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.
The Art of Integral Conversation: How to Have a Turquoise Dialectic
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. 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.
Inhabit: Your Awakening
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeCorey deVos and Ryan Oelke explore the nature of integral awakening, drawing on their own experiences and the insights of integral theory. They discuss how awakening is a universal human potential, but one that is profoundly shaped by the unique “Kosmic address” of each individual – their particular stage of development, state of consciousness, typologies, cultural contexts, social conditions, and so forth.
How to Awaken and Empower the Integral Man
Keith Martin-Smith and Jason LangeKeith Martin-Smith and Jason Lange explore the challenges and ongoing evolution of masculinity. Watch as they delve into topics such as the impact of societal norms on men’s behavior, the importance of emotional intelligence, and the journey from traditional to more integrated forms of masculinity, bringing a wealth of insights to help men navigate their roles and identities in a rapidly changing social landscape.
Developmental Experiments in Individual and Collective Movement to Second Tier
Terri O'FallonThis article describes seven years of research on an ongoing experiment that fosters the development of individuals and groups through an integrally informed educational program called Generating Transformative Change (GTC). A progressively targeted developmental action research project involving seven cohorts is described and the conclusions about three of these participant groups, involving a total of 30 people, are presented.
What Is a Man (And Why Does It Matter?)
Keith Martin-SmithWith all the cultural war battles being waged around the question “what is a woman”, Keith Martin-Smith offers an integral discussion of manhood and masculinity — as a biological given, as a cultural construct, and as an ongoing source of identity.
When Therapists Go Woke
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey examine a troubling new trend in psychotherapy, where woke ideologies are being imposed in the therapist’s office and interfering with client-based approaches to mental health. Prompted by Lisa Davis’s insightful article “How Therapists Became Social Justice Warriors” in The Free Press, Keith and Corey delve into the evolving role of therapists in the current sociopolitical climate.
The Enneagram as a Spiritual Tool
Leslie Hershberger, John Dupuy and Roger WalshEnneagram expert, teacher, master facilitator, and transformational coach Leslie Hershberger leads us into the world of the Enneagram, painting a broader, deeper picture of the Enneagram and its uses as a psycho-spiritual tool than is commonly understood.
Shadows of Development
Kim Barta and Keith Martin-SmithJoin Keith Martin-Smith and Kim Barta for an exclusive discussion as they delve into the world of shadow and ego development. Kim is a seasoned therapist, coach, and educator with over 40 years of experience who has dedicated his career to the resolution of shadow material. His unique perspective on the intersection of development, trauma, and attachment disorders combines the best of developmental psychology with depth psychology.
The Highest Stages of Conscious Development
Terri O'Fallon and Keith Martin-SmithTerri O’Fallon and Keith Martin-Smith dive into a deeper and more detailed exploration of Terri’s STAGES model, focusing on a smaller section of the model: stages 3.0 – 6.0 (roughly Amber/Orange to Turquoise/Indigo). Terri outlines what makes each level of her model unique from the last, what causes people to shift from one level to another, as well as what the mature expressions look like for 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 stages.
Perspectives on Development: Introducing the STAGES Model
Terri O'Fallon and Keith Martin-SmithTerri O’Fallon takes us on a guided journey through her STAGES model, an integrally based development model that charts human development from infancy to the highest levels of development that humans are capable of. Terri’s research is based in the number of perspectives a person can take (1st through 7th) – and she explains how different levels of fluency with these perspectives can often cause us to talk “past” or “over” one another, and how familiarizing ourselves with these perspectives can help us stop doing that.
Nature as Teacher: Finding Beauty, Wisdom, and Self in Everything
Susanne Cook-Greuter, John Dupuy and Roger WalshAdult psychology pioneer and ego development expert Susanne Cook-Greuter introduces us to her favorite wisdom teacher: Nature. Susanne explains how Integral Theory’s 3-2-1 Process can be practiced with elements in nature to gain greater insight into the teachings of nature—evolution, cycles of life and death, the transience of life, the beauty that is everywhere—and to experience oneness with all.
The Maturing Test: How Developed Is the World’s Most Advanced AI?
Robb Smith, Corey deVos and Susanne Cook-GreuterWe just assessed GPT-3, the world’s most advanced sentence-generating Artificial Intelligence, using Susanne Cook Greuter’s testing methodology. What did we learn, and what are the possible consequences for humanity? Watch to find out!
Who Awakens? How to Be Free From Your Freedom
Keith Martin-SmithIn this talk, Keith Martin-Smith dives into some topics of particular interest to those on a spiritual path. He first addresses the question head on: what is awakening, exactly? To answer this, he presents the listeners with a Zen koan, or riddle: Who awakens?
Authoring Your Life Story: The Hero’s Journey and You
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosWatch as Dr. Keith and Corey take a deep dive into the human superpower of self-authorship, and how we can use that superpower to construct a more resilient, more forgiving, and more integrated sense of “self”.
Integral Critical Theory: The 8 Zones of Racism
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen 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 us, but also to see how they can be applied to social and cultural challenges and “wicked problems” such as these.
Gender Fluidity: Fruitful and Fanatic
Jeff SalzmanThe sexual evolution continues! This week Jeff looks at the controversy raging over the dramatic emergence of transsexual identity and gender fluidity, particularly among young people. He places it in the context of the stage transformations of sex and gender through history, and even gets a little personal.
Monological, Dialogical, and Translogical Power
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen and Corey explore the three different kinds of power, each a product of particular stages of development in both individuals and collectives. Ken explores the different kinds of power associated with each chakra in our interiors, and Corey notes that the same patterns can be seen in the different modes of power associate with social holons.
Embody Your Ancestry
Lee MasonThe goal of this practice is to invite you to consciously embody both your unique individual ancestry and the ancestry that you share with all life. Doing this exercise can help you to feel more at home in reality and more deeply appreciate your interconnectedness with all life.
The Three Centers of the Enneagram: Mental, Emotional, and Physical
Leslie HershbergerLeslie Hershberger takes us on an illuminating tour through the three centers of the Enneagram — the heart center, the mind center, and the body center.
Inhabit: Your Vow
Vince Fakhoury Horn, Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosRyan and Corey are joined by our very good friend Vincent Horn, co-founder of Buddhist Geeks, in order to discuss Ryan and Vince’s decision to fully embrace the Bodhisattva Vow in their lives and in their spiritual practice. What unfolds is a fun and fascinating conversation about compassion, commitment, purpose, meaning, and skillful means — as well as some much-needed guidance to help us bring ourselves into deeper alignment with our own inner Bodhisattva, regardless of whatever spiritual tradition (or lack thereof!) that we find ourselves in.
Escaping Narcissism
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosIn this episode of Witt & Wisdom we take a careful look at these narcissistic tendencies and how they express themselves in all four quadrants, and at every major stage of development. We hope that this discussion will help you identify whatever narcissistic traits you may be carrying with you, and to consciously wield your positive self-esteem without being seduced by our own self-importance.
Getting Over Ourselves
Nomali Perera, Lisa Frost and Corey deVosNomali talks to Lisa and Corey about the many opportunities and obstacles we face in our practice, and how to deepen our commitment to our own process of waking up, growing up, cleaning up, and showing up. We follow the subtle threads of love, death, and vitality that weave through each of our practices and connect us together as a community, while reminding each other that we can only truly be ourselves if we are willing to actually get over ourselves.
Unpacking the Integral Enneagram
Corey deVos and Lisa FrostWhat exactly is the Enneagram, and what makes it such a helpful tool when it comes to our ongoing growth and awakening? Watch as Lisa and Corey offer a broad introduction to the Integral Enneagram, as well as to the many Enneagram offerings we currently have available on Integral Life.
Your Enneagram Type: An Introduction
Integral LifeWelcome to the Integral Enneagram Practice series! On this page you can find some introductory material by practice leader Lee Mason to help familiarize yourself with the Integral Enneagram and the nine different personality types it describes.
Integral Mastery
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosThe mastery process has been heavily researched — from the initial ignition of passion that makes us want to excel is some area, to embracing growth as progress as the ongoing goal, independent of outcomes. Join us for a fascinating exportation of integral growth and mastery that goes far beyond the typical discussion of “10,000 hours”.
Coronavirus: Making Sense of Our Sense-Making
Beena Sharma, Susanne Cook-Greuter and Corey deVosWatch as Beena Sharma and Susanne Cook-Greuter offer a must-see presentation to help us understand the many healthy and unhealthy responses we are seeing to the coronavirus pandemic, all the way up and down the spiral of development.
Creating a Coherent Life Story
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey discuss the primary goal of psychotherapy — to help people experience themselves every day as living a happy ending to their life so far, and at the very beginning of a wonderful and exciting new chapter. This goal, of course, requires a more integrated self in order to meet the inevitable challenges, triggers, and opportunities that we will encounter on the path of growing up, and for us to be able to create a cohesive and coherent life story for ourselves as we move forward
The Many Ways We Grow
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosHuman development is uneven, which means that we are better at some things than we are at others. Some skills come more naturally to us, and others are more difficult to acquire. Watch as Ken and Corey explore each of these developmental capacities in detail, offering a powerful summary of human potentials, talents, and intelligences — a comprehensive map of the territory of “you” that will help guide your own ongoing growth and development.
Amir’s Story: From Islamic Fundamentalism to Radical Humanism
Amir Ahmad NasrHow much do you care about your deepest held ideals, freedoms, and spiritual awakenings? Enough to put your own life at risk? Watch as Amir Ahmad Nasr, author of My Isl@m: How Fundamentalism Stole My Mind — and Doubt Freed My Soul, shares his inspiring story.
Patterns of Projection: Reclaim the Best of You
Helen PalmerWorld-renowned Enneagram teacher Helen Palmer explores some of the primary patterns that our projections take, each pattern corresponding to our own Enneagram type. She also describes some simple techniques to help us identify and integrate our own psychological projections, helping us to fully own our unconscious shadows and reclaim the very best parts of ourselves.
The Stages of Leadership Maturity
Susanne Cook-Greuter and Beena SharmaBeena 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.
Why Be Normal?
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith discusses how the concept of “normal” profoundly effects our development and functioning, and how he has dealt with these issues over the decades in therapy sessions and groups.
The Predictable Stages of Growth in Couples
Jeff SalzmanToday, in honor of Valentine’s Day, Jeff talks with Dr. Tom Habib about the affairs of the heart. An integrally-inspired clinical psychologist specializing in couples therapy, Tom has mapped what he calls the “couple’s line of development,” which describes the predictable stages of growth that a couple can grow through — and where they may get stalled.
The Art of Evolving: What We Carry with Us, What We Leave Behind
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosToday Jeff and Corey respond to listener feedback, focused on how we evolve (both as individuals and as cultures) by “transcending and including” our previous stages of development. But, practically speaking, how do we know what to include and what to transcend?
Ralph Ellison’s Integral Insight into Race and Culture
Greg Thomas and Jeff SalzmanTo kick off Black History Month, Jeff connects with Greg Thomas, an integral thinker who is pioneering a new way forward in race relations in the U.S. Greg advocates transcending the postmodern emphasis on racial identity in favor or embracing what is a broader American cultural identity, of which all Americans are an inextricable part.
Cultivating an Integral American Identity
Jeff SalzmanToday Jeff reflects on the conversation he and Corey had on Monday with African American scholar Greg Thomas, where they explored what a more integral approach to race relations might look like. Greg is influenced by his mentor, Albert Murray, who, writing in the 60’s challenged the postmodern narrative that reduced race (and much of human relations in general) to hard constructs of victim and oppressor.
Beyond Race and Victimhood
Greg Thomas, Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosToday we are joined by Greg Thomas, who has thought and written extensively on one of the most vexing conundrums in our culture: race relations. Greg attempts to chart a new course, one that includes the postmodern insight into oppression and its effects, but challenges its fixation on racial and victim identity.
Our Postmodern Personality
Doshin Roshi and Jeff SalzmanJeff is interviewed by Doshin Michael Nelson, founder of Integral Zen, about the nature of Green and the Integral way forward.
Everyone Culture: A Radical New Model for Work, Career, and Leadership
Robert Kegan and Ken WilberNext to our love, the most precious thing we give to another is our labor. Now you can give both at the same time. Discover a new set of breakthrough approaches to work, career, and leadership that fully honors and accepts its people for who they are, while also encouraging them to use the workplace as an ongoing source of personal growth, inner meaning, and self-improvement.
On Being Human: A Reflection
Susanne Cook-GreuterIn this deeply touching keynote address, Susanne Cook-Greuter offers a personal account on what truly matters in life, beyond one’s stage of ego development.
In Over Our Heads: Development as a Lifelong Journey
Robert Kegan and Ken WilberDr. Kegan talks with Ken Wilber about his landmark book In Over Our Heads, exploring the many ways our cultural lack of developmental perspectives is actively inhibiting development itself, leaving the majority of us ill-equipped to meet the demands of our 21st century lives.
Atlas Evolved: The Life and Loves of Nathaniel Branden
Nathaniel Branden and Ken WilberNathaniel Branden, Ayn Rand’s former lover and the inspiration for her famous John Galt character, was at ground zero during the rise of the Objectivist movement. Listen as Nathaniel offers an intimate insider’s view of the origins, major contributions, and inevitable limitations of Rand’s philosophy and the intellectual movement it sparked. Masterfully hosted by Ken Wilber, this talk offers invaluable insight into Ayn Rand’s legacy, the human potential movement, romantic love, self-esteem, self-transcendence, and the art of conscious living.
States, Stages, and the Three Kinds of Self
Ken WilberKen Wilber discusses the three kinds of self: the False Self (the broken or illusory self image), the Actual Self (the “authentic” or healthily-integrated self at any particular stage of development), and the Real Self (the timeless Self behind and beyond all manifestation).
Telling the Story of Development
Susanne Cook-Greuter and Ken WilberSusanne Cook-Greuter, one of the most important developmental psychologists working today, shares her path from a working-class family in Switzerland to academic excellence and innovation at Harvard University, exploring the higher stages of consciousness available to us all. She then shares her thoughts on the current state of academia and the culture at large, and why it‘s so important to encourage flourishing at every stage of development alongside the invitation to keep growing.
Introduction to Ego Development
Susanne Cook-GreuterSusanne Cook-Greuter is an internationally recognized researcher in mature ego development and self-actualization. You may have noticed her name alongside Robert Kegan’s, Clare Graves’, and Jane Loevinger’s in Ken’s book, Integral Spirituality. Her sentence completion tests are sophisticated enough to tease out the subtle differences between Teal, Turquoise, Indigo, and Violet altitudes of development.
The Evolving Self
Robert Kegan and Ken WilberDr. Robert Kegan, the author of The Evolving Self and In Over Our Heads, explores the vital role of interior development in creating a more inclusive and integrated world, as well as the importance of the appropriate use of discriminating awareness.