“The Way Up Is the Way Down,” or “Fun with Eros and Agape” - KarenVoorhees

# “The Way Up Is the Way Down,” or “Fun with Eros and Agape”

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot “Four Quartets”

You are invited to join Dr. Karen Voorhees in a playful yet deeply felt exploration of the Great Mystery: how did we get here and where is it all going?
The world’s wisdom traditions all seem to tell of an emanation from some creative Source into this universe of space-time in which we find ourselves. The same wisdom traditions also speak of a return to that Source. Efflux and Reflux. Eros and Agape. Involution and Evolution. This core story has taken many different specific forms over the millennia, varying from culture to culture, but they all seem to be saying the same thing: we return along the same route we emerged. In Ken Wilber’s words, the way up is the way down. Today we tend to tell ourselves the story via rational constructs such as implicate order, evolution of form and consciousness, and theories of chaos and complexity.
Can we get a felt sense of whatever reality underlies all these stories? Dr. Voorhees will draw on several aspects of her personality -- the disciplined scholar, the Ken Wilber student, the long-time meditator, and the creative visionary -- to guide us through a group exploration. There will be several brief meditations and break-out discussion groups.

Bio
When Karen Shearer Voorhees was fifteen years old, at the height of the Cold War, three things deeply imprinted her life. With the first, the publication of Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” she fell deeply in love with Middle Earth, the western Middle Ages, and with the humanities in general. Second, the original “Star Trek” series appeared on TV. Its optimistic vision of a collective future counterbalanced our fears of nuclear annihilation. Third, the Summer of Love blasted out from San Francisco to change the world. Karen became a flower child who morphed during her college years into a humanities nerd. Just as she was completing her Ph.D. in Medieval cultural history she began meditating and discovered that there are levels of spiritual truth that far transcend the intellect. She left academia to earn her living as a home-maker, volunteering in the not-for-profit world and pursuing her spiritual path. Her life has had many unexpected turns along the way. Today she channels her passion for the Good, the True and the Beautiful into Integral communities such San Diego Integral, and into creative writing. Based on her understanding of Big History she has a vision of a glorious future for us—provided we don’t freak out over our apocalyptic current events and blow it too badly—and is hard at work packaging her vision into entertaining fiction.

# Welcome to SDI

## Who Is San Diego Integral?

We are a community of people who share the excitement of contributing to the emerging collective consciousness.
We are experimenting with how a community can collaborate to open into and sustain a We-consciousness using intuition and other subtle energies.
We are reaching for expansive exploration and heightening presence.
We are looking for the intuitive bursts of insight and revelation.
We are asking, "What is the potential of collective consciousness? What is the foundation upon which it stands?"
We are San Diego Integral.
Please join us and add your presence and insights!

## SDI's Mission

• To grow and nurture a San Diego Integral community
• To broaden and evolve integral perspectives in both the San Diego/Southern California area, as well as the global community
• To offer a variety of enriching programs to engage and uplift the community through integral consciousness
• To support all people to deepen and enhance their lives through well-being, gratitude, celebration and service