The Integral Stage Expanded Universe (ISEU)

In this special episode, Layman meets with Steve McIntosh to talk about the overlaps between their respective approaches to post-postmodern spirituality, and in particular about the 6 Agreements that Steve proposes are necessary to move towards a genuinely pluralist, post-postmodern spiritual understanding and practice.

This is the second part of a deep dive into the nuances of the pre-tragic, tragic & post-tragic framing. It begins in speculative theory space and moves into a consideration of power, post-tragic sexual narratives, the integrity of developmental communities, self-harm, and the collective future of inquiry into the concept of the Post-Tragic. Oblique references are made to the film Fight Club, the comedian Richard Lewis, cult classic "The Room," and Spiral Dynamics. Plus, in an act of supreme magnanimity, Layman retracts his curse and saves Marc from a fiery death...

The Seven Facets of Awakened Wholeness series is a special Integral Stage / Pacific Integral co-production, highlighting dimensions of the Awakened Wholeness project which is being stewarded by Abigail Lynam and Geoff Fitch, with special support from Tucker Walsh.If episode 1 was an opportunity for oxen to graze widely in the field, episode 2 (The Principle of Integration) explores how a bolus becomes a fat, happy cow.Seven Facets of Awakened Wholeness workshop:https://www.pacificintegral.com/workshopsAbigail Lynam, PhD, is faculty for Fielding University’s PhD program in Human and Organizational Development and for Pacific Integral’s Generating Transformative Change leadership development program in Seattle and Ethiopia. Abigail’s scholarship and practice integrates the interior dimensions of human knowledge and experience (culture, worldviews, adult developmental psychology, wisdom traditions, etc.) with adult learning, leadership development, and social and ecological change work. Abigail is a skilled facilitator, developmental scorer, debriefer, and coach, teacher of awareness, shadow, and embodiment practices, and facilitator of Work that Reconnects. She lives in the Seattle area and is passionate about supporting personal, interpersonal, and collective development for healthier and more just systems.Geoff Fitch, MA, is a founding partner of Pacific Integral. Geoff is a coach, trainer, and facilitator of transformative growth in individuals and organizations. He has been studying and practicing diverse approaches to cultivating higher human potentials for twenty years. He also has twenty years experience in leadership in business.

In this new Integral Stage Author Series episode, Layman sits down with Dr. Jen Peer Rich to talk about her recently published book, The Alchemy of Being a House.In this poetic, fiercely honest memoir, Jen Peer Rich invites us inside the living house of her body shaped by early childhood cancer, trauma, chronic illness, disability, caregiving and decades of survival. Told through many rooms and different selves, this is the story of what happens when a person dares to listen to their inner voice and follow them home. Inside these pages lives Ruth, Jen’s loyal guide dog of cosmic wisdom. There are splintered selves and barking truths, mystical blueprints and healing thresholds. Through it all moves the question: What if I was never meant to be fixed—but listened to? The Alchemy of Being a House is not a linear story, it’s a circle. A memoir of multiplicity, spiritual embodiment, and transformation that resonates with anyone navigating trauma, chronic pain, intergenerational healing, or the longing to belong to oneself.Jen Peer Rich, PhD is an author, artist, and alchemist whose work explores healing, multiplicity, and the spiritual architecture of selves. Her debut memoir, The Alchemy of Being a House, is the first in The Circle of Selves Trilogy-a series of intimate, genre-defying books tracing the nonlinear path of trauma integration and homecoming. With a background in ecological philosophy and decades of lived experience as a disabled, queer caregiver, Jen brings a rare blend of insight, humor, and radical compassion to her storytelling. She writes in collaboration with her many inner selves-including Ruth, a loyal inner watchdog who speaks in barked wisdom-and lives in Florida beside a lake with her beloved wife, daughter, and rescue dogs.https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Being-House-Memoir-Trilogy/dp/B0FLWHZ829/

This is the first half of a discussion in which Layman and the Rabbi discuss the origins, nature, community use, philosophical necessity, and intriguing extensions of the tripartite concept of pre-tragic, tragic & post-tragic.

How do we cultivate robust, ethical, convivial human beings who have access to their full cognitive, emotional, and motivational resources? How can we better live functional, enjoyable lives, contribute to our societies' health and evolution, keep growing internally, and maximize the potentials of our best states? In this new Integral Stage series, we will be talking to Integral psychotherapists about their practices and experiences, and about the psychotechnologies, philosophical maps, and emerging clinical insights that can best help us to clean up and grow up -- to heal and thrive.For episode 10, Layman is joined by Bettina Wichers to discuss her groundbreaking research into transpersonal gerontology and the overlap of certain features of dementia with transpersonal or mystical experience.Bettina Wichers is an independent gerontologist and lecturer at the University of Göttingen who has specialized in the understanding dementia. She has worked for more than 25 years with nurses and care-givers in nursing homes, and has developed a unique framework, based upon Integral Theory, which aims to brings all the issues surrounding dementia – medical, psychological, social, spiritual – into a coherent framework. She is currently engaged in writing a book which expresses her evolving understanding of dementia from a unitive perspective.

Pema Dragpa's new book, An Integral View of Tibetan Buddhism, is the inspiration for and ostensible focus of this conversation between Dragpa and Layman, but it is also just an excuse for them to get together to chat about their favorite dharma, meditation, and "transformative practice in a time between worlds" topics.https://www.amazon.com/s?k=an+integral+view+of+tibetan+buddhism+pema+dragpaLama Pema Dragpa is a resident Dharma teacher at Padma Samye Ling (PSL), the main monastery and retreat center of the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center (padmasambhava.org). This institute was founded and directed by the Nyingma Dzogchen masters Ven. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, who both trained and mastered the ancient traditions of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Lama Dragpa lives and teaches at Padma Samye Ling, and was ordained as a lama by the Ven. Khenpo Rinpoches. He is a senior editor of over 20 books on philosophy, meditation, and Buddhist tenets. Lama Dragpa graduated with honors in philosophy and religious studies from NYU in 2002, and is a certified Hospice volunteer. He has taught at Colgate University, Scranton University, and Binghamton Community College, and regularly travels to lead PBC events on traditional and contemporary Buddhist philosophy and meditation.

This was recorded in two parts earlier this year following the death of the influential, controversial and "integrally-informed" teacher of radical, evolutionary and collective enlightenment processes -- Andrew Cohen.

The Seven Facets of Awakened Wholeness series is a special Integral Stage / Pacific Integral co-production, highlighting dimensions of the Awakened Wholeness project which is being stewarded by Abigail Lynam and Geoff Fitch, with special support from Tucker Walsh.https://pacificintegral.substack.com/p/the-seven-facets-of-awakened-wholeness-bb0----------------------Abigail Lynam, PhD, is faculty for Fielding University’s PhD program in Human and Organizational Development and for Pacific Integral’s Generating Transformative Change leadership development program in Seattle and Ethiopia. Abigail’s scholarship and practice integrates the interior dimensions of human knowledge and experience (culture, worldviews, adult developmental psychology, wisdom traditions, etc.) with adult learning, leadership development, and social and ecological change work. Abigail is a skilled facilitator, developmental scorer, debriefer, and coach, teacher of awareness, shadow, and embodiment practices, and facilitator of Work that Reconnects. She lives in the Seattle area and is passionate about supporting personal, interpersonal, and collective development for healthier and more just systems.Geoff Fitch, MA, is a founding partner of Pacific Integral. Geoff is a coach, trainer, and facilitator of transformative growth in individuals and organizations. He has been studying and practicing diverse approaches to cultivating higher human potentials for twenty years. He also has twenty years experience in leadership in business.

Our exploration of "The Evolution of Tears" concludes with a look at the role of sorrow in visionary experience & spiritual maturity with a special focus on the need to reclaim and integrate the tears that we might displace onto "the angels." The key textual references here are Isaac and Ishmael.

The intricacies of establishing and unfolding intentional spiritual and philosophical communities with the Sensei of the Clear Sky Monastery.

The concept of the "post-tragic," associated with the work of Marc Gafni and a few others, is not in broad circulation. Alexander Love is deploying and investigating the term and I join him to suggest that it is basically a redux of Nietzsche's concept of the Tragic per se. Plus we talk Painting!

LIFE ITSELF, THE SECOND RENAISSANCE, AND HUMAN TRANSFORMATION IN A TIME OF META-CRISISFor episode 14, Layman sits down with Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier to talk about the Life Itself and Second Renaissance communities and organizations, the importance of mapping the meta-communities, the role of art in cultural transformation, and the upcoming Harvard conference on the meta-crisis.Rufus Pollock is a Founder of Open Knowledge, an award-winning international digital non-profit. Formerly a Shuttleworth Fellow, the Mead Fellow in Economics at Cambridge University.Sylvie Barbier is a French-Taiwanese performance artist, entrepreneur and educator. She co-founded Life Itself to build a wiser future through culture, space and community.Life Itselfhttps://lifeitself.org/Second Renaissancehttps://secondrenaissance.net/intro

We continue our exploration of the backstory and intellectual journey to "Cosmo-erotic Humanism" with a further exploration of the relentless Rabbi's book on Tears. This time we focus on questions related to God's Voice, Laughter in Hell, Bondage & the Abraham/Isaac tale.

For the 50th (?) episode of the Integral Stage's Author Series, Layman meets with novelist and linguistic philosopher, Lisa Maroski, to explore her ideas around the enactive power of language and speech, and her experiments in finding new forms of language to more deeply embody liminal and nondual sensibilities.From the book's description:In Embracing Paradox, Evolving Language: Expressing the Unity and Complexity of Integral Consciousness, L.E. Maroski proposes that humanity is poised on the cusp of a transformation of consciousness that requires not only a shift in values and perspectives, but also a shift in a basic technology we take for granted-language. Because we use language to create social structures and institutions, including education, governance, and our most intimate relationships, the structure of our language contributes to the way we structure those creations. Maroski questions the cultural assumptions that are built into the structure of language-primarily English-and invites the reader to imagine and ultimately to help develop novel structures of language that arise from different assumptions. To do so, she shows how we can draw inspiration from paradoxical topological forms, such as the Möbius strip and Klein bottle, as they embody both unity and duality/multiplicity. By seeing our reality not simply in terms of either/or but also in terms of both (many)/and, perhaps our feelings of fragmentation and the stultifying oppositions that have polarized society can transform into appreciation for the wholeness of all existence.L.E. Maroski blends philosophy, psychology, and science with the spiritual to describe her vision for a new type of language and to provide stepping stones for possible ways to express the paradoxical wholeness of Life. In Embracing Paradox, Evolving Language, her words ring out as a clarion call to visionaries who seek to bring into existence a world of many worlds that works for everybody.Embracing Paradox, Evolving Languagehttps://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Paradox-Evolving-Language-Consciousness/dp/1961334100

A MONK, A SHAMAN, AND A SCIENTIST WALK INTO A BAR AT THE EDGE OF THE APOCALYPSE...Layman sits down with meditation and planetary dharma teacher, John Churchill, to enjoy a Double Venti Alchemist's Elixir and a rich, wide-ranging conversation exploring the shape of emergent integrative spiritualities at the edge of the Apocalypse.Born in London, Dr. Churchill's interest in psycho-spiritual development, Integral theory, Contemplative studies, Western Esotericism, and Mahayana Buddhism began in his adolescence, eventually leading him to spend several years as a Buddhist monk at Samye Ling Monastery in Scotland. During this time, John received the esoteric Planetary Dharma transmissions that would in time unfold as his contribution to a planetary fourth turning teaching. Dr. Churchill spent 15 years training and teaching “Great Seal” meditation in an Indo-Tibetan Mahayana lineage under the mentorship of the late senior Western teacher, translator, respected author, and clinical psychologist Dr. Daniel P. Brown. He is also a founding member of the Integral Institute led by esteemed Transpersonal/Integral philosopher, Ken Wilber.Planetary Dharma websitehttps://www.planetarydharma.com/

My upcoming Parallax course Integral Theory for Idiots starts July 6th. I thought it would be intriguing to compare the audio of a course description that I wrote and the alternative descriptions put together by three different free online AIs -- Claude, Deepseek & Perplexity. The tone they favor and the particular elements they "chose" to emphasize are very interesting...

The Liminal Café is where the locals of the liminal web gather for coffee and conversation. In this new series, Layman chats with the people and patrons who, for some curious reason, find themselves drawn to this sketchy corner of the internet...NAGARJUNA, DELEUZE, AND WHITEHEAD ADVANCED RHIZOMATICALLY INTO A BARFor episode 11, Layman joins Kazi Adi Shakti in the Amaravathi branch of the Liminal Café for a wide-ranging, paradigm- and continent-crossing exploration of the development of a Process Buddhism.Kazi is an artist and theorist whose theoretical work primarily consists in the study and creative synthesis of process thought, Madhyamaka Buddhism, Western Marxism and Eco-feminist ethics. She graduated with a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she majored in Interdisciplinary Sculpture with a focus on computer modeling, 3D scanning and digital fabrication and currently works as a scanning specialist and digital artist in the 3D digitization industry.Kazi's blog, Holo-Poiesishttps://holo-poiesis.com/

It might be totally appropriate, and even wise, to fear integral postmetaphysics. But in this inaugural episode of our new Integral Stage series, Who's Afraid of Integral Postmetaphysics?, Layman and Alexander Love will try to convince you otherwise...Alexander Love is an acupuncturist, life coach, and craniosacral therapist. With gentleness, lightness and depth, he invites us to listen to the voice of our inner wisdom & potency and allow that to move us outward into the world and make a difference. The call to embark on this journey invites us to recognize that we matter beyond measure. Our individual voices, when allowed to speak from the depths of our intrinsic beauty, weave a complex melody of an emblazoned, sacred heart inscribed and aflame with the majestic mystery of life.https://www.eoswellnesscenter.com/alexander-love

For the forty-seventh episode of the Integral Stage Author Series, Layman meets with Dr. Nava Israel to discuss her "Cone" model, which describes a common pattern through which often well-meaning solutions to problems end up transforming into dogmatic systems that rob individuals of their freedoms and worsen their problems. Layman invites Dr. Nava to unpack the inner workings of the systems that oppress and control individuals under the guise of wisdom, necessity, kindness, greatness, unity, or progress. Nava Israel is a lifelong innovator, entrepreneur, author, researcher, facilitator, speaker, educator, a business and academic consultant, and a social and cultural innovator with a PhD in epidemiology. Beyond formal titles, she is a philosopher at heart with an insatiable curiosity for all forms of science, critical thinking, human behaviour, patterns, social justice, true and deep healing, our place in the universe, and the intersections of all the above. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Nava-Israel-Ph.D./author/B0D7XVDDQL