My April 29th dialogue with Candice O’Denver was the second time we’ve dialoged as a part of the Beyond Awakening Series.  Her unique and original approach cuts always to the root, using fresh, direct, intuitive, universal language, like “open intelligence,” “clarity”, “life satisfaction”, “flourishing”, “bursting forth” and “being of benefit.”

Her vocabulary is a meta-communication, worth contemplating for the nuances it includes and declines to include. Whenever we talk, she transmits awakening, greatly deepening the field and always advancing my understanding of how radical, non-dual, non-problematic consciousness can liberate the frame even while it “rolls up its sleeves” and digs into practical engagement with the issues before us.

We began with Candice giving an overview of the anchoring tenets of the Balanced View teachings, including the core algorithm of “short moments of open intelligence repeated many times until it becomes obvious.” According to Candice, open intelligence gives rise to a life of flourishing, beauty and discernment.

When we live as the “singularity” of open intelligence (not separable from the “data” of all experience) our available intelligence is no longer confined to our personal point of view. If open intelligence becomes our primary reference, shining forth with all data and points of view, we experience the bursting forth of creative intelligence and the natural flourishing that is at the basis of our reality. Candice emphasized that this is what reality actually is. As our self-focused frames of reference are relaxed, everything arises with newness and freshness. We express an exquisite clarity and are able to create knowledge on the fly. This is what she means by “open ended-knowledge creation.”

I also found it extremely satisfying to delve with Candice into what I see as her radical claim about how knowledge itself arises. She responded deceptively directly to the most radical question that arises in the philosophy of information theory (“What is most fundamental — consciousness, matter, or information?”) essentially saying “yes!” (Since they cannot be radically separated.) This non-separability allows her to express a radical simplicity that joins equally with information theorists who see information as fundamental, scientific skeptics who see matter as fundamental, and awakened mystics who point to the consciousness as most fundamental.

In response to the evolutionary imperative, open intelligence is now bursting forth and empowering human nature from within. I told her I was reminded of what I see as a newly emerging, free, transpersonal clarity in which the directionality of inquiry is now accounting for “ the user illusion,” or our embedded anthropocentric point of view, and how a relaxation into raw, unprocessed experience is needed to truly liberate our capacities and potentials. I wondered if open intelligence was perhaps a convergence between an inquiry about coming alive as the core of what is most passionately uniquely personal (what Ken Wilber calls “Eros”) including our personal mission and purpose; and the transpersonal and impersonal process of raw recognition of the field of reality or what is.

Candice offered another resounding “Yes!” She sees open intelligence expressing the evolutionary imperative by changing everything from within. Open intelligence is becoming apparent to all, bursting through so that self-concern and anthropocentrism are no longer the defining point of view or orientation. All “data” are allowed in for a totally inclusive view.

Our dialogue was truly rich. It brought new insights into the ongoing koan of this series—of optimistically trusting evolution while facing (and not bypassing) the alarm and pessimism so often triggered by our global crises. A beautifully freeing implication of Candice’s insight is the “perpetual optimism” that is allowed by open intelligence.

During our final question and answer session, Candice reflected on some vulnerable personal questions from listeners. I was moved by both the transparency of the callers and by Candice’s responses.

I invite you to enjoy this download here so that you may also share in this rich dialogue!

What lies out beyond our current ways of seeing and speaking? Is there a new view and language emerging—an awake, neutral, openhearted clarity that draws as much from science and common sense as it does from spirituality and philosophy? A way of going beyond the war between worldviews (and the wars among all points of view) that simply sees and stands in the underlying unity of it all, and allows evolution to proceed more consciuosly?

My April 15^th conversation with Peter Baumann was disarming, at first apparently elusive, and yet then became a fascinating exploration that stretched the Beyond Awakening conversation into some spacious new territory.

He seeks to advance our understanding of “being human” — appreciating that we, like everything else in our world, are processes in flux, always evolving and changing, and thus misapprehended by reified mental constructs.

In my first question I asked Peter what he is currently inspired by, interested in, and excited about. And instead of answering my question directly, he proceeded to talk about why he’s not particularly interested in excitement, and that focusing on what’s “exciting” is just a distraction. He’s obviously not at all interested in any idealization.

Very quickly, I realized, that he was interested in stepping outside and undermining the conventions of all usual categories and affirmations (spiritual, evolutionary, scientific, moral, political, etc.) in order to notice something bigger than our opinions, hopes, fears, reactions, agendas, and interpretations.

When I asked about his hopes, he talked about how there’s no problem with what already is, apart from any program to improve it. And when I probed, what emerged left us resting together in the paradox. There’s both the perfection of everything exactly as it is, and the fact that pain and difficulty and imbalance are big parts of it, and the fact that it’s a beautiful aspect of our very nature to attempt to bring about improvement.

He suggested we recognize our own individual lives as a link in the chain of evolution, that we be realistic about where we’re at in a gradually improving story, in which more and more awareness is naturally emerging.

He seems to be interested in helping people relax out of their mental habits and constructs, trusting that doing so opens a space in which we can see more clearly. And I think he trusts that clearer, more enlightened awareness and action naturally flows from that, since all human beings, in their core, want to see life flourish.

By the end of the interview, I found myself resting with Peter in a spaciousness that is beyond all categories or current frames of discourse. It is richly informed by spirituality, science, and philosophy, especially integral, evolutionary, and transcendental perspectives. But it begins, perhaps to express a synthetic meta-narrative beyond meta-narratives.

I hope this gives you a feel for it.

By continually expanding the frame, Peter helped us all feel into a relaxed, accepting, big-picture orientation, one that trusts and participates caringly in the brilliant creativity of the natural evolutionary processes that we all are, that gets out of the way of what actually is.

I hope you enjoy it! Listen or download it here.

From there, we dived into this new phenomenon, as we each have experienced it in our spiritual work. We explored what the conditions are that make it possible, for an individual to participate in it, for a group to co-create it. We looked at how this New “We” might allow a higher intelligence to find its way through us into life.

It was a very lively conversation, and it leaves me contemplating some interesting questions. I first awakened to this possibility through actual group processes, in which a powerful shared field of awareness drew us together into a heightened state of consciousness.

But as I continue to practice and to serve the evolution of consciousness and culture I am working with groups that sometimes connect by phone, sometimes online in writing via forums and chats, and sometimes in person. With groups of more advanced and committed practitioners, I’ve noticed that the “We” finds its way into being through all these forms, that it even persists between occasions, and that something builds and lives over time among us.

Thomas suggested that he believes this is how human beings can connect to the higher intelligence that really can effectively address global warming and the other crises that face us. In our experiments with this New “We” we may be helping pioneer some of the presses through which we can rise to our evolutionary challenges.

Thomas is in the US from now until April 7th, teaching in New York, the SF Bay Area, Seattle & Olympia, Vancouver and Boulder. A schedule of his appearances is here.

Hieroglyphic Stairway

Have you heard about the  free offering that I’ve just created? It’s a little different than many of my other teachings, which tend to focus on the positive aspects of the life of practice.

In this one, I focus on some of the pitfalls that you may be facing in your attempt to live a more integral, evolutionary life. I feel that this is an especially useful teaching because, in many cases, you could be doing many things “right,” and yet, because of a handful subtle obstructions you may be overlooking, you’re still not experiencing the full benefits of your practice.

Often these blocks or impediments show up as “myths” that we subconsciously believe, and which act to undermine our conscious evolution. By bringing awareness to these “myths,” we can begin to undo them, thus freeing up energy for greater forward momentum.

That’s why I’ve created a free teleclass, “The 5 Spiritual Myths that Sabotage Your Conscious Evolution.” In it, I describe how to recognize these false beliefs and ideas that obstruct spiritual development and, more importantly, how to dissolve them so that you can more fully enjoy the fruits of your spiritual practice.

If you’re curious to find out more, simply visit “The 5 Spiritual Myths that Sabotage Your Conscious Evolution” welcome page and register for free.

Through direct teaching, engaging stories, and easy-to-follow practical exercises, you’ll learn how to identify—and overcome—the 5 most deceptive myths that may be holding back your conscious evolution.

Some of you have already experienced my 8-session online course that helps participants kickstart, or deepen, their Integral Spiritual Practice. In addition to teaching the “5 Myths,” this free teleclass will also be an opportunity to learn more about the relaunch of the full course and the community that is gathering to support it.

If you’re looking to find a way to do the inner work that can make an outer difference, this will be a great learning opportunity . I encourage you to join me for this engaging live audio event!

To your conscious evolution,

Terry