Episodes
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Layman sits down again with Middle Way philosopher and author, Robert M. Ellis, this time to discuss his new book, The Five Principles of Middle Way Philosophy -- the second book in a planned 9-part series on the Middle Way. Layman and Robert review the essential arguments of the book, exploring how a post-traditional, universalized middle-way philosophy might show up and what it might contribute to addressing the challenges of the contemporary world.From the book's description:"This second book in the 'Middle Way Philosophy' series develops five general principles that are distinctive to the universal Middle Way as a practical response to absolutization. These begin with the consistent acknowledgement of human uncertainty (scepticism), and follow through with openness to alternative possibilities (provisionality), the importance of judging things as a matter of degree (incrementality), the clear rejection of polarised absolute claims (agnosticism) and the cultivation of cognitive and emotional states that will help us resolve conflict (integration). These are discussed not only in theory, but with links to the wide range of established human practices that can help us to follow them. Like all of Robert M. Ellis's work, this book is highly inter-disciplinary, drawing on philosophical argument, psychological models and values that prioritize practical application."Robert M. Ellis is a philosopher, writer and teacher. He has produced a series of books about the Middle Way, understood as a principle of judgement that throws us onto experience by avoiding absolutes, both positive and negative. He has also founded the Middle Way Society to support the development and practice of the Middle Way understood in this way, and he has recently opened a retreat center, Tirylan House, in rural South Wales.The Five Principles of Middle Way Philosophy:https://www.amazon.com/Five-Principles-Middle-Philosophy-Experientially/dp/1800503032/
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For the forty-second episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman meets with Richard Flyer, founder of the Symbiotic Culture Lab, to talk about his new book, Birthing the Symbiotic Age. They discuss Richard's early life experiences and influences, and together explore how, as the book argues, "we can emerge from our fragmented and conflicted social networks/silos and create sustainable, interconnected ecosystem networks consisting of local leaders, organizations, businesses, and local government — in parallel to our already established systems."Birthing the Symbiotic Agehttps://richardflyer.substack.com/s/birthing-the-symbiotic-age-new-bookSymbiotic Culture Labhttps://symbioticculturelab.super.site/
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Missing episodes?
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The question of the promise and peril of AI is a proper one for our long-running Love the System series, but we thought it deserved its own spot as a sub-series due to the rapid development and proliferation of Large Language Models and other ground-breaking AI technologies over the past six months. It may be too early to tell yet, but with the clear power of this emergent technology, its potential to take over many of the tasks we used to regard as exclusively human, and its rapid public uptake, it feels like we are on the cusp of an epochal change. How are we to secure the psychological and spiritual health of human beings in the face of such developments? How do we ethically and wisely merge living and non-living intelligences? What wisdom from this corner of the internet -- from our respective integral, metamodern, and spiritual communities -- can help us navigate the monumental challenges and opportunities ahead?For the twelfth episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with Lee Chazen, founder of GliderCell AI Lab, to talk about how artists, creatives, and generalist philosophers can contribute to the development of more fruitful expressions and applications of artificial intelligence, and about his own experiments in AI-related 'meta-fiction.' GliderCell websitehttps://www.glidercell.com/glidercell
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For the 12th episode of Non/duality, Layman meets with nondual teacher, Leeza Edwards, to talk about her early formative experiences, her spiritual practice and transformation, and her insights into the nature of nondual realization and its relationship to or impact on growth, sense of self, relational and communication dynamics, connection to ancestry and lineage, and much more.Leeza teaches self-awareness, embodied peace and mindfulness through the “direct path” lens of non-duality -- principally as self-inquiry and meditation via retreats, online gatherings, presentations and personal sessions. LinkedIn page / leeza-edwards-756b6742 Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! / theintegralstage
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Several months ago, seasoned integral content creators watched with a mix of amazement and dismay as the integrally informed video, "Levels of Thinking," on a relationship and dating advice channel called Hoe_Math, blew up and got numbers in a couple weeks that no integral video in history has ever approached. Poor Corey DeVos needed to go get therapy, and I'm still recovering. So Layman wanted to find out who the guy behind the viral video is. Check it out.Hoe_math channel / @hoe_math Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the LIMITED HANGOUT guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
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In Episode 25, Layman meets with Forrest Wilson, host of The Forrest Wilson Experience, to talk about healthy, generative relationships to money; the internal and external conditions needed to shift to new, more value-centered, eudaimonic economies; the importance of the cultivation of, and a living relationship with, financial intelligence; and much more.Forrest Wilson is the host of The Forrest Wilson Experience podcast. After his father passed away in his early twenties, Forrest decided to let go of the idea he had for his life based on the expectations, conditioning, and cultural constructs he took on as a young person and dive deep into healing, developmental, and awakening journeys. After nearly a decade of playing in the unseen world, Forrest has found connection to a tremendous passion for supporting a humanity to live life more fully. By embodying a way of being that is palpably alive, clear, penetrative, and illuminating, Forrest invites folks around him to play all out.Forrest Wilson websitehttps://www.forrestbwilson.com/
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The Liminal Café is where the locals of the liminal web gather for coffee and conversation. In this new series, Layman chats with the people and patrons who, for some curious reason, find themselves drawn to this sketchy corner of the internet...SHADOW-WORK, DESCENT, AND DEVELOPMENT IN EMBODIED LEADERSHIPFor episode 8, Layman sits down with Ēlen Awalom to talk about her experience as an activist, her spiritual awakenings, and her path of self-healing and development on the way to the creation of an embodied, integrally informed approach to leadership and leadership training.Ēlen Awalom is a technologist, creative (writer, exhibiting photographer, poet), human rights activist, trained anthropologist and start-up entrepreneur who lives in San Francisco, California. Born in Khartoum, Sudan to Eritrean parents, Ēlen came of age in the South Bronx and Northern Virginia.Ēlen's Professional websitehttps://www.elenawalom.com/
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This is the first episode of a new series exploring the subtle dynamics of collective shadow, narrative making & our responses to how we are perceived. In the digital epoch, it is unlikely that anyone will escape confrontation with a negative image of themselves existing in the minds of others. Do we learn from it? Fight it? Absorb it? Ignore it? And how do we evaluate anything when information itself becomes dubious?
Layman is joined this time by Dr. Marc Gafni -- the world philosopher of "cosmo-erotic humanism" together with Dr. Zak Stein. Gafni is the co-president with Stein of the Center for World Philosophy and Religion, founded with Ken Wilber in 2010, where they are articulating a “new meta theory story of value in response to the meta crisis”, even as Gafni lives as a character, both beloved and controversial, in the public mind.
Our task in this episode, and in this series, is not to demonize or exonerate. We encourage people to do their own research if they are interested. Facts matter. So do feelings. But that is not our topic in this series where we are focused on something more specific. We are not exploring the content of the narratives but rather how they emerge, how they are perceived by the people inside them, how those people respond under the conditions of the emerging digital, planetary age & what they have concluded about their responses.
We are not exploring content of the narratives but rather how they emerge, how they are perceived by the people inside them, how those people respond under the conditions of the emerging digital-planetary age & what they have concluded about their responses.
Center for World Philosophy and Religion:
https://worldphilosophyandreligion.org/
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For the 38th episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman welcomes fellow Canadian, fearologist, and author, Michael Fisher, to talk about his 2021 book, The Marianne Williamson Presidential Phenomenon. While the book chronicled Marianne's first presidential campaign, and offered commentary and critique on the strengths and missteps of those efforts, it is relevant now as well as she enters the US presidential race again.
Layman and Michael explore these questions in the larger context of a consideration of the difference between a politics of love and a politics of fear.Dr. Fisher, Ph.D., is an independent scholar, artist, educator and fearologist and is founder and director of In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, The Fearology Center, and hosts the Fearlessness Movement ning as a social platform for building community and sharing resources on the impacts, individual and collective, of the culture of fear. He holds degrees in Ecological Sciences, Environmental Biology, Educational Psychology, Education (Secondary Science) and a M.A. in Adult Education and Ph.D. in Curriculum Design & Instruction (The University of British Columbia). He has specialized in futures, philosophy of education, leadership and organizational development and has long been on a healing and recovery quest, engaging in careers of artistry, research consulting, teaching and rehabilitation for youth and their families. The Marianne Williamson Presidential Phenomenonhttps://www.amazon.com/Marianne-Williamson-Presidential-Phenomenon-Evolution/dp/143317930X/
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For the 39th episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman cozies up in a yurt with Simon Cox to talk about his recent book, The Subtle Body: A Genealogy.
Simon tells Layman about his history studying martial arts, including six years under a kung fu master on Wudang Mountain in China, and the path that led him to a deep, graduate-level comparative exploration of conceptions of the subtle body in Taoist and Tibetan Buddhist / Bon traditions. What are the similarities and differences between Eastern models of the subtle body and those we have inherited from the Neo-Platonists? How have these models been conflated in past scholarship? What did Crowley bring to the subject? What are the practical and onto-epistemological implications of a deep understanding of subtle body tradition and practice? What are some promising paths of future research? What does this tradition have to contribute to the rising interest in neo-animism in our time, or even the strange stories about interdimensional beings now circulating in the halls of Congress following the recent UAP hearings? Join Layman and Simon as they explore these questions and many more.Simon Cox, Ph.D., is an independent scholar and translator who works primarily in Chinese, Tibetan, and Greek. His research focuses on mysticism and the body. He is also a teacher of Chinese Martial Arts at the Okanagan Valley Wudang center, and a collaborator at the Esalen Institute.The Subtle Bodyhttps://www.amazon.com/Subtle-Body-Ge...Okanagan Valley Wudanghttps://www.okanaganvalleywudang.com/Follow The Integral Stage on Fathom! https://hello.fathom.fm/Remember to like, subscribe, and support The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the LIMITED HANGOUT guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
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For the eleventh episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with healer, artist, and AI entrepreneur and consultant, Cris Beasley, to talk about the interface of art and AI; the narcissistic dynamics that drive much of our modern structures, and bringing healing to those dynamics; "Letting the piranha eat us"; the difference between artificial intelligence and augmented intelligence; the potential for AI to take over the "synthesizing intelligence" and function of our leading-edge thinkers, and what then is left for humans still to develop and do; and much more.Cris founded a sustainable AI company nine years ago – well before it was the latest thing on the block. It was featured in a cover story of The Atlantic. She stopped Sequoia Capital from trying to build an AI that was obviously never going to work. It was obvious if you bothered to do the back-of-the-envelope math, which Amazon did not do. They attempted the same thing, failed, and wasted a few million bucks. They should've had someone like Cris on their team. Before that, she led the redesign of Firefox support, which resulted in an extra 7MM users per year finding the answer to their questions immediately. Cris was selected to be in the first cohort of ambassadors to the Interledger Foundation. Their $15k grant supported her project about Jungian emotional polarities, Becoming Dragon, which was covered in Forbes. She advises Earthcodes.org on strategy for their regenerative data cycles project, AI for Gaia, in partnership with the Biomimicry Institute. In her copious spare time, she convinces two mischievous black cats to come when they're called, paints with watercolors, makes AI-generated short films, and plays electronic music that takes you into meditative theta brainwave states.Cris Beasley portfoliohttps://www.crisbeasley.com/portfolioBecoming Dragon Oracle Cardshttp://www.crisbeasley.com/
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The question of the promise and peril of AI is a proper one for our long-running Love the System series, but we thought it deserved its own spot as a sub-series due to the rapid development and proliferation of Large Language Models and other ground-breaking AI technologies over the past six months. It may be too early to tell yet, but with the clear power of this emergent technology, its potential to take over many of the tasks we used to regard as exclusively human, and its rapid public uptake, it feels like we are on the cusp of an epochal change. How are we to secure the psychological and spiritual health of human beings in the face of such developments? How do we ethically and wisely merge living and non-living intelligences? What wisdom from this corner of the internet -- from our respective integral, metamodern, and spiritual communities -- can help us navigate the monumental challenges and opportunities ahead?For the tenth episode of The Soul of AI, Layman meets with musician and systems change thinker and advocate, Speaker John Ash, to discuss the limitations and misperceptions common to popular discourse about AI; the morally questionable, implicit goals behind the development of artificially intelligent agents; AI and art; possibilities for better and more transparently linking AI output to its sources in training data; revolutions in voting and governance systems that AI may facilitate, and much more.
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To shake things up a little on The Integral Stage, we are dropping down a few chakras to explore all the ins and outs of awakened sexuality, conscious relationship, and sensuously embodied spiritual practice.For episode 22, Layman is joined by Catherine Auman and Greg Lawrence of The Transpersonal Center in LA, to talk about the tantric arts, transpersonal dimensions of development, sexuality as a doorway to mystical or psychedelic experience, psychic integration before and after extended lovemaking, the science of creating a soulmate, the importance of friendship for intimate tantric sexuality, life as lovemaking, and much more.Professional website:https://www.thetranspersonalcenter.com/Explore The Integral Stage on the Fathom apphttps://hello.fathom.fm/Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
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Several years after the original Integral UFOlogy series was published, the Integral UFOlogy panel reconvenes to discuss the latest UAP news and disclosures, and the latest developments in their own research and experiences in these areas.Panelists: Sean Esbjorn-Hargens, Stuart Davis, Chris Dierkes, Giorgio Piacenza, Layman Pascal, and Bruce Alderman. Original Panel Discussion: • Integral Ufology Panel Discussion RESOURCES and REFERENCESSean Esbjorn-Hargens' Exo-Studies Master Course: https://www.exostudies.org/Stuart Davis' mediaMan Meets Mantis: • MAN MEETS MANTIS Stuart's episode on Weird Studies podcast:https://www.weirdstudies.com/37The IS Language: • Creating The IS Language The Art of Is: • THE ART OF IS Aliens and Artists: https://www.aliensandartists.com/Explore The Integral Stage on the Fathom apphttps://hello.fathom.fm/Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!CreditsIntro and Outro Music: Remix of Sparkspitter's "Pretty Wave"
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For episode 23, Layman is joined by Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers, a sex educator and psychotherapist, to explore questions around gender and sexual development; the impact of shame on sexual development, and the relationship of shame and guilt; the problems in recent and contemporary sex education in the United States; the possibilities for a hedonic education; deeper forms of sexual identity and development available through tantra and entheogens; and much more.Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers is a nationally known speaker, educator, and writer on sexual health and the biopsychosocial-sexual impact of sexual shame and trauma.
She is professor emerita of sexuality and marriage & family therapy at Seattle Pacific University. As a past board member for The American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT), Tina is at the forefront shaping change in the lives of professionals and families. As a preeminent voice on the impact of abstinence education, purity culture, and the failure to provide comprehensive sex education Dr. Sellers is frequently featured on podcasts, TV, documentaries, articles, and radio, including Spirituality & Health magazine, and NPR’s All Things Considered. In her acclaimed 2017 book, Sex, God and the Conservative Church – Erasing Shame from Sexual Intimacy, Dr. Sellers reveals how the western conservative church in collusion with American consumer-driven culture and politics, has infiltrated our core ability to attach to our partners and instruct our children to attach to theirs. Professional Websitehttps://www.tinaschermersellers.com/Shameless Parentinghttps://www.amazon.com/Shameless-Pare...Explore The Integral Stage on the Fathom apphttps://hello.fathom.fm/Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
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For the 37th episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman meets again prolific metamodern author and friend of the channel, Brendan Graham Dempsey, to talk about his latest book, "Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics." In this much needed work, Brendan surveys the variety of "metamodernisms" that have emerged in recent years and, using some integrative distinctions, argues for their deep kinship and complementarity.Brendan Graham Dempsey is a writer whose work focuses on the meaning crisis and the nature of spirituality in metamodernity. He earned his BA in Religious Studies from the University of Vermont and his MA in Religion and the Arts from Yale University. He lives in Wolcott, Vermont.Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logicshttps://www.amazon.com/Metamodernism-...Follow The Integral Stage on the Fathom apphttps://hello.fathom.fm/Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
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Layman Pascal and Bruce Alderman meet with Terri O'Fallon to discuss her recent course exploring the intersections of Mahamudra practice and the STAGES model; the relationship of states and stages, and the role of states in higher psychospiritual development; the linguistic dimensions of development, and developmental assessment; nonduality and the embodied dimensions of language; prepositions and other grammatical forms at the subtle and metaware tiers; AI, grammar, and higher development; and much more.Terri O'Fallon is a researcher, teacher, coach, spiritual director, and designer of transformative containers. She does ongoing research on the Integral STAGES developmental model, which supports a MetAware tier with four later levels of development. Her latest research probes into the relationship between states and stages. Terri is a founder of STAGES International, offering programs based on the STAGES model. She holds Masters degrees in Special Education and Spiritual Direction, and an Integral Ph.D. in Transformative Learning and Change. The Royal Seal: An Introduction to Mahamudra and STAGES coursehttps://www.stagesinternational.com/M...Stages International websitehttps://www.stagesinternational.com/Follow The Integral Stage on the Fathom apphttps://hello.fathom.fm/Support The Integral Stage on Patreon! / theintegralstage Special thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
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In Postnormal Worldviews, Layman is joined by eco-village explorer and Fourth Way practitioner, Markus Feenstra, to inquire into the question of normalcy, how it gets socially established, and what processes, practices, and sensitivities allow for the establishment of new normals; the problem of mismatches between the 'normal' and what we might sense intuitively as what is deeply right; the shamanoid role of the edge-dwellers; the Gurdjieffian possibility for a third position between the exoteric and the esoteric, the mesoteric, and how mesoteric individuals contribute to the evolution of culture; and much more.Markus Feenstra is a resident of the Earthsong Eco-neighborhood in Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the co-developer of a fractal theory of change and underpinning worldview that assists people committed to enhancing the wellbeing of all beings to renormalize themselves, so they may better embody their gifts for the world in their natural ways of being.
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Layman sits down with Aviv Shahar, host of the Portals of Perception, to explore his attempt at charting a grounded esoteric path that grows beyond our integrative metamodels.
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For the 36th episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman beams Andrew M. Davis up to his orbital studio to talk about his recently published book, Metaphysics of Exo-Life. In this wide-ranging discussion, they talk about the renewed interest in and relevance of the field of cosmo-theology, as scientists are detecting possible indicators of life on remote planets and the government is apparently taking the topic of UAPs more seriously; the implications of extra-terrestrial life for human religions and soteriological models; the nature of God in an evolving universe, and whether humans and alien species could ever arrive at similar theological or moral understandings; the relevance of A.N. Whitehead’s process theology for these questions; the strengths and limitations of Steven J. Dick’s naturalistic cosmo-theology, and what Whitehead has to offer in response; and much more.Andrew M. Davis is a process philosopher, theologian, and scholar of cosmological wonder. He is program director for the Center for Process Studies where he researches, writes, and organizes conferences on various aspects of process-relational thought. An advocate of metaphysics and meaning, he approaches philosophy as the endeavor to systematically think through what reality must be like because we are a part of it. He holds B.A. in Philosophy and Theology, an M.A. in Interreligious Studies, and a Ph.D. in Religion and Process Philosophy from Claremont School of Theology. Metaphysics of Exo-Lifehttps://www.amazon.com/Metaphysics-Ex...Fathom apphttps://hello.fathom.fm/Support The Integral Stage on Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstageSpecial thanks and big love to Shai Newman, the Limited Hangout guys, Brandon LaChance, Mike McElroy, Brandon Norgaard, Brendan Graham Dempsey, Francesca, and all of our other Patreon supporters!
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