A column for newspapers next week
Spiritual awakening in an integral community
A new spiritual awakening is occurring in human culture, an awakening brought about by a critical mass of individuals who experience their lives as a spiritual unfolding, a journey in which we are led forward by the natural order of evolutionary consciousness.
It does not take a brain surgeon to convince us that something is shifting in human consciousness. The signs are everywhere. The Mayan calendar points to December 21, 2024 to a new cycle in evolutionary consciousness. "2012 The Odyssey" movie will depict science, mysticism and common sense in changing personal revelation and earthly changes of the great magnitude, but before this the first woman in U.S. history is running for president. Now, if that is not a shift, I don’t know how else to describe it. A truly remarkable shift would be Condoleeza Rice running on the Republican ticket opposite Hillary Clinton. Both have deep roots in the South: Hillary as First Lady of Arkansas and Condoleeza, who lived in Birmingham, Alabama as a youth. This is more likely to occur in 2024 from my viewpoint.
This shift in consciousness is in body, mind and Spirit, what I have previously referred to as holistic. But, there is a larger picture. It is called integral, and all roads lead to the Way, Truth and Life, as Jesus said.
What is integral, you ask?
“During the last 30 years, we have witnessed a historical first: all of the world’s
cultures are now available to us,” writes Ken Wilber, one of the voices in the integral community. “In the past, if you were born, say, a Chinese, you likely spent your entire life in one culture, often in one province, sometimes in one house, living and loving and dying on one small plot of land. But today, not only are people geographically mobile, we can study, and have studied, virtually every known culture on the planet. In the global village, all cultures are exposed to each other.
“Knowledge itself is now global. This means that, also for the first time, the
sum total of human knowledge is available to us—the knowledge, experience,
wisdom and reflection of all major human civilizations—premodern, modern, and
postmodern—are open to study by anyone.
“What if we took literally everything that all the various cultures have to tell us
about human potential—about spiritual growth, psychological growth, social
growth—and put it all on the table? What if we attempted to find the critically
essential keys to human growth, based on the sum total of human knowledge now
open to us? What if we attempted, based on extensive cross-cultural study, to
use all of the world’s great traditions to create a composite map, a comprehensive
map, an all-inclusive or integral map that included the best elements from all of
them?”
Wilber and the integral community have developed an Integral Life Practice Kit for young, middle-aged, and older persons, despite what belief system you or I have used in the past. The ILP kit does not attempt to replace your belief system whether it be Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islamic or Judaic. It’s a new approach to well-being, awareness and transformation.
Rather than focus or concentrate on merely one aspect of the Self, ILP brings a whole and balanced approach to realizing the full spectrum of your being.
Meditation and prayer still provide the foundation for being integral. The ILP kit provides techniques for meditation. There are many meditative techniques available, so this is just a map.
As Wilber puts it, “What is the point of using this Integral Map or Model? First, whether you are working in business, medicine, psychotherapy, law, ecology, or simply everyday
living and learning, the Integral Map helps make sure that you are ‘touching all the
bases.’ If you are trying to fly over the Rocky Mountains, the more accurate a
map you have, the less likely you will crash. An integral approach insures that
you are utilizing the full range of resources for any situation, with the greater
likelihood of success.”
You can find out more about Integral Institute at my website: www.21stcenturyministries.com
John W. Cargile, Msc.D, D.D. is a licensed ordained minister through International Metaphysical Ministries and a graduate of Samford University (1969). E-books, reference material and study programs are now available at his website www.21stcenturyministries.com For those with special prayer needs, call Unity’s prayer line at 1-800-669-7729. You can contact him at jwcargile@charter.net. All conversations are confidential.
JC
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