From the Big Bang to the Eight Primordial Perspectives

Ken WilberCognitive, Integral Basics, Integrative Metatheory, The Ken Show, Video Leave a Comment

Ken Wilber offers a stunning introduction to the major components of Integral theory and practice — a guided tour that takes us from the very first forms to emerge in the universe, all the way to the eight primordial perspectives that all of our knowledge is constructed from.

Part 1: From the Big Bang to the Four Quadrants

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In this first part, Ken shares how his work has evolved over the decades. He begins with his very first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, which explored the developmental sequence that all human beings grow through. He then discusses how this sequence was expanded via the Good, the Beautiful, and the True, which soon evolved into the Four Quadrant model that he is so well known for.

Part 2: From the Four Quadrants to the Eight Primordial Perspectives

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Humanity is entering the Transformation Age, a new era of human civilization, with Integral Consciousness rising at its leading edge. Our members don’t use Integral Life as just another media subscription they use weekly or discard. Instead, most stay with us for years, using Integral Life to learn Integral Philosophy and build an integral mind slowly, methodically and when they need it. We’re here to help you shape the future that’s emerging no matter where your life takes you.

Get Full Access For $1 (7 days)* Or explore all membership plans → * Trial price for the first 7 days, then $20/month. Cancel or switch plans in 2 minutes at any time.

In the second part, Ken takes an in-depth look at the 8 primordial perspectives of integral theory — put simply, looking at each of the four quadrants from both a subjective and an objective point of view, which reveals the eight fundamental “zones” of perspective available to us, as well as the sorts of methodologies that disclose each of these zones.

In order to make these ideas a bit easier to grasp, we also include multiple illustrations and visualizations throughout the presentation, which will hopefully help bring these ideas to life for you as you watch.


A brief summary of the eight zones in human beings

We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Ken Show! Let us know what you think in the comments below, and also be sure to let us know if you have any questions for future episodes!



More Perspectives

Inhabit: Your Perspective

Corey deVos, Bruce Alderman and Ryan Oelke

Corey, Bruce, and Ryan explore the “eight zones” of Integral Theory. This 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.



The Four Quadrants: A Guided Tour

Ken Wilber and Corey deVos

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




Learn Integral by Watching Movies (And Playing Video Games)

Corey deVos

Take a cinematic journey through the major stages of human development, using a series of 22 carefully-curated film clips (and more than 30 video games) to illustrate some of the most important qualities of each stage. Because these stages are so difficult to point to in our immediate experience, we’ve compiled a series of short clips from some very popular films and games, each of which demonstrates some aspect of that stage — the view from that stage, the values of that stage, or the general leadership styles associated with that stage — offering some well-known cultural reference points to help flesh out our understanding of these stages of growth and development. What’s more, these clips will help demonstrate how integral ideas can be applied to any medium or genre, while deepening our appreciation and enactment of our most treasured cultural artifacts.


Previous Episodes of The Ken Show

Transforming Self, Society, and the Spaces Between Us

Transforming Self, Society, and the Spaces Between Us

In this enlightening episode of The Ken Show, hosts Ken Wilber and Corey deVos embark on a profound journey through the multifaceted realms of systems theory, communication, and social evolution. They dissect the nuanced perspectives of "inside" and "outside" views in systems, delve into the transformative power of communication paradigms throughout history, and critically examine the influence of social media on the overall emergence of integral consciousness.
Putting the “Art” in Artificial Intelligence

Putting the “Art” in Artificial Intelligence

What is art, at its most fundamental level? This is one of those perennial questions that we have been asking and re-asking at every stage of the human journey, from the first cave drawings all the way to the emergence of sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms like MidJourney that are once again blurring the lines between art, beauty, and perspective and forcing us to find new ways to answer this timeless question. Watch as Ken and Corey take a fun and fascinating look at the intersection between art, semiotics, and technology.
The Momentous Leap to Integral Consciousness

The Momentous Leap to Integral Consciousness

Ken Wilber and Corey deVos explore some of the unique challenges that come with the transition to Integral stages of development — “the momentous leap” as it is often called. Watch as Ken and Corey try to bring a little bit more light to this particular path of transformation, and maybe leave a few signposts for fellow travelers along the way.
No Boundary: Ken Wilber Goes Back to High School

No Boundary: Ken Wilber Goes Back to High School

Ken speaks with high school students to discuss his 1979 classic, No Boundary. What follows is a lively and deeply insightful exploration of integral spirituality, Ken’s personal practice, and the path of awakening that leads us to nondual realization.
In Pursuit of Wholeness: Making Room for Everything

In Pursuit of Wholeness: Making Room for Everything

This notion of holons — the idea that the universe is fundamentally made of whole/parts within whole/parts within whole/parts, turtles all the way up and turtles all the way down — this isn’t just important in a theoretical or philosophical sense. Understanding holons also helps us make better sense of the world that we live in, and our inner worlds as well. And it helps guide our own growing up, waking up, and cleaning up process.
Integral Critical Theory: The 8 Zones of Racism

Integral Critical Theory: The 8 Zones of Racism

Ken and Corey continue their discussion of the 8 critical zones of integral metatheory, and apply them to the ongoing cultural conversation taking place around race, racism, and other kinds of bigotry that we continue to see in the world. This discussion is a great opportunity to not only learn more about these 8 primordial perspectives that are available to us, but also to see how they can be applied to social and cultural challenges and “wicked problems” such as these.
Integrating Power

Integrating Power

Ken and Corey take an in-depth look at the multiple kinds of power we find in all four quadrants — interior and exterior power, individual and collective power — as they are expressed up and down the spiral of development.
The Science of Subtle Energy

The Science of Subtle Energy

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.
Ken Wilber Goes to High School: Sex, Ecology, Spirituality

Ken Wilber Goes to High School: Sex, Ecology, Spirituality

In 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.
Practice the Wound of Love

Practice the Wound of Love

Watch as Ken and Corey explore the ongoing unfoldment of love along the paths of Waking Up, Growing Up, Opening Up, Cleaning Up, and Showing Up. What follows is one of the most powerful, transformative, and touching conversations that Ken Wilber has ever recorded.
Marx, Mysticism, and Mathematics: Navigating Our Epistemic Collapse

Marx, Mysticism, and Mathematics: Navigating Our Epistemic Collapse

In this episode we continue our fascinating discussion about Integral epistemology, taking a look at the important but partial truths of Marxism, how we go about verifying and confirming spiritual experiences, and the involutionary/evolutionary nature of mathematics.
Integral Epistemology

Integral Epistemology

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

Awaken the Eye of Spirit

All 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.
Integrating Shadow

Integrating Shadow

Ken and Corey offer a stunning overview of the psychological shadow. Ken describes several different kinds of shadow, how shadow can show up differently in all four quadrants, and the relationship between shadow, violence, and social transformation.
Coronavirus and a Course in Anti-Fragility

Coronavirus and a Course in Anti-Fragility

Ken 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.
The Four Quadrants: A Guided Tour

The Four Quadrants: A Guided Tour

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

Big Time: Integral Historiography and You

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Integral Social Justice

Integral Social Justice

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Wicked Problems: Gun Violence

Wicked Problems: Gun Violence

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

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The Varieties of Integral Spiritual Experience

The Varieties of Integral Spiritual Experience

Watch 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.
The Many Ways We Grow

The Many Ways We Grow

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Growing Up: A Guided Tour

Growing Up: A Guided Tour

In this episode of The Ken Show we explore one of the most central elements of integral metatheory: growing up through multiple stages of developmental maturity. Watch as Ken and Corey offer a guided tour through each of the major stages on the Path of Growing Up — an exploration of your own greatest, deepest potentials — and offer some simple practices to help you actualize those potentials.
On the Front Line of the Culture War — Give Me Some Real Examples, Not Just Theories!

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Watch as Ken and Corey offer their views on some of the most controversial policy debates of our time, each of which has become a battle line in our constantly escalating culture wars.
The Baby and the Bathwater: Saving Liberalism

The Baby and the Bathwater: Saving Liberalism

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

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The Major and Minor Scales of Integral Politics

The Major and Minor Scales of Integral Politics

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Is Free Will an Illusion?

Is Free Will an Illusion?

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How to Think Integrally

How to Think Integrally

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From Polarization to Integration

From Polarization to Integration

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Ken Wilber

About Ken Wilber

Ken Wilber is a preeminent scholar of the Integral stage of human development. He is an internationally acknowledged leader, founder of Integral Institute, and co-founder of Integral Life. Ken is the originator of arguably the first truly comprehensive or integrative world philosophy, aptly named “Integral Theory”.

Corey deVos

About Corey deVos

Corey W. deVos is editor and producer of Integral Life. He has worked for Integral Institute/Integal Life since Spring of 2003, and has been a student of integral theory and practice since 1996. Corey is also a professional woodworker, and many of his artworks can be found in his VisionLogix art gallery.