Thee has been a lot of recent discussion on the subject of rationality, and pre and post rationality, i think one of the most important topics of the present.

Because i narcissistically like to keep track of my developement, which has been greatly pushed forward by the interaction that goes on the this zaadz we-space, im gonna collate my recent posts on here, so i can make sense of what ive said.

Starting at Joe's post:

Just as i in initially skim through this i am finding many resonances with what i perceive to be the chore of the Anthroposophy i grew up surrounded by. Indigo Consciousness Perhaps the greatest distinguishing characteristic between the turquoise and indigo levels of consciousness is the ability to hold the integrated self's identity, even the structures of our own shadows and conscious awareness, as an object to the witness. This is exactly what Steiner is getting at in this book. Indigo is less concerned than turquoise with developing comprehensive worldviews or integrating partial conceptions of reality into flexible and flowing holistic syntheses. Indigo “takes for granted” that the psyche, culture, nation, and world are inseparable at the root. Its growing awareness of connectedness and unity is without effort; it is simply becoming more attuned to the sights, sounds, and dynamics of one's own psyche. This (and i am not implying that i am at Indigo, but perhaps have an Indigo framework as architecture to my practice in some of the ideas and people that surround me) resonates very deeply with what i am discovering is my practice. And this adds one of the missing pieces in the Anthroposophy of the 1920's: Dramatic shadow work is a particular exciting way to practice mindful awareness, attune to the psychodnymaics of a moment, the complex interactions between participants and observers in a shadow work healing process. Guiding him step-by-step through the process of becoming an impartial observer or witness of his own inner dramas of the mind. That turns me on; that helps me to feel that I am on the cutting edge of my awareness in the indigo faculties. Writing is also of special beneift, particularly when I allow myself the indulgence of writing in a stream of consciousness mode. Whole Wrting is a technique I often use to hear, feel, relate to, envision, symbolize, and tell stories about the working of my inner life. The truth is it's not a very turquoise practice. Its very chaotic and unstructured fashion deconstruct the analytic rigoeour and rationalistic precision demanded by turquoise systematizing. It is more of an indigo-responsive practice: it permits unfettered awareness of the egoic mind in its most expansive and embodied position of knowledge. From there, the AQAL tools of analysis are not really necessary after the fact, except as an impression or style or decoration. That fascinates me - i will definitely explore… Thank you so much for that post! It sends waves of crystalising affirmation to the jewels that ive been fortunate to gain glimpses of by grace in the 26 years of my full and varied life ive been gifted with. There was then a lot of discussion, a lot of which i missed as it unfolded around the pre-trans fallacy.

This topic of rationality has been on my mind a lot recently, and indeed ever since i became conscious of life and approaches.

Recently its been in relation to what is rational in: my job, my own cycles and spirals of developement, and in theoretical and experiential sharing and exploration.

In my job; what is more rational? Taking what society and psychology has to say about our students, and acting on those truths, if they are perceived as such, or acting on the rationality of starting with where they're at as a basis for approach, and using feedback gleaned through acute observation and heart connection to find the best ways to guide problematic storms.
The first is more logical and rational, if we rely on accumulated data and 'expertease', but the results are devastatingly useless, as all it does is re-inforce the hatred the students have of rules and authority. The second means i (and others who take this approach) have to admit to having much less of a 'plan' and have to rely on heart/higher guidance in the unpredictability of the moment.
Its logical to say the second is much more open to fallability (if thats a word) and more 'dangerous' (you have to let go of control, but only in a certain sense), and the first, being based on 'sound logic', more likely to succeed, or at least be safe. (im not saying these elements should be discarded, but am stating these can be the exclusive elements of a common approach).

In my own life, its been a constant question, am i totally off the wall and stupid? - ive quit college twice, only got 7 gcse's to my name, have a fairly careless attitude to (personal) finance, though this is changing, if done many things that have been a bit crazy…

But i also have a strong sense of what is right for me, and all of the situations ive put myself in, however dodgy, have taught me loads, but not just that, have taught me loads in a way that totally logically fits my developement, because its logical to listen to higher guidance, if your own logic permits 'higher guidance' to be reality. If not it sounds like fluffy balloney.

In philosophical and theoretical explorations its a bit harder to pin down, simply because i am quite new to the level that most people here engage with with theory, but ill do me best.

first off, i dont quite see the hoo-haa that centres on attacking the non-rational as justified, from a second-tier perspective - we've been given the tools to disseminate and remind us of the dangers on pre-rational thinking and acting, and to move boldy into post-rationality by both listening to inner logic and testing it out with our philosophising peers, and by the allways truthful reflection from life and people.

Logic, when carried too literally, i think becomes illogical. Its logic to say we have heart thinking, logical thinking, meditative experience etc, so why is it logical to hang on to  just logic.

When i experience truth and authenticity, it feels 'right' to follow and find out more. The sense of it being 'right' is a kind of logic - life proves that by  results and effects, but it integrates more than what is purely 'rational' in thinking.

Julian:
how do you make sense of a developmental process where more acurate, precise and nuanced gets reeplaced by more fuzzy and vague as it progresses? makes no sense really and as teacup says it is a biased overvaluing of something “feminine” as representing spirit.

Firstly what exactly is being reffered to here - who is doing the replacing? and indeed, why does it have to be replaced - as Grey says 'rational+'

Once we are comfortable and trust our rational tools - and again people are such good refelction of our authenticity, its not logical to cling to them, but to use them as tools to help in the journey further towards the one taste, which certainly cant be confined to purely rational..

If spirit is to be truly represented in our dual world, then the masculine logical sharpness has to be balanced with the feminine, which doesnt need logic to express truth, or rather, feminine truth is logical, only the allegance is primarily to feeling and experience, and the rhythms and patterns of life, rather than abstract thinking, and so apperas as illogical to abstract rationality. You only have to read Janes post as a prime example of this, hitting truth in a way that set many a heart in song and rang true even as a re-awakiening and call to action. Ken Wilber's work has done the same for all of us here, from a more masculine and logical perspective, and we all know the value of that, but he also truly values and gives room to the feminine and the non-rational (and im not equating the two, but they link up quite a bit).
Again back to my personal experience, for anyone who is set as friend, ive just posted on my blog what my mum wrote as a christmas present for me last year - an example of feminine non-rationality really hitting the mark.

Steiner says a lot about the use of logic - thinking and logic s the basis for the whole spiritual path he maps out, and he constantly re-iterates the importance of never losing this faculty to dreaminess.

I think dreaminess is perhaps a good way to get at what im trying to say. If either logic and rules, or fantastical and associative thinking, are followed in a dreamy state, the results are going to be bad, but once clarity and logic are trained and accomplished faculties, exploring non-rational ways becomes not only safely possible, but essential to further growth.

Finally, the phenomena of knowing something, as opposed to not knowing it, where in the latter it appears as illogical but is in fact not, could be a good message to extrapolate onto the second/third tier and post-rationality debate.
I.E., a person who hasnt experienced modern technology would perceive being able to talk on a mobile phone in the hills as magic, but to those educated to what it is and how it works, its no mystery,
or,
if one finds oneself in a situation where it is apparent that another person is blind to something and is causing damage because of this lack of insight, we can act in a way that both counteracts or balances such action, and doesnt hurt the feelings unnecessarily or attack the ego of the person, and often our acting will be quite discreet and sublte, yet hopefully effective (again, its almost logical to put in that if that is the case, we are acting from some 'higher guidance' that prevents our ego/shadow from taking over).
So the said person is unaware that others are aware of their shadow-casting, obviously, and if/when they realise both their short-coming and the actions of the other who could see further, what was once either unknown, or irrational and threatening, becomes wonderfully logical and liberating (ive been on the receiving end of this many times, and recently have had the chance to return the favour to the universe).

What im trying to get at, as clearly as im currently capable of, is the logic of irrationality, or more specifically post-rationality, while remembering/reminding the post-rationality is still not easy for the rational to accept.

So if Joe's post was interpreted in a dreamy, eager to attach and associative level of awareness, it would be utilised in full boomer new age mean green shortsightedness.
But thats not where i see it as being written from, nor where the mebers of this pod are largely at, and to me, a lot of it makes sense.

Whew, im sure i'll be capable of condensing my views in the near future, but that long ramble is the best i can do for now.

Julian, you continue to both perplex, soemtimes irritate and recently, positively surprise me, but it does appear thatt amongst your many good points you sometimes cling to rationality as if it is a religion.

Cheers everyone for all the contributions - this blogopalooza has been quite something, and this pod literally feeds me!

This is becoming a meaty debate indeed. Good stuff all round.

This seems quite to the point for me - how can experience not have been mother to these intuitions? I would love you to explain this one…
Julian: au contraire gitanjali i have had many such intuitions. experience  has not born any of them out though - and i have let them go.

Michael: I am somewhat surprised to find myself in almost complete agreement with this providing the possibility that one or more “individuals” may actually be zeroing in on not so much a “vision” of God or Godness, as a perspective on the “field of play” wherein the vein of pure Godness might reside.  Such a notion, by definition, cannot be reduced to mere words or a “concept” as has been said over and over again, but one still strives to speak from experiences with the “fuzz.”  It's as if atoms of gold can be found everywhere, that “goldness” pervades the Universe, and too, there are those veins where it lives big and fat, deep and undiscovered.
This, too, carefully approximates my relationship with “Godness.”  It's the “sense” of it as you say, that swells within particular circumstances, ” when something in us reaches toward truth or goodness without ulterior motive or care for consequence.”  Beautiful! Fondness, affection, and love arise at such times as these.  Where do these feelings come from? And why are they so strong?  So strong as to have a guiding effect on our lives?  When it is really on us, these feelings I mean, the context, or life situation out of which such emotions arise take on a particular splendor.  Selfless curiosity and honesty invite reason to play and though there may be, and usually is, some mystery in the air, reason acknowledges the significance of the emotion-out-of-circumstance response and we can then choose to dismiss the significance, or file it away as a wonderment from which insight might later be gleaned.

Well thats another, more succintct way of getting at what i was trying to get at, especially the bold text. (my bold).

Balder i appreciate what you posted - thats the kind of material i dont currently have a lot of in my 'filing system' as yet, and i allways appreciate reading the words of people who have such clarity born of experience {how could it be born of anything else?}[!!!]


all the best and if this offends all i can do is bow to you
subtly provocative, true(or rather commendable/understandable), but also in the reciprocal.

Julian, i have yet to see you respond to anything ive written - i admit that i dont have a very theoretical language, and appear to perhaps embrace too much green for your liking, but i'm trying to meet your perspective with authentic grounding in mine, and with respect and honour for yours. Not a big deal, but interesting.

I for one am not suggesting you are not spiritual - ive had more than enough of people displaying that kind of attitude in my life, and have a strong resistance to people putting themselves on a pedastel, though its themselves they endanger by balancing so precariously on instable ego/shadow legs.

I see it more as response to some tendancies you have to cut into any suggestion of value in non-rationality, and due to your 'tone of voice' it encourages a lot of response. Thats a good thing.

you are of course free to disagree, but i find it more fun (and productive) if you do so in terms of ideas themselves, rather than allowing this to devolve into the suggestion that you are spiritual and i am not  - ya know?

I wont beat about the bush though - i do agree that uber-rationality appears more teal than turquoise, but to equate that to yolur spirituality would be presumptuous and limiting to say the least, but thats the first time ive seen someone mention being more or less spiritual, and it oftens feels like it's you who makes this suggestion.

I have to put in this bit from Ewan - it very succinctly gets to the point:

Re: IIZaadz Blogopalooza!

Ewan said Yesterday, 11:42 AM:

Hey everyone

Have been somewhat busy over my bank holiday weekend, and have only just read through this *mamouth* discussion (since joes post), this morning.  Awesome stuff!  And a really important topic: rationality.  Its something I spoke about in my blog. From reading everything in one go, I get the distinct impression that we're all discussing it, without always teasing out what we all mean by it - and thus getting a bit messy about specifics sometimes…Kosmic address dudes!

Now having said all that, its not an easy concept to sum up; however, I really like Nathanial Branden's definition for reason/rationality:

Reason is the process of grasping relationships; the non-contradictory integration of experience.

I think thats beautiful, and is exactly what AQAL and Ken's work is all about.  The definition dosn't determine what kind of experience you have (so not just empirical, sensory experience), or how you arrive at it, but rather, its the process of rationally processeing and structuring your understanding of the experience.

Its like Ken's 3 step definition of science:


1) an injunction, if you wnat to find out x, do y.  Eg. if you want to know how many cells an onion skin has, look under a microscope; if you want to know what an orgasm is, jack off and have an orgasm.

2) data - from the injuction (step one) you will get a set of data (experience).

3) check out the data you got from the injunction with other peers who have also done steps 1 and 2 for the same thing - verify it.


These 3 steps are what we're doing all the time with any experience we have.

Rationality or reason can be both an injunction (step 1,) and a method of verification (step 3).  Here's the clever bit though, reason can be used to verify, or reconstruct *any* type of experience.  Thus we have AQAL - Ken has given us a rational reconstruction of mystisim, non-dual awareness etc etc.

That does not mean though (and Ken's explicit about this) that you can use rationality as the injuction (the pratice) to access trans-rational states or experience.

So for me, rationality is an absolutely crucial method of helping to 'make sense' of any type of experience I have, in any state, in any quadrant.  It helps to stop things getting stuck in confusions like the pre-trans fallacy, and will show up contradictions distorted by shadow etc.  Like Ken says about his own process, he goes nuts until he can create a rational model to explain the relationships between something, but *not* by bending until it fits, actuallt finding a model that explains it as it is already.  Thats not reduction in *any* sense, its not altering or reducing the experience or data, its giving a rational 'framing' for it.


Ewan

Hi all, well i for one have been enjoying both the explorations starting from Joe's post and the divergent pre-post rational discussion coming from Julian and other's questioning. I think if carried through with patience and willingness to bridge 'opposites' these two streams of enquiry could fuse into something more than the sum of the two, and i do think the rational questioning is important, despite the tone of its expression - the latest chunk of this blogopalooza i think opens a wider window with which to go back and re-explore the previous posts of the palooza…

I just want to quote a bit from Integral Psychology on cognitive devlopement, as he sums it up very well (as usual)…

I'll jump to subtle cognition - gross having moved from pre op to con op and form op (formal operational thinking) and like most lines, its moved from pre-rational through rational to post-rational, but not so easily beyond into post-formal and post-conventional, as the sensorimotor world, though not abandoned, ceases to be the dominant object of awareness.

''The main characteristics of subtle cognition is that it takes as its object the world of thought. (just to add, this is where Steiner focuses a lot of his work), or the mental and subtle realms altogether. This developemental line also begins in infancy (and probably in pre-natal states; it is said to be the main cognitive mode in most of the bardos, as well as sleep with dreams and meditative states of savikalpa samadhi).
This subtle line of cognition involves precisely all those perceptions whose study has been down played by western cognitive psycholgists: first and foremost, states of imagination, reverie, daydreams, creative visions, hypnogogic states, etheric states, visionary revelations, hypnotic states, transcendental illuminations, and dozens of types of savikalpa samadhi (or meditation wth form). What they all have in common, even in infancy and childhood, is that they take as their referents, not the material world of sensorimtor occasions, but the interior world of images, thoughts, visions, dreams…

We would generally expect the subtle-cognitive stream to have available to it the same basic waves as most other streams: prconventional, postconventional, and post-postconventional (or egocentric, sociocentric, worldcentric, and pneumocentric), but the point is that it is a developemental line reaching all the way back to infancy, and not simply jumping out at a higher, adult stage.
{there's a chart, whch has actually been posted above…}

{in the chart} I have shown subtle-cognition picking up importance at formal and beyond, but that is just arbitrary indication. In fact, I suspect that what we will find is that subtle cognition shows a U developement, beng more present in early childhood and then temporarily waning as conop and formop come to the fore, then picking up prominence again in the postformal stages, up to the causal. At the same time, we needn't get unduly romantic over these implications, because the subtle cognition present in childhood is largely preconventional, egocentric cognition, no matter how otherwise vivid and imaginative.[see chap.II]

The main characteristic for causal cognition is that it is the root of attention (and the capacity for witnessing). This line, too, can be traced to ealry childhood, though it comes increasingly to the fore in postformal stages. (for the important reason the the early infantile fusion states should not be confused with the higher enlightened states or Ground (see endnote). But this line, also, if recognised and honoured, could be strengthened from its first appearence in childhood forward, presumably with multiple benefits then and later.''

He raises important points, both of the value in honouring preconventional appearence of subtle and causal cognition, and the importance of recognising (re-cognising) the necessety for postconventional transformation of these lines, which necessarily requires a lengthy stop at the rationality station.

But its a framework which does suggest that we will need to examine phenomena such as: first and foremost, states of imagination, reverie, daydreams, creative visions, hypnogogic states, etheric states, visionary revelations, hypnotic states, transcendental illuminations, and dozens of types of savikalpa samadhi (or meditation with form).


He later states that none of these lines can be bypassed or not included, which would include both rationalaity and non-rationality, but that they 'lose their power to commandeer consciousness and claim it for their own'.'

Something i first heard in Steiner's work, and Ken re-iterates at the end of the chapter, is the need, the absolutely vital need to develope moral stage 2,3,4 and 5 in order to begin to actualise these experiences. ''In fact failiure […] to follow frontal line developement, while merely encouraging altered states, can contribute to […] failiure to permanently integrate the higher and lower domains into a full-spectrum realisation.'' This is what i see Julian re-emphasising, and that is definitely a good thing, but lets also start from a place where we basically know that we're all aware of this, so we can bring in rationality in at a higher 'vibration', without the need for going over ground which i think we've probably all covered.

I dont think this thread has to die, and i dont think Julan should duck out now, just like in the symposium {:-)

Hats off to you all!

Melv

What a night... i sit here 5am listening to tumi - but i still got it worse got it worse got it worse... how many meanings that could hold for tonight. the bass rippin up our constraints, skanking into the heart of the night.
end of term boogy-therapy, such good friends, irie irie vibes. small crowd message loud.
But why muct my heart repeatedly get torn up, in small ways an big - tonight kinda big. her smile and comfort next to me, a face who i could forever see. skanking in the same rhythmical holon - never before has such ease and confidence exuded from me, nor has such love-filled vibes so resounded my offerings. Of course, she have a man allready, me haf fe again gwan an rcock steady, on me own but still grateful for such sharing, grateful beyond expression - never have a felt aroused such passion, and the future is an open book. mellow mood has got me, all i could do was let the music rock me - my energy should have been low - twas soaring.
Dang
Dang
Dang

I was told by me dearest mum, that i was a nutter right from the start, peeing in her face when she changed me and soon turning on the taps with the plugs in, 'to see what happens''
I said in an aeroplane 'mummy have we shrunk yet?' and that i love her like a circle, without a beginning and without an end. I meant it.
I dont remember any of this - my first memories are throwing sticks in front of me dad's tractor to try and stop his passage with a partner in crime, and stomping with muddy boots in a lobby just cleaned by someone - needless to say i had to mop it again - ''mummy taught me well im a smile child, daddy brought me up im not a spoilt child'' (Sizzla).
I had a friend, Bandalinda, who i would blame all my mischief on - i still do {;-)
a child's awareness of the friendly shadow who mischiveously misguides and misleads...
My mum nearly called me Merlin, but out of pity for how it'd be at school, she chose Melvin - they both fit for me, but im Melv or Melvin...
At school the first thing i did was run up to the interviewer and kicked her shins...ooopz... I remember trying to bite a girls arm, catching her jumper and pulling a tooth out - good lesson mon.
I ripped off grannys selling them 'crystals' that were gravel wrapped in tissue, luring them with my 'innocent' brown eyes. Most of my fond memories are of times when i was having adventrue or being mischeveous...

How could i not embrace the rebel? I have no choice, and im happy for it.

Here's to the magician and the rebel, my dear dear friends...

Sizzla's music is one of my great inspirators, and its spreading to my students like a love-virus...

Where are you running to now
got to be responsible for what you do now
dont bite the hands that feed you
dont you turn away from those whe truly love and really need you

Damn, we see something great in you
the people put a lot of faith in you
You know, we wanna hear you sing
we been waiting - a new love coming straight to you

love and unity is all it took
why wont you open your eyes and look
we got what we want, we sing an we chant
dont be greedy, a bird in the aisle is worth more than two in the book.


Where are you running to now
got to be responsible for what you do now
dont bite the hands that feed you
dont you turn away from those whe truly love and really need you


Where are you running to now
got to be responsible for what you do now
dont bite the hands that feed you
dont you turn away from those whe truly love and really need you

hiding you hiding from youself
why you dont want us to see uprising up yoself,
you connving up yoself, cos that just how you felt
im feeling good im feeling great i love nah hate
you ungrateful, all along you take us foir grnted
you unfauthful ,disrespect the power that was handed
You hateful, hatred bring you bondage
make good with love dont you know its the strongest

my children why you lock the door on them
now you get so ignorant you wanna turn yo back on them
people who help you in life now you turn yo back on them,
hahaha yo im warning you yaya

Where are you running to now
got to be responsible for what you do now
dont bite the hands that feed you
dont you turn away from those whe truly love and really need you


Where are you running to now
got to be responsible for what you do now
dont bite the hands that feed you
dont you turn away from those whe truly love and really need you

Oh what is it about me
that heart bubbles an mind troubles
when radiant empress i see
did my guardian higher, from past inspired
change a twist in my helix
or did it happen, by chance mutation
so a gene stands strong in me
to long for dark smiling Africa
and an earth queen by being embrace

that allowed my frame once clumsy and shy
to glow and groove to primal rythms
actually quite gracefully

Drawn pulled divided and hung
my soul sings at the African invitation
that can light the souls of any nation.
Reggae beat gwan all over de world
from tiny Jamaica a statement big an bold.
African rhythmic melodies inspire even ears that did not know
soul full, so full, of heart
sunshine through your speakers
a smile to light in the dark.

A peice of my heart forever grows on your shores
waiting again for your essence to leak through my pores
(re) enlivened when Tanzania said hello all those years ago.
You educated, guarded, challenged and broke to make me
with the arrival of the beats of Lee Scratch perry
at a time when i was open to blue heart rules,
ready for balance to orange heartlessness
open to green mushy lovelyness
and even through the leap, when it all connected and first made sense
and now to remind me, enliven me and inspire me
warn me, try me, test me and open doors for me

Why it is, i dont know, what it is i am still discovering
who it is is still the future, when it is down to kosmic synchronisity
how it is - karma destiny and grace? i dont know but it sure puts a smile on my face!

What a night… i sit here 5am listening to tumi - but i still got it worse got it worse got it worse… how many meanings that could hold for tonight. the bass rippin up our constraints, skanking into the heart of the night.
end of term boogy-therapy, such good friends, irie irie vibes. small crowd message loud.
But why muct my heart repeatedly get torn up, in small ways an big - tonight kinda big. her smile and comfort next to me, a face who i could forever see. skanking in the same rhythmical holon - never before has such ease and confidence exuded from me, nor has such love-filled vibes so resounded my offerings. Of course, she have a man allready, me haf fe again gwan an rcock steady, on me own but still grateful for such sharing, grateful beyond expression - never have a felt aroused such passion, and the future is an open book. mellow mood has got me, all i could do was let the music rock me - my energy should have been low - twas soaring.

What a night
next day's rain on me window, touch and embrace still on my skin
a sweet soul who opened her heart and let me in
mutual appreciation and connection, convention on another planet
we had to admit we planned it...

empress have a hold on me, whys whats and hows no longer matter to see
its just how it is, beyond obsession beyond control, a key binding body mind and soul.

but transcending and including music art skin smiles and sun
its a place that makes me feel close to the one
a taste, a drop, linking past to now, my knowledge is currently below how
experiencing i know it just is, true to the core of my being.

like a bug it still persists, through times rational and pre and post
for some India Thailand and the Americas, for me its Africa Africa Africa

yet my own i truly embrace, nor do i feel shame for my place

I get these mails every week from www.the philosophyoffreedom.com and me love it...


"I do not ask any person or code, "Shall I perform this action?" -- but carry it out as soon as I have grasped the idea of it. This alone makes it my action. If a human being acts only because he accepts certain moral standards, his action is the outcome of the principles which compose his moral code. He merely carries out orders. He is a superior automaton." Rudolf Steiner

legalize it, and dont you critisize it

Like a book for those hearts that see it
Live die, breathe, look see into it
wake up let go allow love's flow through it
dont lie open up, accept let yourSelf be it
impose not structure over-analyze or judge it
humbly know, see structure embined in it
not left not right, yet both intertwined right through it
let in the dark, love's glow shines allways around it
shadow play shadow boxintegrate and utilise it
dont sensationalise yet secretly deny it
or blindly stumble right on past it
blast your ideal utopia and shatter it...
or let the lil' shmoke blind You to it
drifting by high right below it
or in ice castles looking down on it
never seeing your shadow eclipsing eyes to it

Nurture and humbly guard it
dont try and be commander of it
tend to feed and feel the power of it
allow humour's winds in to blow the dust off it
reflections in people's smiles to reveal the beauty of it
nature's flow to wash ink and paper off from it
higher's pen to write anew on it
freedom's fire to transform consciously towards it
reason's wire to cut green growth off from it
and heart's music to make a song of it
yes/no's mandorla make a picture of it
Grace's rainbow to guide you to it
spiral's lessons to freely and aware realise it.

only a humble peice o the servant souls i glimpse it
honoured i am to be a part of it
happines to me is laying allways a place for it
fashioning tools to better house and give food to it
giving to soul's what i most need from it
receiving what i never knew held me away from it

emerge up towards it
transcend and include all below it
dance to the rhythmical sound of it
grow in the atmosphere you create around it
weather the storms raging on the way to it
live free in God's will and remeber you are it.

Wow, I seem to be stopping off at some funkadelic and wonderful stations along the wya at the moment.
All the totally involved and evolving discussions going on here at zaadz, elsewhere on the shared 3rd person 1st person 2nd person space that is the web, and most of all along the long winding scenic rout of my day to day interactions and wanderings.

Some things are starting to rise up out the dust and show a little more of their true-er nature, and i am in wonder as i behold their simple and stunning intricate connectedness, and how my own higher nature sings out in recognition, and me, little me, watches on in grateful awe.

What do i mean? Well things like the power and accuracy of image and metaphor, how we can all draw pictures that whisper of the whole in spirit's tongue, drawn by the unique hands and tools that they wield, and so beautifully original, authentic and expressive, yet able to transmit of archetypal and macrocosmic universal wisdom in a way that is totally accessable.

I type this in Lisa's keyboard on another trip to ScousLand to spend time with turquoise-tinged buddies around the interactive back-garden telly of licking flames, loosened up by a lil dionesian medicine and perhaps some of jah erb, but overidingly connecting and opening in trust to our collective wish to explore expand and connect.

The level of trust i am only now glimpsing spans not only an awareness that i am able to see the good in most people i meet, even when they press many sore buttons of shadow (this i have to be grateful for in itself), but also a trust in the wisdom of life's unveiling, a trust that i am being shown what is relevant to me, here and now, reaching roots back into past's records and throwing seeds into future's soil, but most of all trying to catch as much sun and rain, and bees, as is available to me here.
Other issues of trust with myself need work - trust that i can, and will, put aside liquid and herbal remedies so i can fill their gifts in myself free from the need and cycle of addiction they come packaged with. Trust that my rebel will not become too tall and push away needed dialogue or get me in trouble unecessarily.

But this trust is also making itself known in the theoretical and philosophical areas of my existence, by showing how many things that seem very opposing to eachother - and this still appears very much in second tier existence, can actually be held lovingly and harmoniously in awareness, if the concept of dissolving to rebuild to dissolve to rebuild anew is incorporated, and trust in the heart and higher in me that, together with logic and reason (and AQAL) stand as able bodyguards at the ready to distinguish essential from non-essential, truth from fallacy, and gesture towards that which is the medicine of the moment.
On the one hand Integral and AQAL has been such a hugely monumental and powerful gift i have gratefully received, and on the other, i dissolve it again and again when i just am, not because i theoretically think this is best practice, but because best practice, which interaction allways encourages, demands it that way.

Its rather like seeing life as a winding journey through diverse, stunning, awe inspiring, grey, boring, rocky, warm wet, full of life, barren - in short a picture very like our world, and we have many choices as to how to proceed, and increasingly so as technology aids our progress and questions our integrity at every step.
We can jump on supersonic jets to get to where we want quickly, and sometimes that is blerry fantastic, but sometimes it is oh so enriching to walk, take in the scenery and allow one's self to wander, ambling and singing, engrossed by the beauty surrounding, or even get lost, and find the way again. Sometimes many hours in doors studying maps, practising proficiancy with tools, sleeping, hibernating, loving, is essential and invaluable.
But i never want to lose that slow-paced interaction with nature and people that only really shows itself if we ourselves slow down to take it in, on its own terms, but as we choose.
Sure, i totally love jumping on space ships, putting on virtual head sets, boogying to 100k sound rigs (with earplugs...) and exploring the urban jungle, also on its own terms, and love how humanity is evolving.

However much wisdom i glimpse and perceive, i know there is infintely more inside, accessable as i humble myself and transform the red armour of ego, and that thought keeps me steady and (i hope) prevents me from thinking of myself as above others. Vertical developement to me is not people being simply more evolved than others, though to some extent this is the case, but its more about how much of the divine they allow to shine through them, and it goes without the need for saying, that everyone has this same divine radiance within them, so while i can be grateful, and importantly bear the responsibility of greater insight with humility and goodwill, and a certain amount of joy at seeing the fruits of labour, it is this thought that also allows me to trust that i can stay sober as i witness the wisdom unfold, and coupled with that the knowledge that there are allways those more open who can help me further raise the centre of gravity of my 'ego-self' until it reaches that of the divine within.
But between that i am blessed with this wonderful and sometimes scary journey, and i dont want a fast-ticket or short cut without first researching the potential benefits of the slow way, though of course sometimes an intercity express or long haul is just the ticket.

'Dont fear the long road, cos on the long road we got a long time to sing a simple song, sing along''

Thanks especially to Michael, Ewan and Lisa for helping me to find the way to this particular station, and to life for showing me the little path to the view-point.

I look forward to looking back and smiling, at both the naive innocence and imaturity of my current me, and the wonder that i knew anything at all, and that such positive grace has showered me as it has.