Dr. Keith Witt joined me and about 100 integralists from all over the world at The Integral Living Room gathering here in Boulder a few weeks ago, where we explored approaches to creating a higher-level interpersonal space among us. Because Keith’s ideas were so influential to the design of this event, I was interested in hearing about his experience and sharing my own.
Street art by Borondo from Spain
The Living Room was a sophisticated flex-flow workshop where we tried to hold a framework that was tight enough to give the gathering a structure, but loose enough that it could change as needed. We wanted information and influence to flow both ways, and for the we-space to tell us what it wanted to become. The entity created by the “we” seems to have it’s own destiny. It’s a tricky thing to pull off but we had an amazing group of people present and they were up to the task!
In this episode of The Shrink & The Pundit Keith and I talk a little bit about how we felt during and after the event. We talk about the difference between trans-rhetorical practice and integral trans-rhetorical practice, how to engage with other people in looking for a deeper truth that neither side knows yet, and letting yourself be influenced and led by the power of the we-space itself.
We also talked about the things that didn’t work quite as well, and what we would like to see more of in future gatherings. We both agree that one of the greatest gifts of community is its ability to reflect back to individuals the truth of who they are, and especially to help people see where they are spiking into higher levels of genius in one or more lines of development. Finding ways to evoke more of this is high on the list for future events.
Keith and I were both especially inspired by the young people who attended the gathering. We both see wisdom and awareness in these young twenty-somethings that we would normally associate with elders (and which was conspicuously absent in our boomer generation when we were in our youth). Integral consciousness is indeed arising earlier in individuals than ever before. Keith and I concur that these folks provide the best evidence of all that our future is in good hands.
Hear the full dialog here…
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On Dr. Keith Witt: I wonder what the word “fuck” gets him. Kiinda de-values his contributions.
Steve, I would say it gets him emphasis. It’s expressive.