Terry's Blog

Welcome! Though the 2012 election is over, the work we set out to do with Integral Obama goes on. Please read this overview to learn more about the project. You may even want to become involved.

The Idea

In late 2011, Terry Patten created a grassroots fundraising page on the Obama-Biden website, under the title, “Integral Evolutionaries for Obama.” The stated purpose of this initiative was to invite transpartisans, integralists, evolutionaries, and spiritual practitioners to pool their donations to help re-elect President Obama, and then to join together to speak with a more influential voice to bring smart integral policy proposals to the next Administration. The intention was that the Administration be in dialogue not only with partial, special-interest perspectives but also with perspectives that are explicitly holistic, trans-partisan, integral, and spiritually informed.

Phase One Read more »

Originally posted on Integral Life, September 7, 2012

'Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.'

 — Plato

First Things First

It goes without saying that I speak here for myself, and not for Integral Life or the “integral movement” as a whole. But at the same time, I’m making a call for our movement—for YOU—to take action in specific ways, and I recognize that this may be objectionable to some who disagree with my views. I fully respect that (as you’ll see below), and I’m also grateful to Integral Life for be willing to hold the space for a truly meaningful and timely dialog to take shape around a set of political issues—and an election—that will affect us all as global citizens. As integral practitioners, I believe we are called to engage and debate and even take sides—even as we practice a meta-level integral embrace—and so I welcome a vigorous, co-creative, and respectful exchange. But at the same time, I hope to call you to action—one way or the other—and so I also urge you not to let this exchange stop at the level of theory or perspectives, but to actually get engaged!

Like you, most likely, mainstream American political discourse doesn’t speak to my sensibilities—and I’m fervently committed to raising the level of our public dialog.  That’s precisely why, even though I'd rather engage a trans-partisan politics, I recognize that the path to evolving consciousness and culture today is by leaning in as a "partisan”.

I’ve created IntegralObama.com to offer integral evolutionaries an opportunity to support the re-election of President Obama by speaking with a single voice. Why Obama, again? And why should we, as “integral evolutionaries,” pool our support? Read more »

Written by myself and Marco Morelli
Originally posted on Beams & Struts, February 20, 2012.

We post this manifesto in what feels like a moment of calm before the storm. It is March 2012, just a few weeks into a year rich with social, political, and spiritual significance. In the US, of course, it's an election year, with all the media-induced madness this will spawn. According to the Chinese calendar, it's the Year of the Dragon, a symbol of dynamism and power. In the ancient Mayan calendar... well, we know about that.

The sense of calm is perhaps due to it being winter in the Northern hemisphere. But more so, it seems to be the quiescence or exhaustion following a complicated year. From revolutions in the Middle East to the Occupy protests in the US and globally, there is an upheaval brewing... and spilling over. Read more »

The news so far during 2011 has been particularly electrifying: Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the whole Middle East.  Budget crises worldwide, and in the USA, bitter battles including dramatic moves to rewrite the social contract. Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. The brutal civil war and international intervention in Libya. And there will be more electrifying and heartbreaking news soon, undoubtedly.

It stirs our hearts and our fears, distracts us, fascinates us, and confuses us. There are several ways to practice with this kind of news, and I want to share three perspectives about how we can work with it as a practice.

Practice #1: Relax, Feel It Completely and Let It Go

Why the “Killer App”?

What made computers indispensable?

• The first database programs, plus word processing and accounting software.

What first made the Internet a necessity instead of a curiosity?

• Email, singlehandedly. 

Why did cell phones become nearly ubiquitous so quickly, despite concerns about their health impacts?

• Mobile connectivity, plus the magic of texting, made cellphones an essential tool for postmodern lifestyles.

Why do we salivate over the iPhone, and now the iPad?

• Because the sleek tool lets us use thousands of amazingly cool, intuitive apps.

We undertake the ordeal of upgrading our operating systems only in order to access new applications. A “killer app” legitimizes any innovative approach, making the expense and hassle of an upgrade worthwhile. Read more »

One of Andrew Cohen’s critics recently attacked me in a blog post. Detailing a few of the most inflammatory stories about Cohen, a group of teachers (including me, Ken Wilber and others) were accused of “enabling abuse” because we have dialoged and cooperated with Andrew, his students and his publications. None of us responded publicly to the attack. I chose not to because in the echo chamber of the blogosphere there is no way to respond thoughtfully and at length to irresponsible negativity without raising it to an implicitly equal status, and thereby validating and empowering it. Read more »

I'm writing this in the spacious stillness of Thanksgiving weekend. My life has been moving at high speed, but over this holiday break an opening appeared. The phone barely rang, and a sense of deep peace naturally blossomed. My heart has been overflowing with spontaneous gratitude (or as Brother David Steindl-Rast so beautifully puts it, "great-full-ness".)

I'm grateful for many things—family and friends, my spiritual friends and communities, some inspiring creative projects, amazing partners, and my growing, vibrant communities of integral evolutionary spirituality and service. I'm especially grateful for the opportunity to serve humankind, and our current intensifying wild ride through what is certainly a kind of evolutionary whitewater rafting.

Optimism vs. Pessimism About Humanity's Prospects Read more »

My last blog entry was written as Deborah and I prepared to fly to France so I could MC the 5 day Renaissance2 Great Shift Gathering in Perpignan.

I asked a lot of questions in my last post about the efficacy of such an endeavor. And my report is, I'm happy to say, essentially positive. The key principles I enumerated were very present during the gathering. And although there were certainly a range of vMemes interacting, the emphasis on creating tangible projects with business models remains a deep consideration of all involved. And I still have real hopes for what Renaissance2 can spawn in the weeks, months and years ahead. Read more »

My root-guru, Adi Da Samraj, passed a year ago this Thanksgiving in Fiji. He was 69. I was a devotee of this great God-realizer from the age of 22 until I was 37. He not only profoundly transformed my life and consciousness, but, I think, helped transform the entirety of contemporary Western spirituality, even though he is not nearly as widely known as he is influential.

On this anniversary of his passing, I remember him with gratitude, and look back in amazement at his legacy. Please know, words fail here. To speak about Adi Da is to nominate oneself as one of the blind men reporting on the elephant. Adi Da was one part Jesus Christ, one part Picasso, one part Nagarjuna, one part Marlon Brando, and one part Genghis Khan. And more... Read more »