The Integral Stage: AUTHOR SERIES

For the nineteenth episode of the Integral Stage Author Series, Layman welcomes Greg Kaminsky back to The Integral Stage, this time to talk about his new book, Celestial Intelligences.  The book explores the remarkable life and ideas of esoteric, integrative Renaissance philosopher and mystic, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola; kabbalistic and Christian neo-Platonic angelology; and the possibilities for self-transformation through esoteric, contemplative, and magickal practices.  

Greg Kaminsky is a close student of Traktung Rinpoche and a practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism. He is also a long-time podcaster, a scholar of medieval studies, and an explorer of Mysteries who is intimately familiar with Western esotericism. His prior works include an essay in The Art and Science of Initiation (2019) and the newly published Celestial Intelligences--Angelology, Cabala, and Gnosis: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Quest for the Perennial Philosophy (2021).   Links and Resources

Celestial Intelligences book https://www.anathemapublishing.com/celestial-intelligences

Occult of Personality podcast http://occultofpersonality.net

Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible!

https://www.patreon.com/theintegralstage

Layman welcomes Jeremy Lent to talk about his new book, The Web of Meaning.  In a wide-ranging discussion, they explore the intersections of complexity science and Taoist wisdom; the impact of earlier books of this kind, such as The Dancing Wu Li Masters; the nature of worldviews, questions around their causal influence, and the possibility of their transformation; the "greatest story ever told" (the modern cosmological story); the ontological reality of chi or subtle energy; embodied practices and dance as means of body-mind integration; the ecological crisis and moving beyond pessimism or optimism; the wisdom of slime molds; the integration of yu wei and wu wei, and of West and East, as a path out of the meaning crisis; the difference between complication and complexity; the neural differentiation of the 'I' and 'Me,' and how to bring them into harmony; the place of consciousness in the universe; and much more.  

Jeremy Lent, described by Guardian journalist George Monbiot as “one of the greatest thinkers of our age,” is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. Born in London, England, Lent received a BA in English Literature from Cambridge University, an MBA from the University of Chicago, and was a former internet company CEO. His award-winning book, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning, explores the way humans have made meaning from the cosmos from hunter-gatherer times to the present day. His new book, The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, offers a coherent and intellectually solid foundation for a worldview based on connectedness that could lead humanity to a sustainable, flourishing future. He is founder of the nonprofit Liology Institute, dedicated to fostering an integrated worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the Earth. He lives with his partner in Berkeley, California.  

The Web of Meaning The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find our Place in the Universe: Lent, Jeremy: 9780865719545: Amazon.com: Books

Professional website https://www.jeremylent.com  

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Layman talks with Greg Kaminsky about his new book, Pronaos: Reflections on the Preliminary Practices of Buddhist Tantra from a Western Perspective.  

Greg discusses his work and experience with his teacher, Traktung Khepa Rinpoche, and the genesis of the book; describes the nature and intent of the preliminary practices; and goes into depth with Layman on the topics of nondual spirituality, the relationship between tantra and Vajrayana, Western philosophy, the limits of the psychologization of religion, and the meeting of East and West.  

Greg Kaminsky is a close student of Traktung Rinpoche and a practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism. He is also a long-time podcaster, a scholar of medieval studies, and an explorer of Mysteries who is intimately familiar with Western esotericism. His prior works include an essay in The Art and Science of Initiation (2019) and the forthcoming Celestial Intelligences--Angelology, Cabala, and Gnosis: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Quest for the Perennial Philosophy (2021).   

Amazon.com: PRONAOS: Reflections on the Preliminary Practices of Buddhist Tantra from a Western Perspective: 9798703715406: Kaminsky, Greg: Books

http://occultofpersonality.net/ 

https://www.tanagana.com

For the sixteenth episode of the Integral Stage Author Series, Layman is joined by a host of writers or literary figures all hiding in the body of Brendan Graham Dempsey.  Inspired by the pseudonymous experiments of Kierkegaard, Brendan has written (and is still writing) a series of books by different distinctive characters -- God, by Julian; metamodernism and the Return of Transcendence, by A. Severan; The Oil and the Lamp, by Anti-Kierkegaard and Anti-Nietzsche; Building the Cathedral, by Sadie Alwyn Moon; and most recently, Gospel, under no particular name.  In his conversation with Layman, Brendan discusses his inspirations and intentions for the series, and the main themes of each book; his spiritual background and his journey towards metamodernism and integral thought; the relationship of metamodernism to postmodern cultural and political movements; the potential for a metamodern spirituality to respond to the meaning and ecological crises that beset us; and much more.  Brendan Graham Dempsey is a writer whose work focuses on the meaning crisis and the nature of spirituality in metamodernity. He earned his BA in Religious Studies from the University of Vermont and his MA in Religion and the Arts from Yale University. He lives in Wolcott, Vermont.  Professional website: www.BrendanGrahamDempsey.com

For the fourteenth episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman sits down with Matthew David Segall to talk about his book, Physics of the World-Soul: Alfred North Whitehead's Adventure in Cosmology.  Whitehead's metaphysics has influenced Integral Theory (particularly the Wilber-V work), Deleuze's philosophy, Object-Oriented Ontology, and the growing process theology movement, but not many people are very familiar with it on its own.  So Layman uses this opportunity to take a deep dive with Matt into some of Whitehead's key ideas, from prehension and pan-experientialism, to actual occasions and eternal objects, to the fallacy of misplaced concreteness and the fallacy of simple location; and to explore the relationship of Whitehead's ideas to quantum theory, Platonism, Nietzsche's postmetaphysical philosophy, contemporary Christianity, and much more.  Matthew D. Segall, PhD, received his doctoral degree in 2016 from the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. His dissertation was titled Cosmotheanthropic Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead. It grapples with the limits to knowledge of reality imposed by Kant's transcendental form of philosophy and argues that Schelling and Whitehead's process-oriented approach (described in his dissertation as a "descendental" form of philosophy) shows the way across the Kantian threshold to renewed experiential contact with reality. He teaches courses on German Idealism and process philosophy for the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. He blogs regularly at footnotes2plato.com.  Physics of the World-Soul: Alfred North Whitehead's Adventure in Cosmology

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094Z9MXZ3/

Rollie Stanich joins Layman Pascal and Bruce Alderman to talk about his new book, Integral Christianity: The Way of Embodied Love.  Rollie talks about the evolution of his own thought and spirituality, through Western and Eastern paths, and how he came "home" again to a life in Christ; how other religions and traditions can serve as lamps along the way for one's own; the nature of Christ and the Christian injunction; Jesus' mindset and worldspace, and the fractal resonance of exemplars at the leading edge of any period of history; the history of the early Church; the Christian life through all the quadrants and states; and what it means to see as Christ saw, to pray as Christ prayed, to love as Christ loved, and to do the things Christ did, and more.  Rollie Stanich grew up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He was awarded the University of Calgary's highest scholarship for four consecutive years, and graduated with distinction from the Faculty of Management in 1990. He taught at the University's Faculty of Continuing Education for several years, then worked for ten years in software development in Montreal. Rollie assisted with the early development of the Integral Naked website and joined Integral Institute as the site's Managing Editor in 2004. A year later, he was appointed to his present position as Chief Facilitator of Integral Spiritual Center. He co-organized numerous ISC seminars on Integral Buddhism and Integral Christianity and the ISC Teachers' Gatherings of 2005, 2006, and 2007. Rollie presented on the work of James Fowler and Ken Wilber at the third ISC Teachers' Gathering, and is a frequent teacher at Boulder Integral, Denver's Buddhist/Christian Interfaith Group, and at Integral Salons and seminars across the U.S. and Canada. Rollie's spiritual path is that of contemplative Christianity. He is a practitioner of Centering Prayer and a longtime student of Fr. Thomas Keating. He co-wrote and co-produced the 2008 Integral Life DVD The Future of Christianity, and is the author of Integral Christianity: The Way of Embodied Love.

https://www.amazon.com/Integral-Christianity-Way-Embodied-Love/dp/1735011231/

For the eleventh episode of the Integral Stage Authors Series, Layman is joined by Perspectiva co-founder, Jonathan Rowson, to discuss a book they both contributed to & co-edited: "Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity."  

The volume contains essays by Zachary Stein, Bonnitta Roy, Lene Rachel Andersen, Hanzi Freinacht, Minna Salami, and John Vervaeke, among others.  Layman and Jonathan discuss the origins and vision for the book, review many of its essays, and reflect on the cultural trends and moods that make this, truly, "a time between worlds."  

Jonathan Rowson is co-founder and director of the research institute, Perspectiva, based in London. He is also the former director of the Social Brain Centre at the Royal Society of Arts and is a chess grandmaster and three-time British Chess Champion. His books include The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, Chess for Zebras, Spiritualize: Cultivating Spiritual Sensibility to Address 21st Century Challenges, The Moves that Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life, and now several new volumes on metamodernity, including the one discussed here, Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds.  

Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds https://systems-souls-society.com/insight/perspectiva-press/dispatches-from-a-time-between-worlds/

Perspectiva website https://systems-souls-society.com/

Please consider supporting The Integral Stage on Patreon to make more of these conversations possible! https://www.patreon.com/theintegralst...

Layman is joined by Jordan Gruber, J.D., to discuss Your Symphony of Selves, a new book he co-authored with Dr. James Fadiman.  Layman and Jordan explore the themes of the book, reflecting on the history and the psychospiritual implications of the "multiple self" concept, the resistance the concept has received in both popular and academic contexts, the intersection of the multiplicity of identity with the "higher self" and "no self" traditions, practical ways to work with our multiplicity, and much more.  About the Authors James Fadiman, Ph.D., with degrees from Harvard and Stanford, was the president of two companies, taught at four universities, is an international seminar leader, and has written textbooks, trade books, and novels. Consulting clients have included IBM, Hewlett-Packard, a Federal Reserve bank, and Foster's Freeze. He is one of the foremost researchers in microdosing studies and is a co-founder of Sophia University. He has been researching healthy multiplicity for over 20 years and lives with his filmmaker wife In Menlo Park, California. Jordan Gruber, J.D., writer, collaborative writer, ghost writer, and editor, has forged and sculpted authoritative volumes in forensic law, financial services, and self-development. A graduate of Binghamton University and the University of Virginia School of Law, he founded the Enlightenment.com website and is now a leading advocate of rebound exercise through the SuperBound Project. He lives in Menlo Park, California, with his wife and family.

https://www.amazon.com/Your-Symphony-Selves-Discover-Understand/dp/1644110261

Layman is joined by Richard Druitt to discuss his semi-autobiographical novel, Looking for the Colonel.  The book is the third in a trilogy based on Druitt's experiences with ayahuasceros in Peru and Puerto Rico, and blends fantasy and reality in its telling of two intertwined stories:  a fictionalized account of Colonel Percy Fawcett's search for a lost city in the Amazon, and his subsequent, mysterious disappearance; and a search fifty years later to find out what became of him.  The book is dedicated to Layman's mother.  Richard Druitt was born in Devon, England, but since 1975 has been traveling the world. He has variously lived in New Mexico, Australia and Peru and for 30 years has resided in the Caribbean on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico.  He has worked on a wide range of projects and jobs that include journalism, community work, ranch manager, ship's mate, tropical forestry plantation manager, acupuncturist, massage therapist, disaster inspector, and teacher. In short, he has the ideal background for a writer, something he is now settling into aided by his extensive journals and note books. He writes a family diary blog that can be accessed at searchingfornuggets.blogspot.com. To date, he has published the Ayahuasca Trilogy: 'On Yaje Nights' (visionary poems & visions); 'The Dark Silence' (an ayahuasca memoir); and 'Looking For The Colonel' (a novel); and several books of poetry: 'Condensed Green Essence of Seven Firs' (Poems of yearning and place, set on Bodmin Moor); and 'Song of This Place' (poems & songs celebrating 30 years in Puerto Rico). His most recent book, released in January 2021 in both kindle and paperback, is 'Professor Ableweather,' a story of animal songs for the young and young at heart. It is his first children's book

https://www.amazon.com/Richard-Druitt/e/B00D3IXAOE/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

Layman is joined by Elliot Talenfeld to discuss his autobiographical novel, Through a Still Imperfect Lens, and to explore the concept of mutual therapy -- of authentic relationship as the field and fulcrum of psychospiritual development.  About the book:  In 1990, noted author and psychiatrist M. Scott Peck and attorney Elliot Talenfeld began what would become a decade-long correspondence. The two exchanged ideas about the practical and professional implications of Peck’s famous dictum, in The Road Less Traveled, that “any truly loving relationship is one of mutual psychotherapy.” Talenfeld and his therapist-wife had spent three years in an intentional, self-help community that practiced its own form of mutual therapy. After reviewing portions of a manuscript describing that experience, Peck encouraged Talenfeld to “continue to the end with writing this book, to which you quite obviously seem called.” (Peck passed away in 2005.) The result is a memoir that reads like a novel and serves as a case study on mutual therapy between a husband and a wife.   Elliot Talenfeld resides with his wife Carole in Phoenix, AZ. A former Clinical Law Professor and partner at a major law firm, he also holds a Master of Counseling degree and serves as a Cantor on the Jewish High Holidays.

http://www.stillimperfectlens.com/