On Sunday, February 13th at 10 am Pacific time, we will bring you Craig Hamilton, a true Evolutionary, and one of today’s leading teachers of Evolutionary Spirituality.
Craig interviewed Terry Patten in the very first installment of Beyond Awakening, and this Sunday, Terry will have the pleasure to ask Craig to weigh in in response to the key question that animates this ongoing public conversation: How can our spiritual practice evolve to help us rise to the challenges of our current global crises?
About Craig Hamilton:
Integral Enlightenment founder Craig Hamilton is a pioneer in the emerging field of evolutionary spirituality. In his inspired writings, talks, and teachings, he calls us to awaken beyond the confines of the separate ego and dedicate our lives to the further evolution of consciousness itself.
Hamilton’s teaching work integrates decades of intensive spiritual practice with insights gleaned during his eight years as Senior Editor of the award-winning What Is Enlightenment? magazine. Through Integral Enlightenment, he is helping to articulate an authentic “evolutionary mysticism” which illuminates the vital relationship between individual transformation and collective evolution. He outlines the principles and practices of this new, evolutionary spiritual path at Integral Enlightenment.com and in his forthcoming books, The Future of God and Integral Enlightenment Craig Hamilton is a founding member of Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute, and a participant in the Synthesis Dialogues, a 35-person interdisciplinary think tank presided over by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He lives and teaches in San Rafael, California, where he offers instruction and guidance in evolutionary spiritual practice.
We look forward to your attendance!
Sincerely,
The Beyond Awakening Team
Hi Folks,
I must say that I was disappointed with today’s event, and I have felt similarly with other related events. There was something boring about, when the very flavor of evolutionary spirituality is aliveness and freshness. It almost felt that the speakers themselves were bored with it all. These dialogues seem to go over the same tired territory rather than reporting from the front lines of the cutting edge of evolutionary consciousness.
It has been observed that the Integral doesn’t pack the punch that full-out nondual teachings have. Terry Patten asked about whether the Integral view being discussed was just philosophical, and whether it carried the deep Peace associated with those who are speaking from the place of Being.
The response seemed to suggest a duality, as if Being were at the top of the mountain, but one grew tired of it (as if to say, “This can’t be all there is to it!”), and then one returned to the valley below, leaving Being behind. Or, that one leaves Being aside to open to Becoming. Doesn’t this sound very dual, and not Integral?
To me, we open to the ineffable Mystery beyond comprehension, through our love of the whole, which includes Being and Becoming. But not as separate compartments, rather as two aspects of One (if we can even call it that!) that are always here now. It is not as if the Presence of Being is left behind but rather that it is in the very Presence of the Becoming. What an awesome Mystery! The Peace of Being is not left behind with the nondual that casts aside Becoming, but is fully present in the very being of Becoming. And if it is not, then maybe there was no real Awakening, and so we can’t really speak of “beyond Awakening.” Of course, this is more challenging than just opening to Being, but that is the challenge and aliveness of contemporary spirituality. And can we really say that in former times those on the spiritual path secluded themselves in monasteries and caves? Some did, but many were called forth into the world. And the sense of a Divine unfolding in history goes at least back to ancient Judaism, which held history as the unfolding of humanity’s relationship with the Divine.
That’s just some unorganized comments I wanted to share. Thank you.
As you broadcast on Sunday, February 13, 2011, I hope that you will take a moment to celebrate with and honour the people of Egypt who have through eighteen days of nonviolent, disciplined protest forced to step down not only President Mubarak but his entire corrupt government. And I would hope that Beyond Awakening, the Future of Spiritual Practice, might begin to interview people who have taken that next step, have found in themselves and in solidarity with millions of their brothers and sisters the next right thing to do. Because for all the wisdom BA has brought to us many thousands of listeners, what has been glaringly lacking is any sense of what a political arena might look like in the western world, and in particular in the United States of America, whose government supported the Mubarak predation every step of the way for thirty years. I’ll be listening.
Warm regards,
M. Lerch
Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada