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Lexi Neale studied in 1966-1969, B.Sc. Zoology and Psychology, London University. In 1972 he met his Master, Prem Rawat, in India. He is still with him doing Integral Practice. As an Enlightenment Master, Prem Rawat teaches a time-honored Integral Practice that he calls Knowledge of the Self – as in Know the Knower. It involves deep absorption meditation practice (First Person), listening to guidance from the Master (Second Person), and participating in service (Third Person). Lexi Neale is affiliated with The Prem Rawat Foundation, an award winning charity providing aid for the relief of human suffering. Contact tprf.org and wordsofpeaceglobal.org (wopg.org), and [email protected].

A Call To
Second Tier

An open letter to the
Integral Scholars community

Lexi Neale

Integral Scholar friends,

I have an essay posted on Integral World titled "The AQAL Cube, A Second Tier Differentiation Of Ken Wilber's AQAL Square".

The essay is dedicated to you, the practitioners of Integral Theory, wherein I make the case that Integral Theory as currently practiced is from a material First Tier perspective, as per the AQAL Square; and that when Integral Theory transcends/includes to a non-material Second Tier perspective, the Integral Model will unfold a Bigger Picture as embraced by the AQAL Cube. The AQAL Cube makes the differentiation of AQAL material phenomena from AQAL non-material phenomena, where this differentiation is consciously achieved in Second Tier. In other scientific camps true Second Tier Consciousness research is going full throttle, notably with Marilyn Schlitz at the Noetics Institute, with Lynne McTaggart's Intention Experiment, and with the Global Consciousness Project, where Second Tier subjects are demonstrating non-local causes and effects of Consciousness. They have no Integral Model to work with as yet, because the Integral Research Center has none to provide them with - at least, not yet.

I make the case that the absence of the AQAL Cube in Integral Theory is a testament to the absence of a Second Tier perspective in Integral Theory and Practice. In other words, if the Integral Model is to evolve, as it must, it is time for us to evolve as practitioners. First Tier awareness at around Green-Teal is easily able to visualize Second and even Third Tier perspectives and phenomena, but nevertheless from a First Tier imagination. This is a far cry from actually experiencing and mapping phenomena from a Second Tier perspective. Integral Theory will only become truly Integral when its practitioners are coming from Blue(Turquoise)-Indigo. So this essay is a call for the Integral Academia to embrace Second Tier and move consciously into Consciousness research.

I make the case that Ken, as a Second Tier practitioner, has already started this process, in that his “Eight Primordial Perspectives” ARE the 8 perspectives of the Third Person AQAL Cube. However, it takes a First Person to take Second Person and Third Person perspectives; and it similarly takes 8 First Person Perspectives to take 8 Second and 8 Third Person perspectives. Hence I make the case that there is also one AQAL Cube per Person - the Integral Model therefore being All-Persons through All-Quadrants and All-Levels, or AP-AQAL.

I make the case that Second Tier awareness differentiates First Person AQAL Consciousness (as non-local, non-material awareness) from First Person AQAL Mind (as local, material awareness). The First Person AQAL Cube models both AQAL Consciousness and AQAL Mind as co-evolving, which the AQAL Square as a First Tier model is incapable of doing.

I make the case that the latest Quantum Consciousness research is supporting the idea that a quantum experiential unit of local Mind results from a corresponding wave-collapse of non-local Consciousness; and that a non-local intention of Consciousness can therefore manifest as a corresponding local behavior through Mind. The First Person AQAL Cube model therefore unifies the rift between the Bohr and Penrose interpretations. 

I make the case that all the data of current Integral Research, as interpreted and evaluated from a First Tier perspective, can be re-evaluated from a Second Tier perspective on the AQAL Cube. But this is predicated on our willingness to shift from a "presumed Integral" awareness in Green-Teal to an actual Integral awareness in Blue-Indigo.

I make the case that the AQAL Cube meta-theory of the Second Tier relationship between AQAL Mind and AQAL Consciousness will completely transform Integral Theory into the TOE it should be, rather than the Jack-Of-Everything is is now. The re-evaluation of existing data can begin now, by those with the courage and integrity to make that step. 

As a starter, I invite you to look up the Appendix of the essay, and see if you can identify which perspective(s) of the First, Second and Third Person AQAL Cubes pertain to your field of practice. 

I invite your response and your comments both here in this forum and to my email - [email protected]