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Integral Metatheory – Your 21st-Century Reality Map

A Brief Introduction

What happens if you have no map to guide you? Dr. Jan Souman, of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, studied what happens to people without a map to guide them. He discovered that when people were lost in the woods or wandering the desert without a map or compass they would wind up walking in circles, and would find themselves right back where they started. Dr. Souman informs us that even if you think you are walking in a straight line, you will actually be walking in circles.

I want you to create the most accurate map possible for your life, so the vehicle (higher brain) you are supercharging knows where to go.

In the midst of my own ongoing transformation it was the genius of American philosopher Ken Wilber that accelerated my life’s work. Wilber’s life work provided the orienting map called ‘Integral Metatheory’ or ‘AQAL’ that I use to ensure a holistic approach for the transformational technologies that I create. About 15 years ago I read Wilber’s – at that time – magnum opus, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality and like a laser beam of knowing and understanding, it shot directly into my mind, integrating the last decade of revelations I had had around neuroscience, consciousness, energy and human transformation. Suddenly all of my insights fitted together in a cohesive framework that allowed me to not only codify but to iterate and advance my life’s work at a much more rapid rate. I am forever grateful for the work of this towering genius and I consider myself an ‘Integral Metatheorist’.

Integral Metatheory (IMT) is a theory of everything. A framework that is the result of looking carefully at the enduring truths and consistent patterns within all the ways we see and making sense of our philosophy, spirituality, healing, and indeed all of reality. IMT is, in a word, well ‘integral’, leaving nothing out, and yet never prioritizing partial truths – be they healing systems, religions or meditation techniques for that matter – at the expense of the greater whole. My belief now is that if any practice or technique is not informed by some version of an integral framework, the odds are overwhelming that the practice or technique will have arrested outcomes at some point and there will be diminishing returns for the amount of time invested.

Integral Metatheory posits the importance of several different key vectors of what it means to be human. These vectors are ‘States of Consciousness’, ‘Life Altitudes of Consciousness’, ‘Dimensions (quadrants)’, ‘Types’ and ‘Lines’ of development. For our purposes and in my opinion, the first three listed here – states, altitudes and dimensions – are the most important to SCM and to your evolution. I will introduce the four dimensions and how they relate to SCM and the 9 Summits of Transformation, in this chapter. The following chapter (four) will introduce states of consciousness, particularly ‘enlightenment states’ in relation to SCM and the 9 Summits of Transformation. Chapter 7 will introduce Life Altitudes, also called ‘structures of consciousness’, and their correlation with proposed brain physiology.

I will only mention ‘types and lines’ briefly here and you will be able to infer how this is important to your own growth through this process. Types, refers to the type of person you are, such as your gender or personality type. Types are generally thought not to change over time; we take our specific type with us as we grow vertically through stages of development (Life Altitudes) or access higher enlightenment states. I am not suggesting that types or typologies are not important, as they can lead to greater understanding about oneself, I am simply suggesting that within the confines of this book I do not want to go into great detail regarding types or lines as it is not needed here. There are many wonderful resources on the subject and many techniques such as the Enneagram or Myers-Briggs that deal with the topic.

‘Lines of development’, are the multiple streams of intelligences that each of us possess. So when we talk here about higher Life Altitudes, multiple lines or streams of intelligence are involved and we can be higher in some lines and lower in others. For our purposes taking a view from 50,000 feet and looking at where your center of gravity is located, i.e. what Life Altitude that you source your identity, world-view, values etc,. from, is what’s most important. For more detailed and nuanced understanding regarding Integral Metatheory I suggest you read everything Ken Wilber has written; that’s around 25 books and should keep you busy for a while if you want to dive deeper into IMT philosophy.

I wanted to provide a very brief introduction to IMT, as this will help you see and understand why SCM was developed as it was, and understand some basics around how and why the 9 Summits unfold as they do. I am deliberately avoiding the hyper-intellectualization that IMT and IMT philosophers are known for, as that is not the point here. We just want to know enough to provide adequate context for the amazing awakenings that will result by following SCM and the 9 Summits of Transformation.

For now I want to provide a brief tour through a very important and life changing understanding of IMT, the ‘four dimensions’ or what Wilber calls the four quadrants.

The Four Dimensions

The key point is this: your life arises within a minimum of four major perspectives that I call ‘dimensions’. All four of these dimensions or areas must be taken into account and advanced if you are to live life fully and fearlessly. These four dimensions all arise together and are all areas of your life that are interrelated and affect one another, often without your awareness of this.

THESE FOUR DIMENSIONS ARE:

1. Mind/Consciousness
2. Body/Brain
3. Relationships/Culture
4. Environment/Systems

Or to simplify: Mind, Body, Relationships and Environment.

Wilber has identified these four irreducible dimensions of human life. These four areas of life are Body, Mind, Relationships and Environment and Wilber has demonstrated that any philosophy, healing art, personal growth technique etc., that does not take all of these four major areas into account is a fragmented and partial system. A version of this 4D integral mapping system is implicit to SCM and the 9 Summits of Transformation. The new higher brain state synchronized with an integral map of these four areas accelerates life transformation in real time in the modern world. When the higher brain is energized and directed toward all four dimensions we create comprehensive and sustainable life transformations.

If these four dimensions are not freed up together and moving forward together your growth at some point will be arrested.

FIG 9: The 4 Dimensions of Your Life

When you do take all of these areas into account and promote growth in all four dimensions, something extraordinary happens; a quantum response in life transformation results! 1+1+1+1= 100! Quantum Life Transformation is the objective of the SCM System.

Mind and Brain, Two Irreducible Perspectives of One Holism

To gain deeper understanding of the four dimensions let’s start by examining an old debate that involves the upper two of the four dimensions that are recognized by IMT as fundamental and irreducible elements of your life. This will provide an understanding of how these two dimensions are sewn into the fabric of who you are. With that understanding we can layer in the lower two dimensions (with much less detail) which are simply the ‘plurals’ to each of the upper two dimensions. All four dimensions are sewn together, all irreducible and all separate, yet intimately connected and arising as one.

Let’s start; your brain is not your mind; your mind is not your brain. Now would be a good time to clear up any confusion around terminology regarding the ‘mind (non-physical/subjective/consciousness)’ and the ‘brain (physical/objective/matter/energy)’. This understanding will be important as we continue discussing advanced brain states and advanced states of consciousness.

Mind and Brain are not the same thing, although they are in direct relationship to one another. One does not cause the other. It is a mistake to believe the brain creates the mind, and a mistake of equal proportions to believe the mind creates the brain. Mind and Brain are the interior and exterior of a single holism. The interior and exterior of this single holism exerts influence across both of these dimensions, however neither ‘causes’ the other and neither can be reduced to the other. Modern Western neuroscience tends to reduce all states of mind/consciousness to brain function and many Eastern contemplative traditions tend to reduce all of physical reality (including the brain) as a creation of mind/consciousness.

Both of these views are dualistic and partial and, therefore, from a higher-level understanding both views are ultimately wrong. Mind and matter are associated and correlated but not reducible. They are two sides of a single ‘coin’ of reality arising together. They are connected to each other but neither is causing or creating the other.

Known as the “mind-body paradox” this relationship between brain and mind is not paradoxical if we can think holistically; the old philosophical conundrum was to reduce one to the other thus creating an endless debate around which came first and which caused the other. The new integral understanding is that mind and brain arise together as two perspectives of a single whole, both influencing the other and neither reducible to its corollary. Since the inner consciousness and outer brain arise as one, a profound change in the brain would correspond with a profound change in consciousness and vice versa.

It is this understanding that allows us to see how meditation, for instance, can change the brain – any change in one dimension will create corollary changes in the other, however this does not happen in ‘one to one’ ratios. Meditation takes as its starting point the interior dimension of ‘mind/consciousness’ and its introspective techniques lead to changes in this mind/consciousness dimension.

As changes in the non-physical ‘states of mind/consciousness’ occur, changes in the physical brain also occur. With enough meditation and for a long enough period of time, the corollary brain changes can become profound. The challenge with meditation, however, is its low power effect and lack of integrality.

The amplitude of effect is small and therefore takes long periods of time and extreme focus to create big changes. Its ‘one dimensional’ nature of only focusing on the interior dimension means that the level of intensity, in the meditation practice, must be immense to shift the fleeting states of higher consciousness experience into more permanent traits by creating adequate changes in the brain. When both the interior and exterior (mind and brain) are shifted together, as with the SCM technique, these two dimensions feedback into each other through resonance, a self-reinforcing dynamic, each strengthening the other.

The spine-tingling ‘aha’ moment that occurred for me in my study of human transformation was when I discovered that the ‘brain’ side of the equation had been ignored (mostly because it was unknown) for thousands of years! As contemplative and meditative techniques were developing, East and West, the brain and its function and relationship to higher consciousness were left out of the picture. The contemplative practices in the West and meditative techniques in the East, had for thousands of years canonized and dogmatized their ‘interior based’ methods. The understanding that the physical brain was in relationship to all of the desired changes these contemplatives sought, was not known until modern science only recently disclosed this truth. Therefore the ‘brain’ has been a missing link for the thousands of years transformative practices have been developing.

I believe that some of the early yoga adepts had an intuitive understanding that ‘physiology and the physical body’ was an important part of the equation, but with no real understanding of brain function or its relationship to advanced states of consciousness there was a limitation to this development. The lack of knowledge regarding the direct relationship between higher consciousness/mind states and higher brain/physiology states did not allow for the development of techniques that could increase higher brain function directly, or even the ability to add the higher brain potential to the equation and supercharge already existing transformative techniques. The higher brain and its potential are a ‘missing link’ in transformational approaches and still to this day are lagging way behind in the mindfulness, self-help and personal growth industries.

A revolution of the SCM technique is that it takes as its starting point the exterior or ‘Brain’ dimension. The change in brain function elicited through this technique is not subtle. Profound changes are created quickly in the exterior (brain) dimension that resonates through the associated interior (mind/consciousness) dimension, thus simultaneously creating positive shifts in ‘mind/consciousness’. Since SCM is an integral evolutionary holistic system – even as it promotes profound brain changes – it does not ‘end’ with the brain. In fact it begins there, with the powerful shift to the higher brain, a shift that creates an opening for a powerful change to occur in the ‘mind’, as well as an opening to change all areas of one’s life. With SCM and the 9 Summits the shift to higher brain function is quickly leveraged by specially designed components (inherit in the SCM and the 9 Summits) that are introduced to further enhance the corollary changes in ‘Mind’.

In addition, these amazing changes to the brain and consciousness of the recipient are applied to one’s life through a highly sophisticated yet user-friendly mapping system, based in part on an IMT modeling of reality. Having a powerful starting point – energy surge in the higher brain – synchronized with elements of the technique designed to accentuate the evolution in all dimensions and areas of one’s life while navigating the world with a 21st-century map of reality, while the higher brain is energized, leads to rapid transformation.

Changes in brain state must quickly be met with changes in all 4Ds to convert the temporary states into permanent traits

Another challenge with meditation that is resolved through the 9 Summits of Transformation is that there is little understanding about how to apply any benefits of meditation to modern life and the complexities of the world we live in.

Lower Brain Feedback in Four Dimensions of Life

If we acknowledge that the four dimensions are fundamental and interconnected, we quickly see the evolutionary conundrum of a dominant primitive lower brain (upper right body/brain dimension) that must have associations resonating with it in all other dimensions.

Lower brain dominance has a complex of associated Mind/Body/Relationship/Environment dynamics and since the 4Ds are multidirectional, all the lower brain representations in mind, body, relationships or environment can act as triggers to engage/energize the lower brain even further.

Within the lower brain resonating 4Ds-specific triggers such as alcohol, the “thought that I am overwhelmed”, negative environments, friends that don’t support us, credit card collectors calling, patterns of hollow sexual relationships, family dynamics that show up, old friends, recurring thoughts, money issues, etc., all act to further engage or re-engage the lower brain.

It is not just the lower brain that arrests your growth, but the complex of triggers in all 4 dimensions, sustained by lower brain physiology. Just changing the brain is not enough because the triggers are part of the complex and need energetically disconnecting from your lower brain. Since all sentient beings have all 4 dimensions that arise together, when the lower brain is dominant, the lower level 4D reality arises with it. This creates reiterating negative feedback loops through the 4Ds that becomes self-reinforcing: each dimension sustains the others, all further energizing the lower brain as the physiology that holds it all together.

The 4D representations need deconstructing, as we will do in Summit 7 and a new map of your Higher Brain’s potential will be constructed in Summit 8. Shifting into higher brain states is the beginning, not the end. The higher brain states must be brought to bear on all of life, and that is exactly what happens through the 9 Summits of Transformation.

This is why the complete and holistic nature of the journey through the 9 Summits is important. Just shifting into a higher brain state is not enough, you must disrupt the entire four dimensional complex and follow that with the creation of higher brain representations in mind, body, relationships and environment. Learning how to navigate your four dimensions from higher brain physiology becomes an exhilarating experience as you create a compelling future.

To create a more detailed understanding of the interplay of all four dimensions of life we will use the example of someone dealing with a health challenge. In this example we will introduce the lower two dimensions (Relationships/Culture and Environment/Systems). Keep in mind during this example based on ‘holistic healing,’ that SCM is about so much more than simply healing and that this 4D approach must be applied even if we are already “healed” but still wish to grow, evolve or transform in any way.

Consider the following facts: recent medical research demonstrates that a good predictor of chronic disabling back or neck pain in a man is job dissatisfaction and financial concerns. This may seem counter-intuitive as both job dissatisfaction and financial concerns are located in the “Environment” dimension (see FIG 9), not in the area where the problems become manifest (the “Body” dimension). The symptoms show up in the physical body as pain although the primary “hot spot” is not in the “Body” dimension as one might presume. Therefore treating or fixing the body will not lead to resolution and certainly not evolution.

For a woman, a good predictor of chronic disabling back or neck pain is relationship problems (lower left dimension). Therefore, treating or fixing the body will not lead to resolution and certainly not evolution, as the primary causative agent (relationship) has been left unresolved. That is, the primary problem is actually located in the “Relationship” dimension even though the apparent problem shows up again as symptoms in the “Body” dimension.

What was always thought to be the primary problem of chronic disabling neck and back pain in both men and women were certain types of bad parts in the body, i.e., disc herniation or bulges, arthritis, etc. However, now we know that those ‘bad parts’, according to the research, have very low predictability as to whether or how you will develop chronic pain and disability. In fact, not only was there more to the story than the bad part, but it wasn’t even primary. These other dimensions were actually more important to the development of physical problems than the bad parts in the body were. You simply cannot predict, based on any single dimension, what the primary problem is.

Here is a simple example of how all four dimensions play out in life:

Take for instance a woman that we will call Renee. Renee suffers from chronic migraine headaches and she therefore pursues ‘treatment’ to fix it. A typical approach would be to treat her migraines with drugs, chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, physical therapy, or herbs, depending upon the professional she chose to help her. But is any of this really helping her if the primary problem is not actually her aching head?

Here again I want to reiterate that the SCM and 9 Summits are designed for life transformation in all dimensions, but this ‘healing’ example makes a point as to the interplay of all four dimensions. So let’s say Renee decides to pursue the SCM and 9 Summits of Transformation path and learns to awaken her brain/mind and progresses through the 9 Summits of Transformations. Using specific 9 Summit techniques she clearly identifies the status of all four dimensions of her life. She reveals, through a guided process that in her “Body” dimension she has tight muscles, in her “Mind” dimension she has low self-esteem and negative thoughts. In her “Relationship” dimension she has a bad marriage and a verbally abusive husband. In her “Environment” dimension she works at a dead end job that she resents.

All four dimensions of her life flow into one another. Critical thoughts (Mind) cause tight muscles and constricted blood vessels (Body), while demeaning relationships (Relationships) cause negative thoughts (Mind), which cause poor job performance (Environment) and a decreased likelihood of promotion, etc. All four dimensions are implicit to her life and must be liberated together. Treating only her body would be a disaster for Renee, as it would not address the underlying issues causing her symptoms.

The pain in her body is a wake-up call to pay attention and make changes. Often change is needed in an area (dimension) that does not appear to be the most symptomatic. SCM and the 9 Summits of Transformation do not require that you identify a ‘primary’ cause for anything, it just requires that you have awareness to the state of all your four dimensions and provides you with the tools to use your higher brain/mind state to bring about positive change in all dimensions of your life. When this happens, not only does healing occur, but also, bound-up life energy is freed from stuck dimensions and can drive your growth and evolution towards self-actualization and self- transcendence.

Since SCM is about growth and transformation we would not seek to give Renee her old life back, for her old life is how she got to where she currently is, it is how she ended up with migraine headaches to begin with. We want to help her use her symptoms as a sign that change is needed and facilitate her transformation in all four dimensions so she can create her new life.

Another example of how this 4D approach plays out in the healing process was elucidated recently in a peer-reviewed article titled “Integral Skepticism in Medicine.”

It has long been known that the Japanese, while living in Japan, have low rates of heart disease, but upon migrating to the United States they develop the same high rates of heart disease as Americans. It was presumed that the increase in heart disease was related to the high saturated fat, and decrease in fresh vegetables and seafood, typical of the American diet. However, upon closer examination, it was determined that the greatest cause of the increase in heart disease was due to the decrease in cultural connections. Their “relationships” eroded and created symptoms in the “Body” dimension.

Now let’s take this a step further; we all know that good nutrition nurtures us. But do we know that a hallmark of stress physiology produced by the lower brain adversely affects our digestion. Since blood flow and energy is directed away from the digestive system, so that the lower brain can use that blood and energy to promote survival behaviors, the digestive system is severely compromised. So what happens to our organic foods and high-priced high-quality supplements? Since the digestive system is compromised the ability to assimilate the nutritional benefits of high quality foods and supplements is also compromised. If we consider our lives in four dimensions perhaps the lower brain stress response is accentuated due to the constant sense of hopelessness we feel in the upper left dimension, and perhaps this hopelessness is related to the dead-end job we feel stuck in, in the lower right dimension.

In this scenario, simply improving the quality of our food and supplements may not have much impact until we change the dead-end job, which upgrades the quality of our thoughts, which down-regulates the stress being produced by the lower brain in the upper right dimension.

Growth in any dimension can be slowed or completely stopped by an imbalance (conscious or unconscious) in any other dimension. As you progress through the 9 Summits you will liberate all four dimensions so your continued growth and evolution is not sabotaged by an imbalance hiding in any of your four dimensions.

Due to the evolutionary conundrum of the human brain and its lower survival based grip, it plays a key role in the state of all your life dimensions. All four dimensions are irreducible but not all techniques are equivalent on their impact in any particular dimension. The large magnitude of power shifting from lower brain to higher brain in the upper right dimensions creates the ‘space’ for dramatic life changes.

SCM leverages your higher brain awakenings to increase awareness to all four dimensions of your life and locate the precise ways so that more growth can occur in those four dimensions.

Does the lower brain have its grip on your life? Do any of these areas hold you back: your career, relationships, environment, thoughts, behaviors, self-confidence, health, energy levels? If so, these stuck areas must change if you are to free up the energy needed for your growth and evolution towards higher consciousness. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “When you’re starving God can only appear to you as bread.” Gandhi understood that it was very difficult to be spiritually realized if you couldn’t put food on your table. What Gandhi aptly saw was that you have to rise up and fulfill basic survival needs before you can be spiritually fulfilled. During times of starvation all of our energy resources go to the part of our brain designed for survival first and foremost...not finding God.

Through most of humanity’s two million years on planet earth we have routinely faced starvation and predators, and the lower brain has locked in and habituated automatic unconscious survival strategies, no matter what the environment. However, these unconscious lower brain strategies are currently playing out in the lives of us moderns in new ways. Most of us are not literally starving (at least probably not those reading this book), but we are ‘starving’ in other areas of our life. Ironically the mis-match between the lower brain survival strategies and the demands and complexity of the modern world is what is creating this starvation in other areas of life.

For many of us moderns we have conquered the first level basic human needs (freedom from predators, ample food, available shelter etc.) that the lower brain’s perceptions and behaviors were required for. It seems, however, that conquering these very basic human needs did NOT coincide with an equivalent reduction in lower brain unconscious dominance, probably because it has been locked in for so long in an hostile environment.

In other words, the modern world has changed dramatically and so has the human brain (evolution of the new brain structures) but the old lower brain has not loosened its grip enough for the new high brain to create radically new perceptions and behaviors. Instead, the lower primitive brain continues its influence in all areas of modern life, leading to unfulfilled relationships, careers, inner experience, health, finances, etc. This creates self-referential feedback loops between our lower brains, and the lower brain-created areas of our life, both reinforcing one another. We must now break the cycle and destabilize the feedback loop between the lower brain and the unfulfilled areas of our life.

I am insisting that we must free up the energy (habituated by the lower primitive stress brain) in the major areas of our lives if we hope to evolve and lead a deeply spiritual, fully awakened and meaningful life. If we don’t free up these areas of our lives we won’t have the energy resources available to create a ‘fiercely authentic life’ and we won’t become the solution to the changes we wish to see in the world.

The really exciting part of the process is that as you are developing the ability to turn on your Higher Brain through SCM, like flipping the switch on a turbo charger, you can transform anything in any dimension of your life.

Can you imagine how powerful it would be for your healing, well-being or growth, if you were to increase your awareness to know how all these four dimensions were playing out in your life? And imagine if your 4D imbalances were brought out of the shadows and you had the resources immediately available to create rapid change in those imbalances? Through SCM and the 9 Summits of Transformation that’s exactly what you will do.

The whole of these four dimensions of your life is greater than the sum of their parts. When you turn on the Higher Brain and engage all four dimensions, your life transformations are out of proportion to the amount of time and energy invested. This is Quantum change! The fastest way to a new life is to turn on the Higher Brain and address all four dimensions.

Promoting evolution in 4D creates a non-linear dynamic.
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 100!

Turn on the higher brain and engage
Mind + Body + Relationships + Environment = Extraordinary new life!

The 9 Summits of Transformation have a revolutionary method that helps you to quickly identify imbalances in the four dimensions of your life that may be holding you back from creating abundance. Once these imbalances are located, the 9 Summits of Transformation introduce ‘The Life Codes’ which connect your goals and passions directly to that feeling of well-being, flow and confidence produced through the awakening of your higher brain. This creates an advanced brain/mind state that is contextualized towards the changes you wish to make.

You will learn to approach life from the energized higher brain and quickly and immediately change any problematic area of your life. You will be able to approach and act on your goals and passions from an internal sense of empowerment. Through these techniques you CAN create the life of your dreams.

Soon all you will have to do is think of your goals or objectives and the higher brain/mind state needed to actually make those changes will awaken. You will be capable of connecting the feeling of well-being and invincibility (the one you remembered earlier) with the specific goals and outcomes you desire in your life. In time, all you will have to do is think about those outcomes and your higher brain will be activated.

Your goals and passions will no longer be just fleeting ideas, but will become embodied. Your higher brain will help sustain your thoughts and convert them to action. How different would life be if just thinking about your passions or goals produced an internal feeling that you could take on the world and nothing could stop you? You will change your brain in the way needed to drive that empowered feeling into empowered sustainable action.

As you begin making positive changes in the four dimensions of your life, your Higher Brain connection will deepen! The positive changes that you make in your Mind, Body, Relationships, and Environment act as a catalyzing agent to further your Higher Brain connection and help you advance faster! Conversely, failing to use and act upon your 4D world through the Higher Brain connection will flat-line your response.

You are learning to awaken your higher brain function to use it and when you do you are rewarded with new and deeper higher brain potentials that can be used to promote higher new levels of your evolution in all dimensions. This creates an endless upward spiral of Higher Brain response leading to positive life changes which further promotes a deeper and more powerful Higher Brain, response that can be used to advance your life in higher ways, with ever increasing depth and evolution as you follow the upward spiraling 9 Summits throughout the course of your lifetime.