Sunday, August 30, 2009

#97 The Body of Wisdom, Part 2 - The Somatic Journey

We are continuing our series of podcasts dedicated to the exploration of the body, the somatic disciplines and the underlying principles. This is the second of the two introductory episodes, laying out the context, the definitions, and some of the foundations of the main body of the series.

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  • Somatic journey
    – Stages of learning a somatic discipline
    – Stage 1: not fitting, feeling clumzy, no idea what I’m doing. Excitement and fear.
    – Stage 2: surviving, staying through
    – Stage 3: competition
    – Stage 4: mastery – competition with yourself, precision
    – Stage 5: spirituality and sharing – transpersonal discoveries, teaching others. You don’t do it, you are it.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

#96 The Body of Wisdom, Part 1 - Basics & Groundwork

We are starting a major series of podcasts dedicated to the exploration of the body, the somatic disciplines and the underlying principles. The first two episodes are the introductory talks, laying out the context, the definitions, and some of the foundations of the main body of the series.

  • Introductions & overarching structure
    • Principles, how they show in various somatic disciplines, and how we apply them in personal growth, relationships, and leadership / organizations.
  • Definitions
    • What is somatic
    • Distinctions of body, mind, spirit
    • Impulses
    • Somatic syntax
    • Center
    • Pre-verbal
    • Direct experience, embodiment
    • Propioception – sense of orienting yourself
    • Flow – saying “yes” to life, going with what is
    • Paradox, tension of the opposites
    • Presence – where my attention flows, and how I am held as an entity proper. “I am here”.
    • Basics – foundational elements, the alphabets, the grammar
  • Why study somatics?
    • All changes start with the body
    • It all comes to emotions, which starts in the body. So, feeling our body is our basic need.
    • The myth of our life resides in our body
    • Being mindful and “bodyful” – paying attention not only to what you are paying attention, but also with what part of your body
    • Changes in the body as a way to heal, to release tentions
    • Focusing on the body leads to wholeness
    • In modern society, especially western, body is considered a shadow (sinful, shameful) compared to the mind. Mythologically though, the shadow often has the greatest potential and energy, and needs to be integrated in order to do any serious work.
  • Somatic disciplines covered
    • Dance (ballroom, 5Rhythms, contact improv)
    • Meditation
    • Martial arts
    • Rituals (Paratheatre, mythological work with Paul Rebillot)
    • Tantra
    • Anthropology
    • NLP
    • Spiral Dynamics
  • Applications:
    • Personal growth
    • Relationships
    • Leading change at the level of a unit (organization, society)

Sunday, August 16, 2009

#95 Letting Go to Move On

In this episode, we are talking an important aspect of any transformation – accepting and letting go of the old, before embracing the new.

  • Why it is important
    • What we accumulate holds us back
    • Directionality – let go of what to move where? Changing the state of being
    • “Gods of one level are the demons of the next”
  • What keeps us stuck?
    • Delusions – and acceptance as a path
    • Emotions that keep us back, and forgiveness as a way out.
    • When you don’t see an alternative
  • Sequence of steps
    • Forgive the old before moving on – otherwise, you’ll keep being bound to the old
    • Denial, anger, sadness, acceptance (same sequence as for trauma)
    • If you don’t let go of the old, it will haunt you
    • Accepting, forgiving (if appropriate), finding an honorable closure, then moving on through a “rite of passage”
  • Closing remarks
    • Don’t confuse forgiveness & acceptance with forgetting
    • Hardest to accept & forgive yourself

Sunday, August 9, 2009

#94 Swimming with Dolphins - Learning to Learn - conversations withPaul Kordis, part 9

We are continuing our Swimming with Dolphins series of conversations with Dr. Paul Kordis. Check back to the previous episode (#93) of the series, or start with the first episode (#52) , if you haven’t heard it yet.

Paul has been researching writing, and speaking to groups for over 20 years about the processes of profound change. He is a globally traveled speaker and seminar leader on futuristic, human development, change and other topics. He received his Ph.D. degree (with honors) in human capital and economic development from Colorado State University in May, 2008.

His 1,500-page dissertation is entitled “The Superhighway to Serfdom: How False-Social-Norms Marketing is Hijacking the American Dream.” He is a co-author (with Dudley Lynch) of the books The Strategy of the Dolphin: Scoring a Win in a Chaotic World, which has become a best seller, and Code of the Monarch: A Guide to the Real Global Business Revolution. He is also the author (with his wife, Susan) of the book Name Your Passion: A User’s Guide to Finding Your Personal Purpose.

Today’s conversation touches upon the following topics:

  • Choosing the change
    • At level 7, change becomes autogenic and conscious
  • Learning to learn
  • Solutions at one level are the problems of the next
    • Or, as Joseph Campbell put it, “Gods of one level are demons of the next”
  • Progress and Regress
    • Transitions may happen backwards, to the lower levels
    • Previous value systems are necessary for the higher ones to emerge

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

False Freedom of Speech and the Perversion of the Golden Rule

False Freedom of Speech and the Perversion of the Golden Rule

Most of us have heard the admonition, “Treat others as you would have others treat you.” It’s the golden rule. And most of us have also heard it’s corrupted corollary, “He who has the gold makes the rules.” The first is a recommendation for getting along. The second is a sad recognition of the current facts.
This recognition is doubly sad as we observe America’s ongoing debate, if one could call it that, over healthcare. Once again those with the wealth, i.e. pharmaceutical companies and health insurance providers, are making the rules. And by what yardstick are these rules being measured? The primary metric for the pharmaceutical industry is the one with which we are the most familiar: charge as much for your product as you can and don’t worry too much about the product’s quality or ultimate effect. The primary metric for insurance companies is similar. It’s called the Medical Loss Ratio. This ration is the amount of money the insurance companies get from their clients versus the money they spend to keep their clients healthy. Currently the ratio is about 20 percent profit versus 80 percent outlay for the client (see http://www.pnhp.org/news/2006/march/medicalloss_ratios_.php). This ratio makes Wall Street very happy, but what does it mean for the rest of us if cutting client care is the most important item on health insurer’s agenda? It most likely means that even more people in America won’t be able to afford health insurance and that even more people who can afford it will go underserved. This also means that those who fear a healthcare system run by government, such as Medicare which operates five to ten times more efficiently than private insurance providers, are currently faced with a healthcare system run by Wall Street, the same folks who created the current financial debacle (see http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/transcripts/index.html).
But this is merely an instance. When it comes to any of the critical issues facing our nation the same players are making the rules, those with the gold. Whether the issue is energy, unemployment, the environment, war, healthcare, retirement, or almost any other important issue you can shake a stick at, the game remains the same. And the game is rigged. Recently I read a blog lamenting that America will soon have a population where the bottom 90 percent feed like leeches on the top 10 percent. But ignoring the fact that this is economically improbable if not impossible, the real truth is just the opposite. The top 0.01 percent have been living off of the bottom 90 percent for the greater part of the last 5,000 years (Korten, 2006, 2009; Rothkopf, 2008; Simon, 2005). That is, those who don’t work make their living from those who do by employing them for less than they are worth, selling them products for more than the products are worth, and by stealing their taxes.
So how is it that the rest of us, the regular people, have no voice whatsoever in all of the important decisions?
The answer is:
• Our government representatives are for sale to the highest bidder
• Our government representatives are continually campaigning rather than governing because they need the money
• Our government representatives are sold at a higher price than most can afford
• Our government representatives see no alternative
See (Blumenthal, 1980; Johnston, 2003, 2007; Ornstein, 2000; Phillips, 2008; Sirota, 2006; Thurber, 1995).
And how has this happened?
It most recently has come about by way of corporate personhood. That is, corporations are now legally considered to be persons, with all of the rights and fewer of the responsibilities of the real people who compose the true citizenry of the United States. This reality is based on a lamentable and infuriating mistake, but it is still a reality (Hartmann, 2002; Korten, 2000, 2001). This reality dictates that giving money to government officials is protected by a corporation’s right, as a person, to free speech. And whenever campaign reform is mentioned, one that would limit the ability of corporations to give money to a politician via campaign contributions, the cry is heard loud and clear that the free speech granted to the corporate world would be violated if such reforms were to be enacted.
But in reality it is the free speech of those who cannot afford opulent campaign contributions that is being continuously and overtly violated. We now have a system of “one dollar, one vote” rather than “one person, one vote.”
Many solutions have been suggested, including the one I like best, the elimination of corporate personhood. Another one that I like is as follows:
Allow anyone, even corporations, to contribute to political campaigns. The money would then be pooled and divided equally among the legitimate candidates. This would also force the media to give equal time to all candidates for free, which was their original public charter.
Ironically, this would take lots and lots of money to initiate and implement. But there is an equally powerful option that would have a similar effect in the long run. Simply put, we can and should exercise our economic power as citizens to withhold money from people and corporations who violate the public trust and the public interest. If money speaks so loudly in Washington then it can be deafening on Wall Street. They can’t buy our government if we don’t give them any money with which to do it. This would create another corollary to the golden rule, “I won’t give you any gold if you would use it to rule me.”

References

Blumenthal, S. (1980). The permanent campaign: Inside the world of elite political operatives. Boston: Beacon Press.
Hartmann, T. (2002). Unequal protection: The rise of corporate dominance and the theft of human rights. Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press.
Johnston, D. C. (2003). Perfectly legal: The covert campaign to rig our tax system to benefit the super rich – and cheat everybody else. New York: Portfolio.
Johnston, D. C. (2007). Free lunch: How the wealthiest Americans enrich themselves at government expense (and stick you with the bill). New York: Portfolio.
Korten, D. C. (2000). The post-corporate world: Life after capitalism. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
Korten, D. C. (2001). When corporations rule the world (2nd ed.). Bloomfield, Connecticut: Kumarian Press, Inc. and Berrett Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Korten, D. C. (2006). The great turning: From empire to earth community. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Korten, D. C. (2009). Agenda for a new economy: From phantom wealth to real wealth. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Ornstein, N. J. (Ed.). (2000). The permanent campaign and its future. La Vergne, Tennessee: AEI Press.
Phillips, K. (2008). Bad money: Reckless finance, failed politics, and the global crisis of American capitalism. New York: Viking.
Rothkopf, D. (2008). Superclass: The global power elite and the world they are making. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Simon, D. R. (2005). Elite deviance (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Allyn & Bacon.
Sirota, D. (2006). Hostile takeover: How big money and corruption conquered our government – and how we take it back. New York: Crown.
Thurber, J. A. (1995). The transformation of American campaigns. In J. A. Thurber & C. J. Nelson (Eds.), Campaigns and elections American style (pp. 1 – 13). Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

#93 Swimming with Dolphins - Systemic Consciousness - conversationswith Paul Kordis, part 8

We are continuing our Swimming with Dolphins series of conversations with Dr. Paul Kordis. Check back to the previous episode (#90) of the series, or start with the first episode (#52) , if you haven’t heard it yet.

Paul has been researching writing, and speaking to groups for over 20 years about the processes of profound change. He is a globally traveled speaker and seminar leader on futuristic, human development, change and other topics. He received his Ph.D. degree (with honors) in human capital and economic development from Colorado State University in May, 2008.

His 1,500-page dissertation is entitled “The Superhighway to Serfdom: How False-Social-Norms Marketing is Hijacking the American Dream.” He is a co-author (with Dudley Lynch) of the books The Strategy of the Dolphin: Scoring a Win in a Chaotic World, which has become a best seller, and Code of the Monarch: A Guide to the Real Global Business Revolution. He is also the author (with his wife, Susan) of the book Name Your Passion: A User’s Guide to Finding Your Personal Purpose.

Today’s conversation touches upon the following topics:

  • Systemic Consciousness
  • Interconnectedness of the modern age
  • Break-through to level 7
    • Bigger than all the previous levels combined
  • Neurological changes
    • Level transitions are reflected by physical, neurological brain changes