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• Comment Link Sunday, 08 January 2012 06:41 posted by Philip Corkill

  Way to go my friend! I'll give you all I've got, this flu ridden morning.
  
  Barbara Marx Hubbard said something like this in her closing address: this is the first time in the history of the universe that this circle has been created with this quality of human being. Very roughly. Wish I had the recording. Out soon I hope?
  
  That was like the creation of the Omega circle, as in the ultimate omega in Wilber's Boomeritis, a book of many from what I will call:
  
  The Emergent Convergent Testament
  
  As with the New Testament, this tome is 1. A very beautiful Story. 2. A very true story, and 3. A very good story. All told at the highest level currently available to us. Robb Smith told us, that the most powerful thing in manifesting something in all four quadrants is a good story.
  
  And Barbara Marx Hubbard tells our true story, so well, that it trumps all other ISE Visions. Actually it seamlessly, effortlessly integrates them. For me, as a newcomer, and not someone who will call themselves integral, this was the best, truest and most beautiful story told at the ISE3. This was true for me as I stood up first and sang my "yes" to the beauty of it, thinking I might be the only one but turning around I saw the whole "integral Church" on it's feet singing "yes". Are you watching IntegraLand? You were one and all united! AND you were popular;-)It was not a demand. Nobody had to stand and sing. In fact Barbara specifically suggested allowing the impulse within to respond spontaneously. Goodness did it respond! I had to dance all over the room.
  
  Later I was a little dismayed to hear of people who just felt irritated by it. Not because that is not OK with me - not at all - but because I saw the very same people, standing up and giving it their best "yes" in the decisive moment Barbara was asking if people would show up fully. That to me seems profoundly inauthentic and I don't give a shit if your a Zen Master or a neo-nazi, if you want to say no, say NO! However, deep down I suspect that many where just not aware of what happened or what was being asked for. I watched their hearts respond and later their minds pretend it didn't happen, Perhaps it was too binding and too fresh?
  
  There is a time frame to the story, This piece alone would be enough to create an inter-integral synergy the likes of which integral seems to be longing for strongly. As Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan, wanting to win the NBA Championship, we would need to create supreme co-ordination between an otherwise impossibly unruly bunch of players and staff. Including a mad transvestite, a ZEN Master, the greatest ever EGO in the game, plenty of sex-addicts, gamblers, geeks and goody-goodies. Ring a bell integral pepes?
  
  SUPREME COORDINATION in my view, is one of the deepest core values of Universal Existence. It's the beauty of it. As Carl Sagan told us in Micheal Dowd's talk "the beauty of the universe is not in the atoms themselves but in the way they are put together". In my new integral speak:
  
  "The beauty of the Meta-Sangha is not only in the individual Teacherstudents themselves but in the way they are coordinated together"
  
  Creating that Coordination:
  
  Watch the 50 trillion cell population of Michael Jordan's body move. You'll rarely see such beauty. The coordination is so great. Even at the higher conciousness state levels, his Basketball brings me to my knees. He describes his best games as "silent, timeless experience" like an absolute realiser and yet he'll beat the buzzer exactly in the last second. An awareness of time like the crudest executive. All coordinated seamlessly as if he was the Universe. Or as Lary Bird once said chocking on tears: "He's GOD in Basketball boots". But he could get a ring on his own.
  
  When the vision for the Bulls was aligned to the core values of the Basketball Universe by the game's greatest coach and the games brightest Supra-Star, they were able to include all in that majestic coordination. Even the opposition. And they had a very clear due date. Championship rings all round by the last second of the NBA Finals and they did it. All of SIX times! Were there shadows, challenges, people with differing opinions, people who thought they were more special than they really were, like we have in the real world? You can bet you're bits it was tough!
  
  So Barabara envisioned the championship rings for the ISE Dream Team and Beyond (very difficult to do. Michael Dowd couldn't do that, Andrew Cohen couldn't do that). Her conception date for the global shift to the "Kingdom of God" (my current term, use yours) is 22 March 2012, Global Conception Day. Mark it in your diary and get vocationally flirting!
  
  The due date for the birth of the "New Humanity" (my term, call it what you will) - that is not a choice, after the conception, but a child to be delivered - is Birth 2012, 22nd December 2012. Mark it!
  
  The Team, ISE 3 and Beyond, is jam packed with genius on every level that is merging into scenius on every level. My experience of this field of "scenius" at ISE 3 was a spontaneous integrative leap of about 3 cognitive stages and an almost complete realignment of my heart, body and being. It's gonna be a very intelligent Team!
  
  If you think the Birth 2012 Vision is just sort of, silly, then just ask yourself why 300 integrally interested Adults of moderate intelligence and sanity, stood up on the first of January 2012, in Integral Church, in a Chorus of "Yes".
  
  The Universe is conspiring to that Vision and even if it isn't, I'm committed on every level to serve that birth, for the sake of IT, and because I'm sure that when it sees the baby, at the latest, the Universe won't be able to resist!
  
  My highest value is beauty! I'm a universal playmaker;-)
• Comment Link Sunday, 08 January 2012 07:13 posted by Sarah Olson

  Epic comment Phil :) It was great to connect with you down in California and thanks for your enthusiasm and courage in your post. It was indeed a very kick-ass collective Yes.
  
  A lot has come up for me since reading your piece and sitting with your prompt Chela. I definitely resonate with the challenge of integrating and moving forward after an experience like we had... especially when we came home to a very real-world case of apartment bed bugs! Conference-buzz killer!
  
  I think I will share a few things now, and re-visit this thread later this weekend.
  
  One thing that happened that was very new for me was to have an experience of actually receiving a creative inspiration that seemed to come from "elsewhere."
  
  The theme of the event being Kosmic Creativity, a main focus of the morning sessions was to work through a structured process with one aspect of our own creativity in our lives. This could be a question we were holding in our art, business, leadership, etc - and it was in no way frivolous. Spurred on by the fire of characters like Barbara Marx, Terry Patten, Andrew Cohen and lots of others, there was definitely a strong sense that the creativity we were working with MATTERED on a deep level. Mattered for our communities and our planet in a profound way. There really was a deep urgency to say yes for real to what we are "called" to do.
  
  So in these sessions we worked through a process laid out by Ken Wilber in several video sessions. It involved holding a specific question in a place of unknowing, and using meditative practices to cultivate a contemplative, and receptive state.
  
  I worked through this process - the question I was holding had to do with what I can offer as I move into the next phase of my career - I'm finishing my medical residency program in June, and will (after 10 years of post-secondary training) have the freedom to do something totally new and different – the possibilities are at the same time really exciting, and a bit overwhelming and daunting.
  
  It was useful for me because I really did feel that space of unknowing sincerely, as I actually haven’t a clue how all my interests, passions and commitments are going to coalesce in this field. It was during a completely unrelated session the next day as I was listening to a talk, that I unconsciously revisited my question, and it was like a flash, a download. I had a vision almost fully formed, a clear and practical plan with almost all the elements in place. It was so obvious I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before! And it was really bloody exciting! I felt charged, alive, motivated to get started right away, grateful.
  
  I talked to several other people who had similar experiences during the event. There really did seem to be a field of creativity happening.
  
  What I found equally interesting, is that the following day after the dust had settled, I noticed a ton of doubt and uncertainty in what had been so strong and clear the previous day. I also spoke to a few others who had THIS experience as well (we've committed to supporting each other to trust ourselves, and move forward)
  
  So it's an interesting one I think... It was grace or something like it that gave me the idea (and that which inspires all of us on some level), and then fear, doubt and contraction that took over the next day. So the practice now is, how to not just cultivate these moments of inspiration, but also develop the trust to move forward with them even when we start to think the idea might actually be lame?
  
  It would be great to hear if this resonates for others, and if you have some advice for me in moving forward.
  
  Thanks for getting us started Chela.
• Comment Link Sunday, 08 January 2012 20:08 posted by Michael Dowd

  Idea orgies... coming together... evolutionary ache... individual and collective creative impulses... Yea, that pretty much says it. :-) I too brought back the flu and generously gave it to my beloved Connie. I'm feeling about as energetic as a slug at the moment. (Philip, how you can write so much and so well with the flu is beyond me!)
  
  In any event, for any who were not at the event, here (on YouTube) are two version of almost exactly the same "Evolutionize Your Life" program I delivered at ISE-3 (one narrated by me, in two parts, and a live version delivered on Darwin Day 2011): http://thegreatstory.org/evolutionize-video.html
  
  I'll try to post more here when I'm feeling slightly more energetic than a slug.
  
  A big cyberhug to you, Chela, for posting this.
  
  ~ Michael
• Comment Link Monday, 09 January 2012 18:57 posted by Philip Corkill

  Beloved Michael! Sorry, for passing you that bug:-/ Let me explain about the writing. Firstly, I participate a lot at Beams and Struts. In terms of writing: they turn mice into men;-)
  
  Secondly, and this could really prove to be an alleyoop pass if you can catch it well:
  
  I am not limited by the evidence!
• Comment Link Tuesday, 10 January 2012 07:43 posted by Philip Corkill

  @Sarah,
  
  I think what we experience cannot be experienced alone but in a certain sense we will not be alone in the same way again.
  
  My advice is: Let us help you incubate your idea in a safe container. It is not at all lame it just feels that way because it hasn't learned to walk yet.
  
  It doesn't have to walk yet. 3 months to conception day. Plenty of time;-)
• Comment Link Friday, 20 January 2012 05:25 posted by Rochelle Fairfield

  Reading over these posts, I felt Philip was on fire - dude, you're definitely lit up! And Chela thanks for setting the scene, priming the pump and weighing in. Sarah - yes, I love that how after the opening, the contraction comes - after the seeing, the doubt (maybe 40 days in the desert, tempted to abandon your vision by the demons of doubt?) And Michael - ah the noble slug (gastropod) - where would we be without slugs and our own sluggishness? (I have no idea! I just like how it sounds : )
  
  So, what if anything to add. . . well, I liked the function ISE 3 served of bringing us all together. There's a passage in the bible (I read it in a hotel room somewhere in the middle of Canada as I was driving cross country in my 20's, and really liked it). It was about not forgetting to encourage one another and raise one another up, and not forgetting to meet together "as is the habit of some". So the talks and teachers and everything really I think helps seed that space, but more than anything, people being there to be with one another, and with such open and lovely hearts and intentions - and overtly so - that's what I go for. And to catch a few of the wickedly funny off the cuff remarks from Kelly B, Diane's graceful way of turning goof ups into jokes, Terry P's sober excitement, Michael D's infectious joy,Sarah and Trevor's sincerity, and well, on and on it goes. And I hope it does go on, in whatever guise - call it ISE, call it ITC, call it 'the kosmic celebration of wonderful we', just keep it going because, to quote the venerable if a bit dodgy Martha Stewart "it's a good thing".
  
  And. . I also caught a whiff, if I'm not mistaken, of a wobble in the meaning making of the event. . .like it was teetering on the edge of what it itself could make sense of. I felt it in the repetition of calls to Eros starting to feel little over-worked, and a hunger for action that hinted at a dissonance calling for something not yet in sight. All this erotic yearning - will it be a reach that is fulfilled in grasping something and coming into communion with it, or do we keep Eros alive, for to satiate it would leave it where, exactly?
  
  well, just a few musings - again, thanks for the prompt Chela, for the participation everyone, and thanks to Beams and Struts for this space.
  
  
  all love,
  Rochelle.
• Comment Link Friday, 10 February 2012 04:07 posted by Katherine Konner

  This response is written 2 weeks after the first month post ISE3. I've put off writing for as long as I could forget. I've wanted to have a different view of everything because I was hoping I'd find something greater to share, something more meaningful than my personal experience. I wanted to find that place where even Kosmic Creativity as source felt so intensely in love, everything aligned with the rescue, and set off a sequence of events which pulled Earth out of any malestrom, ending any suffering, any place where love is in pain, any place where life has been living in less than a generating life way. Forgive my romantic heart for crying, praying that any last rites not be given to our world and that I didn't stand up screaming at the top of my lungs saying let's get the real party started!!
  ~ Katherine