AI, Psychedelics, and the Future of Human Consciousness Integral Life 2026-09-22 | AI, Psychedelics, and the Future of Human Consciousness
Sex, Gender, and Identity: Beyond Wokism and Trumpism Integral Life 2023-08-18 | Full discussion here:integrallife.com/sex-identity-gender-beyond-wokism-and-trumpismCorey deVos joins Keith to discuss how our notions of sex, gender, and identity apply to some of the most contentious and pressing issues of our time — gender education in schools, men’s rights issues, the banning of drag shows, trans people participating in sports, the availability of gender-affirming care for young people, the impact of social media on gender identity, and more.In order to answer the question “what is a man” (or “what is a woman”), Keith and Corey carefully track sex, gender, and identity as fundamental aspects of the self that can exist in a state of fusion, differentiation, dissociation, or integration, depending on the developmental stage(s) the question is being asked from. This is one of the most common causes of conflict around this issue, as people have very different meanings of words like “gender”, which can refer to biology, identity, or the various social constructs we have inherited, depending on where we are in this sequence. Which is why, when it comes to the question of gender, people are constantly talking past each other, and why the conversation often stalls at the level of ideological doctrine and debate, which we see so often in the culture wars. How can we elevate the discussion into a more fruitful dialogue, discourse, and dialectic? By properly differentiating and integrating these factors into a more coherent vision of sex, gender, and identity.In a world where these topics often generate more heat than light, our aim is to bring clarity, insight, and a spirit of inclusive dialogue to the conversation. Our focus, as always, is bringing our most integral hearts and minds to these conflicts, so that we can provide the greatest opportunities for happiness, fulfillment, and freedom of expression for the greatest number of people, while also minimizing harm and promoting understanding, empathy, and respect among all parties involved.
Marianne Williamson — Peace, Love, and Politics: A Campaign to Transform America [HIGHLIGHTS] Integral Life 2023-07-06 | Watch the full episode here:integrallife.com/peace-love-and-politicsIn this episode of Integral Justice Warrior, we are joined by special guest, longtime friend, and Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson. We take an inside look at her campaign and the core principles of love, peace, and compassion that it is built upon. Marianne’s unflinching commitment to transforming the many deep-rooted dysfunctions of our political, economic, and technological systems is deeply inspiring, as is her call to return to love in our relationship to each other and to the world around us.Key topics discussed in the episode include:- The need for economic justice and the fight against economic inequality. Marianne advocates for a living wage, gender wage equality, and reparations for slavery as necessary steps towards a more equitable society.- The importance of political reforms. Marianne criticizes the Supreme Court for functioning as a mouthpiece for the corporatist order and suggests potential reforms such as term limits for justices or possibly increasing the number of justices, and also agrees with Corey’s suggestion around repealing the 1929 Reapportionment Act.- The role of spiritual principles in politics. Marianne emphasizes the spiritual concepts embodied in the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. She believes that aligning policies with these principles can solve every problem the US faces.- The need for a nuanced approach to foreign policy. Marianne calls for a balance of competition and collaboration with China and the establishment of a Department of Peace to address global issues in a more holistic way — “waging peace” rather than waging war.- The challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence (AI). Marianne expresses concern about the potential dangers of AI and calls for government regulation of these technologies.- Throughout the discussion, Marianne’s deep understanding of both spiritual awakening and complex political realities shines through. Her campaign is not just about winning an election, but about sparking a fundamental transformation in American politics and society.You can find Marianne’s campaign page here: marianne2024.comWatch the full episode here:integrallife.com/peace-love-and-politics
What Is a Man (And Why Does It Matter?) — EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Integral Life 2023-07-06 | Watch the full episode here:integrallife.com/what-is-a-manWhat is a man? Vulnerable? Gentle? Powerful? Big biceps? Tall? Strong? Innovative? Loyal? Logical?On the Left, more and more say a man is whatever you want it to be — penis or vagina, boobs or pecs, loaded with testosterone or almost none of it, masculine or feminine — it makes no difference. A man, or a woman, is a form of self-identity, freed from any biological constraints. If you say you’re a man, it’s my job to accept it and society’s job to validate it.On the Right, more and more say that a man, or a woman, are constrained by their biology if not outright defined by it, and all of this talk of “identity” runs the range from irritating to an existential threat on traditional gender roles. Conservatives say that a man and woman are defined by their biology first and foremost, and that there is no burying or obfuscating that truth.Who should we believe?
The Integral Way of Jean Gebser (Part 2) with Jeremy Johnson Integral Life 2023-04-04 | In part two of Jeremy Johnson's presentation, we turn to Gebser’s unique transmission of integral consciousness, drawing from contemporary examples of art, culture, and philosophy to help illustrate the emergence of “integral time.” It is through living this integral mode of time that we can begin to cohere the complexity of our Anthropocene present and wayfind towards habitable tomorrows.Jean Gebser (1905-1973) was a Swiss poet, integral philosopher and phenomenologist of consciousness. His magisterial work, The Ever-Present Origin (1949) has made significant contributions to both Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory and the field of Integral Studies at large. Gebser describes — in vivid detail — the unfoldment of human consciousness across the span of history: from our origins in the archaic to the magic, mythic, and mental, and still further onto our collective integral futures. The great breadth and depth of his knowledge of art and culture, shared through the unique prose of a man who was both a poet and a contemplative, allows for a truly radiant vision of human consciousness that shines through and past concepts of linearity and hierarchy.In this liminal epoch, marked by the throes of social fragmentation and a warming planet, our species finds itself under the immense pressure of a world, and worldview, in painful transition, the outcome of which is uncertain and potentially terminal—not just to us, but to all life. This makes it not just an opportune, but a crucial moment to revisit this seminal architect of integral philosophy. His work opens us to seeing, as he did, that we are already being shaped by tomorrow. As Gebser shows so transparently, it is only through a deep, senseful communing with a living present we can understand and integrate the past. Within this understanding of time, our voice can truly become an echo of our future.In this two part introductory series, participants will explore a brief — if experiential — journey through the structures of consciousness, discovering how they continue to live in and through us and our world.
The Integral Way of Jean Gebser (Part 1) with Jeremy Johnson Integral Life 2023-04-04 | Jean Gebser (1905-1973) was a Swiss poet, integral philosopher and phenomenologist of consciousness. His magisterial work, The Ever-Present Origin (1949) has made significant contributions to both Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory and the field of Integral Studies at large. Gebser describes — in vivid detail — the unfoldment of human consciousness across the span of history: from our origins in the archaic to the magic, mythic, and mental, and still further onto our collective integral futures. The great breadth and depth of his knowledge of art and culture, shared through the unique prose of a man who was both a poet and a contemplative, allows for a truly radiant vision of human consciousness that shines through and past concepts of linearity and hierarchy.In this liminal epoch, marked by the throes of social fragmentation and a warming planet, our species finds itself under the immense pressure of a world, and worldview, in painful transition, the outcome of which is uncertain and potentially terminal—not just to us, but to all life. This makes it not just an opportune, but a crucial moment to revisit this seminal architect of integral philosophy. His work opens us to seeing, as he did, that we are already being shaped by tomorrow. As Gebser shows so transparently, it is only through a deep, senseful communing with a living present we can understand and integrate the past. Within this understanding of time, our voice can truly become an echo of our future.In this two part introductory series, participants will explore a brief — if experiential — journey through the structures of consciousness, discovering how they continue to live in and through us and our world.In part two, we will turn to Gebser’s unique transmission of integral consciousness, drawing from contemporary examples of art, culture, and philosophy to help illustrate the emergence of “integral time.” It is through living this integral mode of time that we can begin to cohere the complexity of our Anthropocene present and wayfind towards habitable tomorrows.
What Is Integral Spirituality? [PREVIEW] Integral Life 2023-01-20 | Watch the full discussion here:integrallife.com/integral-spiritual-explorations-what-is-integral-spiritualityWhat exactly do we mean by spirituality, and what do we mean specifically by “integral spirituality?” In this discussion, Nomali Perera presents a brief but vast array of ways in which we can explore this topic of integral spirituality. Her guests, longtime integral spiritual teachers and practitioners, Lama Pema Dragpa, Jeff Salzman & Rollie Stanich share their own inquiries and ideas of practices as well as answer questions from event attendees. At the end, you’ll also find a great integral anthem, “Universe Communion” by Stuart Davis, which beautifully captures the theme of integral spirituality.Lama Pema Dragpa is a resident Dharma teacher at Padma Samye Ling (PSL) since 2004. Ordained as a lama, Dragpa graduated with honors in philosophy & religious studies from NYU in 2002, and is a senior editor of over 25 books on Buddhist philosophy & meditation.Jeff Salzman co-founded the Boulder Integral Center, worked alongside Ken Wilber in the early to mid 2000's developing the Integral Institute, and has been the host of The Daily Evolver podcast for over 10 years. He also co-founded CareerTrack Training, an adult education company he and his partner built into an international organization producing over 3000. A long time spiritual practitioner in many traditions, he has a Masters Degree in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism from Naropa University.Rollie Stanich was the co-director of the Integral Spiritual Center at Integral Institute in the mid 2000's and played a critical role in developing multiple events bringing together some of the best spiritual teachers of various traditions. He is the author of Integral Christianity: The Way of Embodied Love. Rollie Stanich grew up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He was awarded the University of Calgary’s highest scholarship for four consecutive years, and graduated with distinction from the Faculty of Management in 1990. Rollie is also working in the clean energy industry.Nomali Perera has been in the field of leadership development coaching, facilitation and teaching since 2007. Nomali is a certified facilitator of Polarity Management, the Immunity to Change™ process, and an Integral Master Coach through Integral Coaching Canada. Nomali has also been a professional consultant in people development and training in Brazil and Mexico. She was a staff member of Integral Institute in the early to mid 2000’s and was a co-founder of the Boulder Integral Center.
Psychedelic Therapy and the Politics of Consciousness Integral Life 2022-12-30 | Find the full 1.5 hour discussion here:integrallife.com/psychedelic-therapy-and-the-politics-of-consciousnessIn the recent 2022 midterm elections, Colorado joined the state of Oregon in its decriminalization of psychedelic substances for therapeutic use.Here Dr. Keith and Corey explore some of the major implications of this profound legal shift, both in terms of our overall emotional, psychological, and spiritual health, as well as our rapidly evolving “politics of consciousness” — those states of consciousness that are sanctioned by the state, versus those that are not.Watch as we take an in-depth look at the many growth opportunities being surfaced by these changing laws, and how integral concepts such as quadrants, states, and developmental stages help us better understand the effects these substances have on us, as well as the role they have played throughout history.Find the full 1.5 hour discussion here:integrallife.com/psychedelic-therapy-and-the-politics-of-consciousness
How to Thrive During the Holidays Integral Life 2022-12-22 | Holidays can be tough. For many the holiday season can be the some of the most hectic and challenging weeks of the year, as the accumulated stresses from travel, seasonal affect disorders, and various childhood wounds come to the surface. And these things often have a way of knocking us off of our game, destabilizing our practice and distracting us from our wisest self.Join Lisa Frost and Kevin Snorf for a look at not just how to survive the holidays, but how to genuinely thrive and deepen your commitment to practice.
How Developed Is Artificial Intelligence? Integral Life 2022-12-20 | We just subjected the world’s most advanced AI to the world’s most sophisticated test for human maturity.We call it the Maturing Test.Could the results transform our world?Developmental psychologists have demonstrated that a human being grows through a successive progression of increasingly complex stages of meaning-making. These stages of ego/self-identity development can be thought of as coherent structures or patterns of how the “self” of each stage organizes and navigates itself in relation to the world (e.g., think of how the 3 year old self organizes itself and its world versus the 12 year old self versus the 30 year old self, and you’ll begin to appreciate the progression of qualitatively more advanced maturity that occurs). Maturity of a given adult’s ego/self-identity is assessed through language, specifically how they reply to a set of specific sentence prompts, prompts like “A true friend…“, “My mother and I…“, “Rules are…” and a few dozen others.Using this same method, we just assessed GPT-3, the world’s most advanced sentence-generating Artificial Intelligence, having it complete sentence prompts for the Maturity Assessment Profile developed by Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter. This test and its resulting data has been collected on hundreds of thousands of sentence replies over the course of four decades, and shows that more mature “selves” evidence a growing sophistication, self-awareness, sensitivity and perspectival fluidity as they progress to later, more complex stages of self-development.So what is the maturity level demonstrated by the world’s most advanced AI?It is impressive, promising, and thought-provoking — and in this very special discussion we reveal the results and discuss what they mean, where it may go from here, and how this might impact our world.This main presentation is available for free. If you'd like to see the full Q&A we held afterward, you can find it here:integrallife.com/the-maturing-test-how-developed-is-the-worlds-most-advanced-ai0:00 — Introduction9:02 — How Do We Measure Development?18:52 — How Did ChatGPT Score?32:33 — The Structure/Content Fallacy40:05 — Tay the Racist Robot
Holons: The Building Blocks of the Universe Integral Life 2022-12-13 | Join Corey deVos for this fun, fascinating, and far-reaching exploration of one of the essential cornerstones of integral theory — holons, or the apparently endless series of “part/wholes” that fundamentally compose reality as we know it.Accompanied by music, imagery, and animation, this presentation will not only help you better understand what a holon actually is (and what it isn’t!) but also how this understanding can radically deepen your appreciation for the natural world, and for all of the other holonic intelligences that exist alongside us on this planet.This is the story of the universe itself. These holons give rise to the entire “great chain” of evolutionary emergence, a legacy of incremental wholeness that runs from the very first subatomic particles to emerge after the Big Bang, all the way to your own integral mind, right now in this moment.We should note that, while Corey emphasizes the most rigorous definition of “holons” (any whole/part that possesses its own interior), the word “holon” is also often used generically to describe any kind of whole/part we see in nature. For example, “letters, words, and sentences” — none of which actually have interiors of their own, but are rather describing a nested series of whole/parts that human beings use to communicate their interiors to each other. It is totally okay to use the word “holon” for these kinds of non-sentient components, but we should remember that “true holons” also possess their own interior realities, as Corey explains in the video.00:00 - What Is a Holon?A basic overview of whole/parts as the primary building blocks of the universe.05:02 - The Two DrivesIntroducing Arthur Koestler, the man who coined the word “holons” in his book The Ghost in the Machine, and his observation that people are subject to two primary drives — to be a whole, and to be a part of a greater whole — and how these drives can sometimes lead to dark and violent places.08:08 - The Two WatchmakersA parable of increasing integration, showing how the universe uses holons to maximize evolutionary efficiency.10:49 - Let's Invent a UniverseIf you want to make a pie, or an integral metatheory, first you need to invent the universe. Here’s how.13:24 - Aren't Hierarchies Bad?Not so fast. Here’s why growth hierarchies are inherently anti-fascist, anti-authoritarian, and anti-corruption.18:14 - The Secret Life of HolonsThe twenty rules that all holons live by, summarizing Ken Wilber’s 20 Tenets from his book, Sex Ecology, Spirituality.28:40 - Heaps, Wholes, and ArtifactsAn overview of the different kinds of holarchy (or nested hierarchy) that exist in the universe.36:12 - Inhabiting Social HolonsTaking a first-person inside perspective of various holons in a group, at multiple levels of evolution.44:27 - Finding WholenessHow we can fulfill our drive toward wholeness — and toward being a part of greater whole — in our own lives.
There Are No Victims in Zen Integral Life 2022-11-18 | You can find the full 2 hour discussion here:integrallife.com/therapy-awakening-a-new-integrationKeith Martin-Smith speaks with Chad Bennett, a psychotherapist and ordained Zen priest, about why our existing ideas of therapy are often limited and keep us bound inside of the therapeutic relationship, unable to learn the skills necessary to continue our own growth towards psychological wholeness.They also discuss the necessity of “Waking Up” practices as a vital part of any therapeutic practice, and how the very idea of liberation needs to be understood as awakening through the ego, not from it.It seems more and more clear that to truly awaken from suffering, a new kind of therapy and a new kind of meditation must be practiced — and that they must be done together. This talk explores how to make this possible for yourself.We hope you enjoy this wide-ranging and deep dive into Waking Up, Cleaning Up, and Growing Up.integrallife.com/therapy-awakening-a-new-integration
The Art of Practice: The WHAT, WHY, and HOW of Integral Practice Integral Life 2022-09-30 | “Through practice, gently and gradually we can collect ourselves and learn how to be more fully with what we do.” -Jack KornfieldThe truth is, you’re always practicing something. What is your default practice if you are not practicing consciously?In this episode Lisa and Kevin talk about the WHY, WHAT and HOW of practice:- Why practice in the first place?- What makes for a good practice?- How should you think about practice design?We also discuss the pros and cons of an Integral Life Practice and how to start if you’ve never practiced consciously before.
Inhabit: Your Bardo Integral Life 2022-09-15 | “Every moment is a bardo. Every moment is a death, and an opportunity for new life.” —Corey deVosIn the Buddhist tradition, the “bardo” refers to the transitional state between lifetimes, a liminal state (or series of states) between death and birth. There are no shortage of practices designed to help us prepare for this ultimate transition — to “practice dying”, as Plato instructed his disciples to do. As Ken Wilber says,“All spiritual practice is a rehearsal—and at its best, an enactment—of death. As the mystics put it, ‘If you die before you die, then when you die, you won’t die.’ In other words, if right now you die to the separate-self sense, and discover instead your real Self which is the entire Kosmos at large, then the death of this particular bodymind is but a leaf falling from the eternal tree that you are.”However, this is not a conversation about death. It is a conversation about life. It’s about recognizing the fact that every moment is a bardo, a transition from one state of being to another state of being — and within these ubiquitous transitions there are opportunities to transcend the karmas of our conditioning, and to channel new kinds of creativity into the world. This discussion is an open-hearted celebration of transition, an appreciation of the fact that there is never any real solid ground beneath our feet, because nothing is truly solid or lasting in this manifest world. We know that, in this reality, “energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed” — which means that only the changing is real. Creation and destruction, birth and death, are illusions arising from the temporary semi-stable patterns of organization that forever exist in their own perpetual state of transition. The only truly permanent ground we can ever hope to find is the Ground of Being itself, which never actually enters the stream of time to begin with, but nonetheless infuses and envelopes the whole of manifest reality.We hope that this conversation will help you participate more consciously with the ever-changing flow of your own life, and to find new ways to harness the creative engine at the very core of this transitional moment right now.
Personality as the Base Note of Change Work Integral Life 2022-08-25 | Personalities are base notes—they are the collective instinctive strengths and weaknesses in each person’s responses to the world that feel normal to them. They are a form of type.A personality disorder is an extremely maladaptive personality trait composed of deficits in a person’s ability to deal with the world, and instinctive reactions that cause significant problems in important realms.Maladaptive personality traits occur on a continuum from milder impairment to major impairment. They generally reflect people being habitually less flexible, adaptive, and socially appropriate in ways that cause drama rather than solve problems. Drama is defined as participating in the persecutor/rescuer/victim triangle.On the more functional end of the continuum are people having problems with maladaptive habits of being, but also having some ability to receive influence without extreme resistance and who have some capacities to change behaviors.On the less functional end are people having significant problems with maladaptive habits of being, with little or no ability to ability to receive influence, and who have major resistance to changing behaviors—generally diagnosable as personality disorders.Whatever mode of therapy you’re using, it’s beneficial to keep influencing clients to install missing capacities in their personalities and take responsibility for problems stemming from maladaptive personality traits. It’s always a good idea to help people be more flexible, adaptive, and appropriate. This is both especially difficult and crucially important with personality disorders.What are personality disorders?Our personality is a tool kit with different capacities embedded in traits—like empathy, trust, self-awareness, defensiveness, self-regulation, and a sense of humor—which we instinctively bring to bear on different problems. Some people have personality disorders that allow them to only have one tool to bring to bear on multiple situations, whether the tool is effective or not. Paranoid people are consistently suspicious, avoidant people are consistently resistant to social risks, etc. The end result is that in situations where the one tool isn’t adaptive, the person creates drama instead of solving problems.Some research suggests that 15% to 19% of the general population have a major deficit in their personalities that cause them and others significant distress. For example:Obsessive compulsive personality disorder (2% to 8% of the general population, 3% to 10% clinical population) reflects someone who is rigid, controlling, and prone to flashes of anger when not in control. This person lacks flexibility.Narcissistic personality disorder (1% of the general population, 2% to 16% of the clinical population) reflects someone who is grandiose, entitled, and manipulative. This person lacks a sense of equality with other people.Borderline personality disorder (1.6% of the general population, 10% of psychiatric outpatient population and 20% inpatient population) reflects someone who cycles chaotically from normal to extremely distressed with accompanying distorted stories and destructive actions towards self and others. This person lacks proportionality.People with personality disorders resist awareness of their deficits and taking responsibility for their problems. They enter therapy because of problems with their trait, not because they believe the trait is their problem. The foundation of their therapy—no matter what their presenting problem (which is often an artifact of, or amplified by, their maladaptive trait)—involves helping them become aware of their deficits and take responsibility to cultivate the missing capacities and observe how their one tool often creates drama rather than solves problems.
Making Integral Ideas Into Art Integral Life 2022-08-04 | Corey deVos needs no introduction to members of Integral Life. He has been Editor-In-Chief of the platform since its inception in 2003, creating an extraordinary series of interviews with Ken Wilber, and curating the amazing wealth of content that has appeared on the platform over 20 years.Corey and Steve start out talking a bit about the world premiere of Steve’s major choral expression of Integral, ‘Blue Pearl: A One World Oratorio’, which took place on 14th May 2022. The high-quality film of the full concert, which met with a rapturous response, is now available to view on Integral Life, which you can find here: integrallife.com/blue-pearl-a-one-world-oratorioA must-see for anyone into Integral music.Corey’s carves his Integral art in beautiful exotic woods, with designs created digitally and carved by computer-driven tools. He describes how a synchronistic combination of states and ‘structures’ led him to discover his affinity with this art form, which was also a confluence of many of Corey’s existing passions (including being inspired by the Japanese art of Shou Sugi Ban – charring wood by burning it). His story is a beautiful example of how an artist’s search for wholeness and happiness leads them to an artistic expression which is unique to their particular life journey. Corey talks about how this art form is an integration of a number of historic technologies, ranging from agrarian to industrial to informational.Corey then talks about his latest creation, ‘Fourth Turning Dharma Wheel’, a beautiful three-dimensional mandala representing the ‘fourth turning’ of Buddhism, with symbols representing the four Quadrants (and, indeed, the eight ‘zones’ of Integral Methodological Pluralism).Steve draws parallels with Corey’s process of creating his pieces with his own process of composing the Blue Pearl oratorio, from an initial idea that appears in the mind, to using computer programs to turn that idea into a specific form or ‘design’, and then making that design materially manifest – in Corey’s case needing knowledge of the particular features of each wood; in Steve’s case, needing knowledge of the particular features of each instrument in the choir and orchestra.Corey talks about his other passion in the arts – music: how it helped him develop emotionally, and his DJ compilations of different tracks into an integral whole. He talks about how music is somehow harder to talk about than other (visual) art forms, such as film. They also talk about how, and why, there has been very little classical music in the Integral world compared to other musical genres.Corey goes on to talk through his ‘Quadrant series’ – a series of stunning depictions of the ‘AQAL’ diagram (Quadrants and Levels) that has changed so many lives, and how the making of these pieces has been a part of the process over many years of deepening his interior experience of the quadrants.Corey compares music to visual art, and explains how, for him, music has a particular power in the way that it bypasses the conceptual mind and leads you directly into altered states, with simultaneously both a transcendent and a directly immanent quality; whereas extracting the meaning from a painting takes some time. He reads a beautiful quote about music from Walter Savage Landor:"Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven."Corey explains how he hopes his carvings will impact the viewer, and his process of customizing each piece for a particular person. And then they go on to discuss a question about Integral art in general: can you tell that a work of art is Integral just by looking at it, or hearing it? They talk about the ‘emergent’ feature of the evolving Kosmos which is so central to an Integral approach, and how therefore Integral art is likely to emerge in ever evolving forms. And how seeking out only art that is Integral may be missing the point, when an Integrally-informed viewer can ‘enact’ any art Integrally. They end with a brief look at some miscellaneous pieces Corey has made and Corey talks about where he sees his art going from here.
What books would Ken Wilber take to a desert island? Integral Life 2022-07-19 | Full episode: integrallife.com/no-boundary-ken-wilber-goes-back-to-high-schoolFree Email Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeKen speaks with high school students to discuss his 1979 classic, No Boundary. What follows is a lively and deeply insightful exploration of integral spirituality, Ken’s personal practice, and the path of awakening that leads us to nondual realization.Participate in our daily Integral Life Practice sessions: integrallife.com/calendarWatch all episodes of The Ken Show: integrallife.com/category/perspectives/the-ken-showWhat is Integral? integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approachFollow our news on Facebook: facebook.com/IntegralLifeOfficialIntegral thoughts on Twitter: twitter.com/RobbSmithIntegral Life is a member-driven digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century. Integral Life offers perspectives, practices, analysis, and community to help people grow into the full capacities of integral consciousness in order to thrive in a rapidly-evolving world.
The 8 Zones of Racism | Ken Wilber Integral Life 2022-06-13 | Watch the Full Conversation: integrallife.com/integral-critical-theory-the-8-zones-of-racismFree Email Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeWe are here today to talk about the 8 critical zones of integral metatheory, and to apply them to the ongoing cultural conversation taking place around race, racism, and other kinds of bigotry that we continue to see in the world. This discussion is going to be a great opportunity to not only learn more about these 8 primordial perspectives that are available to us, but also to see how they can be applied to social and cultural challenges and “wicked problems” such as these.Participate in our daily Integral Life Practice sessions: integrallife.com/calendarWatch all episodes of The Ken Show: integrallife.com/category/perspectives/the-ken-showWhat is Integral? integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approachFollow our news on Facebook: facebook.com/IntegralLifeOfficialIntegral thoughts on Twitter: twitter.com/RobbSmithIntegral Life is a member-driven digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century. Integral Life offers perspectives, practices, analysis, and community to help people grow into the full capacities of integral consciousness in order to thrive in a rapidly-evolving world.
How To Teach Kids About Sex & Gender | Dr. Keith Witt & Corey W. deVos Integral Life 2022-06-10 | Watch the Full Conversation: integrallife.com/how-to-teach-kids-about-sex-and-genderFree Email Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeWhat exactly are “developmentally appropriate, age-appropriate” ways to teach kids about sex, gender, and identity, not only for kids in kindergarten through third grade, but throughout the rest of childhood and adolescence? Which aspects are more appropriate to teach at home, and which are appropriate to teach at school? Watch as Dr. Keith and Corey share their thoughts.Participate in our daily Integral Life Practice sessions: integrallife.com/calendarWatch all episodes of The Ken Show: integrallife.com/category/perspectives/the-ken-showWhat is Integral? integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approachFollow our news on Facebook: facebook.com/IntegralLifeOfficialIntegral thoughts on Twitter: twitter.com/RobbSmithIntegral Life is a member-driven digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century. Integral Life offers perspectives, practices, analysis, and community to help people grow into the full capacities of integral consciousness in order to thrive in a rapidly-evolving world.
What’s Wrong With Education (And How Can We Fix It?) | Mark Fischler and Corey deVos Integral Life 2022-06-07 | Listen to the Full Conversation: integrallife.com/whats-wrong-with-education-and-how-can-we-fix-itFree Email Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeBroken education produces broken people. How can integral perspectives and practices help our education systems generate more happy, healthy, and wholesome kids?It’s hard to think of anyone better to talk to about this issue than Mark Fischler, who has deep familiarity with the educational system (both as a professor and as a father), with the justice system, and with integral theory itself.Mark and I take a close look at the many dysfunctions, injustices, and failures we see in our education system — both within the system (how and what kids are being taught) as well as surrounding the system (access to education, funding, etc.).Participate in our daily Integral Life Practice sessions: integrallife.com/calendarWatch all episodes of The Ken Show: integrallife.com/category/perspectives/the-ken-showWhat is Integral? integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approachFollow our news on Facebook: facebook.com/IntegralLifeOfficialIntegral thoughts on Twitter: twitter.com/RobbSmithIntegral Life is a member-driven digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century. Integral Life offers perspectives, practices, analysis, and community to help people grow into the full capacities of integral consciousness in order to thrive in a rapidly-evolving world.
Armed Insanity: Getting Real About Guns and Criminality Integral Life 2022-05-31 | Free Web Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeJeff Salzman shares our collective outrage and heartbreak over the shooting of the Texas schoolchildren and teachers, and manage to offer some hope that this time it will be different, that this shooting will heighten a social pain-point – unstable young men equipped with weapons of war – sufficiently to transcend political polarities. In this episode I ponder:- America’s enneatype, frontier culture, “traditionalism with guns”- Integrating the MSNBC and FOX News worldviews- Recognizing budding criminality- Matthew Yglesias’s positivity blowback- How about the first part of the second amendment?- The ever-widening circle of moral consideration- What our grandchildren will know- Blessings to all
Integral Plays Video Games: Turquoise (Mature Integral) Integral Life 2022-05-11 | Corey and Ryan take a look at the major stages of human development, using a series of 33 video games in order to illustrate the qualities and characteristics of each stage.All of this allows you to not only observe these stages within you, but to actively inhabit, engage, and play with them as well.In these clips we take a look at three primary characteristics for each game — the game’s content (what actually appears on the screen), the game’s theme (the perspective the story is being told from), and the actual gameplay mechanics themselves — each of which can come from a different developmental stage, as you will see in this series of videos.You can find a full presentation of game clips, as well as film clips from each stage, here:integrallife.com/learn-integral-by-watching-movies-and-playing-video-gamesIn this clip we are looking at the Turquoise stage.Turquoise is a mature integral view, one that sees not only healthy hierarchy but also the various quadrants of human knowledge, expression, and inquiry (at the minimum: I, we, and it). While teal worldviews tend to be secular, turquoise is the first to begin to integrate Spirit as a living force in the world (manifested through any or all of the 3 Faces of God: “I”—the “No self” or “witness” of Buddhism; “we/thou”—the “great other” of Christianity, Judaism, Hindusm, Islam, etc.; or “it”—the “Web of Life” seen in Taoism, Pantheism, etc.).Turquoise games are almost impossible to find. But we did find one that we think would qualify — an experimental game appropriately titled Everything. Featuring multiple pointing-out instructions by Alan Watts, Everything is a deeply meditative game where perspective-taking is itself the central gameplay mechanic. The game allows you to inhabit the 1st-person perspective of just about everything in the universe, from subatomic particles to subtle spiritual archetypes, producing all sorts of interesting reflections and state experiences for the player.Excerpted from Inhabit: Your Gameyoutube.com/watch?v=r4jdxTUa8a8New to Integral? Check out our free web course:integrallife.com/build-your-integral-life
Integral Plays Video Games: Teal (Integral) Integral Life 2022-05-11 | Corey and Ryan take a look at the major stages of human development, using a series of 33 video games in order to illustrate the qualities and characteristics of each stage.All of this allows you to not only observe these stages within you, but to actively inhabit, engage, and play with them as well.In these clips we take a look at three primary characteristics for each game — the game’s content (what actually appears on the screen), the game’s theme (the perspective the story is being told from), and the actual gameplay mechanics themselves — each of which can come from a different developmental stage, as you will see in this series of videos.You can find a full presentation of game clips, as well as film clips from each stage, here:integrallife.com/learn-integral-by-watching-movies-and-playing-video-gamesIn this clip we are looking at the Green stage.The Teal Altitude marks the beginning of an integral worldview, where pluralism and relativism are transcended and included into a more systematic whole. The transition from green to teal is also known as the transition from “1st-tier” values to “2nd-tier” values, the most immediate difference being the fact that each “1st-tier” value thinks it is the only truly correct value, while “2nd-tier” values recognize the importance of all preceding stages of development. Thus, the teal worldview honors the insights of the green worldview, but places it into a larger context that allows for healthy hierarchies, and healthy value distinctions.Perhaps most important, a teal worldview begins to see the process of development itself, acknowledging that each one of the previous stages (magenta through green) has an important role to play in the human experience. Teal consciousness sees that each of the previous stages reveals an important truth, and pulls them all together and integrates them without trying to change them to “be more like me,” and without resorting to extreme cultural relativism (“all are equal”). Teal worldviews do more than just see all points of view (that’s a green worldview)—it can see and honor them, but also critically evaluate them.Teal games, at this point, are a bit hard to define, largely because it is still a newly emerging creative space. However, Corey and Ryan identify a couple qualities they look for at this stage — games that emphasize “emergent gameplay”, and games that consciously play with perspectives. Watch as we discuss some of the games that we enact and experience as Teal: Dwarf Fortress, Rimworld, and the classic Alpha Centauri.Excerpted from Inhabit: Your Gameyoutube.com/watch?v=r4jdxTUa8a8New to Integral? Check out our free web course:integrallife.com/build-your-integral-life
Integral Plays Video Games: Green (Pluralistic) Integral Life 2022-05-11 | Corey and Ryan take a look at the major stages of human development, using a series of 33 video games in order to illustrate the qualities and characteristics of each stage.All of this allows you to not only observe these stages within you, but to actively inhabit, engage, and play with them as well.In these clips we take a look at three primary characteristics for each game — the game’s content (what actually appears on the screen), the game’s theme (the perspective the story is being told from), and the actual gameplay mechanics themselves — each of which can come from a different developmental stage, as you will see in this series of videos.You can find a full presentation of game clips, as well as film clips from each stage, here:integrallife.com/learn-integral-by-watching-movies-and-playing-video-gamesIn this clip we are looking at the Green stage.The Green Altitude began roughly 150 years ago, though it came into its fullest expression during the 1960’s. Green worldviews are marked by pluralism, or the ability to see that there are multiple ways of seeing reality. If orange sees universal truths (“All men are created equal”), green sees multiple universal truths—different universals for different cultures. Green ethics continue, and radically broaden, the movement to embrace all people. A green statement might read, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, regardless of race, gender, class….” Green ethics have given birth to the civil rights, feminist, and gay rights movements, as well as environmentalism.Interestingly, unlike most of the earlier stages, there do not seem to be any specific game genres that are strongly associated with the Green altitude. However, Green content and themes are very common in many of today's games. Watch as Corey and Ryan discuss some of these games: Animal Crossing, BioShock, Disco Elysium, and what was perhaps the prototypical postmodern game, Metal Gear Solid 2.Excerpted from Inhabit: Your Gameyoutube.com/watch?v=r4jdxTUa8a8New to Integral? Check out our free web course:integrallife.com/build-your-integral-life
Integral Plays Video Games: Orange (Rational) Integral Life 2022-05-11 | Corey and Ryan take a look at the major stages of human development, using a series of 33 video games in order to illustrate the qualities and characteristics of each stage.All of this allows you to not only observe these stages within you, but to actively inhabit, engage, and play with them as well.In these clips we take a look at three primary characteristics for each game — the game’s content (what actually appears on the screen), the game’s theme (the perspective the story is being told from), and the actual gameplay mechanics themselves — each of which can come from a different developmental stage, as you will see in this series of videos.You can find a full presentation of game clips, as well as film clips from each stage, here:integrallife.com/learn-integral-by-watching-movies-and-playing-video-gamesIn this clip we are looking at the Orange stage.The Orange Altitude began about 500 years ago, during the period known as the European Enlightenment. In an orange worldview, the individual begins to move away from the amber conformity that reifies the views of one’s religion, nation, or tribe. The orange worldview often begins to emerge in late high school, college, or adulthood. Culturally, the orange worldview realizes that “truth is not delivered; it is discovered,” spurring the great advances of science and formal rationality. Orange ethics begin to embrace all people, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal….” Ayn Rand’s Objectivism, the US Bill of Rights, and many of the laws written to protect individual freedom all flow from an orange worldview.Strategy, simulation, and sandbox games are typically associated with the Orange stage of development, and often emphasize a "self-authoring" play style where the goals and win conditions are determined entirely by the player. Watch as Corey and Ryan discuss over a half dozen of these games, including Minecraft, Factorio, Kerbal Space Program, The Sims, SimCity, City Skylines, the Civilization series, and No Man's Sky.Excerpted from Inhabit: Your Gameyoutube.com/watch?v=r4jdxTUa8a8New to Integral? Check out our free web course:integrallife.com/build-your-integral-life
Integral Plays Video Games: Amber (Mythic) Integral Life 2022-05-11 | Corey and Ryan take a look at the major stages of human development, using a series of 33 video games in order to illustrate the qualities and characteristics of each stage.All of this allows you to not only observe these stages within you, but to actively inhabit, engage, and play with them as well.In these clips we take a look at three primary characteristics for each game — the game’s content (what actually appears on the screen), the game’s theme (the perspective the story is being told from), and the actual gameplay mechanics themselves — each of which can come from a different developmental stage, as you will see in this series of videos.You can find a full presentation of game clips, as well as film clips from each stage, here:integrallife.com/learn-integral-by-watching-movies-and-playing-video-gamesIn this clip we are looking at the Amber stage.The Amber Altitude began about 5,000 years ago, and indicates a worldview that is traditionalist and mythic in nature—and mythic worldviews are almost always held as absolute (this stage of development is often called absolutistic). Instead of “might makes right,” amber ethics are more oriented to the group, but one that extends only to “my” group. Grade school and high school kids usually exhibit amber motivations to “fit in.” Amber ethics help to control the impulsiveness and narcissism of red. Culturally, amber worldviews can be seen in fundamentalism (my God is right no matter what); extreme patriotism (my country is right no matter what); and ethnocentrism (my people are right no matter what).The Amber stage is often the home of team-based multiplayer games such as Battlefield 5 and Destiny 2, as well as some historic-based games such as the "feudalism simulator" Crusader Kings 3. The Amber stage is also associated with concrete-operational thinking, embodied by the classic game Tetris, as Ryan and Corey discuss here.Excerpted from Inhabit: Your Gameyoutube.com/watch?v=r4jdxTUa8a8New to Integral? Check out our free web course:integrallife.com/build-your-integral-life
Integral Plays Video Games: Red (Heroic) Integral Life 2022-05-11 | Corey and Ryan take a look at the major stages of human development, using a series of 33 video games in order to illustrate the qualities and characteristics of each stage.All of this allows you to not only observe these stages within you, but to actively inhabit, engage, and play with them as well.In these clips we take a look at three primary characteristics for each game — the game’s content (what actually appears on the screen), the game’s theme (the perspective the story is being told from), and the actual gameplay mechanics themselves — each of which can come from a different developmental stage, as you will see in this series of videos.You can find a full presentation of game clips, as well as film clips from each stage, here:integrallife.com/learn-integral-by-watching-movies-and-playing-video-gamesIn this clip we are looking at the Red stage.The Red Altitude began about 10,000 years ago, and is the marker of egocentric drives based on power, where “might makes right,” where aggression rules, and where there is a limited capacity to take the role of an “other.” Red impulses are classically seen in grade school and early high school, where bullying, teasing, and the like are the norm. Red motivations can be seen culturally in Ultimate Fighting contests, which have no fixed rules (fixed rules come into being at the next Altitude, Amber), teenage rebellion and the movies that cater to it (The Fast and the Furious), gang dynamics (where the stronger rule the weaker), and the like.First-person shooters are often associated with the Red stage, where the primary goal is to dominate anything and everything on the screen. Watch as Ryan and Corey look at several examples of Red video games, including Fortnite, Wolfenstein, the Grand Theft Auto series, Assassin's Creed, and the game that kicked off the genre, Doom.Excerpted from Inhabit: Your Gameyoutube.com/watch?v=r4jdxTUa8a8New to Integral? Check out our free web course:integrallife.com/build-your-integral-life
Integral Plays Video Games: Magenta (Magic) Integral Life 2022-05-11 | Corey and Ryan take a look at the major stages of human development, using a series of 33 video games in order to illustrate the qualities and characteristics of each stage.All of this allows you to not only observe these stages within you, but to actively inhabit, engage, and play with them as well.In these clips we take a look at three primary characteristics for each game — the game’s content (what actually appears on the screen), the game’s theme (the perspective the story is being told from), and the actual gameplay mechanics themselves — each of which can come from a different developmental stage, as you will see in this series of videos.You can find a full presentation of game clips, as well as film clips from each stage, here:integrallife.com/learn-integral-by-watching-movies-and-playing-video-gamesIn this clip we are looking at the Magenta stage.Magenta began about 50,000 years ago, and tends to be the home of egocentric drives, a magical worldview, and impulsiveness. It is expressed through magic/animism, kin-spirits, and such. Young children primarily operate with a magenta worldview. Magenta in any line of development is fundamental, or “square one” for any and all new tasks. Magenta emotions and cognition can be seen driving such cultural phenomena as superhero-themed comic books or movies.Fantasy-based role-playing games and superhero-themed games often include qualities from the Magenta stage. Watch as Corey and Ryan take a look at some of these games, including Spider-Man: Miles Morales, The Witcher 3, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Divinity: Original Sin, Pools of Radiance, and Wizard's Crown.Excerpted from Inhabit: Your Gameyoutube.com/watch?v=r4jdxTUa8a8New to Integral? Check out our free web course:integrallife.com/build-your-integral-life
Integral Plays Video Games: Crimson (Archaic) Integral Life 2022-05-11 | Corey and Ryan take a look at the major stages of human development, using a series of 33 video games in order to illustrate the qualities and characteristics of each stage.All of this allows you to not only observe these stages within you, but to actively inhabit, engage, and play with them as well.In these clips we take a look at three primary characteristics for each game — the game’s content (what actually appears on the screen), the game’s theme (the perspective the story is being told from), and the actual gameplay mechanics themselves — each of which can come from a different developmental stage, as you will see in this series of videos.You can find a full presentation of game clips, as well as film clips from each stage, here:integrallife.com/learn-integral-by-watching-movies-and-playing-video-gamesIn this first clip, we are looking at the Crimson stage.The Crimson altitude (alternatively known as "infrared", or "beige" in Spiral Dynamics) signifies a degree of development that is in many ways imbedded in nature, body, and the gross realm in general. Crimson altitude exhibits an archaic worldview, basic physiological needs (food, water, shelter, etc.), a self-sense that is minimally differentiated from its environment, and is in nearly all ways oriented towards physical survival. Although present in infants, Crimson is rarely seen in adults except in cases of famine, natural disasters, or other catastrophic events. Crimson is also used as a kind of catch-all term for many earlier evolutionary stages and drives.The "survival" genre of video games typically features Crimson qualities. However, because most of these games tend to focus on content and themes from later stages, we decided not to include them in this segment. Instead, Corey deVos and Ryan Oelke use two other games to illustrate the Crimson stage — a neolithic city-builder called Dawn of Man, as well as the original game about food and survival: Pac-Man.Excerpted from Inhabit: Your Gameyoutube.com/watch?v=r4jdxTUa8a8New to Integral? Check out our free web course:integrallife.com/build-your-integral-life
Illuminating Our Stage Structures Integral Life 2022-05-04 | Sometimes in our psychological development the way forward requires us to go back, to re-explore earlier stages of life to see what is distorted or left unintegrated.This is the theme of the work of my guest today, developmental psychotherapist Kim Barta. He discusses his approach to personal growth, which is based on the STAGES Model of Development created by well-known developmental theorist Terri O’Fallon (who is also Kim’s sister.). Using psychotherapeutic practices, shadow work and meditation, Kim has devised a comprehensive system of self-exploration with stopovers at every stage of development, designed to bring the gifts and powers of that stage online.Shoring up our developmental scaffolding in this way makes us able – and worthy – to grow into the higher stages of integral consciousness, which Kim and the STAGES model also beautifully illuminate. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Kim Barta!
Inhabit: Your Speech Integral Life 2022-04-27 | What are the unique challenges that prevent you from inhabiting your most authentic and embodied voice, and how can integral thought and practice help us to overcome those challenges — in our society, in our communities, and in our own consciousness?Ryan and Corey begin by taking a look at some of the central cultural, technological, and behavioral challenges that take us further away from our most authentic expression, wonderfully illuminated by Jonathan Haidt’s recent article, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid”. We were both very excited about Jonathan’s piece, which resonates deeply with so many of the critical themes we’ve explored in the Inhabit series over the months and years.In his article, Haidt identifies three primary factors that bind society together: social capital (extensive social networks with high levels of trust), strong institutions, and shared stories. He then explores how each of these became so compromised in our civilization, and suggests some possible interventions (what I often call “enfoldment mechanisms”) in order to get things moving in the right direction again.“We must harden democratic institutions so that they can withstand chronic anger and mistrust, reform social media so that it becomes less socially corrosive, and better prepare the next generation for democratic citizenship in this new age.” -Jonathan HaidtAnd here is how Haidt describes these “enfoldment mechanisms” as they are supposed to exist in our governing institutions:“It was just this kind of twitchy and explosive spread of anger that James Madison had tried to protect us from as he was drafting the U.S. Constitution. The Framers of the Constitution were excellent social psychologists. They knew that democracy had an Achilles’ heel because it depended on the collective judgment of the people, and democratic communities are subject to ‘the turbulency and weakness of unruly passions.’ The key to designing a sustainable republic, therefore, was to build in mechanisms to slow things down, cool passions, require compromise, and give leaders some insulation from the mania of the moment while still holding them accountable to the people periodically, on Election Day.” -Jonathan HaidtIn our conversation, Ryan and I try to pick up where Jonathan left off, suggesting that we need to install these sorts of enfoldment mechanisms in our own interior operating systems, as much as in our exterior/collective operating systems. In other words, we cannot transform these systems “out there” unless we work to transform our own consciousness and communities “in here”. How do we do so?Ryan and I try to answer this question by looking at two fundamental lines of development — the intrapersonal line (how we relate to ourselves), and the interpersonal line (how we relate to each other), and using those to help supplement the advice given by Haidt in his article so we can engage these problems in all four quadrants simultaneously.
From Trauma Reactions to Resilience | Dr. Keith Witt & Corey DeVos Integral Life 2022-04-18 | Full Episode: integrallife.com/transforming-trauma-into-resilienceFree Email Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeWatch as we take a look at several different kinds of trauma — micro-traumas, big traumas, “pre-verbal” traumas, generational traumas, etc. — and explore how we can shift into a “post-traumatic growth” mindset which, like the kintsugi vase, allows us to remake ourself into a more resilient, unique, and elegant vessel.Participate in our daily Integral Life Practice sessions: integrallife.com/calendarWatch all episodes of The Ken Show: integrallife.com/category/perspectives/the-ken-showWhat is Integral? integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approachFollow our news on Facebook: facebook.com/IntegralLifeOfficialIntegral thoughts on Twitter: twitter.com/RobbSmithIntegral Life is a member-driven digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century. Integral Life offers perspectives, practices, analysis, and community to help people grow into the full capacities of integral consciousness in order to thrive in a rapidly-evolving world.
The Three Centers of the Enneagram: Mental, Emotional, and Physical | Leslie Hershberger Integral Life 2022-04-15 | Full Presentation: integrallife.com/the-three-centers-of-the-enneagram-mental-emotional-and-physicalFree Email Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeLeslie Hershberger takes us on an illuminating tour through the three centers of the Enneagram — the heart center, the mind center, and the body center.Participate in our daily Integral Life Practice sessions: integrallife.com/calendarWatch all episodes of The Ken Show: integrallife.com/category/perspectives/the-ken-showWhat is Integral? integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approachFollow our news on Facebook: facebook.com/IntegralLifeOfficialIntegral thoughts on Twitter: twitter.com/RobbSmithIntegral Life is a member-driven digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century. Integral Life offers perspectives, practices, analysis, and community to help people grow into the full capacities of integral consciousness in order to thrive in a rapidly-evolving world.
Aesthetics and Journalism in the Disinformation Age Integral Life 2022-04-14 | Der Spiegel is well known for its provocative and sometimes controversial cover art, using powerful imagery to convey a particular moral or justice-related message. Here Stefan and Corey explore the close relationship between aesthetics and journalism, and how art can simultaneously help humanize a story and convey deeper meanings, while also creating enough critical distance for the reader to fully absorb uncomfortable truths without feeling emotionally overwhelmed. An integral approach to journalism would consciously balance beauty, truth and goodness (or “justness”, as Ken calls it), as discussed here.You can find the full discussion here:Integral Journalism in the Disinformation Ageintegrallife.com/integral-journalism-in-the-disinformation-age
How to Deal With Disinformation? | Dr. Keith Witt & Corey DeVos Integral Life 2022-04-11 | Full Episode: integrallife.com/finding-resilience-in-a-flood-of-disinformationFree Email Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeDr. Keith and Corey explore multiple strategies to help us maintain our mental and emotional well-being as our informational terrains become increasingly disrupted and distorted by a constant flood of disinformation.Participate in our daily Integral Life Practice sessions: integrallife.com/calendarWatch all episodes of The Ken Show: integrallife.com/category/perspectives/the-ken-showWhat is Integral? integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approachFollow our news on Facebook: facebook.com/IntegralLifeOfficialIntegral thoughts on Twitter: twitter.com/RobbSmithIntegral Life is a member-driven digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century. Integral Life offers perspectives, practices, analysis, and community to help people grow into the full capacities of integral consciousness in order to thrive in a rapidly-evolving world.
What Is Integral Justice? | Mark Fischler & Corey DeVos Integral Life 2022-04-08 | Full Episode: integrallife.com/what-is-integral-justiceFree Email Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeMark and Corey go back to basics by returning to some of the guiding principles running through the series — namely, how to enact justice in all four quadrants in order to support more equal opportunities and more equal outcomes, while reducing suffering for the greatest number of people.Participate in our daily Integral Life Practice sessions: integrallife.com/calendarWatch all episodes of The Ken Show: integrallife.com/category/perspectives/the-ken-showWhat is Integral? integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approachFollow our news on Facebook: facebook.com/IntegralLifeOfficialIntegral thoughts on Twitter: twitter.com/RobbSmithIntegral Life is a member-driven digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century. Integral Life offers perspectives, practices, analysis, and community to help people grow into the full capacities of integral consciousness in order to thrive in a rapidly-evolving world.
Media Legitimacy and the Four Faces of Truth Integral Life 2022-04-06 | Find the full discussion here: Integral Journalism in the Disinformation Ageintegrallife.com/integral-journalism-in-the-disinformation-ageWe live in an age of extreme fragmentation, where our informational terrains have become more broken and balkanized than ever before. Whether it’s ideological propaganda coming from any number of narrow partisan outlets, corporate propaganda coming through the mainstream media, blatant state propaganda coming from our governments, or the bottom-up aperspectival madness coming from social media — we are flooded on all sides by deliberately-partial truths, carefully tailored for each of us by unseen algorithms that reinforce our biases and keep us clicking. As a result we’ve seen a critical breakdown of legitimacy and trust in our media institutions, our collective sense-making, and our overall sense of shared reality.And of course, Integral is very comfortable working with partial truths, pulling them together into a more coherent understanding of reality. We often say things like “everyone is right” — but there is a difference between “partial truths” that we definitely want to integrate, and “deliberately partial truths” — another name for propaganda, and something we want to be very cautious about integrating or else we risk infecting our own operating systems with socially-engineered malware.When the information we have grown to depend upon for our own sense-making has become so broken and fragmented, so do our minds. And when a constant firehose of false narratives are internalized and become a core part of our own identity, it can be very difficult to begin healing the divisions between us. With any hope, this conversation (and others like it) can help begin to heal our hearts, and defrag our heads.Here we take a close look at the breakdown of media legitimacy, using Ken Wilber’s “Four Faces of Truth” — truth, truthfulness, justness, and functional fit — in order to guide the discussion.Stefan Schultz is a journalist for Der Spiegel magazine since 2007, and a student of integral theory since 2018.Find the full discussion here: Integral Journalism in the Disinformation Ageintegrallife.com/integral-journalism-in-the-disinformation-age
Whats the Neurobiology of Spiritual Experience? | Dr. Keith Witt & Corey deVos Integral Life 2022-04-04 | Full Episode: integrallife.com/the-awakened-brain-the-neurobiology-of-spiritual-experienceFree Email Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeDr. Keith takes a close look at the physiology of spiritual experience. What parts of the brain are being activated when we are having one of these powerful state experiences, and what does this tell us about the critical intersection between growth (both biological and psychological development) and awakening?Participate in our daily Integral Life Practice sessions: integrallife.com/calendarWatch all episodes of The Ken Show: integrallife.com/category/perspectives/the-ken-showWhat is Integral? integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approachFollow our news on Facebook: facebook.com/IntegralLifeOfficialIntegral thoughts on Twitter: twitter.com/RobbSmithIntegral Life is a member-driven digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century. Integral Life offers perspectives, practices, analysis, and community to help people grow into the full capacities of integral consciousness in order to thrive in a rapidly-evolving world.
Polarity Matters: Are You Thinking In Pairs? | Beena Sharma & Corey deVos Integral Life 2022-04-01 | Learn More: integrallife.com/polarity-matters-are-you-thinking-in-pairsFree Email Course on Building Your Integral Life: bit.ly/byim-integrallifeHow do polarities help us see ourselves and our world more clearly and completely? Watch as Beena Sharma answers your questions about her Integrating Polarities training, while offering a simple introduction to the practice you can follow along with at home.Participate in our daily Integral Life Practice sessions: integrallife.com/calendarWatch all episodes of The Ken Show: integrallife.com/category/perspectives/the-ken-showWhat is Integral? integrallife.com/what-is-integral-approachFollow our news on Facebook: facebook.com/IntegralLifeOfficialIntegral thoughts on Twitter: twitter.com/RobbSmithIntegral Life is a member-driven digital media community that supports the growth, education, and application of Integral Philosophy and integrative metatheory to complex issues in the 21st century. Integral Life offers perspectives, practices, analysis, and community to help people grow into the full capacities of integral consciousness in order to thrive in a rapidly-evolving world.
Trauma to Transcendance: Using Lifes Wounds to Grow Integral Life 2022-03-31 | In this episode of the Shrink and the Pundit, Dr. Keith Witt and I discuss a powerful realization emerging at the leading edge of culture regarding the role of trauma in our lives. Dr. Keith is writing a book on the subject and has mined various psychotherapeutic modalities to create an integral approach to using trauma as a portal to health and higher consciousness.In our wide-ranging conversation we address: Trauma and resilience as forms of memory * The differences – and similarities – between ongoing trauma and “major event” traumas such as accidents, violence and illness * Trauma through human history * Sensitive vs sensitized: the healthy and unhealthy poles of postmodern consciousness * What child-centered parenting misses * The biological drive to have a spiritually-awakened brain * Updating your autobiographical narratives * Trauma and the self-transforming mind.I really loved this conversation and I hope you do, too! – Jeff Salzman
Gender Fluidity: Fruitful and Fanatic Integral Life 2022-03-31 | The sexual evolution continues! This week I look at the controversy raging over the dramatic emergence of transsexual identity and gender fluidity, particularly among young people. I place it in the context of the stage transformations of sex and gender through history, and even get a little personal. I hope you enjoy the episode! –Jeff Salzman
