April 4th from 6:30 – 9:00pm:

$10 (Boulder Integral members)
$15 (Non members)
Please pay at the door. Checks and cash only please. Checks to be written to “Boulder Integral”

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Evolutionary Spirituality is about right relationship with reality.  When we are not aligned with reality, we suffer, and so do those around us.  To “Evolutionize Your Life” means to follow where your joy and the world’s needs intersect — pursuing your evolutionary calling — while growing in deep integrity.

During this dynamic multimedia program, Michael will discuss proven deep integrity practices that work for people of all religious and philosophical perspectives.

In this evening program we will learn how to grow in “deep integrity” by appreciating our inherited instincts for how they served our human and prehuman ancestors, while channeling our most compelling bodily and emotional urges in ways that are life-giving for today and tomorrow.  As we grow in trust, authenticity, responsibility, and service — the very purpose of the spiritual path — we gain the promises of religion in this life.  The freedom we thereby discover clears us to devote our energies toward evolutionary ends.

Learn about our teachers

Rev. Michael Dowd is one of the most inspiring speakers in America today. He is the author of Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World, which has been endorsed by five Nobel laureates and other leading scientists, including noted skeptics, and by religious leaders across the spectrum. He and his wife, Connie Barlow, a noted science writer, have spoken to 1,000+ groups since launching their itinerant ministry in 2002. At home in both liberal and conservative settings, and uniquely gifted at building bridges between religious and non-religious people, Michael shares the 14-billion-year Epic of Evolution in ways that uplift and expand heart, mind, and soul. His passion is showing how an evolutionary understanding of human nature can inspire and empower each of us to live with greater integrity, joy, and zest for life. Find out more about Michael at www.thankgodforevolution.com

Connie Barlow is an acclaimed author of popular science books and articles, and developer of The Great Story website. Connie’s most recent book, The Ghosts of Evolution (Basic Books), was Amazon.com’s top-recommended science book for several months in 2001. Her previous books, Green Space, Green Time: The Way of Science (Copernicus Books), Evolution Extended: Biological Debates on the Meaning of Life (MIT Press), and From Gaia to Selfish Genes: Selected Writings in the Life Sciences, all explore the nexus of science, spirit, and meaning (check out all of Connie’s books here). She is founding member and webmaster of Torreya Guardians, an internet community of botanists, naturalists, and others dedicated to ensuring the continuing persistence in the wild of America’s most endangered conifer tree: Torreya taxifolia. The June 2008 issue of Orion Magazine included an in-depth article on “assisted migration” for this highly endangered tree, featuring Connie’s leadership in this effort.

Connie is a Unitarian Universalist, and a well-known developer of curricula for children’s religious education programs. Since 2002, she and her husband (Rev. Michael Dowd) have lived entirely on the road, as “America’s evolutionary evangelists”. Find out more about Connie Barlow here.

Michael Dowd’s book Thank God for Evolution

Thank God for Evolution presents in a lively and accessible manner the reasons why it is now possible to view evolution as a call to deep integrity; how a dozen scientific disciplines reveal evolution to be measurably creative, rather than meaningless blind chance; practical methods for using evolutionary insights to achieve greater joy and personal fulfillment; and how aligning with evolutionary trends can guide activists and others hoping to make our world a better place. As a Christian minister, Dowd especially addresses the concerns that Christians have about evolution, but this book contains insights that will appeal to all people of faith and of no faith. Fun and uplifting, Thank God for Evolution goes beyond the current debate to offer up a whole new way of thinking about science and religion.

Endorsements for Thank God for Evolution, by Michael Dowd

“The science vs. religion debate is over. Michael Dowd masterfully unites rationality and spirituality in a world view that celebrates the mysteries of existence and inspires each human being to achieve a higher purpose in life. A must read for all, including scientists.” – Craig Mello (2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine)

“Dowd shows that there are many ways to be a spiritual person and that all of them are enriched by an understanding of modern science, especially evolution. This is a creative, provocative book that sheds light on just about any spiritual path one might be on. Many will find their faith revolutionized.” —Eugenie C. Scott, Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education

“In Thank God for Evolution Michael Dowd has produced a thoughtful, timely, challenging-and readable-synthesis of science and spirituality. This compelling book is the product of candid reflection on the religious and ethical significance of evolution and contemporary cosmology in the spirit of Thomas Berry and Teilhard de Chardin. The author’s generosity of soul and depth of ecological concern have allowed him to create a challenging spiritual vision out of an exceptionally wide variety of sources.” – John F. Haught, Professor of Theology, Georgetown University; Author of Deeper Than Darwin; Christianity and Science; And is Nature Enough?

“Michael Dowd has written a book that is at once fun to read and a significant contribution to those who think about God without the blindfolds of past centuries. Dowd affirms science, and shows how a spiritually alive consciousness must embrace evolution and understand it in the wider context of a world filled with the presence of God. It will be faith renewing to many Christians and has much from which people of all faiths can learn.” —RABBI MICHAEL LERNER, EDITOR OF TIKKUN, NATIONAL CHAIR OF THE NETWORK OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESSIVES, AUTHOR OF THE LEFT HAND OF GOD

“Michael Dowd is one of my heroes… I’m pleased to see more and more people address the patterns of human emergence. Michael has made a significant contribution to understanding this critical aspect of human nature.” —DON BECK, CO-FOUNDER OF THE NATIONAL VALUES CENTER, CEO OF SPIRAL DYNAMICS GROUP

March 4th – 6:30pm
Venue: The Boulder Integral Center, 2805 Broadway Street, Boulder, CO 80304 (303) 541 1540

$10 (Boulder Integral Members)
$15 (Non members)

A popular view of human mentality outlines a continuum running from unconscious through subsconscious to waking consciousness.  In contrast, many metaphysical belief systems often acknowledge this a valuable place to start but find this model to be limited and shortsighted.  Instead, they propose further layers of consciousness that transcend the simplistic reductionist model.  The term “meta-consciousness” captures this further layer of consciousness.   Most metaphysical systems offer only immediate, subjective experience as evidence for meta-consciousness.  To verify the existence of meta-consciousness, the experiencer must undertake some kind of “path” or “journey” to enlightenment.

Only after much progress — or often not until final completion of the journey — can an initiate verify for him or herself that such a level of meta-consciousness actually exists.  Many systems claim to produce enlightenment, but not all of these claims turn out to be legitimate.  Unsurprisingly, honest seekers often find themselves reluctant merely on the testimony of others to engage in a process that might in the end yield nothing but ashes.  Many doubt such a transcendent realm of meta-consciousness even exists.   But good objective evidence exists for meta-consciousness.  One can find this evidence in the recent, well-conducted scientific research into extra-sensory perception, or ESP.  How ESP evidences meta-consciousness, and what we can learn because of it, is the subject of this presentation.  You will even have the opportunity to try it yourselves in a simple experiment.

BIO
Paul H. Smith, Ph.D. became a psychic spy in 1983, when he was recruited for the Army’ s remote viewing psychic espionage program.  During seven years in the military program he studied under the legendary Hal Puthoff and Ingo Swann, served as a first-line operational remote viewer, wrote the official manual on controlled remote viewing  (‘CRV’ — a more disciplined form of remote viewing), and taught CRV to new military remote viewers.  His students include now-famous remote viewers such as Lyn Buchanan, Mel Riley, and David Morehouse.  Paul has briefed and demonstrated remote viewing to senators and senior military and government officials.  A veteran of Desert Storm with the storied 101st Airborne Division, he retired from the US Army in 1996 at the rank of major from his final duty position, chief of intelligence and security for the Military District of Washington.

Paul has a thirty-year history in helping people develop consciousness-based skills, and is dedicated to changing society’ s attitudes towards applied consciousness using the powerful levers of teaching, speaking, and writing about — and organizing around — remote viewing.   President and chief instructor of since 1997 if his own commercial full-service remote viewing training company, Remote Viewing Instructional Services, Inc., he is also a founding director of the non-profit International Remote Viewing Association, of which he presently serves as president.  He has chaired and organized seven of IRVA s annual remote viewing conferences since the organization ‘s founding in 1999.

Paul’s book, “Reading the Enemy s Mind: Inside Star Gate ­ America s Psychic Espionage Program ” (Tor/Forge 2005) was the Book Bonus Feature and Editor s Choice Selection for the March 2006 issue of Reader s Digest.  He co-produced the acclaimed DVD-based  “LearnDowsing” training program.   Paul’s education includes a BA from Brigham Young University and an MS from the National Defense Intelligence College (both in Middle Eastern studies), and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, writing on consciousness, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science.  He has spoken on the subject of remote viewing and parapsychology at various national and international conferences, and had numerous radio and television appearances, including A&E, The History Channel, CBS Sunday Morning, and Coast to Coast AM, among many others.

For more information,  see Paul’s website at http://www.rviewer.com or call (toll free) (866) 229-7847.