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Upcoming Workshops

November 9 and 23 6:30-8:30 pm

210 Linden Avenue, Buffalo.

We had a very interesting and lively discussion as a follow-up to watching the documentary on The Renaissance Community, a commune in the 1970s.  As an intentional community, a lot of issues were raised and played out.  From an integral viewpoint, the community was one expression of the (Spiral Dynamics) green spirit as it emerged with some force in the 1960s and 70s.  The impulse toward cooperation against the excesses of the "industrial-military complex" was a healthy response even though the leader succumbed to many of the excesses of the age.

Here we are 40 years later faced with many global crises with climate change and the financial collapse two of the biggest and most toxic.  We are also experiencing the global spread of spontaneous uprisings including Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street.  Unlike the 1970s, we now have the internet to link individuals and groups around the world.  Is this the same impulse toward cooperation?  What does it mean to move from a survival approach where its every person for themselves to a cooperative approach where the collective intelligence is more than we can imagine at present?  Are we approaching a "tipping point"?

These are some questions I am chewing on and would love to discuss on the 9th.  If anyone has any other suggestions (or expansions on this one), please share them.

Recent Events

• A discussion of the movie "I Am," and 2) the paper by Suzanne Cook-Greuter that Sandy Chelnov sent out.
  
  
  

• How does the integral perspective inform my actions in the world and how does the world inform the integral perspective?  Does the integral perspective help to reduce the amount of distortion of reality?  If the integral perspective is a map and a map is not the territory, does the map help me to live more fully in the territory?
  

• Creating opportunities for us to freely express ourselves with honesty and compassion. We will talk about how to maintain vibrancy in our group, and to make it possible for others who would like to join us to know of our existence.
  

• A website that we will look at is http://ervinlaszlo.com/worldshiftcommunity. We will also continue with our look at Integral Life Practice with Chapter 7, "The Spirit." We will start promptly at 5:30 and will go to 6:30 when we will break for our communal meal.You are welcome to come for the entire evening or any portion of it.
  

• Integral Life Practice with Chapter 7, "The Spirit."  We will start promptly at 5:30 and will go to 6:30 when we will break for our communal meal.You are welcome to come for the entire evening or any portion of it.
  

• We will continue with our look at Integral Life Practice with Chapter 5, "The Mind Module."  We will be investigating the integral world-view in as much depth as possible in our first hour.  We will start promptly at 5:30 and will go to 6:30 when we will break for our communal meal.  Last time everyone brought something to share and we all enjoyed a delicious and healthy meal.  We will continue with the salon portion until 7:30. You are welcome to come for the entire evening or any portion of it.
  

• Book Reading: Integral Life Practice: A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity and Spiritual Awakening, by Ken Wilber, Terry Patten, Adam Leonard & Marco Morelli
  

• We watched a movie entitled “Who’s Driving the Dreambus?” by two film makers, Boris and Claire Jansch, which features interviews with eight eminent spiritual teachers, philosophers, and writers.  One of them is Toni Packer, who a teacher at the Springwater Center located 45 miles south of Rochester.  The movie is about 90 minutes.
  

• We focused on the Enneagram as a way to introduce types.  To learn about your own personality type, go to www.enneagraminstitue.com and take the free Quest test which takes about 10 minutes.  We will be covering the nine basic personality types in the Enneagram system.
  

• Working together to develop a way to communicate Integral Philosophy to others.
  

• An exploration of evolutionary culture" -  Donna Nichter facilitated a group inquiry practice on the Principles of Evolutionary Culture.
  

• Exploring the idea of doing a series of "mash-ups" on the Buffalo-Niagara area as a way of learning the integral model and providing a useful and exciting product is a great one. Some of the questions that our group might want to consider are:
  

Copyright, Integral Connections 2011