Sunday, June 20, 2010

Incubator Day 5: Integral Christianity?

Continued from Day 4

Co-creation vs Surrender

Ross Hostetter
As the tension between co-creation and surrender is one of the themes of my book, when we were given the chance to sign up for a second coaching appointment, I decided to let the Universe choose. Earlier in the week, I had scrambled to get the appointment I wanted, so this time--even though I had three top choices--I let the other participants sign up first. Which three slots were left open? Yep, the Universe threw the choice back at me. I picked Ross Hostetter, an attorney who runs the business end of Boulder Integral and is writing a book on Integral Christianity.

My project of dialoguing with orthodox Christians would appear to be outside the focus that most Integral Christianity work has taken. Most the focus has been on expanding states of consciousness with meditation and contemplative prayer. (A broader picture is explored in Aqal Journal Spring 2006 including this great chart showing how congregations live in all four quadrants. Buy the full issue here.) Ross did seem more interested, though, after I showed him the video clip of me and Bishop Thomas that I received the congratulatory note about from Ken Wilber. Ross recommended I contact the publicist used by Michael Dowd for his book Thank God for Evolution.

Transformational Practice Groups
I also took the opportunity to share with Ross my enthusiasm about bringing spirituality into our daily lives via the small group process for transformational practices developed by my mentor James Jones. That's my group in DC in the photo below.

My Transformational Practices Group in DC.
From left: Justin Frank, Anita Conner, Amy Roth, Marianne Josem, Teri Murphy, and Malcolm
Transformational Practice Groups

Closing Rituals--and a Surprise
Our final day brought lots of hugs and chances to circle up for assessment and appreciation. Several people mentioned how Rev. Karen Francis had changed their image of Christian pastors. "You made it safe to say 'Jesus' again," said one person as everybody laughed. (Rev. Karen told me privately that her own experience in the New Age movement made her aware of the need to reintegrate a direct divine connection back into Christianity.)

And then Nomali surprised us--and I think Jeff as well--by telling an idea for future Incubators--focusing them on interest areas: integral education, integral health, integral Christianity, etc. The mere idea of an Incubator focused on Integral Christianity set of an explosion of ideas in my head. Would it be for people who want to launch a project that promotes Integral Christianity or for people who want to launch any kind of project from an Integral Christianity flavored "Big Womb"? I had been thinking that an Integral Incubator is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But now I'm thinking ONE may not be enough.


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