It is actually a practice of self inquiry, a way of turning or using the mind to discover the nature of mind and of everything else that is here in in the space between. Yes, I agree, the objective is integral being but can most people jump to that without being introduced to a new way of seeing, experiencing and being with themselves? I appreciate the feedback that it felt too superficial like a tapas bar…a conference format, the space all contribute to how this is presented. I agree it is difficult to address this in depth given the format but how do we introduce and offer that in a way that does not threaten, diminish or polarize? I agree, given “the whole purpose is about spectrum, gradation and graduation, fluidity, integral being” – how do we introduce integral being and point the way without drawing the distinction and therefore risking polarization? Thank you and I hope I am not belaboring this but I so appreciate the forum for this inquiry.

It looks like the “wu-wu” adjective has worked like a red flag on you Rest assured it was not my intention to dismiss your and other’s mindfulness work, but your question at the end of your feedback is the real important one: “How do we better contextualize and language what can be offered through what we are now labeling as ‘mindfulness’ or what I teach as mind-body awareness in such a way that it won’t continue to be dismissed as wu wu from California?”

I think it is super important to “integrate” poetry, art, mindfulness into this sort of events and our thinking in general. Now it felt too much as a series of “add-ons”, too much like a “tapas-bar”, and by consequence a bit superficial, lacking depth and therefore maybe labelled by me as “wu-wu”

I am just working on a new presentation about “innovation” and I just realised that for innovation to succeed, we need to put in place “a system of humans”.

Too often we hurry asap into very pragmatic tactical considerations and actions, without seeing or wanting to explore or individual and collective identities, relevancies, purpose, being.

If that is the professional context for mindfulness, i am all on board, then it feels integrated and part of the wholeness of the self and of the organisation. But when it is pitched as something special, out there, etc we get into some sort of polarisation, where the whole purpose is about spectrum, gradation and graduation, fluidity, integral being.

“Kind” regards

Peter

I was one of the Californian people offering the ‘wu wu’ program at Purple Beach. I appreciate the time and attention you have taken to write your long and thoughtful blog and I agree whole heartedly – which is why I made the trek to London at Annemie’s request to participate in Purple Beach. I would also like to mention I am a doctor of chiropractic and have 25 year as a corporate strategic advisor specializing in large scale data warehousing and now bridging the world of enterprise information and the brave new world of Big Data. These are functions that I perform in the world using my wu wu skills. When you speak of the future being analog these are the skills required to recognize the space between the bits and bytes, the continuation of awareness that is actually available at all times from whence the bits arise and dissolve again. Yes, this description sounds a bit wu wu but it is also the exact way reality works if you speak to any physics scientist. So what we think of as wu wu is more akin to reality than the temporary bits and bytes that appear and disappear constantly – in other words – the physical world we all perceive. And if we are constantly chasing those bits we are missing the reality that is ever present in the space between, the analog world.

I agree with your aha that it is the fear of intimacy, of being open and present to what is here in this moment that prevents us from experiencing the full dimension of who we are as human beings. I want to restate your sentence because it is so key…”The insight was that my hunger for depth is really a hunger for intimacy, the hunger for human connection, also on professional environments.” and “pragmatism and two-feet-on-the-ground is probably a shield to hide from depth, from intimacy.”

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for stating your insight so succinctly. It takes courage to explore the edges beyond the comfortable boundaries of our normal day to day working and personal lives. Yes, we are being pushed by a digital revolution but unless we explore with equal intensity the immensity of the analog universe then the wholeness that is possible by including all of it will continue to elude us.

So, indeed I have a smart phone, a computer and I work as a consultant across multiple time zones designing the next generation information architectures designed to capture, analyze, re-contextualize and deliver those bits and bytes of information in more digestible chunks. I just have the benefit of recognizing that who I am in the midst of that cannot be measured by the very same bitstream, by my website, resume, or blog. As individual holographic expressions of the world around us we are mysterious and mundane, peculiar and infinite in possible expression of our uniqueness and the conscious awareness of this is just the beginning.

My aha also came on the second day of the event due to the discourse opened up by Doug regarding his horror of the future ‘digital presentism’ and the ensuing discussion as well as Margaret Heffernan’s talk based on her book Wilful Blindness. What I recognized is that the conditions for creativity or innovation beginning within the context of our own personal awareness requires diversity even dissenting perspectives to be included. The rejection of anything prevents the promise of wholeness and creates the very same barrier you recognized as preventing true presence, intimacy and acceptance of yourself in the midst of the prescriptions of behavior we all unwittingly fall into at our own (eventual) peril. When all of it is embraced we can be sure in ourselves even as a candle flame burning against a sky full of blazing stars.

I believe that Annemie’s commitment to having a Mindfulness ‘track’ along with the poetry and performance art contributed if not directly but perhaps orthogonally to the conditions that led to your aha. How do we better contextualize and language what can be offered through what we are now labeling as ‘mindfulness’ or what I teach as mind-body awareness in such a way that it won’t continue to be dismissed as wu wu from California?

Thanks again for sharing your insight – this is what Purple Beach is all about!

Regards,
Patricia Klauer DC
http://www.alpha-i.net
http://www.eclipsedatasystems.com