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21st century Integral Metatheory

Healing the Infosphere: How Integral Journalism Can Elevate Public Discourse

Healing the Infosphere: How Integral Journalism Can Elevate Public Discourse

Corey deVos talks to Stefan Schultz, a journalist at Der Spiegel magazine, about his model for integral journalism that he has been developing over the past few years. This model, staggering in both its depth and its breadth, examines journalism and media literacy through a developmental lens, looking at how the infosphere shapes society and how journalism can positively influence this process.
Ken Wilber’s Map of Everything

Ken Wilber’s Map of Everything

Brad Reynolds gives us a beautiful distillation of Ken Wilber’s work, starting from the beginning and spanning decades. Not only does Brad elegantly relate the major themes of Ken’s work, he also makes clear the value of Ken’s contributions—the way this knowledge can be understood and applied to literally expand our notion of reality and evolve our consciousness

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The Art of Integral Conversation: How to Have a Turquoise Dialectic

The Art of Integral Conversation: How to Have a Turquoise Dialectic

Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos explore the concept of "turquoise dialectic" - a sophisticated form of integral discourse that emerges at the later stages of human development. Drawing upon their deep understanding of adult development and integral theory, they explore the feeling and transformative potential of the turquoise “we-space”, and how we might create the conditions for this type of conversation to unfold.
Mathing the Loops: An Integral Perspectival Mathematics Approach to Transformational Learning Processes

Mathing the Loops: An Integral Perspectival Mathematics Approach to Transformational Learning Processes

Bruce Alderman builds upon Ken Wilber's integral perspectival mathematics to model the dynamics of Otto Scharmer's "3 Levels of Listening" framework. Alderman develops complex notational equations to map out how each successive listening level involves deeper transformations of belief structures, self-concepts, and collective awareness, culminating in a transconceptual, participatory openness to emerging future possibilities.
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Journal of Integral Theory & Practice

Integral Diversity Maturity: Toward a Postconventional Understanding of Diversity Dynamics

Integral Diversity Maturity: Toward a Postconventional Understanding of Diversity Dynamics

This article outlines the authors’ ongoing study of diversity, focusing particularly on the AQAL model as a linchpin in an evolving theory of “diversity maturity.” Recognizing the limitations of non-integral approaches to understanding and negotiating diversity dynamics, the authors explain how an integral perspectives come to inform their postconventional understanding. The authors share their preliminary theory of the diversity maturity process in which the integral vision/theory that unites diversity, complexity, and creativity is the dynamic relationship among and between quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types. The article concludes with an agenda for further theoretical and empirical inquiry.
What Feels Right: An Embodied Perspective on the Ethical Line of Development

What Feels Right: An Embodied Perspective on the Ethical Line of Development

This article examines ethical frameworks across levels of human development and via the quadrants of the AQAL model. The ethical line is examined as it progresses through stages of development, paying special attention to the role of the felt sense in the determination of right action. The role of unconscious forces, particularly the felt sense of disgust, is examined as the basis of moral intuition. Integral Ethics includes the ethical framework of the previous stages and an examination of personal motivation for right action. By inquiring into the unconscious drives that move us, we may begin to recognize the cultural...
Developmental Engagement Field Theory

Developmental Engagement Field Theory

This article explores how social engagement is central to human functioning and development, and how it potentially provides agentic access to intersubjective and interobjective energy fields. An integrally informed developmental engagement field theory is described, with practical suggestions for applying it to living, parenting, and psychotherapy. The article concludes with a lifespan case study that embodies the presented research.
An Integral Taxonomy of Therapeutic Interventions

An Integral Taxonomy of Therapeutic Interventions

Given that therapists are confronted with literally hundreds of techniques or interventions to potentially utilize in their clinical practice — and a growing chasm separating research and practice — how do therapists dispel the confusion that so many of us feel as we confront this fragmented heap of techniques? In short, how do therapists decide which interventions to use with a given client?
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All-Time Classics: The Best Of Integral Life

In this section you will find a curated sampling of some of the very best practices, perspectives and presentations available in the Integral Life archives. Spanning over 15 years of publishing, these resources are invaluable for anyone who looking to wake up, grow up, clean up, and show up more fully in your life and in the world.

Integral Epistemology

Integral Epistemology

How do we know stuff? Like all of the great philosophical quandaries, it’s a fundamentally straightforward question that can lead us into an endlessly branching series of chicken-and-egg meditations on the nature of existence (ontology) versus the nature of knowledge (epistemology). In this fascinating episode of The Ken Show, we take a look at a dozen...
Art as a Contemplation of Being

Art as a Contemplation of Being

When Ken and Saul first met, they talked nonstop for four hours, only interrupted because Saul had a gig. All Ken said about that meeting was, "That might be the most beautiful human being I've ever met." This isn't that conversation, but it's still pretty awesome. Please join us in sitting with this extraordinary soul....
Integral Journalism in the Disinformation Age

Integral Journalism in the Disinformation Age

Stefan Schultz is a journalist for Der Spiegel magazine since 2008, and a student of integral theory since 2018. In this fun and far-ranging discussion, Corey deVos talks to Stefan about his own integral approach to journalism, taking a careful look at the primary methods and motivations of journalism we see at each major stage of...
Searching for Wisdom in the 21st Century

Searching for Wisdom in the 21st Century

Climate change, wealth inequality, ideological polarization, terrorism, religious radicalization — these are some of the truly wicked problems of the world. And none of our most pressing global challenges can be navigated or overcome without a momentous leap of collective wisdom, as well as a commensurate increase in our ability to recognize and leverage that wisdom....
Marx, Mysticism, and Mathematics: Navigating Our Epistemic Collapse

Marx, Mysticism, and Mathematics: Navigating Our Epistemic Collapse

In this episode we continue our fascinating discussion about Integral epistemology, taking a look at the important but partial truths of Marxism, how we go about verifying and confirming spiritual experiences, and the involutionary/evolutionary nature of mathematics.
It’s Not Easy Being Turquoise: Jim Henson, The Muppets, and the Art of Integral Puppetry

It’s Not Easy Being Turquoise: Jim Henson, The Muppets, and the Art of Integral Puppetry

For two decades, Steve Whitmire has served as the performer behind the world's beloved Kermit the Frog as well as other famous Muppets and Sesame Street characters. In this two-part dialogue, he discusses the impact the Integral vision has had upon his own life, career, and creativity, and opens the door to a possible future of...
The Integral Artist

The Integral Artist

The creator of some of the most transcendent art of our time explores why it is necessary to go beyond the faded postmodern milieu of today's art world, how psychedelics can play a role in discovering and manifesting one's deeper realms of being, and how the "two kinds of higher" can impact artists and their work.
Beyond the Nation-State: Globalism, Plutocracy, and the Integral World Federation

Beyond the Nation-State: Globalism, Plutocracy, and the Integral World Federation

Ken and Corey explore how today’s transnational challenges and realities may be hastening humanity’s eventual growth toward increasingly inclusive and global forms of governance, what government might look like at the level of the global holon, and how we might actually be able to get there from here.
The Koan of Chronic Illness: A Father’s Story

The Koan of Chronic Illness: A Father’s Story

Corey deVos talks to Lynn Fuentes about his daughter's Biliary Atresia diagnosis when she was just a few months old, her subsequent liver transplant a year later, and her ongoing recovery today. Corey also shares some of the little wisdoms that have ripened for him during his family's journey. It was a fantastic and very touching...
The Meaning of Coincidence

The Meaning of Coincidence

Dr. Keith and Corey take an integral look at synchronicity, exploring this elusive phenomena through the lenses of the four quadrants, the major states of consciousness, the twenty tenets, and Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of morphic resonance. It is a fun and fascinating discussion, and one that will hopefully help you pay a bit closer attention whenever...
A New Republic of the Heart: The Art and Practice of Sacred Activism

A New Republic of the Heart: The Art and Practice of Sacred Activism

Terry Patten talks to Ken Wilber about his new book, A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries, inviting us to align our “inner work” with our “outer work” and establish sacred activism as both a fundamental component of our ongoing Integral Life Practice, as well as the ultimate expression of that practice.
Perls of Wisdom: Introflection, Retroflection, and Other Games People Play

Perls of Wisdom: Introflection, Retroflection, and Other Games People Play

Ken Wilber offers insight into the high-level features of two major therapeutic approaches, the role that a defense called "retroflection" plays in the process of projection, and some of the ways in which we can objectify the role-based psychological games we play while interacting with each other.
Evolving a Multi-Cellular Society

Evolving a Multi-Cellular Society

A fascinating discussion of conscious, cultural, and biological evolution — and how we can use the fundamental patterns running through all three in order to create a more adaptable and sustainable future.
Immigration, Postmodernism, and Feminism: An Integral Reckoning

Immigration, Postmodernism, and Feminism: An Integral Reckoning

Ken Wilber responds to questions about immigration, the dangerous excesses of the political right, and the regressive tendencies we are seeing in the postmodern left. Ken and Corey then offer a fascinating exploration of feminism and the need for both men and women to better harmonize the public sphere of politics, career, and religion with the...
The Stages of Leadership Maturity

The Stages of Leadership Maturity

Beena Sharma and Susanne Cook-Greuter offer a stunning overview of their Leadership Maturity Framework, which offers leaders, coaches, and change agents of all stripes a far more thorough understanding of human development and human potential, as well as a far more robust toolset to help others thrive at whatever stage of life they find themselves at.
System of a Down: Politics, Justice, Rock and Roll

System of a Down: Politics, Justice, Rock and Roll

Serj Tankian, lead singer of System of a Down, talks to Ken Wilber about the intersection between art and politics, discussing some of the most important aspects of his life that contribute to the "post-everything" bouquet of sound that is System of a Down.
The Shadow Vignettes: A Tale of Reintegration in Six Parts

The Shadow Vignettes: A Tale of Reintegration in Six Parts

Ken Wilber offers what's got to be one of his most hilarious teachings to date. His focus is on shadow, but this time he adopts a more practice-oriented perspective, offering examples of shadow at each of six levels of development—featuring conversations with a stripper, a monster, a man burning in eternal flame, a radiant being, an oil...
No Boundary: A Union of Opposites

No Boundary: A Union of Opposites

Ken Wilber explores the intrinsic dualism of the mind, offering a simple but cogent way to "transcend the pairs" and discover the nondual heart of the Always Already.
The Gift of Contemplation

The Gift of Contemplation

Father Thomas Keating offers a detailed account of the conditions that catalyzed a massive reawakening of Christian contemplative practice in the late 20th century.
The Last Airbender: Spirituality for Kids (of All Ages!)

The Last Airbender: Spirituality for Kids (of All Ages!)

The co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender, one of the most entertaining — and enlightening — animated shows on television, shares the story behind Avatar and why working on Family Guy just wasn't enough.
The Four Energies: Turn Your Energy Into Things That Matter

The Four Energies: Turn Your Energy Into Things That Matter

Ginny Whitelaw helps you experience the four energy patterns that show up in the human nervous system. All of us possess these four patterns, and though most of us have our favorites, all four are available to us at all times. Each is good at different things, and here you will learn what each one is...
A Heart Blown Open: A Tale of Enlightenment, Debauchery, and Infinite Jest

A Heart Blown Open: A Tale of Enlightenment, Debauchery, and Infinite Jest

In this provocative and exhilarating dialogue, Jun Po Roshi and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at Keith Martin-Smith's new book: A Heart Blown Open: The Life and Practice of Zen Master Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi. For most of us, we would need to reincarnate at least 50 times in order to attain such an...
Practice the Wound of Love

Practice the Wound of Love

Watch as Ken and Corey explore the ongoing unfoldment of love along the paths of Waking Up, Growing Up, Opening Up, Cleaning Up, and Showing Up. What follows is one of the most powerful, transformative, and touching conversations that Ken Wilber has ever recorded.
Beyond the Nation-State: Globalism, Plutocracy, and the Integral World Federation

Beyond the Nation-State: Globalism, Plutocracy, and the Integral World Federation

Ken and Corey explore how today’s transnational challenges and realities may be hastening humanity’s eventual growth toward increasingly inclusive and global forms of governance, what government might look like at the level of the global holon, and how we might actually be able to get there from here.
Centering Prayer: Its History and Importance

Centering Prayer: Its History and Importance

Distilled from the profound teachings of the Christian contemplative heritage, Centering Prayer has aimed to bring a living spirituality into an age where God is typically reduced to the New-Age vicissitudes of emotionality, if not simply pronounced dead. Listen as Fr. Thomas Keating and Ken Wilber discuss the remarkable history and importance of Centering Prayer.
The Gift of Contemplation

The Gift of Contemplation

Father Thomas Keating offers a detailed account of the conditions that catalyzed a massive reawakening of Christian contemplative practice in the late 20th century.

Helping you make sense of everything with the world’s most comprehensive philosophy

Humanity is entering the Transformation Age, a new era of human civilization, with Integral Consciousness rising at its leading edge. We help you learn to use Integral Philosophy so you can shape the future that’s emerging.

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Who Is Ken Wilber?

Often referred to as the "Einstein of consciousness studies", Ken Wilber is a preeminent scholar of the Integral stage of human development. He is the originator of the world's first truly comprehensive or integrative philosophy, aptly named “Integral Theory” — something that is becoming increasingly necessary in order to navigate and thrive in today’s world.

“I have one major rule: Everybody is right. More specifically, everybody — including me — has some important pieces of truth, and all of those pieces need to be honored, cherished, and included in a more gracious, spacious, and compassionate embrace.” – Ken Wilber

Learn more about Ken Wilber

Growing Up: A Guided Tour

Growing Up: A Guided Tour

In this episode of The Ken Show we explore one of the most central elements of integral metatheory: growing up through multiple stages of developmental maturity. Watch as Ken and Corey offer a guided tour through each of the major stages on the Path of Growing Up — an exploration of your own greatest, deepest potentials — and offer some...
Integrating Shadow

Integrating Shadow

Ken and Corey offer a stunning overview of the psychological shadow. Ken describes several different kinds of shadow, how shadow can show up differently in all four quadrants, and the relationship between shadow, violence, and social transformation.
Integral Critical Theory: The 8 Zones of Racism

Integral Critical Theory: The 8 Zones of Racism

Ken and Corey continue their discussion of the 8 critical zones of integral metatheory, and 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 a great opportunity to not only learn more about these 8 primordial perspectives that are available to...
To the Best of Our Knowledge: Science, Spirituality, and the Future of Technology

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Science, Spirituality, and the Future of Technology

In his first interview for NPR in over 20 years, Ken Wilber offers one of the finest, most sweeping introductions to his work he has ever recorded, presenting a profound new way to integrate science, spirituality, and technology — along with every other facet of the single ever-expanding gem of human knowledge.
On the Front Line of the Culture War — Give Me Some Real Examples, Not Just Theories!

On the Front Line of the Culture War — Give Me Some Real Examples, Not Just Theories!

Watch as Ken and Corey offer their views on some of the most controversial policy debates of our time, each of which has become a battle line in our constantly escalating culture wars.
Wicked Problems: Gun Violence

Wicked Problems: Gun Violence

In this exclusive series, Ken and Corey take an in-depth look at America’s ongoing struggle with gun violence, using the four quadrants to track many of the most critical and commonly-blamed factors, conditions, and causes that seem to be contributing to this terribly wicked problem.
The Baby and the Bathwater: Saving Liberalism

The Baby and the Bathwater: Saving Liberalism

In this episode of The Ken Show we explore five themes near and dear to the liberal heart — tolerance, nonviolence, power, privilege, and gender — celebrating the healthy aspects of each that we want to include in a more integral embrace, while weeding out the unhealthy regressive narratives that most of these have devolved into.
Kosmic Creativity: How to Manifest a Universe

Kosmic Creativity: How to Manifest a Universe

Ken Wilber explains how we can connect with the creative spark at the core of every moment, and how we can harness that creativity to manifest our own unique vision and purpose in our lives.
Divine Pride and the Integral Movement

Divine Pride and the Integral Movement

"Divine Pride" is a simple recognition of our holy heritage, and an acknowledgement of the tremendous responsibility that comes along with this recognition. This is not the braggadocio of a new age narcissist — it is a pride stripped of all arrogance, tempered by humility, and held with unwavering devotion to an intelligence infinitely greater than our own.
The Four Quadrants: A Guided Tour

The Four Quadrants: A Guided Tour

Ken and Corey take a in-depth tour through one of Ken’s most well-known contributions to integral philosophy: the Four Quadrants. Watch as Ken shares his personal story about the origins of the Four Quadrant model — the day everything came together — as he weaves 3rd-person theoretical descriptions of the model with his own 1st-person experience and creative process.
Integral Critical Theory: The 8 Zones of Racism

Integral Critical Theory: The 8 Zones of Racism

Ken and Corey continue their discussion of the 8 critical zones of integral metatheory, and 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 a great opportunity to not only learn more about these 8 primordial perspectives that are available to...
Integrating Shadow

Integrating Shadow

Ken and Corey offer a stunning overview of the psychological shadow. Ken describes several different kinds of shadow, how shadow can show up differently in all four quadrants, and the relationship between shadow, violence, and social transformation.
On the Front Line of the Culture War — Give Me Some Real Examples, Not Just Theories!

On the Front Line of the Culture War — Give Me Some Real Examples, Not Just Theories!

Watch as Ken and Corey offer their views on some of the most controversial policy debates of our time, each of which has become a battle line in our constantly escalating culture wars.
The Four Quadrants: A Guided Tour

The Four Quadrants: A Guided Tour

Ken and Corey take a in-depth tour through one of Ken’s most well-known contributions to integral philosophy: the Four Quadrants. Watch as Ken shares his personal story about the origins of the Four Quadrant model — the day everything came together — as he weaves 3rd-person theoretical descriptions of the model with his own 1st-person experience and creative process.
Wicked Problems: Gun Violence

Wicked Problems: Gun Violence

In this exclusive series, Ken and Corey take an in-depth look at America’s ongoing struggle with gun violence, using the four quadrants to track many of the most critical and commonly-blamed factors, conditions, and causes that seem to be contributing to this terribly wicked problem.
The Baby and the Bathwater: Saving Liberalism

The Baby and the Bathwater: Saving Liberalism

In this episode of The Ken Show we explore five themes near and dear to the liberal heart — tolerance, nonviolence, power, privilege, and gender — celebrating the healthy aspects of each that we want to include in a more integral embrace, while weeding out the unhealthy regressive narratives that most of these have devolved into.

In Case You Missed It

Integral Semiotics: The Language of Liberation

Integral Semiotics: The Language of Liberation

How do we derive meaning from the words we use? An integral approach fundamentally changes how we understand the nature of language, communication, and shared meaning. Integral Semiotics offers a comprehensive map or framework of most of the known worldspaces available to humans. Since most of these worldspaces do not possess simple location or material form, they are likely to be denied reality by most realist, empirical, or behavioral schools—where...
Stairway to Heaven: Honoring Dr. James Fowler

Stairway to Heaven: Honoring Dr. James Fowler

Integral Institute paid a formal tribute to Dr. James W. Fowler's extraordinary body of work, an incredibly moving 2-hour presentation of Dr. Fowler's body of work led by Rollie Stanich, with additional commentary by Ken Wilber.
Basic Moral Intuition: The Greatest Depth for the Greatest Span

Basic Moral Intuition: The Greatest Depth for the Greatest Span

Everyone has a general intuition of morality, but each person has to actually bring it into practice and make it relevant in one's own unique context. How can this understanding help us make better choices for ourselves and for the world? Listen to find out!
Israel/Palestine: Where Do We Go From Here?

Israel/Palestine: Where Do We Go From Here?

Watch as Magdalena, Mark, and corey explore the long and complex history of the region, offer their own thoughts on whether Israel qualifies as an “apartheid state”, and suggest some next step solutions in order to inch ourselves closer to genuine peace, stability, and justice for the men, women, and children on all sides of this seemingly intractable conflict.
Spitting Out the Bones: Why “Waking Up” Is Not Enough

Spitting Out the Bones: Why “Waking Up” Is Not Enough

In February of 2011, Genpo Roshi stepped down as a teacher of Zen Buddhism after admitting to numerous extra-marital affairs. Since then, Genpo has been taking a long, hard look at his own culpability and his own personal demons, while trying to find his own way forward on the path of redemption — a fascinating case study in the importance of bringing together the paths of Waking Up, Growing Up,...
Spiraling towards Perihelion

Spiraling towards Perihelion

A stunning collection of hand-drawn imagery by Markus Pintzinger, detailing the evolutionary journey through the major stages of development (as depicted by Spiral Dynamics).
Transcending and Including Our Current Way of Being: An Introduction to Integral Coaching

Transcending and Including Our Current Way of Being: An Introduction to Integral Coaching

This article provides an introduction to the Integral Coaching® method developed by Joanne Hunt and Laura Divine, founders of Integral Coaching Canada, Inc. A brief introduction to the field of coaching is offered using the four quadrants to appreciate the underlying assumptions of how change occurs and how schools of coaching have approached the rapidly growing field of adult development. Further delineation of Integral Coaching Canada’s use of subject-object theory...
Sex, Identity, Gender: Beyond Wokism and Trumpism

Sex, Identity, Gender: Beyond Wokism and Trumpism

Join us as we push even further into the front lines of the culture war skirmishes that have become so plentiful over the last several years. Corey 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, and how they can be integrated into a more integral dialectic.