I am currently reading "really slowly and carefully" the 46-page Integral Spirituality: Intro & Note to the Reader (by KW, of course) and making notes as I go along. To date, I am still digesting the following:

1. The humbling effect on me of understand the difference between having higher state of consciousness (which I have from time to time) and having a higher stage of consciousness (which I don't have,yet; and have personally confused with the former).


2. Egocentric, Ethnocentric and Worldcentric stages of consciousness. The examples are very helpful in understanding these stages. (However, my personal experience makes me tend to think that there are Egocentric, Ethnocentric and Worldcentric states of cosciousness, as well.)

NOTE TO SYSADMIN: The content of this message is part of my message reply (#2352) to  What feature would you most like to see on ISC.org? I realized as I was doing the finishing (HTML) touches (Damn! Those automatically generated commands are still not working!) that I ought to post this comments here as well.

FURTHER NOTE TO SYSADMIN: I also found out that when you click on #2352, the page does not automatically jump to the appropriate message. The display stays on the "top" or "first" message of the thread.

FURTHER FURTHER NOTE TO SYSADMIN: I just found out, that the message link #2352, that works just fine during the message preview mode, does not work at all once the message is posted. I get the following message:

Access Denied
Sorry, your account does not permit access to this post.

Arrrgh!!! (Just lost my higher state of consciousness... )

BUT..., I can access this message using the link that I made from #2352. Hmmm... Interesting... Ahhhh!!! (Higher state of oneness is almost back).

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towers1209
杜 偉 德
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"Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar..."
[Traveller, there is no path, you create the path as you move forward...]
Antonio Machado (1875-1939)

This introduction is essentially the same thing as the booklet that is included with the Integral Operating System kit, isn't it?

I'm one of the ones that KW mentioned who might think the tone has gone a little too far in the direction of lightness or frivolity -- I feel he is less addressing his existing and long-time fans, but rather a whole new wave of (young?) people who know very little about him -- but I do appreciate the concise "packaging" of his model here.  He covers quite a lot, even with this simple overview.

I wonder ... will the book mention the IOS kit, since the different sections of the intro have corresponding CD clips to provide deeper and more detailed information?  I think it should...

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May the boundless knowledge that time presents and space allows illuminate the native perspectives of your original face.

From page 7: "including the best elements of all of them" (the worlds great traditions).

This sentence was a let down to me after a exciting buildup.

From the place of concern about the possibility of selection bias (self -fullfilling prophesy) there is a world of difference between including the "best elements" (read: 'the elements I judged as best') and making a map from the elements that the traditions themselves judged to be their best/most important/key elements.

In such a synthesis I hope that as much as possible the elements are allowed to speak for and judge themselves.

P.S.  I am assuming these comments or some summary thereof will eventually get to Ken Wilber.  Yes?

 

 

The Cadeceus

The Cadeceus image is normally associated with Greek and Roman mythology. I am not aware of a theory of chakras (by that or another name) from those traditions. Is there a theory that the Greeks adopted or were influenced by a older tradition from the east?

See: The Caduceus vs the Staff of Asclepius (Asklepian)

http://drblayney.com/Asclepius.html#AIM

Without some further explaination I find this factoid a diversion from the text.