[Sdpg] Fwd: hello! (thoughts on EC and EE; AC and we!), permaculture,

[Colin Leath]

I think this post is also relevant to SD Ishmael!
/area permaculture.

I have a copy of Starhawk's _the Fifth Sacred Thing_ that Caelin of
earthaven passed on to me, and that is meant to be passed on among our
group.

I think Michael and Laura at least will appreciate it. . .

Love,
Colin

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Colin Leath <cleath at j9k.org>
Date: 17-ago-2006 7:58
Subject: Fwd: hello! (thoughts on EC and EE; AC and we!), permaculture,
To: integralsandiego at yahoogroups.com,
Cc: geneticstar at yahoo.com


Dan, Larry & others,
The announcement I have to make is that I found someone (Michael)  at
the permaculture gathering in Celo, North Carolina who not only was
showing the gathering a video of ken wilber, he was speaking about a
group that sounds very similar in its goal to ours, yet a bit more
developed.

(in addition there were other "Wilberites" there (at the permaculture
gathering: sepermaculture.org ) . . . and his theories were referenced
& elaborated in various affinity circles)

I have yet to get a clear understanding of how we might do what his
group (enlighten raleigh) is doing (so we could if we wanted to try
their approach), but below is an email he sent that points to some of
the relevant info -- the work of andrew cohen in particular, and the
dialogue between wilber and cohen on wie.org might also be helpful.

I should stay home and relax this evening -- so Dan I think I will get
in touch with you about a ride for the next allup (in two weeks?)
later.

My vision for what I want to do re integral/ allup is:

o Start a permaculture gathering for the San Diego / southern california area.

--> I continue to feel that a focus on Allup / evolutionary
enlightenment without tasks to apply it to will draw me less than
somehow presenting it in relation to a task. (e.g., this is our task:
now how can we bring the integral to bear?)

o Grow opportunities for meeting with people about integral /
evolutionary enlightenment in the SDSU area (it sounds like we could
have at least three people).

------

The other thing I want to mention is that:

with respect to the vision I articulated at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IntegralSanDiego/message/146

I got all that I wanted and more in the some of the social technology
I found at Earthaven and at the permaculture gathering.

The first example was the Zegg forum
http://www.google.com/search?&q=zegg+forum

The verbiage at the first link is the opposite of the simple
explanation I would give-- but I won't take the time for that now.

I will say: we were outside. It incorporated movement, and song (at
the very end).

The ceremonies at the gathering incorporated all the elements I was
looking for (and many more)--it was, well I won't insert another
meaningless word here.

The closest thing already written to presenting what some of these
ceremonies were like, I encountered in
Starhawk's _The Fifth Sacred Thing_, which Caelin at earthaven passed on to me.

Personally, I'm planning to study more of Starhawk's work, as well as attend
http://www.earthactivisttraining.org/January_07.html


So, That is basically where I am at the moment!

http://sepermaculture.org is the gathering's web site.

at j9k.org/i I message a bit more about permaculture-related stuff in
the San Diego area.

My feeling is that for some of you I may be tinged far too green--
and vice versa--I really need the greenies myself to work with on
integral / evolutionary enlightenment stuff. . .

The great message of the SE permaculture gathering is that, increasingly,
those populations are converging/crossing over.

Colin


Larry: I did take the time to carefully read the email you sent about
the vision for allup I expressed-- and in particular, I remember and
relate to your suggestion that I not throw out internet sites without
some explanation of why they are important.

And regarding having the meeting or a meeting, like I was wishing for,
closer to SDSU--yes, it is up to me to make that happen.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael D. Whitmire <geneticstar at yahoo.com>
Date: 12-ago-2006 6:39
Subject: hello! (thoughts on EC and EE; AC and we!)
To: Colin Leath <cleath at j9k.org>
Cc: enlightenraleigh at yahoogroups.com



Colin,  I remember reading your email but can't find it now.  O h Well!

--- I'm Cc'ing this to our "EnlighenRaleigh" group to see if my words
ring true or off-the-mark with others in our circle ---


I"m still moving to "Triangle" NC soon, and have been struggling
lately with Andrew Cohen's teachings -- especially the statements
concerning "unconditional love" as being a State unrelated to the
Evolutionary Impulse state that he has tapped into.  I have a feeling
that He occupies a nearly-permanent state of evolutionary-impulse
enlightenment although I've not had the chance to ask him personally.

One outgrowth of his particular school is the growth of Enlightened
Communications groups around the world.  Enlightened Communication
(EC) is a shared (intersubjective) state which, when entered into
fully and "without ego" as Cohen likes to emphasize, manifests a
certain "higher voice" which is, literally, the closest thing to the
VOICE of group consciousness that is possible.  Cohen mentions that
"collective ego" is another form of "EGO" (read: EVIL in his
teachings) which must be avoided.

So there are loopholes and questions in my own TECHNICAL understanding
of this intersubjective state-experience.

The experience iteself is one of INTENTIONAL, EGO-SHEDDING, SHARED
state consciousness; one which tends to FURTHER or MOVE FORWARD of its
own accord, especially to the degree that the participants are
intentionally participating in a perpetual shedding of restrictions
stemming from fear, personality, uprising ego, etc (Andrew's "Ego")

***

My brother and his friend Alex facilitate the weekly EC meetings in
Raleigh/Triangle, NC, every Thursday from ~7:15 to 10pm or so.  We sit
in a circle, in chairs, start by "sitting in silence" together, and
then have a lead-in from one of the facilitators as is fitting... it's
more about shared state experiences -- it's like group
meditation-in-dialogue; therefore the bent tends to be extremely
present-moment/psychological/intellectual.

How Enlighened Communication and Evolutionary Consciousness fit
together I'm not entirely sure.  I suspect that the TERMS  and
LANGUAGE used by Wilber and his Integral Spirituality OS are more
accurate and appropriate for translation/communication of these state
experiences, outside of the "Andrew Cohen Posse" – a group which I
find using quite specific and, at times, nebulous and changing
language/words to describe the experiences we/they are having.  I am
still struggling to match up Cohen's uunderstanding of all of this
with Ken Wilber's Quadrant-Based Integral Operating System.  However,
in my own personal and shared understanding, "EC" is really another
formulation of the "Holy Spirit" state, or the Quaker meetings, or
many other shared group-state experiences that have occured over the
past however many millions of years : only, that in Cohen's particular
formulation, we are asked to PERPETUALLY evolve, to CONSTANTLY move
forward EVER-SHEDDING the ego at all moments in time creating the
future NOT from a place of ego but from the IMPULSE ITESLF; and we are
of course ROOTING the entire experience not only in the CONTEXT of
evolution as we understand it today, but also in the KNOWLEDGE of the
fundamental "Ground-of-Being" ("Enlightenment" aspect) i.e., the
medetative or enlighened "satori/samadhi/yogi/non-dual" experience,
which is considered the ultimate "Zone" from which all else stems and
to which (as meditators) we return to "renew" and to lose our "selves"
("Ego") and "know nothing" (this keeps the occurring pure, I assume,
as best we can ever be!).


Well,  Hope that jives, and I do expect my understandings of this will
evolve over time; so we can check back in the future and see what has
transpired!

Love, and best wishes, and I am curious are you back on the "Best
Coast" yet or Where?;

Michael Whitmire

--
http://carfreeuniverse.org


-- 
http://carfreeuniverse.org