Texas votes next month for its party candidates. 2006 is already asking if the political status quo will hold. Will Tom Delay even win reelection in his own district? Will Democrats convince the country they can do a better job of running the country? Will Kinky Freidman ride the wave of apathy and disaffection to the governorship of Texas?

Spiritual Politics is our focus for February’s Through Your Body News. We explore spiritual solutions to the stagnant, and often hateful, political and cultural stand-off. The call each of us must hear to change and grow; the inspiration we need to evolve past our own limited hopes of how life should and could be.

And how about that Brokeback Mountain? Four Golden Globe awards! There’s hope for us all yet.

We intend to give you a monthly source that is useful, inspiring, beautiful, informative, and funny. How best can we serve you? If you have ideas about articles or creative criticism, we'd like to hear from you. If you like what you read here please share it with your friends.

Love your way,
Alan Davidson

• The Artist's Way--Madilyn Stein's Destiny Series
• Marianne Williamson — Holistic Politics and the Healing Of America
• Integral Theory--Full STEAM ahead!
• Integral Politics--A Spiritual Third Way
• Is Hillary Clinton the First Integral Politician?
• When Happiness Comes True
• You Are What You Say
• Our Lives and Times
• Coaching and Learning
• PSYCH-K Workshop (Feb 11-12) The Woodlands, TX
• Your Monthly Astrocast by Michael Lutin

Creation

Madilyn Stein is Mad Stein Art, a successful, multifunctional artist creating sculptures, oil and acrylic paintings, and digital graphics.

See more of Madilyn's paintings...

Marianne Williamson Interview by Alan Davidson

Alan: I was genuinely surprised to hear that your new book is about politics in America.

Marianne Williamson: Well, I didn’t set out to write a book about politics, I set out to write to write a book about the healing of America. You can’t write about healing something unless you look as deeply as you can about the disease. I didn’t write about politics because I feel it’s an instrument of healing so much as I came to believe that it is an area where we are so deeply diseased.

Alan: One of the things I was impressed with was a little statement that you made about the profound spirituality of our founding fathers and how that might be unrecognizable to modern day fundamentalists. I was wondering if you could elaborate on that?

Marianne Williamson: Religious freedom was important to the founders and remained a cornerstone of American liberty. Our founders felt very strongly about a supreme being. John Adams called God the great legislator or the universe. They also felt that the separations of specific church doctrines needed to be kept out of politics. There’s a big difference between the religionization of politics and the spiritualization of our political consciousness. The former is dangerous, the latter is imperative.

Full interview...

By Joe Perez

Integral is a comprehensive view of reality that is gaining ground at the leading edge of culture. Some call it integral, some say it's second-tier, or post-postmodernism. I like to call it "full STEAM ahead"!

Integral is the next wave of development, helping us to find new ways to think and solutions to seemingly intractable complexities. It's not just a spiritual movement, it's about cultural shift and social change in every sphere of life from philosophy to the arts, ecology to business.

Full Story...

by Gregory Wilpert

In this time of ideological upheaval, when the old ideologies of left and right, of socialism, liberalism, and conservatism, no longer capture the political imagination the way they once did, new political visions are required. Some have tried to formulate a “Third Way” between social democracy and conservatism. Others, such as Michael Lerner, have proposed a more spiritually-oriented approach to transcend left and right. In what follows, I would like to present another vision, that of Integral Politics, which is very compatible with the approach of Michael Lerner but is based on the work of Ken Wilber.

What is a Third Way?

Historically, third ways have usually cropped up when people found the existing (two) dominant political ideologies lacking. In the nineteenth century, socialism was originally intended as a third way between conservatism and classical liberalism (basically free market capitalism at the time). Later on, in the twentieth century, social democracy developed as a third way between socialism and conservatism/free market capitalism. It’s no surprise that today a number of politicians and theorists, such as the Clinton/Gore Democratic Leadership Council and Tony Blair’s New Labor party, have proposed a third way between social democratic and neo-liberalist programs themselves. But rather than representing a true transcendence of the existing belief systems, too often the new program ends up in the ideological center between the two dominant ideologies. Such a centrist third way is actually a compromise rather than a new political theory that overcomes the old ones by providing lasting answers to unresolved social problems.

Full Story...

Is Hillary Clinton the First Integral Politician? Along with John McCain, she's shaping up as the most exciting and promising candidate to watch in 2008. Thanks to Integral Practice for the tip.

Full Story...

by Allan Hardman

Happiness is a state of mind, not something to be bought!

Happiness is probably the most sought after commodity in our Western culture, and perhaps the least attained. When we were little, our parents taught us what to do and be so that we would make them happy. Advertising tells us what we need to do or buy to make ourselves happy. The Lotto promises us life-long happiness, if we can just get the odds to work in our favor. Religions and spirituality practices promise us the ultimate happiness--if we can attain the perfection required.

Full Story...

You Are What You Say: Your words play a critical role in determining your moods, health and happiness. Here's how to get a better grip on language.

by Matthew Budd

FERNANDO FLORES is a Chilean of great intellect and a wide range of expertise, including Western philosophy, computer science, business and organizational behavior and entrepreneurship. But Flores is more than an intellectual he's a man of enormous courage. In 1973, Salvador Allende, Chile's democratically elected president, died in a bloody coup. Flores, who was then the country's minister of finance, was imprisoned and for three years was separated from his wife and five children.

Full Article...

Alan Davidson has co- authored this anthology of OutSmart Magazine's Our Lives and Times, the best of 10 years of Houston's GLBT magazine.

$10 of every book goes to charity. My chosen charity is the Montrose Clinic.

Our Lives and Times includes OutSmart 's revealing, one-on-one interviews with a host of in-the-news personalities popular with GLBT readers, including these names: Tony Curtis, Dame Edna Everage, Harvey Fierstein, Sharon Gless, Cyndi Lauper, Tammy Fae Messner, Kathy Najimy, Debbie Reynolds, RuPaul, Ram Dass (by Alan Davidson) and more.

More about Our Lives Our Times...

Coaching and Learning in Times of Increasing Complexity with Julio Olalla--Internationally renowned speaker, educator, and Master Executive Coach.

Two Programs: Cost is $5 per class to cover continental breakfast. To register call 713-807-1253.

Coaching and Leading Yourself

From Newfield’s ontological perspective (See You Are What You Say in this issue), coaching is not only about increasing or improving performance, it’s also about revealing and modifying the beliefs and assumptions behind your actions AND learning new ways to navigate the increasing complexity of your life with more wisdom and ease. Join Julio for an engaging discussion on how you can better navigate your complex world.

Dates, Times & Location February 10, 2006, from 7:30 AM ET to 9:30 AM Houston Community College 3100 Main Auditorium, 2nd Floor Houston, TX 22102.

Creating Your Organization’s Best ‘Self’

This interactive and thought-provoking session will enhance your ability to communicate, work with and lead others. You’ll be moved and inspired to generate a different future for yourself and your organization. Join Julio Olalla for a discussion of what it means for an organization to live its “best” life.

Dates, Times & Location February 11, 2006, from 8:30 AM ET to 11:30 AM Upper Kirby District 30115 Richmond Ave #100 Houston, TX 22102.

Details...

Taught by Katherine Moyer

By popular demand, the PSYCH-K Basic Workshop is returning to the Woodlands, TX ! Personally recommended by world renowned cellular biologist Bruce Lipton in his newly published book "The Biology of Belief”. Come join us in this highly experiential 2-day workshop where mind meets body and change happens in minutes! Witness and experience verifiable change that gets the subconscious working WITH you!

When: Feb. 11th - 12th (9:00am - 5:30pm) Where: Holiday Inn Express (281) 681-8088 24888 I-45 North The Woodlands, TX 77386 Class Price per person: $350 Faciltation--After attending this workshop, you will have the right to facilitate the use of the PSYCH-K techniques in private one-to-one sessions, either professionally with clients or others, for monetary gain or otherwise, at your discretion.

More about PSYCH-K class and Katherine Moyer...

Michael Lutin is the weirdly wonderful, wise and mad astrologer for VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE. He doses your planetary advice with humor and whimsy.

Wisdom of the Month...