In this episode of The Ken Show we take a look at Ken’s “Comprehensive Theory of Subtle Energy”, which offers an elegant summary of how these energies might be accounted for by integral metatheory and integrated with our scientific understanding of the universe.
20th Century Background for Integral Psychology
Susanne Cook-GreuterThis paper introduces Integral Psychology (IP) as a mature embrace to the question of what is human nature and how do we best explore it. Historically, wave after wave of various trends and movements have attempted to give psychology a focus and scientific status. After decades of specialization and segmentation (APA has over 50 divisions), IP aims at a mature synthesis of the field. IP mines and integrates the lasting contributions to our understanding of human nature and potential from all psychological schools of thought, disciplinary divisions, and methods of investigation—paying attention to both research and applications. In this paper I explore six of the major historical predecessors to IP: behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanistic-existential, transpersonal, constructivist-developmental, and positive psychology.
An Introduction to Integral Psychology
Elliott IngersollThis article explores how Integral Theory can serve the discipline of psychology in its current, parochial state by offering a framework for unification. While psychology has evolved as a science, the trend toward specialization has rendered it fragmented. Numerous efforts at unification have failed to draw the many specializations together. Until now, no unification theory has offered a sufficiently broad and deep framework to include all aspects of psychology. This paper offers a view of how Integral Theory can serve as a uniting framework for psychology as well as its individual disciplines.
Inhabit: Your Humility
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeCorey and Ryan discuss the importance of cultivating and inhabiting a “confident humility” with relation to our own physical bodies, mental processes, and spiritual health. We also have a fun segment at the end designed to put your own humility to the test, by looking at 10 common integral caricatures — stereotypes that many of us fall into at one point or another during our Integral lives.
Integral Psychiatry: Five Elements of Clinical Theory and Practice
Baron ShortPharmacological treatments are the mainstay of current psychiatric practice as effective treatments for a variety of mental disorders. Many recognize the inadequacy of a purely biological treatment for most patients. The psychiatric field appears to be shifting into a more integrative stance with biological and psychosocial treatments. With the vast array of therapies, the Integral approach attempts to embrace all schools of treatment into a coherent whole. Two elements of the AQAL framework — quadrants and levels — are introduced as relevant aspects for Integral Psychiatry.
Honesty, Humility, and Reality Distortion Fields
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey discuss “the H Factor” — a variation of the Big 5 personality typology that adds a critical sixth trait, honesty and humility. Watch as we take a deep dive into the psychological benefits of honest self-reporting, a healthy epistemic humility, and the sorts of “reality distortion fields” that seem to emanate from certain personalities.
Integral Life Practice: Enough Talk, It’s Time to Live!
Terry Patten and Ken WilberTerry Patten and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at their book Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening. ILP is a highly distilled, easily customizable, and radically inclusive approach to practice, based on the most comprehensive map of human potentials we currently have.
Integral Politics: A Spiritual Third Way
Gregory WilpertIn this time of ideological upheaval, when the old ideologies of left and right, of socialism, liberalism, and conservatism, no longer capture the political imagination as they once did, new political visions are required. Some have tried to formulate a “third way” between social democracy and conservatism. Others have proposed a more spiritually-oriented approach to transcend left and right. In what follows, Gregory Wilpert presents another vision — Integral Politics, based on Integral Theory.
Integral Medicine: An AQAL Based Approach
Larry GeorgeThis article briefly outlines the AQAL model and describes the application of the model to family practice—specifically an Integral look at depression and anxiety. Larry discusses major problems facing the Western medical model, particularly gross and subtle reductionism and the mind-body split. He also offers an AQAL perspective on clinical examples from family practice and then apply the AQAL model to the transformation of the physician.
Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Subtle Energy
Ken WilberCommon to many traditions is the idea that, in addition to a spectrum of consciousness, there is also a spectrum of gross, to subtle, to causal forms of mass-energy. But what exactly is subtle energy? How does it work, where does it come from, and how does it fit into our scientific understanding of the physical universe? This excerpt suggests a coherent and comprehensive theory of the many approaches to subtle energies, their origin, their nature, and their development.
Principles of Integral Life Practice
Forest JacksonThis article presents the state-of-the-art design elements of Integral Life Practice, which is a method of supporting personal or professional growth into greater levels of success and actualization. Integral Life Practice is guided by Integral Theory, the fundamental elements of which are briefly reviewed before the author postulates six tenets of Integral Life Practice. The flexible, modular design of Integral Life Practice is described in detail, and suggestions are given for creating integrally informed basic and advanced practices that will have a high degree of transformative efficacy.
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.
An Introduction to Integral Life Practice
Adam LeonardIntegral Life Practice — the conscious exercise of body, mind, and spirit in self, culture, and nature — uses the AQAL Integral map to orient the many growth techniques invented by humans throughout the ages.
Zero to Awake
Jogen SalzbergJoin a multi-dimensional guided meditation and pointing-out instruction tour led by Integral Practice Leader Jogen Salzberg, Sensei through awareness in its various extra-ordinary modes. The tour encompasses the 3 Faces of Spirit through the practice of sparking Wonder, resting into Calm-Abiding, recognizing Spaciousness, orienting to Timelessness, affirming Selflessness and finally being the Clear Light Nature of Mind itself.
The Art of YES
Lisa Frost and Corey deVosWatch as Lisa and Corey preview the new season of Integral Life Practice Experiences now available on Integral Life, taking you deeper than ever before into your own growth, awakening, and life purpose.
Lisa also discusses her exclusive new program, which she is calling Live Your Deepest Yes, a 12-week live group coaching series that will help you better align yourself with your innermost truth, your passion, and your own unique contribution to the world.
Ken Wilber Goes to High School: Sex, Ecology, Spirituality
Ken WilberIn this very special episode of The Ken Show we are joined by Aissatou Diallo, Zoe Tray, and Noah Delorme, students at Choate Rosemary Hall who have been studying Ken Wilber’s seminal book, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality for their senior year project. Watch as Ken, Aissatou, Zoe, and Noah unpack many of the core insights of SES and discuss the unique value Integral work holds for a new generation of thinkers, leaders, artists, and scholars.
How to Manage Passive Aggression
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosWatch as Dr. Keith and Corey explore the many ways passive aggression, anger, and codependence create more separation between people and degrade our capacity for love, while assertive processing of anger creates more intimacy and safety. Learning how to take a pause before aggressive or passive-aggressive action gives the opportunity to cross-validate through all four quadrants, and to take our overall kosmic address into account.
Afghanistan: Meeting at the Crossroads of Complexity, Chaos, and Compassion
Magdalena Smieszek, Mark Fischler and Corey deVosMagdalena, Mark, and Corey try to bring a bit more wisdom and compassion to the topic of America’s occupation and withdrawal from Afghanistan, while holding a space for all the complexity, chaos, and heartbreak that is flooding our awareness.
Integral Healthcare Management
Integral LifeIntegral Healthcare Management, an application of Integral Theory to the management of healthcare organizations, is a comprehensive and inclusive way of providing healthcare. This article explains the “all-quadrant” aspect of Integral Theory in the context of two common healthcare management challenges: operating a hospital in accord with national accreditation standards and complying with modern notions of “patient safety.”
The Forgotten People: Restoring Justice for Indigenous Cultures
Magdalena Smieszek, Mark Fischler and Corey deVosJoin Mark, Corey, and special guest Magdalena Smieszek as they take a careful look at the many indignities and injustices that have been inflicted on indigenous populations in North America and around the world over the last several years, decades, and centuries.
Martial Arts and Psychotherapy
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey explore the fertile intersection between martial arts, psychotherapy, and integral living. Watch as Keith shares the deep wisdoms he has received from his own lifelong martial arts practice, and how those wisdoms directly inform his approach to his own psychotherapy practice and the various healing strategies he draws upon.
Practice the Wound of Love
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosWatch 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.
Inhabit: Your Perspective
Corey deVos, Bruce Alderman and Ryan OelkeThis isn’t another hyper-cognitive discussion of integral theory. This is more of a “perspectival yoga”, and we hope that by the time you have finished watching this episode you will be more familiar with these fundamental dimensions of your experience, right now in this very moment.
Grace and Grit: From Book to Film to Practice
Sebastian Siegel and Nomali PereraExplore the topic of grace and grit as something we all need in order to live purposefully, face challenges, and birth our dreams in the same way Ken and Treya exemplified in this profound story of transcendent love.
The Art of Practice: Forgiveness Made Easy
Barbara Hunt, Lisa Frost and Corey deVosTo authentically forgive — what Barbara describes as “the absolute refusal to hold ill will against someone for what they did or didn’t do” — can actually be tremendously challenging. Fortunately Barbara Hunt is with us to help make it simple. Watch as Barbara talks to Lisa and Corey about forgiveness as an integral “master practice” — a practice that scaffolds and supports the rest of our various waking up, growing up, cleaning up, and showing up practices.
Inhabit: Your Entertainment
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeCorey deVos and Ryan Oelke explore how to more fully inhabit our art and entertainment. We tend to think of “recreation” as a passive activity, but we actually share an active symbiotic relationship with our art and entertainment, both personally and culturally. We create art, which in turn re-creates us.
An Integral Age at the Leading Edge
Ken WilberThis is the excerpt that started it all — an extraordinary 200-page introduction to Ken Wilber’s updated integral map, kicking off a stunning new evolution in his meta-theoretical work (often refered to as his “post-metaphysical” or “Wilber V” phase). Excerpted from the still-unpublished followup to Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, in this free ebook you will be introduced to some of the key ideas that emerged from this new phase of integral thinking.
The New Axial Age: A Complex Integral Realist Perspective
Paul Marshall, Bruce Alderman and Robb SmithWhy do we do philosophy? For our innate love of wisdom, surely. But isn’t it also so we can better understand ourselves and the world in which we find ourselves so as to chart our way to our best possible futures? And if so, shouldn’t we try to do the best philosophy we can?
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.
Marx, Mysticism, and Mathematics: Navigating Our Epistemic Collapse
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosIn 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.
Israel/Palestine: Where Do We Go From Here?
Magdalena Smieszek, Mark Fischler and Corey deVosWatch 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.
Grace and Grit Film Release: Everything You Need to Know
Integral LifeWe are very happy to announce that the long-awaited film adaptation of Ken Wilber’s Grace and Grit is being release on Friday, June 4! On this page you will find everything you need to know about the film release.
Grace & Grit — ILLUMINATE Film Festival
Ken Wilber, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson and Sebastian SiegelWatch as Ken Wilber, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Sebastian Siegel, and moderator Maia Monasterios have a lively discussion about the power of love to transcend time and to overcome our greatest challenges and suffering. Learn how we can honor death and loss by transforming grief into a profound appreciation for life.
Into the Dreaming
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosOur dreams are often drenched in meaning, significance, and symbolism. But it is often very difficult for us to make sense of our experiences in the dream world, and to hoist these treasures out of the surreal and into the real. Our dreams typically communicate to us in the language of the bizarre, and more often than not we need some guidance in order to better understand them and extract whatever wisdoms they may offer us. Watch as Dr. Keith and Corey explore the murky depths of our own unconsciousness, and try to shine some light upon some of the common features we experience in the dream world.
Integral Epistemology
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosHow 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 of the most popular schools of epistemological thought — idealism, pragmatism, empiricism, constructivism, etc. — noting their respective contributions and limitations, and how they can all be pulled together into a more Integral epistemology.
From Languishing to Flourishing
Lee Mason and Robb SmithRobb Smith talks with Lee Mason about what an integral approach to flourishing looks like, and what we know about the science of getting out of languishing.
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.
Inhabit: Your Wokeness
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeRyan and Corey invite all of us to inhabit our own most embodied “post-woke” leadership, allowing us to recognize and rescue the most important babies of “social justice” from the bathwater of political extremism.
What’s Wrong With Policing in America?
Mark Fischler and Corey deVosWhy do we see so many cases of apparent police abuse being recorded so frequently, but punished so rarely? What are some possible solutions that can help create more social trust for our police organizations, and a more peaceful society for all of us? Watch as Mark and Corey take a careful look at the Derek Chauvin verdict — and at the state of policing itself in America — as they offer their own personal views and try to sort through the conflicting narratives surrounding this tragically controversial cultural fault line.
Overcoming Confirmation Bias
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey explore the two primary forms of reasoning — confirmatory reasoning, otherwise known as “confirmation bias”, and exploratory reasoning, which considers multiple perspectives and anticipates criticism and objection to one’s views and positions.
Calling All Integral Practitioners! Responding Effectively to the Crises and Craziness of Our Times
Roger WalshWe are in a race between consciousness and catastrophe, and the potential catastrophes keep multiplying. But the outcome is not predestined and our fate is in our hands. As integral practitioners, the question becomes: How can we use our integral skills to contribute most effectively? Of course, beneath this lies another question: How do we discover our most effective contributions?
Inhabit: Your Practice
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosWhy is Integral Life Practice so important? What is truly unique about the ILP approach that other approaches are missing? How do we bring more depth, elegance, and embodiment to whatever practices we might already be engaging in? Watch as Ryan and Corey offer some practical advice to help you deepen and enrich your practice, helping you shift your attention from the integral map to an actual lived experience of the integral territory.
Awaken the Eye of Spirit
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosAll of us possess three primary modes of perception that we use to disclose reality – the “Eye of Flesh”, the “Eye of Mind”, and the “Eye of Spirit”. Watch as Ken and Corey explore these ideas and the many ways we perceive and interpret spiritual realities.
Heartbreak in Boulder: Finding Meaning in the Wake of Tragedy
Mark Fischler, Jeff Salzman, Nomali Perera and Corey deVosOn March 22nd, a mass shooting took place at the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado which claimed the lives of 10 people. What follows is a heart-full conversation that invites all of us to bring more awareness to the full spectrum of emotion that is likely moving through all of us right now, a much-needed reminder that the integral heart is big enough for all of this, because it is a heart that is both utterly unbreakable, as well as always-already broken.
Sitting in the Mystery: Aliens, Artists, and the Experiencer Group
Stuart Davis and Corey deVosBelief in UFOs and alien contact continues to find more and more legitimacy. In this fun and fascinating discussion, Stuart and Corey take a deep dive into these cosmic mysteries, exploring the many ways the Integral framework helps us illuminate and interpret the full enchilada of human (and non-human) experience, from the ordinary to the extraordinary to the extra-extraordinary.
Love, Conflict, and Play
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosKeith and Corey talk about how all play is an abstracted version of fighting, and how we can always draw upon our evolutionary capacity to transmute our basic animal drives into art, goodness, and greater understanding.
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.
Overcoming Bias in Practice
Aneesah Wilhelmstätter, Lisa Frost and Corey deVosWhat do we do when experiences of bias arise within our practice, or even within our practice community? What is the best way to verify whether these biases are real in the first place, and overcome them when they are?
From Woke to Awake: An Intersectionality of Perspective
Mark Fischler and Corey deVosMark and Corey have a rich and far-reaching discussion about our present political realities and challenges, dedicating the first half of the discussion to some of the major headlines from the last few weeks, and then exploring ways to elevate “woke culture” into a genuine “post-woke” integral sensibility.
VisionLogix Woodworks
Corey deVosIn recent years, much of my creativity has been focused around my woodworking. It has become an all-consuming passion for me, and over the last year or so I have created a number of custom-designed carvings that try to bring integral ideas and iconography out of the abstract and into solid material form.
Hope as Process: Being and Becoming in the Great Integration
Brad KershnerHow do we expand our horizon? How do we learn to see through our current forms of construction and break through into broader, deeper vistas of awareness and understanding, so that we may envision a richer and more nuanced context of possibility, and enact a way of life that forms the shape of our deepest potentials?
Inhabit: Your Game
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeIn this continuation of our “integral media” series, Ryan and Corey take another look at the major stages of human development, this time 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.
Biden’s First Month, Trump’s Second Impeachment, and Cancelling Cancel Culture
Mark Fischler and Corey deVosHow is the Biden Presidency going so far? Will Donald Trump be convicted in the Senate for his impeachment trial? Now that the political left has regained tentative control of our government, what do we do about “cancel culture” and other illiberal tendencies coming from the left? Watch this latest episode of Integral Justice Warrior as Mark and Corey shine a light upon these three questions.
The Art of Practice: Introducing ILP
Corey deVos and Lisa FrostJoin Lisa Frost and Corey deVos in a new monthly series that will explore how to bring more depth and artistry to our Integral Life Practice — the very best and most effective practices to help you Wake Up, Grow Up, Clean Up, and Show Up in your life, your relationships, and your work in the world.
The GameStop Revolution Has Started. It Won’t Be Televised.
Robb SmithThe revolution won’t be televised, it will be Reddited. And it has started. In a four year run of incredible, historic events, it’s hard to objectively recognize which and when the most significant of them occurs. But I think it possible that one of the most important events of the past several years is playing out as we speak: the deep structure of society has just phase-shifted into a state of conditions necessary for Teal to emerge and without which it cannot: the GameStop Revolution is putting in place a demand by the crowd that will force Green-platform power holders to either evolve to Teal or become increasingly irrelevant.
The Invisible Audience
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosWatch as Dr. Keith and Corey have a fascinating discussion about the “Invisible Audience”, helping you make these unconscious observers just a bit more visible to you.
Inhabit: Your Inner Theatre
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeCorey and Ryan take you on a cinematic journey through the stages of human development, a tour of your own inner theatre, using a series of 21 carefully-curated film clips to illustrate some of the most important qualities of each stage.
Insurrection, Censorship, and Madness
Mark Fischler and Corey deVosMark and Corey take an in-depth look at the heart-breaking events at the Capitol, offering their own full-spectrum response to this American travesty. They also discuss the response coming from corporations such as Google, Twitter, and Facebook, who are now beginning to purge their platforms of far-right voices and Q anon supporters. Is censorship ever the right thing to do? If you think you have a simple answer to the question, you might be missing something important.
Looking Back: The Best of 2020
Corey deVosOver this last year we’ve seen the Integral rubber hitting the road more than ever before, and becoming more relevant than ever. We’ve begun a series of conversations that go far beyond talking about the model itself — though we still do that too! — and instead focus on applying the model to our present life conditions so that we can better understand them, adapt to them, and thrive amidst them. Here are 10 of the best content pieces we’ve published in 2020
Inhabit: Your Trust
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeRyan and Corey take a deep dive into the wicked problem of social trust, looking at this meta-crisis through each of the four quadrants while suggesting some key practices and perspectives within each quadrant that can help us restore our trust in each other, in our institutions, in ourselves, and in the grand evolutionary unfolding itself.
Supreme Court, Systemic Racism, and Sea Monsters
Mark Fischler and Corey deVosMark and Corey discuss the state of Trump’s challenges to the election results (e.g. “The Kraken”), the recent Supreme Court decision around religious liberties in the face of a pandemic, and what it says about Amy Coney Barrett’s future tenure as Supreme Court Justice, and whether Joe Biden’s plans to address racial justice are coming from healthy liberal values and methods of enforcement, or from unhealthy illiberal (woke) values and enforcement.
Putting the Pieces Back Together
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosCorey and Keith discuss the psychological and cultural aftermath of the 2020 Presidential Election, and the integral work ahead of us to help put the fragmented pieces of our society back together in the post-Trump era.
Inhabit: Your Election
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosWatch as Ryan and Corey reflect on the results of the 2020 Presidential Election, exploring its implications for the world and within our own hearts, while also creating a space where we can begin to release some of the fears and anxieties many of us have been struggling with during these chaotic and uncertain times.
Divided Minds, Divided Societies: How ILP Can Help Heal Social Division
Robb SmithIn this compilation of highlights from Divided Minds, Divided Societies: How ILP Can Help Heal Social Division, Integral Life CEO Robb Smith’s session at our recent exhale online retreat, Robb argues that it is partly our responsibility to help others reduce their fears in a world that’s getting more complex and feels more threatening to tens of millions of people — particularly those at earlier stages of development, education and openness.
Integral Panel: Post-Election Wrap-Up
Corey deVos, Jeff Salzman, Cindy Wigglesworth, Mark Fischler and Ryan OelkeJoin Corey deVos, Jeff Salzman, Cindy Wigglesworth, Ryan Oelke, and Mark Fischler as we explore some of the deeper implications of the 2020 election results through a more integral lens.
The Fierce Urgency of Now
Mark Fischler and Corey deVosWelcome back to Integral Justice Warrior! Watch as Corey and new co-host Mark Fischler kick off a new season of IJW, exploring how the spirit of integral justice moves through us, and how it has moved through some of the most significant justice warriors throughout history.
The Breakup Episode (IJW Season 1 Review)
Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVosParting is such sweet sorrow! In this final episode of Diane and Corey’s first season of Integral Justice, we take a look at our past year of episodes together — the major themes we explored, the insights we gleaned, and the space we shared with our community.
Inhabit: Your Democracy
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeIn this very special episode of Inhabit, Ryan and Corey focus on one of the most essential elements of any Integral Life Practice — directly engaging your democratic systems and showing up at the polls to cast your vote.
Illuminating Shadow: Family, Community, and Relationship
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosCorey and Keith are joined by a very special guest, Keith’s daughter Zoe Witt, for this tremendously touching exploration of shadow in family, in relationships, and in the Integral community itself.
Inhabit: Your Fear
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeYou don’t need to push away your fear, neither do you need to surrender to it. All you need to do is to consciously inhabit your fear – allow it to freely move through you, allow yourself to respond however you need to respond in the moment, and notice any interior frictions as it passes through your system so you know nothing is getting “stuck” or pushed into shadow.
Welcome to the Party! Celebrating Race as a Mutually-Shared Experience
Mark Palmer, Diane Musho Hamilton, Corey deVos and Rob McNamaraIntegralist Mark Palmer proposes that our conversations all need to be more imbued with joy, with play, and with celebration of our differences.
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.
Welcome to the New Integral Life Practice Platform
Robb SmithWe are excited to announce Integral Life Practice, the biggest, most exciting change to Integral Life’s membership in years! Integral Life is bringing together dozens of deeply-experienced Practice Leaders from all over the world to provide live, daily, guided ILP Practice Sessions that you can experience all from the privacy of your own living room.
Just Breathe: How to Manage Your Stress and Find Your Flow
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosYour breath is a direct channel to the flow state. Watch as Dr. Keith and Corey explore this elegantly simple practice, one that can bring you more joy, more fulfillment, and more anti-fragile strategies to manage and master the outrageous pressures of our lives.
Grace and Grit: An Interview with Sebastian Siegel and Julia Ormond
Sebastian Siegel and Julia OrmondJulia Ormond interviews Sebastian Siegel at the 2020 Integral European Conference about the film adaptation of “Grace and Grit”. Bence Ganti facilitates with an introduction to Ken Wilber. They discuss book-to-film, acting, directing, producing, characters and set, filmming, and pivotal elements of production.
Integral Finance
Integral LifeMoney is a human abstraction. Although not found in nature, it is pervasively used throughout human activities and undertakings. In so doing, it generates an array of personal and cultural responses in addition to its material manifestations. As such, it is ideally suited for an AQAL analysis. This paper constitutes the introductory theoretical overview for Integral Finance. It introduces the basic principles and presents fundamental applications of Integral principles to money, including money’s nature, its various roles in the world, and its applications to and impacts on other disciplines.
Integral Ecology: A Post-Metaphysical Approach to Environmental Phenomena
Sean Esbjörn-HargensIntegral Theory provides a distinct and participatory approach to Ecology. This article introduces Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory, distinguishes the Integral approach from other methods, and applies some key concepts to Ecology. The ontology, epistemology, and methodology of environmental phenomena are examined in light of Wilber’s framework and the framework is applied to multidimensional examples of recycling. Finally, an Integral Ecology platform is presented.
Integral Ecology: An Ecology of Perspectives
Sean Esbjörn-HargensThere are many competing approaches available for responding to environmental problems and dealing with ecological issues. This article provides an introduction to Integral Ecology, an approach that takes the valuable insights from all the major schools of ecological thought and unites them in a comprehensive framework. First, the difficulty of defining “ecology” is explored. Next, the twenty-five major approaches to ecology are introduced. Finally, Integral Ecology is defined in such a way that it honors the importance of all these approaches.
Criminology Needs an Integral Vision
Integral LifeThis article supports the claim that there is substantial agreement within the discipline that criminology (and criminal justice) is in need of a change in approach. This article maintains that a framework is needed to organize the contributions and partial truths of existing disciplinary knowledge. It is argued that criminology needs an “orienting perspective” or a “meta-theory.” The article proposes that the Integral model provides a functional and apposite framework for addressing these problems. An in-depth, AQAL-based justification for this proposition is provided.
The Meaning of Integral Criminology and Criminal Justice
Integral LifeThis document was produced on the basis of a meeting that took place in March, 2001. There are some revisions reflecting activities and developments that have occurred since that meeting. Our intention is to suggest, in an introductory way, how the Integral approach could be applied to contemporary issues in criminology and criminal justice. We explore issues of the War on Drugs, the death penalty, and juvenile justice as illustrations.
Integral Correctional Education
Integral LifeThis article is part one of an overview of Integral Correctional Education. It briefly introduces salient aspects of the field of correctional education, defines correctional education, introduces the Integral model, and outlines the historical periods of correctional education practice. A discussion of some core principles of correctional education is followed by some problems that afflict inmate students, correctional educators, and the communities they serve.
An Integral Tour of Consciousness Studies
Allan Combs and Sean Esbjörn-HargensConsciousness is not only found in the Upper-Left quadrant in Integral Theory, which concerns itself with individual subjectivity and experience; rather consciousness is located in each of the four quadrants. This short essay examines how consciousness reveals itself and is studied in each of the four quadrants within Integral Theory.
Consciousness as Embodied, Embedded, Enmeshed
Sean Esbjörn-HargensConsciousness is all too often understood purely in subjective terms. An Integral approach recognizes that subjectivity is only one of four dimensions to consciousness. This article proposes that consciousness (subjectivity) cannot be understood independent of its co-arising with bodies (objectivity), cultures (intersubjectivity), and systems (interobjectivity).
Integral Approaches to Christian Ministry
Integral LifeThis article presents an Integral (AQAL) framework for Christian Ministry. Quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types are introduced and situated within the historical framework of Christianity.
An Overview of Integral Congregational Ministry
Integral LifeAQAL perspectives provide a uniquely comprehensive holding environment for investigating the various approaches of Christian “confessional theologies”—those understandings of the Divine that are lived within; and “comparative theologies”—those inquiries into the ultimate spiritual values and goals of all human life as perceived and expressed in a variety of religions and wisdom traditions. The authors use the AQAL analytical framework to unite the interior, exterior, individual, and collective dimensions, and to explore aspects of specific lines, levels, states, and types associated with Christian ministry.
Integral Business and Leadership
Integral LifeThis introductory article is an early articulation of Integral approaches to business and leadership in which the authors use the clarifying and synthesizing perspectives of Integral Theory and methodology to update biases, make new connections, and illumine blind spots of the theorists who have gone before: Drucker, McGregor, Kaplan and Norton, Senge, Hammer, and Collins, et al.
Inhabit: Your Shadow
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosRyan and Corey explore ways to bring more embodiment to your shadow practice, allowing you you to recognize your shadow in 3rd person, to relate with your shadow in 2nd person, and to finally reclaim and inhabit your shadow in your own 1st-person experience.
Introducing and Understanding Integral Art
Matt RentschlerThis article briefly outlines a general definition of art and the main approaches of art theory andpractice. It then illustrates how those approaches coherently fit together via the four quadrants of AQAL theory. The article concludes that Integral Art preserves the important truths of these approaches (while negating their more extreme versions). Therefore, nothing short of an Integral approach will suffice in both tuning artists to their fullest expression and reminding critics of their widest embrace.
Overcoming Racism: What Is Ours To Do?
Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVosDiane and Corey continue their in-depth exploration of race and racism, focusing on the actual four-quadrant work that needs to be done in order to begin to truly overcome these personal, cultural, and social challenges.
Mindfulness, Psychotherapy, and Politics
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey lead a fascinating discussion that brings us to the heart of psychotherapy, mindfulness, and spiritual awakening, and then apply this transformational wisdom to the social and political challenges we are surrounded by.
Inhabit: Your Ground
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeWatch as Ryan, Corey, and Marshall explore how Integral Practice allows us to more fully inhabit our ground by helping us bring more awareness to the most fundamental dimensions of our own lived territory.
The Metacrisis is Giving Rise to the Transformation Age
Integral Life and Robb SmithHow can we contribute to the rise of the Transformation Age? We first need to understand what’s driving the emergence of the Transformation Age out of the Information Age: a global metacrisis, occurring amidst a great release of global power, which as it becomes more acute is exposing the limitations of the current era’s structures, sensemaking, key contradictions (all pluribus, little unum), scarce resources (meaning), and the sources of power themselves (convening power).
Integrating Shadow
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen 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.
Power, Privilege, and Fragility: Leveling Up Our Conversations About Race and Racism
Greg Thomas, Mark Palmer, Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVosDiane and Corey are joined by guests Greg Thomas and Mark Palmer in this groundbreaking discussion about racism, anti-racism, and racial integration, highlighting a number of critical views that have been largely missing from the larger conversation that’s been taking place culturally in recent weeks, months, and years.
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”.
Inhabit: Your Resistance
Justin Miles, Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeSpiritual conversations often emphasize the importance of overcoming our resistance and accepting the world for what it is, exactly as it is. However, there are times when we don’t need to overcome our resistance, we need to fully inhabit our resistance. We can’t simply accept what is, we need to put ourselves on the line for what can and should be. How can we bring more mindfulness, skillfulness, and embodiment to our resistance, even while seeing everything as always-already perfect?
The Transformation Age: America Burning
Robb SmithAmerica has been on fire these past few weeks. A nation struggling with its racist past, its contemporary racial shadow, its deep political and cultural polarization, and a divisive president who will never be capable of leading a nation, we continue to find ourselves in the heart of The Great Release (and this time, not from an economic depression or disease pandemic, but from our deep and terrible racist heritage). In this brief article, I want to use a few lenses of integral metatheory—concepts you’ll be familiar with, but applied in ways you’ve never seen before—to see if we can get a broader view of what’s happening.
#EnoughIsEnough: Overcoming Racism in America
Diane Musho Hamilton, Greg Thomas, Mark Palmer, Gabe Wilson, Rob McNamara and Corey deVosIn light of the recent violent deaths of three black Americans — Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd — at the hands of current and former police officers in the United States, we wanted to deepen our discussion of race and racism and how we as Integralists can contribute to change by becoming powerful anti-racists in our own circles of influence.
The Heart of Conversation
Diane Musho Hamilton and Ken WilberDiane talks to Ken Wilber about her new book, Compassionate Conversations, which takes an intimate look at many of these cultural fault lines — power, privilege, identity, systemic racism, political correctness, collective shadows, etc. — and suggests a more skillful, artful, and heartful way to facilitate these conversations, to honor our unique differences, and to reaffirm our underlying unity.
COVID-19 Through the Lens of the Enneagram
Leslie Hershberger and Corey deVosHow are different Enneagram types dealing with these new life conditions that are being imposed upon us all? What are the different coping strategies and pain points and opportunities for transformation? How can the Integral Enneagram help us bring more care, compassion, and connection to our own integral family? Watch this very special episode to find out.
Inhabit: Your Truth
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeRyan and Corey devote an episode to the theme of fully inhabiting, embodying, and enacting truth — how to find it, how to wield it, and how to avoid the false certainties fed to us by both mainstream and fringe media. They don’t try to tell you what to believe, but rather try to help you avoid overly identifying with the contents of our views and to liberate yourself from your beliefs, whatever they happen to be.
Integral Europe Goes Global
Bence Gánti and Corey deVosWatch as Bence Ganti and Corey deVos take a sneak peak into the IEC lineup (which will feature over 70 presenters and a full range of activities including workshops, games, and even live concerts) and discuss the many challenges of transitioning from a live event to a streaming-only event.
Supporting Development in Adolescents
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosWatch as Dr. Keith and Corey take a close look at a critical phase of our own development, noting all of the things that can go right (and many of the things that can go wrong) during this period of growth, and how we can be more supportive and responsive to the needs of our own children as they navigate this turbulent period of their lives.
How to Have More Compassionate Conversations
Diane Musho Hamilton, Gail Hochachka and Corey deVosIn this episode of Integral Justice Warrior we are joined by Gabe Wilson, co-author of Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart, co-written with Diane and Kim Loh. In this discussion we explore many of the central themes of the book, helping all of us learn how to de-escalate conflicts and tensions, and to communicate with far more presence, empathy, skill, and grace.
Conversations From the Road
Robb SmithIn my travels, I’ve been privileged to sit down with members of the Integral Life community and talk with them about their lives, their growth and what’s on their minds. You are invited to listen in to those conversations we have received permission to publish.
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.
Inhabit: Your Creativity
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeWe live in an infinitely creative universe — and with every passing moment we have the option to actively and consciously participate with that creativity. Watch as Ryan and Corey explore ways to more fully align ourselves with our own deepest source of beauty, inspiration, and creative emergence.
Coronavirus and a Course in Anti-Fragility
Corey deVos and Ken WilberKen and Corey respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by suggesting a far more comprehensive approach to health and healing. Watch as we take a tour through all four quadrants of healthy living — a much-needed guide to integral anti-fragility in the 21st century.
Working With Collective Trauma
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosCollective trauma is more than the sum aggregate of all our our individual traumas. It is a trauma that exists between us, rather than within us individually, and requires different kinds of interventions and rehabilitations in order to treat.
Inhabit: Your Quarantine
Ryan Oelke, Corey deVos and Keith Martin-SmithWe are joined by special guest Keith Martin-Smith, an acclaimed author, teacher, and dear friend to the show, in order to explore key practices and postures to help us maintain our physical, mental, and spiritual health while enduring the painful realities that all of us are so immersed in right now.
Deeper Into the Great Release
Robb Smith and Corey deVosLadies and gentlemen, the Great Release is truly and fully underway. That earthquake has now begun. Nanoscopically small and quietly transmissible, Covid-19 would be almost laughable as a catalyst for the great release if it weren’t so deadly. But as it stands, it is in fact the perfect spark to alight the ample tinder of total system irresilience.
Love in the Time of Corona
Diane Musho Hamilton, Gail Hochachka, Rob McNamara and Corey deVosJoin Diane, Gail, Rob, Corey, and special guest Cindy Lou Golin for a very special discussion about the coronavirus pandemic and how to manage the tremendous fear, anxiety, and uncertainty that can arise from it. We also explore some of the hopeful opportunities and wisdoms that are being brought to the surface by our new set of global life conditions, as well as some of the possible paths toward anti-fragility that our society can take in the wake of this pandemic.
A Plague Arrives (And How Integral Practice Helps Us to Meet It)
Jeff SalzmanJeff takes a look at the Coronavirus pandemic, humanity’s response to it, and how the integral lens helps us see more clearly the myriad forces and opportunities rising out of this crisis — which increases our wisdom, compassion, and resilience while dealing with it.
How Defensive States Prevent Self-Knowledge
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey navigate the psychological minefield of defensive states and shadow impulses that often diminish our capacity for wisdom, empathy, and self-knowledge.
The Four Quadrants: A Guided Tour
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen 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.
Inhabit: Your Uncertainty
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosRyan and Corey invite us to deepen our practice in the face of uncertainty, finding strategies in all four quadrants to help us better acclimate ourselves to the massive pressures, social responsibilities, and societal realignments that are coming to the surface as we plunge into the opening act of the Transformation Age.
Intersubjectivity, Social Justice, and Climate
Diane Musho Hamilton, Gail Hochachka, Rob McNamara and Corey deVosJoin us as we take a look at climate change through the lens of 2nd-person intersubjectivity — how we live together, how we grieve together, how we create meaning together, how we relate with each other in the midst of crisis, and the many other ways that we are all in this together.
Integral Preparation for a Time of Rapid Social Change
Robb SmithA lifetime of practice has prepared integral people to carry the world through the trying and rapidly-changing times we are entering.
Corona, Climate, and Crashes: Welcome to the Transformation Age
Robb Smith and Corey deVosRobb Smith and Corey deVos explore the rising disruption caused by a brand new set of global life conditions emerging across the planet, why only an integral sensibility is capable of managing these many challenges and crises, and how we can begin to cultivate the inner resilience and anti-fragility we need in order to endure and even thrive in the midst of extreme volatility.
Inhabit: Your Politics
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosRyan and Corey explore ways to bring more embodied awareness and skillful discernment to our political lives, overcoming the corrosive and often paralyzing effects that both our cynicism and our idealism can have upon our political decisions and our willingness to engage our most fundamental civic responsibilities.
Climate Change: From Alarmism to Anti-Fragility
Diane Musho Hamilton, Gail Hochachka, Rob McNamara and Corey deVosIn this fascinating episode of Integral Justice Warrior, Diane and Corey are joined by Gail Hochachka and Rob McNamara to explore anti-fragile approaches to climate change. We are also joined by fellow integral enthusiast Deb Collins, who offers her own perspectives around the tragic wild fires that swept across the Australian continent.
2020 Integral European Conference Preview
Jeff Salzman and Bence GántiJeff Salzman talks to Bence Ganti, the driving force behind the upcoming Integral European Conference, a major six-day event for the Integral community which will commence on May 26th at the Azur Resort at Lake Balaton in Hungary. This fourth biennial conference will be the biggest and most comprehensive yet, with over 700 participants from 50 countries.
Inhabit: Your Wisdom
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosWatch as Ryan and Corey explore a number of practices and perspectives to help you bring your own wisdoms to the surface, allowing you to move through the world with more skill, compassion, insight, and humility.
The Meaning of Coincidence
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. 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 you feel your own four quadrants falling into perfect and seamless symmetry.
Climate Change Solutions: Adapt or Transform?
Diane Musho Hamilton, Gail Hochachka, Rob McNamara and Corey deVosWe are joined by special guests Gail Hochachka and Rob McNamara to explore some of the critical strategies to climate change — some of which emphasize a total top-down transformation of our political and economic systems, and others that emphasize a more incremental and adaptive approach.
Time, Consciousness, and Development
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey discuss how our relationship with time lies at the very root of consciousness, and explore how our perceptions of time affect our overall psychological health and sense of well-being. We are also joined by our good friend Jeremy Johnson in a fascinating discussion of how Jean Gebser describes our ever-evolving enactment of time.
The Best of 2019
Integral LifeThe very best Integral Life discussions from this past year.
Engaging Climate Change in All Four Quadrants
Diane Musho Hamilton, Rob McNamara and Corey deVosIn this episode of Integral Justice Warrior, Diane and Corey are joined by Rob McNamara, integral teacher and author of The Elegant Self, in order to take a closer look at climate change through all four quadrants.
Integrating Shadow Up and Down the Spiral
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey shine some light on the many sorts of shadow material we can encounter during our developmental journey, and how we can use our own shadows to help guide us toward the light.
Inhabit: Your New Year
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosRyan and Corey offer some simple practices and perspectives to help keep us grounded and engaged during this transition not only into a new year, but into a whole new decade, with a whole new set of possibilities, challenges, and life conditions emerging all around us.
Inhabit: Your Wound
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosWe all possess a unique constellation of traumas, enacted by your own unique kosmic address, and which can lead to your own unique wisdom. This is what we hope to help you uncover today.
Big Time: Integral Historiography and You
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen unpacks his own approach to integral historiography, helping us to better understand our own place in history — and history’s place in us.
Who Ate Captain Cook? Integral Historiography in a Postmodern Age
Ken WilberIn this fascinating sidebar to Ken Wilber’s book Boomeritis: A Novel That Will Set You Free, Ken offers a summary of integral historiography, revealing a far more comprehensive way to integrate multiple schools of historiography and to deepen our enactment of both the facts and most salient interpretations of the historical record.
100 Reasons Not to Have an Affair
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey discuss why extramarital affairs happen, what the consequences of infidelity are to your relationship, your family, and your own mental well-being, and why you should probably never, ever have one.
Judge Judy: Evolution’s Warrior
Jeff SalzmanNow in its 23rd year, Judge Judy attracts 10 million viewers a day who are eager to watch the 76-year-old grandmother transform into a Valkyrie for Justice, laying waste to the mendacities of cheating lovers, thieving landlords, lying teenagers, and meddling mothers-in-law.
Climate Change: From Despair to Determination
Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVosDiane Musho Hamilton talks to Corey deVos about how to cut through the feelings of despair and hopelessness that so many people feel around the challenge of climate change, and how to engage in more skillful and productive communication around the issue so that we can generate the political will we need in order to catalyze new solutions.
Integral Social Justice
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosIn this stunning 3 hour discussion, Ken Wilber offers his own views around healthy and unhealthy forms of social justice, praising the healthy and legitimate efforts to enact social justice over the generations while noting how much of today’s broken discourse around social justice is helping to perpetuate multiple forms of injustice.
Sacrilegious and Sexy AF
Bruce Alderman and Layman PascalIn this special Devil’s Night interview, our good friends Bruce Alderman and Layman Pascal talk to Hofman and Daemon, former members of The Satanic Temple in New York, and founding members of the Satanic organization LORE: The Satanic Collective of NYC, about the history of Satanism and the new Integral and Metamodern-ish forms that are currently emerging.
Inhabit: Your Digital Life
Corey deVos and Ryan OelkeHow do we better manage the inherent fractures and fragmentations of the digital world while bringing more embodied wisdom and compassion to our online interactions? Watch as Ryan and Corey provide some fairly simple perspectives and practices that might help you inhabit and engage your digital life with more skillful authenticity, resilience, and kindness.
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
Considering Otto Scharmer’s “Axial Shift” Political Theory
Dr. Keith Witt and Jeff SalzmanMany integralists are fans of Otto Scharmer, MIT professor and developer of “Theory U”, a brilliant tool for activating higher stages of consciousness that has gained wide acceptance in organizations.
Speaking and Listening From the Heart
Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVosDiane and Corey are joined by Gabe Wilson and Kim Loh, co-authors of Diane’s new book Compassionate Conversations, in this far-ranging discussion about growth, empathy, dignity, and integrity. Join us as we unpack one of the primary polarities at the core of Diane’s book — the polarity between sameness and difference — and how we can draw upon both our uniqueness and our commonalities in our pursuit for social justice and our efforts to reduce suffering within us, between us, and outside of us.
Polarities in Human Development
Beena Sharma, Susanne Cook-Greuter and Corey deVosBeena Sharma and Corey deVos explore the important relationship between polarities and adult development — and how polarity thinking not only helps accelerate our development toward integral stages of maturity, but also helps us to be more of ourselves, wherever we happen to be in our developmental trajectory.
Inhabit: Your Life Purpose
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosRyan and Corey explore the many ways we can create meaning for ourselves, introducing the concept of “Integral Ikigai” to help us find and fulfill our deepest life purpose.
Wicked Problems: Gun Violence
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosIn 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.
Wicked Problems: Gun Violence (v0)
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosIn this exclusive 8-hour 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.
Polarity Wisdom: The Mechanics of Integral Thinking
Beena Sharma and Corey deVosIn this premiere episode of our new monthly Polarity Wisdom show, Beena introduces her new Integrating Polarities training, designed to teach you the higher-order thinking common to individuals at the integral stage of development.
Poetry as a Transformational Practice
Brooke McNamaraBrooke McNamara weaves poetry and meditation in this moving presentation from the 2016 Relational Leadership Summit, exploring poetry as a transformational practice — “language being used to go beyond language.”
Integral Justice Warrior: Compassionate Conversations
Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVosIntegral Justice Warrior is a new show with Diane Musho Hamilton and Corey deVos, where every month we will take a close look at some of the most challenging cultural issues and fault lines of our time — as well as the communication skills we need in order to heal these shared wounds and begin to close the gaps between us.
The One Moment That Can Make or Break Your Relationship
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey explore how to better manage conflict in our relationships, focusing on one critical moment in these conflicts — the moment a defensive state arises. How that moment is handled is a massive determinant of how a relationship will progress, as discussed by Keith and Corey in this episode.
A More Unifying Psychotherapy
Andre Marquis and Ken WilberAndre Marquis, PhD, is associate professor of counseling and human development and author of several books and scholarly articles in the field of Integral Psychology. Today Andre talks to Ken Wilber about his most recent book, Integral Psychotherapy: A Unifying Approach, which explores how a more comprehensive understanding of the self can greatly enhance, enrich, and energize the therapeutic experience for both patient and practitioner.
Inhabit: Your Spiritual Life
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosNeed help shifting gears from mental map-making to actually inhabiting the spiritual territory? Watch as Ryan Oelke and Corey deVos explore what it means to truly inhabit and integrate our contemplative practice and our moment-to-moment experience of life.
The Other World: Integrating Psychological and Spiritual Health
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos explore the bottomless source of deep wisdom that exists at the intersection between the spiritual and psychological realms.
Grace and Grit: The Movie
Sebastian Siegel and Jeff SalzmanToday’s guest, Sebastian Siegel, is the screenwriter and director of the upcoming movie, Grace and Grit. The film tells the true love story of iconic, Integral philosopher Ken Wilber and his wife Treya. Based on the acclaimed book that chronicles Treya’s journals, they fall madly in love in 1980’s California and are immediately faced with illness and challenges that tear them apart. They overcome by finding a connection beyond this world, and love beyond life.
Inhabit: The Territory of You
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosWelcome to INHABIT — a monthly practice-based series with Ryan Oelke and Corey deVos, designed to help you embody your own unique expression of integral being and more fully inhabit the territory of your life, your relationships, and your world.
Kosmos: An Integral Voyage
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen Wilber and Corey deVos ponder the evolutionary mysteries of the universe, speculating on how abundant life might be in the kosmos, why we haven’t met any of our galactic neighbors yet, and what might happen if a UFO landed on the White House lawn. It’s a fun conversation — and one that takes its subject matter more seriously than you might expect. Whether you are a true believer of UFO phenomena or an iron-clad skeptic, you don’t want to miss this fascinating and far-reaching exploration.
Evolving a Multi-Cellular Society
David Sloan Wilson and Ken WilberA 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.
Shadow Work for Couples
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey explore how shadow practices can help couples resolve conflict and deepen their intimacy.
The Art of Integral Embodiment
Ryan Oelke and Corey deVosRyan Oelke is a gifted integral coach, the co-founder of Buddhist Geeks, and the creator of our new Embodied Success program. Watch as Ryan and Corey enjoy a far-ranging discussion about integral embodiment, self-actualization, and the call to make a meaningful impact in the world.
The Varieties of Integral Spiritual Experience
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosWatch as Ken and Corey explore the path of Waking Up — a guided tour through temporary states of consciousness that include everything from emotional states to chemically-induced states to the direct, immediate experience of timeless reality, revealing an infinitely renewable source of energy, resilience, and creative inspiration that rests at the very center of you.
How Emotional Coaching Makes Us Better Parents
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey explore how the integral approach and emotional coaching can profoundly transform our ability to show up as parents for our children.
The Embodied Success Shift: A Simple Meditation to Cut Through the Hustle and Cure Your Burnout
Ryan OelkeThis 7-minute meditation is very easy to follow, and empowers you to quickly experience the shift from living outside of yourself to resting in the fullness and foundation of your body. Feel the difference between living on the surface of yourself and what’s it’s like to return within your body, to the center of your life.
Trauma and the Unbound Body: The Connection Between Embodiment, Nondual Realization, and Healing
Ryan Oelke and Judith BlackstoneRyan Oelke speaks with Judith Blackstone, a teacher in the contemporary fields of nondual realization and spiritual, relational, and somatic psychotherapy, about her new book, “Trauma and the Unbound Body: The Healing Power of Fundamental Consciousness”. They chat about the connection between embodiment, nondual realization, and healing, and how all three help deepen one other.
Embodied Success
Ryan OelkeEmbodied Success is an innovative new coaching program by Ryan Oelke, designed to help you discover your own radically full and unshakeable success.
Campaign Closeup: Marianne, Bernie, and More Mayor Pete!
Corey deVos and Jeff SalzmanThe Democratic field for US president is taking shape fast. Today I have a freewheeling conversation with Corey deVos of Integral Life about our impressions of the emerging landscape, with a special focus on Marianne Williamson, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg.
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.
Affluenza and the College Admissions Scandal
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosWatch as Dr. Keith and Corey explore the recent college admissions scandal through the lens of integral psychology, typology, and the intimate interplay between culture, genetically influenced personality traits, and personal choice.
Mayor Pete’s X-Factor: Could It Be Integral Consciousness?
Jeff SalzmanIn less than three months, Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend Indiana, (population 102,000), has gone from political anonymity to the top tier of candidates in the Democratic race for president of the United States. What accounts for Mayor Pete’s blast out of the political gate?
Rebel Wisdom: Integral Meets the Intellectual Dark Web
David Fuller and Jeff SalzmanToday’s guest, David Fuller, is at the center of the intellectual Dark Web (IDW) having founded Rebel Wisdom, a YouTube station that has attracted over 60,000 subscribers in less than two years. David Fuller is committed to the further evolution of the intellectual dark web and enthusiastic, as I am, about what integral theory can bring to that project. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
Doing Justice: Integral Law and the Mueller Report
Mark Fischler and Corey deVosIn this new monthly series with Mark Fischler, we take a look at some of the most pressing and most complex issues of our time through the lens of Integral Law. In this special premiere episode Mark describes his own background, how he arrived at this fascinating intersection between the integral world and the legal world, and what exactly he means by the phrase “integral law”. Mark and Corey then turn their attention to the big story of our day — the Mueller report — offering their own views about the investigation, Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Mueller Report, and how this story might play out in the weeks and months to come.
The Boy Crisis
Warren Farrell and Ken WilberWarren Farrell and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at the many social, cultural, and psychological challenges that young boys are facing today, while noting how many of these challenges are the products of well-intentioned — but often misguided — feminist praxis.
Growing Up: A Guided Tour
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosIn 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 simple practices to help you actualize those potentials.
Conflict as a Driver of Evolution and Intimacy
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey explore the central role that conflict plays in the ongoing evolutionary process, from the big bang to today, and in our intimate relationships in particular — where conflict can either create more distance and resentment, or it can be an opportunity to create more intimacy and deeper connection.
The Heart of Motherhood
Brooke McNamara and Jeff SalzmanBrooke McNamara developed her new course, Write to the Heart of Motherhood, because, as a poet, she knows writing to be a flexible and potent way for mothers to “connect to our true voice in the middle of our messy lives.” Listen as she discusses her new course with Jeff Salzman.
What’s Missing in the Intellectual Dark Web
Ken WilberKen Wilber takes an in-depth look at the Intellectual Dark Web though the lens of Integrative Metatheory, celebrating their contributions to political discourse while also pointing out what they’ve been missing in their analyses.
Taking Aliens Seriously
Sean Esbjörn-Hargens and Jeff SalzmanIs there intelligent life beyond Earth? Is it possible that alien beings have already contacted us? What do we make of the thousands of testimonials of human-alien contact, including from scientists, diplomats and astronauts? Yet… where’s the proof? And if there is proof, why is alien contact not the biggest story of the millennia?
On the Front Line of the Culture War — Give Me Some Real Examples, Not Just Theories!
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosWatch 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 Psychology of Kink: Transforming Sexual Drives Into Art
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosLOT of adults are into kink, and studies show those people are happier, more resilient, and more conscientious. Join Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos as we explore kink as a one way to transform our sexual drives into art and add to the sum total of love in the universe.
Is Masculinity Toxic?
Jeff Salzman and Dr. Keith WittJeff talks with Dr. Keith Witt about an evolutionary approach that liberates masculinity and femininity into a new integration that features the best of both and makes them available to all.
The Baby and the Bathwater: Saving Liberalism
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosIn 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.
Angry and Vulgar: The Fruits of Incivility
Jeff SalzmanDonald Trump’s coarseness has proven to be more powerful than most people thought possible. In act two of his presidency he is being met with reciprocal incivility from his opposition, exemplified by newly-elected Congressperson Rashida Tlabid, who promised at a rally to “impeach the motherf*****”. In this episode I explore where and how this “new incivility” is arising, its evolutionary potency, and how it can be – and is being — engaged with more wisdom and intention.
Integral Mindfulness and the Evolution of Shame
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosIntegral mindfulness gives us the tools to make our moral discernments more visible and influenceable. Integral mindfulness can organize our relationships with shame and moral disgust (as well as with moral approval and all forms of pleasure) to use them as sources of enhanced horizontal and vertical health.
Unlocking the Power of Meditation
Craig Hamilton and David RiordanCraig Hamilton offers a brief summary of three common mistakes we all make in meditation.
The Expanded Trinity: The Three Faces of God-in-Three-Persons
Paul Smith and Ken WilberIs your god big enough? Close enough? You enough? Join Paul Smith and Ken Wilber as they take us on an expansive journey from the traditional Trinity to Paul’s nine-dimensional “expanded” Trinity.
Beyond the Nation-State: Globalism, Plutocracy, and the Integral World Federation
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen 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.
Staying Attuned in an Entangled Universe
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey explore ways that people can stay attuned with one another even while our defensive states are being activated.
The Major and Minor Scales of Integral Politics
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen Wilber and Corey deVos take an in-depth look at the “major and minor scales” of integral politics — an inventory of the most critical elements, polarities, and patterns of self-organization that are at play within all of the major political systems across the world, from the rise of civilization to today.
Integral Politics: Its Essential Ingredients
Ken WilberKen Wilber offers a summary of his integral political model, exploring the “major and minor scales” that inform and influence our major political orientations while suggesting a revolutionary path toward a far more integrated approach to politics and governance.
The Art and Practice of Happiness
Dr. Keith Witt, Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosWatch as Dr. Keith Witt, Jeff Salzman, and Corey deVos take an in-depth look at the art of happiness, exploring some of the central perspectives and practices that can lead to a more happy, wise, and fulfilling life.
More Than an Infomercial: What’s New at Integral Life
Corey deVos and Jeff SalzmanToday I’m joined by Corey DeVos, editor-in-chief of Integral Life. I invited him on because my job is highlighting the emergence of integral consciousness, and I have been really impressed with the stuff Corey and company are putting out these days. (Plus they host my live show twice a week, and I want them to know I love them!)
Hope for the Christian Contemplative Movement
Father Thomas KeatingIn celebration of Father Thomas Keating’s life and his tireless effort to help people discover their innermost intersection with divinity, we invite you to watch the following free video where he shares some of his own hopes for the future unfolding of contemplative christianity.
Lead With Purpose Webinar
Ginny Whitelaw and David RiordanGinny Whitelaw shares some of the central themes of her astonishing new training program, Lead With Purpose.
The Higher Stages of Couple Love
Jeff SalzmanAn integrally-inspired clinical psychologist specializing in couples therapy, Dr. Tom Habib has mapped what he calls the “couple’s line of development,” which describes the predictable stages a couple typically grows through — and where they may get stalled.
Is Free Will an Illusion?
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosIn this episode of The Ken Show we explore one of the oldest and, in many ways, most profound and consequential philosophical questions in history: what is the nature of “free will”, and is it ultimately just an illusion?
Forgiving Humanity: An Evolutionary Call for Collective Self-Love
Jeff SalzmanJeff makes the case that humanity is not fallen but rising, and that what matters more than our sinful nature is our basic goodness and the goodness of a kosmos that has destined us to grow.
Today’s Next-Level Organizations
Frederic Laloux and Jeff SalzmanEach stage of human development features a unique way of organizing work. So what’s next? Frederic Laloux‘s blockbuster book, Reinventing Organizations, offers compelling answers to that question.
White Pride vs. White Guilt in the #MeToo Era
Terry Patten and Corey deVosThere is a hidden subtext lurking behind the Trump reality show, US political gridlock, and the Kavanaugh confirmation showdown. Yes, it’s certainly a clash of worldviews. But it’s also about racial and cultural tribes. And it’s even about gender roles and identities.
Judging Kavanaugh
Jeff SalzmanJeff shares his insights into the testimony presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee by both Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing him of attacking her as a teenager.
Virtual Reality: A Technology of Transformation
Kent Bye and Ken WilberKent Bye, host of the Voices of VR podcast, talks to Ken Wilber about the many ways virtual reality can bring Ken’s integral map of consciousness to life, exploring how VR’s unique capacity to elicit feelings of awe, empathy, and flow can help it become a uniquely powerful platform of transformation.
How to Think Integrally
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen and Corey explore some of the major qualities of integral thinking at the “vision logic” or “construct aware” stages of development.
The Koan of Chronic Illness: A Father’s Story
Corey deVos and Dr. Lynn Royster FuentesCorey 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 interview, and we invite you all to check it out.
Loving Completely — How to Show Up More Fully in Your Relationships
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosWouldn’t you like to know — quickly, easily and succinctly — what the very best of science tells us about how to have amazing, life-changing relationships, intimacy and sex? Loving Completely is your guide.
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 [email protected]: How Fundamentalism Stole My Mind — and Doubt Freed My Soul, shares his inspiring story.
An Integral Understanding of Suicide
Dr. Keith Witt, Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosSuicide has been in existence as long as self-aware consciousness has been in existence. The gift of self-aware consciousness included the capacity for humans to anticipate and understand the inevitability of their own deaths, and all gifts come with a price. In this series of videos, Dr. Keith Witt talks to Jeff Salzman and Corey deVos about bringing a more integral understanding and compassion to the topic of suicide.
The Deconstruction of the World Trade Center
Ken WilberKen Wilber explores the many sorts of reactions people had to the tragedy of 9/11, and offers a theoretical framework within which a genuinely Integral approach to politics and governance might emerge.
From Polarization to Integration
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen Wilber and Corey deVos explore some of the causal factors behind so many of the regressive tendencies in our culture and politics these days, from new social pressures coming from social media technologies like Facebook, to the historic evolutionary trends that have formed and informed our major schools of political thought in the first place.
The Keys to Feminine Power
Claire Zammit and David RiordanWelcome to our latest interview with Dr. Claire Zammit on her new web offering, Feminine Power: The Essential Course for the Awakening Woman.
Integral Intimacy: A Beginner’s Guide
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith and Corey explore the basic architecture of Integral intimacy in relationships, offering a simple roadmap for any couples who would like to level up their relationship.
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 Power to Serve
Dr. Keith Witt and Jeff SalzmanDr. Keith talks to Jeff Salzman about Integral Life’s recent “Tap Your Power” event in Denver, CO, which featured exquisite teachings from himself, Ginny Whitelaw, Beena Sharma, and Ken Wilber on the many facets of power in today’s world — interior and exterior, individual and collective, all the way up and down the spiral of human development.
Immigration, Postmodernism, and Feminism: An Integral Reckoning
Ken Wilber and Corey deVosKen 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 private sphere of family, hearth, and home.
What’s MY News?
David RiordanIn this series of dispatches I’m going attempt to give you a basic premier about what is changing about the news. Then I am going to continue to track this story as it continues to emerge.
The Art of the Love Affair
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith Witt explores the art of the love affair — how they happen, how to avoid them from occurring outside of your committed relationship, and how to deal with and heal from secret affairs.
Kosmic Creativity and the Integral Daemon
Ken Wilber“Daemon” is a Greek word that, in classical mythology, refers to “a god within,” one’s inner deity or guiding spirit, also known as a genii or jinn, the tutelary deity or genius of a person; one’s daemon or genii is also said to be synonymous with one’s fate or fortune.
Can the Intellectual Dark Web Save Western Culture?
Robb Smith“The question is, will the IDW be more than a counter-balancing force to the dominant intellectual ideology of Green postmodernism? Can they synthesize enough, in time, to articulate positive, coherent and integrative modes upon which culture might be reorganized as it enters the fourth phase in a few short years?”
The Intellectual Dark Web: An Integral View
Robb Smith and Mark FormanMark Forman and Robb Smith discuss the Intellectual Dark Web, the loose counter-cultural band of intellectuals recently profiled in the New York Times.
The Roots of Integral Theory
Steve McIntosh and Jeff SalzmanSteve McIntosh takes us on a tour through his view of the origins of integral theory, starting with Georg Friedrich Hegel, who first explained the mechanisms of evolution in human history, and on through a stream of philosophers who unified the evolution of matter, consciousness and spirit.
A New Republic of the Heart: The Art and Practice of Sacred Activism
Terry Patten and Ken WilberTerry 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.
Dream Yoga: Open Your Doors of Perception
Andrew Holecek and David RiordanAndrew Holecek talks to David Riordan about his new Dream Yoga teachings, presenting an opportunity to develop a liberating flexibility in your identity, transforming your very sense of Self, and exploring your mind in new and creative ways.
The Tetra-Meshed Earth: Depth and Innovation in Climate Change Adaptation
Gail HochachkaGail presents the contours of the challenge that is climate change — namely how to grasp in meaning or action such a wicked problem and hyperobject: something not directly seen and experienced, so radically nonlocal and involving of multiple disciplines, that exists on timeline we can’t easily conceive of, and regarding a future we can only approximate. Making sense of an issue this complex is slippery and plastic, and how we then engage it even more so.
Big Data in Little China
Robb Smith, Ross Hostetter and Jeff SalzmanAre there fundamentally different ways for countries to progress into and through modernity? After all, the western model has been dominant for 200 years because of its success in doing so. But might Big Data — as controlled either by strong central states, private monopolistic businesses, or both — allow new forms of social regulation that can drive the evolution of non-western societies into modern values and beyond?
Helping Kids Grow Strong
Dr. Keith Witt and Jeff SalzmanDr Keith Witt talks with Jeff about how to better support children’s development. Dr. Keith argues that the healthy expression of a person’s type (their preferences, gifts and built-in challenges) is based largely on their early relationships.
Why Power Matters: A Conversation with Robb Smith
Robb Smith and David RiordanRobb Smith talks with David Riordan about the many faces of power, and why it’s so difficult for each of us to get a personal handle on it.
Kosmic Integrity: The Integral Community’s Most Important Contribution to the World
Robb SmithJoin Robb as he calls us forward to be agents of kosmic integrity, an incredibly unique praxis of healing and wholeness that may be one of our most important contributions to the world in the road ahead.
Starfleet Values Are Integral Values
Cindy Wigglesworth, Corey deVos and Jeff SalzmanToday Jeff is joined by fellow integral nerds Cindy Wigglesworth and Corey deVos in this integral appreciation of the venerable Star Trek franchise. Open hailing frequencies, set phasers to stun, and prepare to boldly go where no Star Trek review has gone before.
Change the Rules: New Structures to Drain the Swamp
Jeff SalzmanJeff visits with integralist Tom Curren, who has launched a new non-profit initiative with the goal to change the rules of the American political system.
Beyond Excellence in Sports: Flow by Choice
Jeff Salzman and Scott FordJeff talks with Scott Ford, author of Integral Consciousness in Sport: Unifying Body, Mind and Spirit Through Flow. Scott offers a specific practice for entering flow, which is applicable for “in the zone” performance in all aspects of life.
The War Among Progressives
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosToday Jeff and Corey take a close look at an fantastic new article by Valerie Tarico, published to Alternet with the title “Here’s Why Some Progressives Are Tearing Each Other Apart”. In the article Tarico argues that today’s left is largely split into two major factions, each of whom are operating with two very different narratives around social progress and our collective wellbeing.
The Butterfly and the Hawk: How “Dual Focus” Can Help You Overcome Pain, Anxiety, and Trauma
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosA common element of many trauma treatments, most psychotherapy, and much spiritual practice is something called “dual focus” — our capacity to anchor ourselves in the feeling of being safe, capable, and worthy in the present moment, while simultaneously extending our awareness to distressing feelings, thoughts, memories, impulses, judgments, and events.
Integral Liftoff: Listeners Share the View from Second Tier
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosIn today’s episode Jeff uses your reflections to chart out some of the landmarks of the new integral territory, as well as characteristics of the pioneers who seek to inhabit it.
Conspiracy in the Age of Aperspectival Madness
Corey deVos and Terry PattenCorey deVos and Terry Patten attempt to navigate to the endless web of conspiracy theories with some degree of wisdom and discernment, and to bring a small dose of sanity to the dangerous epidemic of aperspectival madness that is flooding through our world.
Trump’s War Cabinet Drops a Developmental Level
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosToday Jeff and Corey consider the choice of John Bolton to become Donald Trump’s national security advisor (replacing Gen. H.R. McMaster), as well as the promotion of Mike Pompeo to be Secretary of State (replacing Rex Tillerson). The shakeup represents a major worldview shift from orange modernity to amber traditionalism in the war cabinet of a President who often operates from the red power stage.
Peering into the Post-Privacy World
Dr. Keith Witt and Jeff SalzmanToday Jeff talks with integral psychotherapist Dr. Keith Witt about the arising of big data and its effect on our individual and collective psyches. They share their insights on the fascinating new book, Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are.
What Jordan Peterson (and His Fans and Foes) Can Learn from Integral Theory
Jeff SalzmanThrough subsequent postings critical of “leftist radicals,” Jordan Peterson has become a hero for advocates of free speech, and a idol to people who are opposed to the postmodern promulgation of multiculturalism and gender fluidity. So where does Peterson fit in the integral schema? In these two episodes of the Daily Evolver Jeff examines Peterson’s message as expressed through his book and his most popular lectures and interviews.
An Ethos for Revolutionaries: Terry Patten on Activism at the Integral Stage
Terry Patten and Jeff SalzmanTerry is pioneering a robust and dynamic new form of activism that fuses the “inner work” of personal transformation and awakening with the “outer work” of service and commitment to social justice. In this episode Jeff and Terry explore how we can deploy it to bring about the profound transformation of self and world that our era requires.
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.
From F#@king Up to Waking Up: A Tale of Addiction, Volition, and Liberation
Chris Grosso, Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosToday our dear friend Chris Grosso talks to Jeff and Corey about his latest book, Dead Set on Living: Making the Difficult but Beautiful Journey from Fucking Up to Waking Up, which pivots around Chris’s provocative and profoundly moving journey out of the shadows of addiction and the endless empty parade of substitute gratifications, and into the light of spiritual awakening and healthy living.
Star Trek: Discovery and the Moral Arc of the Universe
Corey deVosThe soul of Star Trek isn’t optimism or idealism or a roadmap to utopia. All of those are byproducts of the actual moral core of the series: exploring post-conventional morality, and owning the consequences of decisions made from that stage.
Sacred Activism: The Practice of Civic Engagement
Terry Patten and Corey deVosTerry, Corey, and our live viewers discuss the integral moral imperative to engage more deeply with the many systems we are governed by, and to show up more fully in a world that is getting better and better, worse and worse, faster and faster, and crying out for the sort of integral solutions that only you can begin to provide.
The Feeling of Enlightenment: Sex, Spirit, and the New Tantra
Ken WilberKen Wilber offers a stunning keynote teaching about Integral Tantra and the “feeling of enlightenment”, giving you a powerful set of pointing-out meditations to help familiarize you with the ever-present luminosity of your deepest and innermost Self, as well as sexual practices that will help you integrate your libido with your liberation.
Can Virtual Reality Create a More Virtuous Reality?
Corey deVos and Jeff SalzmanJeff and Corey explore the exhilarating emergence of virtual reality technology and the far-reaching implications it has across the full spectrum of human experience, from entertainment to education, to medicine, art, journalism, spiritual practice, sexuality, communication, and any number of other exciting and potentially groundbreaking applications.
The Black Panther: A Hero for Humanity
Jeff SalzmanJeff Salzman talks to Steve Harper about the superhero film The Black Panther, which illuminates the struggle of growing beyond a retributionist victim identity to a larger sense of responsibility for one’s self, one’s people, and the whole of the world.
Two Integral Eggheads (Try To) Watch the Olympics
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosToday Jeff and Corey take an anthropological look at the Olympics, noting how they express multiple stages of human development, how one’s type and kosmic address influences how you experience sports, how athletes at the peak of their performance can transmit powerful state experiences, and much more.
Guns, Madness or Evil? The Roots of Mass Shootings
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosIs America’s rate of gun violence, which multiplies that of other developed countries, an immutable part of our character and culture? How do we respond to the steady news of mass shootings and the senseless killing of innocent people? And how about the perpetrators: are they mentally ill or just plain evil?
Unitas Multiplex: A More Integral Approach to Diversity
Roger Walsh and Ken WilberRoger Walsh and Ken Wilber explore a more integral approach to diversity that seeks to add a critical missing piece that has been missing from the conversation: the notion of developmental diversity.
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?
How to Level Up Your Parenting
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosBeing a superior parent is the goal of pretty much all parents. Join us as we explore the many dimensions of integral parenting and the many advantages that come with it.
You Are the Hero of Your Own Story
Jeff SalzmanToday we share Jeff’s guest appearance on Steve Harper’s “What’s Your Theory?“ webcast. Steve and Jeff explore the interior qualities of traditionalism (amber altitude), and how to recognize, respect and nurture their power in one’s self and others.
The Beauty (and Baggage) of Traditionalism
Jeff SalzmanJeff looks at the deep structures of traditionalism and how we can nurture its most healthy expression in our culture, and in our own minds and hearts.
Virtual Lucid Dreaming: The Intersection of Consciousness and Technology
Andrew HolecekAndrew Holecek explores the fascinating and fruitful vanguard of consciousness and technology in this stunning presentation about virtual reality, lucid dreaming, and awakening in the midst of rapid social change.
Are We Seeing the End of American Football?
Jeff SalzmanIt was Super Bowl Sunday last week, America’s great secular holiday where the nation’s top two football teams go to battle to prove who is the ultimate champion. All the attention and hoopla does not, however, hide the fact that football’s popularity is waning in American culture….
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.
Dream Yoga and the Wisdom of the Dark
Andrew HolecekAndrew offers a stunning presentation on the incredible untapped power of lucid dreaming, and how a genuine dream yoga can help make our spiritual practice more complete, and awaken us more fully from the somnambulant trance of our day-to-day lives.
The State (and Stages) of the Union: 2018
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosIn this episode we look at President Trump’s State of the Union address, where he made opening moves toward a grand bargain to overhaul the U.S. immigration system and rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. What are the policy and political ramifications? Can we trust the guy who brought us birtherism? Are Democrats willing to give Trump victories they themselves want (and Republicans would never give them)?
Star Wars: The Force Evolves
Cindy Wigglesworth, Corey deVos and Jeff SalzmanJeff is joined by Cindy Wigglesworth and Corey deVos, and together they dive deeply into the rich mythology and mysticism of the Star Wars universe — sharing their personal connection to Star Wars, their integral appreciation of its central themes and principles, and their best guesses as to where the Force may be taking us next.
Urantia: A Spiritual Vision with Evolution at its Core
Byron Belitsos and Jeff SalzmanWelcome to The Urantia Book, a spiritual revelation that came into being in the early 20th Century and has inspired generations of adherents since. Today Jeff talks with Byron Belitsos, author of the new book, Your Evolving Soul: The Cosmic Spirituality of the Urantia Revelation, about the principles of these deep and beautiful (and controversial!) teachings, and how they can illuminate our spiritual development.
When the World’s Largest Investor Wakes Up
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosIn this episode we look at the continued emergence of postmodern consciousness (green altitude), using a current example from the U.S. financial sector: last week Laurence D. Fink, founder and chief executive of BlackRock, the world’s largest investor fund, informed business leaders that if they want any of the the $6 trillion he invests they are going to have to serve a social purpose.
Integrating Power
Ginny Whitelaw, Roger Walsh, Jeff Salzman, Gail Hochachka, Bert Parlee and Robb SmithJoin panelists Ginny Whitelaw, Roger Walsh, Jeff Salzman, Gail Hochachka, and Bert Parlee in this far-ranging discussion about power — how to relate to it, how to wield it, and how to avoid getting trampled by it.
A New War for Power
Robb SmithBlack Lives Matter. MeToo. North Korea. Robert Mueller. Fake news. What do these and dozens of other headlines have in common? Join Robb as he explains how they all point to a new war for power that is currently underway: how power is being used and misused, how power is changing, and who will have power when the momentous leap into the transformation age is done.
Trump’s First Year
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosDonald Trump has just completed the first year of the most unlikely, outrageous presidency in modern history. What do we make of it?
Is Integral Arrogant? Jeff Responds to Listeners.
Jeff SalzmanDoes the integral project have a problem with arrogance? Jeff explains how integral theory itself helps to answer the question.
The #MeToo Reckoning: A Conversation with Diane Musho Hamilton
Diane Musho Hamilton and Jeff SalzmanDiane and Jeff look at the upside of the #MeToo movement, as well as its inevitable overreach. They look at how it heals historic patterns of abuse, and what it is blind and hostile too. And they look to integral consciousness, the ability to hold multiple perspectives, as a way forward.
Themes of Emergence: Awareness, Responsibility, and Mutuality
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosCulture wars and cognitive dissonance. Consensus trance on climate change. #MeToo and emergent mutuality. Tantric sexuality and karma yoga. Self-awareness and personal responsibility. Join us as Keith explores some of these converging themes, as well as questions from the audience around social trauma, education, and broken-hearted enlightenment.
New Year, Less Fear: Renewing Our Faith in Progress
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosToday Jeff and Corey welcome 2018 with the recognition that in terms of human flourishing – nutrition, health, lifespan, peace, freedom – we are living in the best of times.
Never Been Better, Never Felt Worse: Inside the Rise of an Integral Global Operating System for the 21st Century
Robb SmithIntegral Life CEO Robb Smith puts the tumult of 2016 into historical perspective and looks ahead at the “momentous leap into the transformation age” that he believes is underway right now. Taking a long view of history, evolutionary dynamics, culture and economics, Robb argues that we’re at the peak of a Green, pluralistic global operating system, with Orange modernism slipping into our rearview mirror, and Teal integralism just beginning to emerge, holding all the promise of overcoming the evolutionary contradictions that gave rise to populism and leaders like Donald Trump.
Re-Mystifying Christmas
Fr. John Forman, Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosJeff and Corey welcome as their guest Father John Forman, Rector of the Burien, Washington Episcopal Church. Father John shares his teachings on how we can embrace the birth of Jesus as a beautiful mystery, thereby accessing its spiritual potency in real time and enabling us to shine the light of Christ Consciouness into the world.
Lessons from Alabama and Puerto Rico
Jeff SalzmanJeff looks at the victory of Democrat Doug Jones over Republican Roy Moore in the special U.S. Senate election in Alabama. Jeff starts the episode by checking in on Puerto Rico, as political and business forces align to create a state-of-the-art, low-carbon power grid.
Why Can’t Wedding Cakes Be Gay?
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosToday we look at the case, heard last week in the U.S. Supreme Court, of the Colorado baker who refuses to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding — a case that pits competing American values of freedom of speech (and freedom from compelled speech) and the principle of tolerance and equal access in the public spheres of life.
The Shadow Side of Technology
David Riordan and Jeff SalzmanJeff talks with David Riordan, Vice President of Media for Integral Life, about some of the ways we can inhabit the virtual world more safely and intelligently.
The Last Gasp of Late-Stage Capitalism: An Integral Look at the Republican Tax Plan
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosThe rise of capitalism, starting a couple hundred years ago, has been a spectacularly positive development for humanity, creating enormous material weath that raised billions of people out of poverty. In the last 40 years, however, it has been tuned so that the vast majority of economic growth flows to the elites who own and manage the systems of wealth creation. The Republican tax plan doubles down on that trend, reducing taxes for corporations and the rich at the expense of social programs that help the poor. Jeff and Corey discuss the ramifications.
For the Love of Chaos: What Does Complexity Theory Have to Do with Intimacy and Healing?
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosIn a world as complex and chaotic as ours, how can we raise our level of awareness and attunement in order to meet the great challenges of our time? Watch as Dr. Keith explains how chaos can be used as an incredibly effective driver of growth, healing, and love.
The Future of Sex: More Fun, Less Creepy
Dr. Keith Witt and Jeff SalzmanJeff talks with Dr. Keith Witt about the great consciousness raising our culture is going through regarding sexual harassment. Dr Keith’s prescription for a healthier, safer future: more sex!
Artificial Intelligence vs. Artificial Consciousness
Michael E. Zimmerman and Jeff SalzmanThe hopes and fears surrounding the advent of artificial intelligence are fantastical, from Ray Kurzweil’s promise of spiritual machines to Elon Musk’s warnings of killer robots. And yes, some version of that future is barreling toward us at an ever-increasing speed, says philosophy of technology professor Michael Zimmerman, who is Jeff’s guest today.
The Energetic Properties of Beauty, Truth, and Goodness
Steve McIntosh, Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosSteve McIntosh joins us for an in-depth exploration into the energetic qualities of the three primary virtues of Goodness, Beauty, and Truth. Steve describes how these virtues can both enrich our cognitive understanding of the universe around us, while also deepening and reinvigorating our own ongoing spiritual practice.
Are Women More Bound To Be Good?
Jeff SalzmanToday Jeff considers comments from “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski which imply that women have an extra responsibility to resist Donald Trump. He also quotes former first lady Michelle Obama saying that if a woman voted for Trump it is because “[you] don’t like your [own] voice. You like the thing you’re told to like.”
Ann Coulter’s Piece of the Truth: Critiquing Trump From the Right
Jeff SalzmanWe in integral land often say stuff like “everyone is right” and “no one is capable of being wrong 100% of the time.” But what about Ann Coulter? What is her piece of the truth? Listen to find out!
Finding the Rhythm of Improvisational Leadership
Greg Thomas and David RiordanGreg Thomas talks to David about what is moving him as our cultural disruption continues to unfold, particularly concerning the issues of race and culture. Listen as Greg outlines his improvised response to all that is arising. He is particularly noticing a lack of moderate voices on both sides of the conversation. Although, Jazz Leadership has been his practice for some time he, like the rest of us, he is experiencing an acceleration and intensity to the cultural conversation since the 2016 election.
The Gift of Gratitude
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosJeff and Corey explore one of the most powerful and universal practices available to us: the practice of gratitude. In times of peak stress, peak fear, and peak anxiety, gratitude is more important than ever. Which means that this year, perhaps more than any other year in recent memory, we could use a nice dose of gratitude to help remind ourselves of the incredible goodness, beauty, and truth that we are all surrounded by. This in turn helps us relax our cynicism, loosen our negative fixations, and make our “skin-encapsulated egos” just a little bit more porous.
The Emergence of a New Activism
Elizabeth DeboldAt this historical moment, as the stakes with climate change and the pressure to regress accelerate across the planet, consciousness work at a collective level may hold new potential for change. What would it mean to hold this realization, not as a deep personal truth, but as a call to action? This is the essence of a new activism.
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.
The Path Ahead: Politics, Globalism, and You
Ken WilberKen Wilber offers an extensive presentation to help us better understand the evolutionary pressures that led to the rise of Trump and the backlash against progressivism, and offers his own ideas around the future of the global economy.
Roy Moore Wants to Date Your Daughter
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosAmerican politics is riveted on bombshell accusations involving Judge Roy Moore, who is running for U.S. Senate from the state of Alabama. In a story reported in the Washington Post, he is accused by five women of molesting them when they were 14 – 16 years old. Watch as we explore this extra-icky story, and try to provide a more integral point of view.
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.
Finding Greater Resilience in the Trump Era
Dr. Keith Witt and Jeff SalzmanDr. Keith Witt talks to Jeff Salzman about the ramifications today’s polarized politics are having upon people’s psychological health, and the strategies you need to become more resilient — and less reactive — to the many stresses of our time.
The Daily Evolver Q&A: Deep Listening, Helping People Grow, and Geopolitical Shades of Grey
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosJeff and Corey answer some questions from our listeners in this special Q&A episode of The Daily Evolver.
Saudi Arabia’s Wild Weekend: Corruption Crackdown or Power Grab?
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosOn Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s 32 year old ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, arrested dozens of the country’s most influential political and religious figures, including 11 of his royal cousins. It was, according the the New York Times, “the most sweeping transformation of the Kingdom’s governance for more than eight decades.” In this episode we bring an integral lens to the unfolding situation.
Heal Thyself: How to Repair Interpersonal and Cultural Injuries
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosThe Buddha had it right with “life is suffering”! We all regularly feel injured by other people, our own interior struggles, cultural events, or random chance. Repairing these injuries is a big deal! Luckily, Integrally informed psychology can help us recognize and repair injuries. In this upcoming episode of Live with Dr. Keith we’ll talk about how we all become injured and the steps we often need to take for effective repair.
The Mean Green Fever Dream: Climate Urgency vs. Alarmism
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosWhen trying to communicate about climate change and sustainable initiatives, how can we find a way to convey the tremendous urgency of the problem without falling into the sort of overwrought alarmism that only ends up tuning people out of the conversation?
An Integral Response to Terror in the 21st Century
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosJeff and Corey make an effort to wrap their integral hearts around the tremendous pain and sadness of yesterday’s tragic terrorist attack in New York City (and all other terrorist attacks around the world) while trying to ground the very real fears, anxieties, and resentments these attacks generate into a much more hopeful and optimistic enactment of our world.
The Art of Being Unique (But Not Special)
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosToday Jeff and Corey take a look at a paradoxical move in vertical development: where we embrace our own radical uniqueness and express it in relation to other beings who are also utterly unique. It’s a new and more vivid integration of the individual and collective realms of reality, and out of it emerges a possibility for a more fruitful, happy and fulfilling life. Once again we are helped out by Sarah Silverman!
Mueller, Trump & Collusion: The Rule of Law Pushes Back
Robb Smith, Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosIn today’s Daily Evolver Jeff, Corey and Robb look at today’s groundbreaking headlines to explain how Red and Amber-centered populism, led by President Trump, gained power in order to combat the stagnation brought on by too much cultural and economic power consolidated in too few hands. Today, with indictments being leveled at three people working for the Trump campaign (one of which confirmed collusion with the Russian government), the Orange, Constitutionally-centered rule of law fought back.
Integral Tantra: Sex, Love, and Awakening
Ken WilberKen Wilber offers a very special presentation on the incredibly juicy topic of sex, love, and Integral Tantra. This is an extended preview of Ken’s forthcoming keynote presentation at the What NOW conference at the end of the year.
Building Bridges: How to Talk to Trump Supporters
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosIn the wake of the Trump election, many progressives are realizing that one way forward is to reach out to their political opponents, at least to establish a basic human connection. Today Jeff looks at four recent attempts to do that: by comedian Sarah Silverman, philosopher George Lakoff, Vox political correspondent Liz Plank and New York Times columnist David Brooks. Corey also adds some of his own integral tips for good interpersonal hygiene.
“The Witch” and the Evolution of Horror
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosJeff offers a review of the film The Witch: A New England Folk Tale, noting how much it resonated with his own integral sensibilities. He and Corey then turn the discussion to a broader discussion of the evolution of horror as a genre and its utility as a “release valve” for both cultural anxieties and the persistent existential dread we are all born into. SPOOOKY!!!!!
The Heart of Integral Parenting
Miriam Mason Martineau, Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosOur dear friend Miriam Mason Martineau joins us to explore the exceptionally rich topic of integral parenting. It’s hard to imagine a more important, more meaningful, or more immediately fulfilling application of integral thought and practice than this one.
How to Vote Integral
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosIn a political system that is so polarized and seemingly rife with conflict between irreconcilable views, how do we make the best and most integrally-informed choices possible?
Politics, Addiction, and Mental Health: The Path to Recovery
Chris Grosso and David RiordanIn this interview Chris recounts some of the surreal feelings he’s having as the Trump administration continues to disrupt the social, political, and cultural status quo. He speaks to the impact Trump is having on the mental health communities that he serves — as safety net budgets for social services are eliminated, those with mental health issues are often the first to feel the pain.
Cryptocurrency for Newbies: The Evolution of Money
Ryan Oelke, Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosIn this very special episode we take a close look at one of the most exciting and disruptive new technological forces in society: the rise of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies.
Trump-Sick? Try This.
Jeff SalzmanJeff shares his thoughts on how to navigate in an era led by a man who he too agrees is unfit for the office of the Presidency. He ends the episode by sharing 15 minutes of a video of spiritual teacher Byron Katie as she helps a woman metabolize her distress at Trump.
When Buddhists Go Bad: The Tragedy in Myanmar (And Why Development Trumps Doctrine)
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosJeff looks at the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas in Myanmar at the hands of the Buddhist majority, and stoked by militant Buddhist monks. What’s up with the religion of peace and compassion? Let’s shed some integral light.
The Transpersonal Workout: Less Pain, More Gain
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosFor most of us, working out kind of sucks. Here’s a great way to more deeply engage your workout and make it suck a bit less.
What NOW: What’s Sex Got To Do With It?
Ken Wilber“The What NOW conference promises to be a real outpouring of creative information about new and Integral approaches to the world’s problems — environmental, economic, political, technological, spiritual, personal. I hope to see you there.”
Dunkirk: The Art of War
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosDoes the film Dunkirk qualify as integral art? What the hell is “integral art”, anyway?
Harvey Weinstein and the Fall of the Patriarchy
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosFeminism collects yet another head as stories of Harvey Weinstein’s abuse of women flood the airwaves. Watch as Jeff and Corey explore the dignities and disasters of the feminist movement.
The Republic Fights Back (And Even Some Republicans!)
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosHave American conservatives finally had enough of this Donald Trump guy?
The Gun Problem
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosAmerica finally faces a challenge it can’t shoot its way out of.
Normal Crazy vs. Extra Crazy: Disarming Your Defensive States
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosWhen we feel safe, we are usually comfortably social with ourselves and others. When we feel threatened, our nervous systems (our adaptive unconscious, our Shadow selves) can generate defensive states to protect us. These states amplify or numb emotions, distort perspectives, pump out destructive impulses, and diminish self-reflection and empathy. Watch as Dr. Keith Witt offers some valuable guidance to help you disarm these defensive states whenever they arise for you.
Moving Beyond Fear
Ginny Whitelaw and David RiordanAt the moment, Ginny is particularly concerned about the lack of leadership that both President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un are displaying in their escalating war of words, and in this discussion she helps work through the very fears that naturally arise as a result.
The Acceleration of Crazy
Terry Patten and David RiordanTerry touches on what he calls the “acceleration of crazy” as our current reality show unfolds. He also has some interesting insights on how he is navigating the chaos, while noting that major stage transitions like the one we are currently living in are, by their very nature, revolutionary, calling us to a higher, richer, and more sustainable human commons.
The Morality of Meat
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosIf God didn’t want us to eat animals, why did He make them out of meat?
Monkey Mind (And Other Kinds of Animal Intelligence)
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosHow much consciousness do animals possess?
Move Fast and Break Things: Are Facebook, Amazon, and Google Hacking Our Democracy?
Jonathan Taplin and David RiordanA hot topic in the 2016 election was the business and targeting practices of the tech giants Facebook, Google, and Amazon and their possibly corrosive effects upon democracy. One of the excellent new books on this subject is Jonathan Taplin’s Move Fast and Break Things – How Facebook, Google and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy. Jonathan’s book does a really great job tracing the motivations of their founders as they morphed from startup tech innovators to dominant tech monopolies.
Beyond Polarization and White Nationalism: Embracing Our Deeper American Identity
Greg Thomas and Mark FormanGreg Thomas and Dr. Mark Forman dive more deeply into the unique perspective of Ralph Ellison (renowned author of Invisible Man) and his unparalleled value in our time of national crisis.
Do Rivers Have Rights?
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosRivers are people, my friend. And they’ve lawyered up.
Don and Kim’s Big Red Rumble
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosTensions are rising as toddlers squabble. What is a more integral view?
American Psycho
Jeff Salzman and Corey deVosWhat does childhood psychosis have to do with Donald Trump?
What’s Your Story NOW?
Jeff Salzman and David RiordanJeff Salzman and David Riordan discuss many of the topics we will be exploring at this year’s What NOW conference at the end of the year.
DJ Qbert: Alien Octopus Genius
DJ Qbert and Justin MilesPart mystic, part alien, part genius, and part octopus, Q was the perfect person to talk to about subjects that seem out of place in a conversation about djing. He’s delightfully bizarre and I knew talking with him would make for some great conversation. For me, interviewing him was a form of deity practice (how do you talk to a God about being God?) and I am genuinely appreciative for him allowing me to see through his eyes for a minute.
The 4th Spinning of Hip Hop
Justin MilesHiphop is largely studied from the outside in. We enjoy the music, the art and the dance. We judge, argue, evaluate and rank it, but not much attention is paid to what happens inside the artist. The 4th Spinning is an attempt to look at Hiphop from an Integral perspective, which simply means exploring the inside-and-outside of individuals (behavior, psychology and spirituality), and the inside-and-outside of groups (culture and society), to not only understand but to manifest Hiphop in all of its fullness.
The Debt Collective
Douglas RushkoffDoug Rushkoff interviews Astra Taylor and Thomas Gokey, co-founders of Strike Debt, Rolling Jubilee and most recently the Debt Collective. The Debt Collective is a direct action campaign that leverages the collective power of debtors, united together, against exploitative for-profit education and lending institutions in the US. Astra and Thomas give Team Human listeners a template for hacking real world systems and tapping into the power of solidarity.
WTF is CryptoMind?
Corey deVosWhat exactly is “cryptocurrency”, and why should you care? In this inaugural episode of the new CryptoMind podcast, our good friends Ryan Oelke (from PowerUp Productions) and Vincent Horn (from Buddhist Geeks) answer these questions, offer their own big-picture reflections, share their stories, and talk about the larger significance of the cryptospace as they see it.
Finding Sanity in the Post-Truth Era
Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVosDr. Keith Witt talks about our shared emotional reactions to the election and ongoing cultural upheavals, and some strategies help us not only cope, but actually grow through these times.
Inside the Great Release
Robb SmithJoin Integral Life co-founder Robb Smith as he explains the current historical moment as a natural and predictable backlash against the twin dominance of the right-leaning Multinational Capital Holon in economics and the left-leaning Multicultural Culture Holon in culture since the 1970s.
The Many Ways We Touch
Ken WilberWe have the intuition that everyone is at least partially right, that no human being is capable of being 100% wrong. But how do you tell just how right everyone is? Some are more right than others — how do you tell the difference? And how do you handle interfacing with limited or partial perspectives when engaging with people in real time? This eBook, from the upcoming Vol. II of Ken Wilber’s “Kosmos Trilogy”, will help.
The Three Principles of Integral Thinking
Ken WilberKen offers an in-depth summary of the three integrative principles, nonexclusion, enfoldment, and enactment, which he uncovered while putting together his Integral Methodological Pluralism framework — a robust meta-paradigmatic scaffolding that seeks to honor, include, and integrate multiple paradigms and methodologies and practices across all domains of human knowing.
Lifestyle and Mental Health: Restoring Sanity in the 21st Century
Roger WalshRoger Walsh describes eight of the most crucial lifestyle-based approaches to help restore balance and sanity to our frantic 21st-century lives.
Race, Rooted Cosmopolitanism, and Hope in the 21st Century
Greg Thomas and Mark FormanThe political storm that has visited the United States over the past few years have exposed a number of crises: cultural, political, and environmental. One of these crises is our society’s ongoing struggles with how we define and treat one another according to our ideas of “race.” The moment is ripe for bringing together healthier understandings of ethnic identity that can replace the largely toxic idea of race from our past. In this episode of Psychology Now, special guest Greg Thomas joins co-host Mark Forman to discuss these issues.
Kosmic Address: Everything In Its Right Place
Ken WilberKen Wilber explores the notion of Kosmic Address — a universal “indexing system” that uses the integral framework to situate and constellate all known phenomena (physical, mental, and spiritual), as well our capacity to discern that phenomena. This allows us to not only better understand the nature of each component part, but also how that part relates to every other part and fits into the whole, revealing the hidden architecture of knowledge itself.
The Four Faces of Truth
Ken WilberIn an era when our collective notion of “truth” is being weaponized, balkanized, and smashed to smithereens, it’s important to remind ourselves how we go about discerning truth in the first place. In this introductory chapter from The Eye of Spirit, Ken Wilber explores the four primary methods we use to acquire and verify our knowledge, allowing us to escape our current “post-truth” quagmire by bridging the ever-widening divide between conflicting views, values, and verities.
The Good, the True, and the Beautiful
Ken WilberKen Wilber explores the three fundamental discernments of the human mind: the Good, the Beautiful, and the True. Ken discusses how all three are simultaneously parts of a single indivisible whole, yet each possesses its own means of disclosing and verifying knowledge.
Aesthetic Practice: Looking at the Overlooked
Michael SchwartzMichael Schwartz offers a powerful aesthetic exercise to help you activate the various perspectives on art (including becoming aware where we are stuck in the fluidity of our perspective taking) and integrate those perspectives into a higher-order perception that will profoundly expand and deepen your aesthetic experience.
No Boundary: A Union of Opposites
Ken WilberKen 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.
Integral Semiotics: The Language of Liberation
Ken WilberHow 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 in fact they are home of the vast majority of those things most humans hold valuable. Integral Semiotics is thus a matter, not just of linguistics, but of emancipation.
How Zen Can Provide Leadership in a Post-Truth Trump World
Ginny WhitelawGinny Whitelaw offers some valuable advice on how presence, resilience, and centeredness can help us illuminate a better path forward in the midst of the “post-truth” collapse.
Growing, Relating, Connecting: An Integral Tour of Couples Therapy
Dr. Keith Witt and Mark FormanIn this episode of Psychology Now, Dr. Keith and Dr. Mark dive into the wide world of couples therapy and relationships, using the Integral lens to locate some of the deeper principles and key insights that leading couples therapists’ employ to help couples develop loving, growth-orientated, grounded relationships. Includes six key practices that you can try right now to enhance your relationship.
Making Sense of Trump’s Exit from the Paris Accord
Gail HochachkaLast week, Trump stated his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement regarding climate change. Trump announced that the USA will withdraw based on the sense that it will negatively affect US jobs. To explore this, I turn to Integral Theory, which is a comprehensive transdisciplinary theory developed by contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber and applied by others across several professional fields. We can draw upon these ideas regarding the dynamics of social groups to make sense of Trump’s exit from the Paris agreement.
Finding Your Flow: A Simple Shift to Help You Tap Into Your Peak Performance
Scott Ford and Ken WilberScott Ford talks to Ken Wilber about a startling new practice that can help you immediately access flow states (aka “the zone”) — a state of total absorption and nearly effortless engagement with a given activity, typically allowing us to perform at our very highest capacity.
Hardcore Spirit: Wisdom for a New Generation
Chris Grosso and Ken WilberChris Grosso and Ken Wilber explore a radical new evolution of the spiritual life — one that is so all-inclusive, nothing gets left out. So all-embracing, it literally has no opposite. So all-pervading, even sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll can find their rightful place on the altar of transformation. This is not your grandma’s spirituality. These aren’t the crusty moralizations of traditional religion, or the saccharine pablum of New Age narcissism. This is Hardcore Spirit.
Irritation as a Spiritual Path: The Zen of You and Me
Diane Musho Hamilton and Jeff SalzmanFor many progressive spiritual practitioners it no longer feels like enough to merely follow an individual meditation practice, as valuable as that is. We want to apply our enlarged selves, skillfully and in real time, to the circumstances of our complex lives, and particularly to our relationships with others. The spiritual potency of relationship is a subject Diane Musho Hamilton explores in her new book, The Zen of You and Me: A Guide to Getting Along with Just About Anyone.
Psychedelics in Psychotherapy
Elliott Ingersoll, Mark Forman and Dr. Keith WittSpecial guest Dr. Elliott Ingersoll joins Doctors Keith Witt and Mark Forman to share their personal and professional experiences with psychedelics while reviewing relevant research, current practices, and the amazing potentials of these treatments. Therapists need as many tools as possible to remediate symptoms, enhance health, and support development. The way we see it therapies utilizing psychedelics will become increasingly available and likely useful in the years to come.
Spitting Out the Bones: Why “Waking Up” Is Not Enough
Genpo Merzel Roshi and Ken WilberIn 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, Cleaning Up, and Showing Up, all of which are necessary to be an effective spiritual teacher in today’s world.
Loving AIs: Bringing Unconditional Love to Artificial General Intelligence
Julia Mossbridge, Ben Goertzel and Robb SmithAs part of our work on the Innovation Lab advisory board of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, I had the pleasure of sitting down with OpenCog founder and leading AGI researcher Ben Goertzel and IONS Innovation Lab director Julia Mossbridge to discuss LOVING AIs, a project aiming to design and develop an “unconditional loving” module for AGIs. In this interview, I dive into the rabbit hole of AGI with Ben and Julia to discuss the state of the field, what it would mean to program unconditional love into AGIs, and some thorny implications for the brave new world we’re entering.
The Great Release
Robb SmithRising populism and the election of President Trump are symptoms of massive irresilience that has been building in the U.S.-led world state since 1945, and may reflect the end of the fourth cycle of economic hegemony of the past 800 years. The Great Recession of 2008 was just a tremor. We wind toward a coming global breakdown, a great release that threatens regression across our lives.
Shapes of Mind: The 10 Stages of Consciousness
Robb SmithAt Integral Life we sometimes refer to different stages of consciousness in order to make sense of various issues or complex situations. So I thought it might be useful to briefly outline the ten stages of consciousness-or what I often call the ten shapes of mind–in order to provide an orienting primer for those who are new to Integral Life. For those who have been with us a long time, hopefully you’ll enjoy a refresher.
The Bannon Doctrine: Demolition Ahead
Jeff SalzmanSteve Bannon is Donald Trump’s favorite philosopher. Trump sometimes jokes that he doesn’t know “whether Bannon is alt-right or alt-left,” but either way Bannon has given voice to the visceral impulse of populist nationalism that Donald Trump has expressed for decades. So what does Bannon actually believe? Listen to find out!
The Rise of the Benefit Corporation: Bringing More Sanity, Sustainability, and Success to Big Business
John Montgomery and Robb SmithIn a world where corporations often act like psychopaths and seem steered by barely more than greed and avarice, is it possible to transcend their sociopathic pursuit of profit and bring more care and consciousness to our economic system? Listen as corporate lawyer and conscious business leader John Montgomery explains how we arrived at the corporate oligarchy in which we now find ourselves, and how we might be able to steer ourselves toward a more sane and sustainable future.
What Is the Integral Movement?
Corey deVosCorey deVos offers a brief overview of a new cultural, artistic, and philosophical movement that is currently taking shape all across the planet. Features dozens of breathtaking images from the Integral Life Art Gallery, as well as music by our own Stuart Davis.
Into the Void and Back Again: Understanding and Recovering From Depression
Dr. Keith Witt and Mark FormanDepression is a powerful mood disorder and – after anxiety – the most prevalent of all mental health challenges. In this episode of Psychology Now, Dr. Witt and Dr. Forman dive deeply into the topic of depression, and how our struggles with depression can lead to deepened commitment to change, heightened self-understanding, and increased empathy for the suffering of others.
Michelin 3-Star: The Culinary Art of Joel Robuchon
Robb SmithCan food be transformative? In this first-of-its-kind integral review of Michelin 3-star restaurant Joel Robuchon, Robb Smith explores why the world’s best dining has always been at the center of his aesthetic Integral Life Practice, and what integrative metatheory brings to a night at one of the world’s best restaurants.
Trump: The Anti-Green Backlash Begins
Ken Wilber and Jeff SalzmanJeff Salzman interviews Ken Wilber about how the Trump phenomenon arose, and how an integral sensibility can help us respond to the unique challenge of Trump’s political and cultural movement.
Capitalism: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity
Douglas Rushkoff and Robb SmithIn this Integral Life exclusive, renown media theorist and author Douglas Rushkoff argues that the central assumption of our economic lives — that further economic growth will create continually rising prosperity for all — is broken.
Pre-Truth, Post-Truth, and Beyond
Jeff SalzmanJeff Salzman takes a look at how integralists can understand and relate to the fight over pre-modern, modern and postmodern conceptions of truth, and how a new integration of the three can help us build a more authentically inclusive world.
The State of the World 2017: The Wake of Trump
Jim Garrison and Ken WilberJim Garrison and Ken Wilber offer a post-election report on the rise of Donald Trump and the implications for the future, as well as the many failures among the liberal leading edge that contributed to Trump’s election.
Zen Leadership and Putting the “Happy” in Happy New Year
Ginny WhitelawWelcome to the New Year! In the Chinese system, we’re entering the Year of the Rooster and, my, doesn’t it already feel like a wake-up call?
Wake Up, Grow Up: Enlightenment in the 21st Century
Ken WilberIn this feature presentation from the 2016 SAND Conference, Ken Wilber explains why the path of “waking up” (spiritual awakening) needs to be complemented by the path of “growing up” (psychological maturity) in order to renew and replenish our understanding of enlightenment in the 21st century.
Trump and a Post-Truth World
Ken WilberThe election of Donald Trump is an evolutionary self-correction that has been decades in the making, a backlash against the failure of the leading edge of consciousness–postmodernism and pluralism–to acknowledge the lie underlying the progress they’ve pursued: it’s not equal, it’s not consistent and it doesn’t make room for everyone. But a new integral force is emerging that can move beyond the narcissism and nihilism of political correctness to offer genuine leadership and a move towards a developmental-based wisdom of greater wholeness.
We’ve Elected a Wartime President
Robb SmithI’ll get to the point. The United States has just elected a wartime president, a Commander in Chief who is already on a wartime footing and was on a wartime footing from the moment his campaign began last year. And he won because a significant portion of the country were the war’s first casualties and they wanted a president who could help them stop losing. This isn’t a military war. It’s a jobs war.
Toward a Fourth Turning of Buddhism
Ken WilberKen Wilber summarizes some of the most important items that any new Turning of the Wheel of Dharma might want to seriously consider.
The Fourth Turning of Buddhism
Ken WilberTibetan Buddhism is unique among religious traditions for its “turnings,” the recognition of its own evolutionary unfolding. Whereas most of the world’s religious institutions are purposely designed to preserve tradition and withstand the pressures of an ever-changing world, Buddhism is often praised for its ability to evolve as new knowledge and wisdom comes to light. Is Buddhism now ripe for yet another turning of the wheel?
The Now and Future of Buddhism in the West
Andrew HolecekAndrew Holecek offers his own reflections on the future of Buddhism in the West.
Always Already: The Brilliant Clarity of Ever-Present Awareness
Ken WilberIn this excerpt from The Eye of Spirit, Ken Wilber offers one of the most powerful (and beautiful) pieces of spiritual writing he has ever produced. This is the very first time these words have been reproduced on the web, and we invite you to share this chapter however you like.
Right Bucks: Money and Spirituality
Ken WilberIn dealing with this issue of money and Dharma—or money and spirituality in general—there are at least two very different items that need to be teased apart and addressed separately. The first is the appropriate monetary value of any relational exchange (from medical care to education to goods and services in general); and the second is, should monetary exchange ever be linked to Dharma teaching?
From Rationalism to Nationalism: How the Internet Ruined Everything
Corey deVosWe no longer enjoy a “shared reality” in any meaningful sense. We now live in a time-shifted honeycomb of mediated views and values, a flat and fragmented reality that has completely changed the shape of our consciousness, our culture, and our conduct in the public sphere.
Integral Without Borders: International Development in a Post-Trump World
Gail Hochachka, Paul van Schaik and Ken WilberHow might the integral framework help facilitate healthy growth and sustainabilty in developing societies around the planet? Gail Hochachka and Paul van Schaik talk to Ken Wilber about how Integral Without Borders is actively working to meet people’s struggles and challenges head-on and help them to gain more perspective and better adapt to their present circumstances. Gail, Paul, and Ken also discuss the earth-shaking election of Donald Trump, the social trends that carried him into the Presidency, and how his election might impact the further unfolding of integral consciousness around the world.
Sutras: A Musical Meditation
Corey deVosSutras is an hour-long musical meditation that includes spoken word pieces by Alex Grey, Ken Wilber, Lama Surya Das, Sally Kempton, and Alan Watts. A synaesthetic journey through gross, subtle, causal, and nondual realms. Sonic tonic for your aching body, mind, and soul. Liberation upon hearing.
The Trump Era: Day 1
Jeff Salzman, Diane Musho Hamilton and Terry PattenJeff, Diane, and Terry try to come to terms with the victory of Donald Trump, like millions of other people around the world.
The Morning After
Robb SmithAmericans have just elected Donald Trump as President-elect of the United States of America. I know that a few of you are elated and many more are terrified. I can understand both emotions. I am far from a natural-born Hillary Clinton advocate, but during the course of the campaign there was simply no possibility that I would be voting for Trump, a man who who speaks against many of my deepest principles. And yet he won — by the slimmest of margins — but a clear win nonetheless.
(r)evolutions: Protest Music for a New Day
Corey deVosAn inspirational 2-hour mix of 21st-century protest music. Because a revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having.
Introduction to Integral Spirituality
Ken WilberKen Wilber offers an introduction to a spirituality that honors the truths of modernity and postmodernity — including the revolutions in science and culture — while incorporating the essential insights of the great religions.
The Shape of Things to Come: A Singularity in All Four Quadrants
Corey deVosIt seems clear is that we are seeing a general pattern of accelerated returns in at least four irreducible dimensions of our lives. It is a “singularity in all four quadrants” — Post-Humanism, Post-Scarcity, Post-Irony, and Post-Metaphysics. Let’s take a brief look at each of these dimensions.
A Revolutionary Spirituality
Ken WilberKen Wilber offers a general overview of his comprehensive approach to spiritual growth and awakening, noting an important distinction between spiritual intelligence and spiritual experience.
Campaign Fever: How We’ve Turned Indignation into a National Pastime
Ginny WhitelawIt seems we have caught a kind of fever, where anger and indignation are becoming an art form, where one-sided views are called news, and where we can get stuck in a place of no progress. That place could be called coping, as opposed to transforming, and it precedes what I call the “first flip” of Zen Leadership…
The 500 Lb. Gorilla Raging Through the World: Demographics
Robb SmithAvailable below is an adjustable data visualization for Europe. Adjust the year of analysis and retirement ages to see how the population shifts and worker:retiree support ratio changes.
The Integral Vision
Ken WilberIntegrative metatheory is arguably the only credible global philosophy of the 21st century. Ken Wilber’s The Integral Vision is one of the finest introductions to integrative thought and practice you can find.
The Universal Dream: Seeing Dreams In Multiple Perspectives
Mark Forman and Dr. Keith WittDr. Witt and Dr. Forman dive deeply into the world of dreaming, exploring the neurobiology and function of dreams, the history and basics of dream work in psychotherapy, and some useful tips to help you interpret your own dreams.
The Great Divide
Robb SmithPopulism is on the rise. Too many people feel left out of the march of prosperity and more people than ever believe that the future will not see their kids better off than they are today. The rich get richer while the middle class remains stagnant. There is a growing and robust backlash to political correctness and immigration. And artificial intelligence threatens to make the coming jobs war even worse than previously anticipated…
Cleaning Up the Future with Phil Toledano
Robb SmithIn this fascinating New York Times Op-Doc, noted photographer Phil Toledano takes us on precisely this 3-year journey within himself, confronting all the various ways he can grow old, disease, wither, and die. At first blush it seems like Mr. Toledano’s project was custom-designed to address only his deep fears and neuroses. But don’t blink, or you might miss the ways his project speaks to what is universal in each of us.
Is the System Rigged? (Yes, and It’s Coming Along Nicely…)
Jeff SalzmanIf there’s one thing that people on both ends of the political spectrum can agree on, it’s this: the system is rigged. But an integral view asks, “which system?” In this episode Jeff explores what corruption actually looks like, and how it relates to the US presidential election.
Easter
Stuart Davis and Saul WilliamsTrack 04 from the album ¿What (2006). Lyrics by Stuart Davis and Saul Williams.
What is Transformational Learning?
Robb SmithTransformation is the process by which a person “grows their mind” by building a broader worldview, deeper skills, better habits and expanded perspectives. Integral Life is a member community designed to offer experiences, media and practices that help you grow your mind and evolve your life.
Beauty and the Expansion of Women’s Identity
Vanessa FisherThe history of women’s beauty is written in bodily gestures that express both the constraints of their culture as well as the unfolding desire of their interiority. Embracing the power of beauty has always been problematic for feminism, and for good reason. This article offers an integrative analysis of the current views that dominate feminist discourse on women’s beauty, as well as a personal story of Vanessa’s own ongoing journey as a young woman trying to reclaim her beauty for the benefit of all beings.
What Is Your Native Perspective?
Integral LifeA big part of having better relationships is clear and meaningful communication. If you’re interested in improving how you communicate and listen to others, this exercise can provide you with a fresh perspective on the way you communicate and how it shapes your instinctual way of being, seeing, and doing in the world.
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.
Putting “Meta” Into Practice: A Look at Integrally-Informed Psychotherapy
Mark Forman and Dr. Keith WittHere we explore the emerging art and science of Integrally-informed psychotherapy – an attempt to integrate the best of the major approaches to therapy into a single cohesive model of human psychology.
The Art and Practice of Self-Love
Dr. Keith WittDo you deeply and truly love yourself? What is preventing you from loving yourself completely? Is your capacity to love yourself contrained by poor self-esteem, internalized criticisms, or false modesty? Can you distinguish your self-love from self-absorption, narcissism, and the siren call of your own ego? Listen as Dr. Keith Witt explores the tremendous importance of self-love, and daily practices to help you explore the undiscovered regions of your own heart.
Relationships in Therapy, Relationships in Life
Dr. Keith Witt and Mark FormanIn this episode of Psychology Now, Dr. Witt and Dr. Forman dive specifically into the therapeutic relationship and describe how it functions as the medium of healing and transformation in psychotherapy.
The End of Politics: How Crowdocracy Can Transform Our Government (And Save Us From Ourselves)
Alan Watkins and Ken WilberIs democracy too broken to handle the world’s most wicked problems? If so, what’s the alternative? Listen as Alan Watkins shares his own vision of the future of politics and governance — a vision that is as practical as it is inspiring, and one that might be exactly what we need to help us carry our 250-year old democratic experiment into the 21st century.
Trump, Hamilton, and the Zen Leader Walk Into a Bar…
Ginny Whitelaw…the Zen Leader would want to learn from these two cultural phenomes how to message in a culturally resonant way — how to inspire people to pause in their busyness, connect with what is, to resource their lives and leadership from a place of centered connectedness.
Searching for Wisdom in the 21st Century
Roger Walsh and Ken WilberClimate 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. But what exactly is this wisdom that so many of us are searching for? Where can we find it? How do we cultivate it in our own lives and make it available to more people?
Wicked and Wise: Climate Change, Democracy, and Integral Theory
Alan Watkins and Jeff SalzmanAlan Watkins, co-author of Wicked and Wise with Ken Wilber, talks to Jeff Salzman about climate change, the problems of globalization and democracy, getting CEO’s to do the right thing, and that pesky Donald Trump.
What’s So Important About Enlightenment?
Ken WilberWhat is “enlightenment”, and why should we care? What does “oneness with all form” and other mystical-sounding states of mind have to do with our ongoing search for happiness and fulfillment? Listen as Ken makes a stunning case for spiritual awakening, while clarifying the important differences between the integral approach to enlightenment and many of the classic definitions that have been handed down through the millennia.
The Soul of Jazz
Greg Thomas and Jeff SalzmanArt is often the leading edge of cultural and conscious evolution, and jazz today continues to lead the way. Listen as Greg Thomas takes us through the history of jazz — from its roots in the magic, mythic and traditional interiors of African Americans at the turn of the last century, through the modern and postmodern strains of the mid and late 20th Century, to the more wild wooly contemporary scene.
Rumi: Dancing in Fullness
Coleman Barks and David DarlingThere are few experiences in life as satisfying as the poetry of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, which for many is the spiritual equivalent of enjoying a piece of rich delicious chocolate, listening to Bach, or perhaps sipping a glass of fine red wine. In this extraordinary performance you will hear Rumi as you never have before — through the resonant, whiskey-and-syrup voice of Coleman Barks, a preeminent poet, scholar, and interpreter of Rumi’s work, and the music of Grammy-winning artist David Darling.
How to Create a More Fulfilling Sex Life
Dr. Keith Witt and Jeff SalzmanIn a healthy intimate relationship, the partners don’t have to be turned on by each other all the time, says Dr. Keith, “but they do need to be turned on by each other regularly.” Every couple has a balance of how much sex is needed to keep things vibrant, and it’s the responsibility of each partner to make it happen. For many couples, this is something that must be learned and practiced. Here’s how.
A Miracle Called “We”
Ken WilberHow is it possible that you and I can come together, find resonance with each other, understand each other, even love each other, when we are each separate individuals that possess our own unique perspectives, our own diverse interpretations of reality, and our own unseen landscapes of interior consciousness? How on earth do you get in my mind, and I get in your mind, enough that we are in each other to the point that we both agree that we can each see what the other sees? However this happens, it is a miracle, an absolute, stunning, staggering miracle.
The Spectrum of Brokenness: What to Do When You’re Dealing With a Personality Disorder
Dr. Keith Witt and Mark FormanNearly 1 in 10 people possess some form of personality disorder. Which means there’s a very good chance that you will encounter someone with this disorder at some point in your life… if you haven’t already. They might be your boss, your lover, your parent, your spiritual teacher, or even your presidential candidate. How can we engage these personalities with care and compassion, while remaining fully attentive to our own personal boundaries? Listen to find out!
The Healing Wisdom of the Christos
Joan BorysenkoJoan Borysenko takes us on her personal journey from Judaism to Yogananda to Jesus. Melding ancient wisdom, modern neuroscience, and positive psychology, her journey begins with a serious mental illness that remits after an experience of Divine Union as a 10 year old. It continues through the Judaism of her childhood, the discovery of the welcoming heart of Yogananda and her years of exploring mystical Christianity, Eastern meditation practices, and Judaism, all while running a mind-body clinic at Harvard.
The Darth Vader Move
Ken WilberThe brighter the light, the darker the shadow. The “Darth Vader move” is what happens when someone with an exceptionally high level of development uses the skills and capacities of that level for purposes generally deemed to be “wrong” — often the result of a highly developed cognitive intelligence combined with a poorly developed moral intelligence (Nazi scientists being the classic example). What happens when our higher angels get hijacked by our lowest demons? What is the cause of the Darth Vader move, and how can we prevent ourselves from being seduced by the Dark Side of the Force?
Finding the Christ
Cynthia JamesCynthia James looks at Jesus as a representative of Universal wholeness and the idea of Universal Christ Consciousness that exists within all. She explores the Mystic Christ and his teachings from a metaphysical perspective.
Everything Is Workable: Zen and the Art of Conflict Resolution
Diane Musho Hamilton and Ken WilberThough meditation is incomparably helpful, it doesn't make the sticky interpersonal issues go away. Conflict resolution skills are needed. Diane Musho Hamilton suggests that we make conflict resolution a valued part of our practice.
Death Makes Life Possible
Marilyn Schlitz and Ken WilberWhat happens after death? Is there some part of us that endures? How can we begin to work through the countless fears, anxieties, and neuroses that spring from knowing that our time in this world will one day come to an end? Listen as Marilyn Schlitz and Ken Wilber explore these and other questions in this incredibly rich discussion.
Being vs. Knowing: Ending the Debate Between Epistemology and Ontology
Ken WilberKen Wilber offers a thorough examination of the classic philosophical conflicts between ontology and epistemology, while suggesting a way to seamlessly integrate the two and end this philosophical debate once and for all.
The Meaning of “2nd-person”
Ken WilberThere has been, for quite some time, a considerable misunderstanding about how the Integral Framework views 2nd person (e.g., “you,” “thou”). Ken Wilber thought it was time to address it.
The Future of Artificial Intelligence
Ken WilberWhen it comes to the future of artificial intelligence, we have more questions than answers. Are atoms, molecules, and mathematics alone enough to produce machines with genuine human-equivalent intelligence? Can that intelligence ever become truly conscious and possess the “inner light” of interior self-awareness? Will artificial intelligence be capable of determining its own morals, ethics, and values? Listen as Ken Wilber reflects on the future promise — and potential perils — of artificial intelligence.
Sex, God, Rock ‘n Roll
Stuart DavisSex, God, Rock ‘n Roll is sort of a mashup of Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, and standup comedy monologues, all with a decidedly Integral twist. Stu has assembled some incredible talent—not to mention an incredibly talented production team—and together they have put together one of the most bizarre, unique, and consistently hilarious programs on television.
Integral Healing: A More Complete Path to Wellness
Lynne Feldman and Ken WilberLynne Feldman is a long-time student, supporter, and practitioner of integral living. Several years ago, she was diagnosed with two particularly nasty forms of cancer. This is her story, a remarkable and inspiring journey through some of the deepest, darkest, and most liberating regions of the heart. Listen as Lynne talks to Ken Wilber about her experience, weaving her personal story with a step-by-step breakdown of a far more comprehensive approach to healing that she crafted over several years — invaluable insights to aid you on your own path to wellness and wholeness.
Becoming Nothing
Father Thomas KeatingIn this deeply moving reflection, Father Thomas Keating offers a personal glimpse into his own spiritual practice, allowing us precious insight into the heart and mind of one of the world’s most cherished mystics.
Patterns of Resistance: What Stands Between You and Spiritual Experience?
Helen PalmerWhat is preventing you from fully experiencing your own timeless divine nature, right now in this very moment? Watch as Helen Palmer presents the Enneagram as a means to recognize and rehabilitate the conditioning of the everyday ego — reducing the opacity of our everyday habituated minds, transcending the illusion of separation, and allowing the self-liberating light of God to shine through more clearly.
The Gift of Contemplation
Father Thomas Keating and Cynthia BourgeaultFather Thomas Keating offers a detailed account of the conditions that catalyzed a massive reawakening of Christian contemplative practice in the late 20th century.
Resurrecting Jesus: Embodying the Spirit of a Revolutionary Mystic
AdyashantiThe story of Jesus has not waned in its power to change lives. Yet today, even though the majority of us grew up in a culture suffused by the mythos of Jesus, many of us feel disconnected from the essence and vitality of His teachings. In this presentation Adyashanti invites us to rediscover the life and teachings of Jesus, recounts his own personal encounter with Christ, and offers some much-needed guidance to help you transform your own relationship with the Christian story.