sharing your feelings. You then clearly communicate your internal needs and make requests without punishing the other person for saying "No."

NVC offers a simple yet effective framework to be more aware of what's going on inside of us so that we can connect and communicate it clearly to others. The NVC-style of speaking takes a bit of getting used to, but it is worth getting through the learning curve of deprogramming our habitual ways of thinking and communicating.

Below are some of the highlights from the NVC Level I Weekend Workshop as taught by Peggy Smith. The NVC movement stems from Marshall Rosenberg's Non-Violent Communication book shown above, but I highly recommend attending a workshop because there are a number of exercises that help you put this theory into practice.

[Video Coming Soon]

THE FOUR BASIC STEPS OF NON-VIOLENT COMMUNICATION
We usually speak with loaded statements that are filled with judgments, blame, guilt, fear, shame, etc. NVC adds clarity by separating communication into four different steps of Observation, Feelings, Needs & Request (OFNR)

1. OBSERVATION: Share a non-judgmental observation without any charged language that might put someone on the defensive
2. FEELINGS: Identify the feelings that are coming up
3. NEEDS: Connect these feelings to an underlying and universal human need
4. REQUEST: Make a request for the person to reflect back what you said and/or take a specific action.

NVC trainer John Cunningham has a handout that has a very useful digest of these four different steps.

OBSERVATIONS
* Differentiate from evaluations or judgments
* It's the stimulus and not the cause of my reaction
* Factual, Observable phenomena
* What a video camera might record
* Establishes common ground
* Remain open to clarification

FEELINGS
* Differentiate from thoughts
* Thoughts interpret; feelings inform
* Feelings are messages that point to our needs
* We are responsible for our feelings
* "I feel that…" & "I feel like…" or "I feel you…" are thoughts, not feelings

NEEDS
* Differentiate from strategies
* Needs are universal; strategies personal & specific
* Needs are the root of our feelings
* Needs are our shared, universal human nature
* Identification of needs learns to understanding
* Needs express the process of our becoming

REQUESTS
* Differentiate from demands
* Demands have conditions; requests don't
* Use positive language when making requests
* Make requests concrete & presently doable
* Clarifies what's been heard/seen, what feelings are present, or what action might meet the needs

GIVING & RECEIVING GAME VERSUS NAMING AND BLAMING GAME
Peggy Smith began the weekend NVC workshop with a worksheet from "The Compassionate Classroom." It described the differences between our habitual ways of communicating in a "Naming and Blaming" manner versus the NVC approach of "Giving and Receiving."

Marshall Rosenberg likes to represent this dichotomy with the metaphors of the Jackal vs. The Giraffe.

Why a giraffe?
* Giraffes have a 26 lb heart
* Have a long neck which can symbolize that they can see the consequences of their actions
* Are strong enough to kill a lion with a single kick
* Their saliva can dissolve thorns which symbolizes their ability to transform the barbs of others with compassion and empathy.

GIVING & RECEIVING COMMUNICATION STYLE (i.e. NVC)
GOALS:
* To make life wonderful
* To meet everyone's internal needs
* Create community & have power with others

MOTIVATION
* A natural state of Joy
* Meet internal needs through each individual's choice & free will

STRATEGIES
* Speak "Giraffe Language"
* Observe exactly what was Seen & Heard without human interpretation or subjectivity
* Share my feelings and needs in way that takes personal responsibility for them
* Make requests to make life more wonderful – And it's okay for others to say "No" since they're not obligated to act
* Listen with Empathy (Everyone has a natural hunger for empathy)
* Hear feelings and needs

NAMING & BLAMING
GOALS:
* To be right
* To get what I want
* Create a hierarchy & have power over others

MOTIVATION
* Fear, Guilt, Shame, Obligation, Duty

STRATEGIES
* Speak Jackal language
* Judge right or wrong and analyze
* Blame & criticize
* Make demands and use punishments and rewards – Can't say "No" without facing negative consequences like a withdrawal of affection
* Listen without Empathy
* Agree or disagree, advise, lecture, scold, argue, sympathize, divert

NOTABLE COMMENTS:
* We can't "get rid" of all of the jackals, but it is merely a piece of information for how we are able to translate their blaming language into the underlying feelings, needs and requests
* "No one can say or do anything can hurt us"
* Whenever you say "No" to someone, you're saying "Yes" to one of your own needs
* We have the power to take responsibility for our own life.
* We're not victims
* We have a choice for how we feel, react and respond to situations and people
* What's the difference between sympathy and empathy? Sympathy is when you get triggered and stimulated by your own feelings and needs and wallow in the suffering of the other by agreeing with the victim stories. Empathy is the power of being fully present and having an open heart with someone in a non-judgmental

NVC ADVOCATES RADICAL PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
* We Can Choose How We Act
* We Can Choose How We Think
* We Can Choose How We Listen
* We Can Choose How We Talk

KEY ASSUMPTIONS AND INTENTIONS OF NVC
1. Our world offers sufficient resources for meeting everyone's basic needs
* Scarcity is a lack of imagination, lack of skills or systemic limitations.

2. All actions are attempts to meet needs
* Core of NVC is that people want to meet their needs, and we are at conflict with the external strategies that we use to meet our needs

3. Feelings point to needs being met or unmet
* Feelings serve as a barometer that measures the degree to which our needs are being met
* NVC frowns upon statements like "You make me feel…" because no one can make you feel anything.
* Need to look for the root cause of the feelings, which are the universal human needs
* We feel happy, satisfied & peaceful when our needs are met, and feel sad, scared, angry when they're not met.

4. All human beings have the capacity for compassion
* No one is "evil" – everyone has the capacity for compassion even if they don't know how to access it
* Compassion increases our capacity for meeting our needs peacefully.

5. Human beings enjoy giving
* If we have choice, we're more likely to choose to serve and contribute to the well-being of others
* We inherently enjoy giving to others when we recognize our own needs and the needs of others

6. Human beings meet needs
* Relationships are the source for meeting most of our needs
* When others needs are unmet, then some of our needs are also unmet.

7. Choice is internal
* Autonomy is the ability for us to make our own choices

8. The most direct path to peace is through self-connection
* Needs can fill fulfilled when we are at peace with them and able to internally embrace, accept and love it. They don't necessarily have to be met through an external strategy or from a particular person.
* NVC is not learning something new, it is a remembering the essence from when we were born
* It tends to take adults longer to learn NVC than children.

OTHER NOTABLE COMMENTS:
* Our culture is speed-based and solution-based, and NVC advocates SLOWING down to notice the needs underneath our feelings
* Move away from static "I am" statements, and towards "I am feeling X because of my need for Y" -- allows for change moment-to-moment.
* We habitually identify ourselves by our suffering and trauma, NVC tends to see our past as mostly irrelevant
* We have a cultural taboo to not ask because we may be putting people in a position to say "No."
* Need to learn to dog for your needs and be willing to ask anything you need to make your life more wonderful from anyone.

KEY INTENTIONS WHEN USING NVC

* OPEN-HEARTED LIVING
1. Self-compassion
* Release self-blame, self-judgments & self-demands
* You can make yourself sick through blaming yourself, which isn't very helpful

2. Expressing from the heart
* Authentically communicate your feelings and needs in a way that establishes connection

3. Receiving with compassion
* Look beyond the surface-level expressions and actions from others to extrapolate what their feelings and needs might be.

4. Prioritizing Connection
* NVC isn't mediation or compromise, it is about connecting with an open heart and trying to stay in "the dance" long enough to meet everyone's needs

5. Beyond "right" and "wrong"
* We have a habit to judge between right and wrong, and we have a lot of resistance to giving up the need to be right – focus on meeting needs instead.

* CHOICE, RESPONSIBILITY, PEACE
6. Taking responsibility for our feelings
* No one has the power to make us feel anything – we have choice, and it's up to us to take actions to meet our needs

7. Taking responsibility for our actions
* Act in a mindful and intentional way to meet our needs rather than from a place of fear, guilt, shame, potential reward, duty or obligation.

8. Living in peace with unmet needs
* Focus on connecting with the feelings around unmet needs rather than obsessing on the various external strategies to meet them.

9. Increasing capacity for meeting needs
* When we focus on developing our sense of inner peace and NVC competencies, then we have more connection and a broader range of potential strategies to meet our needs

10. Caring equally for everyone's needs
* Strive towards solutions that can meet as many different people's needs as possible
* Everyone's needs are universal and completely valid, it’s the various strategies for meeting needs that are in conflict
* When we say "No" to someone's else's strategy for meeting a need, we're also saying "Yes" to one of our own strategies to meet one of our needs
* We should explain why we're saying "No" to people
* Marshall Rosenberg says that "we can only hear 35 words at a time"
* We are usually trying to prove to the other person that we're right when we go on and on and on about something.
* We'll reget it in the long-run if we overwhelm people with our reasoning or demands until they surrender to our strategy. People should do things because they want to.

11. Protective Use of Force
* When dialogue fails to meet an immediate need for physical safety, then use the minimal amount of force necessary to restore balance.

OTHER NOTABLE COMMENTS
* Learning NVC doesn't mean that you have to use it.
* It's possible to use NVC to beat yourself up and make judgments like "That's not NVC!"
* It's true power when we're able to share what it is that we're really feeling
* We gain power and autonomy by being able to express our feelings
* Needs are Universal, but whenever specific people are connected to a need then it becomes a specific "strategy" for meeting that need. So people can be our "preferred strategies" for meeting needs, but they are not the only way to meet our needs
* Our needs are never in conflict, it's the external strategies that conflict
* Self-Empathy: Ask yourself, "Are you willing…"
* Identifying the underlying needs has the capability of removing the loaded emotional charges from our "stories."
* One surprising universal need is "Mourning our Limitations." We all have regrets and grief over our limitations, and it is better to recognize and honor this need. Otherwise if they are ignored and brushed underneath the rug, then it'll grow and manifest in other ways like rage or anger.
* "Are you feeling X, because of your need for Y?"

FAUX FEELINGS THAT MASK PAINFUL FEELINGS
There are a number of "non-feelings" that are feelings that are mixed with judgments. These "Faux Feelings" tend to protect us from the feelings that we don't want to have by placing the blame onto others.

Some examples of "Non-Feelings":
Abandoned, abused, betrayed, blamed, cheated, criticized, ignored, insulted, intimidated, inadequate, invalidated, isolated, let down, manipulated, neglected, pressured, rejected, smothered, ridiculed, stupid, unimportant, untrusted, unwanted, used, violated, worthless, useless

WAYS THAT WE CAN BLOCK EMPATH
Empathy and Compassion is the energetic glue for NVC. Here are some common pitfalls that block empathy:
* Advising
* One-Upping
* Educating
* Consuling
* Storytelling
* Shutting Down
* Sympathizing
* Interrogating
* Explaining
* Correcting


THE FOUR DIFFERENT CHOICES FOR HOW WE LISTEN
We can either Submit, Rebel, Express or Empathize.
Two of the options focus on your internal reaction and two of them focus on the other person's reaction.
Two of the options are the Naming and Blaming Jackal, and the other two are Giving and Receiving Giraffe.

1.) Submitting: Internalized Naming & Blaming (Jackal In)
Blame myself by believing any criticism and fall towards shame, guilt and depression.

2.) Rebelling: Externalized Naming & Blaming (Jackal Out)
Perceive that you're being judged and act defensively by attacking the other person because they're wrong

3.) Expressing Self-Empathy: Internalized Giving & Receiving (Giraffe In)
Checking in with your feelings and expressing them in the form of: "When I hear X, I feel Y because of my need for Z."

4.) Empathize: Externalized Giving & Receiving (Giraffe Out)
Empathetic Guess about the feeling that is pointing to an unmet need: "I'm wondering if you're feeling X because you have a need for Y?"

* Submitting and Rebelling are our habitual patterns that we're very accustomed to.
* The more that you practice #3 of Giraffe In, then the more that the Empathetic Guess will come and flow.

CONCLUSION:
NVC is great.
I really like it.
You should check it out.
There is so much more to it than I've laid out here.
Go here for more info: http://www.cnvc.org

Finally, one of the most useful handouts from a NVC gathering is a "Feeling and Need Cheat Sheet," which gives an overview of all of your various different feelings and needs that we have. There are a number of different variations of this, and I've found that John Cunningham's version is the ultimate cheat sheet that really helps put NVC into practice.

 
Click HERE for a larger version of this picture.

We went to go see Stranger Than Fiction yesterday where Will Ferrell discovers that he is a character in someone's novel. He starts hearing a voice in his head that narrates his life and his deepest feelings, and it allows him to escape the boredom of his routines through many twists and turns.

There are a number of spiritual aspects to the film that I thought I'd jot down.

Witnessing Consciousness: Ferrell hears a third-person omniscient voice that is observing, deconstructing and witnessing his behavior.  By hearing this witnessing voice, Ferrell is able to break out of familiar patterns and structure that dominates his life.  The film itself also has a witnessing consciousness when a literary professor starts to deconstruct and analyze the movie's plot from a theoretical perspective. So it's very meta.

Free Will vs. Predestination: Ferrell makes choices about his life, but there are situations that seem out of his control and seem to be written as part of his fate through his book of life which is being actively created.  Is he able to overcome the predestined context through the power of his own choices and decisions for how he views his fate?

Surrender and Release: Is Ferrell's character able to surrender control over his seemingly predestined fate, and accept his soul's path that has been written for him?

The Balance between Structure and Flow: Ferrell's character is the epitome of structure, and there are a number of characters that counteract his rigidity by getting him to go with the flow and allowing life to unfold from moment to moment.  These polar extremes find a balance with each other.

Carpe Diem: There's an overarching message that you have the ability to make whatever you want with your life, and that you always have the choice to make the most with what you have been given.  We don't know when our lives are going to end, and so why not live life to the fullest that we possibly can.

Anyway, I very much enjoyed the film and would be curious to hear other's thoughts on it.

I read through some interesting material about my soul's purpose that resonated with me a lot -- so much so that I felt compelled to write a lot of it down.  I know that if I didn't, then a lot of it would just seep through me like a sieve.

So I took the following notes in the form of personal affirmations in order to own up to them. I also intend to use the pictures to help amply the core message so that I can treat this as a public note to myself.  These feel very personal, intimate and like they are some of my deepest shadows that sabotage me.  I don't usually post stuff that is this personal, but I wanted to put these intentions out for all to see.

The insights are from a book called "Astrology for the Soul" by Jan Spiller, which talks about the importance of the North Node.  These following excerpts are from North Node in the 5th House. 

Astrology still has a lot of taboos against it in our culture, and so I treat this type of stuff with a healthy skepticism and view it through a mythical lens rather than a literal one.  I find
that it helps uncover some archetypical patterns that can bring me down, hold me back, and prevent me from living up to my highest potential.  If this Astrological blue print can
indeed help me fulfill my soul's purpose while I'm on this planet, then I think it's certainly worth considering.

ATTRIBUTES TO DEVELOP

* I need to have a willingness to take center stage

* I need to follow my heart's desires

* I need to strengthen my willpower

* I need to have more self-confidence

* I need to take risks

* I need to enjoy life and have fun

TENDENCIES TO LEAVE BEHIND

* I need to avoid detaching from emotional situations

* I need to stop being so aloof

* I need to stop waiting for others to prompt my action

* I need to stop waiting for "more" knowledge before taking action

* I need to stop any excessive daydreaming

* I need to stop running away from confrontation

 
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ACHILLES HEEL

* I have an overriding need to feel acceptance from peers, but it's apparently a bottomless pit

* My soul path tells me that friends never can give me enough support to break out as an individual and take advantage of opportunities

* I need to avoid the trap of an unending search for knowledge in order to have enough confidence to act creatively.

* I must take risks to create my own happiness.

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WHAT I REALLY WANT

* I really want to experience the loving energy of others

* I should give love to others or create a support network of people who will support, accept and love me

* I will receive by giving.

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TALENTS / PROFESSION

* I need to find a profession that rewards my individual creative efforts through intensely creative projects (i.e. filmmaking)

* Objectivity is a talent that can be used to identify the contextual games around creativity, but I should avoid professions where objectivity is the goal (i.e. engineering)

 

 AFFIRMATIONS

* "The only person who can create my happiness is me"

* "If I'm having fun, I'm on track"

* When I follow the impulses of the child within, I win"

* "I win when I actively create the results I want"

 
[Image Source]

WHERE I'M COMING FROM

* I have previously lost touch with the vital energy of my inner child

* I have been an objective observer who has a real fear of getting involved

* I need to GET INVOLVED and LEARN HOW TO PLAY

* I have a "laboratory objectivity" which creates a need to passively observe without interfering with the observed data.

* I need to be wary of identifying too much with the role of "Important Observer," which will stroke my ego

* I feel compelled to cut through all of the nonsense and tell it like it is, but this might feel bad if settle too much into rigid positions.

* CHALLENGE: I need to focus on positive aspects that either make me laugh, change my perspective or help lighten the burden.

 

OBSERVATION VERSUS ACTION

* I can get swept up into other people's dramas even though there are plenty of warning signs

* To manifest my dream, it takes a combination of observation and action, and a lot of exerted energy

* I tend to be much better at observing rather than acting to create real world changes.

 

 

SCIENTIFIC APPROACH VERSUS CREATIVITY

* I have a tendency to "think myself to death," analyze everything, and explore all of the possible things that can go wrong.

* I feel compelled to gather all possible knowledge before making any decisions to act.

* I can become so overwhelmed with all of the possibilities that I can get overwhelmed and paralyzed

* I seek security through certain knowledge, which keeps me from taking the risks that would increase my vitality.

* I must trust intuition rather than clinging on to logical strategies

* I often assume that they have superior knowledge, even though this stubborn assumption often blocks them from manifesting my dream.

* I need to consider that my basic premises may be in error

* I often create an arbitrary set of conditions that must be met before acting, but yet these conditions are rarely ever met and may cause me to miss a window of opportunity

* I need to release control of the success or failure of my dream

* I should put aside concerns and do whatever possible from moment to moment in order to achieve my dream

* I need to transcend the limitations of the scientific approach in order to be truly creative

* My creativity comes with working with what's at hand through intuition and mindfulness

* I must accept what the universe brings forth in order to make my dreams come true

* I can go in circles feeling estranged from my life force, and I need to be sure to tap into this life force by connecting with others emotionally and intellectually

 

GOING WITH THE FLOW

* I need to learn that I do have the power and talents to enact pragmatic changes based upon my view of the larger picture.

* Danger lies when I do not feel an inner connection to my goal

* I need to be careful not to go with the flow of other people's wants and desires

* I need to use intuition and follow what makes my inner child happy by listening to it and not getting flooded by my rational mind.

* I have no idea what anyone else's life lessons are, and I can only know that the happiness within myself is the only sure beacon toward right action.

* CHALLENGE: Play and have fun, pursue my individuality and manifest my own dreams

 

 

PEERS

* I apparently have some unfortunate group karma because I used to loose my individuality in groups

* I need to carefully choose my social groups that I assimilate into

* I feel the need to express my individuality in group situations

* I must stay in touch with my inner being in order to have healthy relationships with groups

 

DAYDREAMING VERUS MANIFESTATION

* I often lose myself daydreaming about the future, which dilutes myself
creative fire when I should be spending more time taking action

* I go into deep sadness whenever I waste years never realizing my dreams

* I must chose a resonate dream and take proactive steps towards manifesting it

* I have a unique talent for manifesting in the world whatever I dream about (!)

* I sometimes become impatient with my dreams and try to force them into reality

* I cannot afford to wait to see the full picture before acting because I'm never going to gain enough knowledge and confidence to act

* My vitality comes with taking risks

FOCUS VERSUS DISTRACTION

* I am easily distracted by life's opportunities and have trouble staying tuned into the original goal that excited me in the first place.

* I need to learn to stay on path regardless of obstacles or distractions

* I easily get caught up in the ecstatic energy associated with beginning a journey towards my dream

* When the journey to towards my dream becomes difficult or momentum slows, then I either give up or get easily distracted on another path that holds less energy for me in the long-run

* External resistance to my dream is often faced, and I must pull back and rise above it and use these challenges as an opportunity to grow my character.

* Internal resistance to my dream is also faced, and they I persevere through strength and self-discipline.

 

CREATIVITY

* I need to learn to participate in the joy of the creative process

* I'm supposed to create the creative situations that I want, but I don't know how. (!)

* The fear of not knowing sends me into a downward spiral of searching for more and more knowledge so that I can be empowered to act.

* SOLUTION: I need to act with intention and focus on my creation, and the knowledge I need will come from going forward through active creation

[Image Source]

KNOWLEDGE VERSUS EXPERIENCE

* I must stop using knowledge as an excuse not to act, and realize that
it's all right to be wrong (anything really worth doing is worth doing
poorly)

* I need to realize that making mistakes is how we gain real knowledge about what practically works

* My self-confidence comes from trusting my own information base, but I
need to be willing NOT to know, and be open to experimentation with a
childlike sense of wonder

* I need to follow my heart even if other people aren't doing it

* I tend to use certainty of knowledge to protect me from the pain of potential mistakes

* I need to follow my inner child into "unchartered territories of
pleasure, excitement, discovery, romance, and creativity" – otherwise I
become "discontented, disassociated and confused" as to why I didn't
end up at a happier place.

* I must step out into the unknown and find my truth through direct experience through trust, intuition and courage

 [Image Source]

GAMEMENSHIP

* I am excellent at games since my objectivity allows for the construction of excellent strategies

* Once I have my goal in mind, I'm able to play my role in order to make my dream come true – so it helps to think of it as a game.

 

[Image Source]

A friend asked me if there was a map of political idealogies that was more of a circular map rather than a straight line between the left and the right.

I sent him Gregory Wilbert's map above based upon Ken Wilber's Integral Map with four quadrants.

The X axis is Internal vs. External
The Y axis is Individual vs. Collective

• Internal/Individual Upper Left (UL) = Psychology
• Internal/Collective Lower Left (LL) = Sociology
• External/Individual Upper Right (UR) = Behaviorism
• External/Collective Lower Right (LR) = Systems

Republicans/Libertarians focus on inner world -- personal motivation, work 
hard and have an entreprenurial spirit rather than big government

Liberals/Progressives focus more on external systems -- support systems 
for the collective.

Both are important, and centrists and independents usually see this and 
prefer not to align themselves with either extreme.

But the map above also shows the nature of the extreme political ideologies:

• Libertarianism -- Personal intention and self-interest w/ small government (UL)
• Facism -- Government with uniform cultural value systems (LL)
• Anarchism -- no government power structure and power of individual (UR)
• Socialism -- collective government structures serve society (LR)

These following articles below give an overview of Wilber's quadrant system 
which might help give some context to the Integral Map of political idealogies
above.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AQAL#Quadrants
http://www.integralleadership.com/quadrants.htm
http://www.formlessmountain.com/quads.htm

Victory! The Democrats won the House, and are in position to also take the Senate pending Virginia.

We need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for all of the deception that we've been living with for the past six years. The wool has been pulled over collective our eyes, and how refreshing would it be to see and hear some truth about it?

Now whether or not the politicians ever really candidly admit to these deceptions is another matter, but the least that can happen are some Congressional investigations to expose some truth -- potentially the most explosive one is how the Bush Administration used and misused intelligence to lead us into Iraq.  Also keep an eye on what Henry Waxman does with his chairmanship.

Unfortunately, there is already chatter of the next election two years from now, and preservation of power is already on their minds before even questioning of previous power abuses. The Democrats see that they've won a number of Red State seats, and they want to hold on to them for the next election by playing to the center. (via firedoglake)

In private talks before the election, Emanuel and other top Democrats told their members they cannot allow the party's liberal wing to dominate the agenda next year. Democrats will hold 30 or 35 seats that went for Bush in the past, meaning that Democratic candidates such as Brad Ellsworth in rural Indiana are likely to face competitive races again in 2008. Still, their interests are likely to collide with those of veteran liberals such as Reps. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.) and John Conyers Jr., (Mich.), who will chair committees.

It is so depressing to see this endless game of power grabs and strategizing.

I just want some aggressive, skeptical and honest investigations into the very real corruption and abuses of power that have been going on.

Yet I'm also aware and afraid that this election is not going to radically shift on the illness and unbalances with our society. I don't expect to see any real integral solutions coming from inside the beltway any time soon. Is Obama any hope of an integral candidate?

But today I just want to wallow in this optimism and hope for hearing some truth exposed to the American pubic.