Gaia Community: Ryan's Blog

What Kind of Thinker Am I?

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:07:20 -0000

Siona pointed me to yet another fun internet quiz from the Beeb - What is Kind of Thinker are You (one of many on the BBC). This quiz gets extra points for simply being associated with Leonardo Da Vinci - 'Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man", a man whose seemingly infinite curiosity was equalled only by his powers of invention. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.' I think he may have been amongst the most compassionate - he was also a vegetarian (possibly even a vegan), and would set birds free from there cages.

Back to the quiz. I'm not at all surprised at the result!

Existential thinkers:

Like to spend time thinking about philosophical issues such as "What is the meaning of life?"
Try to see beyond the 'here and now', and understand deeper meanings
Consider moral and ethical implications of problems as well as practical solutions

Like existential thinkers, Leonardo questioned man's role in the universe. Many of his paintings explored the relationship between man and God. Other Existential Thinkers include
The Buddha, Gandhi, Plato, Socrates, Martin Luther King

Careers which suit Existential Thinkers include
Philosopher, Religious leader, Head of state, Artist, Writer

I admire greatly each of the Existential Thinkers they list - all worthy. But hey if you are going to use the word existential, I think a including Kierkegard, Nietzsche or Sartre would have been nice :)

My Gaia Team Intro!

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:31:01 -0000

A new name for the community means an new introduction :)

Name and Title
Ryan Gendron - Gaia Title is Earthling and Team Title is Digital something (can't recall !) - I think they both need a changing soon.

What's your role at Gaia Community?
Working behind the scenes with a most amazing team building Gaia. Member too, of course I've had other roles, and perhaps will again.

What do you most enjoy doing (or what are your greatest passions)?
Finding the emptiness and the fullness of every moment. Watching Seinfeld too :)

What's your favorite thing about our community?
I'm resorting to quick storm of tags for this one! Spirit, depth, fun, fluffiness, arete, challenge, embracing, love, authenticity, values, people, sincerity, mudita, vision.

What do you love about working here?
In a nutshell, the Team and Intention. They also pay for my Blackberry!

Check out the rest of the Gaia Team!

Five Favorite Dharma Books

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:36:50 -0000

~C4Chaos has tagged me give my five fave dharma books.

Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chogyam Trungpa
Empty Cloud: The Teachings of Xu Yun by Jy Din Sakya
Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen
The Essence of Buddhism by Traleg Kyabgon
Hardcore Zen by Brad Warner

And I tag...

Brian David @ Zaadz
Chef Mystic @ Zaadz
Scott @ Zaadz
David @ Zaadz
Mu @ Zaadz

What Tarot Card Are You

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 07:55:33 -0000

Thanx to ~C4Chaos, I'll meet my blog a week I promised myself this year after all!

You are The Fool

Idea, thought, spirituality, that which endeavours to rise above the material.

The Fool is the card of infinite possibilities. The bag on the staff indicates that he has all he need to do or be anything he wants, he has only to stop and unpack. He is on his way to a brand new beginning. But the card carries a little bark of warning as well. Stop daydreaming and fantasising and watch your step, lest you fall and end up looking the fool.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Five things people don't know about me

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 21:49:05 -0000

Thanks to Brian tagging me, I'm going to have to blog again - about time anyway ;)

I don't have my driver's liscence. Easy way to help keep my carbon footprint down, tough when I would like to go the mountains!
I dropped out of school three times! Cooking at a technical school, philsophy at uni, and computer technology at college. Never finished any of 'em.
One of my favourite past times is siamese chess (also known as bughouse), which involves 2 chess boards, 4 players and often beer. It's also going to take up my entire afternoon this sunday (first , and i imagine last, time of 2006).
In my teens, I was a huge fan of Madonna. I had loads of cds, lps, posters, vhs tapes, fan mags and so on. In my early twenties I decided I was, well, attached and cut the ties. I'm glad this was after I was able to see her in Germany.
Unlike ~C4, I'm not only shy in person I'm fairly shy online, which partly why I have not blogged in so long. Considering not being shy on occassion has brought me good things - like this job here at Zaadz :) - it's something I'm committed to working on this coming year...

I'll tag....
Yuri
Scott
Lightbeing
Brondu
Sol

The Meatrix II: Revolting

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 09:55:28 -0000

The anti factory farming sequel to the first kickass Meatrix is out. Not exactly pro-vegan (alas), but nonetheless it would be cool to see this make the rounds as the first one did...

Meeting Ken

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 08:34:33 -0000

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!

Newly uncovered early Matrix script!

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 08:50:40 -0000

I recently came came across a super-secret early version of the Matrix script! Here is a bit from scene 45 an 46

Neo: In this version, Neo is a newly awakened Zaadzster

Neo : Zaadz?
Tank: If the war was over tomorrow, Zaadz is where the party would be.
Neo: It's a seed?
Tank: The last human hope. The only place we have left.
Neo: Where is it?
Tank: Deep undernerth, near the spirit's core where it's still warm. Live long enough you might even realize it. God-damn, I...I got to tell you, I'm fairly excited to see what you're capable of, if Brian is right and all...I'm not supposed to talk about this, but if you are...a very exciting time. We got a lot to do. We got to get to it.... Now, we're supposed to start with these operation programs first, that's a major boring shit. Let's do something more fun. How about integral training.
Neo: Arete? I'm going to learn Arete?... Holy shit.

INT. Neo is plugged in...

Tank: Hey Mikey, I think he likes it. How about some more?
Neo: Hell yes. Hell yeah.

Wow. Now it all makes sense! Except I don't think they did the Architect justice...

Ishgur's Guide To Electronic Music

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 08:34:29 -0000

Via RobotWisdon (thanks Jerome for that reference) I found my way to Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music. If you are at all curious, it's worth the click - and the listen.

Subscriptions & Feeds!

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 19:28:36 -0000

Last night we released a new feature on Zaadz - the beginnings of our Subscriptions & Feeds tools, for monitoring new content on Zaadz. This is accessable under the Home tab of your home page, to the right of the "Profile" link.

With Subscriptions, you can set up your account to have notification of new comments on your blog, photos and goals emailed to you as they happen or daily. You can do the same for blogs, photos and goals that you have commented on previously. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed, and see view all these comments together on one page.

This is just the beginning, of course! We'll add subscriptions and feeds for virtually all our content, not just comments. Want to be notified of all new blog posts tagged 'integral'? It will happen! What to be notified all new users who include the matrix as a favourite movie and are vegan? It will happen! Want to be notified of all things related to yoga in your city? It will happen!

Speaking of tags, keep watch of Aaron's blog for his Tagging Madness project!

If anyone has any thoughts or requests on this, let me know! I am here to serve!

Namaste!
Ryan

Vat Grown Meat and the Natural/Unnatural Duality

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 09:28:18 -0000

By almost all definitions, I am an environmentalist. I am vegan, I recycle, I don't drive, I rarely fly, I won't reproduce, I take my own dishes for take out - you know the story. Yet there is one thing I have noticed that I don't share with many other environmentalists - a fairly strict definition between what is natural and what is not, and then a bias in favour of things deemed "natural". For example, some environmentalists (and animal rights activists) are aghast at the prospects of "vat-grown meat" as being unnatural and 'against' 'nature'. But it's coming, perhaps in the the next decade. In fact, there is an interesting group working hard to develop this right now:

New Harvest is a nonprofit research organization working to develop new meat substitutes, including cultured meat — meat produced in vitro, in a cell culture, rather than from an animal.

Because meat substitutes are produced under controlled conditions impossible to maintain in traditional animal farms, they can be safer, more nutritious, less polluting, and more humane than conventional meat.

For the reasons stated in that last sentence, I've always supported the concept of this not so science-fictiony-anymore-idea. There might be some GMO concerns, but for me the risks will likely be handled and ultimately pale in comparison to the potential relief of suffering to non-human animals. Vat Grown meat is quite honestly the greatest hope for animal rights activists over the next 20 years! If it becomes affordable, better for the environment and just as healthy and tasty, the average consumer might be disgusted at first but like so many things will come to see as the norm in a matter of a decade or less. As real meat consumption goes down, so will the need to defend this part or our society, of our ego. In it's place will come more empathy and compassion, for all animals.

Is it unnatural? Yes and no and neither. Yes, in the traditional sense of natural being of non-human origin or non-technological (something like that) - but who cares? How is that morally relavent? It's something to be considered, of course, but it's no trump against anything. This is about compassion. And no it's not unnatural , because everything is 'natural' depending on your point of view. Is talking natural? Is wearing clothes? Drinking milk? Making music? Using an Ipod? Where do you draw the line? That leads to the next - it's neither. The natural/unnatural distinction is another duality that has no essence in itself but we mistake as something with inherant meaning, become identified with, and thus need to defend (both the distinction itself and the the 'good' half of that ...).

Incidently, there was a discussion/debate I participated in on this some months back in a vegan forum where common concerns are raised against vat grown meat. Check it out if you are interested.

Ryan

"There Are No Others"

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 10:42:50 -0000

~ Ramana Maharshi

The Laughter of a Soul Waking Up

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 23:38:10 -0000

Matt had a wonderful post on Laughter as Spiritual Practice - yesterday my friend Steve pointed out that the Sufis are very big on that too. I just discovered that a fa vourite quote is actually from a larger piece by the sufi poet Hafiz. Enjoy :)

The quote:

What is this precious love and laughter
Budding in our hearts?
It is the glorious sound
Of a soul waking up!

The poem, found here:

Laughter

What is laughter? What is laughter?
It is God waking up! O it is God waking up!
It is the sun poking its sweet head out
From behind a cloud
You have been carrying too long,
Veiling your eyes and heart.

It is Light breaking ground for a great Structure
That is your Real body - called Truth.

It is happiness applauding itself and then taking flight
To embrace everyone and everything in this world.

Laughter is the polestar
Held in the sky by our Beloved,
Who eternally says,

"Yes, dear ones, come this way,
Come this way towards Me and Love!

Come with your tender mouths moving
And your beautiful tongues conducting songs
And with your movements - your magic movements
Of hands and feet and glands and cells - Dancing!

Know that to God's Eye,
All movement is a Wondrous Language,
And Music - such exquisite, wild Music!"

O what is laughter, Hafiz?
What is this precious love and laughter
Budding in our hearts?

It is the glorious sound
Of a soul waking up!

~ Hafiz ~

Sex, Drugs, Einstein, & Elves

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 22:33:41 -0000

Interesting title, isn't it? Not surprising given that it's the title of Clifford A. Pickover's latest. If you like his Reality Carnival blog, you'll love this book (my coolest present this year, from my bro). What is about? From the website:

Pickover illuminates some of the most mysterious phenomena affecting our species. What is creativity? Does language shape thought? Do beings inhabit drug-induced realities? What are hallucinogenic worms? Where are Einstein's brain and eyes? What can we learn from Thomas Jefferson's decimated Bible, epileptic religious states, uncommon psychiatric disorders, Lucia Joyce, Warner Sallman's Head of Christ, shamanist Terence McKenna, and the humming toadfish, whose incessant underwater droning at a perfect A-flat was a mystery for years.

Although the book is indeed full of mighty interesting stuff for the curious - I could easily blog twice for every chapter - for me the most interesting part is the "uncommon psychiatric disorders" (some of which are actually fairly common in schizophrenia) - which I've always found fascinating. He has a really cool bit on Charles Bonnet Syndrome - where afflicted people report seeing beings from a parallel reality or something, like elves, yet are otherwise normal. You can read his take on it here. I'll certainly have more to say on this book and on these psychiatric disorders (I'll quickly recommend this to the already interested) in the coming weeks :)

Greetings fellow Earthlings ( Vegans too )

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 03:03:48 -0000

Living the dream here at Zaadz!

Well, the job part anyway, and even that's not quite accurate, as not only do I not think of this as a job, I just don't partition my life like that too much. The job is a fine concept to grasp, a very useful tool and all , but misleading at the same time - is that not like everything in this relative world of ours? All words and concepts just slice & dice 'reality' in ways for us (or at least me)...

One concept I find useful is gratitude, which I do have - for this moment, for my karma...and to Brian and Aaron for inviting me onto the team here at Zaadz :) I'm honored to here and am having a blast.   The team is the best. Full of compassion and passion as a fave blogger of mine would say. Lots of vegans and folks down with things integral - too cool.

And so a big thank-you to all of you are taking the time to sign-up, play around, give feedback and help us build our community, even in this sorta 'pre-beta' stage. A special thanks to all you bloggers out there who have been spreading the love and sowing the seed.   We are paying attention.

Back to the job: I do web dev (among other things - we are all here because we share the vision and are participating in many ways) here and if you have any ideas, throw 'em my way! Or at Aaron (who is responsible for 99% of the dev here thus far. He is a Wizard indeed.).   Let me know what cool features you would like here, and I'll see what I can do. Seriously. There must be things you would like to see - sure it might be coming but let us know anyway. Can we use tags more effectively? What else would you like to see in the profile? Are there features on other sites like Tribe or MySpace you really miss here? Have an idea about how Google Maps can be integrated? Feeds? Instant Messaging? Are you an artist?entrepreneur?activist?musician?mother? -what would make this more useful to you?

loving-kindness to all you Zaadzters,

Ryan