Culture wars, polarization, discernment versus condemnation, how our psychological development determines political attitudes and values, and how Integral perspectives help us understand them all. A candid conversation, ranging from global current events to personal spiritual turning points, with endearing, brilliant, and optimistic Integral pundit Jeff Salzman.

Recorded on September 2, 2021.

Topics & Timestamps – Part 1

• Bringing Integral theory, big-picture, deep-picture, multiple perspectives to current events: that’s Jeff! (03:59)
• Stages of development and how culture wars & our current polarization is necessary for our evolution (09:00)
• Our individual cosmic address, integrating stages of consciousness, the mythic self, and the new tier emerging from post-modernity (10:55)
• Jeff’s own life stages — the tribal stage, the red f*** you phase, modern Jeff vs. traditional Jeff vs. postmodern Jeff and how Integral can make all of it work for all of us (13:58)
• MAGAstan vs. Woke-astan (21:39)
• Traditionalists, modernists, and postmodernists dysfunctional sides: welcome to evolution (28:35)
• The agenda of the universe (40:55)

Topics & Timestamps – Part 2

• Afghanistan best case scenario and Integral fundamentalism (00:52)
• All fear drops in the new developmental tier (03:38)
• On integrating multiple perspectives; cultivating discernment and fostering acceptance simultaneously (05:32)
• How mindfulness practice can go bad (10:52)
• Peter Levine and somatic releasing: spiritual practice alone doesn’t do it (13:04)
• Finding God, faith, a don’t know space, 2nd person practice (13:47)
• On being in the zone and Ken Wilber’s early flow days (24:21)
• The practice of remembering God (27:12)
• Making friends with death (31:36)
• How Ken Wilber’s Integral illuminates reality (33:17)
• Current metatheories and the developmental lens (39:08)
• One’s own suffering becomes a portal into the suffering of others: the Bodhisattva aspiration (46:51)
• Physical body, energetic body, spiritual body (51:11)

Resources & References

• Jeff Salzman’s The Daily Evolver podcast
• Jeff Salzman’s The Post-Progressive Post podcast
• Ken Wilber, One Taste*
• Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead*
• Fifth studio album by English rock band Yes, Close to the Edge*
• Ken Wilber, Up from Eden*
• Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey*
• Clare Graves, the Sensitive Self, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics
• Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion: West and East, Vol II*
• Dan Lawton, When Buddhism Goes Bad
• Peter Levine, Waking the Tiger*
• Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled*
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow*
• Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass*
• Rabbi Meshulam Zusha of Anapoli
• Critical realism
• Edgar Morin, Complexity Theory*

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.
Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

About the Deep Transformation series

We are clearly in a new era, facing world-threatening challenges and graced with barely conceivable opportunities. In this mind-boggling new world, we all face two crucial questions:

• First, the ever-present conundrum of how to best live fully, deeply, wisely, and well.
  Second, the new question unique to our times, how to best understand and heal our endangered world.
• Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear responses to these questions from some of the great consciousness pioneers—the outstanding thinkers, sages, scientists, and activists—of our time? These are the people and conversations that Deep Transformation offers.

Deep Transformation: Self-Society-Spirit draws on diverse ideas from around the world. It goes beyond traditional positions and polarities—beyond left and right, material and spiritual—to seek syntheses of deep wisdom and practical know-how that integrate the best of all positions.