Originally published at: https://integrallife.com/life-as-practice/
Anyone who is deeply committed to contemplative practice and to cultivating the qualities it enhances—such as empathy, compassion, clarity and insight, to name only a few—will want to practice as continuously as possible. This means finding a way to use our daily activities and work as part of our practice. Fortunately, such a way is part of the world’s major religious-spiritual traditions, and it is formulated most explicitly in Hinduism as karma yoga.
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Honestly speaking, who can say they are living up to the requirements that Karma Yoga is asking us to do? Does anyone in the integral community really believe they will reach some kind of enlightenment in their lifetime with Karma Yoga or any other meditative practice? It’s hard as it is just dealing with ones own unresolved inner conflicts. It makes it even harder when you struggle financially, you have two jobs, and live in a society that often does not give a rat’s ass about all things Integral. We take on this misguided idea that the onus is solely on us to resolve our inner conflicts unaware of the degree in which our socio-political and economic system is complicit in our misery and far more than we realize.
To make matter worse, we blame ourselves way too much for our problems, we internalize them unknowingly, then wonder why we get depressed and angry. We live in a very sick society, folks, and it’s disappointing that no one on IL or this community talks about it with the attention it deserves. We should all be enraged by it. Would it be true to say that it’s because this community is just another echo chamber talking ad-nauseum about Integral ideas as end in themselves?
A movie came out on Ken Wilber’s life at having lost his beloved wife,Treya. The director, Sebastian Seigel, says that it’s an epic love story -a story about eternal love. Ok, but there are a lot of stories about eternal love. Is it really that exceptional that it would have some redeeming value? Be that as it may, why not make another film, a multi part documentary on Integral Theory -the most important one ever created. You would think that we would have had one long ago. Why not make one before Wilber gets too old to help create it?
Why not make this multipart documentary so that the 74 million who voted for Trump can understand they are being used as useful idiots without telling them they are idiots? I ask because it is these individuals who are dragging us all down. It’s making all our lives far more difficult than it should be and often a fucking living nightmare as we see the shit show unfolding on the Capitol. Bill Malher was right. The American people are utterly stupid and it’s only now I see it as a depressing reality.
So what does IT have to say in addressing this problem? How can you get 74 million up to speed, at least to some reasonable degree, so that we can all live a better life? Preach the gospel of Integral Theory or asking them to take on Karma Yoga would be pointless because they are too deeply entrenched in their way of being. But what does Trump have that IT does not? How did Trump dupe them so thoroughly yet IT is mostly confined within its own echo chamber talking about it? Trump is a master storyteller but with malignant motives. Dr. Susanne Cook Greuter said stories gives meaning to our lives. And so, where is IT on this? What film or documentary can IT create to tell a story that can make a real transformative difference in this often fucked up society we are living in, in the midst of so many stupid people? It’s no wonder they do stupid shit and commit suicide. It’s not easy trying to be sane in an insane world and no amount of IT preaching or meditation is going to change it for the better. Call me a pessimist if you want, but I’m fucking sick of it all.