How do we cultivate robust, ethical, convivial human beings who have access to their full cognitive, emotional, and motivational resources? How can we better live functional, enjoyable lives, contribute to our societies' health and evolution, keep growing internally, and maximize the potentials of our best states? In this new Integral Stage series, we will be talking to Integral psychotherapists about their practices and experiences, and about the psychotechnologies, philosophical maps, and emerging clinical insights that can best help us to clean up and grow up -- to heal and thrive.For episode 10, Layman is joined by Bettina Wichers to discuss her groundbreaking research into transpersonal gerontology and the overlap of certain features of dementia with transpersonal or mystical experience.Bettina Wichers is an independent gerontologist and lecturer at the University of Göttingen who has specialized in the understanding dementia. She has worked for more than 25 years with nurses and care-givers in nursing homes, and has developed a unique framework, based upon Integral Theory, which aims to brings all the issues surrounding dementia – medical, psychological, social, spiritual – into a coherent framework. She is currently engaged in writing a book which expresses her evolving understanding of dementia from a unitive perspective.

Pema Dragpa's new book, An Integral View of Tibetan Buddhism, is the inspiration for and ostensible focus of this conversation between Dragpa and Layman, but it is also just an excuse for them to get together to chat about their favorite dharma, meditation, and "transformative practice in a time between worlds" topics.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=an+integral+view+of+tibetan+buddhism+pema+dragpaLama Pema Dragpa is a resident Dharma teacher at Padma Samye Ling (PSL), the main monastery and retreat center of the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center (padmasambhava.org). This institute was founded and directed by the Nyingma Dzogchen masters Ven. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, who both trained and mastered the ancient traditions of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Lama Dragpa lives and teaches at Padma Samye Ling, and was ordained as a lama by the Ven. Khenpo Rinpoches. He is a senior editor of over 20 books on philosophy, meditation, and Buddhist tenets. Lama Dragpa graduated with honors in philosophy and religious studies from NYU in 2002, and is a certified Hospice volunteer. He has taught at Colgate University, Scranton University, and Binghamton Community College, and regularly travels to lead PBC events on traditional and contemporary Buddhist philosophy and meditation.

This was recorded in two parts earlier this year following the death of the influential, controversial and "integrally-informed" teacher of radical, evolutionary and collective enlightenment processes -- Andrew Cohen.

The Seven Facets of Awakened Wholeness series is a special Integral Stage / Pacific Integral co-production, highlighting dimensions of the Awakened Wholeness project which is being stewarded by Abigail Lynam and Geoff Fitch, with special support from Tucker Walsh.https://pacificintegral.substack.com/p/the-seven-facets-of-awakened-wholeness-bb0----------------------Abigail Lynam, PhD, is faculty for Fielding University’s PhD program in Human and Organizational Development and for Pacific Integral’s Generating Transformative Change leadership development program in Seattle and Ethiopia. Abigail’s scholarship and practice integrates the interior dimensions of human knowledge and experience (culture, worldviews, adult developmental psychology, wisdom traditions, etc.) with adult learning, leadership development, and social and ecological change work. Abigail is a skilled facilitator, developmental scorer, debriefer, and coach, teacher of awareness, shadow, and embodiment practices, and facilitator of Work that Reconnects. She lives in the Seattle area and is passionate about supporting personal, interpersonal, and collective development for healthier and more just systems.Geoff Fitch, MA, is a founding partner of Pacific Integral. Geoff is a coach, trainer, and facilitator of transformative growth in individuals and organizations. He has been studying and practicing diverse approaches to cultivating higher human potentials for twenty years. He also has twenty years experience in leadership in business.

Our exploration of "The Evolution of Tears" concludes with a look at the role of sorrow in visionary experience & spiritual maturity with a special focus on the need to reclaim and integrate the tears that we might displace onto "the angels." The key textual references here are Isaac and Ishmael.

The intricacies of establishing and unfolding intentional spiritual and philosophical communities with the Sensei of the Clear Sky Monastery.

The concept of the "post-tragic," associated with the work of Marc Gafni and a few others, is not in broad circulation. Alexander Love is deploying and investigating the term and I join him to suggest that it is basically a redux of Nietzsche's concept of the Tragic per se. Plus we talk Painting!

Chapter #5 - Bad Etiquette

LIFE ITSELF, THE SECOND RENAISSANCE, AND HUMAN TRANSFORMATION IN A TIME OF META-CRISISFor episode 14, Layman sits down with Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier to talk about the Life Itself and Second Renaissance communities and organizations, the importance of mapping the meta-communities, the role of art in cultural transformation, and the upcoming Harvard conference on the meta-crisis.Rufus Pollock is a Founder of Open Knowledge, an award-winning international digital non-profit. Formerly a Shuttleworth Fellow, the Mead Fellow in Economics at Cambridge University.Sylvie Barbier is a French-Taiwanese performance artist, entrepreneur and educator. She co-founded Life Itself to build a wiser future through culture, space and community.Life Itselfhttps://lifeitself.org/Second Renaissancehttps://secondrenaissance.net/intro

We continue our exploration of the backstory and intellectual journey to "Cosmo-erotic Humanism" with a further exploration of the relentless Rabbi's book on Tears. This time we focus on questions related to God's Voice, Laughter in Hell, Bondage & the Abraham/Isaac tale.