The Integral Stage Expanded Universe (ISEU)

For the twenty-seventh episode of the Integral Stage's Author Series, Layman meets with author and artist, Brian George, to talk about his book, Masks of Origin: Regression in the Service of Omnipotence ; about speaking the unspeakable; and about his creative life and work in general.  From the book description:  "Brian George’s debut collection of personal essays invites the reader on a...

What is Black Metamodernism?  What distinguishes metamodernism from modernism, postmodernism, and hypermodernity?  In this special Integral Stage episode, Layman sits down with metamodernist thinker and writer, Germane Marvel, to explore these questions, and to take a deep dive into Germane's thoughts on diunital cognition; the role of emotional intelligence in both/and thinking; nihilis...

For the twenty-sixth episode of the Integral Stage's Author Series, Layman sits down again with Middle Way philosopher and author, Robert M. Ellis, this time to discuss his new book, Absolutization -- the first book in a planned 9-part series on the Middle Way.   Layman and Robert explore the essential arguments of the book; the many ways absolutizing tendencies in thought show up psychologic...

In a previous video, Everything You Think You Know About Integral Theory Is Wrong, we met with Mark Forman to talk about and address a number of the commonly heard criticisms of Integral Theory and the Integral community.  In this follow-up discussion, we are joined by Mark Forman and Nomali Perera to take a candid look at a number of the teacher-related scandals that have impacted the commun...

Anticipated for several centuries by prescient individuals, the Meta-Crisis is the defining challenge of our time -- the convergence of multiple wicked problems, at global scale.  In this special Integral Stage episode, Dr. Roger Walsh, a renowned transpersonal psychologist, integral scholar, and Professor of Psychiatry and Philosophy at UC Irvine, sits down with Layman Pascal to discuss the...

On The Meta-Podcast (formerly Integral Podcasters), we talk with podcasters, YouTubers, and other media producers who are trying to offer, or who can't help but offer more integrative perspectives.  Who are these people, what do they collectively understand and point towards, and how can they be interlinked, mutually supported, clarified, and amplified?   Layman is joined by Paul Bloch,...

Having lived in a cave so long, the puppet hermit Adyahanzi sometimes leaves unseemly messes when he goes out in public ... at hotels, restaurants, restrooms ... anywhere, really.  And it is the task of poor Brendan Graham Dempsey to follow behind him and do the dirty clean-up work.  Such is the case with this video.  Listen in as Brendan gives Layman the (re)overview of Emergentism...

In this new mini-series, Layman Pascal talks with Marc Gafni about an emerging model he is developing together with Zak Stein and others, which they call Cosmo-Erotic Humanism.   For episode one, Layman and Marc discuss the origins of this project, and Marc's work on exploring and unfolding a model of Certainty and Uncertainty for addressing the meaning crisis, grounding moral value, and wres...

EVERYTHING?  Well, maybe not everything...   But, as integral psychotherapist and leader Mark Forman will argue, there are a number of criticisms of the integral movement and community that continue to circulate, that could be put to sleep with a better understanding of many of the changes and developments within, and the many accomplishments of, the movement over the past two decades. &...

In episode 3 of this unexpected mini-series, our Anonymous Host hops on the couch with Miss Rabbit, an integrally informed sexologist-in-training, to talk about the nuances of porn use, psychosexual development, and spirituality.  There's a lot that could be said about this very fine, simultaneously sensitive and explicit conversation, but if you'd like to know why " there's a weird analogy b...

In TYPOLOGIES OF MEDITATION, Professor Rick Repetti joins Layman & Bruce again for an open dialogue on philosophy, meditation, and the philosophy of meditation.  In this episode, they discuss typologies of meditation -- considering the nature of meditation, its transformative functions, its possible psychological and neurological mechanisms, its possible evolutionary roots, and how to con...

For the twenty-fifth (!) episode of the Integral Stage's Author Series, Layman gets together with Hanzi Freinacht representative, Daniel Görtz, to talk about the forthcoming, and now formerly titled, book, " 12 Much Better Rules for Life. "   But while the title may be different on the date of publication, the content remains the same:  a Metamodern homage, parody, incorporation, and pri...

For the twenty-fourth episode of the Integral Stage's Author Series, Layman sits down with the very animated, Adyahanzi, to talk about his latest book, Emergentism, which he co-authored with that rather sneaky post-Kierkegaardian writer, Brendan Graham Dempsey.  As a cave-dwelling hermit, Adyahanzi doesn't get out much -- you might be able to tell that from his unkempt beard and his enthusias...

For the eighth episode, after discussing the translative (horizontal) and transformative (vertical) functions of religion, and the importance of (re-)rooting religious imagination and practice in a robust ecological sensibility going forward, they turn to an extended exploration of the likely most salient principles in the design of effective religious ritual.  Is the purpose of ritual more t...

For this special Integral Stage episode, Layman and Bruce sit down with Steve March, the founder of Aletheia Coaching, to talk about the revolutionary promise of memory reconsolidation techniques to effect lasting transformation in coaching and therapy, and to discuss the history, theory, and practice of his "integral unfolding" work.  In recent decades, neuroscientists have uncovered mechani...

John Vervaeke joins Bruce Alderman and Layman Pascal to explore possible points of contact and confluence between their respective approaches to religion and spirituality.  For the seventh episode, they reflect on the koanic and emotional dimensions of Christ's cry from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"; grief and the feeling of God-forsakenness in a time between worlds;...

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In The Surplus Spiritual Enjoyments of Rayan Magon, Layman sits with University of Toronto Pearson Scholar, Rayan Magon, to talk about the insights Lacanian psychoanalysis might bring to the issues of neurodiversity and postmodern spiritual practice.  Does Lacan, with his distinctively elusive language, have something profound to teach us about the deep structures of our many ways of being in...

Layman meets with M. Rako Fabionar, director of the Innovative Learning and Living Institute (ILALI), to talk about his work with indigenous communities along the Pacific coast of the United States, and more generally around the world.   Rako recalls early formative experiences with his Filipino relatives, his work on issues of justice and equity for indigenous communities in university, and...

Layman meets with integrative psychotherapist, spiritual practitioner, and musician, Willow Pearson Trimbach, to talk about her early experiences of the significance of dreams; her concept of dreams as nested and ongoing; the importance of protecting the unconscious; the relationship of the natural states to the classically sacred dimensions of reality; the nature of the dreaming self and its rela...

Layman meets with Martin Ucik to talk about his new book, Integral Relationship Practice.  At 800 pages, and with abundant exercises and illustrations, the book is a manual for singles and couples who are interested in the theory of integral relationships, but also in the deep understanding that can only be gained through embodied practices and experiences.   From the book's description:...

Layman Pascal talks with author and expressive arts therapist, Sally Adnams Jones, about the integral dimensions and the transformative, healing power of creativity.   How does it show up across the quadrants, and across the stages of the spiral of development?  How is it related to Eros and kundalini?  How are we to better cultivate and develop it, in ourselves and our children, an...

In this special Integral Stage episode, Layman meets with feminine empowerment and leadership teacher, and Integral Semantics facilitator, Adriana Forte, to talk about the menstrual cycle -- the ways it is misunderstood, repressed or denied; its cosmic, biological, and psychospiritual dimensions; and the power and transformation that can attend aligning more closely and consciously with its rhythm...

What is the Enneagram?  Where did it come from, and what the heck happened to it?   In a special Integral Stage episode, Marshall Æon, a student of the Diamond Approach & creator of a popular online Enneagram test, sits down with Layman (who is notoriously skeptical about typologies) to discuss the origins of the Enneagram, the twists and turns of its development, the problem or hidd...

Layman is joined by Sean Kelly to discuss his book Becoming Gaia .   They take a deep dive into the themes of the book, discussing the possibilities of considering Gaia not only as a hyperobject, but a hypersubject; the nature of the ecological and other crises confronting us at this time; the notion of planetary shamanism and the initiatory threshold our planetary crisis represents; the key...