Integral Dreams
"There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile," said the old Emperor to Maximus Decimus early in the Gladiator.
After seeing on Numinous Nonsense that a discussion easily turns into a shit-storm (Vince, thanks for the expression) and then continuing into the second part, I was reminded how concerned citizens often just like to gossip. The situation at Integral Institute may be swell or not so well, but those in the know should know better. I admit there are many ways to be a sincere supporter, I just don't see how posting dozens of "funny", very un-fluffy comments is one of them.
Elsewhere, arguments lose compass and humour goes sour. "Open Integral" is having fun, and they actually believe they're being funny - to themselves, perhaps. Frank Visser is also having fun in his "wilberwatch", but being simply ridiculous instead. (You remember his work on Ken Wilber, "Thought as Passion"? Well, the passion is gone, and not much is left.) In their leisure time, these guys have fun at poking their KW-dolls. A chair at the President's Circle, or a tenure at the I.U. would've surely changed their minds...
So what if things at I-I look bad? What are you doing to help? Are you there, giving I-I all you got? Are you there anyway? Are you still there doing your best?
I live in Croatia, a country with so many difficulties on all levels in all quadrants, where anyone with brains would commit suicide RIGHT NOW, if we only had one quarter of bad faith and self-inflation shown by many who consider themselves to be integral "thinkers" in their own right - it's so sad. Like spoiled brats, without any dignity or honor. It takes WILL to stay through the storm. It takes character (being a character doesn't mean you have one). The difficulties are never the ones you'd choose, the pay always sucks.
Without Ken Wilber, most wouldn't be discussing anything "integral" in the first place. We'd be left with a bunch of lousy holisms, bereft of any promise that in the 21st century those big, important words like Spirit and Depth can actually get very fucking real once again...
Give I-I the best you've got, instead of bitter and shallow remarks of dissapointment. Forget the altitudes and perspectives, just do your best. Or, if opportunistic hipocrisy is all you have, do something constructive for change and - simply shut up. Decency, remember? Especially when you're feeling the need to be critical. By the way, what tier is this?
Instead of dreaming integral dreams and making them into nightmares, wake up into our non-integral reality, where anyone can be an asshole, bitching about this and that, and asking to be treated better. Stop whining. Get over it. This is the time to evolve through the barely open crack and usher... Why not BE the change for once?
Maximus Decimus: "Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe they fought and died for nothing."
After seeing on Numinous Nonsense that a discussion easily turns into a shit-storm (Vince, thanks for the expression) and then continuing into the second part, I was reminded how concerned citizens often just like to gossip. The situation at Integral Institute may be swell or not so well, but those in the know should know better. I admit there are many ways to be a sincere supporter, I just don't see how posting dozens of "funny", very un-fluffy comments is one of them.
Elsewhere, arguments lose compass and humour goes sour. "Open Integral" is having fun, and they actually believe they're being funny - to themselves, perhaps. Frank Visser is also having fun in his "wilberwatch", but being simply ridiculous instead. (You remember his work on Ken Wilber, "Thought as Passion"? Well, the passion is gone, and not much is left.) In their leisure time, these guys have fun at poking their KW-dolls. A chair at the President's Circle, or a tenure at the I.U. would've surely changed their minds...
So what if things at I-I look bad? What are you doing to help? Are you there, giving I-I all you got? Are you there anyway? Are you still there doing your best?
I live in Croatia, a country with so many difficulties on all levels in all quadrants, where anyone with brains would commit suicide RIGHT NOW, if we only had one quarter of bad faith and self-inflation shown by many who consider themselves to be integral "thinkers" in their own right - it's so sad. Like spoiled brats, without any dignity or honor. It takes WILL to stay through the storm. It takes character (being a character doesn't mean you have one). The difficulties are never the ones you'd choose, the pay always sucks.
Without Ken Wilber, most wouldn't be discussing anything "integral" in the first place. We'd be left with a bunch of lousy holisms, bereft of any promise that in the 21st century those big, important words like Spirit and Depth can actually get very fucking real once again...
Give I-I the best you've got, instead of bitter and shallow remarks of dissapointment. Forget the altitudes and perspectives, just do your best. Or, if opportunistic hipocrisy is all you have, do something constructive for change and - simply shut up. Decency, remember? Especially when you're feeling the need to be critical. By the way, what tier is this?
Instead of dreaming integral dreams and making them into nightmares, wake up into our non-integral reality, where anyone can be an asshole, bitching about this and that, and asking to be treated better. Stop whining. Get over it. This is the time to evolve through the barely open crack and usher... Why not BE the change for once?
Maximus Decimus: "Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe they fought and died for nothing."
8 Comments:
excellent post, thanks
A big thanks from me also for your sane response from across the pond!
xo
cori
hokai,
"Instead of dreaming integral dreams and making them into nightmares, wake up into our non-integral reality, where anyone can be an asshole, bitching about this and that, and asking to be treated better. Stop whining. Get over it. This is the time to evolve through the barely open crack and usher... Why not BE the change for once?"
well said.
whenever i say stupid lemon-eating debates, i think you know what i mean. thanks for sharing your thoughts.
~C
thank you guys.
Hokai,
Believe it or not, many have been trying to do exactly what you're so correctly suggesting, only to have I-I turn us, and our ideas and contributions, away because of the very problems described. I am glued to this precisely because I care so much. I appreciate your thoughtful perspective but want to also make sure we don't turn a blind eye to real problems, or how would they ever get reolved?
Actually, there is great value to humor -- even that of the arched, snipping-at-backsides type.
Better that than what is being displayed in your post, hokai: Sychophantic and obsequious, like Smithers in The Simpsons cartoons.
Better Good Humor than Good Germans.
... and better bad humor than the Thought Police.
Thanks for your support, Tom. Your either/or logic is indeed ridiculous, but it's still not funny or humorous. Anyway, I like good Germans, you take the bad ones.
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