Fun with Big Mind

I have been enamored of Genpo Roshi’s “Big Mind” (http://www.genpo.org/Big%20Mind/) process since I first encountered it on Integral Naked (http://in.integralinstitute.org/) several years ago. I taught myself how to facilitate it long before Roshi began to lay down guidelines regarding who could and who could not facilitate the process. As a result of my ignorance of these guidelines, I have had the good fortune of facilitating the process a number of times, with groups ranging from three to 65 and settings from living rooms to retreat centers.

And yet, I have seldom used this profound – indeed, revolutionary – enlightenment practice as part of my personal practice. I guess I’ll chalk this up to a lack of imagination. In retrospect, it seems pretty obvious that this is a powerful vehicle for both translation and transformation when incorporated into a personal practice. I simply never have taken the time to do that.

I have waited long enough. Not too long ago, I purchased Roshi’s new book on the subject, Big Mind * Big Heart. I’m still working my way through it, but I have noticed that it is triggering a rush of creativity around the methodology’s applications. On Sunday, the final day of a couples retreat that my partner, Rezvan Ameli, and I attended, part of the last-day integration process involved writing down my “intentions” that emerged from my learnings from the retreat. I found myself reflecting on the elegant use of vertical subpersonalities, a la Big Mind, by our facilitators, Joy Davey and Lawrence Stibbards, and committing myself to exploring further applications in the domain of intimate relationship. Similarly, as I was designing the “Wisdom” module of my Integral Life/Transformational Practice (IL/TP) Group, held at my home last night, I found myself leaning on the wisdom of Genpo Roshi’s remarkable practice.

One application of that practice that I used this morning was a simple conversation between my Slacker, whom I have named Beetle Bailey on the suggestion of my friend James Jones, and The Great Wise One, about how I was to structure my day so as to fill it with divine passion. I’ve noticed that it is rather easy to push away or reject these less attractive subpersonalities, like Beetle Bailey, but not all that effective. They seem to insist on being heard, despite my best efforts to muffle them. The genius of Big Mind is in the honoring of these voices. By allowing them a place in the conversation with my higher elements, I was able to reach an accommodation that served Beetle, The Great Wise One, and, ultimately, me.

If you’re not familiar with this process, follow the links I’ve provided and check it out. I would be surprised if most of you that do aren’t captured, as I was several years ago, by this remarkable practice.