Community Conversations

Community Development
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Hi everyone!

If you’re interested in helping to further develop the Integral Community, both online and offline, then read on!

During the recent online dialogue titled “Community Conversations”, we discussed three main topics:

  1. Conditions for a generative Integral dialogue

  2. The polarity of Inclusion & Exclusion in relation to the Integral Community

  3. Possible next steps regarding community activities

Among the conditions for a generative Integral dialogue, the following were mentioned:

  • Attentive listening
  • Simplicity (avoiding unnecessary jargon which not everyone might be familiar with)
  • Speaking from our highest self
  • Speaking from our own territory
  • Politeness
  • Openness
  • Self-management
  • Respect

(Feel free to add any extra conditions in the comments below!)

We then discussed the Inclusion & Exclusion polarity in regard to the Integral Community using the following Polarity Map (created by @corey-devos):

Polarity-InclusionAndExclusion

We explored the need for healthy boundaries (like membranes in cells, as suggested by Brandon Norgaard) and the general consensus appeared to be that everyone’s welcome within the Integral Community, as long as they’re willing and able to interact constructively with all other members.

(Feel free to further concretize in the comments below!)

We also briefly explored the possibility of monthly “Community Conversations”, during which members of the Integral Community can collectively explore various themes.

The next “Community Conversation” is scheduled on Wednesday, November 29th, at 11AM PST (20:00 CET). The topic of this dialogue will be “Organizing Integral Holons”.

Among other topics, we’ll explore the experiences of Integral Community members who organized in-person gatherings in the UK and the Netherlands (and possibly the US).

We’ll also discuss the possibility of future gatherings and possible ways to organize the further development of the Integral Community (both in Europe and in other areas, including the US).

Please use the comments section of this thread to share your views, preferences and reflections!

Have a lovely day, everyone! :four_leaf_clover:

P.S: Thanks to @corey-devos, @EnlightenedWorldview, @Charles_Marxer, @John_Whitman, @Andrew_Baines, @robert.bunge, @varunfranklin, @William_Koty, @Margrit_Eleonore…

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…@Edward_Dunkerly, @jabruns, @andrea.fanucchi, @nikola.lucic, Birgit Viertlböck, Sophia Andelight, Jason Grant, Levi Douma & Arthur Ortega for your contributions so far. Also thanks to @excecutive for reframing the reflection questions and @futurenow for working on future organization!

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Exploring local gatherings is a great idea. This is strongly related to the question of inclusion/exclusion for the very practical issue that interest in Integral is not necessarily all that thick on the physical ground. There are churches/mosques/temples of at least 20 different religious groups within walking distance of my home (most of them various flavors of Christian). I’m not sure Integral and adjacent frameworks like metamodernism can afford that sort of denominationalism if practical participation or social impact are among the goals. Personally, I hop from one online forum to the next, working on basically all the same topics, and getting to very similar places, simply by editing all the technical vocabulary to match whatever the local dialect is. Kind of like intellectual currency exchange. (Note that green, green skill set, folks!)

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Great point, @robert.bunge! During our next “Community Conversation”, it’ll be nice to hear from all of the people, including yourself, who’ve either attended or organized Integral gatherings (online and offline), so we can compare notes and see what works well, and what any future local gatherings might entail…

Be well! :four_leaf_clover:

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By the way, here’s the link for our next Zoom Dialogue:

Hope to see you all there!

Be well! :four_leaf_clover:

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Hi everyone,

During our 2nd Community Conversation, we explored Integral holons which have been organized across the world in, among other places, the UK, the US, Canada and the Netherlands.

We shared some of our experiences of organizing and participating in online and in-person gatherings.

Finlay shared some information about the Holomovement:

Finlay & Brandon are exploring a possible restart of the Bay Area Integral Holon.

Adam expressed possible interest in joining the San Diego Integral Holon.

Brandon shared a link to Tom Habib’s possible Future Human Symposium:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/future-human-symposium

I’ve created a Google Drive folder which we can use to share materials relating to Integral Holons:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vpbq_pBRMc47c-QLxYhmGIomGqdBkXOu?usp=sharing

The folder is accessible to anyone with the link, so please be mindful of sharing privacy sensitive information. @William_Koty: As per your request, I’ve added the (anonymized) pre-gathering meeting notes, schedule and evaluation from the informal Integral gathering in Amsterdam last September. Please keep us posted on your progress restarting the Canadian Integral Holon!

We also took an inventory of Integral community members who would like to create, join, support or explore an Integral Holon.

If anyone would like to explore Brandon’s speculative map that connects Integral Theory to Vervaeke’s 4E cog sci / 4P’s of knowing / 3R, e-mail him at: brandon@enlightenedworldview.com.

For people who live in or near the following places, reach out to the following people to possibly start or join an Integral Holon:

New York: E-mail Phyllis at Phyllisbarrie@gmail.com.
Austria: E-mail Margrit at margrit.haid@schule.at .
Bay Area: E-mail Karen at kvoorhees@earthlink.net (Karen doesn’t want to organize, but will support).
France: E-mail Varun at varunfranklin88@gmail.com.
Melbourne: E-mail andrew@andrewrooke.com.

@andrea.fanucchi: André, where are you located again?

Also, Mark said he’s available to lead hikes during (Integral) conferences: E-mail Mark at m24evans@me.com.

That’s all for now! If I forgot anything, feel free to add!

Thanks to @EnlightenedWorldview, @futurenow, @Phylkie, @John_Whitman, @Andrew_Baines, @varunfranklin, @William_Koty, @Margrit_Eleonore, @Adam Shames…

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…@David_Bishop, Judy Smith, Andrew Rooke, @Mark_E, @ksv, @Finlay_Hinde, @WG1, @Edward_Dunkerly, @andrea.fanucchi, Birgit Viertlböck, Jason Grant, Levi Douma & Arthur Ortega for participating!

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Hello!

Lee, I am in Chambly Québec. Driving, that is about 45 minutes south east of Montreal and an hour north of the Champlain New York border crossing.

Thank you!

Andre

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Thanks, André!

For people who live in or near Montréal, reach out to André to possibly start or join an Integral Holon: fanucchi_andrea@hotmail.com

Be well! :four_leaf_clover:

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Thanks for writing Lee. I would be interested in commmunicating with any integrally oriented people in Norway, and especially those living near Stavanger on the west coast. My interest is supplementing my traditional spiritual path with the integral modern and postmodern perspectives. I would like to be in touch with like minded people living in Norway.

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Thanks, David!

How can anyone interested get in contact with you?

Wishing you a lovely day! :four_leaf_clover:

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If someone lives in the Boulder/Denver area, here is our in-person meetup: https://integrallife.com/event/colorado-integral-in-person-gathering-in-boulder-3/

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Thanks again for writing Lee. I really appreciate your initiative and I believe other people will also appreciate it. There are all kinds of people here in Norway but it’s not easy to locate like-minded people. With only 5 million people in the whole country it is challenging to get interest groups started. I can be contacted at this email address: freebishop77@gmail.com. I enjoyed the meeting and being with you. All the best, David

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Hi @David_Bishop,

Thanks for your reply!

I’m interviewing a Norwegian integralist next week…

I’ll ask him if he’s willing and able to connect with you!

Be well! :four_leaf_clover:

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Lee et. al., now that there’s to be an Integral conference in Denver next May, what about having an event there where people in local Integral groups can convene and interact and brainstorm?

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Great suggestion, @ksv! Who are the main organizers of the Denver conference?

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Tom Habib and Paul Bloch seem to be the main organizers and ILiA is serving as fiscal sponsor and I’m not sure who within the ILiA team is most involved with this but that might include Kim Harpham, Bett Bolhoffer, and/or Michael McElhenie. Also on the organizing committee includes Andrés Malavé, Bence Ganti, and yours truly.

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One of my initiatives is also related to this idea of Integral holons and community conversations. Some of you might have already seen this: https://enlightenedworldview.com/project-mission/meta-hubs/ It is based on Hanzi Freinacht’s work, which in turn is largely based on Integral Theory re-oriented toward the political realm. I am working on how we might re-interpret Hanzi’s work in a way that leverages non-governmental organizations and nonprofits as a catalyst for large-scale change and reform of our political and economic systems. Local and regional organizations of people are the starting point. Hanzi’s work is also based on a separation of concerns between different functional areas.

These Integral holons that we are trying to establish and trying to grow are often oriented fully integrally, since every possible subject matter and every possible function and service provided by the organization is integral. Indeed, I believe this model has merits and I figure that would be complementary to the separation-of-concerns model that Hanzi is advocating, and which I explain in some detail in the page linked above. Essentially this means that I think it would be great if we had Integral organizations active in various cities and regions throughout the world while also having independently managed organizations whose missions are more narrowly defined, such as the promotion of democracy, scientific literacy, inner awareness and mindfulness, etc. The Integral organizations could manage to cover all of these bases if they wish, while the other organizations would be more narrow in scope and application.

If anyone has thoughts or comments, please let me know. Thanks.

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Thanks, @EnlightenedWorldview! :pray:

Perhaps @ksv and you can connect concerning the possibilities for local groups to convene at the Denver conference?

Be well, everyone! :four_leaf_clover:

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Already in progress :grin: Have just pitched the idea of something like a “caucus” of local integral groups to Tom Habib of San Diego Integral (who heads the team that’s putting this all together). Lee, maybe you could think about what shape you’d like such a convening to take? We’d probably want some structure but not too much.

My next question: who in the Boulder / Denver / Ken Wilber nexus is involved in planning the May conference, if any? Do you know?

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