Last night my father and I drove to Manhattan’s Upper West Side to meet Ken Wilber. My dad was invited because he’s made some posts to the Integral Education online forum, and the email he received said something like, “Ken’s making an unprecedented visit to meet the NY integral community.” The address given was for a private apartment. That was all we knew.
We did, of course, know that no one in their right mind drives to Manhattan. For a variety of reasons, we decided to ignore this bit of common sense. I should probably say right here and now that I had never been to New York City. However, I ended up doing all of the city driving. Had we not allowed a full two and a half extra hours in our itinerary, it would have been a very stressful experience. As it was, we were both able to remain calm even when we realized, immediately after emerging from the Lincoln Tunnel, that we were as lost as one can be in Manhattan. The highlight for me was when, while most of my mind was occupied with not running over pedestrians, I realized that we were driving through Times Square. To me, Times Square looks like a wall of people conspiring to keep me from making it through the intersection before the light changes. But.
It could have been a lot worse. It was, admittedly, overwhelming at the time, but now that I am a safe distance from trying to figure out how the hell to get onto Broadway without having to make a left turn, it seems more exhilarating than scary. But.
I don’t plan to drive into Manhattan again any time soon.
Once we found our destination and parked in the garage I’d found online, we found the building where we were to be at five (half a block from the garage), and crossed the street to spend the next two hours in Central Park. It was not really warm enough to spend two hours in Central Park, but it was lovely in the sun, and tolerable even without. We watched a young woman dancing on rollerskates, an elderly woman exercising, and hundreds of people just walking through; we listened to a saxophonist, and, not far away, a trio of cellists. I used a surprisingly clean but still absolutely disgusting bathroom. Mostly, we sat on park benches and absorbed the New Yorkness until it was time to find the specified apartment.
When we arrived, a few minutes after five, the living room of the apartment was full — FULL — of people. Maybe 40-50. Ken Wilber was seated facing the group. My dad and I found our nametags and took two of the last remaining seats. Because we missed maybe the first minute of Ken talking, I still really don’t know what he was doing in New York. Oh well.
The evening turned out to be kind of a group conversation. After the hour-plus spent on everyone introducing themselves to the group (“Hi, I’m Julia. I’m from Harrisburg, PA, and a student at McDaniel College in Maryland. A few years ago, my dad said to me, “You should really read this book A Theory of Everything. We’re involved with a self-proclaimed Integral school in Harrisburg.”), Ken talked about what he’s been doing, about some ideas from his upcoming book, and some thoughts apparently sparked by things people had said during the introductions. A lot of it was really abstract, and I have to admit I got a little lost for parts of it. We left at 9:30, after four and a half hours of that; it looked like it could be continuing for hours more. Part of me wanted to stay longer, but by the time we pulled into the driveway of my parents’ house at 1 AM, I was glad we’d left when we did. Also, my brain was full.
Hm. I keep starting a thought and then deleting it. I think I’m not done processing some of the mini-epiphanies I had last night and have had in the meantime enough to commit them to writing. Also, part of me is probably afraid you’ll all think I’ve lost it. On the other hand, I want to say something that will inspire you, my dear reader, to start thinking about Integral theory.
I’m at a loss. Wikipedia has an article, though, that might make for a good jumping off point. It’s here. Also, if you’re really motivated, A Theory of Everything, also mentioned above, is a good introduction. I’m told A Brief History of Everything is an even better introduction, but I haven’t read it, so I can’t, in good conscience, recommend it.