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The State of the Integral Enterprise: Part I
Current Status and Potential Traps
Contributor: 
Although integral ideas are spreading rapidly, the integral vision remains the province of what sociologists deem a “cognitive minority.” Extending and optimizing Integral Theory’s impact will require many things from practitioners, especially high-quality work and becoming “gnostic intermediaries.” Ways in which integral ideas can enhance practitioners’ own lives are surveyed, and the article then turns to potential traps that await both individuals and integral groups (e.g., egocentric misuse of integral ideas, developmental complacency, spiritual materialism, metapathologies and metadefenses, and failure to engage the mainstream). Antidotes to these traps are suggested so they may be transformed from stopping points into stepping stones.
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THE STATE OF THE INTEGRAL ENTERPRISE
Part I: Current Status and Potential Traps
Roger Walsh
ABSTRACT Although integral ideas are spreading rapidly, the integral vision remains the province of what sociologists deem a “cognitive minority.” Extending and optimizing Integral Theory’s impact will require many things from practitioners, especially high-quality work and becoming “gnostic intermediaries.” Ways in which integral ideas can enhance practitioners’ own lives are surveyed, and the article then turns to potential traps that await both individuals and integral groups (e.g., egocentric misuse of integral ideas, developmental complacency, spiritual materialism, metapathologies and metadefenses, and failure to engage the mainstream). Antidotes to these traps are suggested so they may be transformed from stopping points into stepping stones.
KEYWORDS: AQAL model; gnostic intermediary; human development; Integral Theory; shadow
These issues include the state of the movement, the challenges to making inroads in the mainstream, and the contributions integral practitioners might make. To do this I will explore the following ideas:
- The current status of the integral enterprise
- How we can optimize the impact of integral ideas
- Applying integral ideas to one’s own life
- Traps that await us: potential shadows and shortcoming
In part two of this article I will focus on:
- Crucial ideas to communicate to the culture
- Integral contributions to help our troubled world