INTEGRAL WORLD MAILING LIST http://www.integralworld.net Newsletter Nr. 599 Amsterdam, January 30th, 2015 VIEWS FROM FLATLAND - What is a Theory? - B. MAY As a former experimental high-energy particle physicist, I've found that the insights, methodologies, and tools (as well as the limitations) of science and modern physics inform my views of life, the universe, and everything—including theories of everything (TOEs), grand unified theories (GUTs), and the never-ending search for holy grails of one form or another. Born and bred in scientific “flatland”, I'd like to share a variety of flatland-inspired views in a series of essays. While these views are my own and various interpretations are possible and valid, I will highlight aspects which might challenge particular claims of Ken Wilber's Integral Theory as well as the broader goal of a final and complete theory of everything. In this essay, I endeavor to distinguish “scientific theories” from other kinds of theories, explanations, and attributions for the vast mysteries that surround us, while also demonstrating that scientific theories evolve as new discoveries and new ideas come “online” in human consciousness. In the process, I hope to pay homage to Einstein and his general relativity. Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/may1.html THE KEY IS ALWAYS ALREADY HERE - To Unlocking Your True Human Potential - BRAD REYNOLDS Every year we see more and more examples of philosophers and psychologists, many of them now aligned with an “integral” point of view (usually with Ken Wilber's Integral Theory in general, if not specifics), who want to teach us how to become better people, to reach our higher potential, to activate our “unique self” (Gafni), to “unlock our quantum potential” (Houston), to realize what we are born to do, to become more successful, to meditate better, to even become “superhuman” (as one of Wilber's recent programs proclaims). In other words, to become better than we already are. But where is it written in the sacred literature of the world that we can't simply be happy right now where we always are, as you already are? In fact, this is the real secret of happiness: Be Happy NOW! It's only by living from your position of always already Happiness that you can best improve your failings as a self, uncover your shadows, improve your lot in life, not by seeking to improve yourself through methods and techniques of self-improvement. That's like picking yourself up by your own bootstraps. Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/reynolds2.html