Why I Want to Enter the Masters of the Art Program, Integral Theory at JFK University

My Admissions Essay for John F. Kennedy University, Integral Theory Program

Personal Statement;
I have always been interested in expanding my education so I decided to take my unique medical experience and add to it an education that will provide me a unique lens on life and any other dimensions I may come across in my studies. By “life,” I mean family, religion, politics, economics, philosophy, business, and all their subcategories such as management, labor, marketing, etc. By “other dimensions,” I mean family values, political intentions, economic influence, religious beliefs, and those things that have an unyielding connection to consciousness and its resulting emotion. I have just finished two years at New York Institute of Technology where I have achieved a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, summa cum laude. I found that my academic thinking and work has directed me in very specific ways toward a way of thinking that is universal and less exclusionary, more strategic than tactical, being able to visualize the forces on a subject, not just the force of the subject, giving me a more rational assessment of the subject. I believe the integral theory program will sharpen these gifts and discipline me to see, perceive, and rationalize beyond my current understanding.

Rationalism is a way to rationalize everything in the universe …a journey to understand reality. Rationalism is the opposite of delusion. It is the pursuit of achieving and understanding the foundation of existence (arche), how that existence interacts (physics), and how we connect to that process (logos) so we can put it all together in a beautiful universe (cosmos). Some have purposefully perverted rationalism for power with politics and religion. I see the integral model holding onto and enhancing these traditions of rationalism. Considering the destructive and corrosive nature of false gods and political hacks it seems mandatory that we progress intellectually before these groups lull us into ignorance and destruction.
My career, training, and education have given me a full and unique foundation on which to build the second stage of my life. Other than the exploration of consciousness and its uses, my passions have been writing and the visual arts. I feel that following this passion is like health food for consciousness. For the visual arts, I bring a unique and highly technical knowledge of the finest digital software and computers in existence. I bring an inner perspective of the human body that few have experienced, with nearly 30 years using general diagnostic radiology, computerized axial tomography, and angiography equipment. For my writing, which will be the larger focus and expression of my life, I will use my experience, integrate it with the integral model to sharpen my views, and strive to reveal a new view and way of progressive, meaningful, and stimulating existence.

I have a very minimum understanding of integral theory but feel compelled to understand more. The beliefs I have been forming after my return to academia have been very much in line with everything I have read or deduced about integral reality.
I have started my second career taking interdisciplinary courses at NYiT, completing my bachelor’s of science there with concentrations in English, Business, and the Humanities. I chose this field in order to understand the play between fields of knowledge. The integral theory program here at JFK University will make the perfect next step to supplement my somewhat macro view of the interdisciplinary interaction with a micro understanding of the common thread that weaves through them, consciousness, and the minds conscious navigation of them. I believe I have a fine mind and love to crawl in and around ideas, philosophical dilemmas, and hopefully the frontiers of Integral theory.

In this next stage of my education, I wish to focus on the utility and purpose of consciousness and its influences. I am very interested in the universal questions concerning consciousness as an entity and meditation as a utility. On occasion, I have experienced profound levels of meditation with vague insights and euphoric revelations I have difficulty describing. “Nature mysticism” is the closest definition I have seen and within the world of literature, the closest I have found is a passage from the poem Auguries of Innocence by William Blake (1863).

“To see the world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wildflower
Hold infinity in the Palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.”

I believe the integral theory program will focus me so I can better understand and control these levels of consciousness. I have no formal training of meditation and look forward to exploring the various states of consciousness this course examines.
Throughout my life, I have questioned certain concepts of religion, such as what are Heaven and God. Over time, I found it easy to perceive God as in omnipresent consciousness quite similar to the integral Institute’s collective portion of intersubjectivity as I understand it from very brief contemplation. This is the direction my inquiries lead me. Humanity’s concept of God/heaven is the least familiar and most subjective, and earth is our most familiar and objective reality given the senses we have. They seem to have a battle line, or at least a barrier. I have concepts of heaven and earth and I question, specifically, what is the barrier that separates them? Is it a mind/conscience barrier, a physical barrier, a temporal barrier, or maybe all three? Is consciousness an organism that occupies all massless space (dark matter) as some theories suggest? I hope to utilize integral theory to test and compare various religious beliefs and refining the best of each into a path of my own. I am also interested in knowing whether the integral model can help reveal the true function, meaning, and structure of consciousness. I want to be in a field of study that can examine existential questions such as, is consciousness occupying all massless space, and we are mere individual gatherers of reality, or are we processing reality to where the universal collective conscience forms our existence? Are there essential oppositions within this collective consciousness, if so what is the consequence of its balance? Conservative versus liberal, good or bad intentions versus consequence, empathy versus vanity --is our individual portion of consciousness somehow balancing all rational truth? I would love to work as a team in an online academic setting and study how humanity will be facing these questions moving forward into human history. I sincerely want to be a part of this pioneering effort.

I am my conscience... everything I am, everything I see, everything I do is according to my conscience. It is what makes us good or bad, happy or sad... the great teacher/philosopher Luis E. Navia gave us the concept that conscience encompasses us like the light from a bulb... we can only brighten the bulb through inquiries, education, and exploration. It is very important to me at this stage of my life to maximize illumination so I may better rationalize our existence. There is also the question of a collective conscience and our role as individuals to participate within it. This is the direction my inquiries and integral theory seem to be going. Despite the fact I have little knowledge of integral concepts, I found myself googling toward it with my inquiries and deductions about conscious life and spirituality. This is quite literally, how I found this course, and why I have concluded after some research, this is the direction my life and education should take. I was surprised to find it so close and exhilarated by the fact there is actually an accredited course put together by leading researchers in this field. I am very excited that I have a chance to be part of the team investigating this new and exciting frontier.

I can only hope this application is judged more on my ambition, and less on my ability to express it. I have always been interested in the mind, especially ways of utilizing it. I have not found a program that focuses specifically on exploring the discipline and utilization of the mind more then this program, integral theory here at JFK University, and I earnestly hope you accept my application.
Thank you for your consideration,

Robert S. Centilli II