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21st century Integral Metatheory

Faces of X: Making Peace with the Culture War

Faces of X: Making Peace with the Culture War

Stephanie Lepp talks with Corey deVos about her Faces of X project, which models how we can transcend culture wars by integrating opposing perspectives. The discussion explores how the polarization we see in society mirrors unresolved polarities within ourselves, and emphasizes the need for both personal and social integration. This discussion highlights the limitations of binary thinking and the importance of synthesizing conflicting viewpoints to create more inclusive, nuanced solutions.
The Wonderful (But Flawed) Ideals of DEI

The Wonderful (But Flawed) Ideals of DEI

Keith Martin-Smith takes a careful look at the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement when he began to notice the damage it was causing people he knew under the guise of progress, or equity. Putting his keen mind to the task, Keith identified seven key areas where the DEI movement goes markedly astray from the values it aspires to.

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The Myth of Evil: Why Polarities,  Not Villains, Drive Injustice

The Myth of Evil: Why Polarities, Not Villains, Drive Injustice

Barry Johnson introduces the concept of polarity thinking, offering a revolutionary framework for addressing complex societal issues like poverty, racism, and climate change. Rather than viewing problems as having singular solutions or evil sources, Barry explains how mismanaged polarities—such as justice vs. mercy and freedom vs. equality—are at the heart of many dysfunctions. By adopting a both/and mindset, we can break vicious cycles, foster balance, and create more sustainable solutions in our personal and collective...
Sexual Healing: A Beginner’s Guide to Integral Sex Therapy

Sexual Healing: A Beginner’s Guide to Integral Sex Therapy

Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos explore the transformative world of integrally informed sex therapy—a holistic approach that combines romantic, scientific, and spiritual perspectives to address the unique complexities of modern relationships. This episode offers profound insights into creating and sustaining a fulfilling, dynamic love affair that extends beyond physical intimacy, tailored to the unique needs of every relationship.
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Journal of Integral Theory & Practice

How to Connect with Your Students: An Integral Approach to Higher Education

How to Connect with Your Students: An Integral Approach to Higher Education

This article explores why focusing on the subject matter alone in the student/teacher relationship is a restrictive and non-comprehensive approach to higher education. Such a narrowly focused relationship seems to impede the overall health and development of both the teacher and student. The process of avoiding so much of our lives “to teach” leaves many dissatisfied and thirsting for something deeper and more whole.
Integral Diversity Maturity: Toward a Postconventional Understanding of Diversity Dynamics

Integral Diversity Maturity: Toward a Postconventional Understanding of Diversity Dynamics

This article outlines the authors’ ongoing study of diversity, focusing particularly on the AQAL model as a linchpin in an evolving theory of “diversity maturity.” Recognizing the limitations of non-integral approaches to understanding and negotiating diversity dynamics, the authors explain how an integral perspectives come to inform their postconventional understanding. The authors share their preliminary theory of the diversity maturity process in which the integral vision/theory that unites diversity, complexity, and creativity is the dynamic relationship among and between quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types. The article concludes with an agenda for further theoretical and empirical inquiry.
What Feels Right: An Embodied Perspective on the Ethical Line of Development

What Feels Right: An Embodied Perspective on the Ethical Line of Development

This article examines ethical frameworks across levels of human development and via the quadrants of the AQAL model. The ethical line is examined as it progresses through stages of development, paying special attention to the role of the felt sense in the determination of right action. The role of unconscious forces, particularly the felt sense of disgust, is examined as the basis of moral intuition. Integral Ethics includes the ethical framework of the previous stages and an examination of personal motivation for right action. By inquiring into the unconscious drives that move us, we may begin to recognize the cultural...
Developmental Engagement Field Theory

Developmental Engagement Field Theory

This article explores how social engagement is central to human functioning and development, and how it potentially provides agentic access to intersubjective and interobjective energy fields. An integrally informed developmental engagement field theory is described, with practical suggestions for applying it to living, parenting, and psychotherapy. The article concludes with a lifespan case study that embodies the presented research.
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All-Time Classics: The Best Of Integral Life

In this section you will find a curated sampling of some of the very best practices, perspectives and presentations available in the Integral Life archives. Spanning over 15 years of publishing, these resources are invaluable for anyone who looking to wake up, grow up, clean up, and show up more fully in your life and in the world.

Searching for Wisdom in the 21st Century

Searching for Wisdom in the 21st Century

Climate 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....
A New Republic of the Heart: The Art and Practice of Sacred Activism

A New Republic of the Heart: The Art and Practice of Sacred Activism

Terry 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.
Centering Prayer: Its History and Importance

Centering Prayer: Its History and Importance

Distilled from the profound teachings of the Christian contemplative heritage, Centering Prayer has aimed to bring a living spirituality into an age where God is typically reduced to the New-Age vicissitudes of emotionality, if not simply pronounced dead. Listen as Fr. Thomas Keating and Ken Wilber discuss the remarkable history and importance of Centering Prayer.
Rumi: Dancing in Fullness

Rumi: Dancing in Fullness

There 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 —...
Sexual Kinks in Consciousness

Sexual Kinks in Consciousness

In this two-part series David Deida gives one of the finest summaries of his work ever recorded, offering a provocative and insightful exploration of the intersection between sex and spirituality.
In Over Our Heads: Development as a Lifelong Journey

In Over Our Heads: Development as a Lifelong Journey

Dr. Kegan talks with Ken Wilber about his landmark book In Over Our Heads, exploring the many ways our cultural lack of developmental perspectives is actively inhibiting development itself, leaving the majority of us ill-equipped to meet the demands of our 21st century lives.
No Boundary: A Union of Opposites

No Boundary: A Union of Opposites

Ken 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.
Hardcore Spirit: Wisdom for a New Generation

Hardcore Spirit: Wisdom for a New Generation

Chris 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....
From Woke to Awake: An Intersectionality of Perspective

From Woke to Awake: An Intersectionality of Perspective

Mark 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.
Integral Semiotics: The Language of Liberation

Integral Semiotics: The Language of Liberation

How 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,...
Technology, Evolution, and God: Exploring the Technium

Technology, Evolution, and God: Exploring the Technium

Wired magazine's own "Senior Maverick" talks with Ken Wilber about some of the ideas behind Kevin's blog The Technium, which explores the various ways humanity defines and redefines itself through the interface of science, technology, culture, and consciousness. Kevin also shares some of his own thoughts about the role of spirituality in the 21st century, going...
On the Front Line of the Culture War — Give Me Some Real Examples, Not Just Theories!

On the Front Line of the Culture War — Give Me Some Real Examples, Not Just Theories!

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.
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.
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.
Kosmos: An Integral Voyage

Kosmos: An Integral Voyage

Ken 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...
Sutras: A Musical Meditation

Sutras: A Musical Meditation

Sutras 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 Goddess Returns: Deity Mysticism for the 21st Century

The Goddess Returns: Deity Mysticism for the 21st Century

There is a crucial aspect of feminine wisdom that has largely been lost in today's world—a “sacred feminine” which, if reclaimed, could help relieve a tremendous amount of conflict and suffering all across the planet. In this 13-part Goddess Returns series, acclaimed teachers Sally Kempton and Ken Wilber discuss one of the most powerful ways we...
How to Think Integrally

How to Think Integrally

Ken 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

The Koan of Chronic Illness: A Father’s Story

Corey 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...
Big Time: Integral Historiography and You

Big Time: Integral Historiography and You

Ken unpacks his own approach to integral historiography, helping us to better understand our own place in history — and history's place in us.
Always Already: The Brilliant Clarity of Ever-Present Awareness

Always Already: The Brilliant Clarity of Ever-Present Awareness

In 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.
The Psychology of Kink: Transforming Sexual Drives Into Art

The Psychology of Kink: Transforming Sexual Drives Into Art

LOT 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.
Power, Privilege, and Fragility: Leveling Up Our Conversations About Race and Racism

Power, Privilege, and Fragility: Leveling Up Our Conversations About Race and Racism

Diane 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.
Introducing Niggy Tardust

Introducing Niggy Tardust

Saul Williams talks to Ken Wilber about his album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust. Listen as they take an in-depth look at many of the songs on the album, while discussing Saul's creative process and his experience of live performance.
Rumi: Dancing in Fullness

Rumi: Dancing in Fullness

There 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 —...
Shadow Work for Couples

Shadow Work for Couples

Dr. Keith and Corey explore how shadow practices can help couples resolve conflict and deepen their intimacy.

Helping you make sense of everything with the world’s most comprehensive philosophy

Humanity is entering the Transformation Age, a new era of human civilization, with Integral Consciousness rising at its leading edge. We help you learn to use Integral Philosophy so you can shape the future that’s emerging.

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Featured Podcast Series

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Who Is Ken Wilber?

Often referred to as the "Einstein of consciousness studies", Ken Wilber is a preeminent scholar of the Integral stage of human development. He is the originator of the world's first truly comprehensive or integrative philosophy, aptly named “Integral Theory” — something that is becoming increasingly necessary in order to navigate and thrive in today’s world.

“I have one major rule: Everybody is right. More specifically, everybody — including me — has some important pieces of truth, and all of those pieces need to be honored, cherished, and included in a more gracious, spacious, and compassionate embrace.” – Ken Wilber

Learn more about Ken Wilber

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Science, Spirituality, and the Future of Technology

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Science, Spirituality, and the Future of Technology

In his first interview for NPR in over 20 years, Ken Wilber offers one of the finest, most sweeping introductions to his work he has ever recorded, presenting a profound new way to integrate science, spirituality, and technology — along with every other facet of the single ever-expanding gem of human knowledge.
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.
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.
On the Front Line of the Culture War — Give Me Some Real Examples, Not Just Theories!

On the Front Line of the Culture War — Give Me Some Real Examples, Not Just Theories!

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.
Kosmic Creativity: How to Manifest a Universe

Kosmic Creativity: How to Manifest a Universe

Ken Wilber explains how we can connect with the creative spark at the core of every moment, and how we can harness that creativity to manifest our own unique vision and purpose in our lives.
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.
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.
Divine Pride and the Integral Movement

Divine Pride and the Integral Movement

"Divine Pride" is a simple recognition of our holy heritage, and an acknowledgement of the tremendous responsibility that comes along with this recognition. This is not the braggadocio of a new age narcissist — it is a pride stripped of all arrogance, tempered by humility, and held with unwavering devotion to an intelligence infinitely greater than our own.
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...
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...
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...
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.
Divine Pride and the Integral Movement

Divine Pride and the Integral Movement

"Divine Pride" is a simple recognition of our holy heritage, and an acknowledgement of the tremendous responsibility that comes along with this recognition. This is not the braggadocio of a new age narcissist — it is a pride stripped of all arrogance, tempered by humility, and held with unwavering devotion to an intelligence infinitely greater than our own.
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.
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.
To the Best of Our Knowledge: Science, Spirituality, and the Future of Technology

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Science, Spirituality, and the Future of Technology

In his first interview for NPR in over 20 years, Ken Wilber offers one of the finest, most sweeping introductions to his work he has ever recorded, presenting a profound new way to integrate science, spirituality, and technology — along with every other facet of the single ever-expanding gem of human knowledge.

In Case You Missed It

The Direct Approach

The Direct Approach

A modern mystic known for spontaneous and direct nondual teachings shares the sudden insight that changed his life forever, and his evolving understanding of the student-teacher relationship—both as a student, and a teacher.
1000 Views of God

1000 Views of God

Six Varieties of Christians and Their Churches: From Tribal to Integral

Six Varieties of Christians and Their Churches: From Tribal to Integral

Christians and their communities of faith exist in rich diversity today. Why are there so many different kinds of Christians and churches? There are historical aspects, political factors, matter of taste, and personality types. However, from an integral perspective of evolutionary stages we can see a quite remarkable tendency for churches to fall into one of perhaps six different altitudes of understanding.
Who Ate Captain Cook? Integral Historiography  in a Postmodern Age

Who Ate Captain Cook? Integral Historiography in a Postmodern Age

In 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.
Why Meetings Suck (And How You Can Make Them More Fun, Efficient, and Engaging)

Why Meetings Suck (And How You Can Make Them More Fun, Efficient, and Engaging)

Join us in this role-playing exercise as four colleagues undergo the first 2 minutes of a business meeting where they discuss a new project. Watch how each participant brings a dramatically different Native Perspective — or “orienting quadrant” — to the table, then get inside their heads to see how they interpret the meeting. Can you spot your own Native Perspective?
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.
New Year, Less Fear: Renewing Our Faith in Progress

New Year, Less Fear: Renewing Our Faith in Progress

Today 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.
The Shadow Side of Technology

The Shadow Side of Technology

Jeff 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.