ILP Flashcards
What does integral mean?
The word integral means:
- comprehensive
- inclusive
- non-marginalizing
- embracing.
What is ILP at is core?
It’s a sincere, inherent commitment to bring:
awareness,
care,
and presence
to every moment of life—and thereby to increase one’s awareness, care, and presence.
An ILP practitioner naturally strives for a: healthy body, a clear mind, an open heart, a commitment to a higher purpose.
It touches every aspect, every moment of life, you’re not stuck in any one perspective, but free to flex and evolve with life itself.
What is an integral approach?
Integral approaches to any field attempt to include as many: perspectives,
styles,
and methodologies as possible
within a coherent view of the topic.
Integral approaches are “meta-paradigms,”
or ways to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching.
What is a Post-Metaphysical Approach?
ILP is post-metaphysical approach.
This means that no perspective on reality is merely given to consciousness. Every perspective is enacted.
A post-metaphysical, Integral approach claims that you must actually do an Integral practice to experience an Integral reality.
A post-metaphysical approach requires an open, inquisitive attitude.
Note:
In a sense, post-metaphysics is an expression of the scientific impulse—that is, of empirical experimentation and experiential validation—but expanded to all levels and dimensions of our being, instead of only the material plane.
What does Integral Cross-training do?
Integral cross-training applies the same cross-training principle—which holds that gains in one area will accelerate gains in others—across all levels and dimensions of our being.
The 4 Core Modules simultaneously activate several powerful synergies, between body and mind, spirit and body, shadow (the unconscious) and spirit.
Additional modules can further intensify these benefits.
By engaging a module in one area of life, you increase the effectiveness of every other module in every other area of life.
Note:
Typical cross-training is flat. You do some aerobics, some weightlifting, maybe some yoga—but it’s all at the physical level.
Which are the 4 CORE Modules of Integral Life Practice?
Integral Life Practice has 4 Core Modules:
Body
Mind
Spirit
Shadow
What does the ancient greek word KOSMOS mean?
Kosmos with a “K” is the word the ancient Greeks used to denote a universe that includes not just the physical reality of stars, planets, and black holes (which is what “Cosmos” usually means), but also the realms of: mind, soul, society, art, Spirit —in other words, everything.
Name some additional important modules?
Integral Ethics
Integral Sexual Yoga
Work
Transmuting Emotions
Integral Parenting
Integral Relationships
Integral Communication
Which are the 3 kinds of health that ILP includes and integrates?
- Horizontal Health:
Our dynamic fulfillment of the possibilities for awareness, aliveness, and care available to us at our current stage of development - Vertical Health:
Our continued growth into greater consciousness and complexity—thus outgrowing old ways of being, and moving into new stages of development - Essential Health:
At any stage of development, our contact with, attunement to, and realization of Spirit—the Mystery, Suchness, or is-ness of this and every moment.
Which are the stages of moral development?
Moral development tends to move from “me” (egocentric) to “us” (ethnocentric) to “all of us” (worldcentric) to “all sentient beings” (kosmocentric):
Egocentric = me
Ethnocentric = us
Worldcentric = all of us (all people and the planet we live on)
Kosmocentric = the whole sentient, unfolding Kosmos
Explain the 1-MINUTE MODULE:
What’s Your Deepest Motivation?
Do it regularly, at the beginning of any practice or session:
- Place both hands over your heart, and take a few deep breaths.
- Feel any activity in your mind, heart, and gut.
- Feel into your deepest motivation for practice:
What is your real desire?
What’s behind the “pushes” or “pulls” that you’re experiencing right now?
What’s arising in your self-awareness?
Feel what motivates you most deeply in this moment and be aware of it. - Finally, feel or be aware of the Witness of your experience—the Witness being the part of your awareness that simply observes the content that is your experience.
What is the experiencer behind this and every experience?
What is it that’s aware of, and therefore not, your motivations? - Breathe and relax into this awareness for a few moments. . . .
Then let it go, and move on.
What are the FOUR QUADRANTS?
The quadrants refer to four dimensions of your being-in-the-world:
- your individual interior
(i. e., your thoughts, feelings, intentions and psychology), - your collective interior
(i. e., your relationships, culture, and shared meaning), - your individual exterior
(i. e., your physical body and behaviors), - your collective exterior
(i. e., your environment and social structures and systems).
They also refer to four corresponding perspectives in your present awareness:
I, We, It, and Its.
4 Quadrants = 360° of Life
Got a Feel for “I”?
Tune into your “I” space, your interior as a conscious individual, an intentional sentient being with a sense of “self.”
What’s going on in there?
What’s arising within the landscape of your own consciousness?
What sensations do you feel in your “I” space?
What emotions do you feel in your “I” space?
What psychological dynamics occur in your “I” space?
Thoughts, ideas, opinions, intentions, motivations, purpose, vision, values, worldview, and life philosophy all exist within your personal interiors. h
Witness the empty space holding the bubbly water that is your interior consciousness, your “I” space.
Got a Feel for “We”?
Choose any relationship that you’re in and imagine being together with this other person.
Recollect the shared feelings and emotions present whenever you’re with them.
A “We” space exists when there is mutual recognition, communication, and shared understanding.
Right now you can feel the actual texture of those shared experiences, thoughts, insights, and emotions—this miracle called “we.”
When I encounter you, and you and I communicate, we begin resonating, sharing, and understanding each other, at least enough to exchange some sense of meaning.
Two “I’s,” become a “we.”
Consider the vast diversity of “We” spaces: the family we, the workplace we, the romantic we, the sports team we, the best friend we, the neighborhood community we, the meditation group we, the national we, the global we, and on and on.
Notice that these shared spaces have actual felt textures, each unique.
Got a Feel for “It”?
“It” space is the perspective of looking at surfaces, objectifying things and people, and sensing behaviors.
“It” space has a feeling of “thingness” because it’s the realm of individual exteriors.
You can see it, touch it, taste it, smell it, hear it, and point to it.
Turn your attention to the exterior dimension of your self, your “It” space.
Many layers of complexity—from subatomic particles to atoms to molecules to cells to tissues to organs to organ systems—compose our physical body.
Our Innards Are Actually Exteriors. Though our brain, blood, and guts may be located inside our physical bodies, they’re still in our “It” space because they’re still exteriors of our being.
Stop and feel the “It” space.
What you do with your physical body—your behavior—is also an example of “It” space.
How do you show up in the world?
What do you do?
Got a Feel for “Its”?
Take a moment to look around at your immediate environment. Where are you?
Wherever you are, you’re in relationship with local exterior surroundings such as other nearby organisms, buildings, and geographical landforms.
Visualize the great web of life, feel your connection with the many physical ecosystems in your “Its” space.
A feeling of interconnectedness is natural once a person can comprehend his or her participation in the world’s countless intertwining systems.
Examples of shared exteriors include political systems, legal systems, and economic systems.
Institutions (for example, educational, governmental), businesses (such as Google), and nonprofit organizations (like the Red Cross) mesh together to form society’s infrastructure.
These intersections include, perhaps most interestingly, extensive systems and networks of communication that link us all together.
Explain the 1-MINUTE MODULE:
Get a Feel for Integral Awareness
- Quickly expand your awareness.
Take a moment to feel your “l-ness”—everything inside you that makes you you.
Now, feel your “We-ness”—your relationships with others.
Next, feel your “It-ness”—your physical body in all its complexity, including all the energies surrounding your objective presence in the world.
Finally, feel your “Its-ness”—your membership and participation in the many systems in which your life is embedded.
Just feel your awareness expand into these important dimensions of reality.
- Notice where you tend to get stuck. Which quadrant do you tend to focus your attention on when it comes to your job, your health, or your intimate relationship? Are you mostly concerned with I, We, It, or Its?
- Use all 4 quadrants! At any moment, feel into the 4 quadrants of your existence, which are simply your I, We, It, and Its dimensions.
- Now take it to infinity: Notice that all 4 quadrants are arising within your awareness right now—an awareness that includes everything.
Feel your own pure awareness—where even your little I or ego arises, along with your We, It, and Its perspectives.
Feel that open, pleasurable awareness, and go on about your day.
What Is the Shadow?
The term “shadow” refers to the “dark side” of the psyche—those aspects of ourselves that we’ve split off, rejected, denied, hidden from ourselves, projected onto others, or otherwise disowned.
In the language of psychotherapy, the shadow is referred to as the “repressed unconscious”—repressed because we’ve pushed or “pressed” it out of our awareness, and unconscious because we’re not aware of it!
It expresses itself through distorted and unhealthy means—or what are typically called “neuroses.”
What is the purpose of Shadow Work?
The purpose of shadow work, and of the Shadow module, is to undo the repression and reintegrate the shadow in order to improve our psychological health and clarity.
Which aspects of life does the shadow influence?
Becoming aware of and owning your shadow material will bring:
- greater intimacy and honesty to your relationships
- free up repressed energy in your body
- add clarity and effectiveness to your work
- increase your capacity for authentic and ethical behaviour
- may even help you improve your finances
In the 3-2-1 Shadow Process what is 1st-Person Identification?
The split-off self was once a part of what the self knew as I or me. But, for whatever reasons or life conditions, this aspect posed a threat to my sense of self.
If we were able to acknowledge and accept the primary emotion or drive: “I am ___ and that’s okay,” it would not have become dissociated and then displaced onto someone or something “out there.”
1st person = the one speaking (I)
In the 3-2-1 Shadow Process what is 2nd-Person Identification?
When aspects of the self become unacceptable, we might push them out of awareness into the 2nd person. In other words, the disowned aspects of our self that we fear, are ashamed of, or disapprove of become part of what I see in you, not me.
You are ____. (Fill in the blank.)
But I am not. I am not . . .
2nd person = the one being spoken to (you)
In the 3-2-1 Shadow Process what is 3rd-Person Identification?
When the threat of the emotion or situation is so great to the sense of self that it requires a total rejection, we move from owning it ourselves (1st person) to relating to it as something that belongs to others (2nd person) to finally banishing it totally as an It—an object that has nothing to do with me (3rd person).
By making it an It, we push the rejected quality furthest from our awareness. “Anger? What are you talking about?”
The split-off quality becomes a dissociated “it” that remains unknown and dark to us—the shadow.
3rd person = the one being spoken about (him/her/it)
What are the Potential Outcomes of Practicing the 3-2-1 Shadow Process?
A re-integration of split off parts of self.
An energetic boundary is dissolved and energy is freed up.
Compassion or empathy arises.
Other insights may emerge such as identifying the original source of the projection.
Creative strategies or actions come into awareness.
The situation or person is no longer irritating, compelling, devastating, or distracting.
How can you recognise the shadow?
You can recognise the shadow in two ways.
1) Makes you negatively hypersensitive, easily triggered, reactive, irritated, angry, hurt, or upset. Or it may keep coming up as an emotional tone or mood that pervades your life.
OR
2) Makes you positively hypersensitive, easily infatuated, possessive, obsessed, overly attracted, or perhaps it becomes an ongoing idealization that structures your motivations or mood.
Explain the 3-2-1 Shadow Process.
Begin with a “difficult person” to whom you are attracted or by whom you are repelled or disturbed (for example, a lover, boss, or parent.)
Alternatively, pick a dream image or a body sensation that distracts you or otherwise causes you to fixate on it.
Keep in mind that the disturbance may be a positive or negative one.
3 – Face It
2 – Talk to It
1 – Be It
How do you face the shadow?
Observe the disturbance very closely, and then, using a journal to write in or an empty chair to talk to, describe the person, situation, image, or sensation in vivid detail using 3rd-person pronouns such as “he,” “him,” “she,” “her,” “they,” “their,” “it,” “its,” etc.
This is your opportunity to explore your experience of the disturbance fully, particularly what it is that bothers you about it.
Don’t minimize the disturbance—take the opportunity to describe it as fully and in as much detail as possible.
How do you talk to the shadow?
Enter into a simulated dialogue with this object of awareness using 2nd-person pronouns (“you” and “yours”).
This is your opportunity to enter into a relationship with the disturbance, so talk directly to the person, situation, image, or sensation in your awareness.
You may start by asking questions such as, “Who/what are you? Where do you come from? What do you want from me? What do you need to tell me? What gift are you bringing me?”
Then allow the disturbance to respond back to you.
Imagine realistically what they would say and actually write it down or vocalize it.
How am I the shadow?
Write or speak in 1st person, using the pronouns “I,” “me,” and “mine,” be the person, situation, image, or sensation that you have been exploring.
See the world, including yourself, entirely from the perspective of that disturbance and allow yourself to discover not only your similarities, but how you really are one and the same.
Finally, make a statement of identification: “I am ______” or “______ is me.” This, by its nature, will almost always feel very discordant or “wrong.” Try it on for size, since it contains at least a kernel of truth.
You complete the process of fully re-owning the shadow when you actually feel this previously excluded feeling or drive until it resonates clearly as your own. Let the previously excluded reality register not just abstractly but on multiple levels of your being.
This engenders a shift in awareness, emotion, and subtle energy.
You’ll know that the process has worked because you’ll actually feel lighter, freer, more peaceful and open, and sometimes even high or giddy. It makes a new kind of participation in life possible.
Explain the 1-MINUTE MODULE:
The 3-2-1 Shadow Process
You can do the 3-2-1 process any time you need it.
Two particularly useful times are right when you ☀wake up in the morning and just before going to bed at night.
Morning:
First thing in the morning (before getting out of bed) review your last dream and identify any person or object with an emotional charge. Face that person or object by holding it in mind. Then talk to that person or object (or resonate with it, just feeling what it would be like to be face to face.) Finally, be that person or object by taking its perspective.
Evening:
Last thing before going to bed, choose a person who either disturbed or attracted you during the day. In your mind, face him or her, talk to him or her, and then be him or her (as described above).
Describe in few words Shadow Work with Transmuting Emotions.
What was “it”
becomes “I.”
What was “I”
becomes “mine”
and is witnessed by I AM.
Thus, its energy is reclaimed and liberated.
What is the five-step approach of transmuting?
1⃣ Notice what you are feeling and how this shows up in your body, both physically and energetically.
2⃣ Relax and allow it to be what it is, embracing it with awareness.
3⃣ If your emotion is about someone or something, relax your relationship to the object. Let the emotional energy be there. Notice that it is arising within you. Relax into full responsibility for your emotional patterns and energies.
4⃣ Feel the energy of your emotion and the situation or relationship in which it is arising. Breathe and allow the energy of the emotion to flow. Notice how that can take place constructively rather than destructively. Take several breaths and notice how the emotion changes as it is channeled and circulated.
5⃣ Pay attention until you recognize the transitory nature of the emotion and allow its raw energy to self-liberate, like water boiling into steam, as a free, unobstructed, and positive expression.
What does AQAL stand for?
AQAL stands for “all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, and all types.”
AQAL is a “theory of everything” because it actively makes room for and consciously includes as many ways of knowing as we’re aware of—from phenomenology to systems science, cultural studies to empiricism, contemplation to developmental psychology, and more.
What are the QUADRANTS?
Quadrants combine two of the most fundamental distinctions in the Kosmos: interior/exterior and individual/collective.
The four resulting intersections give us the interior and exterior of the individual and collective (I, We, It, Its).
- Interiors (including thoughts, feelings, meanings, and meditative experiences) and Exteriors (including atoms, brains, bodies, and behaviors).
- Individuals (which have their own distinct forms and experience) and Collectives (which interact together in cultural groups and systems)
What are the LEVELS?
Levels are higher-order structures that emerge as evolution breaks into new territory.
These structures reflect altitudes of consciousness (such as egocentric, ethnocentric, worldcentric).
Also sometimes called “stages” or “waves” of development.
