# Cosmos Café: A Radical Conversation with Terry Patten, author of A New Republic of the Heart \[5/15/18\]

**URL:** <https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/cosmos-cafe-a-radical-conversation-with-terry-patten-author-of-a-new-republic-of-the-heart-5-15-18/1983>\
**Category:** Cosmos Café\
**Tags:** event\
**Created:** [May 10, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/cosmos-cafe-a-radical-conversation-with-terry-patten-author-of-a-new-republic-of-the-heart-5-15-18/1983 "2018-05-10T03:13:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 47

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**Author:** ![madrush](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/infiniteconversations/user_avatar/www.infiniteconversations.com/madrush/32/6452_2.png) [@madrush](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/u/madrush)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/cosmos-cafe-a-radical-conversation-with-terry-patten-author-of-a-new-republic-of-the-heart-5-15-18/1983/47 "2018-05-21T16:35:36Z")

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> [@achronon](#):
>
> And so, I have two (for the mere sake of simplicity) suggestions for tomorrow:
> 
> - on the anything-goes side, we can just meet, same bat-time, same bat-channel and be involved with one another as is so rare in this day and age;
> 
> - on the more focused side, we could alternately, all watch [Marco’s rehearsal](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/i-am-the-singularity-part-1-rehearsal-may-2018/2008) and dig into that and its implications – provided, of course, that he’s willing to go along with the suggestion. After all, it is his project (but he did make a public post about it, too).

Thanks for the thoughts on the inner logic of what makes these cafés worthwhile, and for inviting a discussion on my ‘rehearsal.’ However, I do feel I need to keep that poem in the “underground” for now (which is it not a public channel, but open to Metapsychosis writers and editors). But don’t get me wrong, I DO want poetry into the Café, just not my poetry, or that particular poem…yet.

However, one direction I do feel we can go, tomorrow, which would be useful, is exactly the question of the _political_, which we’ve been talking around, even with Terry. How CAN we have political conversations which are productive, meaningful…dare I say, _integral_ or let’s just say ‘integrative’?

I’m with John on his assessment of what a disappointment the contemporary (Wilberian) Integral movement has been when it comes to politics. Terry might be the most sophisticated thinker in this camp, but he still would have delivered us to the Clintons in apparently good conscience. Aurobindo may provide a more potent exemplar for both political and spiritual _radicality_—but I don’t know enough to say for sure. Moreover, his situation was different than ours. Same goes for Gebser and other examples we might look to.

For a future Café (allowing time to do the reading) I think exploring the ideas of [Metamodernism](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/metamodernism-and-you/1389) could be an interesting way to go. I also believe that the idea of “[creative democracy](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/infiniteconversations/original/1X/43e295edecac7b5947be9730fe18a4580c21889f.pdf)” will be crucial, in some way, to our future. But I’m not sure if we’re quite ready to talk about ‘democracy’ yet, per se, when we still need to re-learn how to talk at all on political questions. Communication would thus be a great topic for tomorrow, but we you’re right, @achronon, we don’t need another theory; I’d say we can work with what’s already actually present, or latent in the conversation thus far; and whatever theories we can bring to the table, which help illuminate the questions, great. But maybe poetry helps illuminate them even better.

I’m happy to watch the Peterson videos too, and bring them in tomorrow, but don’t think the focus should be about _him_. He is, however, a really interesting phenomenon and reference point, which encapsulates a lot about our present moment, which I think could be fruitful to discuss on a meta-creative level, if we’re up for it! I’ll be there…

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