In my final posting of the series riffing, ranting and raving about “Integral Spirituality” and “What Is Enlightenment”, I realized that I didn’t really say what I loved about Ken Wilber’s exploration of spirituality in the context of AQAL theory.
What he did for me with the book was thoroughly explain why so many of the so called “gurus” around these days are only “halfway up the mountain” even though they may be meditating constantly (OK, an exageration)! Identifying western psychology’s gift as exploration of our shadow selves cleared alot up. Thank you Ken!
 I also value the thought that our world’s great religions and spiritual traditions may be the “conveyor belts” required to move the world’s populations through the vmemes. What I say is that the same religions and traditions need to do the shadow work necessary in each of these paths first, or maybe the shadow work is part of the conveyor belt. Regardless, a metaphor that works even better for me (given the “include and transcend” notion) than a conveyor belt is…a soup pot!
Imagine that all people, in all the various colours of the vmemes (according to Spiral Dynamics) are vegetables of similar colours. Add in spices, herbs, water, heat, simmer, stir and viola; something totally new emerges. Leave the soup to cool for awhile and the fat rises to the surface. I will ponder this metaphor further as I don’t quite have it fully fleshed out but for me, it contains the concepts of transformation and emergence in a more expanded way than a conveyor belt.
Off to simmer!
namaste,
Zoey
coach . catalyst . shakti sage
life & business coach for women