Everyone Is Right

Excerpted from the full discussion here: https://integrallife.com/capitalism-growth-became-enemy-prosperity/ "To use the metaphor of our era, we are running an extractive, growth-driven economic operating system that has reached the limits of its ability to serve anyone, rich or poor, human or corporate. Moreover, we’re running it on super computers and digital networks that accelerate and amplify all its effects. Growth is the single, uncontested, core command of the digital economy… An operating system designed by 13th century Moorish accountants looking for a way to preserve the aristocracy of Europe has worked as promised. It turned the marketplace into one giant debtors’ prison. It is not only unfit for the needs of a 21st century digital society; central currency is the core mechanism of the growth trap." Douglas Rushkoff, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus To be alive in today's world is to be living through a raging, roiling argument about money: how it’s generated and how it will be distributed in t

Watch as Beena Sharma, Susanne Cook-Greuter, and Corey deVos 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. Chances are you are already seeing all of these responses surfacing all around you: in your social media feeds, among your friends and family, and even within yourself. And it can be confusing at times, seeing all these different and often contradictory responses flooding into your consciousness all at once, and trying to navigate our way through them in order to figure out which are more true, which are more partial, and which you resonate with the most. This presentation will help reduce that confusion for you — giving you a way to fold all of these different views and values into a greater sense of wholeness and meaning, while also giving you permission to return to some of these earlier stages in order to tend to the many concerns and anxieties that may be pres

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” ― Ernest Hemingway Our crisis of trust has been rapidly compounding in recent years, as the internet has delivered us into an age of aperspectival madness — an epistemic breakdown where shared reality becomes splintered into hermetically-sealed social media silos, where all enfoldment between opposing perspectives breaks down completely, and where evidence-based truths become sacrificed on the altar of narrative beliefs. “Trust” is something like an immune system for our society. It prevents our collective body from being infected by propaganda, zealotry, and social regression. Here at the tail end of 2020, it is clear that we are experiencing a crisis of truth, as well as a crisis of meaning. And underlying them both is an even deeper crisis — a crisis of trust. Trust, of course, is a paradox. We live in a highly complex and highly specialized civilization. Our daily lives depend upon us being able to trust a massive interconnected sy

Watch 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. What is our work going forward? How can we begin to heal the deep ruptures that have formed in our society? What sorts of personal and political shadows have emerged for us over the last few years, and how can we better manage and re-integrate those shadows? How can we learn to set our political views and identities aside, so that we can find a deeper and more fulfilling connection with each other? How do we skillfully engage with friends and family members who subscribe to unfalsifiable narrative realities such as QAnon? After years of social fragmentation and media balkanization, how can we possibly begin to put Humpty Dumpty back together again? We hope you enjoy this special post-electi

Corey deVos and Mark Fischler discuss how best to expand and embody our most integral influences and intentions. Excerpted from the full 2-hour conversation here: https://integrallife.com/the-fierce-urgency-of-now/

In this very special episode of Inhabit, Ryan and I focus on one of the most essential elements of any Integral Life Practice — directly engaging your democratic systems and showing up to cast your vote. Watch as Ryan and I discuss the following: -Why it’s never a good idea to base our electoral decisions on the current state of the culture wars - Why it’s important to differentiate “politics” from “governance” - Why it’s important to differentiate ordinary people on the left and the right from the social holons of Democratic and GOP political parties. - Can a person’s political views be used to assess their overall development? - Can a solidly integral person be a Trump supporter? (Spoiler: of course they can.) I also offer an in-depth exploration of cynicism — how to recognize it in our own lives, and how to escape its corrosive influence. We do this by drilling down to a more fundamental polarity — the “trust but verify” polarity, which shows how trust and assumptions of good-faith should be integra

Fear: it gets a bad rap in many spiritual communities. In fact, it’s often seen as anti-spiritual — “the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s fear.” “Wherever there is another, fear arises.” And so on. All of which is absolutely true — on an absolute level. On another level, the level of ordinary, everyday relative truth, fear is a powerful motivator — and when it’s properly managed it can even be a superpower, allowing you to respond to danger with greater speed, strength, and agility.

Imagine your car breaks down on the highway. You get out to inspect the damage, and as you look up you see another car barreling down the highway right at you. In that moment, you have two choices. You can drop your fear, knowing that ultimately there is no separation between you and the speeding car. And the good news is, in just a few seconds you will be proven right. Or you can listen to that ancient feeling of dread rising in your body, and get yourself out of harm’s way just before you actually do become one with the car,

Julia 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.

“Shadow” refers to any of the hidden allergies, addictions, biases, or blind spots that may be kicking around in our consciousness, distorting our perceptions and limiting our capacity to find genuine happiness, fulfillment, and self-transcending wisdom. Often our shadows are the result of some hidden, unintegrated piece of ourselves that we are projecting outward onto the world around us, and sometimes they are the result of internalizing shadows that are not our own, but infect our self-concept nonetheless. In both cases, we have a simple but elegant practice to help us re-integrate our shadows, what is commonly known as the “3-2-1 shadow process” — a practice that helps 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. Watch as Ryan and I explore the following questions: - How often should we practice our shadow work? - How can we keep our perceptual lenses clean and clear from shadow

Ed Kowalczyk is the lead singer/songwriter of the rock group Live, who at the time of this recording had just released their sixth studio album, Birds of Pray, and whose first single “Heaven” had already topped the Liquid Audio Download charts for digital singles. Live has had a phenomenal success, selling over 20 million albums worldwide, including two #1 albums on the Billboard charts (Throwing Copper, Secret Samadhi) and five #1 singles. Ed Kowalczyk is a pioneer in integral art, attempting to bring a spiritual edge to that most raucous of art form—rock and roll. We caught Ed on his cell phone the day before he and the band left for a six-week European tour with Bon Jovi. In this intimate discussion of the heart of a rock and roll (that actually has heart), Eddie talks about how the very essence of an authentic performance is awakening and sharing with the audience a glimpse into that one-ness that is everybody’s natural condition. If you don’t think rock and roll can do this, you haven’t heard Live….

How do we stay centered and grounded, when the ground is constantly being moved from under our feet? With so much bias, polarization, and radicalization taking place all around us, how can we prevent our own views and values from being hijacked and pushed to their extremes? When we are drowning in so much information, misinformation, conflicting narratives, and conspiracy theories, how can we prevent our own informational terrain from becoming distorted by propaganda, partial thinking, and malevolent influences? Watch as Ryan and Corey 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: - Waking Up to the Absolute Ground of Being, the unmovable mountain at the very center of you, the groundless Ground that can never be taken away from you;
 - Understanding how the multiple stages of Growing Up allow us to see and enact the world in very different ways, preventing us from getting swept up

“‘Paranormal’ is a term that came up in the history of these things to mark off phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and psychokinesis. But what I’m proposing is that those sorts of capacities are within the normal range of human functioning, and I do believe they’re operative in animals before humans. Now I’m absolutely convinced of the evidence on that.” —Michael Murphy Mike Murphy is the leading integral theorist of his generation; Ken Wilber is the leading integral theorist of his. Their conversations are unlike anything you will hear anywhere else. These dialogues are warm, witty, loving, and vibrant. They are not, however, for the intellectually faint of heart.

In this lively conversation, Surya Das recounts his own personal story on the spiritual path, from seeking to realizing, with all the trials and tribulations inherent in a journey without a goal. In this wide-ranging discussion of the obstacles and opportunities of bringing a new religion into a culture — in this case, Buddhism into America — Surya Das covers a multitude of critical issues, issues that confront not merely Buddhism but spirituality in general as it encounters the modern and postmodern world. One of the major difficulties is the reluctance of the older culture (such as Tibetan and Japanese) to release their teachings to “barbarians” (that would be us). Yet once the leap is made, the religion lands in a new culture where the obstacles can be even greater. Foremost among these include the dilution of the dharma; popularizing it to the extent that it no longer possesses any depth or liberating power; and “boomeritis Buddhism,” which Ken covers in galvanizing detail.

Serj Tankian, lead singer of System of a Down, voted the #1 band of 2002 by leading critics, is one of the most original and passionate of today’s artists, and one of Integral Institute’s favorite contributors to our ongoing conversation on the avant garde. With a surging and cacophonic presentation, System of a Down simply can’t be pigeonholed—a type of genre-busting transcendental howl. Rolling Stone magazine called System’s sophomore effort, Toxicity, “a bouquet of smart rock and ardent social comment.” In this surprisingly touching dialogue, Serj speaks about some of the most important aspects of his life that contribute to the “post-everything” bouquet of sound that is System of a Down. All four members of System are of Armenian heritage, and Serj begins the conversation by commenting on their activities with the Armenian National Committee of America and its efforts to hold the US to its commitments to the Genocide Convention. Encyclopedia Britannica estimates that the Ottoman/Turkish government was re

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 months and years. Watch as we bring some integral understanding to ideas central to anti-racism and the pluralistic discourse itself — ideas like critical race theory, dismantling white supremacy, eradicating systemic racism, overcoming white fragility, and addressing social privilege. Which pieces we might want to include, and which do we likely want to transcend altogether? We also address how the conversation about race can be easily reduced to a grievance discourse that fails to recognize the dignity, resilience, artistry, and spiritual power of the black community. So enjoy the following discussion with Greg, Mark, Diane, and Corey as we try to create a space where we can unite multiple divergent perspectives

Brother David Steindl-Rast, the author of Gratefulness: The Heart of Prayer and a practicing Benedictine monk for over half a century, discusses why a new understanding of God is needed to carry spirituality into the future. “There are at least three ways of talking about Spirit: You can say what Spirit is like, you can say what Spirit is not, or you can have a direct experience of Spirit. And the best way to say what Spirit is like in today’s world, is evolutionary panentheism….” Brother David begins by telling Ken about his website, Gratefulness.org. He touches on its role as a forum for what The New York Times refers to as the “2nd Superpower,” or those people across the globe committed to peace, and how something as simple as the act of lighting a candle can be a powerful expression of gratefulness in an agitated and agitating world. Ken discusses religion on the world scene, pointing out that there are actually levels, or stages of spirituality. What this means in practical terms is that each higher s

As many people know, Billy Corgan and Smashing Pumpkins burst on the scene with their first album, Gish, in 1991, which shot to the top of the charts, which is where the Pumpkins remained for a decade, all the harder in that critics considered them “sophisticated,” “complex,” “with great depth,” words usually reserved for artistic success and commercial failure. Billy and the Pumpkins achieved both, as did his next group, Zwan…. In this inside look at this own artistic unfolding, Billy discusses why he formed, and then dissolved, the Pumpkins, and likewise Zwan, as his own artistic crest (or leading edge or avant garde) moved forward. He and Ken talk about the leading edge of consciousness evolution and why artists are so often riding that edge — hence, the avant garde. To be on the crest of one’s own unfolding consciousness is not to guarantee creativity, or greatness, or even talent; it is, however, necessary if not sufficient for such. Since dissolving Zwan, Billy has been experimenting with a succession

Spiritual 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? And what is the role of violence in protest culture? Is some degree of violence necessary in order to create real social change? When is violence appropriate, when can it help your cause, and when can it only work against your cause? These are not easy questions to answer. Which is why Ryan and I wanted to talk with our good friend Justin Miles about all this. Justin stands in an extraordinary confluence of spiritual, political, and cultural lineages — he is an avid Integralist, a practicing Shambhala Buddhist, an active mem

Although there are many facets to this wonderful discussion, the central idea is that there are masculine and feminine expressions of Spirit, whose respective qualities are often referred to as consciousness and light, agency and communion, solar and lunar, Emptiness and Manifestation, Freedom and Fullness. Both the masculine and feminine types develop through three basic stages or levels. David refers to these three basic stages by many different names, including gross, subtle, and causal; preconventional, conventional, and postconventional; personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal; or simply body, mind, and spirit. Thus, there are masculine and feminine expressions of body, of mind, and of spirit. Further, there are healthy and unhealthy forms of the masculine and feminine at each of those three levels. As David articulately explains, there are ways to spot those pathological forms and experientially redress them, thus finding and fulfilling one’s deepest gift and potential. In part two of the discussi

The creator of some of the most transcendent art of our time explores why it is necessary to go beyond the faded postmodern milieu of today’s art world, how psychedelics can play a role in discovering and manifesting one’s deeper realms of being, and how the “two kinds of higher” can impact artists and their work. In the foreword to Alex’s book The Mission of Art, Ken stated: “Alex Grey might be the most significant artist alive.” At first glance, this can appear to be pure hyperbole, expressing the understandable enthusiasm of a long-time friend and colleague. However, with an Integral Approach, Ken explains, “significant” has a specific meaning, and it was this meaning alluded to in the foreword. “Significant” refers to the degree of depth of an occasion (how many levels of complexity does it contain?), and “fundamental” refers to the span or breadth of an occasion (how many of them are there?). Atoms, for example, are extremely fundamental to the universe—and have enormous span (there are zillions of them