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Below I’ve posted a TED video of a talk by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the best selling book “Eat, Pray, Love”. In this vid she gives a beautiful talk about the nature of creative genius that questions the modern/ post-modern assumption that acts of genius come from and belong to the self. In a nut shell, Gilbert challenges us to ask the question “is creative genius something that comes “from” us, or is it something that comes “through” us?” These two points of view are easy to confuse but as it turns out the ability to discriminate between them is truly important to the psycho-spiritual health and happiness of the creative-self.

Taking a 1st person ownership of any of our creative achievements may indeed bring a certain amount of narcissistic satisfaction. But taking this ownership often results in leaving the self pressed (and perhaps, as Gilbert suggests, even doomed) to repeat previous moments of grace. However, if we shift our perspective of creative genius to a 3rd person "thing" that we have a 2nd person relationship with, everything changes. Creative Genius then becomes a “thing” that is outside of us, a “force” that we surrender to and make ourselves a channel for. When we make this shift the genius we participate with is allowed to move through us, taking the pressure of the whole universe off of the self. This simple shift in perspective from 1st person owner ship to 2nd person surrender, relieves the self of the heavy burden of being the creative source of the universe (which is quite a burden to carry).

We both come from and return to the source greater than the self. In moments of grace the self can become a manifestation of this source. But as for the “source of the source”, it is beyond anything belonging to the personal self regardless of any confusion we may have. Our job in relation to the creative genius is simply to surrender the personal and all its agendas, and to allow this creative genius to come through should it choose.

A mistake in these perspectives can have dire consiequences for the self. As Gilbert says:

“One of the most painful reconciliation's for any artist to make is accepting that maybe he may never ascend to the genius, or glimpse of God again. This can be hard. What is he supposed to do with the rest of his life? This is one of the most painful reconciliations to make in life. But maybe it doesn’t have to be full of anguish if you never believe in the first place that the most extraordinary aspects of your being don’t come from you. But maybe if you believe that they are just on loan to you, form some unimaginable source to be passed along to someone else when you’re finished... If we think about it this way, it starts to change everything.”

In the below vid Gilbert cleary articulates the nature of the creative genius, and in doing so it appears before our very eyes. There it is....there's God, Allah, Allah, Allah...

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Two of the most challenging aspects for anyone claiming the Integral perspective is first discovering how to translate Integral into their life, and then actually applying that translation as a practice personally, culturally and professionally. Here at Integral Aikido we are constantly pursuing these two aspects. We place a high value in having a solid foundation in traditional aikido practice but what really excites us is using our practice as a vehicle to push the leading edge in the evolution of consciousness and culture.


As a transformational path Aikido provides a traditional cultural context, a trans-personal philosophy and effective practices that nurture development across many lines. Aikido is a well established way and point of view from which to translate and give meaning to the world. It has been around a while and you pretty much know what you’ll get.

Integral, on the other hand is still an emerging structure in consciousness and culture and it’s applications are in a dynamic process of discovery. As an emerging potential for me Integral’s real gift is that it gives us permission to venture out there on the evolutionary cutting edge where we become the agents for change. By applying the integral frame to aikido we are laying down tracks for aikido’s culture to evolve in an integral way. Where as traditional aikido gives us a beautiful holding and depth of established traditional structures, Integral gives us an evolutionary orientation and permission for exploration,  discovery and creativity. It supports and encourages us to manifest the world we want to live in.


Over the past 3 1/2/ years Integral Aikido has endeavored to provide a traditional aikido learning context with (almost) daily aikido classes, periodic aikido seminars and workshops, and regular meditation gatherings and retreats. Furthermore, we have hosted traditional events such as an International Aikido seminar with Christian Tissier Sensei, 7th dan, as well as 3 10-day Vipassana meditation retreats with Sayadaw U vivekananda.



As for pushing the leading edge of culture and consciousness, Integral Aikido’s past evolutionary activities have included regular Integral Practice workshops, Integral Aikido seminars, Integral Meditation workshops and courses, and the innovative merging of aikido and contact improvisation w/ our “Aiki-contact” jam sessions. We have also been honored to host Integral teachers such as Integral Zen Sensei and Big Mind facilitator Diane Musho Hamilton and Aikido Sensei Patrick Cassidy. And, of course this includes  the project that is dear to our hearts “Aikido Without Borders”, which is an Integrally informed N.P.O.

Below is a quote form Integral musician Corrado Rustici that expresses beautifully the exciting potential for all of us riding on the emerging wave of integral.




“From one point of view, you can say that if you're a person who's into integrative activities, then you will obviously manifest that in whatever you do. But from my point of view as a musician, I enjoy the fact that I can also be very pragmatic about defining this new genre. To me, being an integral musician is not only about where I'm coming from as an individual but about pushing the edge technologically and culturally as well.... By accepting and not refusing new technologies, [we] are creating a new art form that will mirror the trans-modern world that humanity will eventually belong to.”

Corrado Rustici
Integral Musician
EnlightenNext magazine, Oct-Dec 2007




“We are creating a new art form that will mirror the trans-modern world that humanity will eventually belong to.”

What a beautiful quote. Integral brings a depth, breadth and greater meaning to an art that is already rich and boon bestowing. How we apply that to a world that humanity will eventually belong to is totally up to us.




*I've included some of the flyers of our activities that express how we are exploring the leading edge of Integral in both consciousness and culture.

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There probably hasn’t been as much rampantly enthusiastic idealism surrounding a president since the election of John F. Kennedy than there is around Barack Obama. In the Integral community, this naturally translates into the question, “Is Obama Integral?”

I have put off responding to this question until now, first, because I didn’t want to get involved in active politics (because there is as yet no Integral Politics in place), but second (and over-riding the first), I don’t think we’ve have enough genuine information to tell. Notice, for example, that a major watchdog organization ranked Obama in the top 1 or 2 most liberal senators in Congress—hardly a badge of integral inclusiveness.

And yet, particularly as the campaign progressed, Obama began making increasingly Integral-sounding pronouncements. In fact, an Integral analysis of his acceptance speech by Corey deVos and Clint Fuhs showed a genuinely high percentage of Integrally-comprehensive language and ideas (especially compared to the other candidates). It seems, in fact, that somewhere during the campaign itself, Obama went from green exit (the pluralistic stage of development, with its inherently high liberalism) to initial teal Integral waves (the first Integral stages of development, with inherent Integrally-oriented political stances). Increasingly his language and his values systems seemed to shift, right before one’s eyes, into Integral spaces.

It is, of course, still too soon to make a solid judgment about this, but it seems safe to say that Barack Obama is likely moving into truly Integral waves of development and therefore beginning to evidence truly Integral values and positions. Combined with his already significantly developed states (which gives the very notable Radiance and Presence to his being), this means we might very well be seeing, certainly for the first time in this century, a truly Integrally-oriented President of the United States. In this climate of possibility, reigns the intense idealism and sense of promise that this new President brings with him: the hope and promise that a new tomorrow is truly possible, and that it is beginning now, right now. If so, this is indeed a genuinely historical moment, when Integral consciousness has actually descended in and through the voice and vision of the most powerful person on the planet. We are truly beginning to enter the Integral Age, and Barack Obama’s voice might be the most notable and important Integral voice in the political arena. How can we know for sure? Stay tuned!

Just a quick note to all of you aikido weapon's enthusiasts. Last fall I did some filming for a martial arts "Akban" organization. They are putting together a "martial arts wiki" and it is their goal to video document the main techniques from the different martial traditions. I was asked to be part of this project and so far we've filmed the basic jo and bokken weapons practices from the Iwama aikido tradition. You can see a sample of the videos below that we filmed on the Tel Aviv beach with my student Nadav Solomon as my training partner.

The weapons of aikido are beautiful practices that develop important principles such as center, timing, precision, "awase" (blending), "maai" (distance), "shisei" (posture), and "zanshin" (sustained presence), to name a few. Even if you don't practice the weapons  arts of ken and jo you can get a taste of these principles by watching the video's below.

Here is the link to the Aikido page on the akban wiki. You can also go to my personal page on the akban web site. The info on my page on this site  is in Hebrew but there are about 10 videos there to watch. And if you like you can go to youtube to see the whole series of 48 video clips on Akban's channel (however, the videos have been posted there in random order).

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Last Nov. 8th ~ 22nd I attended 2 weeks of the month long Big Mind Intensive. at the Kanzeon Zen center in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was quite an amazing event that was led by Big Mind innovator Genpo Roshi and Diane Musho Hamilton sensei. In the two weeks that I attended there were about 75 participants that came from all around the world and it was great meeting old and new friends from this world wide Sangha.



Morning sessions were lead by Diane and were the facilitators training sessions. In these sessions we would cover the "how?", "why?" and "what ?" of Big Mind facilitation. Diane would begin by going over any questions from the previous days group practice. Some of typical topics she would cover were how to deal with resistance, difficulties that can come up in group facilitation, more functional ways to apply the process, when does the facilitation process need more structure, when more creative applications are appropriate, and so on. 

After covering facilitation questions Diane would then lead us in a session of the Big Mind process. Each day was a different set of voices depending on what was emerging as a need for the group. For a few days we worked on cultural voices at ego-centric, ethno-centric, and world-centric levels. On another occasion Diane lead us through the voices of "giving" and "receiving", but not only the straight voices. Diane facilitated these voices as they manifest moving through the chakras (up and down!) giving a beautiful developmental view of how the same voice manifests diffirently at diffirent stages.

After doing the Big Mind with Diane we would end our morning sessions with facilitation practice by breaking up into small groups to practice Big Mind with each other.



As usual working with Diane as a facilitator was totally impressive as she has a great skill in helping the participants create the abilities necessary for good facilatation. Doing the training under her is such a blessing.



After the communal lunch and long conversations at the local cafes we would return to the zendo for the afternoon Big Mind session with Genpo Roshi.



Genpo Roshi’s skill in leading the Big Mind process is amazing and every time I see him he continues to develop applications of the process. He has a beautiful ability to hold the space as a true Zen master, create a container of impersonal Big Mind and Zen consciousness, skillfully lead each participant through the labyrinth of dualistic voices and open the participants up to the first person experience of a direct non-dual realization.

I was especially touched by Roshi’s latest direction in the process by bringing in the developmental stages. He did this by leading the group through a voice's “immature stage”, then onto the “dis-owned stage”, and finally the “mature stage”. This application models beautifully the natural process of growth. How one goes from an "immature stage” which is equivalent to “initial identification”, gradually moves onto the “dis-owned stage” that is equivalent to dissociation and separation from the identification of the immature stage, and finally moving into the “mature stage” through re-owning the identification and integrating it at a higher level of functinal wholeness.

What was truly impressive for me was how these three developmental stages not only applied to the dualistic voices but also applied to the non-dual voices. For example, immature Big Mind, dis-owned Big Mind and mature Big Mind. In other words, the ever present, timeless and changeless nature of spirit, actually does change when experienced in the field of time. Once again it shows in a very integral way that even spirit evolves.




It never ceases to amaze me how the practice of Big Mind is a truly and totally an Integral Practice. In fact it blows my mind because I’ve never seen another single practice as integral as Big Mind.



“Integral Practice” can be defined in many ways but the basic realms of development that need to be practice to be integral are “states, stages, and shadow”.  Big Mind covers all the bases. For states, Big Mind is a practice that effectively leads one into non-dual states. For stages, working with the immature, dis-owned and mature voices, as well as moving up the chakras with the voices facilitates stage growth beautifully. And as for the shadow, by systematically going through the dualistic voices the process not only clarifies confused aspects of self, but also uncovers shadow aspects of the self in the process. As Roshi says “what ever aspect you can find out there in the world, you can also find in your self.” It is all within us. Identify it, speak as it and integrate it into a greater sense of self. Big Mind contains it all*.




*Of course, if you know your ILP you will realize that the body module is missing. But the Big Mind practice can easily and effectively be applied in body based practices...like, say aikido. But that's for another post. ;-)

There is a new intergral community on the scene and it is called iEvolve. iEvolve was created to fill the gap left when Integral Intsitute eased off on producing Integral seminars about a year back. This new entity has been set up by several of Integral institue's teachers and founding members and it defines itself as nothing less than a "Global Practice Community". A global community and a global sangha with a commitment to both personal and global evolutionary practice. How cool is that?

It is so nice when we see the Integral perspective showing up in the world around us. In fact, as the integral view awakens within, the world without is seen a fresh and new way. However, where as the outer world and main stream culture can be a manifestation of Integral, it isn't often that culture explicitly uses Integral to prove a point.

In the recent re-make of the movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" there is a scene where the star, Nicole Kidman's character was being presented with a philosophical "flatland" argument on the nature of humanity. Where the "flatlanded" approach fails to give a satisfying answer, Integral and evolutionary levels illuminate the matter simply and beautifully. Not only is the integral perspective used to encompass the argument but Ken Wilber himself is cited. What better proof that the Integral wave of consciousness has "arrived" than to have it used in pop culture.

Like Nicole Kidman says, "We are evolving, our consciousness is changing". Yes indeed. And not only is our consciousness evolving and changing, but so too is our culture. It's about time.

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How do we as humans move from a healthy ethno-centric identification ("amber altitude") of culture and religion, towards a trans-personal and trans-cultural perspective that embraces the oneness of humanity? Here is a message to all people, all nations, all faiths and all cultures. With a little compassion and wisdom, patience and unfaltering persistence, it is time to re-own, re-inhabit, and re-claim the very ground from which we've come...for the sake of all.

Despite what it looks like, we are not alone. Are you up for the task?

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Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

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