May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness;
May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering;
May all beings never be parted from freedom’s true joy;
May all beings dwell in equanimity free from attachment and aversion.
- Traditional Buddhist prayer -
A Message from Co-founder Ross Hostetter
May all beings be strong, smart, sexy and rich!
If you are like most of us, a great deal of your life energy is spent on a personal program for happiness. Sex, Money, Power, Love, Longevity, Fitness, Knowledge– Strength, Intelligence, Attractiveness and Wealth - and why not? The pursuit of happiness is a fundamental part of the human condition. It’s not much of a stretch to say that Boulder Integral is in the happiness business. We offer programs, people, information, and practice opportunities that we hope will be a source of real help and support as you work to create your version of the good life.
Now here’s the surprise. The best of the current research suggests that none of the above will make that much difference, at least as far as happiness itself is concerned. A recent teaching at our center revealed that about 50% of our happiness is to a large degree out of our control. We seem to be “hard wired” to a certain happiness set point to which we return no matter what we do.* Another 10% of our happiness quotient is due to factors (like getting all that sex money and power) which go well or poorly from season to season. These create a temporary drag or boost, after which we return to just about the same place we were before.
What about that other 40% The good news is that we really can become significantly happier! The “bad news” for all of us committed egotists is that the price is pretty high. It turns out that it’s that same old price that all of the great traditions have been telling us all along we must pay: Nothing at all. Happiness is free, and alights on our shoulder when we stop chasing it. It arrives as we stop focusing on our misery and to open up in gratitude and service to the vast and present joy in everything around us.
How do we practice? Here’s the Big Four:
- Do whatever it is you need to do to get off whatever hedonistic treadmill you find yourself upon. (I can tell you from personal experience just how expensive and exhausting that treadmill can be.)
- Interrupt self-focused rumination whenever you witness it arising in thought.
- Practice expressing gratitude in every way possible, which will inevitably lead to feeling gratitude and contentment; and finally…
- Give a big chunk of your life energy- time, money and talent, to something bigger and better than yourself.
It’s just one of those odd facts of life in the pond filled with “ego-sapiens” we all are born into. We are happier the more we climb out of the shell of ourselves. We rise higher the more we give ourselves away.
Boulder Integral, Inc. is a start- up non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation that exists to grow a community dedicated to a life of deeper goodness, truth and beauty through the creation of Integral culture. We are proud to be one of first walk-up bricks and mortar experiments in sustained Integral community in the world. Being among the first is really quite cool, and very exciting. Yet this position has its perils. Most start-ups fail. Only about one in 10 survive the first 5-7 years.
Yet right at the start, we have some great things going for us. Our Co-founder, Jeff Salzman has a genius for great programming, having created hundreds of seminars as co- founder of Career Track, and as a co- creator of seminars of the Integral Institute in its beginning years. What you many not know is that he is also the single greatest benefactor of the Integral Movement in the world. Before founding Boulder Integral, he gave several million dollars to the Integral Institute, and now has now turned this commitment to this project, making a multi-million dollar investment in the facility we call home, and funding the entire startup phase. He is an icon of sacrificial giving. His generosity creates an historic opportunity. Shame on us if we can’t take advantage of it and build something to last.
We are also deeply blessed to be the benefactors of the incredible integral maps created by Ken Wilber, who stands in a long line of giants stretching back to likes of Plotinus. Many of our members are depth students of Integral theory with direct personal connection to Ken and other of its sources. We are groaning with potential, and the desire to move Integral forward both practically and theoretically.
We have a committed full time staff, consisting of Nomali Perera and Jason Lange, both depth students of integral and committed integral practitioners. Nomali brings a proven capacity to beautifully handle the substantial logistics of creating and running a non-profit from an integral altitude. Jason brings his creativity and savvy in the tech arena, which is essential to our outreach in the new millennium.
We are also blessed with a group of volunteers that just keep coming through the door, demonstrating the art of generous giving, ready and able to offer a lifetime of wisdom and capacity forged in careers in fields like law, business, medicine, spirituality, therapy and teaching.
And of course, we have you.
If what we are attempting is connected to your highest intention, if it is something bigger than yourself you can joyfully support, we hope you will follow your best impulse and extend that support now. Do it in whatever way is appropriate for you. We hope that you will give until you are happy– generously, sacrificially, or just the best you can right now. Every penny donated and every person who walks through the door with a commitment to service holds us accountable. We plan to do our best to do you justice and be a great container for our collective best and highest.
As long as you are giving, you are still in the game. Every act of giving stands up and announces, despite everything, all that has happened, all of the pain and obstacles: I am a Man. I am a Woman. I am a Human Being.
Here’s to creation, and the source of creation itself. Thank you for your Generosity!
Ross Hostetter
August, 2008