Meeting Ken

The call from Brian some 10 days ago now was one I'll never forget - "wanna come and hang with  Ken?" he said (well, sorta - what he actually said I don't remember, just like any other actual words from the conversation, but you get the idea!  I'll also remember that call because it was the first time I ever chatted with Christiana, just before B dropped his KW thing!  She is as smart, fun and just 'there' as I'd known her from her blogs and email.  Wow.).  I had to actually check with him once or twice to be sure I heard him correctly - I'm kinda slow in accepting that such things happen to moi.  But it was - and I was immediately both hugely elated and nervous.

Some 10 Years after being grabbed by Ken Wilber's bald head and penetrating stare on the cover of 'A Brief History of Everything,'  and being never quite the same after reading that (not since about 10 years before that reading Peter Singer's Animal Liberation had I been so affected by a book - Singer is with KW my activist/philosopher/hero of this age), I was going to have the chance to meet the white morpheus himself. 

I was actually quite excited about another meeting - with Brian and Aaron, the Philosopher and the Wizard of Zaadz.  In my three months at Zaadz, I knew them only through phone, msging, email and blogging. I was relieved to learn I would meet them both the day before the meeting. Needless to say, it just a fricking good time hanging with them!  I learned alot in our time together, as I have since working with them at Zaadz, and forever grateful. Thanks for everything guys!

So four days after the call Aaron, Brian and I are driving from Boulder to Denver for the meeting at Ken's loft, and I'm more anxious than I've been in months, maybe years.  I used to get a fair amount of panic attacks, until I stopped my, uh, drinking habit and started at least some healthy habits (some yoga here, running there, that sorta thing) and though this was not so bad, relatively speaking, this was not a good sign. It was compounded by exhaustion due to all the events and chronic insomnia catching up to me (I was really rather out of it the entire trip, big time sleep deficit!).  Aaron and Brian were both a big help here.  They helped me transform this energy somewhat by guiding me through a practice that was so simple yet so effective.  It essence it was: Ryan you know what you are trying to do here with Zaadz, you know you are going to it, so be that person who has done it. Of course I heard, read, even practiced similar techniques before,  but never when I most needed them  - and this was one of those moments.  Ok it was not a 180 degree turn, but I was much better, and I knew I would not have a full-blown panic attack, which was before a real possibility.

Fast-forward to the loft! Walking in, I first noticed the amount of folks there - around 10 - this was going to be a big meeting!  Next was the buddha statue to my right next to the door. This helped with my anxiety too - my practice is buddhist, and buddha statues are always very grounding to me . I paused a moment and centered.  There was also a smaller Kuan Yin (?) statue a bit further away - that too was cool, as Kuan Yin (Avalokiteshvara), the Bodhisattva of compassion, is popular inPure Land Buddhism, which my girlfriend practices. The loft itself was of course big, open etc.

 After introductions to the Integral Institute staff and others  - like Casey, Rollie and Jay Micheal - we start to take our places for the meeting.  Someone lightly touches my shoulder as I'm a bit in the way of his seat - it's KW!  He's as tall and buff as I'd seen from the pictures.  wow.  So we take our places and the meeting begins.  B kindly introduces me as the creator of the tag cloud that Ken seems to like. In fact, Aaron created the software for all our clouds, I just adapted it to create that specifc page.  Still, i was not going to complain.

From early on, it was apparent this would be pretty much a Brian and Ken show.  A spoke up from time to time when appropriate with insight, and he and Brian have this very interesteding mind-meld thing going on, and some others from II contributed, but 90% was K&B.  Very cool to see these two in action!  Ken's (in)famously hight degree of cognitive development and unique brand of humor was present through out, and was well matched for B's passion, energy and vision.  Ken would challenge Brian from time to time - and Brian was up for it, every time.  Brian made clear to everyone what was just obvious to all of us from Zaadz from day one: Zaadz can and would/is helping II, and II can and would/is helping us. It was already happening, and would happen more and more, but we could do so much more if partnered!  So what did Ken think? As Brian said : "He liked it. So, we’re working together."   Wow.  Amazing.

After the meeting  I had some great chats with Rollie (though in Boulder now, comes from my home,  Calgary!!), Casey (I'm so looking forward to working with, if possible!) and even practiced my french with Rebecca. 

Notice I did not say anything about how I went head to head with Ken.  It was't quite what happened when Freud met Jung, but hey, I'm happy with hug(!) I got at the end  Actually that almost did not happen - KW reached to hug and it crossed my mind that hey, maybe he is not meaning to hug me but Aaron over there, after all, i did not even say so much as a word to him, so...i sorta stepped out of the way. After a some chuckles and embarrassment on my end, Ken was cool and I got not one, but two hugs.   :) 

The next morning I met Matt and Ayako - damn that was fun!  Matt, as I knew from his blogs and phone conversations, is damn funny,  deep and compassionate. Ayako matches that depth and compassion,  with a rare gentleness that is itself beatiful.  I always knew Matt would be working with us sooner or later, it was just a matter of timing and how, so it was very cool when B&A offered him a full time position.  Welcome again Matt!

Also met with more cool folks from II like Nomali (she has a great story about how she came to be at II!) and Duff, who has really inspired me to get serious with my Integral Life Practice.

So that's my trip to Boulder and meeting with Ken!  I'll be sure to blog about the next one too, which will hopefully actually have a me talking with K!