Reality is Strange

The fact (or appearance) of the universe is really strange if you think about it. Have you ever thought about existence and why there is something and not nothing? Science says that first there was nothing, then there was the big bang, and here we are...doesn't that strike you as, well, interesting?

Our regular everyday lives work out just fine. We work, play, eat, live, die. Everything is normal. That is life. However, the minute we step outside of the ordinary and look at really big things, or really small things, uh-oh. Poof, things get really weird. Problems arise.

The universe is expanding. Where is it expanding to? What's outside of the universe, and what's outside of that? If that isn't enough, things are even more problematical in the sub-atomic level. Particles don't appear like they do in our "real" world. They exist as probability waves. You can't pin them down. Read a good book on quantum physics and you will want to become a mystic like many of the early discovers' of the field.

But why bother? Most of us have enough problems just living. We have to act as if the universe made sense. To survive we let ourselves be shaped by what psychologist Charles Tart calls "consensus consciousness." Reality, which if we really thought about it, is too strange for us. So, our consciousness gets formed by our culture and we live our lives...but at a great expense. We miss out on the mystery of this incredibly strange and interesting universe. We live our lives playing with illusions. Holistic perspective gets at the heart of the illusion, stepping back to see what is really there...strange or not.

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. " Albert Einstein

In future blogs I hope to open the door to seeing reality from a holistic perspective.

Perspective on Holistic Perspectives

Perspective is a two-way process. We are changed by what we see, and what we see is determined by what we are. What I see changes how I feel and what emotions I have. It also changes the way I treat people and, in return, how I am treated. What I see determines my life!

Holistic perspective is all about seeing: not so much about what is out there, but what is happening inside our heads. Acquiring a holistic perspective involves first becoming personally aware that perspective is subjective, an opinion, if you will.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not is seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

Dancing...An Integral Transformative Practice

Living an integral holistic life is fostered by doing what some call ITP, Integral TransformativePractice. Ken Wilber says that it is the exercise of body, mind, and spirit in self, nature, and culture. That is the simple definition and it works for me. Last night I took my first Tango lesson and it felt like ITP in it's best sense of the word.

Dance may be the very best of transformative practices. First, you are certainly exercising your body. Following the instructor's direction requires total concentration of the mind. And when we flow to the music and our partner we are definitely having a spiritual experience...especially when doing the Tango. (God it's sexy.)

My dance career began in high school doing the bouncing up and down in place to rock and roll, that is, when I got up the courage to ask a girl to dance. Some years ago I learned how to Cajun and Zydeco dance at a Roots type music festival. That totally broadened my social life. I went on to take Country and Western line dancing (and drink beer). In the last few years Swing, Lindy Hop, Salsa, and now Tango, have enriched my life--physically, mentally, and spiritually. I gotta tell you, if you are not dancing you are missing out of one of the best holistic integral experiences around!

Let's see...that was quick, quick, slow, quick, quick, slow...

The Mind Body Connection

My friend Mike and I were having dinner last night and he told me what happened when his doctor informed him that the batteries in his pace-maker were running low. All at once he began to feel his heart beating harder. He made an appointment to see a specialist in Boston and for the next few days he lived in a stressful situation, still feeling his heart beating abnormally.

When he was examined by the new doctor he was told that there was nothing going on with his heart and that the reason he was feeling the new sensations was that he was more sensitive to what his pace-maker was doing. Mike said that immediately the sensations stopped and never came back.

Sometimes we forget the power of our minds. There is a lesson in A Course in Miracles that says all physical illness comes from a belief that the body can create, that sickness is a belief in magic. Studies show that a very high percentage of people who visit their doctors are suffering from symptoms that originate in the mind. I'm not saying that all illness is an illusion, but who knows? I think that is one area worth more exploration in our quest for a holistic integral perspective.

Several years ago I drank several glasses of diet coke with dinner and my heart began to race. I had also eaten quite a bit of food. I thought I was having a heart attack. Not wanting to go to the hospital I began to meditate to relax myself and my heart calmed down. But now, whenever I have too much soda or food, the feeling comes back. I say to myself that it's just my mind and guess what...the feeling goes away. Gotta love that mind body connection.

Holistic Beginnings

I could not believe the peace and love that radiated from the face of my Freshman English professor. His name was Hobart Mitchell. I was 18 years old. Up until that time my passion in life was baseball and soccer. The only reason I was in Junior College was a soccer scholarship. My interior life consisted of batting averages, baseballs, and the Boston Red Sox. In that one face my life turned a corner.

Mr. Mitchell offered to teach meditation to any student interested. A small handful of us met on Thursday nights in his office. It was there that my quest for the meaning of life began. The following year I transferred to the University of Rhode Island and continued my search, majoring in Philosophy. Unfortunately I graduated not much farther along the road. That, however, did not put an end to my need to find answers to my questions of what life is really all about.

Entering the job market, getting married, and having children, took my mind off the quest, but by the time I hit 40 the problem was staring me right in the face again. Money and all the pleasures of life did not leave me satisfied. I knew that all of this was just a way of minimizing the pain of not knowing what the hell I was on this planet for.

And then things started happening again. My now ex-wife gave me Marianne Williamson's book A Return to Love. That introduced me to A Course in Miracles. For the first time since meeting Hobart Mitchell I was back on a path that was leading me to where I wanted to go.

I spent 8 years meditating on the course and at the end of that time was led to enroll in the Holistic Counseling program at Salve Regina University. I had no interest in becoming a therapist, but felt in my heart this was what I was supposed to do. It was in the first semester that I was introduced to the works of Ken Wilber. Dr. Jack Childs taught a class on holistic perspectives and his assigned reading included A Brief History of Everything by Wilber. Something clicked and I knew I would find more answers, so I read all 20 of Wilber's books...three times! (over the course of 4 years)

The program at Salve taught me about holistic and Wilber taught me about integral. Together many of my life-long questions began to be answered. Of course, now I have new ones. However, the result is that my life is meaningful now. I feel full of peace and a sense that my life has a purpose. And probably most of all I feel satisfied, knowing I am where I am supposed to be. It is my hope that in sharing my experiences and learning of holistic and integral others may find some of that also.

Integral Imus

The whole debate over Imus can be viewed from an integral perspective. One way of doing that is using the four quadrant map of reality (the view from the interior and exterior of an individual and a group. Here's how it looks to me:

From the interior of the individual, Imus' perspective, he said some despicable things. And he has appologized profusely. I'm satisfied that he is sorry.

From the exterior of an individual, his critics perspective, they are calling for his head...which they got. What I don't understand is how "THE REVERAND" Al Sharpton can be so unforgiving. Sharpton and others would earn a lot more respect from me if they acted more like the Christians they profess to be. Instead they look like men grateful for one more reason to be interviewed on CNN.

From the perspective of the interior of the group we all have to make up our own minds how we feel about this and act accordingly--which would be to turn Imus off or not. We as a society will be judged by our making it worth while for a man like Imus to be on the radio. We make our values known by our actions.

Lastly, from the perspective of the exterior on a group there are the advertisers who make their decisions based on financial considerations. They are not interested in the right or wrong of the situation but how they will be affected financially in the long run.

This holistic perspective on the Don Imus incident makes me wonder...was he just a victum of a slow news week? There are people dying in Iraq and we are talking about Don Imus all week. Thank God Anna Nicole Smith is off the front page.

It's all about perspective

Richard Bach wrote Illusions back in the 1980's. The book calls into question what it is that we are really seeing when we look out into our worlds. Maybe much of what we take for granted is just an illusion, albeit a convincing one. Reading that book was like walking out of a dark cave and while my eyesight wasn't clear, it wasn't totally darkened anymore either. Since then I've tried to stay out of the cave and improve my vision. While blindness can be from within, I've found that most of my difficulties haven't originated from my genes but from my perspective.

If there is one truth that I've learned in my life, it is that what I see is determined more by who I am than by what is out there in the physical world. This blog is dedicated to finding ways to improve perspective, make it more holistic, more integral, more comprehensive, and more balanced. And as expected, it all starts within. My intention here is to share what I have learned and continue to learn about all things holistic and integral.

After years of searching, getting more education than I ever imagined possible for someone who barely graduated from high school, I been putting my lessons on paper. It's time to share them with whomever finds their way here. I hope that I can call into question what most of us think of as reality, in the long tradition of philosophers and fools, and make a little contribution to the betterment of our existence on this planet.

In the coming weeks I will post sections and chapters of a book I have written on the subject, Holistic Perspectives: An Introduction to Integral Thinking. It should be published before the end of the year, but you can read it here for free.

Meanwhile, I will leave you with this thought from Baruch Spinoza which probably summarizes everything that will ever be written here: "The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is."