Are You Practicing In Flatland? In a recent dialogue with Zen teacher and Kung Fu Sifu Keith Martin-Smith and Integral consultant and karateka Charles Crutchfield, we explored a question that cuts to the heart of both spiritual AND martial arts practice: Are we training in a way that includes the full depth of our humanity—or are we inadvertently practicing in flatland? Flatland is the collapse of complexity: reducing practice to technique without presence, spirituality without embodiment, or meditation without shadow work. Our conversation opened up the multidimensional nature of Integral Budo as a path beyond that flattening.

We dove into the 3 S’s of Integral Practice—States, Stages, and Shadow—and examined how each dimension shapes the way we show up in conflict, leadership, and relationships. Together we looked at how connection is the real through-line: how martial practices deepen intimacy, how sitting practice expands presence, and how fierce authenticity can turn even conflict into a space of resolution. Rather than avoiding the hard edges of life, Integral Budo trains us to lean in with clarity, compassion, and skill.

This discussion ultimately points toward a path of multidimensional integration—one where our physical training, emotional maturity, contemplative insight, and interpersonal skill all come online together. If you’ve ever felt that your practice was missing something, too narrow, too cerebral, or too isolated from real-world challenges, this conversation is an invitation to expand. To leave Flatland behind. To step into the full terrain of practice.

I hope you enjoy the discussion as much as I did. Leave your comments and questions below!

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The Inner Path of meditation is thoroughly known. Its development is predictable, which means that it is teachable. And since it’s teachable, it’s learnable.

“Progress Of Insight – The Inner Path Of Meditation”
Workshop, March 23rd, 2025

Click below for details!

Join meditation teacher Miles Kessler for this online workshop, March 23rd, 2025.

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A Buddha Bro blocked me on “X” over the Israel/Palestine conflict. I had assumed we’d be able to dialogue across the polarization. We’re both Buddhist meditation teachers sharing a common lineage, friends, and mentors. We’ve both built online platforms dedicated to raising consciousness and culture. I’m half Jewish and he’s a quarter Palestinian. And we both grew up in the American South learning how to code-switch in a cultural milieu potholed with antisemitism and islamophobia.

There is a Buddhist meditation teacher who has been on my radar for some years because of his good and early work in the podcasting space. We had never met but I had tracked him a bit because we’re both in the meditation “biz”.

When I noticed his posts on X advocating for the Palestinian cause, it became clear that we shared one more piece in our similar perspectival stacks—a familial connection to the generational conflict between Israel and Palestine, albeit on opposite sides.

So when I saw this teacher’s posts on X addressing this perpetual conflict, I respectfully pushed back from my perspective. Shortly after, I was pleasantly surprised when he reached out in a DM to connect across the polarized divide.

The “Wicked Problem” Dialogue

Our initial meeting went well and we could relate to each other’s lived experiences. I offered him to join me on a live panel discussion I hosted called “Wicked Problem Conversations – Israel/Palestine WTF?”, moderated by a mutual friend and professional mediator, Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi.

We were joined by other panelists who were skilled at inhabiting multiple perspectives and could speak from personal experience on both sides of the issue. We did not agree on everything, but managed to keep the dialogue on the rails, and by the end, I felt more connected to everyone than I did before from the outset.

If nothing else, it was a small win for dialogue. Until it wasn’t.

Blocked On “X”

As the months passed and the horror of war continued to unfold, the increasingly hyper-charged polarization of this conflict played out worldwide. In this context, I’d regularly see my colleague’s posts on X advocating for the Palestinian cause, and from time to time I’d respectfully jump into the comments where I felt he was not holding Hamas to account for their responsibility in this ongoing war.

At the height of the “tentifada” protests at American university campuses, senior American Buddhist teachers Joan Halifax Roshi and Jon Kabot-Zinn posted on X their support for the student-occupied encampments (they said it reminded them of the ’60s).

I respectfully commented on their posts saying while taking an anti-war stand based on Buddhist principles of non-violence is admirable, doing so without condemning pro-war Hamas and calling for the return of the hostages is a performative contradiction.

My new friend must have seen these because shortly afterward he sent me a DM saying he was blocking me on X. He said he refused to associate with me because of what amounted to my one-sidedly defending Israel and enabling genocide on innocent people in Gaza.

Death Of Dialogue As A Fait Accompli

So, the rules had changed at some point and I didn’t get the memo. The message I was getting was that any discussion on Israel/Palestine is a non-starter unless I concede to this teacher’s claims that the Palestinians are the historical victims and my government is committing genocide on his ancestral people.

That was the pound of flesh I needed to offer up. I needed to subscribe to the narrative of the “river to the sea” crowd as the only factual discourse, or it was the end of the discussion. And of course, you can never question or criticize any actors in the free Palestine movement… including the extremist positions of Hamas.

I’m the first to admit that there is plenty to criticize regarding Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians (West Bank occupation, the settlements and settler violence, land grabs, extrajudicial arrests, etc.). But any discussion of these critical points of contention is moot because the “pound of flesh” purity test renders it all irrelevant.

It’s the death of dialogue as a fait accompli.

The Path Of Polarization

There are times when the collective trauma of the Israel/Palestine conflict is just too painful for any possible dialogue. This has certainly been my experience, especially in the traumatic aftermath of Oct. 7th. I imagine this is the case with my former colleague, but honestly, I don’t know.

However, my personal and professional convictions lie in refusing to accept polarization as the status quo. Rather, my practice obligates me to stay open to the incredibly painful friction of two opposing truths. This is the only way a true “non-zero-sum” solution to this conflict may emerge.

That being said, I am poignantly aware of how difficult it is to stay connected in conflict. Our collective human history is an ongoing tragic proof that polarization only perpetuates the suffering we inflict upon each other. This is certainly the case in the Israel/Palestine conflict.

However, if we accept this as the status quo then we must ask where this path of polarization will lead us… and is that acceptable?

Our Dialectical Challenge

As the trauma of this ongoing conflict drives us toward further polarization, we must see that accepting the death of dialogue leads to our greatest collective peril.

As Diane Musho Hamilton writes in her book on conflict resolution Everything Is Workable “There are 3 sides of every story: yours, mine, and the truth.” It is only by shifting our perspective from disconnected polarization to a connected dialectic that we have the best chance of finding the truth, and form there a just resolution.

The resiliency of our human spirit lies precisely in our capacity to rise above our baser instincts, and to heal our generational trauma… together. The path we find ourselves on going forward must include our capacity to connect, listen, dialogue, and heal with each other.

Anything less is going backward. Anything less is passing on this generational conflict to our children.

Like the American author and meditation teacher Sam Harris says “everything from the maintenance of civilization to the moral progress of our species depends on a series of successful conversations.”

Will refusing to accept polarization and the death of dialogue undo the Gordian knot that is the Israel/Palestine conflict? I don’t know. But knowing where the death of dialogue inevitably leads us, do we have any other choice?

May we all have successful conversations.

Miles Kessler is an American teacher of meditation and Aikido who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is a dual lineage holder in Buddhist meditation and the Japanese martial art of Aikido. Miles is the founder of “Aikido Without Borders”, a non-profit organization using Aikido to foster cross-cultural understanding between Israelis and Palestinians. He has been teaching meditation, Aikido, and the embodiment of spiritual awakening worldwide for over 30 years.

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This is a guest post from Italian Aikidoka Andrea Merli of Aikido Novum Experience – where he recounts of his experiences at my recent Integral Aikido seminar in Boves, Italy. | Last weekend we participated in a weekend intensive seminar led by Miles Kessler Sensei. Perfectly organized by Aiki no Kokoro of Boves, Italy. This is one of the events we most look forward to every year regarding our personal and technical development. (cont.)

Miles Kessler doesn’t need much introduction. He is a man who thinks before he speaks, teaches what he knows, and lives what he believes. These are rare qualities for the times we live in. Because of this it makes Miles Kessler’s teaching clearer and more solid.

His integration of values into experience makes him more credible. He doesn’t put himself on a pedestal (even though he could afford to). On the contrary, he reduces distance from others, both on and off the mats. This attitude is a shining example for practitioners and teachers in this discipline.

Four Primary States Of Consciousness

During the seminar’s intensive hours of training, we followed a path based on the four main states into which the spectrum of consciousness can be divided: gross, subtle, formless, and non-dual. We focused on the first two because they are easier to have direct experience of, not only in personal practice but also when we have the opportunity to visit other realities, different from ours.

It’s common to experience dimensions of practice that are totally in the physical, emotional, or mental domains. Historically, classic approaches to Martial Arts were based on “technique and sweat”. Other dimensions were simply not considered. This is defined as the “gross domain”. This is not meant in a negative sense, just as it is not derogatory to refer to an uncut diamond as “gross”. It’s just not yet refined.

The problem begins to arise when – as Miles Kessler stated – you are unable to move from one state to another. Remaining in the technique dimension alone will lead to problems, as does remaining exclusively in the subtle dimension.

Such reflections, supported by practice, have allowed us to grasp new dimensions of what is called “tradition“.

The Path From Gross To Subtle

Certainly, Miles Kessler, more than many teachers, is a person who grew up in the martial and Eastern spiritual traditions in the most original sense.

He lived with and studied for years with Morihiro Saito Sensei whose only mission was to pass on what he had seen and experienced with Morihei Ueshiba. Not only was Miles a close student of Saito Sensei for many years, but he was also his translator for some years in various training sessions.

After 8 years of studying Aikido in Japan, Miles went on to study meditation, where he was trained and educated in Burma for several more years. There he studied under the guidance of the renowned meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita. These are not experiences that many can say they have lived in such a total and immersive way.

Therefore, in the gross, physical dimension, there is a way to make tradition shine: the setting of the technique is based on principles, sharp lines, and movements that tradition hands down in a very clear way. But why?

It’s not just a question of effectiveness. Correctly understanding and cocreating the techniques with your partner is the essential requirement for developing the grammar with which you can express yourself on a more subtle level.

For example, traditional training is not about how many techniques you still have to study from a hypothetical list. Rather, the training of the traditional curriculum ideally will lead you to internalize the movements and the principles that are “baked into” the curriculum.

Having the good fortune to train with people who have internalized the art directly from the source, reveals that forms are only partial. And, if you hold on to the forms too excessively, you will eventually just become lost.

The Shift From Gross To Subtle

During the seminar, Miles repeatedly stressed that the gross dimension necessarily diminishes with time. As you get older, your physical abilities will decline. There is a diminishing return.

On the other hand, the subtle, and spiritual dimensions of the art only continue to grow. Where as the body will decline over time, the spirit is not called to the same fate. Therefore, any physical practice you engage in should also cultivate the internal dimensions.

Explicitly working on the gross and the subtle dimensions, at the same time are pendulum movement that allows the person to flourish and develop more and more.

What do you practice? What do you follow? Who did you learn from? What did your teacher master concerning technique? What did they master concerning the subtle dimensions, such as meditation?

Reflecting on this will help you to many eastern disciplines. Traditions that are at risk of becoming lost. Becoming fascinated and attracted to exotic practices, or esoteric power runs the risk of forgetting the concrete daily work. Being attached to technical forms in the gross dimension and merely imagining you are nourishing your spirit –  simply becomes another way to feed your ego.

You can have a deep appreciation of the value of our training in the gross forms. But you can also let go of the belief that we need thousands of repetitions of forms before we can access the subtle dimension. You can let go of the brutally insensitive belief that without years of hard physical practice, we’ll never understand the techniques.

Miles teaches with total technical clarity but without rigidity. He expresses a clean spiritual depth, without any imposed “gurism”. His approach includes the gross and subtle dimensions and it feels good because it is true, simple, and universal.

If Aikido, as it is, is a school of freedom, Miles Kessler is certainly one of its greatest teachers. It is up to us to patiently do our daily practice and to follow his example.

Special thanks to Andrea Merli for allowing me to repost this piece from his blog. Andrea lives in Torino, Italy where he practices and teaches Aikido with his wife Sara. He trains Aikido under Marco Rubatto at Hara Kai Dojo, and teaches Aikido at Novum Experience.

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The Riviera Seminar 2024 | “UNITY IN DIVERSITY”

w/ Patrick Cassidy, Bruno Gonzales, & Miles Kessler

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS!

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In the past 48 hours, I’ve had a heated “cancel culture” experience in a Facebook post I made. In the 130+ comments that ensued, here’s a taste of what my liberal brothers and sisters have been calling me:

The Name-Calling

I have been called; reactive, dismissive, pedantic, patronizing, tone deaf, too “wise” to learn, a fragile white man, an old white man, a middle-aged white man, a white man, an economically privileged white man, a privileged man, a man, a claimer of victimhood, a reverse victim, an oppressor, an abuser, a name-caller, an intentional misspeller of names, an intentional fomenter of controversy, a user of teachers as pawns, a misuser of grammar, a recruiter of warriors against diversity, a jailer of queers, a jailer of kids, a MAGA-ist, Ron DeSantis, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, a DARVO enactor, a denier, and an attacker (…to be fair, I’m at least a few of these).

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Thank you all for being part of our practice community this past year of 2023. To express my gratitude for this community I just made a 5- min. New Year video greeting offering a special practice for us all in the coming year of 2024. Thank you all for walking this path together and I look forward to going deeper in practice together in the coming year. Much love! Miles

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