I am excited to announce a new Zoom group called Integral Crossfire, where Integralists come together to explore points of difference and disagreement in an Integral fashion. Unlike a traditional 1st tier debate, the goal of a 2nd tier debate is not to win, but to: 1. Achieve mutual understanding. 2. Illuminate unconscious “shadow” elements underlying our perspectives and opinions. 3. Catalyze personal growth and healing by opening to new perspectives. 4. Birth new, creative ideas that transcend yet include both initial perspectives. 5. Create a spirit of fun and levity around traditionally charged topics. 6. Create a ‘we’ space full of creative friction, compassion and emergence that is bigger than any one individual involved. 7. Cultivate the qualities of kindness, patience, humility, and compassion.
The goal of this “dojo” is to encourage a culture of healthy disagreement around important Integral topics that hopefully lead to the evolution of both ourselves and our ideas. There is a reason why debate is a core spiritual practice for monastic traditions (like the Tibetan Buddhist monks) as it allows us to “reality test” our perspectives by bouncing them off others. Such a dialectic will train us to respond with an Integral consciousness in real conflict situations, as we take the phrase “everyone has a piece of the truth” deeply to heart. We need to model to the world what a 2nd tier debate looks like, as we need it now more than ever.
Crossfire will be held on Thursday’s from 10:00 -11:30 AM PST, starting this Thursday the 11th. Our first session will involve a discussion about what Integral Crossfire is, our goals for the session, ground rules, and any other ideas or concerns you might have, followed by a debate on free will featuring @Damiano and @Charles_Marxer. We will end with a group discussion about the topic. Email me at greenteaji108@gmail.com or comment below if you are interested in joining or have any questions. Here is the Zoom link:https://zoom.us/j/8640405576 I look forward to seeing you on Thursday!