iPeace Mantra-Mandala Faith Traditions

I have received several questions around the process of inclusion and exclusion of the faith traditions included in the iPeace Mantra and Mandala practice. Since it was impossible to include all the many faith traditions in the world in this one practice, the process of inclusion and exclusion of which faith traditions would be included was a very careful, meditative and challenging endeavor that included rigorous scholarly research, deep spiritual inquiry, and the application of linguistic and audiovisual psycho-spiritual dynamics.

There were several factors involved in the choosing of which faith traditions were included or excluded in this mantra-mandala peace practice including the inherent requirements and limitations involved in the creation and practice of mantra repetition and mandala gazing; the faith tradition’s level of interconnectedness with major linguistic streams and archetypal patterns and symbols; the structures of consciousness associated with the tradition; the historical, cultural, and geopolitical impact and demographics of the tradition; and the degree of separation, psychic wounding and call for healing and peace associated with the tradition. Below is a chart of the included words and symbols of the iPeace Mantra and Mandala and their correlated linguistic, symbolic, faith, and cultural streams:

Word	Language	Symbol	Faith Traditions	Cultural Traditions
Sipala	Hopi	Medicine Wheel	Primal Traditions - Shamanic, Aboriginal, African	Indigenous Traditions
Sith	Gaelic	Celtic Knot	Pagan/Polytheistic Traditions - Goddess, Druid, Celtic, Wicca, Greek	Folk and Ethnic Traditions
Shanti	Hindi	Sanskrit Om	Hinduism	Indian Traditions
Shalom	Hebrew	Star of David	Judaism	Abrahamic Traditions
T’ai	Chinese	Yin-Yang	Taoism	East Asian Traditions
Sidi	Tibetan	Dharmacakra (Wheel of Dharma)	Buddhism	Indian Traditions
Pax	Latin	Cross	Christianity	Abrahamic Traditions
Salaam	Arabic	Star and Crescent	Islam	Abrahamic Traditions

While not all faith traditions are directly included in this mantra-mandala peace practice, the practice has been designed to resonantly include all faiths on a subtle level by including and linking major linguistic and archetypal streams with these select traditions producing an intra-psychic synchronization of a vast number of cultural, linguistic, and spiritual and faith tradition streams. The theory behind this is that if enough dimensions and perspectives are integrated and synchronized it produces a generalizing resonance effect embracing all dimensions and perspectives, much like how a tuning fork’s vibration will spread to and resonant with other tuning forks around it. For example, the Baha'i tradition is resonantly connected through its roots in the represented Abrahamic cultural, religious, linguistic, and archetypal streams of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and by its resonance with the practices’ more general pattern of the integration of other traditions; and Zoroastrianism is resonantly linked through its deep connection to both the represented Abrahamic and Indian cultural, religious, linguistic, and archetypal streams. 

Above is a word cloud representing some of the major world spiritual and faith traditions coded by color to represent the associated and resonant cultural traditions; with the size of each tradition’s name representing the current and/or historical size of its population of adherents. The colors representing the major cultural faith streams include: Blue for the Abrahamic Traditions; red for Indian Traditions; yellow for East Asian Traditions; orange for Folk and Ethnic Traditions; red for Indigenous Traditions; and violet for Hybrid Traditions. Note that the term “Hybrid Traditions” refers to traditions that have multiple cultural historical roots. While the Baha'i faith has a multi-cultural and multi-tradition embrace in its theology and practices, it is not considered hybrid in the sense that it has clear and direct roots in the Abrahamic streams. 

In addition to this mantra-mandala peace practice I am working on other longer-forms of peace practices including a video meditation practice that will attempt to include all living faith traditions, including Zoroastrianism, Baha'i, Shinto, and many others.. 

Meditation for Interfaith Peace

The iPeace Mandala  and Mantra

In the service of advancing inner and outer peace between faith traditions I created and practice this Mantra-Mandala Meditation for Interfaith Peace, and offer it here for those who wish to use it as part of their own meditation and/or peace practice.

THE IPEACE MANTRA

Sipala Sith Shanti Shalom T'ai Sidi Pax Salaam

The iPeace Mantra is a compilation of eight words for PEACE from eight different languages used to represent the eight major streams of world religions:  Primal Traditions, Paganism/Polytheism, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.  The words are arranged in the chronological/historical order of the emergence of each of these faiths. The purpose and intent of this mantra is to nurture and amplify personal and collective peace. This mantra can be used by itself or as part of any mantra meditation practice or in combination with the below mandala meditation. For a audio sample of the mantra visit the iPeace Project at: http://www.ipeaceproject.org/

Word	Language	Traditions
Sipala	Hopi	Primal Traditions - Shamanic, Aboriginal
Sith	Gaelic	Pagan/Polytheistic Traditions - Goddess, Druid, Celtic, Wicca, Greek
Shanti	Sanskrit	Hinduism
Shalom	Hebrew	Judaism
T’ai	Chinese	Taoism
Sidi	Tibetan	Buddhism
Pax	Latin	Christianity
Salaam	Arabic	Islam

THE IPEACE MANDALA

The iPeace Mandala 

The iPeace Mandala is an assemblage of eight symbols from eight major streams of world religions: Primal Traditions, Paganism/Polytheism, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. These symbols are set in a circle around an image of the earth and within a beautiful mandala pattern by artist Maja Apolonia Rode.

Surrounding these images are the words of the iPeace Mantra which, as stated above, is a compilation of eight words for PEACE from eight different languages representing each of the eight traditions. The symbols and words are arranged in the chronological/historical order of the emergence of each of these faiths. The purpose and intent of this mandala is to nurture and amplify personal and collective peace. Gazing at this mandala while repeating the mantra has been a powerful and transformative practice for me. 

A free printable copy of the iPeace Mandala is available at: http://www.ipeaceproject.org/. For those wishing to spread the iPeace Mantra and Mandala energy through other dimensions of their life or share it with others, you can purchase iPeace Mantra and Mandala Note Cards, T-Shirts, Posters, Stickers, Mugs, and more at the iPeace Project store at: http://www.zazzle.com/ipeace

With blessings of peace for all faiths and peoples...

Universal Patterns of the Experience of Divine Guidance

During my research into the experience of divine guidance I discovered several universal patterns that seem to appear across spiritual traditions and cultures. This research included in-depth interviews with advanced spiritual practitioners and teachers from various spiritual traditions and cultures; a meta-analysis of sacred texts from the Judaic, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Shamanic, and metaphysical traditions; and over 20 years of experimentation and testing of numerous guidance theories and practices from these traditions. The following is a composite depiction of the universal patterns of the experience of divine guidance which I uncovered through this research journey:

Patterns of Experience

The Experience of Source

Individuals who have the experience of divine guidance appear to have a conceptualization of a SOURCE of guidance that either takes a 1st-person (Higher Self, Original Self, etc.), 2nd-person (God, Jesus, Angels, etc), or 3rd-person form (the Tao, Holy Spirit, the Word, Buddha Nature, etc.). This conception of a Divine Source of guidance also appears to include the projection of various particular attributes (imminent, transcendent, etc.), motives (beneficent, merciful, etc.), and activities (creator, sustainer, etc.) onto that Source. The attributes, motives, and activities the individual ascribes to the Source seem to affect their ability to connect with that Source. For example, individuals who perceive the Source of guidance as vengeful and judgmental tend to have a hard time receiving guidance, while those who perceive a loving and forgiving Source appear to have an easier time receiving guidance.

The Experience of Seeking

The individual who experiences divine guidance seems to go through a period of SEEKING a connection with the perceived Source through a process of preparation and purification facilitated by the performance of certain practices, such as prayer, meditation, and ritual. The perceived Source also appears to seek out the seeker, assisting with and/or instigating the process of preparation and purification, and sometimes even offering the seeker an experience of spontaneous guidance through divine grace.

The Experience of Receiving

The process of seeking culminates with the seeker having an experience of RECEIVING a communication from this perceived Source that seems to come in a variety of forms (perceptual shift, inner voice, visions, etc.) and appears to carry a particular content (information, direction, etc.), along with a range of experiential qualities (sense of a higher presence, heart-opening, etc.). The variety of forms seems to require a degree of openness and receptivity within the receiver. The receiver’s encounter with this perceived Source also appears to be experienced through the lens of an archetypal metaphor or theme of encounter (dipping into an inner river, becoming a divine vehicle, etc.), whose form seems to depend on the personal, cultural, and religious influences of the receiver’s life. There also appears to be a universal paradox around seeking and receiving, in that one must let go of all seeking in order to receive, yet one usually cannot receive unless one seeks; it appears that the challenge becomes knowing how long to seek before letting go of the seeking in order to receive.

The Experience of Following

The experience of receiving of communication from the Source ultimately leads to a period of FOLLOWING in which the receiver of Divine communication attempts to interpret and follow the guidance received. This following is based on various effects (fruits) of the experience of Divine communication (purification, consolation, transformation, etc.) that often follows the experience of receiving. The receiver of guidance then uses the effects of the experience, along with the form, content, and qualities of the communication that were received, to discern the authenticity, validity, and meaning of the communication. The receiver then seeks to incorporate the experience into their own life and consciousness.

Patterns of Influence

The individual’s entire process of conceiving of a Source of guidance, and seeking, receiving, and following guidance from that Source, also appears to be influenced by various other factors. These factors seem to contribute to, impede, develop, and mediate the experience.

Contributing Factors

There are a variety of internal and external factors that appear to have contributed to the seeker’s original seeking of the experience of divine guidance and that continue to influence the ongoing process. These may include experiences of insight, the individual’s relationship to the perceived Source, a sense of being called by the perceived Source, and various other life and religious experiences and influences.

Impeding Factors

There is an assortment of personal obstacles (ego, lack of awareness, fear, etc.) and personal constructs (mental, emotional, perceptual, etc.) that appear to impede or block the individual’s ability to seek, receive, and follow divine guidance. The individual must transform and/or transcend these obstacles and constructs through the processes of preparation and purification in order to move past the resistances to seeking and following, and to clear the barriers to receiving the guidance that is continually being transmitted.

Developmental Factors

The individual’s particular developing relationship to the Source, and their evolving degree of faith, will, and ability to surrender appear to develop over time and with experience. In turn, these same evolving forces may exert a developmental influence on the process itself.

Mediating Factors

The individual’s entire experience of divine guidance also appears to be mediated by a synergy between effort and grace, the creation of a conducive set and setting, as well as influential life experiences and events. A process of transcendent education also seems to influence the individual’s process of purification, and their personal and spiritual growth. This transcendent educational process includes the sense that the Source is transmitted lessons in the form of inner and outer life experiences as a way of inducing deep transformative change in us.

General Patterns

Ultimately, the individual’s authentic experience of divine guidance tends to be perceived as a profound subjective experience. It appears to offer superior information, knowledge, wisdom, and direction; foster constructive personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal growth and healing; and elicit a wide range of positive affectivity. These universal patterns also appear to manifest in unique ways according to an individual’s life experiences and perceptions, spiritual and religious tradition, and various cultural and social influences. 

References

THE SEARCH FOR A DIVINELY GUIDED LIFE: A Spiritual Autobiographical Inquiry into the Experience of Divine Guidance by Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D. (2014).

THE EXPERIENCE OF DIVINE GUIDANCE: A Qualitative Study of the Human Endeavor to Seek, Receive, and Follow Guidance from a Perceived Divine Source.  Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D., Dissertation Abstracts International, 2005, 66 (05), 2855. (UMI No. 3174544)

The Co-Evolution of the Moving Image, Consciousness, Culture, & Society Interactive Timeline (Beta)

Announcing the Beta launch of

THE CO-EVOLUTION OF THE MOVING IMAGE, CONSCIOUSNESS, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY (Interactive Timeline)

An Interactive Web-Based Multimedia Research and Theory-Building Timeline

The Co-Evolution of the Moving Image, Consciousness, Culture, and Society Interactive Timeline represents a preliminary mapping of the co-evolution of the moving image in all its evolving forms, and consciousness, culture and society using a transdisciplinary and Integrally-informed cinematic analytic meta-approach to explore the history of cinema, self and world from 1878 through the present.

The current version includes a high degree of mapping from 1878 through the silent and early sound period with ongoing mapping taking place from the early sound period on.

Preliminary research suggests that the moving image in all its evolving forms, including movies, television, and video games, act as co-evolutionary catalysts for the development of individual and collective consciousness, cultural worldviews, and social change. In addition, it appears that the moving image medium itself goes through evolutionary cycles of the embedding of structures of consciousness from archaic to magic to mythic to rational to pluralistic to integral cinematic structures; with the recycling of this evolutionary cycle as each new form emerges. For example, the silent film era begins at archaic and peaks at integral, then with the introduction of sound, the medium appeared to revert back to archaic forms momentarily before progressively cycling through these stages of consciousness again, but this time with the sound film form.

Beta Version of the Timeline Available at: http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/126075/The-Co-Evolution-of-the-Moving-Image-Consciousness-Culture-and-Society/

CALL FOR SUPPORT OF MY WORK

I have set up a page on my website with links for how you can support my work in the world. This includes support through tax-deductible donations for my Integral Cinema research project and purchasing my books, videos and artwork.

If my work has touched you in any way I ask that you consider supporting my continuation of this work in whatever form you can.

I am deeply grateful for all the support I have received through the years and with your help I hope to continue my work for many years to come.

Announcing LIVING A DIVINELY GUIDED LIFE Online Course

LIVING A DIVINELY GUIDED LIFE

A Special 8-Week Interfaith and Integral Spirituality Holiday Season Course

With Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D., internationally-acclaimed film and spirituality scholar-practitioner and author of the newly released book “The Search for a Divinely Guided Life”

MAKE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON A SACRED DANCE BETWEEN THE DIVINE AND YOUR SELF

From: December 7, 2014 (Sunday) at 1:00 pm Pacific Time 
To: January 25, 2015 (Sunday) at 5:00 pm Pacific Time 

About this Course

The LIVING A DIVINELY GUIDED LIFE course is a transformational interfaith and integral spirituality journey through the holiday season. It is designed to foster a more sacred and deeply transformative season, and to help you more fully open to and embrace your own evolutionary quest for the Divine. Using holiday season celebrations from many cultures and traditions as archetypal containers, we will explore how the Divine has already been guiding your life through the creation of your own spiritual autobiography, uncovering and reframing your past and current life situations and challenges in the context of your evolutionary journey toward a higher, deeper, and more expansive way of being. You will also learn how to develop your own integral spirituality guidance practice for seeking, receiving and following guidance from your highest, deepest, and most expansive Divine Source on a daily and moment-by-moment basis.

Location:

This event takes place online.

Who is this Course For?

This course is for anyone who is interested in exploring and living a divinely guided life from a non-denominational, interfaith, and integral spirituality evolutionary perspective.

DETAILS

Join Mark for this transformative interfaith and integral spirituality course, which explores how we can open to, connect with, and more fully and deeply enter into a co-creative and co-evolutionary dance with the living universe. This course will be taught through eight weekly 90-minute conference calls (recordings for the calls will be posted for participants who are not able to join a call). Each week we will deeply explore a dimension of the process of opening to living a divinely guided life with assigned practices, readings and self-reflection assignments, along with online threaded discussions to connect with fellow participants and deepen your understanding and application of this work. Throughout this process we will be uncovering the signs and stories of your life that reveal the divine’s participation in your life journey, and developing skills and practices to help you more fully engage with and participate in your divinely guided life adventure.

Topics covered will include:

• Searching for the Divine Through Time and Memory;
• Deconstructing and Rebirthing our Relationship with the Divine;
• Transforming the Primal Wound into the Primal Calling;
• Cultivating the Witness;
• Tapping into the Evolutionary Impulse;
• The Art of Transformational Reframing;
• Interpreting Life Situations and Events from a Transcendent Educational Perspective;
• Using Holy Days as Gateways to the Personal and Collective Kosmic Curriculum;
• Discovering and Applying Universal Patterns and Practices of the Experience of Divine Guidance;
• Living in the Divine Flow in the Everyday World.

This course uses an Integral Spirituality approach, which is a form of spirituality that seeks to integrate the theories and practices of all faith traditions in a way that recognizes the universal aspects of all paths while also honoring the unique gifts that each path offers. In addition, the Integral spiritual approach helps us integrate spirituality itself with all other dimensions of our being and becoming. From this Integral Spirituality perspective, the “Divine” refers to a higher, deeper and/or more expansive source of wisdom and guidance that can be perceived in various ways, including as a 1^st Person Higher or Deeper Self; a 2^nd Person “Thou” or “Other;” a 3^rd Person Force or System; and/or a simultaneously individual and collective Evolutionary Impulse.

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity – to open more fully to the blessings, graces, miracles, and tender mercies of a divinely guided life.

Dates: 8 weeks: December 7, 2014 – January 25, 2015   

Cost: $345.00 USD plus handling fee (Includes a free download of the book The Search for a Divinely Guided Life* in PDF eBook format)

Scholarships and Discounts: Discounts and Sliding-Scale Scholarships are available for those in need – For more information contact:  divineguidanceproject@gmail.com

Number of Participants: Up to 20

Instructor: Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Weekly Conference Calls:  Sundays 1-2:30 pm Pacific Time

• December 7
• December 14
• December 21
• December 28
• January 4
• January 11
• January 18
• January 25

PRESENTER

MARK ALLAN KAPLAN, Ph.D. is an internationally-acclaimed integral and transpersonal film and spirituality scholar-practitioner. He has conducted and published groundbreaking lived inquiry and academic research in integral and transpersonal approaches to art, media and spirituality, and practices professionally as an interfaith spiritual director, transformative personal development coach, award-winning filmmaker, and media psychologist and consultant. Mark is also a celebrated transdisciplinary artist, author and educator. His spiritual writings include the newly released "The Search for a Divinely Guided Life" and "The Experience of Divine Guidance," and he is the founder and Executive Director of the Divine Guidance Project, a trans-denominational research initiative devoted to the study and advancement of the experience of Divine guidance across religious traditions, cultures and domains of experience. Mark has studied and practiced the experience of divine guidance for over twenty-five years both personally and in an academic setting, and he is the researcher and author of one of the first cross-cultural and cross-traditional academic studies on the experience.

*The Search for a Divinely Guided Life book is also available in paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon.com. SPECIAL OFFERS INCLUDE: Free Kindle Edition with Purchase of Paperback Edition and Kindle Unlimited Subscribers Read for Free

New Book Release: "The Search for a Divinely Guided Life"

Announcing the publication of 

THE SEARCH FOR A DIVINELY GUIDED LIFE
A Spiritual Autobiographical Inquiry into 

the Experience of Divine Guidance

by Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

NOW AVAILABLE
IN PAPERBACK AND KINDLE EDITIONS
 AT AMAZON.COM

THE SEARCH FOR A DIVINELY GUIDED LIFE is a first-person true account of one individual's quest for the Divine through time and memory, across many cultures and traditions, through dark nights, gentle graces, and unimaginable miracles and wonders, ultimately leading to the discovery of the one path within the many and the heart of divine wisdom and guidance itself.

SPECIAL OFFERS INCLUDE:

Free Kindle Edition with Purchase of Paperback Edition

Kindle Unlimited Subscribers Read for Free

iAwake Technologies and Integral Cinema Project Partnership

Announcing the Integral Cinema Project's newest research partner, iAwake Technologies, creators of advanced Brainwave and Biofield audio entrainment tools and pioneers in the emerging field of spiritual technologies.

As part of this partnership, iAwake Technologies has graciously donated their entire library of leading edge transformational brain/mind audio tools to support Integral Cinema Project research into using the iAwake audio technologies with the advanced transformational visual technologies that the Integral Cinema Project is developing and experimenting with.

Stay tuned for the results of this cutting edge research...and in the meantime check out iAwake's amazing tools for transformation at: http://www.iawaketechnologies.com/

Robin Williams Multimedia Tribute at MetaIntegral

Robin Williams and the Complex Loss of Fallen Star

MetaIntegral Foundation wanted to pay tribute to the late Robin Williams from an integral perspective, so they asked me to create it as their resident integral movie expert. I was deeply honored by their invitation and jumped at the change, since I was already exploring this loss from an integral and complex thought perspective for myself.

The experience of writing this work was a deeply personal one because the loss of Robin Williams touched me profoundly, as it did for so many. As this piece evolved it became both a deeply heartfelt and reflective work and a sort of multimedia virtual wake experience as I was drawn to and included relevant video clips of Robin.

I am deeply grateful for this opportunity and thank MetaIntegral for their encouragement and support.

Rest in peace, Robin.

ROBIN WILLIAMS TRIBUTE

Introduction to Meta-Movieology Course Back by Popular Demand

MetaIntegral Academy is excited to once again offer the wonderful and ground-breaking 8-week course in Meta-Movieology created and facilitated by Mark Allan Kaplan beginning on September 4, 2014. Mark is widely recognized as "the preeminent theorist and practitioner of integral cinema" so you are in for a real treat. If you are a movie enthusiast and into integral and evolutionary approaches to personal growth and development, this course is for you!

Register Today...

Meta-Movieology I

An 8-Week Course in Using Movies to More Deeply Understand and Fully Embody an Integral and Evolutionary Perspective

PUT DOWN THE BOOKS, PICK UP THE POPCORN 
AND ENTER THE WORLD OF EVOLUTIONARY ENLIGHTENTAINMENT

From: September 4, 2014 (Thursday) at 12:00am PDT
To: November 9, 2014 (Sunday) at 12:00am PDT

What Is It?
Meta-Movieology is a groundbreaking meta-approach to learning Integral Theory through a transformative moving image viewing practice. In this course you will develop a deeper and more visceral understanding of the basic elements of the Integral approach by using the aesthetic and multisensory power of the moving image for embodied learning and evolutionary growth.

Location:
This event takes place online.

DETAILS:

The moving image in all its evolving forms has a unique capacity for affecting multiple aspects of our being. Movies can make us think and feel deeply; they can give us new perspectives on self, other and world; they can immerse us in other worlds and give us rich and deep embodied experiences. In fact, recent research has revealed that immersive and virtual moving image experiences can actually produce the same neurological and biological responses in our brains and bodies as actual lived experiences.

Over the last several years Mark Allan Kaplan has discovered a profound and fun approach to using the power of movies to help us see, feel, and viscerally experience the integral and evolutionary perspective. This approach includes special viewing practices to help us experientially observe Integral frameworks within any moving image work and extend the profound theoretical concepts and perspectives of the Integral-evolutionary approach from the mind into our emotional and energetic bodies. These experiential perspective-taking exercises help us make the abstract concrete and make it easier for us to extend these perspectives into our everyday lives.

This course is for anyone interested in Integral Theory, for those interested in the transformative power of the moving image, and for anyone who loves movies and is interested in their own personal growth and development. For those unfamiliar with Integral Theory it will offer a simple, powerful, and intuitive way into the integral-evolutionary perspective.  For those already familiar with the Integral model, this is a wonderful opportunity to revisit and viscerally deepen your understanding of integral theory and see and feel how it can be applied to just about any interest, activity, or pursuit that you may have. For those who are interested in their own personal growth and development and love movies, either as a viewer or creator, this work will give you a deeper appreciation and understanding for the medium, along with a greater capacity to use it for healing and growth of self, other and world.

Join Mark for this introductory course, which explores how the six basic Integrally-informed lenses of holons, quadrants, levels, lines, states and types can be utilized as powerful transformational practices for using any moving image work, from movies to video games, for your own evolutionary growth and development. This course will be taught through 8 weekly 2-hour conference calls (recordings for the calls will be posted for participants who are not able to join a call). The first week you will be introduced to Meta-Movieology in general. Each of the subsequent 6 weeks will be devoted to a single Meta-Movieology lens and practice. The final week will be a reflection and wrap up week. Each week Mark will assign practices for you to do that week using that week’s lens. There will also be weekly readings and movie viewing assignments, along with online threaded discussions to connect with fellow participants and deepen your understanding of this work. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity – Integral Theory and the movies will never look or feel the same.

Dates: 8 weeks: Aug. 31st – Sept. 21st; Sept. 28th – Oct. 12th; and Oct.19th – Nov. 9th

Cost: $345.00 USD plus $12.50 handling fee (includes a free download of the Meta-Movieology meditation video “The Pond”)

Number of Participants: Up to 20

Instructor: Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Weekly Conference Calls:  Thursdays 1-3pm Pacific Time

September 4 – Week 1: Introduction
September 11 – Week 2: The HOLONIC Sense
September 18  – Week 3: I Heart QUADRANTS
October 2 – Week 4: LEVELS of a Groundhog's Day
October 9 – Week 5: The Imaginarium of Developmental LINES
October 23 – Week 6: Altered STATES
October 30 – Week 7: TYPOLOGY Code
November 6 – Week 8: Conclusion

Note there is no call on September 25th or October 16th.

Weekly Movie Viewing Assignments:*

Week 2: "The Sixth Sense" (1999)
Week 3: "I Heart Huckabees" (2004)
Week 4: "Groundhog Day" (1993)
Week 5: "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (2009)
Week 6: "Altered States" (1980)
Week 7: "Source Code" (2011)

*Participants will be required to either rent or buy the movies listed as Weekly Movie Viewing Assignments. All other materials will be supplied by the instructor.

COURSE TESTIMONIALS

"I was surprised at how deep the Meta-Movieology practice goes. After completing the course, I have a richer experience with films, which has cascaded into other areas of my life."
– Heather, San Carlos, CA

"I can't say enough good things about the Meta-Movieology course. It was delightful and profound. This course enabled me to see integral concepts in movies that I had not recognized before and that's saying a lot because I have followed Ken Wilber since his first publications." 
– Dennis, Silver Springs, MD

"Mark is a great teacher! I am out of my league as far as my experience with integral is concerned, yet the materials, movies and weekly discussions in this course met me right where I was at. I found the meditations mind blowing and key to the shifts I am experiencing in my expanding awareness. I feel so fortunate to have stumbled on this opportunity."
– Anne, Charlotte, NC

"The Meta-Movieology course is at the theoretical, practical, and pedagogical cutting-edge of integral and evolutionary film theory and practice – it is a sophisticated training in how to experience film, and therein how to deepen one’s experience of the world within and around us. While being theoretically advanced, this course is taught in a manner that anyone, beginner or advanced practitioner, can readily get and do so with transformative results. I very highly recommend this course of study."
– Michael, Augusta, GA

PRESENTERS

Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D. is an independent award-winning filmmaker and the pre-eminent theorist and practitioner of the application of Integral Theory to the cinematic arts.  Mark has a B.A. in Motion Picture and Television Production from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, an M.F.A. in Motion Picture Directing from the American Film Institute, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and a Certificate in Integral Studies from Fielding Graduate University. He has worked professionally in the entertainment industry as a producer, writer, director, editor, researcher, and consultant. Mark’s creative works have been shown on television, in theaters, schools, and colleges, and at film festivals and expositions around the world. He has also conducted seminal research in Integral, transpersonal, transformative, and transdisciplinary approaches to film, video, and multimedia at Interval Research Corporation, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and as founder and lead researcher of the Integral Cinema Project, an independent research, production, and educational initiative sponsored by the San Francisco Film Society. Mark received Integral Institute's 2008 Integral Life Award in recognition of his continuing groundbreaking research into the application of Integral Theory to cinematic media theory and practice.

“Mark’s work is the first mature application of Integral Theory to any domain of art.” 
– Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. (Founding CEO of MetaIntegral)

“Mark is the pre-eminent theorist and practitioner of integral cinema and his work represents one of the most advanced and profound meta-theory’s of art and media to date.” 
– Michael Schwartz, Ph.D. (Professor of History and Philosophy of Art, Georgia Regents University)

“Mark’s passionate quest to explore the further reaches of film and media theory and practice is inspiring and holds great promise.”
– Jean Picker Firstenberg (President Emeritus, American Film Institute)

Click here to register - join Mark and other integralists, evolutionaries, and movie enthusiasts in this enlightening and entertaining course!

Integral Cinema Studio Published in the Russian Journal "Eros and Kosmos"

The Integral Cinema Studio article series, originally published on Integral Life is being translated into Russian and published in "Eros and Kosmos" (Эрос и Космос), a contemporary online Russian language journal exploring integral, transdisciplinary and postmetaphysical perspectives.

The first article in the series, the Holonic Lens, is available at: http://eroskosmos.org/integral-cinema-act-1-holarchic-prism/

Integral Cinema Movie and TV List (Updated)

The latest Movies and TV shows to pass the Integrally-Informed Movie and TV Test have been added to the Amazon Integral Cinema Movie and TV List. New listings include:

The Dark Knight Trilogy - An epic Integral journey from a pre-modern to modern to post-modern to transmodern society spurred on by the evolution of an archetype and the individual beneath the archetypal form as he heroically evolves from egocentric to kosmocentric circles of care and concern.

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen's masterful integrally-informed temporal shifting adventure into the present and historical and creative streams of Paris and the artist's and lover's inner and outer evolution.

Looper - A trippy Integrally-informed journey that uses a multi-temporal template to spur the evolution of a character through the interaction of the character's older and younger self.

The Sixth Sense - A holonic masterpiece, exploring the subtle meaning streams between realities and the evolution of a little boy from a frightened child to a kosmocentric medium between worlds.

The movies and television shows on this list have integrally-informed elements to varying degrees according to my findings in my article "Toward an Integral Cinema: The Application of Integral Theory to Cinematic Media Theory and Practice" in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice (2010).

My Behance Portfolio

A selection of my drawings, photographs, and movies are now available for viewing on Behance at: https://www.behance.net/markallankaplan

Introduction to Meta-Movieology

The word “movieology” is traditionally defined as the study of the movies. Meta means “beyond” or “greater than” and Meta-Movieology refers to an approach that goes beyond the mere study of movies to a practice of using the viewing of moving images in all their evolving forms for personal growth, transformation, and evolutionary development.

 Meta-Movieology practice is effective because of the moving image’s unique capacity for affecting multiple aspects of our being. Movies can make us think and feel deeply; they can give us new perspectives on self, other and world; they can immerse us in other worlds and give us rich and deep embodied experiences. In fact, recent research has revealed that immersive and virtual moving image experiences can actually produce the same neurological and biological responses in our brains and bodies as actual lived experiences.

Another factor that makes the movie image a potential tool for transformation is the complex connection and communication between creator, moving image work, viewer, and world. Since all human-made works are the partial product of the human imagination, the imaginary is embedded in all human-made artifacts including and especially, the moving image (2005a). Because humans imagine through imagery (mental images, dream imagery, etc.), and the moving has the unique capacity to concretize or reify imaginary dimensions, in a sense doubling the inner image with an outer image, the moving image is inextricably and uniquely bound with the human imagination. This produces a complex symbiotic-metamorphic web of interaction between the inner images of cinematic creators and viewers and the outer cinematic form, which makes the moving image a potential catalyst for individual and collective evolutionary growth and development (Kaplan, 2013; Morin, 2005a; 2005b).

By means of the [moving image] machine, in their own likeness, our dreams are projected and objectified. They are industrially fabricated, collectively shared. They come back upon our waking life to mold it, to teach us how to live or not to live. We reabsorb them, socialized, useful, or else they lose themselves in us, we lose ourselves in them. There they are stored ectoplasms, astral bodies that feed off our persons and feed us, archives of soul. – Edgar Morin, 2005a, p.218

I have developed the Meta-Movieology practice over the last several years during my research into the application of Integral Theory to cinematic theory and practice. During these explorations I discovered this profound and fun approach to using the power of movies to help us see, feel, and viscerally experience the integral and evolutionary perspective to produce personal transformation and growth. This approach includes special viewing practices to help us experientially observe Integral and evolutionary frameworks within any moving image work and extend the profound theoretical concepts and perspectives of the Integral-evolutionary approach from the mind into our emotional and energetic bodies. These experiential perspective-taking exercises help us make the abstract concrete and make it easier for us to extend these perspectives into our everyday lives.

I discovered that this practice is not just for those of us who watch movies, but for media makers as well. While it is true that you cannot teach someone to have talent, but beyond mastering the craft of media making, I believe that through this practice we can develop the structures of consciousness that are common to all creative masters, and that is the capacity to see multiple aspects of reality with a deeper and more expansive view.

On this coming Thursday, May 15th, 2014, I will be teaching an introductory course in this practice sponsored by MetaIntegral Academy. In this course we will be exploring the basic practices related to the Integral framework elements of HOLONS, QUADRANTS, LEVELS, LINES, STATES and TYPES. In the follow-up advanced course we will explore the advanced Integral perceptual frameworks of ZONES, ALTITUDES, ENERGIES, METHODS, COMPLEXITY, and ARCHETYPES.

You can find out more and sign up for the introductory course at: www.metamovieology.com

References

Kaplan, M. A. (2013). Integral cinematic analysis: Mapping the multiple dimensions of the cinema and the co-evolution of cinema, consciousness, culture, and society. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 8(3&4), 255-276. Available at: https://foundation.metaintegral.org/products/integral-cinematic-analysis

Morin, E. (2005a). The cinema, or the imaginary in man. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Morin, E. (2005b). The stars. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press

A Course in Meta-Movieology

MetaIntegral Academy is excited to offer you a new 8-week course created and facilitated by Mark Allan Kaplan. It's called Meta-Movieology and it starts next month. If you are a movie enthusiast and into integral and evolutionary approaches to personal growth and development, this course is for you!

Register today.

Meta-Movieology I

An 8-Week Course in Using Movies to More Deeply Understand and Fully Embody an Integral and Evolutionary Perspective

PUT DOWN THE BOOKS, PICK UP THE POPCORN 
AND ENTER THE WORLD OF EVOLUTIONARY ENLIGHTENTAINMENT

From: May 15, 2014 (Thursday)
To: July 6, 2014 (Sunday)


What Is It?
Meta-Movieology is a groundbreaking meta-approach to learning Integral Theory through a transformative moving image viewing practice. In this course you will develop a deeper and more visceral understanding of the basic elements of the Integral approach by using the aesthetic and multisensory power of the moving image for embodied learning and evolutionary growth.

Location:
This event takes place online.

DETAILS:

The moving image in all its evolving forms has a unique capacity for affecting multiple aspects of our being. Movies can make us think and feel deeply; they can give us new perspectives on self, other and world; they can immerse us in other worlds and give us rich and deep embodied experiences. In fact, recent research has revealed that immersive and virtual moving image experiences can actually produce the same neurological and biological responses in our brains and bodies as actual lived experiences.

Over the last several years Mark Allan Kaplan has discovered a profound and fun approach to using the power of movies to help us see, feel, and viscerally experience the integral and evolutionary perspective. This approach includes special viewing practices to help us experientially observe Integral frameworks within any moving image work and extend the profound theoretical concepts and perspectives of the Integral-evolutionary approach from the mind into our emotional and energetic bodies. These experiential perspective-taking exercises help us make the abstract concrete and make it easier for us to extend these perspectives into our everyday lives.

This course is for anyone interested in Integral Theory, for those interested in the transformative power of the moving image, and for anyone who loves movies and is interested in their own personal growth and development. For those unfamiliar with Integral Theory it will offer a simple, powerful, and intuitive way into the integral-evolutionary perspective.  For those already familiar with the Integral model, this is a wonderful opportunity to revisit and viscerally deepen your understanding of integral theory and see and feel how it can be applied to just about any interest, activity, or pursuit that you may have. For those who are interested in their own personal growth and development and love movies, either as a viewer or creator, this work will give you a deeper appreciation and understanding for the medium, along with a greater capacity to use it for healing and growth of self, other and world.

Join Mark for this introductory course, which explores how the six basic Integrally-informed lenses of holons, quadrants, levels, lines, states and types can be utilized as powerful transformational practices for using any moving image work, from movies to video games, for your own evolutionary growth and development. This course will be taught through 8 weekly 2-hour conference calls (recordings for the calls will be posted for participants who are not able to join a call). The first week you will be introduced to Meta-Movieology in general. Each of the subsequent 6 weeks will be devoted to a single Meta-Movieology lens and practice. The final week will be a reflection and wrap up week. Each week Mark will assign practices for you to do that week using that week’s lens. There will also be weekly readings and movie viewing assignments, along with online threaded discussions to connect with fellow participants and deepen your understanding of this work. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity – Integral Theory and the movies will never look or feel the same.

Dates: 8 weeks: May 15th – July 6th

Cost: $345.00 USD plus $12.50 handling fee (includes a free download of the Meta-Movieology meditation video “The Pond”)

Number of Participants: Up to 20

Instructor: Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.

Weekly Conference Calls:  Thursdays 1-3pm Pacific Time

May 15 – Week 1: Introduction
May 22 – Week 2: The HOLONIC Sense
May 29 – Week 3: I Heart QUADRANTS
June 5 – Week 4: LEVELS of a Groundhog's Day
June 12 – Week 5: The Imaginarium of Developmental LINES
June 19 – Week 6: Altered STATES
June 26 – Week 7: TYPOLOGY Code
July 3 – Week 8: Conclusion

Weekly Movie Viewing Assignments:*

Week 2: "The Sixth Sense" (1999)
Week 3: "I Heart Huckabees" (2004)
Week 4: "Groundhog Day" (1993)
Week 5: "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (2009)
Week 6: "Altered States" (1980)
Week 7: "Source Code" (2011)

*Participants will be required to either rent or buy the movies listed as Weekly Movie Viewing Assignments. All other materials will be supplied by the instructor.

PRESENTERS

Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D. is an independent award-winning filmmaker and the pre-eminent theorist and practitioner of the application of Integral Theory to the cinematic arts.  Mark has a B.A. in Motion Picture and Television Production from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, an M.F.A. in Motion Picture Directing from the American Film Institute, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and a Certificate in Integral Studies from Fielding Graduate University. He has worked professionally in the entertainment industry as a producer, writer, director, editor, researcher, and consultant. Mark’s creative works have been shown on television, in theaters, schools, and colleges, and at film festivals and expositions around the world. He has also conducted seminal research in Integral, transpersonal, transformative, and transdisciplinary approaches to film, video, and multimedia at Interval Research Corporation, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and as founder and lead researcher of the Integral Cinema Project, an independent research, production, and educational initiative sponsored by the San Francisco Film Society. Mark received Integral Institute's 2008 Integral Life Award in recognition of his continuing groundbreaking research into the application of Integral Theory to cinematic media theory and practice.

“Mark’s work is the first mature application of Integral Theory to any domain of art.” 
– Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. (Founding CEO of MetaIntegral)

“Mark is the pre-eminent theorist and practitioner of integral cinema and his work represents one of the most advanced and profound meta-theory’s of art and media to date.” 
– Michael Schwartz, Ph.D. (Professor of History and Philosophy of Art, Georgia Regents University)

“Mark’s passionate quest to explore the further reaches of film and media theory and practice is inspiring and holds great promise.”
– Jean Picker Firstenberg (President Emeritus, American Film Institute)

Click here to register - join Mark and other integralists, evolutionaries, and movie enthusiasts in this enlightening and entertaining course!