Trusting Desire: A Contemporary Living Spirituality that Encourages Creativity, Diversity, and Experimentation

I recently presented at the 2015 Integral Theory Conference. It was an amazing gathering, and I had a lot of fun presenting. Visit the site to get access to all of the papers for free and to audio and video recordings of the presentations for a fee. 

My paper was called "Trusting Desire."  It was motivated by a desire to transform people's views about spiritual practice into something contemporary, emergent, and alive. Take a look and let me know how you think I did.

Abstract: In this paper I outline a trans-lineage spirituality rooted in our intrinsic and discovered desires. I begin with a critique of Buddhism and then draw on insights from Saniel Bonder's work developing the contemporary awakening school Waking Down in Mutuality, Bonnitta Roy's Process Model of Integral Theory, Bruce Alderman's and A.H. Almaas's recent trans-lineage reconsiderations of ontology and soteriology respectively, process philosopher Eugene Gendlin to respond to the needs of those overwhelmed and paralyzed by hyper complexity and uncertainty. This living spirituality begins with a life- and desire-positive worldview and develops ever increasing trust, creativity, and dynamism in the midst of, in fact empowered by, this radical uncertainty. Grounding ethics in both the unavoidability and justifiability of trusting our intrinsic desires, I offer an alternative to "engaged" Buddhisms that are still based on world-renouncing ascetical ethics and authoritarian structures. My overall intent is to help spiritual practitioners get out of their own ways, operate in god faith with their own basic goodness, and act creatively to generate a more and more beautiful, diverse, and flourishing world.