The Integral Awakening Process

by Jonathan Gustin

Integral awakening means living as the totality of what you are.   This holistic awakening unfolds in our lives through a two-step process. The first step to becoming a whole person is to recognize that the self is composed of multiple layers: body, nature, ego, soul, and spirit.  The second step is to embody these particular aspects of self by living them thoroughly: 

a) Physical embodiment is the experience of increased intimacy and identification with body and earth 

b) Ego embodiment is the harmonious integration of the personalities “voices” 

c) Soul embodiment is the recognition of your soul’s true calling 

d) Spiritual embodiment is the experience of spiritual or “non-dual” awakening

The Integral Awakening Process (IAP) is a facilitated group dialogue that allows one to experience a taste of living as a whole human being.  Through entering a dialogue with the different “voices” of the self, participants experience both recognition of the multiple dimensions of self, and a taste of embodiment of these layers of being.

DIALOGUES WITH THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF SELF:

Body/Nature – Part of becoming whole is recognizing that consciousness has become incarnate.  We can experience what consciousness feels like when it takes a physical form (unless we remain locked in our minds.) We can also have a felt experience that the body boundary does not end with the edges of one’s own skin.  We can come to know that the whole earth is literally our own body.  In the IAP, we dialogue with the voices of body/nature such as: physical pleasure, sensuousness, and wild earth.  This dialogue helps us to experience our inheritance as fully incarnate physical beings – spiritual beings on an earth journey.

Ego Integration – There are multiple voices that comprise the ego.  There are voices such as the Protector/Controller and Fear/Anger, which act as guardians, keeping our lives (relatively) safe and comfortable.  We also have more adventuresome voices, such as the Innocent Child, the Seeker, and the Adventurer.  There are also paired voices such as the voices of Gullibility and the Skeptic.   The essential question is, “Are these multiple voices living in harmony?”  Through the IAP a reconciliation and reunion is achieved amongst the many voices of the egoic self.  As each voice is explored and honored through the dialogue process, it becomes easier for the voices to integrate and thus function more happily and harmoniously.

Soul Embodiment – To become a whole person we must reach deep into ourselves to the very center of our being.  There we can find the shape of our own unique soul.  In his book Soulcraft, author Bill Plotkin writes, “Discovering what is truly yours is the journey of the soul.  By soul I mean: the deepest core of your human nature, the reason spirit has taken shape as you, and the essence of your specific life purpose.”  Soul embodiment means that we clearly recognize our specific life purpose and that we are living it!  In the IAP, we dialogue with several of the voices of soul, including: Core Knowledge, Core Values, and Core Abilities.  The result of soul embodiment is a soul infused, soul textured, and soul-rooted life that enables us to live a life of joyous service.

Spiritual Realization – The mind is dualistic in nature, meaning it perceives things as inherently separate.  Living exclusively in the sense of a separate self impedes spontaneity because we are not responding from wholeness.  We loose some of the richness in our lives when we live only from the ego.  Spiritual realization can restore full spontaneity by transcending (yet including) the sense of a separate self.  IAP facilitates this awakening to the transcendent dimension through dialogue with: Awakened Mind, Zen Mind, Big Mind, Timeless Mind and Enlightened Mind.

Integration – Like muscles that atrophy from disuse, whole dimensions of our being languish from lack of exercise.  The IAP is exercise for your whole being.  Through dialoguing with the voices of self, we begin the process of embodiment.  IAP, is integral because it includes all essential elements of human existence: body/nature, ego, soul, and spirit.  If we want to experience life as a whole human being, we must embody what we are.  IAP is an awakening process because it seeks to call forth our latent potentialities into full awareness.  The purpose of IAP (and perhaps life in general) is to awaken to our full potential and joyously serve the world as a soul infused, spiritually realized human being.