I have to buy a Mac Book?

I want to buy a new laptop computer, so I went over what is good. As a result, I chose Apple’s Mac Book Pro or Mac Book Air. I watched Apple’s website video and I thought Mac has wonderful design, performance and software.

One of my bosses in my company said a funny thing:” You will go to California, right? If you have a windows computer there, you will be kicked out of West Coast!”

We, Japanese have a strong image to West Coast. That is Silicon Valley, especially Apple or Google, nowadays Facebook. I must buy an Apple’s Mac because I’ll be on the West Coast lol.

From my personal statement:How does your desire to enroll in this program align with your sense of yourself and your life aspirations?

Today, I want to show you my answer for " How does your desire to enroll in this program align with your sense of yourself and your life aspirations?" This was second question in personal statement, which JFKU admission suggested.

My life aspirations are to work globally doing exciting things and to contribute to the world using my own unique knowledge and experiences.

Since I was a little child, I have always had a desire to work on an international level and do valuable things for the world. Since I was 12 years old, I wanted to become an international lawyer for International Court of Justice in The Netherlands*. But this dream of mine changed at 18 when I had the opportunity to study business in one of the top universities of Japan- Hitotsubashi University, where I got this motivation to be an international business person. Now, I am an international tax consultant, so my dream has come true in a way. However, through my daily work, I felt that my view of things was becoming narrow where I wondered whether my work was really contributing to the world or not. This is where I said to myself “I want to get away from this daily routine at any cost.” or “I wanted to change myself by all means.”

During my struggle to find a new myself and a better way of contributing to the world, I found about this MA program in Integral Psychology on the internet and something screamed within my mind “This is what I really wanted!!” I believe that Integral Theory is a meta-theory and has a much broader range of applications than any other theory. Therefore, I believe this program provides me a golden opportunity to nurture my skills through, develop a deeper understanding of psychology and contribute to the world in my own way.

*When I was a child, I thought working at International Court of Justice is most prestigious in the legal profession.

The Integral Vision: A Very Short Introduction to the Revolutionary Integral Approach to Life, God, the Universe, and Everything

Book Description:

Philosopher, psychologist and mystic Wilber (A Brief History of Everything) delivers on the subtitle's far-reaching promise. In a scant 200+ pages chock-full of handsome illustrations and spare, Zen-like diagrams and tables, he forges ahead on his established path, posing, What if we attempted to find the critically essential keys to human growth, based on the sum total of human knowledge now open to us? His answer is a kind of meta-structure of human experience and, more importantly, human potential. His Integral Map, or Integral Operating System (IOS), of quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types is drawn from developmental psychology, worldviews, multiple intelligences, gender studies, the nature of consciousness, etc. If this sounds heady and extremely ambitious, it is. Wilber asserts that the IOS approach to life permits all fields of endeavor at last to speak with one another in a common language. Clearly, however, spirituality dominates much of his thought. Not for the faint of brain, Wilber's work is still accessible and at times surprisingly practical. Some language spirals up majestically, recalling great Eastern texts. Reminiscent in spirit and watershed import of Ram Dass's Be Here Now, Wilber's work may well become a popular classic for explorers on the frontiers of humanity.

I recommend this book for beginners of Ken Wilber's philosophy. This book introduces the essence of his theory, 5 elements (quadrant, level, state, line and type).　　The explanation is very plain and book illustration is beautiful.

My Indian colleague wanted this book.

Pirates of Silicon Valley

• Actors: Anthony Michael Hall, Noah Wyle, Joey Slotnick, J.G. Hertzler, Wayne Pére
• Directors: Martyn Burke

Story:

The revolution came when we weren't looking. It happened in a garage. In a dorm room. In countless hours of effort, imagining and intrigue. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates were changing the way the world works, lives and communicates. The event-packed saga of the quirky visionaries who jump-started the future unfolds with exhilarating, cutting-edge style in Pirates of Silicon Valley. Noah Wyle (ER) portrays Jobs and Anthony Michael Hall (The Dead Zone) portrays Gates in this chronicle of the fierce and often humorous battle to rule the fledgling personal computer empire. "The story is almost Shakespearean... it's a tale of lust, greed, ambition, love and hate," writer/director Martyn Burke reflects. And it's a success story unlike any other.

This movie was fun for me. I wanted to know the relationship between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and also how they achieved success and fame.

Both of them really loved computer and they ungrudgingly made an effort to create new things. I think their state of consciousness in devoting themselves to computer were "flow" or "zone".

The state of consciousness may be key point for success.

Umm, after all, they are quite peculiar character!

Trailer

What brought me to apply to the MA in Integral Psychology?

I'll show you my essay which I wrote down for JFKU admission. I'd like you to know me more reading this. I'm very happy that you read the following my personal statement.

1. What brought you to apply to the MA in Integral Psychology?

There are mainly two reasons for applying to the MA in Integral Psychology at John F. Kennedy University.

The first reason for my application is that I would like to study Integral Theory which Ken Wilber proposed. In our own day, I think that there are multitudes of problems all over the world. For example, cruel wars, disastrous environmental problems, financial crisis, etc. In regard to these problems, I have had some internal conversations with myself, for example- “What can I do for these problems?” or “How can we solve these problems?” However, I did not have any clear answers for these questions, and for me, these problems seemed to be very difficult to tackle. When I was feeling short on my ideas, I came across Ken Wilber’s book- A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality by accident, and I was very impressed with his theory and his way of looking at the world. Therefore, I became keen to study Integral Theory in a proper and more detailed way.

The second reason for my application is that I would like to apply psychological theories and integral theory into the business field in order to build a better business world. I have had an experience of working for one of the biggest accounting firms in the world- Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, for around two years and I noticed that there were a lot of areas in the workplace where I could apply psychological approaches. For instance, I noticed that psychological approaches could be applied on areas of employee motivation, stress management, management of a team, etc. More specifically, I think that I can apply some of the humanistic psychology’s theories such as hierarchy of needs theory of Abraham Maslow to motivate employees, apply some of the social psychology’s theories to analyze the corporate culture, or apply some developmental psychology’s theories to evaluate the consciousness levels of CEO or employees. In addition to the above ideas, I also have some other ideas of applying psychology to the business world. Integral Psychology’s program at your prestigious university covers a variety of psychology areas, and being able to study the same will be very fascinating for me.

With the above mentioned reasons, I am applying to the MA in Integral Psychology at John F. Kennedy University to gain a deeper understanding of psychology, not only theoretically, but also to implement the same in the business world and elsewhere.

Japanese commuting environment: Integral Theory 4 quadrants

As you may know, Japanese commuting environment (lower right quadrant) is not so good in large cities. In particular, we, business persons suffer on a crowded train every morning. I think this commuting environment (lower right quadrant) may have negative impact on other quadrants.

When I commute in an overcrowded train, I feel unpleasant and I sometimes think that I want to escape my current situation (upper left quadrant).

Then, this feeling makes me irritated or stressful, moreover this emotion leads to working behavior (e.g., not efficiently act, a lot of sighs).

I suppose that a large number of Japanese business persons feel like this.

As a result, a jam-packed train becomes an infamous symbol in Japanese working environment and we, Japanese have negative image (lower left quadrant) about commuting.

Thank you very much for everyone! The last day to study Integral Theory in Japan

Yesterday was the last day for me to study Integral Theory in Japan. I’m involved with this community because I’m one of original members. I remembered that the atmosphere in the first meeting was somewhat strained or one meeting was held with only 4 people…. I spent my life in Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Hyogo region) with this community.

After I graduated from my university, I started my career as an international tax consultant. While I was working, I noticed a lot of problems in business world and I was struggling with various distress and conflict in my company. Then, I met Ken Wilber’s book.

I’m very happy to spend my life with this community.

Well, I would like to talk about this community. This community was held to study Ken Wilber’s essential philosophy, Integral Theory, which was established by one young man who is a graduate student and majors in cosmophysics.

Just when I wanted to study Ken Wilber’s philosophy, I found his blog and he announced study meeting in his blog. Ah, I feel nostalgic.

If I say great point of this community in a word, that is “diversity”. Looking at participants occupation, a graduate student who majors in cosmophysics, a part-time jobber, a CEO in a NPO company, an employee in a political group, a doctor, a member of the Self-Defense Forces, a psychotherapist, a nurse, a professor and I as a business consultant. As you look at these backgrounds, very wide range people participate in this community.

Some people may think why so many different people gather in a same place and study common theory. Apparently, that is a mysterious, but I think that is not so.

That is because Integral Theory is a most strong theory for diversity. Yes, the essential of Integral Theory is to respect various different points of view.

And then, this theory is not rather a difficult theory than approachable theory for all people. Moreover, this theory is made use of each person’s daily life and each person’s field. For example, Integral Life Practice, education area, business area, medicine area and so on.

Diversity in this community made each study session very fun, exciting and meaningful. Without the courageous decision of the founder, Kadobayashi-san to found this community and all participants’ cooperation, this community could have not been born and continued.

I am deeply grateful to you all! I wish you the best of luck with everything. I would like to contribute to this community from America if I have something I can do.

PS: I was given two farewell gifts from my dear members. I couldn’t predict that. Yes, it was a really surprise for me.

This wonderful pen is a “CROSS” pen, which is one of the famous writing materials makers. When I opened a wrap and I looked at the name “CROSS”, I felt my feeling deeply connected with my dear members.

Moreover, my dear friend who is a same my age gave me two classic CDs. One is Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No9 “From the New World”. The other is Tchaikovsky: Symphony No5.

I’m writing this article listening to these songs.

I’m so moved and I appreciate for everyone. I want to challenge my "new world" America with that song "From the New World"!!

From the New World