An Active Approach to Spiritual Practice

Integral Enlightenment Practices are designed with one goal in mind: to help you break free from the self-perpetuating prison of the ego and learn how to live every moment of your life from the deepest, most awake, alive center of your being. By helping you break with the habit enePondrgy of the past, they enable you to become increasingly free to consciously co-create an enlightened future.

This is an active, engaged approach to spiritual practice. In pursuing these practices, we encourage you to view your life as a laboratory of conscious evolution, and to engage each practice as an experiment in liberating and evolving your consciousness and your way of being in the world.*

Integral Enlightenment Practices are broken down into five distinct categories of practice, each approaching the task of conscious evolution from a unique and important vantage point.

Where do I begin?

If you are beginning the practice as a solitary individual, choose one practice from each of the first four categories listed below and commit to engaging it daily for one week. If you are part of a group that is interested in engaging these practices, your group can also choose one of the Group Inquiry Practices listed below to engage during your next gathering.

Awakening the Impulse to Evolve Practices to Prepare for Meditation

Experiencing the Freedom of Being Meditation Practices for an Enlightened Life

Aligning with the Purpose of Life Transformative Inquiry Practices for Conscious Evolution

Embodying Spirit in Action Engaged Inquiry Practices for Enlightened Living

Creating Evolutionary Culture Group Inquiry Practices for Collective Enlightenment

*A Note on Spiritual Dilettantism (and why this is completely different) One of the biggest problems of contemporary spirituality is what some have called the cafeteria approach to spiritual life. Unlike the traditional religions, which provided us with a strict, prescribed regimen of practices, the popular spiritual marketplace encourages us to pick and choose those practices and ideas which suit us. The great limitation in this approach is that the individual ego usually remains firmly in control of the spiritual path, choosing those practices and ideas that dont threaten its reign.

At first glance, Integral Enlightenments approach to spiritual practice could be seen as yet another form of cafeteria spirituality. Rather than encouraging you to do one single spiritual practice for the next ten years, we are instead presenting you with multiple practices and encouraging you to engage all of them, turning your life into a living experiment in conscious evolution. The reason this is not another form of cafeteria spirituality is that we encourage you to continue to engage all of these practicesforever. If you study the menu of different practices outlined below, youll see that these practices are in fact designed to help you learn to engage with the challenges of life from a radically different vantage point. As you engage each practice with sincerity and commitment, it should eventually become second nature to you. Thats the meaning of Integral Enlightenmentwhen the light of Truth and Wisdom becomes integrated into your life so completely that you walk through the world shining that light on everything you see.

Awakening the Impulse to Evolve

Practices to Prepare for Meditation

Before each meditation session, spend 5-15 minutes engaging one of the following preparatory practices. By reminding us why we are meditating in the first place, these practices help to clear away any ambivalence about practicing meditation, and also help to ground us in a clear and strong intention to give everything to our practice for the highest reasons.Raindrop

Awakening to Evolution

Reflect on the evolutionary journey of the Cosmosthe 14 billion year creative unfolding that began with the Big Bang. Feel the evolutionary impulse that surged forth, first as an impulse to create and organize the material universe, then as an impulse to create and evolve life in all its beauty and diversity, then, with the birth of the human, as an impulse to create and evolve culture into ever higher expressions of complexity and integration. Now, feel how this same impulse is surging in your own heart as the desire to grow and evolve in consciousness, to both know the Source, and to participate in the higher, creative unfolding of consciousness and a more evolved, enlightened humanity. Recognize that by practicing meditation wholeheartedly, you are helping to liberate consciousness from the patterns of the past and the inertia of its embededness in matter, so that it can consciously and freely evolve through your participation. Enter into meditation rooted in this pure intention to free consciousness for the highest possible reasons.

Confronting the Human Condition

Reflect on the current state of your own life and consciousness. How free is your soul? How awake is your awareness? How liberated is your mind from the conditioned habits of the past? How open and expansive is your heart? Do you act in habitual, unconscious ways that cause yourself and others to suffer unnecessarily? Are you held in the grip of any addictions, small or large? Do you spend your time preoccupied with the past and fearing for the future? Do you know deep down that your life could be so much more? Are you living in full

alignment with your deepest values? Are you living up to the highest, most profound spiritual truths youve realized? How are you impacting the world around you? Are you a vibrant, radiant force for evolution? Recognize that whatever limitations you are currently experiencing and expressing are simply an expression of the current evolutionary state of humanity. Face the truth that these limitations will almost inevitably continue unless you and others engage in intensive, committed spiritual practice. Become aware that by giving yourself wholeheartedly to meditation practice, and to other authentic spiritual practices, you can liberate yourself from all the patterns and limitations of the past. In doing so, you can discover an extraordinary and unimaginable new life, and become a living expression of the answer to the human predicament. Ground your meditation in the intention to awaken from the limitations of the human condition, not merely for your own happiness, but for the sake of evolution itself and the creation of an enlightened future for humanity.

The Call of The Soul

Reflect on the real reason you entered the spiritual path in the first place. What was it that compelled you to seek a deeper, more meaningful, more enlightened life? What did you sense was possible for human life? What was it that pulled on your soul? Allow yourself to be naked before the purity and vulnerability of this calling. Does this longing connect you to something larger than yourself? Can you recognize that, in its essence, this longing is not your longing to bring something into your life, but is in fact a profound and sacred mystery longing for your participation in its unfolding in the world? Allow yourself to feel the deepest yearning of the Divine beckoning for your attention, calling to you for your submission before the throne of the Ultimate so that you can become a vessel for its manifestation in time and space. Enter into your meditation practice rooted in the intention to give all of yourself to the practice in surrender to this greater calling.

Experiencing the Freedom of Being

Meditation Practices for an Enlightened Life

Silent meditation has always played a central role on the spiritual path. By allowing us to step directly beyond the mind and ego, authentic meditation

provides us with both a direct experience of the goal and context of spiritual life and an opportunity to ground our being in that ultimate context. Woman Meditating

In its highest form, meditation is about disengaging entirely from the world of time, action, and becoming, and resting freely and effortlessly in the ground of Being, in Awareness itself. Given this goal of radical disengagement from the world, how then can we make our meditation more integral, and more related to the lives we are living? The answer is: by shifting the context in which were meditating. Are we meditating simply to find greater inner peace for ourselves? Or, are we meditating with the intention of liberating our consciousness in order to make ourselves available to fully participate in the further evolution of Life, Humanity, Consciousness, and even God? When we ground our meditation practice in a deeper, higher intention for practicing, we discover an unlimited source of energy and passion for our practice, and a previously invisible doorway to the Infinite.

In Integral Enlightenment Meditation, we always first ground ourselves in the deepest reasons for meditating. We do this by engaging in one of the Inquiry Practices to Prepare for Meditation.

Before each meditation session, spend 5-15 minutes engaging one of our preparatory practices. By reminding us why we are meditating in the first place, these practices help to clear away any ambivalence about practicing meditation, and also help to ground us in a clear and strong intention to give everything to our practice for the highest reasons.

Click Here to Learn About Practices to Prepare for Meditation

Meditation Practices

These practices each take a different approach to the same goal: giving you a sustained experience of who you are beyond the mind. They can be practiced for any amount of time, but we recommend engaging them for anywhere from 20

minutes to one hour. You can practice them all day if you have the time for a self-retreat. But, due to the power of what can be unleashed by intensive practice, we dont recommend all-day practice to beginners or those with psychological disorders. If you want to practice all day, we recommend taking at least a ten-minute break every hour.

Allowing

For the entire period of the meditation, allow your experience to be exactly as it is. Dont try to change anything on any level. Just allow everything to be, whatever it is. Notice how we are always trying to change our experience in some way. Were trying to be more relaxed, trying not to be tense, trying to quiet the mind, trying to feel better. See this movement for what it is, and simply refuse to engage it. Resist the temptation to try to change anything at all. No matter what is occurring, just allow it to be. Leave everything alone. Even if there is immense inner struggle, or breathtaking inner bliss, just leave it alone; dont try to make difficult feelings go away; dont try to amplify or hold on to positive feelings. Allow them all and let them be.

Relax and Pay Attention

One of the simplest ways to enter into profound meditation is to relax and pay attention at the same time. Usually, when we are deeply relaxed, we become less attentive. And the more attentive we become, the less relaxed we tend to be. In this practice, simply allow yourself to relax as deeply as possible. Relax your body, relax your mind, let go of any tension on any level of your being. At the same time, make the effort to be as awake and attentive as possible. It is not necessary or helpful to pay attention to anything in particular. Simply pay attention to attention itself. Pay attention to what it is to be awake, conscious, attentive. All the while, keep allowing yourself to relax more deeply. As with all of these practices, regardless of what enters into your awareness, simply leave it alone, and keep returning to the simplicity of the practice instructions.

Abandon the World

In its essence, meditation is about discovering who you were prior to the existence of any thing. In this practice, allow the world in its entirety to fall away from you. Let everything go. Allow yourself to be completely alone, with no connection to anything that ever happened in time and space. Simply rest as the conscious presence that is unaffected by and uninvolved in the world. As thoughts of the past and concerns for the future float across your awareness, tempting you to engage with them, practice remaining untouched, unmoved by the swirl of time and becoming. Keep returning to the simplicity of being itself. Let go of everything. Abandon the world.

Abide As Awareness Itself

For the entire period of the meditation, place your attention on awareness itself. Normally we are aware of things that are arising within our awareness. Were aware of objects. Were aware of other people. Were aware of our thoughts and feelings. But what is it to be aware of awareness itself? Consciously turn your attention away from all the things in consciousness and place it on consciousness itselfon the part of you that is aware. Keep turning your attention away from what is being perceived and experienced and place it on the one who is perceiving and experiencing, on the space in which that experience is occurring. Realize that from the point of view of consciousness itself, all experience is the same, and It is untouched by all the movements that take place within it.

Dont Get Involved

Whatever happens in your inner world during the period of the meditation, dont get involved with it. Often intense feelings arise, and we get pulled into either trying to make them go away, or trying to understand them. Similarly, intriguing thoughts, worries, problems to solve, and creative ideas can emerge in our awareness, and we feel compelled to engage with them. Do not get involved in any of it. No matter what occurs within you, or outside of you, leave it completely alone.

Wanting Nothing from Meditation

For the period of the meditation, dont demand anything from your practice. Simply show up and be available for whatever occurs. We often engage in meditation because we want a specific result. We want to feel better. We want to clear our mind. We want some peace. Practice not wanting anything from your meditation. Approach your meditation as a giver, not a taker, with the following intention: Im here to give all of my attention to this practice. I dont need it to give me anything back. If bliss or peace does arise, dont even cling to that. If discomfort arises, dont want it to go away. Discover the liberation of wanting nothing at all.

Opening to the Great Perfection

There is a Great Perfection at the heart of the cosmos. An immaculate, untouched Ground of Being that includes and enfolds everything that happens in time. This Great Perfection needs nothing from life, nothing from the world to sustain its perfection. And it is the essence of who we are. In this practice, allow yourself to simply abide as the perfection that is already fully here. Simply allow your experience to be exactly what it is, and see how nothing you have experienced, nothing you are experiencing now, and nothing you will ever experience will in any way change that Great Perfection. Realize that your experience is irrelevant to that Perfection. And allow it to be irrelevant to you. Let everything that arises in consciousness simply arise and be whatever it is, let it do whatever it does, and make no attempt to change any of it. See that this Perfection interpenetrates everything and yet remains untouched by anything. Simply allow it to be. Aligning with a Higher Purpose

Transformative Inquiry Practices for Conscious Evolution

The power of transformative inquiry is only beginning to be tapped. Cultural evolutionary theory tells us that, as postmodern humans, we have capacities for

self-awareness and introspection that none of our forebears could have imagined. Yet, only a few spiritual pioneers have explored what it would mean to leverage these newfound capacities for our spiritual advancement. The practices outlined below each offer a window into deeper self-awareness, and an opportunity to use our advanced introspective capacities to propel us into new heights of clarity and spiritual alignment.

There are three ways to engage these practices:

1) In solitary contemplation. Just reflect on the questions in any way you can. This is generally most effective if done sitting quietly for a dedicated period of time, but it can also be done while taking a walk, running, riding the subway, or even driving.

2) As a journal exercise. Writing down your reflections can be a powerful aid to deeper contemplation. It can also help to capture the deeper insights that emerge, so that they are harder to forget later.

3) With a trusted spiritual friend. Sit with someone with whom you can open up completely and take turns sharing your reflections on the questions. Depending on the depth of trust and shared spiritual commitment in the relationship, you can also give each other permission to probe and inquire for deeper answers.

Is My Life Really My Own? Embracing the Truth of Interrelatedness

Weve all heard that were interconnected. The ancient mystical scriptures and todays frontier sciences testify to the reality that, in visible and invisible ways, we are all woven together in a vast web of interrelatedness. Yet, although most of us would say that we believe we are all connected, how deeply have we allowed this truth to impact our relationship to being alive? If we look deeply into what this truth reveals, we come upon an arresting discoverythat our life is not really our own. That, in everything we do, we are impacting the whole, and that we therefore must be accountable to that whole for every choice we make. Whereas we once thought that we owned our life and could do with it what we

pleased, we now awaken to the reality that our life in fact belongs to the greater unfolding process of which we are a part. Everything we do, even our relationship to our thoughts and feelings, affects that larger process. And as such, we can no longer afford the security of the illusion that there are any private acts. When we look at this insight within an evolutionary context, we realize that, in fact, we have a very specific obligation. Every important choice we make is either contributing to the evolution of the whole or not. And if its not contributing, chances are that it is exerting an inertial drag on our collective evolution. So, to be true to the recognition of interrelatedness, we must commit every moment of our life to furthering the evolutionary process, knowing that the entirety of humanity, life, and consciousness is counting on us. Ask yourself: Is my life really my own?

Am I Living What I Know?

There is a great sacrifice in giving up the need to experience more insight or revelation. In most of us who have been seeking for a long time, there is a deepseated belief that we need to have more spiritual experience, insight, or revelation in order to be Free. At the root of this belief is the conviction that the goal of the Path is about finding ourselves in a permanently altered state of consciousness within which our every thought, feeling, and impulse is in perfect alignment with the Greatest Good. Because many of us have had at least a glimpse of such a possibility, we therefore assume that what is needed is for us to expand that glimpse until it becomes a permanent experience or state of being. But there is an unimaginable liberation that begins to dawn when we finally give up this need to have more, know more, and see more, and turn all of our attention to living in alignment with the deepest Truth weve already seen, the deepest experiences and insights weve already had. Ask yourself: Am I living up to the deepest truths I know? Am I embodying the most profound insights Ive discovered? Most of us already know far more than we are living up to. If you dedicate every moment of your life to being a perfect living expression of the deepest Truth youve already seen, you will suddenly find yourself on the True spiritual path for perhaps the first time. You will have taken on the ultimate challenge of aligning yourself with the Source without asking anything from It in return. And in so doing, you will be forced to transcend or overcome all of the obstacles to that alignment. This is the great sacrifice of spiritual life. But you will find that you have the strength, courage, or conviction to make this sacrifice, because your attention is not on the obstacles but on the goal itself. In walking

this path, your insight and experience will naturally deepen, but when it does, your only interest will be in aligning yourself with that depth as it reveals itself.

Authentic Happiness: Am I Ready to Give Up Wanting?

The illusion of personal happiness has us all under its spell. Even the most spiritual among us tend to remain under the subtle influence of the belief that fulfilling our personal needs and desires will bring happiness and contentment. We are fed this message on a daily basis. And because in our world of endless possibilities there is always more to have and more to experience, most of us never get to fully test the hypothesis. But those who have had the luxury to fulfill their most grandiose desires find that wanting is a bottomless pit. There is no true happiness to be found by getting what we want. As the great sages have always known, authentic happiness is found only in transforming our relationship to wanting itself. When we no longer need anything for ourselves, then we find that a deep and abiding contentment is our natural state. But at that point, having truly given up wanting for ourselves, we dont even want that contentment for ourselves. In this, we have discovered liberation from everythingeven the desire for happiness. Ask yourself: In what ways do I still believe that getting what I want will lead to fulfillment? In what ways am I still chasing the dream of personal happiness? When will I be ready to finally let it go and allow my life to be about something much bigger than my own fulfillment?

Surrender: Am I Willing to be Taken Over by a Force I Cant Control?

Surrender has always been the heart of spiritual life. Yet, in contemporary spiritual circles, surrender has often been interpreted to mean simply accepting what is. This is a profound misconception. When you undertake a sincere engagement with an authentic spiritual path, at some point you will come into contact with an overwhelming presence and power that seems as though it wants to take over your life. That power is what has traditionally been called God. And it does want to take over your life. In theistic terms, we could say that God wants you to become a vehicle for Its will. In non-theistic terms, we could say that it is the evolutionary and moral imperative of the cosmos calling us into alignment with a deeper order of being. But God cant take you by force. It needs

your compliance, your surrender. Most of us believe that, if faced with the opportunity to surrender to a greater, divine presence, we would happily fall to our knees in submission. We think we want God to rule our lives, but when the opportunity beckons, most of us cling to the certainty and security of our smallness, holding on to our illusions for dear life, terrified to let go and be consumed by the Infinite. The holy life is indeed the most blessed, joyous life of all, but only because we have been stripped of our petty wants, needs, fears and desires. How ready are we to let them go? Contemplate the following: Am I willing to let a presence and power greater than myself overtake me? Am I willing to let a higher priority govern my life? Am I willing to say Not my will but Thy will be done? If the honest answer is no, ask yourself why not? And keep asking why not? until the only possible answer is yes.

The Deathbed Perspective

Imagine you suddenly learned that you are going to die tomorrow, and are now looking back on your life from your deathbed. Face with ruthless honesty into the big choices youve made in your life. Ask yourself:

-What was the most important thing in life?

-Did I make sure I gave the most important thing the highest priority? Did I put first things first, always? Or, did I compromise what was most important in favor of what was comfortable or convenient or expedient?

-To what degree has my life been an expression of my highest ideals and understanding?

-Did I consistently do the right thing when it mattered most? What are my regrets?

Bring this perspective back to the life you are now living, with the future stretching out before you. Ask yourself what you will do differently based on this

perspective. Is there anything new you are willing to commit to in order to make sure you live a life you can look back on with perfect contentment, knowing that you gave it your all? Throughout your week, keep returning to this deathbed perspective on what youre doing. Ask yourself, Am I giving my time to the things that matter most?

What Would I Do if the Evolution of the Human Race Depended on Me?

We all influence each other in visible and invisible ways. Are you willing to take responsibility for being an example for all others to follow? Spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen asks his audiences the following question: How would you live your life if you learned that the further evolution of the human race rested on your shoulders alone? In other words, if you knew that all of your future actions were creating the action templates, or habits in consciousness, that would guide the actions of all future humans, how would your behavior change? Would you suddenly find that you had the strength and courage to leave behind all forms of victimhood and emotional indulgence, and step into a heroic relationship to this life? Would you find the conviction to overcome whatever obstacles seem to stand in the way of your becoming a powerful and undeniable expression of liberated consciousness in this world? Contemplate this question as though the future of humanity depends on it. Because it just might.

Embodying Spirit in Action

Engaged Inquiry Practices for Enlightened Living

OceanIntegral Enlightenment Engaged Inquiry Practices are practices that defuse, disarm, and deconstruct the ego in the midst of engagement with everyday life. Many of us have noticed that there is often an enormous gap between the clarity and wisdom we can attain in the midst of meditation or on retreat, and our capacity to express that clarity and wisdom when confronted with challenging life circumstances. If we want to be truly awake, it is therefore imperative that we find a way to challenge the many faces of the ego as they present themselves throughout our day. If engaged with sincerity and

consistency, the following practices can have a profound, liberating impact on your consciousness and, more importantly, on how you show up in life.

Live As If You Were Always On Camera

Imagine you have been given the sacred task of demonstrating a model life for all other humans to learn from and follow. In this cosmic reality show, every moment of your life will be followed on camera and broadcast throughout the world, watched by the entire human race as an example of how we all should live. Go through your week imagining that you are always on camera, and that the rest of humanity will be watching and imitating your every move. If you lose your temper at someone inappropriately, this will create a cascade of violence across the globe. If you respond with wisdom and generosity, you will create a ripple effect of wise and generous behavior.

As you engage this practice, honestly observe how frequently you adjust your behavior from what might have been your default response. Ask yourself: even without the camera, do I really have a right to behave in a less than exemplary way at every moment? Given that we all affect one another in countless visible and invisible ways, dont we all have an obligation to the whole to live the most exemplary, evolved lives we possibly can? Use this as a catalyst for deeper inquiry into what it would mean to live a truly impeccable life.

Why Am I Doing What Im Doing?

Most of us react to life habitually, driven by motivations that are largely unconscious. One of the most foundational elements of living a conscious, evolutionary life is bringing all of our murky motivations into the light of conscious awareness. Only when we know exactly why we are doing what were

doing can we discover the freedom and power to do something different, and begin to break the chains of the habit force known as karma.

In this practice, we allow our awareness of our own unconsciousness to push us deeper into conscious engagement with our interiors. Knowing that without greater self-awareness, we will inevitably cause unnecessary harm to our self and others, we reach for the courage to question ourselves to the core of who we are. Throughout the week, maintain a constant inquiry into your own motivations. Why did I respond in that way? Why am I about to respond in this way? Particularly when you or others feel that you might be reacting with a force or in a manner inappropriate to the situation confronting you, ask yourself: is this really an appropriate response to this event? And, if not, what is driving me? Engaging this practice will take a great degree of courage and humility. It may also take some time to begin to penetrate through the armor of your own deeper psyche. But, if you stick with it, you will find that a newfound clarity will emergeand with it, an unimaginable experience of freedom from the patterns of the past.

The Only Way to Change is to Change

We are all conditioned creatures. Most, if not all, of our behavior is driven by our conditioned emotional responses to life. These patterns of the past will play themselves out indefinitelyuntil and unless we actively break the cycle. Most of us have been taught to believe that what is needed to break free from these deep-seated patterns is either some kind of insight into their origins or some kind of energetic release. Yet, no matter how much time we spend in therapy, and no matter how many times we release the old pattern, it returns again and again. It is possible to break any pattern, no matter how entrenched it might be, if we are willing to accept the stark truth that the only way to change is to change. When we face the fact that no gimmick is going to change us, that lasting change almost always flows from a clear decision followed by committed action, a previously dormant resource becomes activewhich is our will. And our will is strong enough to move mountains.

Try this practice: choose a pattern in your life that you know needs to change in order for you to truly evolve to a higher level. Face the truth that the only reason you continue acting out of this pattern is because it gives you some kind of emotional payoff. Then make a decision that for the next week, no matter what happens, no matter how you feel, no matter how tempting it is to indulge in that pattern, you are not going to do it. Make this decision as if your life depended on it. If you have a tendency to lose your temper inappropriately, decide that for one week, you are not going to express your anger, no matter how much your blood might boil. If you have a tendency to withdraw into negative self-talk when confronted with criticism or rejection, make a decision to not withdraw, no matter how strongly you feel pulled to.

What you will find through this practice is that each time you successfully break the pattern by acting directly against it, you will liberate tremendous pent-up positive energy, and will have an immediate experience of freedom from your conditioned ego. And this will give you even more power and more conviction to go against the pattern the next time it arises. If you are persistent, you will find that within a very short time, you can dissolve a pattern that has been plaguing you for years, decades, or your entire life. And with this discovery, youll realize that true freedom from all the conditioned responses of the ego is within your grasp.

Navigating the Stormy Seas of Life: The Liberating Power of Decisive Action

Deep inner clarity is hard to find. Most of the time, our inner worlds are a sea of confusion, a cacophony of voices competing for our attentionand for our will. Particularly when the going gets tough, when we confront challenges that blow wind into the sails of our greatest fears and insecurities, it can be extremely hard to know how to navigate, which inner voice to listen to. This is why its critical that when we have a moment of clarity, we act decisively and with our full commitment.

Imagine you are traveling at sea in a storm, following your compass bearings, but no longer sure whether youve been blown entirely off-course. For a moment, the clouds part, the sun breaks through, and there you see it off in the far

distance: land! What does the captain do? The novice captain assumes the sun is here to stay, relaxes, forgets about his compass and begins steering toward the land that he can so plainly see. But the seasoned captain knows from years of experience that although the skies are clear for the moment, it is more than likely just a temporary break in the storm. She thus seizes this moment of clarity to get out the map and compass, determine her whereabouts, and set a clear, compass-guided course that she can continue to follow even when the clouds descend again.

It is the same with our lives. In the midst of confusion, we plead with God for clarity. But then, when the moment of clarity actually dawns, we tend to think: wow, its all so obvious! How could I not have seen this? And, fatally, we then assume we will never forget. More often than not, we eventually find ourselves back in the confusion again, wondering what happened to the blue skies of wisdom, and again beseeching God to bring us to clarity once more. The way out of this cycle is strong, clear, decisive action during the moment of clarity.

The next time you find yourself in the midst of an experience of profound clarity, resist the temptation to take it for granted. Remember how rare it is and use that clarity to reflect deeply on the most challenging questions and confusing issues in your life. Rather than getting high on the experience of clarity, take the time to clarify your true priorities and set a clear course of action that you can continue to follow even if you become confused and overwhelmed again. In this way, you can begin to live a life guided by wisdomeven if your day to day experience is one of confusion and uncertainty. When you allow your actions to consistently be guided by the wisdom of your deepest moments, rather than the ambiguities of daily life, you will find that those moments of depth and clarity will begin to become more and more frequent, until ultimately, that source of wisdom becomes your only home.

What if This is Entirely My Fault?

We all tend to be victimized by life. We tend to blame our circumstances or other people for our failings and misfortunes. We struggle to find the humility to look honestly at our own weaknesses. One of the most direct leverage points into the

victim consciousness that permeates our culture is found in the area of relational conflict. When youre feeling victimized and blaming someone else for a relational conflict, turn the tables on yourself and assume, for a moment, that you are entirely responsible for the conflict. How are you the cause of this problem? This doesnt mean that you are entirely responsible. But what can you see when you look through the lens of total self-responsibility? Discover the empowerment that comes from stepping out of victimhood into radical responsibility. (Dont worry. This doesnt mean you let other people get away with murder. Youre doing this for your own spiritual evolution. And once youre standing in a place of total self-responsibility for your part in any conflict, youll be in a much better position to give appropriate feedback to others).

Dont Pretend

The essence of ego is self-image: the deeply rooted psychological need to be seenand to see ourselvesin a way that aligns with our deepest beliefs about our self. One manifestation of this is our attempt to appear smart, or informed, in the eyes of others. To do this, many of us often act as though we know something that we really dont. If someone brings up a news story we havent heard about, we often pretend weve heard about it. We do this to save face, to not appear ignorant or stupid. This week, resist the temptation to pretend. If someone says, You know what Goethe said about commitment . . . and you dont know, say, no, I dont know. What did he say? Discover the precious humility, freedom, and lightness of being that comes from not needing to be seen as anything other than you are.

What If The Evolution of the Human Race Depended on What I Do Right Now?*

(*This is a variation on one of the Transformative Inquiry Practices)

We all influence each other in visible and invisible ways. Are you willing to take responsibility for being an example for all others to follow? Spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen asks his audiences the following question: How would you live your life if you learned that the further evolution of the human race rested on your shoulders alone? In other words, if you knew that all of your actions were creating the action templates, or habits in consciousness, that would guide the actions of all future humans, how would your behavior change? Would you suddenly find that you had the strength and courage to leave behind all forms of victimhood and emotional indulgence, and step into a heroic relationship to this life? Would you find the conviction to overcome whatever obstacles seem to stand in the way of your becoming a powerful and undeniable expression of liberated consciousness in this world?

As you go through your week, each time you are confronted with a challenging situation, ask yourself how you would act if the further evolution of humanity depended on your enlightened response to the situation. In challenging moments, we are often tempted to let go of our ideals and respond from the least enlightened part of ourselves. By holding ourselves accountable to the true evolutionary moral context for our lives, we can find the strength to rise up in the face of challenge and begin to create more enlightened pathways in consciousness for the rest of humanity to follow. Engage this practice as though the future of humanity depends on it. Because it just might.

Creating Evolutionary Culture

Group Inquiry Practices for Collective Enlightenment

Collective Enlightenment is one of the great spiritual frontiers of our time. As the ancient archetype of the solitary spiritual quest grows increasingly out of step with a crowded and conflicted modern world, more and more of us are feeling called toward a new, higher form of collective transformative engagement. group

The practices outlined below are gleaned from some of the leading-edge experiments in collective spirituality. When applied with sincerity and discipline, they can propel groups into profound experiences of higher states of consciousness far exceeding the individual spiritual attainments of the participants. As such, they not only hold tremendous potential for catalyzing

individual transformation; they reveal to us all a new possibility for human relationship beyond ego.

Essential Reading: Principles of Evolutionary Culture

This list of principles of engagement is a must read for any group interested in conscious co-evolution. We recommend printing out a copy for everyone in the group and reading it aloud before each meeting.

Group Inquiry Practice #1: Meditative Dialogue

This form of collective, active meditation allows us to experience what its like to speak together from a place beyond the mind and ego, from the ground of being itself. To begin, read the Principles of Evolutionary Culture aloud. Then, engage in one of the Integral Enlightenment Meditation Practices for 15 minutes. Then, without stopping the meditation, ask everyone to gently open their eyes, while continuing to engage in the meditation practice. Moving very slowly, and without disturbing the meditative field, invite group members to begin to describe the qualities of their current experience of meditation. Use prompts like:

-Describe the experience of consciousness itself

-What is the deepest part of your current experience?

-What do you feel in the room?

-What does the energy feel like between everyone?

-What is the deepest truth you are aware of?

-What is meditation?

Throughout this process, allow plenty of time for silence. There may be long periods of deep silence, and this is a natural part of the process. Just gently draw out the group by inviting them to share from this deeper, wider experience of who they are, of consciousness itself. At some point, you may notice a tangible shift in consciousness, a sudden deepening in your experience. Chances are, this is a collective experience. One of the most powerful things you can do is to simply observe this experiential shift aloud, saying: I just felt the meditation went deeper, the energy shifted when Rebecca spoke. Did anyone else feel that? By naming the collective experience, you facilitate the deepening of the collectives awareness of the unified nature of consciousness, which then carries everyone deeper into the collective field itself.

These sessions are best kept to about an hour in length. When it feels as though the group has reached a plateau, just invite everyone to enter back into silence and meditate together for another 5-10 minutes or longer if it feels appropriate.

Once the meditation is complete, take another 5-15 minutes to explore the following questions together.

-How was this different from other experiences of being in groups

-What did you notice about yourself?

-How did you experience other people differently?

-What did you see about consciousness itself?

-What did you learn about Life?

Group Inquiry Practice #2: Awakening Through Conversation

This exercise in collective transformative inquiry allows us to leverage the power of group intention to catalyze powerful openings to higher states of collective consciousness and insight. To engage in this practice, first print out one of the Transformative Inquiry Practices from the Transformative Inquiry Practice section of this site. This will be the leaping off point for your discussion. Then, print out the Awakening Through Conversation Context and Guidelines. This resource contains a context-setting article and guidelines to read aloud at the beginning of each meeting. These meetings tend to require more time than the one-hour Meditative Dialogue Practice groups. Generally allow 1 hours, and be willing to extend it a bit if needed to bring the meeting to completion.

Begin the meeting with a few minutes of silence, just inviting everyone to leave behind the cares of the day and bring their attention to the group and to their intention for the time youll be spending together. Then, read the Awakening Through Conversation Context and Guidelines aloud. Ask if there are any questions about the context and guidelines and, if there are, do your best to answer them.

Now, read the chosen Transformative Inquiry Practice aloud two times through. Invite the group to begin to engage the material, keeping the guidelines present in their mind. Encourage everyone to attempt to penetrate to the deeper meaning of the passage you read aloud. The goal here is to have a non-personal dialogue that reveals a deep truth about the human condition and the nature of enlightenment. This is not an intellectual exercise. Everyone should aim to speak from a deep and authentic place in themselves, and to speak in a way that draws the entire group deeper into contemplation.

Encourage the group to self-regulate. If someone veers off into mere intellectual commentary, they should be invited to offer a more authentic contribution. If someone slips into mere personal sharing, they should be encouraged to leave their personal story behind and instead speak about the deeper truth they are seeing about Life. If someone takes the group on a tangent, they should be invited to bring their contribution back to the topic being discussed.

Through a disciplined and wholehearted attempt to follow the guidelines and engage the material, it is possible for a relatively inexperienced group to break through into extraordinary experiences of collective awakening.

Group Inquiry Practice #3: Deepening Our Individual Practice Through Collective Exploration

These meetings are for a group whose individual members want to engage the Integral Enlightenment Practices in their own lives throughout the week, and then come together with a group to explore their experience and seek support and inspiration from the collective. To pursue this collective practice, have the group members commit to engage one practice from each category for each week; then come together to discuss the insights and learnings from one or two of those practices. Invite the group to approach this practice as a team of evolutionary pioneers, exploring the inner landscape of the human experience. Each member should bring their own data to the meeting to compare notes with other members.

At the beginning of the meeting, read the Principles of Evolutionary Culture aloud. Then, sit together for a few minutes of silence, inviting everyone to leave behind the cares of the day and bring their attention to the group and to their intention for the time youll be spending together.

Begin the meeting by deciding together which one or two practices you want to explore. (You will have engaged four different practices that week, so youll need to decide which ones to discuss). In general, the Transformative Inquiry and Engaged Inquiry practices will probably make for the liveliest and richest discussions). Once youve decided which practice to start with, invite participants to share openly about their experience of engaging that practice throughout the course of the week. Guide the conversation, as necessary, by asking the following questions:

-What new insights did you have as a result of engaging this practice?

-What experiences did the practice catalyze?

-What did you learn about yourself?

-What did you learn about life?

-What did you learn about enlightenment?

-What did you see about conscious evolution?

-What challenges did you confront in doing this practice?

-How did you deal with those challenges?

-What else do you want to share about your experience of this practice?

It is not necessary for everyone (or anyone) to answer every question. The goal here is to simply catalyze an authentic, meaningful conversation that enriches the practice of all the participants.

Once the group feels complete with the discussion of the first chosen practice, move on to the next one if there is time. In general, these meetings are best kept to 1 hours, but if there is sufficient enthusiasm, 2 hours is also a reasonable length. Beyond that, be wary of the invisible fatigue that can set in. Its good to always end on a high note.

Before breaking up, be sure and choose your practices for the following week. If everyone feels compelled to go deeper, you may at times decide to continue with the same set of practices for another week to apply the new insights and perspectives that opened up during the discussion.

Resources

Principles of Evolutionary Culture This list of principles of engagement is a must read for any group interested in conscious co-evolution. We recommend printing out a copy for everyone in the group and reading it aloud before each meeting.

Awakening Through Conversation Context and Guidelines This resource contains a context-setting article and guidelines to read aloud at the beginning of each Awakening Through Conversation meeting

Further Reading on Collective Wisdom

Thinking Together Without Ego: Collective Intelligence as an Evolutionary Catalyst by Craig Hamilton and Claire Zammit, PhD(c)

Come Together: The Mystery of Collective Intelligence by Craig Hamilton

Collective Wisdom Audio Resources

"Exploring the Landscape of a New Consciousness" Chris Parish in Dialogue with Craig Hamilton for WIE Unbound

Chris Parish, who pioneered, along with Craig Hamilton and others, the cutting edge approach to dialogue called Enlightened Communication, describes the extraordinary creativity that emerges when an entire group of people reaches beyond what they know to collectively explore the frontier of consciousness. Dissolving all barriers of separation, this remarkable spirituality technology holds the potential for solving the enormous problems caused by human conflict and division.

Presence of the Future Otto Scharmer in Dialogue with Craig Hamilton for WIE Unbound

Does a future potential exist, seeking to emerge, that is already part of you, that in fact depends on you, and that can be experienced by you right now? Yes, says this MIT researcher, and he coined the term presencing or pre-sensing to describe it. Increasing numbers of people, says Scharmer, are beginning to directly perceive our collective emerging future, and not just in rarified settings or during solitary meditation. People are having this mysterious and profound experience in everyday circumstances, social settings, in large groups, even while at work. More than that, Scharmer believes our collective capacity to literally pre-sense the future will help activate the latent potential within us to respond appropriately and wisely to the global, social, and environmental crises we now confront.

The Wisdom of the Whole Tom Atlee in Dialogue with Craig Hamilton for WIE Unbound Beginning with his first experience of collective mind on the Great Peace March for Nuclear Disarmament in 1986, this passionate activist tells one astonishing story after another about the power of collectives. And he discusses how cointelligence can revitalize democracy through wisdom councilsgroups of

ordinary citizens who access a higher wisdom to determine what's best for the whole.

Collective Dialogue, Collective Wisdom Juanita Brown in Dialogue with Craig Hamilton for WIE Unbound A conversation with the co-founder of The World Caf on the mysterious magic in the middle that occurs when separate minds coalesce into a transparent, accessible intelligence. Juanita recounts these and other signal moments in her life and work. She also shares with us her concerns for the future and the search for a source of wisdom and insight deep enough to see us through the complex challenges that lie ahead. For Juanita, this guidance is always to be found in the limitless power of the human collective in dialogue.

The Individual and Matrix Consciousness Chris Bache in Dialogue with Craig Hamilton for WIE Unbound Could our collective potential for learning be almost unlimited? This religious studies professor describes his discovery that the courses he taught had a mind of their own. Not only did a group field develop between himself and his students in each class, but every year, students would enter the class at a higher level. Bache explores how our recognition that the mind is collective radically changes the way we think of ourselves as individualsand could be the foundation for a new human society.

Flocks, Fields, Teams and Telepathy Rupert Sheldrake in Dialogue with Craig Hamilton for WIE Unbound The remarkable dance of birds in flight, the bonds between people and their pets, the creative synergy of a sports team in flowthese are but a few of the examples that this pioneering biologist uses to illustrate how social animals create fields of connection. In fact, Sheldrake argues, when a group field is created between people, then telepathy becomes a natural extension of our biological nature.