About Our New Online Course Called “Spiritual, but not Religious, A Rational Approach to Spirituality for the 21st Century.”
To help you decide if this is an online course that you might want to take we have included the table of contents and introduction below. This is mainly a course about the basic concepts of integral spirituality.
Introduction
Spirituality is the domain of human endeavor that is concerned with ultimate reality. It seeks to provide practical answers to the very deepest questions of life… Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? How should I live?
There is, of course, no one-right-answer to any of these questions, although you and I might find answers that are right for us. Every wave that breaks on the shore of our consciousness may bring forth a meaning unique to each of us.
But what we can all share in common is a broad conception of the infinite ocean of Spirit. Even though we may be limited to poetry and metaphors and paradoxical stories in our efforts to try and describe the nature of this mysterious ocean, those who dive deeply into its crystal depths over and again return with the same urge to share the wonders of their experience with anyone willing to listen.
All around us lies the wreckage of the religions of our ancestors. The modern obsession with scientific thinking has ripped apart the great spiritual vessels of the past like balsawood ships on the hard rocks of reason. The purveyors of such rationalism convince us that the ocean is a figment of our imagination, an ultimately meaningless and sometimes dangerous pursuit. Best to turn your back, they say, and focus on these pretty worldly objects that are so much more real and useful.
Yet the ocean beckons. Without it, nothing seems to make sense. The very nature of the sandy shore of our everyday lives is continuously sculpted by the unseen forces of the ocean. The gentle waft of the sea breeze calls us over and over, finding its way through the ever growing piles of possessions and mental distractions.
How are we to answer these questions? How are we to make sense of the wreckage of the once noble religions? Are the scientists right after all? Is this yearning for contact with the Divine really just a psychological reaction to the inevitability of death? Who can we trust to help us make sense of such an important matter as our spirituality? And even if we were to rediscover our passion for Spirit, how can we possibly find the time to pursue spiritual matters when life is already so busy and so full?
Over the last 25 years, a new philosophical approach has emerged that is revolutionizing our understanding of human affairs. This is not the kind of philosophy spouted by old men in smoky rooms full of dusty books, but a vibrant, living philosophy that does not presume to have any value if it cannot provide meaningful and practical answers to the everyday problems of the average person.
Called the Integral Approach, it comes through the genius of American philosopher Ken Wilber, who in turn stands on the shoulders of thousands of researchers over thousands of years of enquiry into the human condition. Wilber has managed to substantially integrate into a single coherent framework the wisdom, insights and knowledge from every major branch of human enquiry, including philosophy, spirituality, psychology, physics, biology, art, business, politics, systems theory and several other fields.
The result is a map or model that offers a broad outline of what is possible in this adventure called Life. It describes the terrain of human potentials, from babies to Buddhas and pretty much every human condition in between. It helps to make sense of all of history, and explains much of the madness we see on the nightly news. Importantly, it offers a simple and believable story that explains how we could, as a species, be so foolish as to waver on the brink of global catastrophe as we blindly grasp for more power, possessions and security. When we understand why a problem has occurred, we become empowered to do something about it.
When applied to the domain of our spirituality, the integral approach offers some tantalizing insights. It explains why there are so many apparently irreconcilable conceptions of the Divine, and why they are all true and all of great value. It tells a good story of why the churches have come upon such hard times in the modern west, and yet how they continue to carry within their traditions insights of unspeakable value. It lays bare the strengths and weaknesses of the New Age spirituality movement, while placing clear markers on the snares and pitfalls that await the unsuspecting. It explains the essential differences between the spiritual yearnings of the masculine and feminine within us all, and how the spirituality of the future brings these two great currents together in a single embrace.
Wilber has written over two dozen books that drill to great depths in his efforts to unpack the dynamics of the modern world. Spiritual Not Religious aims to reveal the essential insights from this vast body of work in a way that is accessible to those of us who lead regular, busy lives.
Insight however is useless if not followed up by practical application. The final sections of this book describe what is known as Integral Life Practice, which maps a range of simple, proven, concrete spiritual practices that you can mix and match to create a practice plan customized to your own being and life circumstance. The structure of the ILP approach ensures that even a moderate commitment will yield tangible results much more quickly than you might expect.
Table of Contents for Spiritual, but not Religious, A Rational Approach to Spirituality for the 21st Century
Introduction 7
Foundations 10When Traveling, Choose your Map with Care! 12
Is God Really Dead? 14
Spiritual Train Wrecks 15
The Sins of the Fathers 16
How We Got So Lost 19
The Great Chain 29
The Two Roles of Religion 32
Spiritual versus Religious 33
Levels of Consciousness 34
Why Levels are So Important 35
Personal Evolution 37
Evolution of Relationships 38
Evolution of the Collective 39
Summary of the First Tier 40
All Levels, All the Time 41
A Few Notes on Hierarchies 43
Boomeritis 47
Sidebar: The Pre-Trans Fallacy 51
The Incredible Leap to 2nd Tier 53
Deficiency vs. Abundance 55
The Prime Directive 55
Why is 2nd Tier So Rare? 56
How to Grow to 2nd Tier 59
States of Consciousness 63
The Great States 63
The Shadow 69
The Nature of Projection 69
Blind Spots 70
3-2-1 of Shadow 71
Subtle Theory Notes 72
Perspectives on Reality 73
1st, 2nd and 3rd Person Perspectives 74
It’s All About ME! 74
The Miracle of We 76
The Objective View 78
1-2-3 of God 79
Domains of Spiritual Practice 80
Masculine And Feminine Approaches to Spirituality 84
Ascending and Descending Currents of Spirit 86
Everyday Currents 87
Gender Preferences in Practice 88
A Final Word on Levels 89
Relationship of States and Stages of Consciousness 90
Craving States 93
Craving Stages 95
Integral Life Practice 97
ILP Rubber on the Road 99
Time with The Friend 100In Conclusion 102
Resources 104
Credits 105