MICRO-BIO

• I am an older white male working on my higher degrees and planning how I want to spend the rest of my years. I was farm born and raised in the mountains of coastal northern California and my first career was in teaching biology and agricultural scie...More

  I am an older white male working on my higher degrees and planning how I want to spend the rest of my years. I was farm born and raised in the mountains of coastal northern California and my first career was in teaching biology and agricultural science. I have lived in the Eucadorian rainforest with the Achuar natives, spent time with their healers and learned much from them and their culture. I have also volunteered with the Ixil Maya of northern Guatemala to help build a cultural monument in the community of Nebaj. Later in life, I have returned to school and received my master's degree in Transformative Lederhip, from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in 2014. I am currently a PhD Candidate conducting a phenomenological inquiry into the lived experiences of men who have participated in the Work That Reconnects. My degree will be accompanied by a Certificate in Consciousness Studies and my work includes inquiry into brain plasticity and resiliency. I am interested in the power of story and myth as means of contemplating the entanglement of wicked problems we are facing as well as integral theories of consciousness. Due to my intimate connection with wild nature I enjoy doing group work in wounded and disrespected places, such as forest clear cuts, forest fire zones, polluted waters and industrial land. As it is in biodynamic farming, it is my opinion that conscious human interaction with the natural elements and cycles can be a interconnecting and healing activity. Reverence for the land and that all life is simultaneously and mutually co-arising is my way of seeing the world. Less

EXPERIENCE

• California Institute of Integral Studies

  • PhD Candidate
  • Transformative Studies Department
  • Present

EDUCATION

• California Institute of Integral Studies

  • PhD Candidate
  • 2014 to Present

  I am in the Transformative Studies Department conducting a phenomenological study into the lived life benefits of a group of men who attended one or more of three men only retreats with Joanna Macy and the Work That Reconnects. I am using a three part, in-depth interview process and am currently beginning the data assessment of the transcribed interview sessions. My goals include getting more men into the work of self-introspection and personal well-being, advancing the WTR as a integral theory and method for personal and social growth, and learning more about my own social conditioning and ways of overcoming it.

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