I am thankful for many many people and things I have in my life..
Family + Friends + Acquaintances
+ The tech tools that I have available to me to express my gratitude. Computer + Internet
For some reason
Fraggle Rock jumped into my mind today
Watching Fraggle Rock made a huge impression in my life as a child. I guess a whole lot of the messages that Jim and his crew were sending are part of my unconscious now
I read somewhere that Jim said Fraggle Rock was his greatest creation above all others because of the vast amount of issues the show dealt with and the depth they were able to go with them because of the fantasy world that was on top of the issues
Fraggle Rock used fantasy creatures as an allegory to deal with serious issues such as prejudice, spirituality, personal identity, environment, and social conflict.
The scenarios and stories became a part of me and I am thankful for Jim and the creators of this show giving me a part of their positive and inspiring spirit.
I continue to create and drive forward in my life with their spirit as part of my drive. Hoping that I can build something positively influential, even if its just a fraction of what they were able to bring to the world
I would be happy.
So today a special gift to you all and tribute to
Jim Henson his team and their creations
Happy Thanksgiving
+ I give with thanks to you and them
Jarrad Connor
Jim's Red Book "Fraggle Rock Wrap Party"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3kUKjym1nw
Fraggle Rock Float in MACYS PARADE
Thanksgiving Day Parade 1984
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZBAgDxvNhA
Thanksgiving
Jim Henson Tribute 1990
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Og7xnsBmf4
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
THIS IS A TEST of the GROWing consciousness broadcasting systems
THIS IS A TEST of the
GROWing consciousness
broadcasting systems
OccUpy yoUr
MIND+HEART+BODY
OccUpy yoUr+oUr
Reality
I=You+Inside+See+Mind+Thoughts+Shadows
WE=ALL of Us are Humans BEing+SEEing+MustAgree
IT=What are yoU DOing+Body+Brain+FEELing
ITS=What WE build together to change things for the better
How can WE work together to create+evolve
The next constructive action to solve the problems
WE ALL care about
Stop Bitching start Doing+BEing+Support
Those that are working to MAKE a difference
A friendly message from
third-power
MIND+HEART+BODY
growing consciousness
through design
OccUpy yoUr
MIND+HEART+BODY
OccUpy yoUr+oUr
Reality
I=You+Inside+See+Mind+Thoughts+Shadows
WE=ALL of Us are Humans BEing+SEEing+MustAgree
IT=What are yoU DOing+Body+Brain+FEELing
ITS=What WE build together to change things for the better
How can WE work together to create+evolve
The next constructive action to solve the problems
WE ALL care about
Stop Bitching start Doing+BEing+Support
Those that are working to MAKE a difference
A friendly message from
third-power
MIND+HEART+BODY
growing consciousness
through design
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Integral Theory
When I first started learning what Integral Theory was. I was aware of and looking for bullshit. My first introduction to Integral was an amazing audio interview with Ken Wilber by Tami Simon of Sounds True. The title of this interview was call Kosmic Consciousness. Of course the title turned me off a little. Kosmic is a word that seems to be used by strange people. There is also the word Holon. Weird word. This is a must listen if you are in anyway curious about Ken or Integral Theory. http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/Kosmic-Consciousness/468.productdetails However I let go of my ego and reactive judgment. I listened. I was fascinated but not yet sold. Even after listening. One of the first questions that came to mind. Who is this Ken Wilber guy. So I dug deeper. So I signed up to Integral Naked. Which has now become Integral Life. Cant say that I'm sold now. Can say that I believe. Not unconditional belief or faith. A belief based on objective research and the type of people involved with Integral. The many people that Ken has attracted. People that I believe are much smarter than me. People that I do not think would be fooled by the typical dude saying he know whole lot of stuff. Oh... and I've become somewhat confident in my ability to sort out bullshit from non bullshit. Research that I have done over the past 6 years. Watching tons videos, reading articles, listening to interviews, and reading several Integral and non Integral books that have pushed my intellectual/spiritual boundaries. To weigh and balance the concepts and ideas presented. Another thing that I pay close attention to is the actions of those at the top of the Integral movement. Seeing how their character fits their philosophy. As we all know many people claiming to have most of the answers to things have a tendency to be fake and untrustworthy. Trust me I'm always on the lookout for bullshit. However I'm not attached to finding bullshit. hehee. My own worries from the beginning Is this anything like a cult, Est, Dianetics, Scientology or an extremist religion. I set my bullshit radar on high alert throughout all my studies. No bullshit found so far. After 6 years I still think the core of Integral Theory is solid. I'm sure that there are those out there that take Integral too far. One thing that I've heard often from Integral Theory and its proponents is that Integral Theory is just a map. It is not the territory. So it inherently recognizes that the map may need to be changed, updated, adapted, to the territory and to the times. Integral is not something that thinks it has all the answers. It has a lot of answers but it knows that it does not have them all. Its more about how to find as many answers as it can and then sort them out while finding which ones have values that we can all agree on. Thanks to Ken Wilber, Tami Simon, Stuart Davis, Fred Kofman, and David Deida. Of course I have learned from many more. Too many to list. My first influences and teachers of Integral Theory. Jarrad Connor p.s. for something that is less lengthy than the Kosmic Consciousness interview check outhttp://worldwidetippingpoint.com/blog/
Friday, October 28, 2011
The Epic Idea for SXSW is coming!
The Epic Idea for SXSW is coming!
How can WE use technology to make the world a better place?
Put 700-800 human beings together from various cultures, classes, lifestyles, ages, academic, non-academic, female, male, countries, and perspectives
Use a proven constructive and organized visioning process for ALL of them to share and find ways to agree on their similar values in life
Then have that group of people dialogue and vote on the ideas and actions that can inspire them and others to use technology to make the world a better place
Imagine 700-800 people working together to create an action plan for technology to make the world a better place
Gather ALL their values, ideas, and plans
Open source it. Let people use it. Let people see it
Digitize the information and use it to create online robots that compare it to what people, companies, and organizations are doing
Connect and share it with other people that have the same values as the people
Something like this has happened in Iceland
Something like this has already created history
Its coming to Austin during SXSW
Help Austin and SXSW make history
start sharing. talking. dreaming. what are the possibilities?
How can WE use technology to make the world a better place?
How can WE use technology to make the world a better place?
Put 700-800 human beings together from various cultures, classes, lifestyles, ages, academic, non-academic, female, male, countries, and perspectives
Use a proven constructive and organized visioning process for ALL of them to share and find ways to agree on their similar values in life
Then have that group of people dialogue and vote on the ideas and actions that can inspire them and others to use technology to make the world a better place
Imagine 700-800 people working together to create an action plan for technology to make the world a better place
Gather ALL their values, ideas, and plans
Open source it. Let people use it. Let people see it
Digitize the information and use it to create online robots that compare it to what people, companies, and organizations are doing
Connect and share it with other people that have the same values as the people
Something like this has happened in Iceland
Something like this has already created history
Its coming to Austin during SXSW
Help Austin and SXSW make history
start sharing. talking. dreaming. what are the possibilities?
How can WE use technology to make the world a better place?
WE should "Think Different" Together
Seems as though throughout history many visionary messages get transformed, and or misinterpreted.
Somehow someway the Steves message the Apple message "Think Different." got mutated in an unhealthy way, by some. Unfortunately a whole lot of the Mac people that I have met only think inside the box that the culture has drawn. Whole lot of PC users think Mac people are crazy. Whole lot of Mac users think PCs users are not creative and dont care about things. Became the Mac users vs the PC users and the PC users vs the Mac users. Strange.
If only there was a way to bridge the cultures and help them to to "Think Different" Together.
"Think + Different + Positive + Solutions + Change the World + Together + For the Better"
To Think - "How can WE use our technology together to make the world a better place?"
Cheers
Jarrad Connor
Somehow someway the Steves message the Apple message "Think Different." got mutated in an unhealthy way, by some. Unfortunately a whole lot of the Mac people that I have met only think inside the box that the culture has drawn. Whole lot of PC users think Mac people are crazy. Whole lot of Mac users think PCs users are not creative and dont care about things. Became the Mac users vs the PC users and the PC users vs the Mac users. Strange.
If only there was a way to bridge the cultures and help them to to "Think Different" Together.
"Think + Different + Positive + Solutions + Change the World + Together + For the Better"
To Think - "How can WE use our technology together to make the world a better place?"
Cheers
Jarrad Connor
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Integral Theory and Mixed Martial Arts
I am in the process of developing an Integral Theory research and development program for Mixed Martial Arts Athlete/Fighters. Eventually I would like to take my findings and experience to Sports and Athletes as a whole.
If you are unfamiliar with Integral Theory. The basic idea is to study things from all perspectives. Psychological, Cultural, Physical, and Social. How the all develop and how they are all connected.
I believe that some Mixed Martial Arts Athlete/Fighters have a unique mental state and level of consciousness that goes beyond the typical fighter and athlete mentality.
This mix of mental and physical cross pollination of cultural and thoughts makes fighters evolve because of the extreme life conditions that being a professional mma fighter presents.
If you dont evolve mentally, physically, and socially you will loose. Sometime in the most extreme fashion.
What happens in the cage and the type of cross training that fighters do makes them think different. Makes them open their minds.
Its survival of the fittest but not just on a physical level. They are forced to blend both thought and extreme physical practice with other cultures and philosophies because each cultural has its own style of fighting and its own view of life. Each has its own thought process when it comes to how an opponent is perceived and the strategy that must be taken to win. Each has its own thought process when it comes to how the self is perceived and the strategy that must be taken to deal with ones one weaknesses.
What most have found out is that there is not one fighting style or martial art that beats another. What fighters and people in the industry are finding out is that that there is also not one mental strategy or one way of life that creates the best. Its a mix of all of them.
It is the combination of all the marital arts, sports, and mental training and their perspectives that creates the best fighter and athlete.
MMA fighters are becoming the modern sports role model. Whether some like it or not. The top fighters. The ones that realize it know that they must get their lives in order to win. More so than most other sports.
MMA is at its core an internal individual sport but the single fighter is not just fighting for themselves. Not just their family. Not just to make money. Not just the respect and honor for their specific style. These may be some of reasons at first. The reason transcends and includes all the other reasons.
When the best fighters starting getting to the top. When they realize that to stay there they must fight far all of these reasons and more.
The behavior that has been seen from the top fighters is that they fight to show that they have become better. They must constantly evolve in all aspects of life. Each fight becomes a culmination of their life. Not just to prove that they are better than than their opponent but that they have grown and developed as a human being.
George Saint Pierre says that to be the best in MMA requires not just discipline but a way life. To be the best, MMA like true martial arts must become a healthy way of life.
There must be a constant mental state in training and outside of training.
Not all fighters realize this. Not all athletes realize this.
I want create something that focuses and researches what it takes to be the best fighter. In all aspects mental, cultural, physical, and social.
Jarrad Connor
www.third-power.com
Monday, October 17, 2011
Listing the fluidity of reality. Is tricky.
Listing the fluidity of reality. Is tricky.
Original Post Date - 5/12/11
I should point out that any list that I create of things or people are dynamic and non linear. Everything is fluid and moving, changing, and reshaping itself. Differentiating and reintegrating. Its a constant multidimensional boogie with everything in my life.
There is a unique gorgeous dance and sometimes beautiful war with the things and people that I love. Understanding and love can be frustrating. Sometimes my fault and sometimes not. Always trying to do more and understand more. Not the kind of understanding that comes out of dogmatic belief in things. The kind that is deeper than unconditional.
Sometimes love can kill. How these things and people are listed changes constantly. What my priorities are and the influences of my own mind and those things that are outside it change daily. Some stay the same some change. I attempt to balance it all out. Blend with everything. Moving forward towards my ultimate goal and purpose.
even this note will change. testing change.
Friday, October 14, 2011
The People that Inspire
My challenge and goal in life is to find more people, get closer to more people, and work with (or for) more people that inspire me. Within the past 3-4 months I have connected with so many amazing individuals it is breathtaking. People from around the world. In my opening up to the world the world as opened up to me.
I want to know people that act and think the way that I want to and do, most of the time. None of us are perfect. I want to connected with people that are doing the things that I want to do. With purpose and meaning. For the GOOD of all of us.
I want to know and work with human beings that are trying to make Earth, Humans, others, The Universe better. Oh and non terrestrial aliens if they are cool and don't want to use us for something insidious. LOL.
My mission and purpose in life is to work for, with, and support those that are making a difference on a universal scale anyway that I can and eventually be one of those people.
I eventually want to create one of the greatest companies on the planet that does not hold back from truly working towards humanities highest potential. Solving our worst problems.
Philanthropy + Arete = The love of humanity and its highest potential while working towards it.
Nearly everyday I attempt to get closer to and find more people, companies, and organizations that are doing good things on this planet. Working towards building the positive network that I want to work for and in the end work with.
Nearly everyday I try to find a connection that brings the people I don't know and the people that I do know and myself closer to fixing the obvious problems that humanity has. Rather than bitching about what's wrong with things in the world or in my life I want to do something. I'm aware of the negative things going on but I focus on finding positive things and creating positive things.
I put my energy into building things and helping people that are not spending their energy on criticizing or complaining about the fact that the universe is not doing something for them or that things are really messed up in the world. Yes things are messed up, but what is complaining about it going to do?
This is what keeps me going when I have to deal with people that don't act the way that I want to act. People that get stuck, don't grow, close their minds, stop learning, focus on the negative. People that judge before objectively researching and judge without truly trying to understand someone or something.
I don't hate these people ( ok sometimes I get really frustrated ). I don't look down on these people because I know that sometimes I am one of them ( I get really frustrated with myself sometimes). Some of these people just were never given that one spark in life. That spark, event, or teacher that wakes them up. Makes them look outside of the box. Sure there are some that to a degree remain consciously ignorant ( I admit that there are a few things that I remain consciously ignorant about ). I still don't hate them or myself. Just choose to try and understand them and my own stuff on a deeper level.
To me trying to understand someone is not trying to find an excuse for them. No. It can mean being objectively aware. Objectively conscious.
Wanting to know why they do what they do and why they see things they way they do. If we can figure out what shuts people down wither it is physical, psychological, or simply the cards they have be given. What I try to do is find a way to inspire them and myself to look within and connect their dreams, passions, and what they really want to do in life; to something positive. Something that allows them to do what they want while making a living and making a difference.
Which is exactly what I want for myself. To make a difference by helping those that are making a difference.
People that have integrity, honesty, open minds, a mostly positive perspectives on life. People that are trying to make life better someway somehow. Theirs or others. They are trying to make the world a better place for ALL.
These are the people that inspire me. These are the people that keep me going. These are the people that are truly successful in Life.
I have realized that you do not know who you are and what you really want in life. This will make you see things negatively. If you know what want but don't know how to get it or the steps that you need to take to get it. This will frustrate you to the point of insanity and see things negatively. I speak from my own experience. Mine may not be yours but I'm guessing that we are all more alike then we all think.
If you are deeply confident and know that everyday you are doing something that will get you closer to what you want to do in life this will change your view of everything. If you are doing what you want to do and if you know it is making life better for you, your family, your friends, your country, the world, the universe, this will change everything.
What do you do?
For the World to continue to have the wrongs that we can ALL agree are wrong.
The very wrong things that we would not want for ourselves, our family, friends, and fellow human beings to experience.
All that you have to do is continue to sit back an watch life go by.
Make your money, buy your toys, and bitch about what is wrong with the world.
Do what you want to, only for yourself and those close to you.
Pay no heed to the many stories about how one woman or one man can make things better.
Do nothing for anything or anyone except for yourself and the World and your reality will continue to be what it is.
However if you see something that ALL of us can agree is wrong.
Do the research, check your judgment with lots of others from all sides of the issue, gather the information, dig deep within and without, and find the people that are trying to change things for the better. Help them anyway you can.
Why should you care? Why should you not?
Jarrad Connor
I want to know people that act and think the way that I want to and do, most of the time. None of us are perfect. I want to connected with people that are doing the things that I want to do. With purpose and meaning. For the GOOD of all of us.
I want to know and work with human beings that are trying to make Earth, Humans, others, The Universe better. Oh and non terrestrial aliens if they are cool and don't want to use us for something insidious. LOL.
My mission and purpose in life is to work for, with, and support those that are making a difference on a universal scale anyway that I can and eventually be one of those people.
I eventually want to create one of the greatest companies on the planet that does not hold back from truly working towards humanities highest potential. Solving our worst problems.
Philanthropy + Arete = The love of humanity and its highest potential while working towards it.
Nearly everyday I attempt to get closer to and find more people, companies, and organizations that are doing good things on this planet. Working towards building the positive network that I want to work for and in the end work with.
Nearly everyday I try to find a connection that brings the people I don't know and the people that I do know and myself closer to fixing the obvious problems that humanity has. Rather than bitching about what's wrong with things in the world or in my life I want to do something. I'm aware of the negative things going on but I focus on finding positive things and creating positive things.
I put my energy into building things and helping people that are not spending their energy on criticizing or complaining about the fact that the universe is not doing something for them or that things are really messed up in the world. Yes things are messed up, but what is complaining about it going to do?
This is what keeps me going when I have to deal with people that don't act the way that I want to act. People that get stuck, don't grow, close their minds, stop learning, focus on the negative. People that judge before objectively researching and judge without truly trying to understand someone or something.
I don't hate these people ( ok sometimes I get really frustrated ). I don't look down on these people because I know that sometimes I am one of them ( I get really frustrated with myself sometimes). Some of these people just were never given that one spark in life. That spark, event, or teacher that wakes them up. Makes them look outside of the box. Sure there are some that to a degree remain consciously ignorant ( I admit that there are a few things that I remain consciously ignorant about ). I still don't hate them or myself. Just choose to try and understand them and my own stuff on a deeper level.
To me trying to understand someone is not trying to find an excuse for them. No. It can mean being objectively aware. Objectively conscious.
Wanting to know why they do what they do and why they see things they way they do. If we can figure out what shuts people down wither it is physical, psychological, or simply the cards they have be given. What I try to do is find a way to inspire them and myself to look within and connect their dreams, passions, and what they really want to do in life; to something positive. Something that allows them to do what they want while making a living and making a difference.
Which is exactly what I want for myself. To make a difference by helping those that are making a difference.
People that have integrity, honesty, open minds, a mostly positive perspectives on life. People that are trying to make life better someway somehow. Theirs or others. They are trying to make the world a better place for ALL.
These are the people that inspire me. These are the people that keep me going. These are the people that are truly successful in Life.
I have realized that you do not know who you are and what you really want in life. This will make you see things negatively. If you know what want but don't know how to get it or the steps that you need to take to get it. This will frustrate you to the point of insanity and see things negatively. I speak from my own experience. Mine may not be yours but I'm guessing that we are all more alike then we all think.
If you are deeply confident and know that everyday you are doing something that will get you closer to what you want to do in life this will change your view of everything. If you are doing what you want to do and if you know it is making life better for you, your family, your friends, your country, the world, the universe, this will change everything.
What do you do?
For the World to continue to have the wrongs that we can ALL agree are wrong.
The very wrong things that we would not want for ourselves, our family, friends, and fellow human beings to experience.
All that you have to do is continue to sit back an watch life go by.
Make your money, buy your toys, and bitch about what is wrong with the world.
Do what you want to, only for yourself and those close to you.
Pay no heed to the many stories about how one woman or one man can make things better.
Do nothing for anything or anyone except for yourself and the World and your reality will continue to be what it is.
However if you see something that ALL of us can agree is wrong.
Do the research, check your judgment with lots of others from all sides of the issue, gather the information, dig deep within and without, and find the people that are trying to change things for the better. Help them anyway you can.
Why should you care? Why should you not?
Jarrad Connor
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Free stuff on Integral Life
Finally figured out how to find the free stuff and post direct links to all the free stuff on Integral Life. Ive got an account but I hate finding stuff that I cant share.
Feel weird sending people to things that they have to pay for on their first trip to Integral Land. Might give them the wrong idea.
Want people to check out the large chunk of free stuff first and then decide if they want to create an account.
There is a whole bunch of stuff up there that is free. Did I say FREE? No strings attached.
Really no strings..... Except.... If you watch, hear, read, learn all the free stuff. Let go of your ego for a little while and open your mind. Then decide. You just might... want more. Thats your decision. Your choice. Enjoy.
So here are quick links that presort the archive for free listings of some very amazing content
Videos
Audio
E+Learning
Articles
Art
Series
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Lady Gagas Essay
Lady Gagas Essay
Stefani Germanotta = Lady Gaga
The Tisch School of Arts at NYU
This is part of her essay
Stefani Germanotta
November 1, 2004
Assignment # 4: Reckoning of Evidence
The terms of the human body, some might say, are determined through a theoretical dissection of both the private environments and public atmospheres in which we live. By terms, the rules and evaluations of bodily condition, I mean to establish a division of perception. The first divide is that of the social body, the perception of our bodies in relation to a larger intellectual and sexual community, one that views each other in groups. The second divide is the condition of our nature, a perception of the body without relation or comparison, a singular entity that is independent, formless, and free. This segregation of seeing is general and yet universal because it capitalizes our differences. By examining these seeming generalizations, we break them down. It is through a demolition and reconstruction of these concepts that we can assign specificity and reason to these ways in which we look.
It is in the freeing of both natural and artificial bodies that art is created. For while some artist’s depend on the predisposition of their subjects to provide the work with it’s primary message and meaning, other artists rely on a temporal and physical freedom„an ability to use objects while also freeing them of their social significance and thus endowing them with endless possibilities of form. Spencer Tunick, an installations artist and photographer, struggled to achieve this freedom as a working artist in New York City. This artist is most famous for his installations, often characterized by masses of naked people arranged together in domestic locations, and in countries from every continent of the world. Removed of sexual implication or intention, the nudes are used primarily and only as intended by the artist, as an exploration of the shape, contour, and texture of the naked body. Spencer is fascinated by the metamorphosis of the human body into a form, and the effect that his chosen locations have on this new shape (and vice versa) . In this way, the naked bodies are Spencer’s clay, and he uses them in the same manner that a painter uses oils or a sculptor uses marble.
This way that the artist looks at the body, is a radical contradiction to Western society’s view of the nakedness. In the eyes of some of his critics, Spencer’s work invades social privacy not only through the art, which to them degrades the sacredness of the body by exposing it in mass nudity, but also in the making of his art which requires an abnormal amount of public nudity, indecent exposure. Tunick challenges traditional ideas of intimacy, and asks us to free the body of sexuality and view it aesthetically for the purpose of his art. The social body cannot exist, most specifically in the nude, as anything other then a sexual thing. This is our naked condition.
The analysis of form, while an engaging arc to follow, can also reveal an inverse exploration of the body. An examination of the deformed. This word, Michel de Montaigne addresses in his essay Of A Monstrous Child, suggesting that the existence of a social body is formless, but far from free. He describes the figure of a boy, below the breast he was fastened and stuck to another child, without a head, and with his spinal canal stopped up, the rest of his body being entire ( Lopate 57). Montaigne paints for us, a portrait of the boy’s physical form, or rather his de-form. With fastened, stuck, and stopped as his verbal interpretation of a Siamese twin, he illustrates how a human body, or form, can possess a lack of freedom in that it is harnessed to its disabilities in a physical way. For the deformed, there is an ownership of one’s difference, an ownership that is visible and undisputable. Through a scenic description of a deformed child, Montaigne uses the different shapes and contours of the child’s deformed body in order to create a visual contrast between what is ordinary and what is unordinary.
The perceptions of the nude and the deformed both manifest out of a concept of the social body, and the ideological contrast and visible conflict that is created in their presence. In Of A Monstrous Child, Montaigne asks us to consider the way we look at the body, and at each other. Montaigne suggests:
What we call monsters are not so to God, who sees in the immensity of his work the infinity of forms that he has comprised in it; and it is for us to believe that this figure that astonishes us is related and linked to some other figure of the same kind unknown to man. (58)
When we view something contrary to custom we assign them a monstrous quality. We infer based on something’s lack of ordinariness that it is disgusting or somehow linked to something inhumane, in some cases one might say uncivilized. In light of Montaigne’s theory, that we assign the unordinary with a monstrous condition, we can see the viewpoint from which art critics, the government, and the public, condemn Spencer Tunick’s work with naked bodies. Because it is not socially ordinary; it is irregular to see that many nudes amassed at one time„the art possesses a grotesque quality for the viewer.
This assigned foreignness can be designated as a kind of artistic racism, a public perception that handicaps from seeing and experiencing different forms, whether artistic or natural. There is an error in our perception„that our perception of the human body is somehow flawed. We call contrary to nature what we call contrary to custom (Lopate 58) We are trained only to be accepting of the regular, and it is this blindness that prevents us from seeing the prodigy in that which we have never seen before.
It is possible that in our naked form, in our deformed, that we are not only exposing our vulnerability, our skin, our scars, our flaws, and our genitals. But we also are exposing our secrets.
In spite of Montaigne’s great idealism, this perspective that allows us to choose the way in which we view the body, there is still an unavoidable clause that needs analyses. Sexuality manifests most physically
Stefani Germanotta = Lady Gaga
The Tisch School of Arts at NYU
This is part of her essay
Stefani Germanotta
November 1, 2004
Assignment # 4: Reckoning of Evidence
The terms of the human body, some might say, are determined through a theoretical dissection of both the private environments and public atmospheres in which we live. By terms, the rules and evaluations of bodily condition, I mean to establish a division of perception. The first divide is that of the social body, the perception of our bodies in relation to a larger intellectual and sexual community, one that views each other in groups. The second divide is the condition of our nature, a perception of the body without relation or comparison, a singular entity that is independent, formless, and free. This segregation of seeing is general and yet universal because it capitalizes our differences. By examining these seeming generalizations, we break them down. It is through a demolition and reconstruction of these concepts that we can assign specificity and reason to these ways in which we look.
It is in the freeing of both natural and artificial bodies that art is created. For while some artist’s depend on the predisposition of their subjects to provide the work with it’s primary message and meaning, other artists rely on a temporal and physical freedom„an ability to use objects while also freeing them of their social significance and thus endowing them with endless possibilities of form. Spencer Tunick, an installations artist and photographer, struggled to achieve this freedom as a working artist in New York City. This artist is most famous for his installations, often characterized by masses of naked people arranged together in domestic locations, and in countries from every continent of the world. Removed of sexual implication or intention, the nudes are used primarily and only as intended by the artist, as an exploration of the shape, contour, and texture of the naked body. Spencer is fascinated by the metamorphosis of the human body into a form, and the effect that his chosen locations have on this new shape (and vice versa) . In this way, the naked bodies are Spencer’s clay, and he uses them in the same manner that a painter uses oils or a sculptor uses marble.
This way that the artist looks at the body, is a radical contradiction to Western society’s view of the nakedness. In the eyes of some of his critics, Spencer’s work invades social privacy not only through the art, which to them degrades the sacredness of the body by exposing it in mass nudity, but also in the making of his art which requires an abnormal amount of public nudity, indecent exposure. Tunick challenges traditional ideas of intimacy, and asks us to free the body of sexuality and view it aesthetically for the purpose of his art. The social body cannot exist, most specifically in the nude, as anything other then a sexual thing. This is our naked condition.
The analysis of form, while an engaging arc to follow, can also reveal an inverse exploration of the body. An examination of the deformed. This word, Michel de Montaigne addresses in his essay Of A Monstrous Child, suggesting that the existence of a social body is formless, but far from free. He describes the figure of a boy, below the breast he was fastened and stuck to another child, without a head, and with his spinal canal stopped up, the rest of his body being entire ( Lopate 57). Montaigne paints for us, a portrait of the boy’s physical form, or rather his de-form. With fastened, stuck, and stopped as his verbal interpretation of a Siamese twin, he illustrates how a human body, or form, can possess a lack of freedom in that it is harnessed to its disabilities in a physical way. For the deformed, there is an ownership of one’s difference, an ownership that is visible and undisputable. Through a scenic description of a deformed child, Montaigne uses the different shapes and contours of the child’s deformed body in order to create a visual contrast between what is ordinary and what is unordinary.
The perceptions of the nude and the deformed both manifest out of a concept of the social body, and the ideological contrast and visible conflict that is created in their presence. In Of A Monstrous Child, Montaigne asks us to consider the way we look at the body, and at each other. Montaigne suggests:
What we call monsters are not so to God, who sees in the immensity of his work the infinity of forms that he has comprised in it; and it is for us to believe that this figure that astonishes us is related and linked to some other figure of the same kind unknown to man. (58)
When we view something contrary to custom we assign them a monstrous quality. We infer based on something’s lack of ordinariness that it is disgusting or somehow linked to something inhumane, in some cases one might say uncivilized. In light of Montaigne’s theory, that we assign the unordinary with a monstrous condition, we can see the viewpoint from which art critics, the government, and the public, condemn Spencer Tunick’s work with naked bodies. Because it is not socially ordinary; it is irregular to see that many nudes amassed at one time„the art possesses a grotesque quality for the viewer.
This assigned foreignness can be designated as a kind of artistic racism, a public perception that handicaps from seeing and experiencing different forms, whether artistic or natural. There is an error in our perception„that our perception of the human body is somehow flawed. We call contrary to nature what we call contrary to custom (Lopate 58) We are trained only to be accepting of the regular, and it is this blindness that prevents us from seeing the prodigy in that which we have never seen before.
It is possible that in our naked form, in our deformed, that we are not only exposing our vulnerability, our skin, our scars, our flaws, and our genitals. But we also are exposing our secrets.
In spite of Montaigne’s great idealism, this perspective that allows us to choose the way in which we view the body, there is still an unavoidable clause that needs analyses. Sexuality manifests most physically
The AikiWeb Papers by Ross Robertson
Articles that my former Aikido Sensei Ross A. Robertson wrote and is still writing. He has several great writings at aikiweb. I still go back to them often.
Strange saying former because despite the fact that I no longer train with him physically. Due to time, my current priority's in life, and transportation constraints. He will always be my Sensei.
The experience of training and learning from Sensei Robertson will last a life time, who knows maybe even longer. His teachings, perspectives, way of life have always inspired me and continue to. Very much outside of the traditional martial arts box yet at the same time traditional. You could say he includes and transcends the traditional.
The AikiWeb Papers by Ross Robertson
Early in 2004, Jun Akiyama of AikiWeb asked several people if they would be interested in contributing monthly columns to his web site. I was privileged to be among those asked. Since then, I have written a submission for each month of publication.
AikiWeb is arguably the web's most important watering hole for anyone interested in aikido and all things aiki. Writing about aikido is difficult -- rather like the proverbial "dancing about architecture" (which I've never really thought was a bad idea, so much as conceptually challenging). I would like to say that in my writing I've found a flow that embodies the experience of aikido at its best, for both author and reader. In reality, while at times I've hit a nice zone, the articles referenced below reveal how complex, awkward, and painful, simplicity and effortlessness can be.
Strange saying former because despite the fact that I no longer train with him physically. Due to time, my current priority's in life, and transportation constraints. He will always be my Sensei.
The experience of training and learning from Sensei Robertson will last a life time, who knows maybe even longer. His teachings, perspectives, way of life have always inspired me and continue to. Very much outside of the traditional martial arts box yet at the same time traditional. You could say he includes and transcends the traditional.
The AikiWeb Papers by Ross Robertson
Early in 2004, Jun Akiyama of AikiWeb asked several people if they would be interested in contributing monthly columns to his web site. I was privileged to be among those asked. Since then, I have written a submission for each month of publication.AikiWeb is arguably the web's most important watering hole for anyone interested in aikido and all things aiki. Writing about aikido is difficult -- rather like the proverbial "dancing about architecture" (which I've never really thought was a bad idea, so much as conceptually challenging). I would like to say that in my writing I've found a flow that embodies the experience of aikido at its best, for both author and reader. In reality, while at times I've hit a nice zone, the articles referenced below reveal how complex, awkward, and painful, simplicity and effortlessness can be.
All article links in this section will take you to AikiWeb.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
What Integral Is Not
What Integral Is Not:
When I first started learning what Integral was. I was aware of and looking for bullshit.
My first introduction to Integral was an amazing audio interview of
Ken Wilber by Tami Simon of Sounds True.
http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/Kosmic-Consciousness/468.productdetails
Check out Sounds True - http://www.soundstrue.com/ - Amazing collection of amazing stuff.
Of course the title turned me off a little. Kosmic is a word that seems to be used by strange people. However I let go of my ego and judgment. I listened. I was fascinated but not yet sold. Cant say that Im sold now. Can say that I believe. Not unconditional belief or faith. A belief based on objective research and the type of people involved with Integral. Oh... and Ive become somewhat confident in my ability to sort out bullshit from non bullshit.
Research that I have done over the past 6 years. Watching tons videos, reading articles, listening to interviews, and reading several Integral and non Integral books that have pushed my intellectual boundaries. To weigh and balance the concepts and ideas presented. Another thing that I pay close attention to is the actions of those at the top of the Integral movement. Seeing how their character fits their philosophy. As we all know many people claiming to have most of the answers to things have a tendency to be fake and untrustworthy.
Trust me Im always on the lookout for bullshit.
However Im not attached to finding bullshit. hehee.
My own worries from the beginning
Is this anything like a cult, Est, Dianetics, Scientology, or an extremist religion. I set my bullshit radar on high alert throughout all my studies. No bullshit found so far. After 6 years I still think the core of Integral Theory is solid. Im sure that there are those out there that take Integral too far.
One thing that Ive heard often from Integral Theory and its proponents is that Integral Theory is just a map. It is not the territory. So it inherently recognizes that the map may need to be changed, updated, adapted, to the territory and to the times.
Integral is not something that thinks it has all the answers. It has a lot of answers but it knows that it does not have them all.
Its more about how to find as many answers as it can and then sort them out while finding which ones have values that we can all agree on.
Thanks to
Ken Wilber
Tami Simon
Stuart Davis
Fred Kofman
My first influences and teachers of Integral Theory.
Jarrad Connor
When I first started learning what Integral was. I was aware of and looking for bullshit.
My first introduction to Integral was an amazing audio interview of
Ken Wilber by Tami Simon of Sounds True.
http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/Kosmic-Consciousness/468.productdetails
Check out Sounds True - http://www.soundstrue.com/ - Amazing collection of amazing stuff.
Of course the title turned me off a little. Kosmic is a word that seems to be used by strange people. However I let go of my ego and judgment. I listened. I was fascinated but not yet sold. Cant say that Im sold now. Can say that I believe. Not unconditional belief or faith. A belief based on objective research and the type of people involved with Integral. Oh... and Ive become somewhat confident in my ability to sort out bullshit from non bullshit.
Research that I have done over the past 6 years. Watching tons videos, reading articles, listening to interviews, and reading several Integral and non Integral books that have pushed my intellectual boundaries. To weigh and balance the concepts and ideas presented. Another thing that I pay close attention to is the actions of those at the top of the Integral movement. Seeing how their character fits their philosophy. As we all know many people claiming to have most of the answers to things have a tendency to be fake and untrustworthy.
Trust me Im always on the lookout for bullshit.
However Im not attached to finding bullshit. hehee.
My own worries from the beginning
Is this anything like a cult, Est, Dianetics, Scientology, or an extremist religion. I set my bullshit radar on high alert throughout all my studies. No bullshit found so far. After 6 years I still think the core of Integral Theory is solid. Im sure that there are those out there that take Integral too far.
One thing that Ive heard often from Integral Theory and its proponents is that Integral Theory is just a map. It is not the territory. So it inherently recognizes that the map may need to be changed, updated, adapted, to the territory and to the times.
Integral is not something that thinks it has all the answers. It has a lot of answers but it knows that it does not have them all.
Its more about how to find as many answers as it can and then sort them out while finding which ones have values that we can all agree on.
Thanks to
Ken Wilber
Tami Simon
Stuart Davis
Fred Kofman
My first influences and teachers of Integral Theory.
Jarrad Connor
Saturday, May 7, 2011
An Integral Perspective of MMA
The idea is to apply Integral Theory and Spiral Dynamics to all aspects of MMA. The process of training, building a fighter to become a champion, advertising, getting sponsors, design, promotion, changing the image of MMA that most see. In all actuality I do not think that I would have ever gotten into MMA if I had not studied Integral Theory and Spiral Dynamics. I want to evolve the sport with all the tools that Integral Theory and Spiral Dynamics have to offer. Plus I will not forget the things that I have learned from Fred Kofman, Brian Johnson, Michael Strong, and Jeff Klein. The ideology of Conscious Business is deep in my heart. On of my major goals is to tie MMA to more social causes and use its popularity to gather the attention and funding of the masses to things in the world that are making the world better. I look forward to sharing ideas and thoughts.
An Integral Perspective of MMA - Facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_144568918944694&ap=1
Links
An Integral Perspective of MMA - Facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_144568918944694&ap=1
Links
David Mayeda
Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society [Paperback]
David Mayeda (Author), David Ching (Contributor)
http://mmacademics.angelfire.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Acceptance-Martial-Violence-American/dp/0595478913
http://thegrumpysociologist.blogspot.com/
Dr. Randy Borum
http://combatsportpsychology.blogspot.com/
The Fighter’s Mind – Inside The Mental Game
Sam Sheridan
Dr. Don Beck
http://www.spiraldynamics.net/
Integral Institute
http://www.integralinstitute.org/
Flow Idealism
Axialent
Conscious Business
Working for GOOD
Jeff Klein
http://www.causealliancemarketing.com/
Brian Johnson - Arete
http://www.philosophersnotes.com/
David Meggyesy
Out of Their League
http://www.amazon.com/Out-Their-League-Dave-Meggyesy/dp/0803283148
Shawn Phillips
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
The current trend in advertising and design for mixed martial arts
The current trend in advertising and design for mixed martial arts has separated some of the very elements that make it unique. Its in the name. The name of the sport should say it all. Yet for many reasons MMA has yet to gain the respect that Martial Arts has had around the world for thousands of years. The image has been disconnecte...d. Its understandable that most people do not respect those that fight. However I believe that this is a lack of understanding of why fighters fight. The current popular mode of design has done its job to break open the market. To force its way into acceptance and to gain the fans that are the type to simply not care how others see their sport. Now its time to reconnect MMA to the essence of Martial Arts and find ways to evolve the identity and image of MMA as a whole. What does having heart mean in life? What are the mental aspects of MMA?
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Until one is committed
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back– Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the de cision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.
W. H. Murray
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Murray
W. H. Murray
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Murray
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