Don't Look Down - Can you see the Integral in Urban Free Climbing? Pt 2

Don't Look Down - Can you see the Integral in Urban Free Climbing? Pt 2

Don't Look Down - Can you see the Integral in Urban Free Climbing? Pt 2

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In trying to work out some of the possible levels they were experiencing I have been thinking about the possible stages they are displaying in the programme, clearly going beyond Mythic and into Rational, but is it a healthy Rational? Are there some aspects of how their translation has taken place that have not made this a healthy transition. Is that because of the lack of initiatory processes for young men and so the processes they choose for themselves are rejected as being inadequate or inappropriate. Therefore there is no acceptance of their initiation into the higher levels of growth. Is there aspects of the Green/Pluralistic in there, which if you take Martin Ucik's view in Integral Relationships, a Manual for Men, then they are more likely at the Green stage to be wanting to be in nature more and connect with their emotions. Are we seeing this is a partly extreme masculine way, that embrace of death, but in a style where they need be be feeling the earth/the world/nature in as much as they can from the urban settings.

But if they are truly being able to hit both of those masculine and feminine aspects together, can we consider them to have crossed over into a Teal/Integral level already, is that where the highest capacity of this lies or are we really dealing with pre/trans fallacy where it's a Green/Pluralistic level with traces of Red/Magic level tribal/warrior behaviour? I think the only  way to really know is to talk to those involved and see where they are coming from, something that I would be very keen to do.

One of the other aspects of the programme that was awakened for me, is the idea that there could be considerable shadow projection taking place both within those who climb, around any issues of fitting in, being acceptable, right to exist, being rejected etc, but also within us as the observers around fears of death, pioneers, those prepared to break the rules, being unconventional, adventurous, brave, daring etc, there are a number of possibilities. 

The key to checking if its your shadow being triggered by their any behaviour is to look at how strongly you are being affected by what someone else is doing as opposed to just being informed by it. You can find out more about the Shadow work in the previous post Emotional Allergy: The Shadow self we are repulsed by or if you really want to get into it you can check out the workshop in this running in March 2014 Reclaiming your Shadow

I certainly think there is a a degree of both, although my instinct suggests there is more projection going on for those of us watching. There will be Shadow elements for all people so whether or not its the Shadow elements that are having a significant impact on driving this behaviour, we could only find out from deeper discussions with James and the other climbers.

I was really impressed with how many questions were triggered for me by this one programme. The very act of being up so high, hanging in the air and finding a deep sense of achievement/freedom in that act, also seeing that for James there was a certain degree of cultural disaffection, raised the question of their being grounding and/or base chakra issues.

Typically in my working practice if I see people who have issues around stability, security, acceptance from the collective, self confidence etc, those are often found to have links to disturbance in the ability for the individual to feel grounded and centred. There can often be aspects of 'tribal' disturbance at and early age, a parent leaving, some form of movement trauma i.e. moving around a lot as in armed forces children, significant uncertainty in parents financial state during the child's infancy etc. This could lead through to experiences of feeling like you don't fit in, not being settled, not being accepted by the group or tribe, being unworthy etc. And these in turn could lead to an array of outcomes, one of which would be to prove yourself and find and group who value you for what you have achieved.

Reflections of that can be seen in other parts of youth culture such as drinking, vandalism, the gaining of ASBO's etc, most of which I believe come about through a misunderstanding of developmental lines and levels and the transitions that need to be gone through for each stage development and of the adult generation not having enough capacity for growth to understand that the youth of today will go through their developmental stages much faster than we did, as more structures are available now and the volume of people at the higher stages is changing as we continue to push for even higher stages yet again.

A greater understanding of that process as is offered by AQAL and Integral Theory in general would make a huge difference to how we raise our children. We only have to look at research done in Tennis Coaching by Integral Coaches Sean Wilkinson and John Thompson on how much more progress and growth can be attained by working in this way, not just with the children, but with the parents too to really help them understand and support their children as they develop. Let me point out here there certainly isn't any criticism of any parents here, its a difficult job and we all do the best we can with it. From an integral point, its adequate, but if we transcend to the next level and include all of the benefits of the previous level, we are also likely to find solutions to the problems at the previous level.

 So what are your opinions on this topic, I would love for members of the Urban Free Climbing Community to share their thoughts and ideas on this. I would also love to hear what other Integral and Health practitioners are feeling into this topic. Please feel free to leave your comments below. These are just ideas in my head that I would love to explore with people, so please get involved.

To read the third and (for now) final installment go to Don't Look Down - Can you see the Integral in Urban Free Climbing? Pt 3 and  please subscribe to the blog and get the updates.

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