Doug's post on clarifying Zone One and Zone Two inspired this (along with life, of course), so: Well done, Doug! Good job! Thanks buddy! (and seriously, please don't blame him if you don't like this, my writing style, choice of subject matter, or me! If I get started on something like this, Doug may say "Ah, I'm hearing shadow stuff, let's move on..." and, you know, sometimes, in certain cases, there just may be some truth to that...)

I.M.P. v2.0: Integral Mutagenic Pathology
or: The Pseudo-Integral Virus

It's always already "AND" with integral.

AND that includes healthy AND pathological.

For a peek at the lovely healthy potentials, I recommend reading the marketing materials for the ILP Kit, seriously (emergence, micro-transformative pulls on stages by states, synergistic effects; SOLD, BABY!!! Where do I sign?!). The great book Integral Spirituality (by Ken Wilber) is another inspiring resource for growth.

For a full-spectrum integral perspective, we also look at the other side of the coin (and if we wish to add more zone two depth, we might also ask, "Why isn't anyone talking about this, from an integral consciousness, that doesn't want to focus on changing the world "out there" and ignoring the hard zone two questions that reveal our shadows, which threaten our inner eco-system, our inner universe?" One obvious reason; because it violates the Mean Green Meme social contract - but aren't we supposed to be "higher" than that? Integral, right? Right? Huh? The 3-2-1 Process [more explicitly, perspectivally, structurally and analytically; examine, dialogue, and inhabit] and The Work of Byron Katie [more implicitly and elegantly. Strategically: expression followed by reception. Vent, then listen, then question] can be useful tools for us in our efforts to evolve, if we use them right... AND;

"Every toy is a weapon, if you hold it right" Ani Di Franco
(as every act of contrition and worship can feed the narcissism of the "spiritual ego")

Let's take a look at the "dark side" of the upper left quadrant potentials and manifestations, and the ripple effect this has throughout the holarchy, us holons, and our shared culture and society.

Content and Structure.

I've often quoted the "Evil Genius" Martial Arts Master Cheung Hok Kin (the late great Lee Jun Fan's [Bruce Lee's] training partner, friend and classmate, they attended high school together, and learned Wing Chun Kung Fu from their seniors Wong Shun Leung and Cheung Chuk Hing [under Grandmaster Yip Man, as well as in private classes from the Grandmaster] in Hong Kong in the 50's) as saying,

"You need the eye to see, and the standard to check."

Of course martial arts wisdom traditions engage all four quadrants, with their own appropriate and specialized meaning for content and structure, at all levels, if the art in question is a fully developed set of theory (in my opinion, most arts have theoretical "holes", as do the models / theories / standards of New Age "theorists"). The scene in the movie "Enter the Dragon" where Bruce Lee's character says, "It's Lao's time" and gives a lesson to a young monk is an excellent (but not perfectly balanced, can you spot the bias?) example of this type of multidimensional transmission.

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."
Yogi Berra

Too much "standard to check" and little or no "eye to see" results in the chaotic mess we have with the scientific and materialistic reductionists.

Too much "eye to see" and little or no "standard to check" results in the chaotic mess we have with the New Age movement and the so-called "spiritual community".

Theory and application in self-correcting dynamic balance is the integral martial standard, which requires the ability to analyze both content and structure, in relationship.

The "Evil Genius" himself states this as the vital need to function efficiently as BOTH a player / participant AND as an experienced coach / mentor to oneself, if healthy development is to adequately progress without "losing one's way" in this demanding art.

In our integral lingo; Zone One / Content (our Eye, the subjective perspective and experience of subjectivity) and Zone Two / Structure (our Standard, the objective perspective and experience of subjectivity, which includes the genealogical / developmental), in terms of the individual interior.

...and there we have it, the whole problem with (almost?) all the various "styles" of New Age thought (I'm using term "thought" very loosely here, LOL!); an (immature? with narrow depth?) "eye" (that must see all, because all it can see is all there is [to it]) with no grounded standard to check whether enaction / manifestation, modeling and development are healthy, good, true (accurate) and beautiful, or something (far?) less than adequate. This movement in thought reminds me of when I was a kid, in high school, and my best friend and I made up slogans for each other. He was and is very probably the smartest person I know - so I jokingly gave him the slogan "I think, therefore I'm right."
In the cases where a standard is asserted, the so-called enlightened teacher / teacher of enlightenment / guru / mystic / channeler / channeled entity / author is somehow always at the top of the heap, according to their "arrangement" of "truth" (usually with a capital "T". I am using the word "arrangement" in a specifically zone two sense, this story* from Krishnamurti [at bottom] illustrates it beautifully).
Hmmm...interesting, ironically humorous, and not surprising at all (in children, or other diverse expressions of immaturity, such as these so-called "realized beings" who somehow retain their first tier need for dominance in a hierarchy. Forget something? No, of course not, why do you ask? What do you mean, "E.D."? Is that "Erectile Dysfunction" or "Enlightened Dissociation"? What do you mean, "Yes."? What th...).

Transcend and include is only half the story, the healthy half - the other half is negate and destroy, handling the unhealthy and pathological.

continued...

Crazy Wisdom? I see an abundance of Crazy, and some sparkly fragments of Wisdom, simplistically complex constructs (big heaps) of absolutist assertions bouncing around in chaos (only if one first breaks the social contract can one see that the Emperor has no clothes); the lack of structural coherence is glaringly obvious to adequate rationality IF that rationality is capable of suspending BOTH belief AND disbelief (which feels like suspending loyalty [dying], to zone one), and does its zone two homework (first tier wants "the right answer", a safe "conclusion", which Krishnamurti reminds us is an ending of the activity of a living mind in thought; i.e., "brain dead" on that point) and instead asks penetrating questions without an agenda for anything but more grounded depth, understanding and truth (second tier can handle a lack of safety and security without going regressive and contracting, if it is stable. While first tier cognition can touch this thought, it cannot hold it with stability due to emotional issues and self-system center-of-gravity contractions hijacking intention and energy, when self-system center-of-gravity identifications and attachments are threatened [looked at with anything other than loyalty / embeddedness / fusion]).

Intentional quality (truly beautiful GOODNESS) is foundational to cognitive quality (and capacity. This can appear crudely and / or subtly and / or not at all, depending on ones sensitivity, and as stated, ones true [not merely stated or marketed] intention). As Ken Wilber elegantly clarifies for us, in integral theory, cognitive capacity is the ability to take and inhabit (increasingly, more) perspectives, and, if I may add, in a zone two sense, to observe that movement.

Two rather large problems that I have noticed in the so-called "integral community" are, primarily and secondarily;
1. The perspectival imbalance biased toward zone one and away from zone two, and
2. The perspectival imbalance biased toward integral and away from non/sub-integral.

The breakdown, starting with the primary problem:
1. Zone one feels GOOD. I meditate, do yoga, ILP, whatever, and I get a really nice payoff - I can say that I am a spiritual / integral / deep / sensitive / special person, and my persona has the "ammunition" of right hand / exterior correlates to back it up. I can say that I feel free / spiritual / integral / deep / sensitive, and my persona has the ammunition of some upper left / interior authenticity to back it up. I can say that I am a better member of culture and society when I feel good, and my persona can find resonance, support and engagement through social contracts to back it up.

So, you may be asking, WHERE'S THE PROBLEM?

Right there, in the selectively blind first tier consciousness that asks that exact question, as what we pay attention to determines what we miss (especially with first tier).
Quick! Before red and green slime explodes from where the head used to be (Chanbara, anyone? Tomisaburo Wakayama Rules!), a reminder to keep it all in perspective and keep our sense of humor: How do the angels fly? They take themselves lightly.
Let's get a few facts, perspectives and potentials clarified, and the emotions can always hijack everything LATER, OK? Nobody can take away the beauty, freedom, horror and responsibility of free will from you, so let's think for a little while longer before we give ourselves over to zone one completely (or not? I hope). Here's an inconvenient truth from Spiral Dynamics: somewhere between .5 % and 2% of the population is second tier stably, yet almost everyone in the so-called integral community thinks that they are second tier!!! HELLO!!! Overly generous and overly positive integral marketing materials (orange agenda) in the infosphere exacerbate this problem (somewhat irresponsibly and not indefensibly inaccurately, in my opinion. Skillful sales always walks a fine line). Zone two that can enter into an evolutionary dialectic with zone one is work, hard work, work that has a high price of entry - intentional quality aligned towards TRUE and WHOLE growth (along with developing the cognitive abilities in that regard, yeah, more work), which often means feeling very bad, often for an indeterminate time, before much feeling good returns. Zone two is the "party pooper" that illuminates and asks the hard, socially destructive, confidence-debilitating / humiliating, structure-defining and politically incorrect questions that ADEQUATELY CONTEXTUALIZE EVERYTHING THAT ARISES AND CAN ARISE IN ZONE ONE.

A Post-Postmodern Socratic Method for Integral Inquiry into Self and Relationship.

Simply, Zone Two sees the limitations of Zone One, and now the holarchy MAY be informed, from an emergent (new) perspective. Fresh new questions can arise. New truth, born of this interior dialogue, can now arise, truth of a different type and order.

Asking with innocence and authenticity is primary, and will determine the secondary quality of the answers that may arise in response to the questions asked. Got an agenda, motive, invested, identified and/or marketed self-image that you are attached to? Taking a hard look at the price of that is the starting line of this "race", can you take even one step?

"Only the descent into the hell of self-knowledge can pave the way to godliness."
Immanuel Kant

continued...

Zone One development alone does not equal second tier; it MAY equal second tier development in a LINE (generally narrow developmental hierarchy that can resonate and dialogue with other lines heterarchically, within the holarchic context [us, at this level of focus]), however when we speak of a person "being at second tier", this is a statement of development of the self-system center-of-gravity (the middle of the bell curve of our distribution pattern of consciousness, so to speak. Spiral Dynamics states that this is generally found to be approximately 50% of our self-system center-of-gravity at a certain vMeme, and 25% at the one above, and the other 25% at the one below) - the "zone one only" case is an example of a person being able to function at second tier in a specific bounded domain; however transcendently beautiful this "feels" in the contracted self-sense (ironically, the ability to expand subjectivity to the size of God in an immature transcendence that is actually more immanence; awaiting zone two emergence to begin to dynamically balance that interior myopic distortion brought on by the emphasis / de-emphasis embeddedness, and its inertia), it remains fragmented and partial. This manifests as "I'm doing important work here, giving my gifts as an expression of universal love, in transpersonal service, from my highest self" (where my persona feels comfortable, even in its martyr-like discomfort [more ammunition]), "but, Nnaahh, that doesn't need any work at this moment, its OK for now" (where I am afraid to look [protected by righteous indignation, if not outright anger, at any question of my intentions or motives - my shadow loads saved-up ammunition into its guns], where I may feel uncomfortable, be exposed, or look incompetent). Innocence doesn't die on its own, we choose to kill it. We trade our deepest innocent authenticity and most straightforward growth potential, for what? A self-sense of ego security (like a credit card balance that we can never quite pay in full; it's bleeding us, it's unhealthy and we know it, and we can't stop). And, of course, we can feel like we are manifesting good character for honoring our internal contract with our marketing department (inertia and more ammo, "I'm honoring my commitment to loving my highest self, and giving my gifts completely"). Strangely, writing this makes my balls ache, with an uneasily forced sense of agentic "superiority". I guess I'm OK with non-duality, as long as I can still come out on top. (LOL!).

"It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear." Dick Cavett
(a truly intentionally integral person, as opposed to a pseudo-integral persona salesman?)

"A man's got to know his limitations." Clint Eastwood as "Dirty Harry" Callahan
(sorry Clint, that's the horror, we absolutely do not - free will's a bitch, then you are one)

"There's always room for doubt." Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo
(only in a mind not possessed by the shadows of zone one, that mind cannot doubt itself)

Everything that arises in the manifest has an advantage AND a disadvantage, good potentials AND potentials for evil. If that sounds amber / blue to you (good / evil) or orange (advantage / disadvantage), feel free to use entropy / negentropy and/or chaos / order, whatever works for the assimilation of the underlying principle. We covered the personas payoffs, what about the flip side? Is it possible that the "feeling good and free and spiritual / integral / deep / sensitive / special" can lead to ego identification that gets stuck? Can the small-self use all of the accumulated "ammunition" to increase stuckness and attachment, using oxymoronic terms like "spiritual ego"? Can the narcissistic impulse become so strongly embedded / entrenched that it can say shit like that with a straight face? Can the body-mind become addicted to the feedback loops in the upper left and upper right quadrants? Have you already flashed on / thought of someone whom these questions remind you of? (Besides me? LOL! Gotz ta keeps yo sensa humor!) The old saying, "If you think you can, or think you can't; either way, you're right!" is specific to Zone One ONLY (sorry, fans of "The Secret" and other forms of rationalized narcissism [and some over-amplified, under-contextualized, distorted partial Z1 truth], Zone Two has objectively verifiable developmental milestones). The inability of narcissists to evolve into balance and see and reclaim shadow material is much more deeply evidence of misalignment of intention (in blue / amber speak, bad character development) (in spiritual speak, identification / inhabitation / possession by an unclean spirit) than it is evidence of cognitive and emotional / astral lack of developmental potential (which, by the way, reminds me of two jokes: "How many Zen Buddhists does it take to change a light bulb? Two; one to change the light bulb, and one to not change the light bulb"...and "How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but it takes a long time, and the light bulb has to want to change" Am we da bulb? LOL!).
2. The secondary problem is the tendency for people to crystallize in consciousness the feeling good bias of zone one over-emphasis WITH thought (astral / emotional plus mental), and the resultant self-image that gets "marketed" in the lower left and lower right quadrants (of course this finds mutagenic fruition in "teachers" [spiritual, yogic, tantric, etc.] as their whole identity and survival are now entwined) can now set up feedback loops in ALL quadrants (the pseudo-integral virus spreads, and more deeply embeds). The problem with this is that now we can (and do) have situations where someone was already deficient in zone two contextualizing (self-corrective potential when present with adequate intentional alignment and interior sensitivity to contextual self-awareness) and now they come face to face with choices in life conditions and in spirit where they will feel pressure to prioritize survival over integrity (as shadow drive is felt as exterior pressure). This can (and has) presented as an inability to inquire where one COULD learn something new, because the fear of appearing less-than-enlightened / second tier / integral is tied to a deep major fear, the fear of embarrassment (and, once again, in the case of people ACTUALLY marketing themselves as some form of teacher / authority figure / enlightened person, this goes all the way to the bottom, straight down to beige, where Kenny says, and I quote, the choices you've got are "fuck it or kill it" Wow, how, ahem, er...integral?!).

continued...

With this emergent tendency, we have more evidence of God's ironic sense of humor, where, for example; A. a map designed for enhancing healthy growth is a vehicle for access to the rhetoric of levels beyond the stage development of the subject, B. the subject identifies with the signifiers / rhetoric of the higher level BEFORE the signifieds and referents have emerged stably in consciousness, and C. the discrepancy reveals itself in the interaction in the lower left and lower right quadrants of the group / communal dynamic, and D. they then are faced with (spirit, intention and volition) choosing to save face (self-image) by asserting their projected and marketed self-image as reality (inauthenticity, a lie that aborts genuine inquiry and growth, and just as bad, murders innocence) even though the discrepancy was mutually witnessed, OR choosing to be authentic and potentially undermining their inertia and derailing their marketing campaign, which may result in lost or lessened income. Spiritual integrity, or comfortable embedded inertia, safety and security for the ego and body-mind. Tough choice, huh? Unfortunately, in most cases I've personally witnessed, not. I recently asked an extremely intelligent friend in the integral community, "How do you get someone to disembed from their shadow projections and identifications if and when their whole consciousness and livelihood are entangled with their model and marketing, and this arrangement having crystallized in fact turns out to be the blockage to higher development?" I haven't got an answer yet, and I don't expect one, because the question is really "Can one help another to purify their intention?" Somewhat sadly and obviously, you can neither make them nor stop them, in either direction, because that is the nature of free will, just as it should be.
First tier pathology that tries to look like second tier consciousness, and in so doing, short-circuits its ability to move into second tier! Pretty integral, huh? Just not in a way that we usually let our personas assign meaning to the word. That shadow stuff won't go away just because it makes us look bad, it waits until one actually integrates it, which, as development progresses, requires authenticity and sensitivity in BOTH zone one and zone two, along with adequate differentiation, and fearless engagement, and openness to unpleasant feedback (like this? Nnnaaaahhhhh!).

Good luck with that, un-ringing that bell, pseudo-integralists (the same spirit of narcissism that tells you "You ARE!" will now tell you "You CAN!"). (LOL!!!)

"Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal." Robert A. Heinlein

"Talkin' shitz a disease, 4 U Sukka M C's!" Eliot Bissey

Cheez-its Chrysler.

Repent, or all is lost.

Oh, sorry, I forgot - that doesn't feel good. No amount of objective data can move a stuck subjective perspective, and that goes for intersubjective exchange as well.
Free will? - "Pick your poison, pilgrim", as they used to say in the old west.

"You want to be a master? First, you got to be a fool." Cheung Hok Kin

A simple (simplistic?) metaphor might be that one is a poker player (holarchy) trying to win more money than you lose, consistently (continue to live, thrive and evolve). Who will be more consistently successful; A. the player who is highly intuitive, and reads micro-expressions accurately (meditates and has developed some sensitivity [Z1]), OR B. the player who is highly intuitive, and reads micro-expressions accurately AND who has carefully studied the statistical probabilities AND game theory AND psychology (meditates and has developed some sensitivity [Z1] AND understands Spiral Dynamics [Z2] and Constructive Developmentalism and IMP [the real one, not this, my and life's parody], and has good intention, authenticity and character?)? Which kind of poker player are you? How CONSISTENTLY do you win? The map can help us to find our areas of over-emphasis, and shine a light in the darkness of our blind spots and self-ignorance, but only if our intention so leads us to commit to the process of a thorough cognitive / perspectival inventory, complete with feeling and presence. Please forgive my violation of the MGM social contract in service of expanding awareness of this integral pathological potential that is manifesting, within and without. Does one merely look, or does one deeply see? Am I making too big of a deal out of this? After all, we're only gambling with consciousness, spirit and soul; life. You tell me.

I suggest that from first tier, zone one appears as "being" and zone two appears as "doing" if it is accessible at all, while from second tier this apparent relationship inverts to some degree, moving toward balance (which is not uncommon in stage progression, specifically; linear, natural progressions may look like growth from a "lower" (pre-) perspective, while in retrospect, from a "higher" (trans-) perspective, we can see that the most deeply felt and realized shifts in consciousness were so revolutionary precisely because they were not expected or predictable, i.e., non-linear. Seemingly paradoxically, logical progression and growth may or may not look related, and they do).

"Problems cannot be solved by the level of awareness that created them."
Albert Einstein

When I was an engineer (and before I got into sales, what th... it's OK, I'm much better now. The persona's adoption of the vanity of principle that asserts that sales CAN come from a sense of love of humanity and transpersonal service [theoretically true, maybe] is one of the pillars of the mutation we now share and enjoy as part of our modern and postmodern culture), our company had us (engineers) all watch a film about paradigm shift in consciousness. It was a great experience! It had a wonderful section on the way the mind distorts input to conform to expectations (with standard poker playing cards, or so it seemed), an elegant demonstration of zone two effects on what may potentially arise in zone one phenomenology. Another great thing in the film was a section on human reactivity, which was illustrated by the metaphor of people driving in cars around a bend in the (two lane) road, out in the country. A woman comes around the corner, driving fast in the opposite direction, sticks her head out the window and yells, "PIG!" Our driver (us) is taken aback, and reflexively sticks his head out his window and yells back, "COW!" ...and crashes into a large hog that is in the middle of the road. This illustrates that the mindset of the driver (his paradigm) was less than optimally sensitive to the potentially crash-averting message in the data received from the woman driver, so he crashed. Instead of a knee-jerk reaction, innocent curiosity may have been salvation (at least to our car, if not ourselves). I ask you to ask yourselves, what is your reaction, and from what paradigm does it emerge? (By the way, kudos to you, Doug, once again - you are a rarity among engineers - open-hearted and well-adjusted - much love, bro)

continued...

"Careful, you become what you hate." Roy Masters

Kenny has done it twice now, once with "Boomeritis" and again with the "Wyatt Earpy" series of blogs. Done what? Been somewhat of an agent provocateur, throwing the whole plate of spaghetti against the wall, and watching intently to see what sticks, and what doesn't. Followed by an honest admission of strategy, opening us up to our shadow reactions and projections, but only if we allow ourselves that insight (what can our zone two allow to arise in our zone one?). This article is my homage to his playful and creative intelligence, in a similar vein. I hope that upon reflection this is, or becomes, clear.

"You spot it, you got it!" Oprah Winfrey

Of course, if we didn't first have it within, how could we recognize it in the world (whether we project it or not)? Creator and Destroyer, love and hate, we transcend and include the merely dualistic in the non-dual, whether we ever know it or not, whether we like it or not. We all have areas of vision and healthy competence, and areas of blindness and dangerous incompetence. Hermeneutically distorting, diminishing and compressing our perception of the interiors' dynamic range does nothing to it, only to our perception of it; as the great guitar player John McLaughlin reminds us, "Don't be afraid of volume". We have the choice to face our interiors with honesty, and from there, to face each other and the world; have you ever heard people in this so-called integral community talk about the dark side of the big three - lies, evil and ugliness? That is one of the factors that spreads the virus; a semi-conscious collusion between zone one and zone two of the individuals that comprise the collective, feeling "good, spiritual and free", staying positive and upbeat, with no real accountability to anything but our own zone one, which we inflate (behaviorally) to absolute status (whatever stories of "transpersonal service" our personas tell and sell themselves). The cultural value of "character" being replaced for decades by "personality" is another factor, spread from the individual narcissism to the collective and back again (remember "self-esteem" programs, as taught in our schools? Have you seen the studies of their effects?), reinforced by MGM social contracts; a one-two punch to human weakness, and an irresistible sales pitch to the split persona / shadow. Check, and checkmate. The incredibly resistant-to-change nature of the self is addressed beautifully and sensitively by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey in their great book, "How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work: Seven Languages for Transformation", in which they discuss the little-known third force in the universe ("dynamic equilibration" [understanding and resolving "competing commitments"], along with entropy [chaos] and negentropy [order]).

The feedback loops are real - as (inversely?) real as we are.

"As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it." ...and the old classic... "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Albert Einstein (both)

We have met the enemy, and it is us, or more accurately, the spirit in us that holds sway with the finely tuned aim and angulation of intention, and the carefully put-together arrangement* we mistake for our SELF. We will all feel temptation, and we will all choose. We're all together in this multidimensional "soup" of life, "stewing" in the juices of self, culture and nature. Tasty? I'm right there with you, struggling toward higher order clarity, and a love that's real, real wide, and real deep.

Choosing. Preferring. Accepting.

From what perspective?
After checking how many perspectives?
How thoroughly?
How many times?
What has been excluded?
Has valuation been weighted developmentally, genealogically and appropriately?
Contextually, am I working toward awareness of the cultural bias "baggage" my embeddedness unavoidably brings with it?
Can I find a perspective from which I am in the wrong?
Can I even hear an opposing voice with genuine receptivity?
Can I listen at all, until I am heard?
Can I investigate with objectivity, when I feel a "charge" go off, within?
Can I hold opposites in my mind and heart?
All of which is but a reflection of;

"How much does one really care, unselfishly, about
How much healthy love
AND
Dynamically balanced intelligence
can flow through one,
Illuminating self, others and the world?"

So, please forgive my generous use of champagne vinegar in this "dish", and allow the subtle richness of organic meyer lemon infused olive oil to rise slowly from the background of your palate, finding it's place as a unifying "top note" on the tongue, sweetly informing us as to the spectrum of flavors available within and without in this, our shared "one taste" community. Remember, as Ken so beautifully points out in his brilliant "Shadow Series" (accessible from his blog), that if we are merely informed, that is likely to be healthy, and if we are affected (a charge is aroused) that is an indication that some shadow work can be healthy in restoring balance that we didn't know we had lost. Hearts and minds can change and grow, and intention can align to the higher and transpersonal potentials. Watch out for the potholes in the road, and if you can, look within and listen with innocence when next you hear someone shout "Pig!"

With genuine affection (agape) and transcendent love (eros), up to my human ability for now (may we all always continue to evolve in all ways), and
Happy Holidays to all!
Eliot

P.S. I just had a really funny thought: How about a literary standard in society where before you can write a book on spirituality, you are compelled to take a critical thinking course, and pass a competency test? Man-oh-man, talk about a revolution, and a revolution in consciousness...not that I would want that kind of totalitarian society, just that it would be wonderful if sensitive and intuitive people were up to at least a conventional cognitive standard of adequate rationality (Yes, I know, common sense is uncommon, and even if people have it, nothing can force them to use it fairly). It might keep out the PRE riff-raff, dressed-up in TRANS drag, and who knows what truly beneficial good could emerge from that?

Grounded AND Transcendent Full-Spectrum Goodness, Truth and Beauty.
Wow. What a concept. Now, let's see, how might I sell this for some fast cash, a quick payoff...
...to myself?

fin.

Copyright 2007, by Eliot Bissey, All Rights Reserved

* Krishnamurti's beautiful story about zone two:
The Devil and a man were having a conversation, walking together and talking. Far in front of them, was another man, walking in the same direction. The man far in front of them suddenly stopped walking, knelt down, apparently fascinated with something, picked it up, played with it for a minute or two, and then continued walking on, as before.
The man having the conversation with the Devil said, "What was that, that the man in front of us picked up?"
The Devil replied, "Why, that was the truth."
The man was shocked, and blurted out, "The truth? Really?"
The Devil calmly replied, "Yes, the truth."
The man then asked, "Well, aren't you going to mess him up, or take it away, or something? I mean, come on, you're the Devil! Isn't it bad for your business for a man to pick up the truth?"
The Devil smiled, and said, "Why no, not at all. I'm going to help him arrange it."
(an alternative version of this story ends with the Devil saying "Oh, not at all, I am going to let him organize it.")

Eliot,
That wasn't so much a 'blog' as a full blown performance...a full bodied, full hearted & full minded expression of what the 'IMP' feels like in Eliot.

Very entertaining, provocative & enlightening.

I really admire your courage & fearlessness (in exposing 'Eliot' as an object of awareness...).

Cheers,
Doug

Oh, BTW, my son at about 12 used to say "Cheez-its ate Rice". I think he pick that up in Catholic school, LOL.

Thank you very much, sincerely, Doug, I'm really glad that you got something out of it.

My honest thoughts and feelings about your kind comments about me having "courage & fearlessness (in exposing 'Eliot' as an object of awareness...)" are these:
1. Thank you (and I'm not sure I deserve it, and I love to write, and I enjoyed this piece so much that there were very probably payoffs for both persona and shadow in it for me),
2. Thoughts are things, dead things, with no life of their own; it is our consciousness that is alive, as Krishnamurti clarified for us,
3. What I've actually exposed is a set of thoughts and perspectives of mine at that space-time intersection (I could be in a very different place now - fully possessed or enlightened; higher, lower, sideways, or some combination), that I felt were needed and missing in the collective consciousness (Intersubjective chemotherapy? Or just a clean mirror? Most likely, in most cases, something in-between). A moth exits its chrysalis, a snake sheds its skin, and we humans leave "brain droppings", to borrow from George Carlin. Paraphrasing Kenny, the map itself was never alive, and the mapmaker cannot be found in the map. Once again, to me, J.K. said it best, "There is a map to the mountain. There is no map to the tiger that lives on the mountain."

In a way, that's really my point: we can change, change our choice, void an unhealthy contract with self and other, move from where we were to a better position with a larger field of view, knowing that we will be moving again, and again. The emergent potential for change is a function of perspective and life conditions, and intention determines the vector (and is therefore absolutely critical [in the relative manifest]). Like I'm learning from the markets, it's perfectly acceptable to be wrong (it's going to happen), and it's totally unacceptable to remain wrong (if we are sincere about healthy growth).

Your son at 12 sounds to me like a kindred spirit (in terms of playfulness, irreverence and possibly maturity, LOL!).

I'm glad we're friends, walking together and sharing our journey, on this crazy path of life.
All the best,
Eliot