The Occupy protest in downtown Seattle was peaceful and orderly. There were police presence but there were no tensions. The gathering was organized. The environment was clean. The people were respectful and cheerful. The only disturbance in the usual downtown noise were the honking of cars expressing their approval of the protest signs held by the protesters on the side of the street. 

I don’t consider myself an activist. I’m not even that interested in politics. In fact, this is my first time to support a protest of any kind. However, there is something big happening here and I want to be part of it, no matter how small my participation is. I brought my 19-month old son with me so he could be a part of it as well. I believe that when my son is old enough to understand the relevance of the occupy meta-movement he will appreciate that he and his father were there, even for a brief moment, to express solidarity with the people who are on the right side of history.

Here’s to the shift that is currently sweeping the nation, and the world. May all beings be free and may happiness be.

P.S. A revolution without laughing is not a revolution worth having. So here’s something to make us laugh. It’s funny coz it’s true. ~ Bill Maher on Occupy Wall Street [New Rules] -

P.P.S. Like many people who are feeling that there’s something big happening and that there’s a shift that’s occurring, I’m also wondering, Where do we go from here? -

testing out the Vibram KomodoSport LS #fivefingers

I first saw Vibram FiveFingers in Ottmar Liebert’s blog back in 2007. I thought it was cool to have a footwear like that back then. But it took a few years before I finally got one for myself. Thanks to kindred geeks who wore them during the Buddhist Geeks 2011 Conference. They reminded me that I’ve got to have a pair for my precious feet too.

So I went to REI over the weekend… Serendipitously, the latest Vibram FiveFingers model just came out: the KomodoSport LS. I got one and it was love at first try. The KomodoSport LS is the latest line designed for cross training–barefoot running, working out, playing sports that require quick burst of speed and lateral motion, and even yard work. I’m not a barefoot runner. I just wanted one for walking, hiking, traveling, playing hoops, and for its overall health benefits of barefoot lifestyle. But now that I have the Komodo I’m inspired to give barefoot running a try as part of my fitness routine. So I’m catching up on reading Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run. 

When I showed my FiveFingers to my friends their first reaction was, “Eew! That’s just a fad like Crocs! Fugly!” Whatever. What do they know? They’re avid golfers who wear boring shoes. But I digress.

The weather was perfect this morning. So I tested my FiveFingers by walking the better part of the day. I walked around Kirkland in different terrain–grass, cement, asphalt, gravel. I wore it inside the house. I even used it for driving. I wore it the whole day. My final verdict: I love it! I’m a new convert to the FiveFingers cult!

And now I want to get Vibram FiveFingers KSO for more versatility, especially for water sports and hiking. Will save up my lunch money for my next FiveFingering.

For those who are interested here are some detailed review of Vibram FiveFingers. Check it out and join the cult!

BirthdayShoes: KomodoSport LS Vibram FiveFingers Review

Tim Ferriss: Vibram FiveFingers Shoes: The Barefoot Alternative

BirthdayShoes: Vibram Five Fingers KSO [Keep Stuff Out] — the Definitive Guide

WIRED: To Run Better, Start By Ditching Your Nikes

Shinzen Young quoting Tony Soprano during his Keynote presentation

I’m still riding high from the Buddhist Geeks Conference over the weekend. I’ve already posted a daily summary (see Day 1, Day 2, Day 3) but even that is not enough to cover the wealth of information, not to mention the intangibles, that was shared during the conference. Luckily for those who were not able to attend, Buddhist Geeks will soon publish the videos online once all the necessary editing are done. So stay tuned. 

Ken McLeod summarized the conference very succinctly: “Great vision. Great staff. Great execution.” I couldn’t agree more. Props to all the organizers, designers, volunteers, teachers, sponsors, and attendees that made this magical gathering possible. Special props to the geeky Alpha Dawg, Vincent Horn for taking Buddhist Geeks where it is today. He deserved the standing ovation at the end of the conference.

Another person I want to thank is my wife. I almost didn’t make it to the conference. Why? Well, my wife and I take turns in taking care of our baby. She works on weekends, which means weekends are daddy daycare for me. At first I’ve decided that I’ll skip the conference. But as the conference drew near I felt a tug in my belly that I should really be there. So I asked my wife if it’s okay with her that I go to the conference. She said that she understands how important it is for me to go. So she asked some favors at her work to swap her weekend schedule. Fortunately, there was someone who was willing to swap schedule with her. So my wife had to work consecutive 12-hour days to cover the swap. And then she had to take care of our baby during the weekend that I was away. In short, I owe her a big one. (Translation: I’m her b*tch in the foreseeable future )

geeky credentials

The fun factor doubled when two of my Seattle friends (@dtolmie and @yogageekgirl) decided to go to the conference and synchronized their travel schedule with me. They took the boredom out of traveling alone, not to mention that we had some fun conversations along the way. And in case someone doubts our geek credentials, consider this: between the three of us we had 3 iPads, 2 laptops, 3 iPhones, and 5 GPS-capable devices. And serendipitously, our rental car was a Ford Focus. If you didn’t get the pun, then I’m afraid that you’re just not geeky enough.

One of the main reasons I wanted to attend the conference was to meet my old Boulder buddies (Vince, Emily, Ryan — the Buddhist Geeks) and witness first-hand their great job at keeping the Buddhist Geeks brand and community alive and kicking all these years. I’ve been a supporter from the very beginning. So I’m very happy and proud of their accomplishments. They’ve made something very special here. And the results speak for itself.

Shinzen Young wearing his Avengers shirt with some dorky guy in a Thundercats shirt

My other agenda was to meet my primary dharma teacher–Shinzen Young–in person and thank him personally for his tireless work and his unique approach to the dharma. Before Shinzen I was very cautious and even cynical when it comes to dharma teachers. But all of that changed when I encountered his teachings. I felt a deep sense of connection to his no-fluff methodology, specificity, humor, openness, generosity, and all around geekiness. And he’s a wonderful human being too. What more can I ask for a dharma teacher/mentor/peer?

The conference was packed with awesome presentations. I enjoyed them all. The speakers were  superb and presented their subject-matter very well. But the other highlight of the conference for me was meeting people whom I only interacted with online. It was a pleasure meeting Hokai Sobol, Al Jigen Billings, Rev. Danny Fisher, Rohan Gunatillake, Jason Lange, Ron Crouch, Kenneth Folk, David Chapman, Antonio Ramirez, Tom Buckley-Houston, Kristen Stancik, Chee X, and many more wonderful people whom I met for the first time offline.

Thundercats, Hooooo!

Btw, there was also a wild serendipity which I just have to share here. While I was packing for the conference I picked a cool shirt and thought to myself, “Now this shirt should be unique!” But lo and behold there was someone in the conference wearing a similar shirt with a bigger logo! What are the friggin’ odds?! I was so not worthy! So I had to capture the moment of geeky serendipity (see photo). Incidentally, the mystery guy in the Thundercats shirt will remain a mystery. He is a dark sangha practitioner. He’s been practicing for a long time alone (more than 15 years if I remember correctly). He has no sangha but he felt compelled to attend the conference. Heck, he doesn’t even have a Twitter account and doesn’t do Facebook. But the guy is cool and fun to talk with. I think I’ll be seeing him around the corner sometime soon.

Speaking of serendipity, there was a five-finger cult in the conference (@dragonc, @meaningness, @lesrinchen). They looked so comfy I’m now considering getting a pair for myself.

As the high emotions from #BGeeks11 starts to wane I remain enthusiastic that a multitude of seeds have been planted. I haven’t talked to anyone who didn’t enjoy or wasn’t blown away by the conference. As Shinzen had quoted Tony Soprano during his keynote presentation, “It’s good to be in something from the ground floor.” That’s exactly how I felt. I sense that Buddhist Geeks is just getting started. And I’m glad I was there when it happened.

P.S. See also the following brilliant #BGeeks11 accounts.

Nikki Chau: Reflection from Buddhist Geeks Conference 11

David Chapman: Buddhist Geeks Conference Rocks

Open Buddha: Buddhist Geeks 2011 Day 1.5

Open Buddha: Last Day and Closing Thoughts

LA Weekly: Buddhist Geeks Conference: What is the Sound of One Nerd Tweeting

Day 3 of the Buddhist Geeks Conference 2011 started with an #openpractice with Ken McLeod. Ken guided us with an expansive/contractive awareness meditation technique. It was a good sit. If done correctly the technique will lead the practitioner to perceive the expansive and contractive flow of sensory experience. I’ve just added this awareness technique to my bag of #openpractice “tricks.” 

After the sitting practice, Diane “Musho” Hamilton took the stage to kick off the Buddhist Geeks Live presentation. Diane’s talk was about “Enlightenment Through an Evolutionary Lens.”  She walked us through the stages of psychological/cultural/spiritual development: egocentric, ethnocentric, worldcentric, kosmocentric. Diane was the torch-bearer of the integral approach among the presenters. And, as usual, she did a fine job of representing the integral perspective.

Then Ken McLeod followed up with his talk on “There is No Enemy.” He reminded the audience not to fall on either side of the extremes. But instead to embrace both black and white to get the whole spectrum of the rainbow. My favorite quote: “Obstacles aren’t obstacles. They are features of the landscape that need to be negotiated.” Upon hearing this, I wanted to raise my hand and ask him what he thinks about President Obama’s handling of the debt ceiling (pseudo-crisis) negotiations. But nah, no need to get political in the middle of a dharma talk. (Then again, if you’re reading this Ken, I’d really like to know your political analysis/opinion.)

And then this young guy from the U.K., Rohan Gunatillake, took the stage and blew everyone away. His talk was about “Disrupting the Awakening Industry” and “why the aesthetic of meditation is broken.” Basically, he issued a clarion call to all the geeky entrepreneurs to channel their “out of the box” thinking and passion on making the dharma available and palatable to as many people as possible. He said that ” the fringe is gonna do it anyway” so he better be ahead of the curve. And that’s why he’s working on Buddhify. Quotable quote: “We need Buddhist startups. Go ahead and tweet that.”

The afternoon panel discussion was led by Diane Hamilton, Ken McLeod, Shinzen Young, and Hokai Sobol (as chair). They riffed on “The Emerging Face of Buddhism.” Their discussion covered controversial topics such as economics of the dharma, power dynamics between teachers and students, cross-fertilization of the teachings (e.g. Shinzen describes his teachings as “Japano-Burmese fusion created by an American Jew”), professionalization of dharma teachers, depth of practice and “the dark sangha” (Those D.I.Y. types who practice by themselves without–or very minimal–interaction with a community. I just met one at the conference.)

[An aside: Before the start of the panel discussion Diane Hamilton announced that her Gmail account was hacked and she was having a hard time proving to Google tech support her real identity. So she challenged the geeky audience that if there's someone out there who could help her, she will be forever beholden to Buddhist Geeks. And sure enough, there was a Googler in da house. Sorry Diane, all your souls from past, current, and future incarnations are belong to us.]

During the Q&A Willoughby Britton (see her TEDx talk) brought up the issue of accountability of teachers whenever a student has a psychological breakdown or whenever a teacher crosses the line of giving a medical advice which they are not qualified for. This opened a can of worms on whether dharma teachers should have a liability insurance. It’s good that Michael Zimmerman (Diane Hamilton’s husband and former justice of the Utah Supreme Court) was in the audience to offer his legal advice. Basically, (if I remember his legalese correctly) he said that, depending on the intention of the lawyer or the plaintiff, there could be grounds for legal action if it could be proven that the teacher has misrepresented him/herself as an expert. Now that was very interesting. You don’t hear that kind of discussion in mainstream dharma talks.

Then another important and powerful question was asked by a young Asian woman in the audience. She said that she belongs to one of the Asian Buddhist communities and that she’s really not that familiar with the teachers on stage. Her question was, how does “Emerging Face of Buddhism” include Asians and Asian-Americans? And she suggested that it’s more appropriate to call it “Emerging Face of Buddhisms.” Ken McLeod acknowledged her issue and very much agreed with her concerns. However, there really is no easy answer to this question. My own take on this is that there will be (or there always have been historically) multiple streams of Buddhist cross-fertilizations. The Asian Buddhist Communities have their own unique challenges depending on the language, cultural and political barriers. So I think the more accurate phrase is “Emerging Faces of Buddhisms” of which Buddhist Geeks is only one of the many.

Shinzen Young didn’t talk much (or as much as he should have) during the panel discussion but he requested to blabber his thoughts at the end. He riffed on Christianity and suggested that we learn from its history on how it spread far and wide. He said that the biggest factor (among other important factors) was language, specifically Koinonia Greek. Shinzen suggests that it has some interesting parallels with the language of technology we used today. (I might be wrong here, but I think Shinzen was alluding to the fact that the language of science of technology will do for Buddhism as Koinonia Greek did for Christianity.) Then Ken McLeod blurted out, “Shinzen, are you a closeted Christian?!”

During the Buddhist Geeks Unplugged session I attended the “Pragmatic Dharma” discussion with Vince Horn, Kenneth Folk, and Hokai Sobol. The discussion started with Kenneth’s assertion that once neuroscience maps the physiological correlates of “enlightenment” then it would be easy to replicate this experience to a vast number of people. But then the discussion digressed on the meaning of pragmatic, the definition of enlightenment, the ontology of the archetypal realms, and the value of various practices such as Tantra.

As a hardcore science-minded dharma practitioner myself, I’m with Kenneth on this one, but not without some reservations. Same as Kenneth, I think it’s plausible that future advances in neuroscience would bring more understanding of the human brain and how various experiences are correlated with brain functions. The keyword here is *correlate*. Correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation. But I do believe that once neuroscientists (preferably enlightened neuroscientists) have successfully mapped the physiological correlates of no-self, then it would be possible to stimulate these physiological correlates and consistently replicate the enlightenment experience (whether through biotech pharma or electromagnetic stimulation or what have you). Although I’m a proponent of this technological approach to awakening, I do recognize its potential dangers as well as its unintended consequences.For example, let’s assume that there is an enlightenment gadget or pill. A person using it will still have to interpret his “enlightenment” experience in terms of his psychological level of development. We all know of stories of teachers who are deeply enlightened yet still screw up. What more of people who are at the egocentric, ethnocentric level of development? It’s not hard to imagine that there will still be culture wars among enlightened people. And what about the role of the government who would most probably end up owning (or sequestering) this technology? I hope I’m wrong. But I’ll leave this issue for now and just work on my own awakening.

The closing keynote was presented by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. I swear this guy must’ve been a stand-up comic in one of his past lives. His opening remarks was “Why did you invite me — do you think I’m a geek?” And then he told a story on how he looked up the meaning of the word geek on Wikipedia. His talk was packed with humor but the depth was still there. His “Monkeys in Mid-swing” is a perfect metaphor for the conservative and progressive evolutionary tension of dharma. He said that, “We must be innovative, we must have vision of change in terms of technology, and we must bring the heart to many of these developments.” As he was saying this, I had this crazy picture in my head that Ponlop was channeling Steve Jobs. He also suggested that we take a little break from technology from time to time. But of course my fingers were so busy tapping wildly on my iPhone in the middle of a tweet to capture this technological serendipity.

Shinzen kicked off the conference with his happy thought on awakening singularity. Ponlop concluded with a reminder that technology should always have a “heart” and that the purpose of technology is to bring happiness to everyone.  Massive Awakening Through Science and Technology with a Heart, for me that’s the essence that was perfectly captured in this first ever Buddhist Geeks Conference. And I’m just so glad I was there. It was more fun than fun.

The day started with an #openpractice with Diane Musho Hamilton leading a Big Mind process while highlighting the second-person (You/We) perspective. She brought in the integral flavor in a house full of geeks.

Then it was followed by a series of BGeeks Live talks starting with Kenneth Folk breaking the taboo of enlightenment while pointing out the fact the enlightenment is really for the rest of us. I liked the way he described enlightenment as the tipping point along the spectrum of non-enlightened schmuck and Buddhahood.

Then Kelly McGonigal followed up with her presentation on the neuroscience of mindfulness practice. She showed a series of cool slides of fMRI scans of longtime meditation practitioners. I definitely need to check out those research myself so I could grok the scientific details.

Then Ethan Nichtern delivered a great talk on why the Internet is not your teacher. Basically, Ethan highlighted the importance of sangha in the real world (aka meatspace). This is a great reminder especially for people like me whose main sangha is in cyberspace. Need to grab some tacos in the real world with fellow dharma practitioners once in a while.

After the break there was a Generation Wise panel discussion with Trudy Goodman, Vincent Horn, Ethan Nichtern, Diana Winston, and  surprise guest Jack Kornfield. They covered topics such as generational and cultural gaps in the Buddhist world.

And then there’s the Buddhist Geek Workout sessions… I attended Shinzen Young’s “The Importance of Feeling: The Role of Emotions in the Spiritual Path”. Shinzen led a practice session using his “Focus In” technique (one of the Five Ways in his Basic Mindfulness approach). Then I hangout with Shinzen for a while as he narrates his life story on how he ended up as the geeky uber-awesome professional Buddhist meditation teacher that he is today. Basically, his hero’s journey started with a Samurai B-movie.

Then I went to a Buddhist Geek Unplugged session where people talked about enlightenment machines, gaming, and apps for awakening. But there’s this one big problem: There’s no common definition of what “enlightenment” is. My take on this: Enlightenment is such a loaded word. It’s multi-faceted. We don’t need to define it perfectly. We just have to come to an agreement of defining enlightenment as a “bifurcation” or tipping point when a person has the profound experience of no self as thing. But that’s just me.

And then the Keynote of the day was Jane McGonigal’s “Awakening is an Epic Win” wherein she drew some interesting and suggestive parallels between gaming and Buddhist practice. I think there are some similarities but in general, gaming only develops some aspects of Buddhist practice. My preferred model for Buddhist practice (or for any spiritual practice) is Shinzen’s model. In Shinzen’s Basic Mindfulness model he defines mindfulness as the development of three core attentional skills: Concentration, Clarity, Equanimity. As I see it, gaming, for the most part, develops concentration skill. This puts the gamer in a state of “flow.” A person in a state of flow could end up in a state of equanimity. But I’m not quite sure if gamers could develop the “clarity” skill wherein they would start seeing things as they are and then drop to a state of classical enlightenment experience of no self as thing. Maybe it’s possible to lose themselves in the game they are playing at the moment but that is only a temporal peak experience. As I understand it, enlightenment is not a peak experience. The classical enlightenment experience radically alters or re-engineers the personality. It’s an opening that will get bigger and bigger until the personality recognizes that awakening is something that doesn’t  happen in time. That even the practice of meditation and seeking is, to use Jane McGonigal’s term, an “unnecessary obstacle.” I have reservations that gaming alone could deliver that awakening experience/non-experience. Then again, if awakening could happen spontaneously even without any practice to someone with the right physiological conditions, then maybe gaming could, in principle, trigger whatever physiological correlates there are to give a person that right kick into infinity. Though I still think it’s highly unlikely. Otherwise, we should be turning in thousands of thousands of gamers by now with all the millions and millions of human hours collectively spent on games and sports. But that’s just me.

Then I finished off the day by watching the awesomely amazing classical guitar performance by Benjamin Beirs. Watch out Ottmar, this kid is smokin’ hot!

So that’s my quick summary for Day 2. Looking forward to another jam-packed day tomorrow…

Shinzen Young @ Buddhist Geeks Conference 2011

Shinzen presented his vision (aka “happy thought”) for a Science of Enlightenment. I’ve already heard him speak about this in his audio CD with the same title, but his keynote presentation was a lot juicier, funny, inspiring and mind-blowing. For someone who had only presented with PowerPoint for the first time Shinzen’s slides pack a lot of punch, and very geeky too. I thought that I already know everything he has to say in the presentation since I’ve read, listened, and watched virtually all of Shinzen’s lectures and interviews online but I was still surprised by some of the stuff he included in the lecture. I won’t attempt to rehash Shinzen’s lecture because I might screw it up. Shinzen’s lecture is already a summary in itself. (And besides, I believe all the lectures are recorded and will be made available online on the BGeeks site after all the necessary editing is done. So you just have to watch it yourself.) Each slide in the presentation would probably take hours of deep discussion so I’ll just jump to the conclusion.

Shinzen Young's version of a technological singularity

Shinzen’s vision is equivalent to Kurzweil’s technological singularity but its emphasis is not on life-extension or A.I. or things of those nature. Shinzen’s emphasis is on the application of science and technology to bring about the classical enlightenment experience (aka “stream entry”) to the masses (as in millions of people). Like I said, very geeky.

Shinzen said that there’s no guarantee that this will happen. In fact he even alluded to some obstacles that might prevent it from happening. But in Shinzen’s moments of happy thought he is optimistic that the marriage of modern science and Buddhism would make his vision *plausible*. For this to happen it would require a combination of deep practice, scientific rigor, and “thinking outside the box.” At this time, we’re only at the ground floor. But that’s the nature of exponential trend. It appears to starts slowly for a long time and then just when you least expect it, it skyrockets.

Shinzen Young riffs on The Sopranos

Unfortunately, the lecture stopped there. Shinzen can only squeeze in enough information given the time limit of his keynote presentation. I have a lot of questions and some objections racing through my head while listening to his talk. So I caught up with him after his presentation and asked him my number one objection.

Let’s say we succeed in creating a technology or paradigm that will bring about the experience of “classical enlightenment” to masses of people, how can we guarantee that the experience will result in a positive way? For example, even if people have enlightenment experience they will still interpret the experience based on their psychological development and cultural upbringing. We’ve all heard of highly enlightened people who “screwed up.” So having a mass enlightenment doesn’t necessarily guarantee that people will no longer make trouble. In short, how can we have a “fail safe” mechanism that would ensure that people will have a healthy interpretation of their enlightenment experience?

Shinzen’s answer was cut short because it was already getting late. But he told me that this is one of most common objections he hears from people. Shinzen said that it’s basically “a numbers game.” Although it’s true that there are enlightened people who screwed up, it’s only very few compared to the rest who didn’t screw up. He used the analogy of pharmaceutical drugs. Just because tens or hundreds of people would suffer from side effects, it doesn’t mean that we should withhold a medicine that saves millions.  He said that he has more to say about this topic but we’ll discuss this in another time. So I’m looking forward to hounding Shinzen in the next couple days during the conference because I really want to hear his take on this issue.

Integral Life just published an audio of Ken Wilber tracing back his developmental stages and making a matter-of-fact self-assessment of his shadows and current stage of development. I find this to be very juicy. I’m already familiar with Ken’s history regarding his spiritual practice but this audio revealed more dimensions to his personal story. This is my new fave Ken Wilber audio. It’s a must-hear for all integral geeks out there. Here’s the blurb:

The Many Faces of Ken Wilber

“As merely an autobiographical account of Ken’s own vertical development, spiritual growth, and shadow work, this story stands as a compelling account of his early psychoanalytic work with Bob Young, his journey through Gestalt, dream, and Jungian therapies, and his first satori with Soto Zen teacher, Katagiri Roshi. It then unfolds through his subsequent work in the Vajrayana tradition, where he encountered his root teacher, Chagdud Tulku, along with his second major satori, which extended his exploration into a relationship with Trungpa and Kalu Rinpoches, along with Pema Norbu, who offered the Longchen Nintig teachings, some of the highest transmissions in Dzogchen. He completes the journey with reflections on Adi Da, the most recent teacher who he had considered engaging in a formal relationship, before ending with a summary of his personal psychograph and brief insight into his current inquiry practice, which is a composite of Ramana Maharshi’s “Who am I?” inquiry, Zen’s Shikantaza, Da’s avoiding inquiry, and the core of Dzogchen’s Maha Ati teachings.”

(Note: This is premium content. You need to be logged into your premium Integral Life account in order to listen to this dialogue. Also, Ken uses the latest coloring scheme for describing his developmental level. For more details on colors and altitudes, read up on “An All-Inclusive Framework for the 21st Century – An Overview of Integral Theory” – by Sean Esbjorn-Hargens)

Like I said, very juicy.

As I expected this generated some discussions on Facebook. One of my FB friends wrote:

“…first bit of Wilber for a while – really liked it. What I wondered is whether Ken still has the guys around him to kick his butt, as he critiqued Da for not having…

…

Even though Ken has been really explicit that he does not see himself, or want to be treated as a guru…and that he doesn’t have ‘students’, I do have this impression that a lot of people defer to him as a supreme authority. Somehow I don’t hear in him the humility I used to, and it makes me wonder…”

That comment is a very honest and valid observation from someone who is looking from the outside of Ken Wilber’s circle. So it compelled me to open up and share my first-hand, albeit brief and limited, experience with Ken. So here’s what I wrote (with some edits and spelling corrections):

i can’t speak for everyone, but based on my own experience with my brief involvement with the Integral Institute years ago, i could confidently say that Ken is very open to criticisms. he’s open to hearing people (including young people who are in his circle) voicing their opinions and ideas. i used to have email conversations with him along with others challenging him and he often gets our opinion on things. that said, being the de facto head of I-I he calls the shots on important decisions (from this perspective you can think of Ken as channeling his inner Steve Jobs). from a leadership perspective it’s just natural to call the shots.

also, understand that there’s another level of circle that Ken has, those of his old friends and intellectual peers, who could really call Ken’s b.s. whenever necessary (e.g. Roger Walsh, Frances Vaughan, and others).

let me point out that most people who are attracted to Ken’s work are highly intelligent and are aware of the cultic mentality. we often joked a lot how cultic we were, or how cultic we were perceived by other people. i believe that a lot of us were there because of his *ideas*, his call for *awakening*, not his personality or “guru” authority. for me, it’s a bonus that Ken’s personality is very likeable. he obviously is freakingly intelligent but he also has a sick sense of humor. and i could sense that there’s a deep calm and serenity behind his passion for sharing his ideas.

but that’s just my impression when i was there. i wasn’t really that close to Ken to witness and experience a deeper side of his personality (or whatever personality issues he has). maybe people who got up-close to him have a different picture. but from what i know based on my conversations with people who really got close to Ken, he, in general, is really a wonderful human being. and that’s why i love that bald guy.

And here’s my follow up comment:

Gearoid said: “it’s also worth noting that he’s often said that if he didn’t lay down AQAL theory someone else probably would have”

it’s true. i think he sincerely means that. however, AQAL is the result of Ken’s genius and his obsessive personality (btw, if you’ve seen his scribbles and diagrams on paper, you’d think that the guy is way out there… but that is a feature that a lot of geniuses share: obsessive focus on the chosen subject). there other integral theorists out there whose done a fine job, but in my opinion, nothing comes close to the comprehensiveness of AQAL (and therein lies both its strength and weakness).

anyway, for those who don’t have the opportunity to meet Ken but want to get a sneak peek at his personal side, i highly recommend the following: “Grace and Grit”, “One Taste”, “Simple Feeling of Being”, and “Kosmic Consciousness (CD audio series)”, and this classic interview by Jordan Gruber (which is the first audio interview i’ve listened to) – http://www.enlightenment.com/media/interviews/wilber1.html

Ken’s personality shine in those books and audio. that said, of course, those are only partial look at the many faces of Ken. but that’s the closest thing you can get without actually meeting, working with, and/or living with the bald guy.

Now, for those of you who have been following my blog, you might wonder why I’ve categorized this entry under “Open Practice.” Two reasons: First, my own psychological development has been in a sort of quantum entanglement with Ken Wilber’s work ever since he blew my mind away back in the early 90s. Second, I think that Ken’s openness in the audio is an excellent example of how one should critically approach one’s self-evaluation. Ken exemplifies what my vision for Open Practice is all about–radical openness and honesty about our practice and self-assessment, as best as we possibly can.

This reminded me once again how profoundly I was influenced (and continue to be influenced) by Ken’s writings. I am quite sure that a lot of people out there feel the same.

Buddhist Geeks Conference 2011

It turned out that it was in my good karma to attend the first ever Buddhist Geeks Conference in L.A. I owe a deep gratitude to my wife for swapping her work schedule so I could attend. She told me that she knows how important this is to me so she gave me her blessings. I’m a lucky guy.

So to those who will be attending the conference, see you there! Buddhist Geeks Conference 2011 is shaping up to be the TED of Western Buddhism.

“And I will bow to the shining seas
And celebrate God’s grace on thee
I was born free
I was born free
I was born free
Born free”
~ Kid Rock

It was a year ago when Francis Raven came to this world. It was a year ago when my wife and I became parents. What they say about parenting is true. It’s hard work wrapped in a bundle of joy dipped in bliss. Parenting is a quick path to one’s own maturity.

Here’s a video I put together. It’s one year in the making. I hope that when my son sees this video someday he’ll appreciate how much he is loved by his parents and all the people whose lives he’s touched.

Happy Birthday, dear Francis Raven.
May you grow up safe, happy, healthy,
And may you live to your fullest potential.
Thank you for making our hearts sing.

~ Mom & Dad