Layman Pascal is an author, speaker, and body-mind-soul at large in the Integral and Metamodern scenes.  In this episode we dive into Layman's 'integration surplus' model of spiritual practice. This model offers an integrative lens through which to view all transformative practices. Through my work at the Monastic Academy I developed a startlingly similar 'harmonization model' of spiritual practice, which forms the conceptual basis of the curriculum for the Willow Intensive. You can learn more about that in this companion episode with John Vervaeke. In this conversation with Layman we explore some of the deeper ramifications and affordances of this way of looking at transformative practice.  If you'd like to explore this way of approaching practice more deeply we are offering two online courses: October 19 - November 9 at 11:30 a.m. ET: Intro to Harmonization: A New Ecology of Practices Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/intro-to-harmonization-a-new-ecology-of-practices-tickets-182786668847 October 22 - November 12 at 6:00 p.m. ET: Jade Method Meditation Course Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jade-method-meditation-course-tickets-182814672607 -------------------------- In this conversation Layman and I speak about: - How the harmony model arose out of Layman’s spiritual & philosophical practice - That all spiritual practices can be framed in terms of harmonization, and why that is so significant - Why it’s important that this model is ‘ontologically agnostic’ - The common confusion between harmony and unison - The role of meeting conflict in order to reveal a deeper harmony - The four fundamental proto-skills to help us harmonize any system - How super abundant harmony can help us identify what is valuable and good in any context - The value and limitation of awakening, and why it can sometimes lead to unskillful behavior --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Emerge: Making Sense of What's Next

Layman Pascal - Spiritual Practice as Harmonization

John Vervaeke speaks with Seishin and myself about the ecology of practices we are exploring in the Willow Intensive. This was originally recorded on The Stoa. This episode includes a brief overview of the Harmony model and the five aspects we've been training to harmonize. We discuss the obstacles and opportunities of birthing a new kind of wisdom institution in the modern world, and the necessity of having an ecology of practices to adequately transform the human mind during a time of planetary crisis (and much more). The conversation ends with a Q&A. We are offering two online courses for those who would like to explore these practices more deeply: October 19 - November 9 at 11:30 a.m. ET: Intro to Harmonization: A New Ecology of Practices Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/intro-to-harmonization-a-new-ecology-of-practices-tickets-182786668847 October 22 - November 12 at 6:00 p.m. ET: Jade Method Meditation Course Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/jade-method-meditation-course-tickets-182814672607 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Harmonizing to Emerge with John Vervaeke

Is it still possible to create a more beautiful future for life on earth, or are we now merely stewards for the dying process of our world? How do we live with the weight of this uncertainty? Soryu Forall responds to these questions during a recent lecture at the Monastic Academy. Soryu is the founder and head teacher at the Monastic Academy for the Preservation of Life on Earth (MAPLE). You can hear my previously recorded conversation with Soryu by clicking here. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Soryu Forall - Responding to Collapse: Virtue and Possibility at the World's End

Rob McNamara is an author, leadership coach, advisor and consultant with expertise in adult development and human performance. He is a co-founder of the leading consulting firm Delta Developmental, a faculty member for the Ivey School of Business' LIFT Advanced Coaching Program, and is a Senior Monk and Integral Zen Dharma Holder training with Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi. McNamara’s coaching focuses leaders on clarifying life purpose, growing critical leadership skills to advance value creation and fostering organizational development to enhance learning and innovation. MAPLE Fundamentals Online Training (Cohort Begins August 8th) Vision Quest at the Monastic Academy (September 10th - 19th) Show Notes: 00:02 Who do we need to become to navigate this planetary meta-crisis? 00:05 “Revolutionary enfoldment” / new vectors of development 00:10 Limitations of just adding more complexity 00:18 Takes 10 years. Do we even have that? XR: “sacrifice for future generation” — Hero frame 00:26 Exploring other distinctions / sovereignty and surrender 00:33 “If we’re not willing to die, we don’t get to touch the ineffable grace of life” 00:36 The diversification of identity 00:43 The illumined reality / world as image structure 00:51 What needs to happen in public? / education 00:55 How do we cultivate the capacity to attune to image? / image is prior to language 01:04 Circling / need for community 01:08 “giving someone an image that is not their own” 01:11 Omniwin / “image structure is not an exhaustible resource” 01:14 Finite and infinite games / “switching arena of pathos to soul-making” / “game on, forever” 01:16 How to increase access to this? 01:19 Organizational development / “If this is our last thing, what do we do?” 01:22 How do we ground this in community? / problem-solving / play 01:25 Robert = “bright counselor” 01:28 Wrap-up --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Rob McNamara - Adult Development & Ensoulment

Emerge is back! This is a solo episode where I share a few life updates and thoughts about the evolution of the Emerge podcast. Support me on Patreon --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Emerge Returns: Solo Episode

Emerge invites you to a new kind of monastery for a (meta)modern world... Learn more at: https://growingwillow.org/summer2021 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Inviting Canadians to a New Kind of Monastery

I've decided to put this project on hold and dedicate myself more fully my work and training at the Monastic Academy. In this episode I share some of the thinking and feeling that went into my choice. If you'd like to support me in my training and work you can do so through Patreon. A few recent pieces I've read that are relevant to this episode: Cutting Through Spiritual Colonialism by Vinay Gupta Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times by Jamie Bristow & Rosie Bell --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

The End of Emerge (For Now)

In the first episode after my 75 day silent retreat I sat down with Zak Stein to speak about the the current cultural moment and how we can respond to the chaos and uncertainty of the world with love and integrity. This is part two of a two part episode. In this episode we discuss: - An overview of Zak’s metapsychology - How the psyche is a triple of development, ensoulment, and transcendence and why one must work on all three - How much of the talk about ‘sense making’ is missing two thirds of the picture - The noetic function of love - The relationship between language, image and symbol - How ensoulment lags behind development and transcendence in terms of emphasis in transformational culture - Why working with image and ensoulment might be the most important work that can be done right now - What image has to do with the resolution of the meaning crisis - Zak’s theory that, at some point, a shared cultural image will spontaneously create collective coherence - How ethics is implicated in Zak’s metapsychology - How virtue ethics is the antidote to virtue signaling --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Zak Stein - American Culture's Psychotic Break (pt. 2)

In the first episode after my 75 day silent retreat I sit down with Zak Stein to speak about the the current cultural moment and how we can respond to the chaos and uncertainty of the world with love and integrity.  This is part one of a two part episode. We discuss: - My experience coming out of retreat into a 'post-covid' world - How strange and problematic it is that people speak with confidence about the world right now - How our media ecology forces us to take on perspectives even when uncertainty and ambiguity is more trustworthy - That sense-making has everything to do with acting from embodied love, and NOT about having the correct meta-narrative - How ideology acts on our lives to make it difficult to love and see each other - How we get captured by the simulation of reality being played out on social media and how that debases our lived relationships - How to respond to the psychotic break our culture is going through - Why we need to pull out of mainstream culture, reorient, and pull together a critical mass of coherence and sanity The NY Times article about my experience coming out of retreat COVID-19: A War Broke Out in Heaven by Zak Stein --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Zak Stein - American Culture's Psychotic Break (pt. 1)

Soryu Forall is the founder and head-teacher of the Monastic Academy.  Soryu has a decade of intensive monastic training, a degree in Economics from Williams College, and extensive experience in social and environmental justice. He was ordained in 1998 at Sogen Temple under the tutelage of the Zen Master Shodo Harada. The day this recording goes live I'll be beginning an 80(ish) day silent solo retreat here on the land of the Monastic Academy. By the end of this episode,  I hope you'll understand why I would do such a thing. We discuss: How awakening enables us to be of true service in times of crisis How easy it is to fool ourselves about the depth of our experience and insight Soryu’s personal crisis upon learning of the Japanese Zen traditions participation in the atrocities of World War Two A vision of awakening that is adequate to the meta-crisis Whether it makes sense to disconnect Waking Up, Growing Up, and Cleaning Up Does awakening make us more ethical? Better at making decisions?  The difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ enlightenment according to the Buddhist eightfold path What kind of monsters ‘wrong’ enlightenment creates Why transformative practices disconnected from ethical training is so dangerous How the cultural assumptions of liberalism, humanism, and materialism distort our understanding of what awakening is How your aspiration creates your understanding of the path Why it’s necessary to do these practices in community Soryu’s definition of awakening And more! ?‍♂️?‍♀️ Monastic Academy Podcast Donate to the Monastic Academy --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Soryu Forall - Manufactured Awakenings

Andrew J Taggart is a practical philosopher, Zen Buddhist, and entrepreneur. Recently Andrew wrote an article called 'Psychotechnologies of Self-Transformation' that led me to reach out to him and schedule a conversation. This episode was recorded a few months ago, but it occurs to me as exactly the right time to release it. If you are feeling panicked about the Corona Virus, I'd encourage you to slow down, get a hot cup of tea (or go for a walk outside) and enjoy this warm-spirited philosophical conversation. We inquire about: Why aren't human beings kinder to each other, let alone to all sentient beings? Is liberalism, humanism, and nihilism at the root of the meta-crisis? How social media requires a self-enclosed narcissistic humanism to function How do we move beyond humanism into a new cosmological sense of being? Is it possible to install new modes of being in time to confront the planetary challenges facing us? The necessity of existential openings as a portal to self-inquiry Whether we need to administer 'gentle shocks' to help people enter into spiritual crisis as quickly as possible How can we help ensure that instances of emergency and crisis can touch the heart and open the spirit? How do we precipitate mass existential opening? How do we help others encounter the truths of their heart? What Andrew has learned about having skillful philosophical conversations The importance of becoming sensitive in conversation to what Andrew calls 'existential weight' Why we must change our lives according to our existential truths, and the consequences of not doing so What is an adequate new definition of the human being that supports the emergence of a broadly contemplative culture Does wisdom arise from awakening, or does awakening arise from wisdom? What are the most important virtues to be cultivated now, in this time between worlds? Andrew's Home on the Internet --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Andrew J. Taggart - Existential Openings & Psychotechnologies of Self-Transformation

Jonathan Reams works at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), serves as Editor-in Chief of Integral Review, and is a co-founder of the Center for Transformative Leadership and of the European Center for Leadership Practice. He brings awareness based leadership development practices to his work, focusing on how the inner workings of human nature can develop leadership capacities for today’s complex challenges. His recent research and practice has focused on subjects such as; the impact of Immunity to Change based coaching, theoretical foundations of resistance to change, the integration of psychological and cognitive skill based assessments and the use of narrative based tools combined with developmentally informed reflection prompts for scaling development. We inquire into: What do we mean when we talk about human development? Why are there so many different models of adult development? Are higher stages of adult development all one thing or are there many different types of maturity? The various types of developmental models and the key differences between them How do we develop as moral and ethical beings? How does seeing the 'virtual' nature of the self help us become more mature and wise humans? And more! Enjoy. ❤️ Check out http://jonathanreams.com/ to see more about Jonathan's work and writing. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Jonathan Reams - Waking Up & Growing Up: How Seeing the Virtuality of Self Supports Adult Development

Robert Kegan is a psychologist who teaches, researches, writes, and consults about adult development, adult learning, and professional development. His work explores the possibility and necessity of ongoing psychological transformation in adulthood. He is perhaps most well known as the author of The Evolving Self, In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life, and An Everyone Culture.  In this conversation we talk about: What is a good definition of an 'adult'? The phasic vision of adult development The variety of developmental logics in the human mind A tour of the 5 stages of adult development What people get wrong about his 5 Stage model of human development Why you are almost certainly not ‘Stage 5’ if you're under the age of 40 The gap between philosophical understanding and developmental attainments Why you might take on a Stage 5 philosophical orientation from the Stage 4 developmental level (and what that might look like) The most important developmental stage transition for the majority of humans What transcending the limits of the socialized mind means for our planetary culture The Monastic Academy Awakened Leadership Bootcamp --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Robert Kegan - The Five Stages of Adult Development (And Why You Probably Aren't Stage 5)

In this episode, I'm speaking with Mark Feenstra. Mark is co-founding a consulting and training ecosystem and incubator, called New Mainstream, which focuses on large scale change that starts with ourselves and the possibility of a new mainstream. Mark is also in the process of founding a land-based community to ground the possibility of actualizing a new mainstream, initially in Golden Bay, New Zealand.  Over the last year or so I’ve been lucky enough to have a number of conversations with Mark. He, as much as anyone I’ve encountered, really lives the sort of inquiry that I’ve been attempting to embody on this show. Every time I speak with Mark I feel like I’m falling into some wormhole of understanding and coherence. Mark has an amazing ability to bring these topics down to earth without sacrificing the ambiguity and playfulness that is the lifeblood of beautiful conversation.   We talk about:  Shifting from a Game A to Game B mental operating system  The fractal nature of the meta-crisis and how it lives within each of us  What integrity really means (and whether a crisis of integrity at the heart of the meta-crisis)  Whether the split between individual transformation and systems transformation is an artifact of Game A consciousness  Why attempting to fix or heal the crisis is a red herring Integrity as an emergent property of coming into relationship with wholeness  How noticing the lack of integrity is a proximal cause of integrity  The relationship between integrity and omni-win decision making  And the beautiful impossibility of true omni-win decision making   Monastic Academy Awakened Leadership Bootcamp --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

Mark Feenstra - The Inner Dimension of the Meta-Crisis

A podcast based inquiry into the next phase of the human experiment. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/emerge/support

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Emerge: Making Sense of What's Next

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