ISC

Via Dan and Vince I've learnt that the Integral Spiritual Center (or, for us colonials, "centre") is open for business, which is great news, and the website looks pretty kickass, so congrats to whoever is responsible for the design. The premise of the June conference is also very promising, 'teaching the teacher', wherein the various featured teachers will teach each other essential practises from their respective traditions, after which the other teachers will 'lovingly but directly' critique the teaching. Hopefully this will clearly delineate not only areas of agreement but areas of disagreement, and throw into focus the various contentions, blindspots and biases of the traditions. For example, Father Thomas Keating, to my knowledge, speaks of God as both the nameless ground of being (Godhead) and of God as a personal, creative force: God may be preparing a great awakening for the world, if God can find enough people to cooperate in this mysterious plan. There are several former Daists: Deida, Saniel Bonder, and if you're inclined to that way of thinking, Wilber himself (it's quite ironic that the essence of Da's teaching is being better served by several Da apostates), then you've also got the very awesome Vidyuddeva (from what I can see, he has a mind that sparkles), Lama Surya Das (I'm a big fan), Rabbi Marc Gafni, Roger Walsh....the list goes on. Of those I'm not familar with, John Kesler sounds like he could bring an interesting perspective, given that he's a Mormon high priest.

It's interesting to note that Andrew Cohen isn't among the listed teachers (though he may be among the forty involved in the conference) given his high profile talks on Integral Naked (and his subsequent drubbing in the blogosphere). Also of interest; there are no Protestants, Sufis, Therevada Buddhists or occultists amongst the listed teachers (although again, they may be amongst the forty teachers or involved in the center in some other way). On the issue of Protestants: I don't think this is an oversight on the center's path, simply because the protestant mystic is a rare being, rare enough that I can't think of any prominent living protestant mystics (correct me if I'm wrong). Sufis? Seems odd to have an Integral Spiritual Center and miss the mystic representatives of the world's second biggest faith, particularly given the relationship between the West and the Muslim world is so strained at this point in time. As for the others, the Integral approach has been criticized for ignoring or overlooking the various occult strands (prominent Integral supporters and confirmed occult/theosophical admirers include the fellows at www.kheper.net and Frank Visser, the webmaster of www.integralworld.net) and just the other day I read a review of SES that criticized Ken for 'misrepresenting' the Therevada position (perhaps a parallel with the Protestant situation with regard to too much emphasis on the direct scripture of the founder?).

Anyways, those aren't meant to be shots at the ISC, just observations of what is and isn't there (and I could very well be wrong in those observations anyway). I'm looking forward to what comes out of the June conference, and the subsequent repercussions for Integral spirituality.