Bob Johnston's blog

Integral Noetic Values in Avatar?

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:34:51 -0800

Hi all,

Following are some integral Noetic values which jumped out at me as my wife, two grandkids, and I viewed the movie Avatar a couple weeks ago. Some of the values were to me quite explicit, others more implied.*

LATEST EDITION: My Integrally Conscious System for Healthful Living, Aging, Dying, and Thereafter -- A Checklist

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:02:36 -0800

If you have been reading my blogs on shiftinaction.com for some time your initial reaction to this one may well be similar to Yogi Berra's "It's deja vu all over again."

And you would be quite right except for the fact I have done some major updating and needed reorganizing of the material as reflected in the following table of contents. I suggest that as you read you remember I intend to only declare what I am doing, not try to sell you on doing it too . . . the decision as to whether you can use any of the ideas is clearly your prerogative with no strings attached.

New Noetic Options: Integral Healthful Aging

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:02:59 -0700

Until my middle sixties I enjoyed mostly good health. I attributed my good fortune to my family's regular practice of deep meditation, prayer, and "divine healing" to which I as an adult added psychosynthesis, biofeedback, listening to my body, dream work, affirmational visualizations, positive self-talk and other self-management skills. Also, aerobic and anaerobic exercise; tai chi; group dynamics; environmental health practices; and, very importantly, a loving spouse. Add to all that an avid interest in lifelong learning, especially on the leading edge of consciousness research and the integral natural sciences, and you have a general picture of my synthesis I then called 'Wholistic Healthful Living.'Then around chronological age 65 I was shocked when I found my body's metabolism and hormonal balance had apparently begun to change.

Five Spiraling Cycles of Transformational Learning ~~ An Integral Systems Map of Expanding Consciousness

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:13:46 -0700

This blog is about the results to date of my exciting wrestling match with a beautiful but tough angel called 'Transformation'. Our love match started with my first organization development consulting project in 1966. Beginning with one spiraling cyclic process, with the help of my soul consultant OM I have since discovered four more. Represented in my attached graphic as 'snapshots' of cycles extracted from their spirals, the five include soul-brain wave transformation; soul incarnation transformation; cocreative self-managing transformation; interpersonal relationships transformation; and evolution's repeating cycle of transformation, all of which intercommunicate and are energized by, I hypothesize, an infinite timeless caring 'ocean' of omnipresent nurturing Mind-Spirit, inclusive of the Akashic and electromagnetic fields, all of which are in and around us, permeating and connecting us all within One integral being.

Welcome, Marilyn . . .

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:58:41 -0700

. . . I am pleased to see your blog. Makes me feel like we ought to sing an IONS' equivalent of "Hail to the Chief" . . . maybe something like 'Hail to the Chief Facilitator of the Shift.' Well, I better sign off before I get too gushy :-) Blissful and healthful be!

How Free is 'Free Will'?

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:28:01 -0700

When I was a toddler I freely banged at random the existentially available eighty-eight keys on the family piano. Little did I realize I was expressing my free will in its freest most ignorant state. Although the range of my free will was limited to the eighty-eight keys I still had free will enough to strike any or all of them as I desired to elicit nerve-wracking discordant results (as determined by my mother who when she had enough disharmony curtailed my expression of free will).

I had the most interesting dream this morning . . .

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:41:38 -0700

This morning? you may be asking. Yes, I'm one of those characters who likes to go to bed late and rise early so I take two ten-minute naps during the day, one after my ten o-clock morning snack and the other during late afternoon. So this morning after I posted my SIA blog titled "The Meaning of My Life" (see reference (1) below) I had a most interesting dream . . . at least interesting to me.

The Meaning of My Life

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:56:20 -0700

There's nothing wrong with searching for happiness, but I have on occasion used the word happiness in a way which makes it sound as if it were the very ultimate in human intention. I have discovered what gives me far greater comfort and confidence is consciously realizing my inherent Oneness with the timeless, all-pervading, infinite, 'oceanic presence' of our Mystery Source, and consequently, my basic interdependent oneness and empathy with every other entity, carnate and discarnate.

56-plus Options for Empathically Responding to Conflict ~ An Integral Noetic View

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:14:43 -0700

"Fight or flight" . . . you probably remember those two responses to conflict from a presentation in your initial introduction to human behavior. Starting in 1966 I had facilitated a number of conflict management laboratories and teambuilding projects before I discovered there are more options available to us. To make a long story shorter the heighth, depth, and breadth of my map of conscious options has gradually evolved over the intervening years to identify and include first 3, then 15, later 21, and still later 40 useful options.

Of "White Light" ~ "Dark Light" ~ "Clear Light" Consciousness

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:17:37 -0700

Recent SIA blogs and references to "the light" have reminded me of a story. Perhaps you have already heard it, if so please be patient with my retelling here. It's about a person who was searching one pitch black night for something under the bright light of a street lamp. Another individual came by and asked him what he was looking for. The searcher said, "Oh, I've lost my keys." The passerby asked, "Where did you lose them?" The searcher responded, "Over there in the dark." "So why aren't you looking for your lost keys there?" queried the puzzled passerby. The searcher's answer, "Because the light is better here." It seems to me he was assuming there was just one light, a "white light" by which he could find his keys. How about other options, such as "black light" and "clear light?

Quiet! Sleeping Brain at Work ~~ Latest Discussion Idea for IONS Community Groups

Wed, 27 May 2009 19:58:26 -0700

"During slumber, our brain engages in data analysis, from strengthening memories to solving problems," say Harvard researchers Robert Stickgold and Jeffrey M. Ellenbogen who study the interactions of sleep and cognition. "Sleep, it seems, does something to improve memory that being awake does not do."

Nobel Laureates in Quantum Physics Who Explored Mysticism: Six Sketches

Fri, 15 May 2009 20:42:16 -0700

Recently I was challenged to find at least one documented Nobel Laureate in quantum physics who evidenced an interest in mysticism. Not only did I find one, I found six documented Nobels who explored and/or practiced some form of mysticism along with at least some of their work in quantum physics. It is fascinating to me that parallels with mysticism appear to have been drawn by the very founders of quantum mechanics themselves, notably Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, Niels Bohr, and Eugene Wigner. Although Richard Feynman is not considered a founder of quantum mechanics, by virtue of his substantial contribution to the field I felt he deserved inclusion. While I found my first leads to this data in Wikipedia (caveat emptor) these six accounts can be verified in the documentation I listed with a brief sketch of each Nobel Laureate and their mystic parallels with quantum physics.

The Biocentric Universe Theory: Life Creates Time, Space, and the Cosmos Itself

Mon, 04 May 2009 20:20:29 -0700

In this Discover magazine article published online May 1, 2009 stem-cell guru Robert Lanza presents a radical new view of the universe and everything in it. Like many of us writing here on SIA have come to realize, the farther we peer into space, the more we realize that the nature of the universe cannot be understood fully by inspecting spiral galaxies or watching distant supernovas. It lies deeper. It involves our very selves.

Comparative Sketches of Newtonian and Zero Point Field World Views

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:12:23 -0700

The other day while leafing through investigative science journalist Lynn McTaggart's book THE FIELD ~ THE QUEST FOR THE SECRET FORCE OF THE UNIVERSE, I came across a neat little overview of what the numerous physicists she interviewed see to be the pivotal differences between physicist Sir Issac Newton's views and those of Zero Point Field physicists, such as Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Andrei Sakharov, and Harold Puthoff.

"Let's See"

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:57:27 -0700

Good morning, Barbara. As you probably know 'reply space' was getting awfully pinched down there at the bottom of the other twenty-one comments originally elicited by Mary Jane's stimulating blog titled "Listen for the 'Optimist' to emerge" so here we are. Hope it's okay with you. Thank you for your thoughtful responses to my earlier comments. As sometimes is my habit I have copied your responses titled "Let's See" dated April 16, 7:05 pm, and interspersed my answers throughout.