Integral Christianity is not a new form of Christianity, with a new set of beliefs. Instead, Integral Christianity is a disposition, an attitude, that starts with the radical embracing of all forms of Christian rigorous practice and understanding. Then, taking these practices on both individual and collective levels, we embody them within our faith communities and move into our broader society.

Practicing ceaselessly “the presence of God”, in the words of that beloved spiritual classic, and at the same time also practicing our Lord’s second great commandment – to love our neighbour as our self. Gently probing if these poles collapse into a non-dual mode that touches the very origins of our faith.

In embracing those prior and current forms, without getting tied up between “orthodox” versus “heretical”, and adding the insights of modernity and science, we need to develop new modes of discernment and openness to experience. And doing this with a hunger for authenticity, righteousness and truth that celebrates life and avoids the mushy theological soup in which everything is equally true, but nothing truly matters.

This two-day workshop will draw out some perspectives of what such a broad, discerning embrace might look like.

We will introduce some possibilities of the kinds of rigorous practice that support our discernment. We will create open space amongst the participants to collaboratively explore how we can authentically continue to bring the fullness and richness of our beautiful tradition to life in the 21st Century.

Join us! We need your voice, your head, your hands and your heart.

What will I get from the workshop?

• An embodied sense of the ways in which Christianity has and might evolve alongside society into a premodern, modern, post-modern and integral forms
• A more spacious way to hold the polarity of orthodoxy and heresy.
• An experience of the Christian tradition at different depths: the body, the soul and the spirit.
• An understanding of ways in which tradition grapples with the unconscious aspects of the self and our relationship with our psychological shadow.
• A revisit and reframing of core Christian concepts like the Trinity, sin, the Kingdom of Heaven, salvation, church and Eucharist.
• A renewed grasp of and a renewed passion for the deep, relational character of Christianity.

Please find detailed registration information: Integral Christianity Brochure

While even an introductory understanding of Integral calls for a robust level of intellectual discourse. It is not necessary that participants have prior knowledge of Integral, however, it will be useful to already appreciate that this model allows us to embrace both the diversity and complexity of life.

Our goal is not discourse but it is understanding, application, and awareness. Throughout the four weeks, each of us will have our understanding deepened by working with concrete examples and through direct observation. Come prepared to stretch yourself in many ways – including your cognitive, but not limited to it.

We are asking participants to sign on for all four sessions.
As we must cover the cost of the venue, we are asking for NZD60 per participant.
Reduced rates may be possible for those who are in need.

The venue is in College Hill in Auckland.

Please see the meetup list on the left.

A Brief Introduction to Big Mind Big Heart
Friday, 18 June 2010 at 7:30pm, Free
Cityside Baptist Church
8 Mt Eden Road, Newton, Auckland

Big Mind Big Heart Workshop
$95.00, Concessions Available
Saturday, 19 June 2010, 12:15 to 6:30 pm
Kohia Education Centre
Gate 1, 78 Epsom Avenue, Epsom, Auckland
Gate 2, Level 2 for Parking
Bookings: www.integralalchemy.com

This event is organized by Auckland Integral.It is offered as a contribution to the spiritual landscape of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Click here to download the event brochure: Big Mind 18 and 19 June 2010

In this second part of a two part discussion (if you missed part one you could still easily join in), we will continue our enquiry into perspective taking via the dialogue/video on climate change between David Roirdan of Integral Life and Dr. Michael Zimmerman.

So, what is a healthy conversation to have about the environment? Science and policy have blurred together to confuse a debate already challenged with problems in defining terms. Dr. Michael Zimmerman talks further about the possibilities and pitfalls of the debate on climate change.

“You will notice the way Michael Zimmerman handles his disagreements with other academics and activists in this interview. He gives thoughtful articulation the different perspectives involved, even where his disagreements run deep. He also makes his own position unmistakably clear: we can’t afford to get tunnel vision and we can’t afford to ignore the influence of politics. In other words, he takes perspectives without being taken by them.

This ability and willingness to “look as” another person, to adaptively learn and test one’s own deeply-held assumptions—while maintaining one’s own deep sense of personal capability—is the basic formula for adaptive problem-solving in the 21st century, and humanity’s most precious (and most rare) resource.”

Join us on Sunday for part two of this video interview followed by a group discussion.

On our next couple of meetings, we will start this enquiry into perspective taking via the dialogue/video on climate change between David Roirdan of Integral Life and Dr. Michael Zimmerman. Michael does a beautiful job of embodying an integral worldview, and what multiple perspective taking really looks like while engaging a intense topic such as climate change.

“You will notice the way Michael Zimmerman handles his disagreements with other academics and activists in this interview. He gives thoughtful articulation the different perspectives involved, even where his disagreements run deep. He also makes his own position unmistakably clear: we can’t afford to get tunnel vision and we can’t afford to ignore the influence of politics. In other words, he takes perspectives without being taken by them.

This ability and willingness to “look as” another person, to adaptively learn and test one’s own deeply-held assumptions—while maintaining one’s own deep sense of personal capability—is the basic formula for adaptive problem-solving in the 21st century, and humanity’s most precious (and most rare) resource.”
Join us on Sunday for part one of this video interview followed by a group discussion.

• An integral vision is possible, applicable, and valuable.
• All perceptions reflect perspectives, and all perspectives are partial and selective.
• Adult development is possible.
• Spiritual disciplines can catalyze development.

Given the extraordinary threats facing the world, we’d like to explore the question,
“How can integral studies and integral practitioners contribute most effectively to help resolve the great challenges of our time?”

Please read the two articles by Roger Walsh on the State of the Integral Enterprise (see Files section) and come explore integral ideas and investigate ways in which individual integral practitioners can identify and optimize their own contributions.

The longer we reflect on the question of how best to respond to contemporary crises, the more it dawns on us that the really crucial question is, “What can I do?” Yet there is a still deeper question below. That deeper question is, “What is the most strategic thing I can do?” In other words, given my unique talents and circumstances, what is the optimal contribution I can make? How can I most effectively leverage my knowledge, skills, and situation to be of most help?

“Most of us have experienced the power present in a collective field – moments in which we were deeply attuned with another, times in which we worked with a team to accomplish something we hadn’t thought possible, occasions in which a deep well of shared meaning suddenly opened in the center of a circle whose participants had been engaged in intense conflict. Many of us have been deeply nourished by long-term engagement with a circle of friends, a network of colleagues, or a high-functioning company dedicated to more than the bottom line. A growing number have felt the joy and excitement of discovering the latent knowledge and wisdom in a community through a “world café” or related conversation-based process.”

“In a world that so often seems chaotic, out of control, and beyond our capacity to influence, such experiences remind us of our essential belonging and support our creative engagement with others and world. They are important touchstones in our quest to create lives rich in meaning and work that contributes to the well-being of larger wholes – our families, communities, and even the wider web of life that sustains us all. Often characterized by synchronicity, flow, intimacy, and a sense of “coming home,” they help us see that personal awakening and our cultivation of collective capacities are not at odds but intertwined, each quickening the other.”

“They also serve as harbingers of the higher collective potentials that characterize the groups, organizations, and other “social bodies” we form, when we organize, collaborate, and act with a conscious commitment to each person’s freedom, the centrality of right relationship, co-creative inquiry in the service of shared aims, and transformative learning.”

“Are these experiences simply happy accidents, or are there ways we can more reliably evoke them?”
—————-from the reading: Archetypal Practices for Collective Wisdom

We will be exploring the practices that are offered in the readings. These papers are interesting in that they summarize a great deal of work and they offer their own frameworks. In doing so, they will help us to more easily explore the “we” space with some common tools for a while and possibly experience their benefits.

These two papers are available here on the site, so please have a look at these in preparation. We will also be doing at least one group exercise to get warmed up. Please feel free to bring any other group practices (such as team-building exercises) that you enjoy or can recommend. The group will also determine spontaneously what group practices it wants to explore.

Papers:
We Techniques: PRACTICES FOR PREPARING AND OPENING
Please have a look at this short document and see the ways in which people prepare for and conduct themselves as they participate in this phenomenon; how they form and hold the intent for healing and wholeness in service of the collective.

Archetypal Practices for Collective Wisdom: Timeless Ways of Evolving Personal and Collective Capacity
This is a longer and more complex document that is worth looking over.

http://www.meetup.com/kenwilber-287/calendar/11910583/?from=list&offset=0

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