CAUTION:  What you are about to read is quite long (for a blog; but very short for an encyclopedia).  It is the result of Brian commissioning me to write a chapter on Zaadz as it fits an AQAL framework.  I am posting it here for your viewing pleasure.  And, if you like, you may partake in helping me revise it further.

HUGE thanks to Korenna and Coolmel for helping me revise it to the point it is at below... Can't thank you two enough!

What is Zaadz?

            "We'll start with the name. zaad. It's Dutch for 'seed.' Amazing how much potential is in a tiny seed, eh? We think so, too. That power reminds us of the amazing potential within each of us. We thought the idea of creating a company that inspires and empowers you to bring your 'seed' to actualization would be pretty powerful."  Just add water?  Perhaps… if "water" equates to all the little tools, quirks, usability, products, and support that nourish the growth of your True Inspirational Nature (or TIN for short—ok, that's actually an acronym I just made up, but given its implications, who doesn't want to be a TIN man/woman now?  I know I do!)  All Zaadz asks is that you give yourself over to this moment.  Share YOU, and share completely!  That doesn't mean you have to share everything… just have the integrity to purposefully share what you choose.  Let this community of inspired souls support and nourish your highest intentions.  Write down your goals, and post them on your space!  Share your thoughts in the Zaadz blogosphere!  Practice compassion by offering your beautiful insight and support when you see others brave enough to ask for it!

Zaadz is an online, non-local community of "people CRAZY enough to think they can change the world. And courageous enough to do something about it. And committed enough to stick to it when they feel like giving up."  How CRAZY, courageous, and committed are you?  Are you reading this now?  I'd say that's a start!

Zaadz is a social networking space that resides in what has come to be known as the new Web 2.0.  But exactly what "Web 2.0" means is not perfectly clear and is open for debate.  However, for the purposes of this chapter, we will adopt a generic description posited by Wikipedia® "as a second phase of architecture and application development for the World Wide Web."  More specifically, it is my assertion that what is becoming known as Web 2.0 is the social structure of an integrally evolving consciousness, supported by the desire of highly advanced beings who are finding one another via the capabilities of non-local communal technology.  Web 2.0 is the exterior scaffolding that is supporting the next wave of consciousness evolution.  Zaadz is the interior design.  You are the designer.  Let us manifest our beauty together on the walls and in the rooms of this new emergent!  Heck, let's manifest all over the stairs!!

Note: Must get KW's permission to use his map and paraphrase his work as follows

Zaadz as an AQAL Community

            The phenomenon known as Zaadz is arising as an AQAL establishment.  So first, let us define what AQAL (pronounced "ah-qwul") means.  It is a short-hand abbreviated acronym coined by Ken Wilber that stands for "All quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, and all types."  Any theory that claims to be AQAL will include all these aspects of reality.  It is an Integral Methodological Pluralism (IMP) that, as of this writing, is the most inclusive of its kind.  One of the things it means to be AQAL is that no approach to reality will trump any other approach, as in a zero-sum methodology.  Rather, all truths in all approaches are honored and included.  Zaadz has positioned itself in an AQAL space; its creators are integrally informed; and its community members are on the leading edge of the integral Web 2.0 (and beyond) revolution.  The following is my attempt at explaining AQAL Theory as defined by Ken Wilber and describing how Zaadz fits in as this planet's first AQAL social networking web-site.

 Quadrants

            The upper-left, upper-right, lower-left, and lower-right spaces make up the map commonly referred to in AQAL vernacular as "The Quadrants."  The upper two quadrants signify the individual, and the lower quadrants—the collective.  So, whatever happens in the individual, (i.e., ecstatic joy, a sprained ankle, mild angst, a synaptic exchange of the neurotransmitter dopamine, or what have you) could be represented in the upper quadrants.  Likewise, whatever happens in the collective (i.e. a family dinner, cultural fondness of everything European, a Socialistic sharing of wealth, war, a community's practice of requiring that witches and lawyers be burned at the stake, etc.) could be represented in the lower quadrants.  The left side represents the interior while the right represents the exterior.  Thus while excitement, collective hatred toward mathematicians, confusion, and all the "stuff" that cannot be observed and must be subjectively interpreted happens in the left quadrants, heart beats, Mob Rule, the planet Jupiter, and all the "stuff" that can be objectively observed happens in the right quadrants.           

So breaking it down, we have the following:

UL = I—Interior Individual—subjective; examples include what I know, what I feel, what I think, how I interpret and make sense of my world, etc.; no matter how many microscopes you point at me, you can't know what's there unless I tell you.  You might be able to look in my brain and tell me all the chemicals and electrical impulses that are happening (UR), but only I can tell you about my first-person experience.

UR = It—Exterior Individual—objective; examples include the body, the brain, neurotransmitters, etc. This is everything about the individual that can be observed in the third-person.  In this quadrant, your microscopes and scientific means of data collection come in handy.

LL = We—Interior Collective—intersubjective; examples include our cultural understanding of society, the relationship between a husband and wife; our collective feeling toward the Nazis, etc.  These are first- and second-person perspectives of the collective (shared understanding--"If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!").

 LR = Its—Exterior Collective—interobjective; examples include social structures, community developments, informational structures (i.e. telephones and the internet), etc.  These are collective phenomena that can all be observed empirically in the third-person.

Figure A

KW's Quadrants

From http://integralspiritualcenter.org/Integral%20Spirituality.pdf

            Each of the quadrants can further be broken down into their interior and exterior components.  For example, phenomenology (i.e. meditation) would be an interior approach at studying the interior of the individual; structuralism (i.e. spiral dynamics) would be an exterior approach at studying the interior of the individual.  Autopoiesis (i.e. cognitive science) would be an interior approach at studying the exterior of the individual; empiricism (i.e. neurophysiology) would be an exterior approach at studying the exterior of the individual.  Likewise, there are both interior and exterior approaches at studying the interior and exteriors of the LL and LR quadrants, as summarized below:

Figure B

Figure B

From http://integralspiritualcenter.org/Integral%20Spirituality.pdf

Zaadz in the Quaadz

This gives us a rather brief but (hopefully) thorough introduction into "the quadrants" as defined by Ken Wilber.  Now let's see how Zaadz incorporates the quadrants in its online community of Bodhisattvic Bloggers and the like.

Lower Right—First, Zaadz is a child of a Web 2.0 version of the internet made possible by a Lower Right structure, which includes all the various servers, routers, computers, people, etc. that make up its physicality.  Moreover, the actual structure of the internet—with html coding, broadband capabilities, hypertext functionality, etc.—which Zaadz programmers deeply understand and incorporate, makes it possible for a high-consciousness community to gather.  (Note that an evolved informational structure, such as the internet, doesn't automatically imply its use by an evolved collective—it only grants the possibility; similarly, an evolved collective won't necessarily utilize an evolved LR structure.  However, these two—in fact, all four—quadratic emergents do tend to happen simultaneously.  It's an all-quadrant affair, my friend!)  Thus, the LR supports Zaadz, and Zaadz is structurally a part of the LR. 

Lower Left—Being an online community, the Zaadz culture is a wonderful example of a LL culture that transcends and includes the various communities from which it emerged.  It transcends them in that Zaadz is non-local.  And it behooves me (very few things behoove me, by the way) to mention that only with its corresponding LR emergent can such a non-local gathering take place (more on holons and transcendence and inclusion when we get to the "levels" section). 

Upper Right—The individuals who sit down and type at their respective keyboards and click their respective mice make up the UR quadrant in the Zaadz community.  That is, as long as we look at them each, individually.  Their profiles, their blogs, and every way that the individuals observably manipulate the Zaadz cyberspace in which they reside would also be included as UR phenomena. 

                Upper Left—Each individual's interpretation of Zaadz encompasses the UL quadrant in this cyber community.  As an example, when I log onto www.zaadz.com, I interpret its name, mission, plan, and team as being in cue with what I'm all about and what I think the world could use more of.  I notice that commitments such as… "The quick version of what we're gonna do: build THE most inspired community of people in the world... Imagine social networking with a purpose, a community of seekers and conscious entrepreneurs circulating wisdom and inspiration and wealth and all that good stuff."… and… "Our Mission. That's easy. We're gonna change the world. Our math goes like this: you be the change + you follow your bliss + you give your greatest strengths to the world moment to moment to moment + we do everything in our power to help you succeed + you inspire and empower everyone you know to do the same + we team up with millions like us = we just affected billions = we (together) changed the world."… involve an approach that integrates "body, mind, soul, and Spirit in self, culture, and nature."  These are my individual interpretations of what Zaadz is.  It is equally important to note that with each profile or blog you read from a fellow "Zaadzster," you further interpret the community, as a whole.  This is the UL quadrant doing what an UL quadrant does best… subjectively interpreting the information that arises in its awareness.

 Levels

Ok, so that about covers the quadrants.  Any questions?  Now, let's look at how Zaadz fits into the levels component of AQAL.  Looking back at Figure A, the items corresponding to the numbers in each of the quadrants make up the four aspects of each "holon"—or whole/part.  Holons are wholes that are parts of larger wholes.  The larger the number, the more holons that are included.  Yet, a holon's function transcends that of the holon which preceded it, as in a nested holarchy.  

For example, cells include molecules in their makeup.  But cells carry a function that emerged as a transcendent feature to molecules.  That is, cells "transcend and include" molecules.  Likewise, molecules transcend and include atoms.  One example of a holonic structure would be our good friend, H₂O.  Water didn't exist until Hydrogen and Oxygen decided to combine in such a way so as to create a new emergent (a molecule) that now makes up a fundamental component of what we commonly call "higher life-forms."  (And when LSD combined with Ram Das, we got "even higher life-forms.")  And these nested holarchies span the four quadrants.  So, a molecule has an interior individual (how do I feel as a molecule?), an interior collective (how do we molecules get along with one another, and "Does molecule 539347 really think she can outwit me?! I don't think so, Sista!"), an exterior individual (a molecule of one carbon and two oxygen atoms is observably a molecule of carbon dioxide… everyone, please check the temperature of your globe--make sure it is not rising!), and an exterior collective (a collection of carbon dioxide molecules, as you exhale, for example).

Additionally, levels are structures that arise as permanent traits.  So, for example, a vertical navigation in the UR quadrant will go from cells to tissue to a crocodile, not the other way around.  A crocodile transcends and includes cells.  Its cells are a component part of its existence (inclusion), but the crocodile is more than just the sum total of its cells (transcendence).  It is its own unique emergent, and if you don't believe that, you might get eaten by a crocodile!  But you will probably not get eaten by a mere collection of cells (unless you are smaller than an amoeba, in which case I commend you for having the ability to read this chapter… bravo!). 

            These levels exist in all the quadrants.  Note that in the Lower Right quadrant, the deepest level (the most transcendent and most inclusive) listed is planetary, which corresponds to the information age.  Thus, any holon that takes advantage of an informational form of communication (as with the internet) has the opportunity to create a global LR structure.  This is exactly what Zaadz has done.  If you scan the various profiles in Zaadz, you will find Zaadzsters from any of various countries all communing on one social network—a web of non-local participants coming together to "change the world" in global fashion.  But the non-locality of holons convening on a social networking site is not unique to the Zaadz community.  It is something that has emerged out of the Web 2.0 revolution and certainly, at least dozens of others have taken advantage of this new creative emergent.  What makes Zaadz truly outstanding is its acknowledgment of levels (among other things) in all the quadrants.  Its developers are knowledgeable in Web 2.0 architecture (LR); its team includes its creators, as well as everyone who participates and co-interprets (LL) the site; its members (UR) are acknowledged, encouraged, and supported in their goals, dreams, and struggles (UL).  Specifically, everyone is encouraged to truthfully live from their highest potential in all that they do while being of service to others.  And the absolutely astonishing thing about this is that it is working!  This chapter is a product of the Zaadz team encouraging one of its members to live from his highest potential.  And they do this for everyone.  The only requirement is that you be crazy enough to think that it's possible.  Certainly, Zaadz recognizes, incorporates, and encourages the pursuit of holonic level-advancement in all four quadrants.

Lines

            Now that we've looked at levels, we can expand our understanding even further by examining lines of development (sometimes called multiple intelligences).  Lines exist within the four quadrants (surprised?), and levels exist within lines.  Also, lines appear to develop relatively independently.  Take the cognitive line of development, for example.  This line determines the capacity to which one can be aware.  The general pattern at which this line develops is from ego-centric to ethno-centric to world-centric to Kosmo-centric.  First, you are aware of yourself, then others close to you, then all other people on Earth, then all sentient beings everywhere.  Development of the cognitive line necessarily precedes the development of all other lines, but other lines don't necessarily develop in cue with the cognitive line.  For example, in order for my values line to develop to the world-centric stage (that is, I include all peoples in all countries as requiring equitable treatment), I must first have a proper awareness of the existence of other peoples in other countries.  But that awareness (cognitive) doesn't automatically mean I will treat them with respect (values).  I must develop that line to the world-centric stage first.  So, if we were to use an arbitrary 10 levels of development in each line, a psychograph of one's developmental lines might look something like this:

Figure C

Figure C

From http://integralspiritualcenter.org/Integral%20Spirituality.pdf

             So, we might think that the best thing to do would be to try to develop all our lines completely.  But this would not only be impossible (there are many more lines than those listed here), it would also be impractical.  The idea is that we want to be integrally developed.  This might include the development of three or four lines quite highly while making sure that no lines are underdeveloped.  Certainly, it would be to the benefit of all if the moral line were one of the more highly developed lines.  Zaadz's goal of helping people use their greatest strengths in the greatest service to the world is an approach that intuitively utilizes the insight of the AQAL approach to lines development.  Within the community of Zaadzsters, all lines are emphasized; it's just that different people emphasize different lines.  And so, where some are in need of development, others are there to complement, supplement, and help pull them up.  The two components of Zaadz's simple statement to (1. use greatest strengths, 2. in service of the world) is a wonderful way of demonstrating how the LL quadrant can aid the UL quadrant's (and vice versa) AQAL line development.

States

            We've seen how levels are defined in AQAL terminology.  One might wonder if it is possible to skip levels—to go from having, say, an ego-centric understanding straight to a Kosmo-centric one.  And while this is impossible (sorry, you can't skip stages of development), it is possible to experience higher levels of awareness.  These types of experiences you can have are often termed "peak" experiences.  The only downside to that is that once you come out of the peak experience, you will interpret its meaning from your current "stage" level of understanding.  The upside to this is that the more peak experiences you have, the more likely you are to develop to the next level more quickly. 

            Also included in the "states" category would be the 3 basic states of existence (waking, dreaming, and deep sleep), trance/hypnotic states, meditative states, ecstatic states, etc.  The important thing to do with these changing states is to witness them.  Awareness of state-changes is an important aspect of any AQAL practice.  The witnessing of these states as they arise, stay awhile, and vanish helps one to loosen identification with false selves and more quickly come to the realization of Non-dual Awareness.  Meditation is thought to be the best way to do this and, as Ken Wilber has pointed out, is the only (non)activity that has been empirically shown to help people move through stage-development at a much accelerated rate.  Not surprisingly, Zaadz is a huge promoter of meditation.  The owners of the company do it, and a good percentage of the community does it, as well (I know I do it… sometimes even with my wife). 

 Types

The last component I will cover that must be included in any self-respecting AQAL framework is that of types.  There are many different ways of defining types, and we will allow for all of them:  Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, Masculine versus Feminine, etc.  Types are a bit fluid:  They can change with changing levels of development; they can be different in different lines of development; or they can remain rather stable throughout one's life.  The important thing to remember is that types should be honored and not mistaken for levels of development. 

Looking at various profiles in Zaadz, one will run across many different types.  Some Zaadzsters even blog about their type.  Others run businesses that help people discover their type and use that information beneficially.  One of the most rewarding things to be discovered while navigating Zaadz, is that people celebrate the differences and uniqueness of each other's types.  This kind of diversity appreciation is made possible by the open space provided for and the encouragement given from the CEO's and creators of Zaadz. 

*Note:  a fantastic place to get more information on an AQAL approach is the Integral Institute.  Check out <http://integralinstitute.org/approach.html> for a brief description of the various components included in an AQAL framework!