The Plateau

Posted on Monday, 2 May 2011 by mikeschu

For a lot of people, it’s considered an enemy.

When starting out on a new practice, the learning curve is our best friend. We’re not expected to be experts right away. Nobody is initially an expert at anything unless they invented it.

In these moments, growth is easy. We learn with each step. From our fumbles and our stumbles we understand what to do and what not to do. The first few tries we may literally or metaphorically fall down, but the lessons come fast and easy. With each small success our confidence soars and we feel able to work with the practices.

At some point the growth curve flattens out.

The plateau.

People say that this is the “boring” part. Success breeds success, but it’s hard to tell if anything is happening or not. Some people become discouraged with the path at this point and walk off of it. Some think it’s easy and end up getting complacent. A few people will become impatient, try to force their way across, and get injured in the process. Some never seem to move past it. But the plateau separates the men and women from the boys and girls of the practice.

I love George Leonard’s view of the plateau. He writes in the book The Way of Aikido that most learning occurs while we’re on the plateau.

On the plateau, many people want a quick fix. Oftentimes there isn’t one. It takes discipline, intentionality, hard work, and a grander view of the practice to cross the plateau. The daily work with the practice may not look anything like advancement in isolation, and it’s easy to get discouraged when there isn’t any visible progress. Weeks, months, even years can go by when there isn’t much of anything to note. Yet we keep walking across the plateau.

One day when we show up for the practice, something clicks within us.

We get it.

We’re not sure how it happened or if we can point to anything in particular, but the plateau is done with us. Whatever practice we were working on is now fully integrated within ourselves, never to be lost. Of course, there’s usually another goal to work towards and a plateau in front of it, but that a-ha moment enlivens us to tackle the next plateau with the fervor of a beginner all over again.

The jumps of ability and in our practices occur because of the work we do in the face of stagnation. Weeks of working on the balance for crow pose, writing for a novel, or understanding a new language – the moments where it all sinks in and we get it are why we stick with the practice through the plateau.

George Leonard calls us to embrace the plateau and make it our friend, for it is the true obstacle to greatness and mastery of the practice. This week I encourage you to do the same.

Get on the mat. Start writing on a fresh tablet of paper. Write a few lines of code. Whatever the practice wants from you – or requires of you – do it.  Make the practice play and suddenly the plateau becomes fun. Who would have thought that the plateau work can be fun?

Whatever your practice is, don’t hate the plateau. Embrace it. Enjoy the plateau while you’re on it, for it holds the key to your success.

image credit: seaofvapours

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Why Ev Bogue And I (Didn’t Really) Quit Minimalism

Posted on Monday, 25 April 2011 by mikeschu

Everett Bogue didn’t really quit minimalism.

For those in the know, Ev (as I’ll call him) was a successful blogger and writer on the subject of minimalism. His blog Far Beyond The Stars achieved national success and made Ev a fair amount of money through his information products. Earlier this year he chose to let it all go, opting for a different life path than what was laid out and expected of him by his fans. He admits he could have had a stream of writers publish guest postings as he continued to sell his e-books, but chose not to do so.

I think a lot of people were surprised at the decision, but some people incorrectly surmised was that he was very literally quitting minimalism. So instead of living with less than one hundred possessions, he was going to buy more stuff, furnish an apartment, get a car, and live a peaceful if conventional life. Personally I didn’t perceive that to be the case. From reading some of the articles that he wrote late in the process it became clear to me that it would have been far too great of a shift to turn back to his previous life. I think he would have announced it very differently if he arrived at that conclusion.

My own experiences with yoga and working with Integral theory also support that, if anything, there was a transformation of consciousness occurring over time that eventually bubbled up on a Web page and a three-minute video. The fact that he literally didn’t quit minimalism was confirmed in a blog post on his new site soon after its launch.

I also went through a similar process with minimalism at about the same time Ev did. Prior to writing about integral theory, I wrote for months on the subject of minimalism. I didn’t deliver the news of a change in the same manner as Ev did; instead I worked on it more subtly. Some of the same thoughts went through my head a couple of days before the video hit the Web. Only after sitting with the experiences was I able to understand what Ev and I went through without having an emotional reaction to it.

Ken Wilber has something to say about this. In his book Up From Eden, he describes two processes when it comes to personal growth and consciousness: transformation and translation. Both have the meanings you would expect. Transformation implies a deep change in bodymind structures, while translation is a change in the approach within a given bodymind structure. Wilber describes both in relation to each other with a metaphor of an apartment building. Transformation is when you move up or down a floor in the apartment building, while translation is where you rearrange everything on the floor. Relative to the magnitude of Ev’s shift, the experience of walking away from minimalism was a transformative one. Moving away from the term “cybernetic yogi” in his current work is more of a translation.

The difference between translation and transformation can also be defined relative to each other. Once a transformation has occurred, your bodymind structures do the translations based on the new information the bodymind is working at. Thus we’re translating all of the time, but to do transformational work means we’re retrofitting how we translate in each and every moment.

Transformation Triggers

All of this serves a purpose. Why did Ev transform his career bodymind from one of being a minimalist to being one of a technologist? There are several possible triggers of the transformation outside of instant enlightenment. To be fair this is only my perception of what happened and how this can be achieved in every practice we undertake. Keep in mind I’m also working with a very small sample size, namely one event and a few blog posts.

Full integration. Enough experiences and sustained effort can make any practice unconscious and effortless. In this case Ev has been diligently working on minimalism for so long, it’s part of his bodymind now without any thought. One post in particular on Far Beyond the Stars appears to be a contributor. A similar parallel is riding a bike. Once most people learn to ride a bike, it’s difficult to learn how not to ride one. It’s true that some of the bike technology changes (e.g. lever shifters to grip shifters to newer ones on the handlebars/brakes) but the general principle of how to ride a bike holds true.

Completion of the path. It’s possible that Ev experienced everything on the minimalist path or saw the end of it. Another example of this is college: once you graduate or drop out, that’s the end of the college path at that specific point. While you can start on the college path again, you’re certainly transformed for better or worse due to the experience. Granted, I perceive the minimalist path a little differently, but everyone can still walk the minimalist path after experiencing it the first time.

Expanded worldview and/or deeper realization of purpose. While Ev was working through minimalism and on his yoga practice, some other event occurred along the way that changed the way he looked at the world and his reason for incarnating on it. It may have been a quick hit or it unfolded over time, but something external to this particular conversation may have made him realize that there’s something he’s supposed to be doing that doesn’t focus on writing about minimalism. Standing in a hotel parking lot at 3:30am asking who we are qualifies as a good example here. Frequently you may hear of practitioners of meditation, yoga, tai chi or other martial arts experience similar transformations as they work with their practices. Other significant life changes (e.g. divorce, major illness, etc) fall into this category.

Running out of material. More objectively, it’s possible that after a while one can run out of things to contribute. Once people are on the minimalist path, eventually they realize that there is an asymptotic limit to the extent of minimalism. The extreme limiting case is asceticism: minimal possessions, friends, and everything else. Most people hit a sweet spot well before that happens unless a forced change occurred (e.g. a fire destroys everything you own). Ev may be hinting about this when he states all that is needed to become a minimalist is to rent a dumpster*.

Ev’s leadership bodymind structure. It’s possible Ev is not meant to be a leader of large numbers of people. Transforming an entire community or city of people takes work, and it requires a different skill set than being on the sharp end of a small movement. As movements and organizations get bigger, more infrastructure is required to maintain the momentum. As a consequence its leaders tend to move away from the smaller details and towards a high-level view. That’s why C-level executives appear not to care about small logistical issues and challenges. My example is simple: I formed a Toastmasters group at work and was its first President. Leading 35 people in an executive role is much different than either being a technically oriented leader of eight co-workers or being the CEO of Google. Ev’s insistence on working with small numbers of people through his letter may indicate this may be true, but I can’t confirm it myself except through his basic philosophy.

Market mechanics. Ev admits this one, though I think there’s a better article out there. Even though he admits FBTS was his first business, he may turn out to be a shrewd businessman. Back in 2008 when he started writing Far Beyond The Stars, there was a demand for someone to write about minimalism. As he became one of the Great Internet Success Stories, more and more people started writing about minimalism in their own way. While this is certainly desirable – each of us has our own way of communicating that can inspire and move others – the minimalism market in late 2010 or early 2011 may have reached a saturation point even though he was one of the market leaders. The book Blue Ocean Strategy details this well from a business perspective. It’s better to swim in clear blue water where there is little competition instead of “red” water tainted by the blood-letting of market mechanics at their finest (their words, not mine).

Putting it Together

What do the transformation triggers mean? My sense is that most if not all of the reasons for moving from minimalism detailed above are linked with each other. One possible story that we can put together about Ev is that by doing market research and writing, he found that there wasn’t much to write about due to a lot of people writing about minimalism. Once that became apparent, he sat with it and contemplated the deeper meaning of it all. Then he realized that there is a deeper meaning to his minimalist path and integrated it all in, leading to his next great adventure. This is one possible storyline, and it may not be the correct one (I doubt it is). What is important is that while it can appear one event caused a shift, it is very unlikely that only one trigger caused a leap in a case like this.

For my minimalism practice, the specific trigger point occurred a couple of days before Ev released his video. The specific transformation trigger for me was the realization that I was going to run out of material to write. I had seen the path for what it was earlier – something that is always available and a practice instead of a movement – but that does not mean that I have infinite material to put on a blog. Sitting with the realization of generating material led me to understand that being on the minimalist path was necessary and that it is a part of the bigger picture of my purpose. I don’t feel the need to be a professional organizer, but I can sense that minimalism is part of an overall body of work that I’m called to teach. Everett may or may not have the same feelings, but I gather that he had a similar conversation with himself.

For you, the reader, there are a couple of things to take away from this analysis. First, the awareness of transformation triggers can serve as solace that something is happening and that you’re not certifiably crazy. It is very stressful and confusing to be in situations where your family and friends cannot relate to what is going on within you. From this awareness the clarity can develop on the next actions and the people you must seek to assist you in your transformation. Second, note that transformation can get confusing and messy. Transformation implies a rewriting of one’s bodymind structures. The proverbial cart is being upset; this can lead to some highly charged and stressful times. One important consideration is that the knowledge gained will always remain once the transformation is complete. For example, you can choose to stop being a minimalist after time while retaining the lessons and knowledge from being on the path. Ev and I are still minimalists, and we still keep our lessons in mind, but it’s now unconsciously a part of our bodymind structure. Finally, resisting transformation is detrimental to your bodymind structures. Refusing to acknowledge that a trigger has arrived indicates that you can be struggling or stagnating with change, which doesn’t serve you or anyone else on the planet. Ev could have resisted the transformation away from minimalism by keeping FBTS alive, but he intuitively knew he would have been miserable if he kept things going the way they were. I could have continued to write about minimalism, but the post rate would have dried up and the blog would have died.

Minimalists and bloggers alike, Everett Bogue and I have not quit minimalism. We’re not running around in Hummers and owning five-bedroom houses. Instead we realize and honor its experiences on the path and will use them in our future endeavors. I hope that our experiences can help you in your endeavors to transform.

* While the dumpster path is very shocking and transformative, it’s not earth- or community-friendly. Consider donating, recycling, or paying it forward whenever possible.

image credit: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

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The April 2011 Update

Posted on Thursday, 21 April 2011 by mikeschu

You can safely skip this blog post if you aren’t interested in how things are coming along for 2011 – but you may want to read my thoughts on how to find purpose.

In the Western world we tend to plan using January 1st as the start of a new year. Other calendars have specific start dates. I recently celebrated my birthday, and with it being about four months in to the calendar year I usually use the day to check up on my goals and aspirations for the calendar year.

Astrologers believe that it makes more sense to plan a year based on one’s birthday as the start date. This may feel more intuitive or irrational, but it can provide a different perspective than using a standard calendar year. Regardless of the calendar you use, regular reviews of goals and ideas are essential to one’s success. If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know if you’re on the right path or if you’ve already made it? Thus this entry is dedicated to a brief review of how things are going since 1 January 2011.

The Brief Status Update

In my first post of 2011 I set up a few commitments, small projects, focus words, and a theme for the year. So far most everything is going well, but I’d like to touch up on a few things in particular for my readers:

  • Most of my small projects are well on their way, except for bike repair which may get left out this year in favor of other projects.
  • My commitments are holding steady. In particular, yoga and meditation have been a wonderful revelation. My practice has opened me up physically. I’ve noticed a calmness that I didn’t have before by not focusing on entrepreneurial work and lots of unnecessary personal development reading. I’d like to add that weaning off of Facebook has significantly helped here too.
  • My writing took off in a different direction than I anticipated. I fell off the cart of daily writing once I became sick in March. However, I managed to write some of Ev Bogue’s Augmented Humanity HOWTO. I should try to complete that project but it may be a while before it’s fully refined.
  • If you haven’t noticed, I have effectively stopped writing about minimalism. I’ll explore why in the next week or two. However, I’m getting more clarity about what stuff in my life that I need to liberate next. I don’t see minimalism fading from my life at all, but the pace of reduction will slow.
  • The travel bug has certainly kicked in. My summer trip is planned, I have a weekend trip in October, and I’m looking for other places to go as well. I also have a large number of places that I want to see. Most of the travel plans coming to the surface involve air travel.
  • With everything the way it is now, I am letting go of bike touring. While I love the concept, right now it is too low on the priority list to put any energy towards it.

2011 Focus and My Purpose

All of the above means that I haven’t focused on developing this year’s focus as much as I intended to. Recall that my focus this year as defined earlier is to help others through developing negotiation, diplomacy and other soft skills. I think this year it will continue to hold true, but this year is not going the way I had originally thought it would. A few readers posed questions about my mission and purpose in life, so I think this is a good time to share what I know.

If I had to select a piece of advice about life mission and purpose that has helped me the most in the last year, Mars Dorian wrote it. I like how he approaches the problem in a contrarian fashion. Instead of working on purpose through the what-how-why approach, he asks you to reverse it. Start working on “why”, then look at “how”, then finally fill in “what”. By doing this, I was able to see why my business ideas never really gained any traction – I was focusing on what and how first instead of why. At least I understand that in hindsight.

Looking deep into the mission question, I believe I have the “why” question answered to the best of the insight I have. I believe we have to retrofit our bodymind structures in order to experience happiness in ourselves and save the planet we are living on. We cannot live lives that are wholly objective, self-interested, or ethnocentric if we are to continue as a species.

As for “how”, the answer is coming clearer each week. I feel that I am here to facilitate the transformation of humanity and the continued sustainable development of the planet we live on.  For me it is about integration of different parts of ourselves. Most of the work that needs to be done in this area expands well beyond the gross physical plane and the bodies we reside in. This means that I’ve been engaging in a lot more subtle body work and reading about transpersonal states of being. Integral theory and minimalism are two vectors to achieve this growth. I consider yoga and meditation to be primary practices as well. Most of the growth is also done with resolving contradictions and dissolving boundaries that may only exist in the mind. I’m sure I’m missing other portions of “how” to accomplish my mission, because I feel incomplete with my answer as I write it.

If there’s a question that I haven’t been able to answer, it is the “what” question. I haven’t been able to fully grasp the actual things and roles I need to do to achieve my mission. I have ideas and vague pieces, but it isn’t coming together. For instance, I’m not supposed to be a healer in this lifetime. So teaching yoga and energy work is out for me, though I can see myself working with aspects of both. Writing is one avenue, but this life isn’t about being a (solo) infopreneur. Teaching feels the best right now. People have told me that they see me as a seminar leader or speaker at some point, and I seem to identify with that. I understand some of my talents – negotiation, diplomacy, being able to see multiple perspectives of a problem – but it feels like everything has not locked into place. I’m as comfortable with that as I can be, though it is unnerving to think that it hasn’t come together for me yet.

What this means for my 2011 focus is that it may very well change. April feels different than January in ways that I did not anticipate. Based on some writing I did earlier in the year, I may not focus on diplomacy, negotiation and publicizing others like I was planning. Instead this might be a year to do a little more explanation, exploration, and fleshing out of the vision for my mission. As you can see, it is a little unclear about how everything is integrating, and what better way to practice what I preach but by integrating who I am?

Feel free to let me know how your 2011 is progressing, or whatever calendar year you are using to track your goals and aspirations.

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Flow Driving

Posted on Monday, 11 April 2011 by mikeschu

One of the things I enjoy the most is driving a manual transmission car.

I currently own a BMW 325i sedan with a five-speed manual transmission and use it to motor around Southern California. It’s a great machine that I love driving across town and on long car trips. The minimalists out there might freak out that I own a car, but given the bike and mass transit situation between the things I enjoy doing it’s the only realistic transportation option I have at the moment.

I was thinking about my car while I read the book Timeshifting, which was written by one of the founders of the Omega Institute. Part of the book explains that we need to be more in tune with the flow around us in order to relieve stress and apparent time pressures. The book and entries from another blog led me to think about the flow state in a more Integral way.

I liken the change of flows to driving a car with a manual transmission. A manual transmission takes more work and more presence to operate than a car that handles the gears automatically. It also allows for a far greater control of our situation, with the granularity we choose to use. The freedom associated with selecting our own rate of flow is always available to us, and it is up to us to find what our optimal flow is and how we can best get into it.

Beyond finding our own flow, we also need to feel the flow of the world around us so that we can be in tune with it as we work with the world. While there is an amazing feeling of oneness we experience when we are fully in our own flow, the world does not work at the same flow rate. Different parts of the world have different flow rates. For instance, life moves at a much slower pace in rural New Mexico than it does in New York City. Those of us who have been in large cities and vacation to the beach or a Caribbean island notice the flow once we step on the sand; to the locals we seem to always be in a rush for those first few days. A farmer visiting the big city is viewed as the opposite – they seem to be slow relative to the vibration of the city.

Different situations also require different flows of life, and it is up to each of us to match that flow for optimal results. For instance, if I’m mentoring someone new at work, I need to interact with them at a slower pace than I do with one of the experienced programmers on my team. The same goes when I am in a relationship and an emotionally-charged issue comes to our awareness. It is folly to barrel through it at high speed like a hot knife through cold butter, unless I particularly want to sleep outside or on the couch that night.

Fortunately, the same capacity to find our own flow internally can be used to externally match where we are in the world. It takes being present to what’s happening around us and noticing how people feel and move in the moment, either verbally or physically. Matching the flow state of the spaces around us when called upon is very important because it avoids additional stress or anxiety from being too impatient or impeding others. We all know this from driving on the freeway – the most optimal speed is the one that matches the flow of traffic. Too fast, and you risk getting pulled over for speeding, no matter what the speed limit is. (This is usually cited as moving “too fast for conditions”.) Too slow, and you can create an accident or a significant backup of traffic.

From the realization of what flow state to be in, it is simply a matter of moving from your own flow rate to matching the one you are immersed in.

Speeding up to an optimal flow rate is similar to accelerating on the highway – once enough momentum is built in the engine, the gears can be shifted (consciously!) to the next higher level, allowing for more speed and momentum to build. It takes time to build up this momentum; even dragsters on a 1/4 mile strip don’t instantaneously accelerate to 300 miles an hour. For us, it requires finding our own rituals to build up moment from the start of a practice, or taking a moment to shift our “mental gears” and get into the faster flow of the world.

For most people, finding a faster flow isn’t an issue – it’s the “slowing down” part that we need help on. The way to slow down the pace is just like downshifting a car. A manual transmission requires you to disengage the clutch, select the right gear, and slowly re-engage the clutch in order for it to help with the slowing process. (Brakes also help here.) In our lives, it’s as simple as being present to the situation, taking stock of the flow, taking a deep breath or three, and then re-engaging one’s awareness to the slower pace. The rest will usually take care of itself.

The most advanced practitioners of flow states are similar to Zen Buddhist monks. They have an amazing ability to maintain and impart their own powerful flow state consciously and with loving awareness, while shrinking the gap between mindfully changing flow states. This takes time and experience with selecting the best flow rate not only for one’s self, but in spite of one’s self to serve a greater purpose while remaining comfortable with it.

One other thing about flow – you may find that you want to depress the clutch in and float in neutral, without being in gear. That’s fine, and it’s healthy to do that once in a while. It’s important to realize that the engine of the earth is still idling along when you are not engaged with it. The world needs you to have the clutch engaged so you can contribute its power to help others on this planet.

Today, consider how you remain mindful your own flow state and how you interact with the flow states of others. Let me know how your work with flow is… well, flowing.

image credit: brilliantmichael

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Every Action Is An Asana

Posted on Monday, 4 April 2011 by mikeschu

In yoga, an asana is a specific pose one performs as part of their physical practice.

Each pose has a specific form, and according to yogic texts they have benefits to the body that may not be apparent. For instance, shoulderstand is great for moving the blood and lymph around in ways that aren’t normally done. Pigeon pose is great for stretching out the hips and the emotions they store, and who doesn’t like corpse pose at the end of a yoga session? I’m usually clamoring for just a few more minutes of silence at the end of a class before I head out of the studio completely refreshed.

Off of the yoga mat, it surprisingly works the same way. Most if not all of us know that there’s more to our existence than the physical realm we live in. As I’ve said before, we have numerous bodymind structures that comprise who we are. We have our mental health, our financial health, our emotional health and so on. If there wasn’t such a distinction, it would be a simple matter of going go to the gym or becoming a fitness and health expert so as to maximize our physical and overall health. While I recommend that exercise is an integral part of one’s life, a significant imbalance occurs by focusing exclusively on one specific bodymind structure over the rest.

The Other Asanas

As I suggested in the title, virtually every action or task you do is a pose, a part of one’s overall life practice. It’s just a matter of identifying that they are practices and that there are experienced practitioners and gurus that can help you along the way. Consider the following bodymind structures and the asanas one can partake in as examples.

Physical: You can hire a personal trainer to help out with exercise. You can also prepare and consume healthy foods. Practicing good health sometimes means choosing the fruit smoothie over the cheese pizza for a snack.

Financial: Practicing adherence to a budget is an asana. Investing and building savings is also an asana. One particularly good asana to partake in is the avoidance of overconsumption, which may work beyond the financial bodymind. Baker is a good example of a guru who understands financial asanas.

Professional: Every action at work is a practice. You have to put in the hours for your development, to get better at what you do, and to receive income. For instance, if you are a carpenter, you put in the time to measure cabinets, erect walls and install flooring. All of these skills require specific poses and practices to build one’s professional structure.

Writing: Marianne Elliott explains this one better than I can.

Emotional: You may partake in psycho-emotional therapy with a trained counselor who can help you resolve specific emotional issues. Developing one’s capacity to not lose their temper in a heated argument is also another practice.

The Perspective Shift

It becomes apparent that shifting one’s perspective of actions we take in the world to being a practice benefits whatever bodymind structure being activated at the time. The concern then becomes of making the shift in perspective and ensuring that it sticks as much as it can.

This concept isn’t entirely new. Those who have studied Zen Buddhism have probably heard the concept of “doing the dishes when one needs to do the dishes”. This isn’t meant to be taken literally, and it doesn’t mean that you have to hand-wash all of your dishes from now until the end of your (physical) life. In this case, it’s simply a matter of cultivating presence of mind while washing the dishes.

The benefits of actions as practice become quite apparent once you start applying the perspective. For one thing, things tend to get done with more success in less time. For instance I usually wash the dishes better and faster when I’m not being lazy or disinterested with it. More importantly, by approaching a task as a practice I have less chance of setting overly optimistic expectations than I usually would. For me, less expectation usually means that there’s less pressure on me to succeed, so I can have a little fun in the practice and still be open to learning something new, even if it isn’t what I had intended as the outcome.

States Of Detraction

In my experience, I’ve found that there are three states that most often detract from the perspective of practice to the actions one takes in their lives.

Autopilot: The practice becomes so repetitive or boring that you lose focus on it. This is where people get hurt or something bad happens as steps invariably get skipped or some little element of the process changes over time that doesn’t get caught. In the “washing dishes” example, when I was a teenager I washed dishes was at a restaurant. It’s not the most engaging work in the world, but inevitably someone would place a knife in a stack of dishes and I didn’t notice it. I had a few cuts on my fingers from this happening. Also note that a lack of engagement or lack of awareness is very similar to being on autopilot.

Distraction: You may be present to the task at hand, and all of a sudden some other event occurs that you place focus on. It could be the phone ringing, a Twitter notification, or the doorbell rings. This is the second cause of accidents, injuries and avoidable bad outcomes.

Recently I had another knife incident in my kitchen at home. (Maybe I need to stop working with knives.) I had a friend over and I was cutting an English muffin for breakfast. I was focused on the knife work when my friend started to speak to me. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but for some reason the plate I was using was slightly unstable. Moreover, I could physically feel my awareness switch from the cutting process to listening to my friend and trying to process what he said. I unconsciously felt the plate shift when I went to cut the food, but it was too late – my finger ended up in the path of a rather dull kitchen knife when I applied the force to cut the food. Lesson learned: sharper knives, stable cutting areas and ignore anyone who talks to me when I have a knife in my hand.

Too heavily invested in outcomes or process: This one is more subtle than the other two states above because it almost always takes someone else to point it out first. You can get so into things such that you want it done “right” or you want it completed in a specific way, that the action becomes extremely serious.

This one is also very relative to the practice at hand. If I’m on the table in the operating room, I admit to being heavily invested in the outcome of my surgery. The same goes for handling significant relationship issues. Most people are pretty good at identifying where and when the investment is needed. Fortunately, most things in life do not need that level of micromanagement or intensity. For instance, who cares if the strawberries are not cut in a specific way? I might take notice if it’s for a cake decorating contest, but there’s no reason to worry if someone’s handing me a bowl full of fruit.

The Key to Asana is Awareness

Regardless if you call what you do an asana, a practice, or “work”, the primary consideration is the presence you cultivate and put towards the action. Stated differently, apply awareness to whatever you are doing in every moment. Trust your intuition when it comes to the right amount of presence to apply. If it’s getting too serious and the situation doesn’t seem to warrant it, kick it down a notch. If you’re feeling disengaged or your mind is wandering, add a little more. You will feel in agreement with yourself when you apply the right amount of awareness.

It’s also a good time to feel through the emotions as you practice. Some very valuable information may be hiding outside of the physical realm. For instance, why do you hate doing the dishes? Was it something that happened when you were ten and being forced to be the family dishwasher was the punishment? I’ve been very surprised when something like that comes up. Being present to those emotions is for another entry.

For now, know that everything you do can be reframed as an asana. Consider this perspective to liberate the weight of expectation and seriousness from the actions in this moment, the next moment, and in every moment.

image credit: exalthim

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The Tip To Presence Eckhart Tolle Didn’t Describe Well

Posted on Monday, 28 March 2011 by mikeschu

Eckhart Tolle wrote about a part of integral theory we can use; we just didn’t think of it that way.

For those uninformed, Eckhart Tolle is a person who underwent an enlightenment or existential crisis at the age of 29. After this event, he spent a couple of years on park benches experiencing the flow state and being present to the world. Eventually he chose a career as an author, a speaker, and a counselor. He wrote two books based on this instant enlightenment experience and his worldview that a shift in global consciousness is necessary to save the planet.

The book I am referring in this post is the first book he wrote in 1997 called The Power of Now. This book is based on the work he did as a counselor shortly after his enlightenment experience. Tolle did not write the book as a standard discourse into consciousness from a philosophical or metaphysical standpoint. Instead, the book is structured in a question-and-answer format that is to be read and contemplated in small chunks. Depending on the reader, this format may help or hinder the ability to comprehend the material at hand.

The practical side of The Power of Now (or lack thereof) attributes to the understanding or misunderstanding of his work. In most of the responses to the questions the book posits, the answer seems to be the same: just “enter the Now”, or become present. While at a very high level of awareness this is true, this highlights a critical issue with Tolle’s book. The Power of Now is difficult to use as a guide not only because too much intellectual discourse hampers the practice of the presence or “flow” state, the book is written from the perspective of someone who is very present and enlightened relative to the rest of humanity. While there are some universal truths within the book that can be applied to one’s practice of presence, for most people there is too much of a gap between themselves and Tolle to bridge. Furthermore, most people are not going to experience instant enlightenment as Tolle describes; the vast majority of us need to work on maintaining presence incrementally. (Apparently Tolle admits this too.)

Fifteen years before The Power of Now was published, Ken Wilber took up a similar issue with the development of consciousness. His book The Atman Project describes a framework of spiritual and consciousness development from infancy to later life through stages of development. While Wilber’s work has evolved since this book, I found that both him and Tolle covered aspects of consciousness development that can help develop a more worldcentric view that both wish to see in the world.

Specifically, both Tolle and Wilber use the reference of time as a challenge in attaining enlightenment and a consistent flow state. Tolle writes that most people do not experience the present or “flow” state more often because of thoughts that originate from one’s past or concerns of the future. As a practical answer, the Zen-like “be present now” advice can be difficult to fully appreciate and integrate. It takes a lot of non-thinking and sitting with the answer to fully accept it. Those that attempt it may or may not have their mental, spiritual and psychological bodyminds developed enough to fully resonate with advice that originates more from Confucius than with traditional Western psychology or philosophy.

Ken Wilber describes the same transition as Eckhart Tolle and gives what I consider a viable framework to provide a solution. In The Atman Project, Wilber writes a key step in transforming consciousness from a rational state to a more worldcentric viewpoint. Paraphrasing Wilber’s recommendation about the shift that Tolle wants to see in the world with how to view time:

The past is memory, while the future is possibility.

For those who need a little assistance, those who were not sold on The Power of Now or those who are more practically oriented, this is the most solid piece of advice I can give with regards to the flow state. The big leap most people miss in advancing their practice of presence and the flow state besides consistent dedicated practice is by reframing the high-level perspective of time itself. This means one needs to work on loosening the intellectual and emotional ties between the present and anything that happened in the past or could happen in the future.

What I prescribe here takes tough and dedicated work. As I said before, most people experience enlightenment in small pieces and over time. Do not expect instant enlightenment as a viable solution to a more worldcentric view of life. Instead, consider practices that help loosen the stranglehold on the past or future while working on maintaining presence or the flow state.

For most people, the practices that help with the flow state are not physical in nature. Certainly I recommend exercise and relaxed focus as two practices to help here. However, the practices to utilize work beyond the physical structure and nature of one’s life. Consider practices like meditation, yoga, tai chi, or qigong to help develop the state of presence. Also consider modalities like massage, quiet contemplation, psychological therapies or working on what Carl Jung calls “the shadow” to work on loosening the grip on the past and future. For those who like more experiential modalities, the Landmark Forum or something from PSI Seminars are good jumpstarts to working on presence training without sitting for days on end (though you’ll be sitting for three or four days if you go to one of the seminars).

The flow state and remaining present isn’t meant to be strictly an intellectual exercise. Relaxing the intellect and just being present to what is can be deliciously simple and very difficult to do at the same time. Those just starting or are on the path of practice can look to reframing time itself as a critical idea in achieving sustainable presence as Eckhart Tolle wishes for and Ken Wilber describes.

Note: There are no affiliate links. I have attended the Landmark Forum and Landmark Education’s Advanced Course.

Also, most parts of Everett Bogue’s Augmented Humanity HOWTO are written for first draft review! Please review and comment on it here.

image credit: lululemonatheletica

Posted in integral theory, philosophy | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ongoing Lessons On Long-Form Writing

Posted on Monday, 14 March 2011 by mikeschu

I’m learning a lot from writing something longer than a blog series.

For those who may not know, I’m writing a guide to Everett Bogue’s latest e-book Augmented Humanity. I felt that the work tied in to some of my writing, and I had the sense that people were confused over the nature of the e-book. In AH, there isn’t a lot of actionable items that weren’t previously discussed on Far Beyond The Stars, and I felt that readers of AH may want to chew on something more actionable.

I said last week in my notes that I was going to finish the project over the weekend. Unfortunately that hasn’t happened. Admittedly I was not clear about what is considered “finished” when I wrote the note last week. My thought was that I could finish the first draft over the weekend and work on the links, citations and revisions while receiving feedback on what I wrote. I haven’t received a lot of feedback so far, and that doesn’t bother me since I was just beginning to write. It’s also entirely possible that everyone’s given up on me finishing it and have started their own contributions. I hope that’s not the case.

As you can tell from the table of contents and the to-do list, I still have quite a bit to go. I wasn’t able to get the entire first draft completed for at least the intro and all of the steps. That’s where I wanted to be this morning – to allow readers the opportunity to provide feedback on everything while working on revisions and references. Instead, allow me to give a status of the overall project and some lessons learned about the project so far.

To give you an idea of its progress, I’ve posted nearly everything I wrote so far. My writing program states that I’ve written 11,618 words to date. Out of that, I realized last night that I had to rewrite the entire section dealing with Facebook for Step 3 (reducing inputs), which is currently at 1096 words. That section is unposted because it’s very disorganized and has lots of incomplete sentences and thoughts floating around. Combining that with the unposted minimal amount of work on Step 2 (use of technology), let’s say that I’ve posted 10,500 words for the HOWTO so far. That’s about 42 handwritten pages (at 250 words per page) or thirty pages of a paperback (at 350 words per page). By far, this is the biggest document I’ve written to date and it’s not even complete.

I have the rest of the document outlined, but I still have to write the remaining sections of the first draft. Step 2 (use of technology) and the Facebook and Twitter sections of Step 3 are yet to be written. I also have to come up with a suitable conclusion, transitional pieces, the references and any links to other important documents. My rough estimate is that I have another 5000-7000 words to go before I consider this document complete. Thus I expect the HOWTO to be somewhere in the 16,000 to 18,000 word range. By comparison, Augmented Humanity comes in at about 20,000 words. Everett wanted to keep it short for brevity, yet I think the HOWTO has to have some depth in order to provide an accurate interpretation.

Given that this is the most I’ve written on a single subject, I’m learning a couple of things that I will share with you. This is more for those who are interested in composing long-form writing and for those who might (understandably) be a bit impatient with the progress of my writing.

I think this project wouldn’t be possible without a writing program that is built for book writing. I am using Scrivener for this project. I really like this program because I can organize and split up the project into manageable chunks instead of trying to track everything using something like Microsoft Word, paper and pen. I couldn’t imagine writing a book like I would write an essay, a relatively monolithic document with no view of the relationships generated in the document and nowhere to easily store reference material. I’d easily miss connections and lose focus after the first few pages of writing – in fact, I would have given up on it by now if Word was my primary writing tool.

I now have a lot more respect to those who can complete something like NaNoWriMo, where the goal is 50,000 words in a month. It’s difficult trying to write about 2000 words every day for a month, especially if you are employed full time. It’s so difficult that I understand that you just have to aim for the first draft within the month – there’s simply no time to edit unless you are writing full-time.

In terms of time tracking, I’ve spent a couple of hours outlining the HOWTO, an hour or so setting up the Web pages, and about twelve hours writing over two days so far. This doesn’t seem like a lot, but remember that I’m still on the first draft. I can get the 5000 words or so to complete the first draft done in a solid day – let’s say six hours of actual writing. Then I have to format the document, write references and make revisions, and I haven’t estimated how long that will take yet. So it’s possible that I will spend forty hours on the HOWTO before it’s considered fully complete.

When I started writing, I was expecting this to be a good-sized document – ten to fifteen pages, but something that I could crank out in a solid weekend of work. I grossly underestimated the amount of time and words needed to feel complete with the HOWTO. Once I started writing the words started flowing and, in a lot of cases, kept flowing. I was thinking the process was similar to a blog entry, and it can be the same for the smaller chunks of a long document. It’s writing for a longer document that takes significantly more thought, outlining and preparation before the actual writing begins. I’m fortunate that I had a good outline to work with before I started writing the HOWTO.

One other thing I’d like to note is that I have more appreciation for those who publish and have a full time job that doesn’t involve writing. Content creators like Everett may be able to get their writing done on a couple of hours a day. For someone like Dave Bruno, I’m surprised he wrote a book while working a full time job and raising a family. It’s all in planning and focus, and I admit that I had higher priorities in the last couple of weeks that I had to tend to. No excuses here, just that I mis-estimated the time it would take to write the HOWTO and how much time I can devote to writing in a given week while maintaining my responsibilities and my health.

With all of that said, I think the HOWTO is coming along nicely even if it is taking longer than I thought. My intention is to try to (really!) finish the first draft by this time next week. Please review what I have already and provide feedback so I can make the adjustments.

And make sure to hug and/or give thanks to a writer when you get a chance. From the perspective of a non-writer, this is harder than it looks.

image credit: bluespf42

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February Without Facebook Results

Posted on Monday, 7 March 2011 by mikeschu

About a month ago I chose not to log on to Facebook.

The month-long trial started to take shape after my week-long internet hiatus. After the week offline, I eventually went back to my normal Web surfing habits. At some point in January, perhaps after reading that a few people were leaving Facebook, I decided to let go of Facebook for the month of February as a trial to see how I was influenced by one of the most popular Web sites out there.

Before I left for the month, I set some ground rules:

  1. I would not log in to Facebook for the entire month. I logged out of Facebook and I removed any bookmarks I had to the site.
  2. I would not hide my profile, opting instead to keep posting items as necessary.
  3. The only things that I would post to my profile are the blog update notifications and select messages from my Twitter account. I would attempt to minimize the number of posts from Twitter to my profile.
  4. I turned off features in the Facebook profile that would generate large numbers of notifications. The main feature I turned off was direct posting to my profile.

Today I report that I was successful in not logging on to Facebook for the entire month of February. I only posted a few (less than six) tweets outside of the blog notifications, so I was also successful at minimizing the profile postings as well. As I reflect on my time away from Facebook, I would like to share with you some observations from the trial.

  • There was an urge to log on the first three days away from Facebook. For me, the first three days were the worst of the trial. I was wondering if there were any updates I was missing from friends. I made sure that I was occupied and away from the computer for the first three days of the trial, primarily by reading, writing or cooking. Once the trial moved into day four I didn’t feel the need to log on to Facebook at all.
  • When I posted something, the notifications died down within a day of the post. I did not receive very many notifications after the first day or two of the trial. When they did arrive, it was almost always within a day of when I posted something to my profile. This tells me that most people check the most recent posts and comment appropriately, or it arrived in their “most popular” post list.
  • Most people also don’t notice where content is posting from. I had a few  “Welcome back!” and “Did you give up on your trial?” messages throughout the month when I used Selective Tweets to post.
  • I received e-mails from Facebook telling me that I haven’t logged on in a while. The scary thing about the e-mails were that they told me I had 67 photo tags to handle. That number is about the number of tagged photos I was in, and I never received any notifications that I was tagged in a new photo. I had a friend of mine who was logged into Facebook check my profile to see if someone doubled my photo tag count. That didn’t happen, but I haven’t been able to determine how to clear those notifications either. So any e-mails from Facebook state that I have a lot of photo tags to acknowledge.
  • I was more productive with my time during the trial. I started reading more books, writing more, cooking more, and in general feeling like I was accomplishing more in my day. My weekends and mornings were the most improved times, as I had a habit of logging into Facebook first thing in the morning and watching the stream on the weekends. I read about a book a week during February, and wrote more content than I had ever done in any month.
  • I did miss the social interaction of Facebook, but I didn’t miss most of the content my friends were posting. Essentially, I missed the connections that my friends give me instead of what they were saying. A lot of my friends play games and use other applications that post to their profile. Those notifications tend to clog up the feeds more than others, thereby crowding out the information I wanted to know. It’s one thing to know if someone is getting married, divorced, or had something go on in their life that is cause to celebrate (or give condolences too). It’s another thing to post that you have a new high score in a game that very few people care about.
  • When I logged on to Facebook March 1st, I read my posts prior to February and noticed that most of them didn’t contribute much at all. I think I was using Facebook to post thoughts to my friends in the moment when they may not have been worthy otherwise.
  • Most importantly, I noticed that what I value has changed significantly from November. I like the personal interactions and the conversations that Facebook can provide. I did find that most of the content was not worthwhile to follow. I am not a big fan of their business model (primarily ads), even though it has been a very successful model for them. This is an extension of my other information reductions since the beginning of the year, either by books or by blogs. From my own observations, I appear to have made a shift from consumption to contribution in the online world.

I still see value in Facebook. Facebook makes it easy to find people and (re-)connect with them, especially since about 7% of the world population has an account there. I don’t know how many of my Facebook friends read my blog, but I know that not everyone who is connected to me does. I feel that Facebook is a good way of connecting people and bringing them closer together from all corners of the globe.

However, Facebook is not the preferred social media platform for me going forward. The lack of content controls and moderation, plus the sheer amount of notifications and pull towards applications and ads, doesn’t make it somewhere I want to visit often. I would use Facebook differently if I owned a business, especially one with a physical presence. Facebook is a valuable tool for businesses to keep customers interested in their offerings. However, I get the sense that many people will leave Facebook once there is a more viable alternative or they realize that it isn’t contributing to their lives significantly.

Going forward, my use of Facebook is staying the same as it was in February. I’ll try to post only through the blog feed and a few select tweets a month. I’ll log on to acknowledge friend requests and to do some maintenance, but it won’t be very often. I do not expect to log back on to Facebook for the next few weeks. If something comes up that you would like to share with me, it’s best to contact me directly as I want to cultivate the personal connections that my friends and readers can provide.

If there’s anything that I learned about my February away from Facebook, it’s that I care more about the personal interactions than I do the calls to help raise a barn in FarmVille. I have a sense that most people feel the same, and that a shift from Facebook as it is today is inevitable once newer social media platforms gain acceptance.

Note: I wasn’t able to write more in the Augmented Humanity HOWTO over the weekend. It is my intention to finish the rough draft next weekend.

image credit: fbouly

Posted in minimalism, philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Maslow And The Transformation From Lack

Posted on Monday, 28 February 2011 by mikeschu

Abraham Maslow probably considered what I wrote today in his theory of hierarchical needs.

Maslow was a psychology professor who specialized in researching the development of human potential in the middle of the 20th century. The biggest theory he proposed was that humans had to meet certain needs before higher levels and experiences could be realized on a consistent basis. This is known as his hierarchy of needs.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs covers six stages, each one building on the other.

  • 1st stage: Physiological (food, water, air, sleep, etc…)
  • 2nd stage: Safety (security of resources, employment, health/well-being)
  • 3rd stage: Love and Belonging (friends, family, intimacy)
  • 4th stage: Esteem (self-esteem, confidence, achievement, acceptance by others)
  • 5th stage: Self-actualization (creativity, fulfilling human potential, purpose, etc…)
  • 6th stage: Self-transcendence (becoming larger than one’s self)

The theory goes that someone cannot focus on the next stage of development without sufficiently meeting the needs of the stage that they are in and the ones below them. For instance, it’s difficult to focus on building social capital and being accepted by others if you’re starving and cold on the street.

My purpose in this article is not to discuss Maslow’s hierarchy in detail. Instead, I propose that upon examination of the stages there is a break between them that is very significant to your personal development.

In this interpretation, fulfilling the first stage implies that one can avoid a lack of basic survival needs. Fulfilling the second stage avoids the lack of security. Fulfilling the third stage quashes the lack of belonging in the world. Getting one’s needs met in the fourth stage means that one has moved beyond the lack of confidence and success, though there may be some “being needs” that must be met at the stage of esteem.

It is in the fifth and sixth stages where there is no perceived need that is based on lack. At the stages of self-actualization and self-transcendence, the “lack” comes from not living up to and going beyond the full human potential one has within themselves. Even then, I wouldn’t call this a lack.

I bring this up because at some point in your personal development, the focus will change from improving one’s self and trying to fulfill a lack to one of expressing one’s self and being comfortable that any potential deficits can be easily met.

This actually happened to me late last year when I realized that there wasn’t anything I truly “needed” to fill a lack. Perhaps the only thing missing was an intimate relationship, but I felt sufficiently confident in my ability to make it happen if the opportunity and the right person were to come into my worldview.

Now I have to admit that if you had met me six or eight years ago, I was a mess emotionally. I was living out a hollow, existential life where I was more self-centered and avoidant than anything else. I had too much of a psycho-emotional debt that built up over the first twenty years of my life, and it needed to be cleared in a big way. Over the last six years I managed to eventually work my way out of it through lots of personal development materials and courses, subtle body work (e.g. yoga, massage, meditation), reflection, introspection, and tons of guidance and conversations with my friends. In retrospect I should have seen a therapist to reduce the burden on my friends in those earlier years. I’m extremely grateful for the selfless work they provided me – they didn’t have to do it, and I honestly can’t thank them enough for it.

But there were two mental blocks that I resolved last December that really set the stage of self-actualization going. First, I realized that the personal development genre was becoming very annoying to keep up with. For some reason I felt that I intuitively understood most of what was said on the latest blog posts and books I owned. Almost overnight, the materials I read consistently became boring and uninteresting to read. The other thing I noted was that I had a perceived lack from not being an entrepreneur. I had studied owning my own business as part of my personal development for six years, coming up with possibilities and reading a lot of books about how to start a business. However, every time I sat down to brainstorm or research business ideas, my mind would go completely blank. I had a couple of ideas, but they did not motivate me to make the entrepreneurial leap.

In the case of entrepreneurship there’s probably something still in my psyche that a good business coach can resolve. I might explore that later. But it became clear that I had to do the one thing to lift the lack from my life: I had to let go of pursuing the American dream of business and the need for self-development. That’s what I did as part of my focus for 2011.

A few weeks after I wrote my focus for this year, things became very clear on my side. Perhaps it was the yoga, the meditation, or the material minimalism. It is probably all three things and more. But the letting go of things that no longer served me was the tipping point. Most people who see me now notice that I’m a much different person than I was even a few months ago. I can definitely notice a difference with the way I carry myself and the thoughts I entertain. You can even see it on this blog.

I write this to give a few pieces of advice to those who may be looking for an extra edge to get to the stage of self-actualization. Here’s what I learned from my experiences.

  1. Make sure to put in the time for your own growth and personal development. It took at least six years for me to get to this point, so commit to growing over a lifetime. There isn’t a quick fix out there that I’m aware of. Note that I’m still growing, but the growth comes from a different space than to get lack-based needs met.
  2. Become present to what you lack, or the lack of lack itself. If there really is a lack with something in the first three or four stages of the hierarchy, commit to getting those needs met. Over time you may realize that you don’t “need anything”; this means you’re ready to move from personal improvement to personal expression. In that case, start expressing yourself and developing your potential to the fullest, and ensure that you can do so while contributing to others.
  3. Be present to your own self to the modalities of healing you need. You’re going to be different than I am. In general I can say that exercise, minimalism and introspection helps everyone, but you need to be aware of your own hurdles and determine what you need to help you become unstuck.
  4. Be aware that lacks holding you back may be entirely conceptual. The last hurdles were there because I thought I needed to do something that in reality I didn’t. When I realized that I was very successful as I am and that I was putting energy towards something that clearly wasn’t getting results, it was easy to let them go.

A life of personal growth doesn’t have to be about striving to overcome deficits in a utilitarian way. Growth can happen in the form of therapeutic modalities and in expressing one’s self. The shift is important to realize one’s full capacity and engagement in the world, and sets the foundation for a worldcentric view of life.

Two notes this week:

  1. Parts 4 and 5 of Ev Bogue’s Augmented Humanity HOWTO are posted for review. Check them out here.
  2. I finished the book The Empathic Civilization this past weekend. I highly recommend it – it’s probably my book of the year so far and I’m already noticing some changes in my worldview. I may write about the book in future posts.
Posted in integral theory, philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Announcing a HOWTO For Everett Bogue’s Augmented Humanity

Posted on Monday, 21 February 2011 by mikeschu

I think a lot of people think Ev Bogue’s lost his mind.

When you launch a blog about minimalism with less than US$3000 to your name, write a couple of well-selling e-books, become a Great Internet/American Success Stories, and then say “screw this!” and trash it (all within a couple of years), “losing your mind” may be a light descriptor for some people. Yet that’s what Everett has done. And for him, there’s no going back.

Everett released his newest e-book Augmented Humanity (AH) on February 14th. I received an advance copy and read through it the first night it was in my hands. I found it to be a great non-technical, inspirational manifesto for developing your digital bodymind. I think Everett is on to something that few people are talking about in public, even if the language he uses is provocative.

When I discuss AH on Twitter or in real life, usually one of two questions come up:

  1. WTF is Everett smoking? (I checked and found that wtfisevboguesmoking.com is available as a domain name at the time of posting.)
  2. I tend to be detail- and/or action-oriented; is AH the right resource for me?

I’m going to try to answer both questions for the Internet and the public at large. While I find AH to be inspiring, there is not a lot of action proscribed in the e-book. In fact, most of the action items have been stated in some form from the last posts of his former blog. Moreover, he states that in the e-book that it is difficult to include the current technology because it will change rapidly. AH is intended to be relatively timeless, so he’s not updating it every couple of months. He also doesn’t have the time to hold hands at this stage of his work. My sense is that he’s going to produce a larger body of work in the next few months as a marketable product.

With that in mind, I’m acting without Ev’s explicit permission as a translator between him and the rest of the interested world (for now). I understand where Ev is going with AH well enough to contribute in meaningful discussions. At the same time I think I can explain how to start down the path he is blazing in a practical, easy-to-follow guide.

Here’s the link to the work I am publishing:

Ev Bogue’s Augmented Humanity HOWTO

Please direct comments about the HOWTO there.

The HOWTO is intended as a living document and I will be writing it in my spare time. I have provided an overview outline for those interested in his work and cannot wait for me to finish writing it. This is my first long-form work, so it will be free. Just make sure to give me attribution if you pay it forward or use it to create derivatives.

Next week I’ll write about self-actualization using the works of Abraham Maslow and integral theory as a reference point – that is, if I haven’t lost my own mind.

Disclaimer: no affiliate links. Any references are traced back to Everett’s own site.

Posted in philosophy | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments