EVOL-ution Stencil Art work by KrieBeL (source on flickr)
On this community call, recorded a week before the May 2014 Living Room gathers in Boulder, Terry and Jeff share some reflections about the Integral European Conference in Budapest, from which they had just returned. They both confirm that, once again, the best part of being together is just hanging out with the tribe, meeting like-minded people, sharing, learning, listening, seeing and being seen.
Creating 2nd tier “we-space” is a powerful end in itself and it is the animating theme of the Living Room — getting together just for the sake of it. As Terry said, “Here we are refining the art of hanging out, and we’re doing it in such an improvisational and playful way with so much collaborative spirit. It really feels like we’re contributing to something that’s pushing the envelope and helping everyone.”
At integral consciousness we see that we are evolving beings in an evolving cosmos. That new insight alone calls forth a new consideration of everything. That’s why it’s so stimulating and potent to get people together who have this worldview.
The central focus of this community call revolves around an excerpt from a conversation that Di, Terry and Jeff had with Ken Wilber in which he talks about bringing the heart of Charles Darwin back online; essentially rescuing him from the scientific materialists. He specifically cites the work of David Loye, author of Darwin’s Lost Theory, in which Loye demonstrates that Darwin talked much, much more about the power of love and cooperation than than he talked about the notion of survival of the fittest. It’s a powerful new thesis on Darwin’s legacy that provides a theoretical basis for the practice of intentional whole-person evolution.
David Loye was himself on the call with us, and he was overjoyed to hear this conversation taking place out in the world. As he said:
Darwin had a helluva battle to establish the principles of natural selection and variation, but beyond that he could see into the future, he could comprehend the life force in a holistic and integral way that had been denied everyone else prior to him. Other, earlier thinkers saw parts of it, but Darwin was a persistent guy. He got hold of the big picture, and what is exciting is that here we are, roughly 120 years after The Descent of Man was published, and at last there is a group forming on this planet, under the integral umbrella, backed up by and drawing upon the genius of Ken, where Darwin was hoping to encourage people to go. It’s a very exciting experience.
Listen here.
Darwin on Love as an Engine of Evolution
Recorded 5.16.2014
Dear integral life
Thanks for all your inspiration!
With all my respect and appreciation,
Steen Degn
Senior-trainer at ID-Academy in Denmark
Dear Jeff, Love you and your work and all the calls which you offer, Tuesdays, etc. Also great that you have no qualms about taking time off from them to do what you want/need to do. I have been reading and listening to Ken since the early 1990s.
I am 85 years old and have been in Boulder a number of times, climbing mountains, etc. (topped Long’s Peak twice) but getting there now is a bit of a stretch. In the 60s and 70s I was very active in the Group Dynamics movement from Vermont training, then in the San Francisco Bay Area. We had a group who met for a weekend every other month to develop training experiences to enhance our skills. I went to several Humanistic Psychology Conferences, practiced as a psychologist and social action leader in a church where I was one of the pastors. The experiences I had in those groups.were some of the deepest experiences of my life. We were mostly green but I remember a few Integral like experiences, too.
I am “jealous” (in the best sense) of the current second person living room experiences which you participate in and describe. Is there any chance that there are integral people (I consider myself one) in the Rochester, New York area who might be interested in finding other Integral people to form a local “living room” with? Thank you,
George Aberle
I love this conversation! thank you for seeing the depth and truth underlying Darwin’s work.
Loren Swift
Great stuff. I m happy to read this stuff and it inspires me to do The Work to get there.
This conversation has given me an amazingly strong feeling of love, hope and gratitude. I love you guys!
Have you considered that this ‘transcendent thing’, ‘life force’, etc. that you are looking for is actually God?
Unfortunately that suggestion is oft-considered low minded and rejected. Please leave that door open.
God is love.