Statement: Ken Wilber shouldn’t be stuck in a macho attitude.
- Is it true?
Yes. (He is seen as a teacher, and should know better.) - Can I know for sure it is true?
No. For instance, I cannot know what is best for him or others. - What happens when I believe that thought?
- I feel superior, that I see something he is not seeing.
- I find ways to make my belief true. He seems obsessed with taking on a macho identity. He props it up in all sorts of silly ways. He finds others who are also in the grips of needing to have a macho identity. He is probably in the grips of all sorts of should around it, and all sorts of clashes between his self-image and how he thinks it should be. And so on.
- I experience separation and some ambivalence. Appreciating much of his work, yet being put off by his personality.
- I get confused. It looks for all the world as if he is trying to compensate for something, so why does he go into it? Also, what am I not seeing in myself here?
- I may feel generous, telling myself that it is great to go into a macho mode and have that available. But somewhat strange to be stuck there and make it into an ideology. This makes me feel even more insightful and right.
- How do I treat myself? As someone who knows what is going on for him. As someone who sees something others don’t, or at least don’t act on. As an outsider
- How do I treat others? I put his personality down in my mind.
- When did I first have that thought? About him, probably when I started listening to some of the Integral Naked audio. In general, in my early or mid teens, seeing excessively or one-sidedly macho people as silly.
- Who am I without that thought?
- Appreciating him as he comes across. Seeing the richness in it. The beauty in the imperfections. The material to work with for all of us there, because what we see in him – whatever it is – is what we know from ourselves.
- And if there is attraction or aversion there, it is just a sign that I am not all that familiar with it in myself yet. It is not quite embraced, owned and consciously lived yet.
- There is a sense of spaciousness, appreciation and opportunity here.
- Turnarounds.
- KW should be stuck in a macho attitude. Yes, it certainly gives fodder for those around him. Either, folks adopt it and mirror it for themselves, so they get familiar with that part of the terrain and learn to own and live from that part of themselves. Or, they don’t appreciate it so much, and get to find that too in themselves. Or there is neutrality there, and something else comes up for investigation and exploration.
- >> I shouldn’t be stuck in a maco attitude. More true. When I think I know what is really going on for him, and I think I know how things should be, I am stuck in my own blindly macho attitude.
- I should be stuck in a macho attitude. Yes. When I get caught up in shoulds, I have an opportunity to become familiar with how that is. When I see him as rigidly macho, I am stuck in rigidly macho shoulds, and it gives me an opportunity to investigate that for myself. And I can probably benefit from being “stuck” in a traditional macho way of presenting myself for a while, getting more familiar with that as well.
- My thinking shouldn’t be stuck in a macho attitude. When it does, I can inquire into it.
- My thinking should be stuck in a macho attitude. Yes. When it does, it is because of infinite reasons, brought about by the whole of what is. Who am I to disagree?
Interesting that you would think this as I quite often see Ken Wilber as a rather feminine character. Overall though, you’re probably right.