Well, I suppose it’s time to check in, though there’s not a whole lot to share. I’ve been rather busy with work in the days since my night of wandering, but tonight I was lucky enough to be able to go to dinner with my parents, sister Ilea and her fiance Greg. We ate at a Texas Steakhouse, a resturant not so vegetarian-friendly (there were only a couple of meals for those of us who don’t eat meat) and with a very devious menu item. There was a G. Dubya sandwich that we all half-jokingly threatened to leave over (none of us are fans of that fellow, naturally). I ended up having portabello fajitas, which were actually quite good and helped to dispell that feeling of distaste that one has when finding an establishment you’re eating at endorses a certain war criminal. Overall it was a nice meal. When I departed from the car I left my parents with my copy of Boomeritis, in hope they’ll appreciate it.

I recently discovered Generation Sit, subtitled “spiritual practice in the 21st century,” a blog that explores spiritual and related topics with an integral lean that does offer some criticism of others in the field (including Wilber), which I do feel we need to be open to in order to advance the movement. With entry names such as “Jesus & Nietzsche IV: The Sound Of Crap Falling On Deaf Ears,” there’s a healthy bit of humour, but the core of this site is a lot of solid discussion on a number of important or simply facinating topics.

I’m always delighted to read new offerings from Ross Laird, one of my favourite writers, who I’ve mentioned several times (see “Grain of Truth” and “A Stone’s Throw” for my thoughts on his two published books). Tonight I read his newest essay offering, “Geek Life,” in which he explores life in the digital age as a form of spiritual ritual. I’m sure many of you fond of computer geekdom will find it amusing.

I don’t disavow my own geek elements, and I certainly don’t shy away from spirituality, so I was happy to find Mr. Laird writing something so close to what I’ve been pondering lately, that Spirit and empirical eye (the drive of most geekdom) can find a strong marriage today.

In honour of Hallowe’en this week, I want to point you toward two of my favourite music offerings of this season. First, Metric’s “Monster Hospital” video has recently been released and is quite appropriate for this time of the dead, with music-making corpses and other horror film elements. On a lighter note, the greatest Hallowe’en benefit song ever recorded has been released, is titled “Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en?,” and is accompanied by a very appropriate and funny video. The North American Hallowe’en Prevention Initiative, which includes the likes of Arcade Fire, Beck, Buck 65, Devendra Banhart, Elvira, Feist, Peaches, Rilo Kiley, Chris Murphy, Wolf Parade, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Nardwar, created this gem, which benefits UNICEF and takes a much needed shot at west-centric benefit songs (like the not-so-religiously-tollerent “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”). You can buy the benefit single online, like I did, via my favourite online music store, Gallery Arts & Crafts (they sell MP3′s, not proprietary music that works only with some players).

Yes, I’ve been talking a lot about Integral lately. It’s just such a fucking beautiful movement and way of living that learning about it leaves me endlessly enthused. Ken Wilber is, of course, the nexus of the Integral movement and I find he’s often the best at portraying it in an accessable manner. What has me so excited about Boomeritis, his first and only novel, is that he brings his ideas into fiction, where it can be much easier to accept as subversive entertainment.
Boomeritis: A Novel That Will Set You Free is a perfect post-modern novel that undermines the harmful aspects of post-modernism in a beautiful and transcendent way. Boomeritis (the disease) is, put simply, an infection of pluralism with egotism. Integral Naked provides a witty introduction to the term in “What is Boomeritis?” that I think will help clarify just what we’re talking about.

Wikipedia has an aritcle that nicely describes the novel.

Ok, you have the background and synopsis, so lets get to what’s so brilliant about this book. The subtitle really does say it all, even if it is meant to characterice the very thing it’s trying to attack. It’s a book that, if understood well (if you get the joke and are self-aware enough to recognize your own misconceptions), really can set you free; that is, it can show you that you’re stuck at one level of development and show you how to get to the next. I’m getting ahead of myself if you’re not familiar with integral, which most of us sadly aren’t (and here’s your chance to wake up, so wake up!). Integral is described well at the Integral Institure’s “The Integral Approach,” so I’ll trust you can read there if you wish to learn more. Let me tell you, though, that it’s an incredibly altering way of approaching life that incorporates all aspects of any situation we happen to find ourselves in and, frankly, makes more sense and works better than anything else I’ve encountered. In Boomeritis Ken has offered an entertaining novel that should expose our misconceptions and flaws in a way that will allow us to want to correct them and at the same time offer us a look at the tools needed to do so. It’s an intervention for those of us who are ready to move beyond mere pluralism (“the green meme”). It’s a fun read as well, so don’t worry about it being some self-help novel from the mind of some boring philosopher (and Ken is far from boring, I swear); it’s funny, engaging and made to intentionally poke at our fallacies.

One of the amusing elements of the story was the inclusion of a character based on and named after one of my favourite singer/songwriters, Stuart Davis. I discovered Stuart’s music thought a duet he did with Ed Kowalczyk of Live, a performance that pointed me toward Intergral and Ken in the first place, and then dove in deep when I joined IN and discovered him to be “the artist laureate of Integral Institute”. Stuart is an incredible artist and a damn funny fellow. His album Bell is an exploration of “the feminine divine, inspired by his wife and unborn daughter” and enchanted me from the beginning with its mix of musical styles and deft songcraft.

Stuart’s one of those artists you shouldn’t overlook, but most of us have. I can’t say enough about how moving, fun, spiritual and integral his music is.

I’ve collected each of tonight’s audio journal entries here in one place. Give them a listen if you’d like.

Wandering Audio 1
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The rest can be found beyond:

Wandering Audio 2
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Wandering Audio 3
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Wandering Audio 4
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Wandering Audio 5
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Wandering Audio 6
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For a long while now one of my goals on 43 Things has been to stay up all night wandering around outside. There have been several nights when I’ve been tempted to do so, but it has never come into fruition as I’ve been lured back to my cozy home. Tonight I’m committed to walk around this beautiful city of Halifax, braving the cool and the rain, until dawn creeps into the sky. I’ll be leaving shortly to pick up some supplies, some food and drink to provide me with energy for the journey, and then I’ll be off with dusk. I’m going to go with as little anticipation and expectation as possible and invite mystery along.
During my wanderings I’ll be bringing along my phone so that I can make some audio journal entries with a service I just signed up to test, Audioblog. It’s a full-featured site for all sorts of video and audio blogging, including podcasting. Tonight will be my experiment with the free trial and if it goes well I may end up creating audio entries more often (it’s been about a year since I made my last one with a different service). The entries should be posting at Frozen Truth . com as I make them, so keep checking back to hear my awkward voice. If you’d like to keep me company by voice, feel free to give me a call if you know my number. Wish me luck, my friends.

For a long while now I’ve been using 43 Things and 43 Places to keep track of goals I wish to accomplish and places I would like to visit, respectively. Today I was checking out the newest addition to the 43 family, 43 People. 43 People expands the social networking of the other two sites by a lot and makes for some interesting explorations by creating lists of people we would like to meet, whether famous or just personalities we have come into contact with but not met in person. I’m hoping some more of you will give the 43 sites a try and let me know when you do; I certainly find them worthwhile.
My profiles can be viewed at people, places and things.

I’m once again at work, wiling away the hours by reading and, just now, eating some delightful Thai noodles. This night is my longest shift of the week, clocking in at 14 hours, so I have plenty of wiling ahead of me. I have a couple good books with me, so I’m content.

Sunday night Sara asked me to a masquerade happening at her school the weekend before Hallowe’en. I’m actually quite excited to go, despite my clumsy, big feet’s impedance of dancing. Here’s hoping I’ll not make a fool of myself.
On Moday I headed out to Bayer’s Lake, a nearby shopping area, to find a costume. I wandered around Value Village for a while until I decided on a black robe that I’m going to try to use for a sorceror’s costume. Sara will be going as a fairy princess and a wizard was one of the suggestions she had for what I could go as. I’m not entirely happy with the costume so far, but I’ll be trying to prefect it over the coming days and work on a makeup scheme that might fit.
After my costume shopping I visited Chapters, where I bought two books I’m excited to be reading. In the bargain area I found a book on yoga by Christy Turlington titled Living Yoga: Creating a Life Practice, which so far has been an enjoyable and informative read. What I was most excited to find was Ken Wilber’s novel Boomeritis: A Novel That Will Set You Free. Ok, so I’ve been on a Wilber kick lately, but for good reason; the man is arguably the greatest living philosopher-sage and is hilarious. Boomeritis has so far been very entertaining and I’m already plotting about introducing people to integral theory through it. That it’d make an ideal Christmas gift for so many of my friends has been a lingering thought.

With 12 days left in the month, it looks like I’ll still be living in the same apartment as of November 1. I had hoped to be moved out by then, but it looks like that won’t be happening now. I haven’t managed to find someone to take over the lease here for the next year, so I don’t have many options. It’s a very nice apartment, and I won’t mind remaining, but I was definitely looking forward to a change. Perhaps some miracle will fall into place in the next week, but I can’t count on that. C’est la vie.

I recently read an interesting piece, “They Want You“, by Max Barry about desensitizing caused by advertising. He asks us to observe ads and think of why the people in ads would look at you as they appear to.

He addresses the sex focus of ads and our indifference to that quite humourously and asks whether it carries over into the rest of our lives. I think it’s a valid question, and an interesting exercise to help us be more conscious of what is happening in the media space around us.

I must return to my work now. Namaste.

There’s something surprisingly nice about waking up on a cold morning. Lying naked in the chill air is invigorating. As I tried my best to cover myself with the lone sheet I use, I felt particularly alive, in part because of my cold feet. I was soon taken over by nostalgia for camping when this feeling cames over me; many a morning felt that cold and crisp while sleeping in a tent.
A couple days after that moment, I’m sitting here at work and minding a complaining stomach that will be soon filled with some meatless chicken burgers and maybe some tea. It’s been a quiet night, but somehow I forgot about eating while being caught up in conversation and the tasks I’m charged with.
I’ve been delving further and further into Integral Naked these past few days and I’m still thrilled to be able to take in all the richness it offers up. I’ve made IN a part of my daily media absorbtion, along with Daily Sonic on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and the various other websites I frequent. I’m finding my thinking is becoming clearer because of the integral approach and the discussions I’ve been listening to. Integral has resonated with me from my first encounters with it because it provides an inclusive, comprehensive and eloquent map of all that is. I find it very compelling to see it come about through both polygenesis and transmission, which supports its fundamental integrity and realness.
I was talking last night with Sara and she shared with me some writing she did relating philosophy and journey. In response, I wrote out a brief version of my own take on the relationship.

For a long while now I’ve been studying and adopting Ken Wilber’s integral model. I can’t begin to express how deeply it has impacted my thinking and awareness in the most positive of ways. I’ve been incredibly excited by the coherency and validness of this map of everything. I may be showing my colors as a spiritual and philosophical geek, but it excites me to find a way to integrate the wisdom of such varied fields as spirituality, sexuality, psychology, ecology, medicine and art into a whole that allows each to be what is yet strengthens our understanding and abilities in each of them.
I’ve been reading and listening to Ken’s work and the works of others in the integral movement for some time, as I said, but today I made a leap in my involvement in the integral movement by joining Integral Naked, a site sharing multimedia discussions and expressions in the integral mode.

During a couple hours this morning I took a look at some of the sessions that appealed to me at a glance and was deeply impressed. The discussions on environmentalism and the need for corresponding human development (or at least development of governance to legislate that people to take care of the world), how fundamentalism is the root of terrorism (Ken talked about how nearly all terrorists are egoic and belong to a fundamentalist culture, be they Christian abortion clinic attackers or Buddhist subway bombers) and the development of morality, especially sexual morality, were incredibly engaging and clarifying. In addition to the discussions, the performances by such luminaries as Yungchen Lhamo, Billy Corgan, Stuart Davis and Saul Williams were incredibly enjoyable (Incredibly enjoyable? Hell, the performances done by Yungchen Lhamo blew my mind!). One of the real strengths of IN is the diversity of topics and media shared through it; I’m sure I’ll have more media to absorb through it than I’ll know what to do with, but I do feel it’s of high value.
Integral Naked is a service that costs $10/month, but does offer the first month free. After only a couple hours as a member, I feel certain it will be a very worthwhile investment, if only for the sheer magnitude of quality media. Ok, it’d be worth it just for the Yungchen Lhamo performance. Yes, she’s that great a singer. Make no mistake, though, the discussions are the highlight. There’s a ton of insight to be had.

You’d be hard pressed to convince anyone I’m a traditionalist. My Thanksgiving weekend (us Canadians have our Thanksgiving at this time) was a good indicator, I think; it has not been a family-centered feasting time, but rather a meditative, bookwormish couple of days that involved eating such untraditional dishes as kamut salad and pad thai (I’ve discovered that pad thai is one of the most delicious dishes ever made). Now, during this last day, I’m intending to write this entry and then have some food before preparing for work, where I’ll be from 3 until 11:30.

I’ll get to my promised telling of Friday, but first I want to mention an interesting ad campaign I read about this weekend. It seems that Unicef has tapped the Smurfs to star in a shocking ad campaign that is hoped will bring attention to the organization’s anti-war message and increase the funding it receives to help children harmed by war.

“Unicef bombs the Smurfs in fund-raising campaign for ex-child soldiers” tells more about the endevour, which got approval of the Smurfs’ creator’s family in Belgium. I hope the campaign will prove effective, though I do find it troubling that actual images of war-ravaged people have become so ineffective that new tactics are necessary. What have we become when crying cartoons move us more than flesh-and-blood innocents?

Friday morning I had returned home from work, where I’d been a bit longer than normal, and was getting ready to sleep when my phone rang. It was Sara, who let me know she wouldn’t be able to meet when and where we’d planned to, but wondered if I could meet her at her school for a while. So, doing my best to wake up, I got ready and was soon on a bus.
I arrived a bit early at MSVU and was feeling a bit hungry, so I decided to walk down the road to grab a snack. Across the road I noticed my sister Ilea waiting for a bus and decided to cross and talk to her for a while. She, my parents and some other family members spent the weekend in Pictou at some rather nice cabins. Last year I spend a nice Thanksgiving weekend (see parts 1 and 2) there myself.
When Ilea stepped on her bus I went into a store and grabbed some carrot cake and something to drink before heading back to the campus. I wandered around there before getting a call telling me Sara would be a bit late. I walked off to a bookstore and looked around for a short while and then returned to the campus once more.
Eventually Sara did show up and we spent a while talking before she had to go to class. I enjoyed talking with her quite a lot; it was refreshing to talk with someone with similar interests and approach to life. She even surprised me by getting my mention of the prerational, rational and transrational. We also talked some about a script she’d sent me to read, which was nice. I enjoy hearing of the creative processes and intent of others.
When she went to class she asked me to hang out after, so, lead by my hunger, I decided to head to The House of Mei Mei for lunch. It’s the most neglected Chinese resturant in this city and that boggles my mind. I love the place; the food is excellent and the service is good but for some reason there’s never more than a handful of people eating there. I had a delicious vegetarian combo, which included mushroom fried rice, a way of preparing rice I’d never tried but now love.
Back at the school I met up with Sara again and talked with her and one of her friends for a while before that friend left. I found Sara’s enthusiasm to be quite contageous, which was nice. That sense of animation is quite rare, it seems. All told, I had a good time.
When Sara departed with her family I headed to the bus stop but decided to walk home instead of waiting 12 minutes for the bus. By this time i’d been up for over 24 hours and was exhausted, but somehow thought an hour of walking was a good idea. So I walked home, got in the door, got undressed, fell into bed and was fast asleep until the next morning.

Regurgitated entries don’t live up to the originals, it’s clear, but here this one is.