For a year now the framework I’ve used in improving my life has been Integral Life Practice , I-I‘s concise personal development platform. I love the inclusiveness ILP provides by meshing various practices into a path that allows us to improve our lives in every dimension. Integral theory gave me the gift of understanding the world in a more complete way and Integral Life Practice gave me the gift of living more fully, growing more healthfully and making evolution a daily mission.

I am always happy to share ILP with others, but the brilliant and media-rich Integral Life Practice Starter Kit can be cost-prohibitive. Thus, I was thrilled when Zaadz, my favourite social networking change-engine, introduced a free offer in conjunction with I-I that gives you a free taste of ILP. C4Chaos gave the heads up to non-Zaadzsters in his “I-I + Zaadz = Free ILP Stuff” and pointed to the free offering of the opening chapters from the upcoming Integral Life Practice book. So don’t wait any longer, follow on to grab free ILP chapters.

A while ago I wrote “How to Sit” on finding an ideal way to sit when working. I decided on a silver exercise ball and have been happy to have that be the center of my work space.

But I’m also a bookworm and so have been tempted by a couple new designs that are making us book lovers and design geeks salivate. I’d be hard pressed to pick which of the two I like better of the Bibliochaise and the Bookshelf Cave, which are innovative integrations of chairs and bookshelves.

The Bibliochaise is an arm chair turned bookshelf and I love its aesthetic. Having all one’s book within reach while sitting and reading would be excellent for scholars who enjoy comfort. I’m in the process of cutting down my physical book collection to some essentials, so a setup like this would hold all my books nicely and look beautiful while doing so.

The Petri Project has a compelling little article on The Cave that explores the experience of being “simultaneously sheltered and engaged.” I found the concept as interesting as the design itself, in part because I’m fascinated by the tearing down of the wall between the private and public spheres and introducing intimacy into the latter. I imagine the cave in a cafe and having the nook disarming us in public.

Which do you prefer? Is there a seating and bookshelf hybrid that I’ve missed?

If you could stop your aging indefinitely, would you?
Yes. The gift of longer, healthier and fuller lives is something I believe we should cultivate with as much vigor as possible. If we enable more people to also navigate development well we can create vibrant societies that merge the richness of experienced and developed humans with the vitality of our physical peak. Any chance we have to optimize life we should embrace.

Describe a sensation or feeling that lacks a specific word.
The sense of omnidirectional passion, attraction, care and bliss that comes with unhindered love is something I’ve never been able to anchor to a word. It seems undescribable, but when you share it with someone who knows, there’s no need to explain at all, is there?

What is your greatest struggle?
My greatest struggle is to overcome the doubts and contractions that keep me from living in the abandon of a life dedicated to evolution. Too often I allow unnecessary limits to be self-imposed and keep me from a dedication to practice. This seems to always cycle back for me, a great knot of internal and external excuses for not fully inhabiting my commitment to divinity.

What’s your favorite–or lucky–number?
Three is my number and it resonates throughout my experience. The Good, The Beautiful and The True; Buddha, Sangha, Dharma; I, We and It; and on and on the list of threes goes. Even when it comes to relationships I’ve found some of the most exciting moments have been when I’ve been with two others. Three seems to have some sort of universal significance, and certainly has a personal one in my case.

What’s one of your greatest strengths?
My sense of equanimity is my greatest strength, I believe. It allows me to be more responsive and present in any situation, especially painful ones. In work, in play and in love, it always proves to be invaluable to be composed even in the grips of the most passionate or turbulent moment.

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This entry follows up Reading Stack.

Today I have a fresh pile of books I’m about to dive into. I picked up the new issue of Shambhala Sun earlier this week and my friend Cerra sent me Black & White Nude Photography and Blankets. If my memory serves me well, Cerra was the first person I shared my excitement over Blankets with when I first read it, so it seems somehow special to receive a copy from her. It’s one of the books I treasure and love to share with others, so I imagine it will next be in circulation around this city. My last copy of the book went to Mexico.

Speaking of Blankets, its creator, Craig Thompson, has a blog at Doot Doot Garden. There you can find his brilliant artwork and learn more about his books. Be sure to look at the Blankets sketchbook to see the early glimmerings of the masterpiece that was to come.

I plan to free some books with Book Crossing soon, so if you’re in Halifax keep your eyes open for stray books.

In Cinq is a portrait and poetry project created by Adria Balgassi. We are given intimate moments in the lives of people across the globe through a pairing of self-portraits with personal cinquains (in a less structured, contemporary form). In her words, “Welcome to the Cinq Drawer, an international community art project. 9 words + self portrait = cinqpic. Contribute yours today and get ‘in cinq’ with the world.”

And so I jotted down a cinquain according to her directions, dug up one of my favourite photos and sent it off. You can now find me among dozens of souls also featured on the site.

holonic
timeless, present
night, ocean, flame
wandering, stargazing
divine

Some of my favourite In Cinqs:
girl, 28, Canada
girl, 41, escaping oz
guy, 27, Argentina
guy, 68, Orléans, France
girl, 21, stuck in the moment
guy, 22, Egypt (oldest spot on the planet)
girl, 19, Manhattan

It’s rare a book will bring me to tears, but as I finished reading Strangers in Paradise this week there were salty rivulets pouring down my face. The entire series packed emotional punch, but this ending was exquisitely teeming with love. Page after page of heartrending and soul-lifting beauty flowed by and I was left unquestionably satisfied with the story and deeply thankful to have been along for the ride these few years I’ve been keeping up with Terry Moore‘s masterpiece.

Strangers in Paradise is a romance, a crime drama, and a character-focused exploration of innumerable aspects of life. It also happens to be a comic book. Much like Craig Thompson‘s Blankets, Strangers in Paradise elevates the comics form into genuine literary greatness. The storytelling and insight are amplified by the collision of prose and visual art in a way that is disarming and authentic.

Central to SiP is a swirl of love that focuses on three main characters. LeeAnn Kriegh summed it up as “Katchoo loves David, but she’s in love with Francine, a mostly straight woman who returns Katchoo’s love just enough to break both their hearts,” and that’s just scratching the surface of a complex, beautiful and realistic story.

Terry Moore is a master at keeping controversial subject matter such as polyamoury, sexuality, religion and politics deeply embedded in human experience. One of the real joys of reading SiP has always been the touching way the characters have reflected the conflicts in all our lives. Mr. Moore depicts life gently but unsparingly includes all the betrayal and heartache to be found in it alongside the joys. I especially appreciated how he included David’s Christian faith in the story.

For some reason it struck me that there were no real Christians in comics, in mainstream-accepted comics anyway. I thought, “Well, that would be one of the most revolutionary things I could do right now.” … I thought one of the most rebellious things David could do was just say, “I’m a Christian.”
…
I mean, being a Christian right now is the most uncool thing you could possibly be, whether it’s in comics or literature or TV or film or whatever. Pop-culture-wise, for somebody now to stand up and say, “I’m a Christian,” they’d have to be very anti-establishment. Unless, they’re standing in the middle of the Bible Belt surrounded by churches or something. But, you know, in mainstream culture, it’s just not acceptable any more. Which made it all the more fun for me. I like thumbing my nose at both the establishment and the revolution.
- Terry Moore, The Comics Journal #276

Strangers in Paradise will stand as one of the greatest stories told in the last couple decades. Full of humour, drama and tenderness, it never fell from its sustained genuineness. Terry Moore established himself as one of the finest storytellers working today and gave us a true gift through the years he has worked to create this story. Now that it’s finished, I can’t imagine a better time to dive in.

I don’t know why but I do
Dream of you.
Losing you
I dream of you.
I don’t know why but I do
Think of you.
Though we’re through
I think of you.

I’ve been PMOGing for a month now. Passively Multiplayer Online Game is a concept that combines data mining and gaming to create a unique web experience. It’s a convergence that actually provides some useful data, fun social networking and gaming that someone with no time to game can take part in. It’s still in early development, but it’s one of the new internet ideas that I’m genuinely excited about.

I’m especially interested in seeing how my life online can be broken down statistically. PMOG relies on a Firefox add on and parses our online activity to generate an accurate and objective view of our life online. From a month of data I’m told I focus on DIY, web, news, shopping, reference and social areas of the internet, which seems rather accurate. In the future we might be able to use this data for many purposes, and I envision using it to see areas I have been neglecting over time.

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Lately I’ve been undertaking a project of digitally cataloging my mementos in order to unclutter my life. I’ve been slowly moving into a more minimal mode of living for a long while now, but some items without use are still taking up space in my loft. I’ve heeded some advice from LifeHacker to catalog mementos with my digital camera and then throw them out. It was a weekend project that I’ve broken up into smaller sessions of decluttering.

It feels surprisingly good to be free of items that I had kept for years out of some attachment to their memory inducing quality. A photograph will not hold the same tactile, aromatic and other sensory cues, but that’s something I’m willing to give up. As wonderful as my memories are, a future of mobility and simplicity is far more appealing.

If you’d like some advice for undertaking a project like this, I recommend “Photographing Your Mementos.” I would add that using Picasa is an ideal way to organize, store and view your photos from this digitization.

Would you believe I had a ton of pens kicking around for the sake of memory? These three are ones I wanted to remember.

The silver one is from a job shadowing program I participated in while I was in high school. It was at an insurance company and I was following a computer programmer as he worked on Y2K problems. Somehow this didn’t deter me from entering the computer science program at university a couple years later.

The second is a pen I borrowed from my friend Sascha during high school. He was a true pen connoisseur and years later this pen still writes beautifully.

The final pen was given to me by the first girl I truly fell in love with. Ashley gave me this when she visited me for the first time

Is it the ultimate expression of egoic tendencies? A brilliant non-dual project that removes the line between self and other? Or just postmodern art being the absurd beast it is?

Whatever the verdict, SelfKiss is beautiful, in a “disturbingly erotic” manner. I came across this via SexyRSS, where the experience is described as follows:

This uneasiness seems to be very common, with Hypnogogic echoing the sentiment:

Translated from the original French, the introduction to the project may shed some light on the original intent:

I didn’t feel as much uneasiness as many who have commented on the series, but it is there, mixed with eroticism. A lot of questions arise when I reflect on this. What is your reaction to this?

Social networking is becoming a backbone of internet culture. The spark of connecting with others online can be endlessly rewarding, and exemplifies the value of the internet. Much of my interactions online are now done through various social networking sites such as Facebook, Live Journal and Zaadz. Social networking has a long way to go before it works smoothly, though.

The main trouble right now, I believe, is a lack of interoperability between the networks; it’s annoying and time-consuming to have to visit dozens of sites to keep up with what my friends are doing rather than looking at one page. Each site is offering a dynamic community and great features, but none is without some area it’s lacking in. I hope a decentralized method of interaction between the sites will arise. Some sites, such as Wink, are moving toward a decentralization of the social networking space, and that gives me some hope. So far decentralized social networking is in infancy, sadly.

Lifehack has a marvelous article on “That Whole Social Networking Thing” that addresses some other strengths and pitfalls we encounter in social networking.

I’d also recommend taking a look at “Hobnobberry 3.0” over at MediaSpin.

So for now I’m using a handful of social sites daily and keeping up with about a dozen more from time to time. I’d like to share some of my favourites. If you’re using any of them, feel free to add me as a friend there. My profiles can be found by clicking on the orbs for each network. I’ll try to keep this list comprehensive of all my social network activity. If you just want an overview of how I’m being social, check out my Wink profile. There’s a miraculous energy in that We space, isn’t there?

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