Vol. 5, No. 2 - Abstracts

The Coherent Heart:
Heart–Brain Interactions, Psychophysiological
Coherence, and the Emergence of System-Wide Order

Rollin McCraty, Mike Atkinson, Dana Tomasino, and Raymond Trevor Bradley

Abstract: This article presents theory and research on the scientific study of emotion that
emphasizes the importance of coherence as an optimal psychophysiological state. A
dynamic systems view of the interrelations between psychological, cognitive and
emotional systems and neural communication networks in the human organism provides
a foundation for the view presented. These communication networks are examined from
an information processing perspective and reveal a fundamental order in heart-brain
interactions and a harmonious synchronization of physiological systems associated with
positive emotions. The concept of coherence is drawn on to understand optimal
functioning which is naturally reflected in the heart’s rhythmic patterns. Research is
presented identifying various psychophysiological states linked to these patterns, with
neurocardiological coherence emerging as having significant impacts on well being.
These include psychophysiological as well as improved cognitive performance. From
this, the central role of the heart is explored in terms of biochemical, biophysical and
energetic interactions. Appendices provide further details and research on;
psychophysiological functioning, reference previous research in this area, details on
research linking coherence with optimal cognitive performance, heart brain
synchronization and the energetic signature of the various psychophysiological modes.
 

Keywords: Cognitive performance, coherence, emotion, heart rate variability, heart-brain
interactions, neurocardiology, psychophysiological coherence, quantum holographic
principles.

The Ethics of Promoting and Assigning Adult Developmental Exercises:
A Critical Analysis of the Immunity to Change Process

Sofia Kjellström

Abstract: The Immunity to Change (ITC) process devised by Robert Kegan and Lisa
Laskow Lahey is promoted as an influential technique for creating individual and
organizational change. A critical analysis of the ITC process applied in university settings
and organizational contexts show that an unintended result is the unwillingness and
inability of some participants to participate adequately. Significant theoretical and ethical
implications arise in the interplay between three interrelated variables (a) the role and
competence of the facilitator, (b) expectations and capabilities of the participants, and (c)
the mental demands and assumptions of the process. The inquiry illustrate that the ITC
process is probably built upon an implicit assumption that change into greater mental
complexity is always good and right, and its inherent structure creates demands that can
put participants “in over their heads.” The main conclusion is that developmentallyaware,
ethical approaches to using transformational practices such as the ITC should
meet at least three demands: they should be conducted as voluntary activities on the part
of well-informed participants, they should integrate an adult developmental perspective
into the process itself, and they should openly allow the possibility that it is the
organizations that may also need to change.

Keywords: adult development, ethics, organizational change, teaching.

Reliability and Validity Tests of the Harthill Leadership Development Profile

in the Context of Developmental Action Inquiry Theory, Practice and
Method

William R. Torbert and Reut Livne-Tarandach

Abstract: In this paper, we describe how the Harthill Leadership Development Profile
(LDP), a language-based instrument has evolved from Jane Loevinger’s Washington
University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT), and has been redesigned to assess and
offer feedback about adults’ action logics in work or educational settings, in the context
of Developmental Action Inquiry (DAI) theory, practice, and method (Torbert, 1972,
1976, 1987, 1991; Torbert & Associates, 2004). Next, we challenge a recent critique of the LDP as a soft measure unsupported by published, quantitative psychometric reliability and validity studies (Stein & Heikkinen,2009) and present both previously unpublished and previously published-but-not aggregated studies illustrating Harthill LDP as a well-calibrated measure of adult ego development. Because the DAI approach to social inquiry and social practice invites us all to interweave first-, second-, and third-person inquiry and everyday action, the validity studies reported tend to concern field-based experiments seeking to generate developmentally transforming change in adults, including the researchers and/or interventionists, as well as in the organizations in which they participate. In our conclusion, we briefly consider what a social science and a social practice based
on the developmentally late action-logics will look like, once social science is recognized
as embracing, not just 3rd-person empirical positivist research “on” subjects, but also 1st-,
2nd-, and 3rd-person research and action with co-participants in live settings.

Keywords: Action-logic, developmental action inquiry (DAI), Harthill leadership
development profile (LDP), reliability, validity.

Toward Integral Higher Education Study Programs in the European Higher Education Area: A Programmatic and Strategic View

Markus Molz

Abstract: This essay somehow arbitrarily freezes my ongoing attempt to grasp the
present situation and future possibilities of higher education courses, programs,
institutions and initiatives that are inspired by integral and likeminded approaches. The
focus in this essay is on the European Higher Education Area and its specifics, whereas
some implicit or explicit comparisons with the USA are made. My reflections are
triggered by the recurrent observation that in Europe there seems to be i) more demand
than offer of integrally oriented higher education programs, ii) an imbalance between
overused but little successful and underused but potentially more promising strategies to
implement such programs, iii) little or no learning from past failures, and iv) little mutual
awareness, communication and collaboration between different activists and initiatives in
this field.
The context for this essay is i) the current societal macroshift, ii) the unfolding of
academic level integral and likeminded research worldwide, and iii) the large scale
reform of the European Higher Education systems brought about by the Bologna process,
its (false) promises and the potential it nevertheless has for realizing examples of a more
integral higher education. On this basis the consequences for attempts to overcome a
relatively stagnant state of affairs in Europe are discussed. Given that; most past attempts
to implement programs inspired by an integral worldview have failed from the start, or
disappeared after a relatively short period, or are marginalised or becoming remainstreamed, this essay aims to devise a potentially more promising strategic corridor
and describes the contours of the results that could be brought about when following a
developmental trajectory within this corridor. This futurising exercise is inspired by
principles shared by many integral and likeminded approaches, especially the
reconsideration, integration and transcendence of premodern, modern and postmodern
structures and practices of higher education.
This essay is programmatic and thus deliberately combines facts and values, past and
future, summaries of first person observations and third person factual information,
without the burden of systematic referencing required by scholarly writing. It does not
claim to replace empirical surveys which, however, are still lacking to date regarding the
actual state of affairs of higher education inspired by integral and likeminded approaches
in Europe. Accordingly, at this stage, the essay is an exercise of awareness-raising to
stimulate more and better collaboration across streams, disciplines and countries between
those scholars, students and activists who are already inspired by integral and likeminded approaches and interested or already engaged in developing and sustaining higher
education programs according to a more integral spirit.

Keywords: Andragogy, European Higher Education Area, higher education,
implementation, integral and likeminded approaches, knotworking, learning
communities, macroshift, project-based learning, service learning, strategy, study
programs, transformation, vocation.

Consciousness in Evolution: Sketch for a New Model – A Speculation

Donald F. Padelford

Abstract: It is hypothesized that hierarchically negentropic systems (defined herein),
including organisms, are associated with partially non-local information/probability fields
which, a) entail or express interiority, b) engender “entangled learning” with similar
negentropic systems, and c) cause otherwise random processes, including mutation in
biotic systems, to become somewhat non-random. These effects, which are believed to be
driven by quantum interactions, modify those identified with the Modern Evolutionary
Synthesis. A series of tenets, or broad organizing principles, related to such systems and
their associated fields, are enumerated. An empirical test which could potentially falsify
certain aspects of the hypothesis is given.

Keywords: Adaptive mutation, consciousness, directed mutation, entanglement,
entropy, evolution, falsification, information / probability fields, interiority, natural
philosophy, negentropy, non-locality, non-random, reductionism.

A Leadership Journey: Personal Reflections from the School of Hard Knocks

R. Scott Pochron

Keywords: Adversity, complexity, fundamental state of leadership, leadership, requisite
organization, self transcending construction.

A Practitioners’ Perspective on Developmental
Models, Metrics and Community
 

Chad Stewart, Zach Smith and Norio Suzuki

Abstract: This article builds on a paper by Stein and Heikkinen (2009), and suggests
ways to expand and improve our measurement of the quality of the developmental
models, metrics and instruments and the results we get in collaborating with clients. We
suggest that this dialogue needs to be about more than stage development measured by
(even calibrated) stage development-focused, linguistic-based, developmental psychology
metrics that produce lead indicators and are shown to be reliable and valid by
psychometric qualities alone. The article first provides a brief overview of our
background and biases, and an applied version of Ken Wilber’s Integral Operating
System that has provided increased development, client satisfaction, and contribution to
our communities measured by verifiable, tangible results (as well as intangible results
such as increased ability to cope with complex surroundings, reduced stress and growth
in developmental stages to better fit to the environment in which our clients were
engaged at that time). It then addresses four key points raised by Stein and Heikkinen
(need for quality control, defining and deciding on appropriate metrics, building a system
to evaluate models and metrics, and clarifying and increasing the reliability and validity
of the models and metrics we use) by providing initial concrete steps to:
• Adopt a systemic value-chain approach
• Measure results in addition to language
• Build on the evaluation system for instruments, models and metrics suggested by
Stein & Heikkinen
• Clarify and improve the reliability and validity of the instruments, models and
metrics we use.

We complete the article with an echoing call for the community of Applied
Developmental Theory suggested by Ross (2008) and Stein and Heikkinen, a brief
description of that community (from our perspective), and a table that builds on Table 2
proposed by Stein and Heikkinen.

Educational Crises and the Scramble for Usable Knowledge

Zachary Stein

Abstract: Quality-control efforts in the field of applied developmental psychology are
just beginning. In this paper I set these efforts in a larger context to frame their
significance and guide their direction. I argue that the challenges arising in the current
post-national constellation are best understood as educational crises. The task demands of
the global problem space increasingly outstrip available human capabilities. This
situation is leading to a scramble for usable knowledge about education—defined broadly
as any process intentionally undertaken to promote human development. There is a
growing demand for techniques and technologies that catalyze the transformation of
human capabilities; and this demand exceeds available supplies. Education becomes a
growth market as specific types of human capabilities come to be recognized as scarce
but valuable resources. This pressing global demand for innovative educational solutions
and approaches has the potential to systematically distort the production of relevant
usable knowledge. I present a set of general quality-control challenges that face the field
of applied developmental psychology as it strives to meet the demands of a globalized
crisis-ridden educational marketplace. I argue that the field should overcome temptations
to circumvent peer review processes by going directly to consumers. I suggest adopting a
general stance of epistemic humility so that research and collaboration are promoted and
argumentative strategies that insulate approaches from criticism are avoided. Finally, I
argue that more careful attention should be paid to the normative dimensions of
educational enterprises, as they involve the creation of new values and raise ethical
questions about the shape of what life ought to be like.

Vol. 5, No. 1 - Abstracts

Models, Metrics, and Measurement in Developmental Psychology

Zachary Stein and Katie Heikkinen

Abstract: Developmental psychology is currently used to measure psychological phenomena and by some, to re-design communities. While we generally support these uses, we are concerned about quality control standards guiding the production of usable knowledge in the discipline. In order to address these issues precisely, we provide an overview of the discipline's various facets. We distinguish between developmental models and developmental metrics and relate each to different types of quality-control devices. In our view, models are either explanatory or descriptive, and their quality is evaluated in terms of specific types of disciplinary discourse. Metrics are either calibrated measures or soft measures, and their quality is evaluated in terms of specific psychometric parameters. Following a discussion on how developmentalists make metrics, and on a variety of metrics that have been made, we discuss the two key psychometric quality-control parameters, validity and reliability. This sets the stage for a limited and exploratory literature review concerning the quality of a set of existing metrics. We reveal a conspicuous lack of psychometric rigor on the part of some of the most popular developmental approaches and invite remedies for this situation.

Keywords: developmental assessment, developmental psychology, epistemology, meta-theory, psychological technologies, psychometrics, quality control, usable knowledge.

Establishing Second-Person Forms of Contemplative Education:

An Inquiry into Four Conceptions of Intersubjectivity

Olen Gunnlaugson

Abstract: Four accounts of intersubjective theory are explored as a means for providing distinctions that support the development of second-person approaches to the emerging field of contemplative education. I examine Martin Buber’s conception of the interhuman, Thich Nhat Hahn’s interbeing, Christian De Quincey’s three modes of intersubjective engagements, in addition to Wilber’s five categories of intersubjectivity with consideration for how each will contribute to further outlining second-person dimensions of contemplative education. I then locate intersubjectivity in a broader epistemological terrain and propose the notion of critical second-person contemplative education as a type of pedagogy and approach to learning within contemplative education.

Keywords: consciousness, contemplative, intersubjective, second-person education.

The Status and Relevance of Phenomenology for Integral Research:

Or Why Phenomenology is More and Different

than an “Upper Left” or “Zone #1” Affair

Wendelin M. Küpers

Abstract: The specific treatment that Ken Wilber gives phenomenology in his model of integral theory requires a critical investigation. According to Wilber's model, different methodologies are situated in distinct quadrants or "domains of knowing," namely the subjective, objective, intersubjective and interobjective domains, labeled by their position in the model's matrix illustration, upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right. In this model, phenomenology is isolated in the UL quadrant, and even more specifically as the inside perspective of this subjective domain. What this means is that, according to Wilber's classification, phenomenology is an exclusive, rather than inclusive, approach that limits its field of inquiry and therefore its range of knowing also to an inside exploration of the subjective.

In contrast to this positioning, a critical reflection on the current status and usage of phenomenology in integral theory is provided. The goal of this undertaking is to show that phenomenology--particularly in its more advanced forms--is  more and different than something to put merely into “upper left” quadrant or to understand only as a “Zone 1” affair suggested in the conventional integral model.

In the first part the paper outlines an introductory understanding and examines classical (Husserlian) phenomenology as well as illustrates some of its limitations. Based on various critiques and further developments of phenomenology, the status and usage of phenomenology in integral (AQAL) theory is discussed critically. Particularly, this concerns the ordering of phenomenology into a separate realm or zone, the status of consciousness, including the debate related to its structure and states, and inter-subjective dimensions as well as the relation to contemplation and meditation.In a second part the paper introduces the more advanced phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty that overcomes the limitations of the previous versions of phenomenology. Advanced phenomenology entails a strong proto-integral potential and as such contributes to compensating for some of the weaknesses and limitations of integral theory.

Furthermore, a third part proposes that such advanced phenomenology provides the foundations for an “adequate phenomenology” in integral research. Based on the specific ontological, epistemological, and methodological considerations, this final part and the conclusion outline some perspectives on what is called integral “pheno-practice.” The explicated criticism and the proposed pheno-practical approach might enrich integral research, improve its theory building and empirical testing by offering perspectives of a more inclusive, coherent and relevant nexus of ideas and possibilities for integrative theory and practice.

Keywords: Adequate phenomenology, integral theory, Merleau-Ponty, phenomenology.

What is the Integral in Integral Education?

From Progressive Pedagogy to Integral Pedagogy

Tom Murray

Abstract: Integrally-informed educational approaches have much in common with progressive (including reform, alternative, holistic, and transformative) approaches, and share many of the same values. One function of the integral approach is to provide an overarching model within which to coordinate different progressive methods. Though integral adds much more than that, descriptions of integral education sometimes sound like progressive educational principles recast with new terminology. This essay attempts to clarify what the integral approach adds over and above progressive educational theories. After an overview of progressive pedagogical principles, the integral approach is discussed in terms of integral as a model, a method, a community, and a developmental stage. Integral as a type of consciousness or developmental level is elaborated upon as consisting of construct-awareness, ego-awareness, relational-awareness, and system-awareness, all important to the educational process. Finally, challenges and support systems for realizing integral education are discussed.

Keywords: Education, integral, pedagogy, progressive/alternative, second tier.

Paranada: Beyond Beyond

Hector Currie with Juan Pacheco

Abstract: “Paranada: Beyond Beyond” represents the culmination of the author's research findings of geometric evidence in the Pythagorean design of the temple and theatre complex of the ancient Greek Temple of Delphi. Rather than a dualistic moral judgment, Delphic rites sought a dynamic equipoise between Apollonian and Dionysian psychic forces, transcending the self/boundless dichotomy. The temple has a deflection of 7.5 degrees—1/12th the 90-degree gravitational fall of all existents, the gravitational factor in music theory (as in the Pythagorean "harmony of the spheres") in each note's descent in the 12-tone scale's octaval fall. Significantly, this means that the Delphic design encapsulates a space/time concordance. The design reveals that Pythagoras' epochal concept of a transcendent kosmos is realized in both space (the sacred site's cosmic plan) and in time (the nightly celestial whirl of constellations above it). “Paranada” traces this discovery of a divine order at the Delphic center to the sages of the kingdom of Bharat in ancient India and the birth of speculation on the meaning of existence in their most sacred Rig Vedic "Creation Hymn" X. 129. “Paranada” thus suggests that the Western cultural tradition is derived not ultimately from Greece, but from India, and contemplates the significance such ancient visionary philosophical insight might have for the daunting challenges continually confronting us. This work constitutes an eclectic integration of transdisciplinary insights into the known and the unknown, the arts and the sciences, and science and religion. In descriptive and poetic forms, “Paranada” seeks to find vital correspondences and affinities among Pythagorean geometry; numerology; cosmology; ancient psychologies; nature philosophy and mysticism; Greek mythology; Greek, Shakespearean, and modern tragedy; quantum physics and astrophysics; and transcendent cosmic consciousness.

Keywords: Anaximander, cosmology, equipoise, gravitational factor, Greek, harmony of the spheres, integration, nature philosophy, quantum physics, Pythagoras, Shakespeare, Temple at Delphi, tragedy, transcendence.

Vol. 4, No. 2 - Abstracts

“Such a Body We Must Create:” New Theses on Integral Micropolitics

Daniel Gustav Anderson

Abstract: This essay proposes a rigorously postmetaphysical integral praxis, defines what this means and how such an intervention may be premised, and demonstrates throughout some methodological and practical advantages this approach may have over extant metaphysically-oriented integral theories. Beginning with an interpretation of post-Hegelian historical and dialectical materialisms informed by the Buddhist dialectical tradition of Madhyamika, a series of coordinated and interrelated theses address problems proper to fields such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, semiotics, historiography, and subaltern studies. The claimed purpose of this project is to coordinate subjective (psychological, spiritual) and objective (social, political, economic) transformational imperatives into a coherent, non-ontological “counterproject.” It takes as its aim the production of a radically democratized, responsible, and sane subjective and objective space, where responsibility is characterized as critical clarity, competence, creative consciousness, and compassion.

Keywords: Buddhism, causality, consciousness, counterproject, Deleuze, dialectics, ecocriticism, integral praxis, Krishnamurti, Marx, Nagarjuna, nonduality, postmetaphysical, radical democracy, responsibility, semiotics, Spiral Dynamics, subjectivity, transformation, Wilber

Validation of Theory: Exploring and Reframing Popper’s Worlds

Steven E. Wallis

Keywords: Falsification, metatheory, philosophy of science, theory of theory, three worlds, validation of theory

The Toxic Effect on Children of a Degraded U.S. Society, Family, and Educational Context: How Will This Nation Respond?

Carol Hoare

Keywords: Achievement rates, American competitiveness, human development, literacy, school drop-out rates, foreign competition

Advanced Change Theory Revisited: An Article Critique

R. Scott Pochron

Abstract: The complexity of life in 21st century society requires new models for leading and managing change. With that in mind, this paper revisits the model for Advanced Change Theory (ACT) as presented by Quinn, Spreitzer, and Brown in their article, “Changing Others Through Changing Ourselves: The Transformation of Human Systems” (2000). The authors present ACT as a potential model for facilitating change in complex organizations. This paper presents a critique of the article and summarizes opportunities for further exploring the model in the light of current trends in developmental and integral theory.

Vol. 4, No. 1 - Abstracts

Integral Time and the Varieties of

Post-Mortem Survival

Sean M. Kelly

Abstract: While the question of survival of bodily death is usually approached by focusing on the mind/body relation (and often with the idea of the soul as a special kind of substance), this paper explores the issue in the context of our understanding of time. The argument of the paper is woven around the central intuition of time as an “ever-living present.” The development of this intuition allows for a more integral or “complex-holistic” theory of time, the soul, and the question of survival. Following the introductory matter, the first section proposes a re-interpretation of Nietzsche’s doctrine of eternal recurrence in terms of moments and lives as “eternally occurring.” The next section is a treatment of Julian Barbour’s neo-Machian model of instants of time as configurations in the n-dimensional phase-space he calls “Platonia.” While rejecting his claim to have done away with time, I do find his model suggestive of the idea of moments and lives as eternally occurring. The following section begins with Fechner’s visionary ideas of the nature of the soul and its survival of bodily death, with particular attention to the notion of holonic inclusion and the central analogy of the transition from perception to memory. I turn next to Whitehead’s equally holonic notions of prehension and the concrescence of actual occasions. From his epochal theory of time and certain ambiguities in his reflections on the “divine antinomies,” we are brought to the threshold of a potentially more integral or “complex-holistic” theory of time and survival, which is treated in the last section. This section draws from my earlier work on Hegel, Jung, and Edgar Morin, as well as from key insights of Jean Gebser, for an interpretation of Sri Aurobindo’s inspired but cryptic description of the “Supramental Time Vision.” This interpretation leads to an alternative understanding of reincarnation—and to the possibility of its reconciliation with the once-only view of life and its corresponding version of immortality—along with the idea of a holonic scale of selves leading from individual personality as we normally experience it, through a kind of angelic self (a reinterpreted “Jivatma”), and ultimately to the Godhead as the Absolute Self. Of greater moment than such a speculative ontology, however, is the integral or complex-holistic way of thinking and imagining that is called for by this kind of inquiry.

Keywords: Aurobindo, Barbour, complex holism, complexity, death, Fechner, Gebser, integral, Morin, Nietzsche, reincarnation, soul, survival, time, Whitehead

 Using Developmental Theory: When Not to Play Telephone Games  

Sara Nora Ross

Abstract:  As a powerful way to help understand the behaviors of people and social groupings of all kinds, developmental stage theory attracts attention and use outside of purely academic environments. These uses take the form of written materials and many kinds of interventions. The level of accuracy of developmental theory information generated and used outside of academe demonstrates wide variety. This variety is reflected in materials and interventions. The information used in materials and interventions becomes increasingly distorted as it becomes further removed from original theoretical sources. This has major implications for the ethics and expertise issues that are inherent in applied developmental theory. A classification scheme of information-use behaviors, many of which contribute to distortion processes, is used to code actual cases of creating and disseminating distorted developmental theory information, invoking the metaphor of telephone games. Case evidence indicates that casual, illustrative figures in a 2006 book by Wilber were used by others for various serious and theoretical purposes, and resulted in major distortions of developmental theory. Wilber’s figures represent problematic issues and errors, including distortion of theory, if they are used—as they indeed were—for any purpose more serious than his original purpose. Stemming from those issues and errors, a highly distorted picture of cognitive development and a pseudo-version of Commons and Richards’ Model of Hierarchical Complexity theory emerged, telephone game-like, in the cases discussed. Errors were widely propagated on the internet. Because outside of academe, specialized expertise in developmental theory is difficult to acquire, the sub-field of applied developmental theory requires not only accurate information but also strong communication ethics to govern behaviors of information providers. Such providers need to protect themselves at the same time they protect and inform consumers of their information. This process of knowledge sharing and knowledge building can be shaped by adopting guidelines and a basic operating principle proposed here. Guidelines and principles, without institutionalization, are insufficient support. A new Institute of Applied Developmental Theory could provide the supports, standards, and effectiveness the sub-field of applied developmental theory needs if its power to address 21^st century challenges, which sorely need it, is to be realized.

Keywords: Applied developmental theory, behaviors, classifications, cognitive development, Commons, communication ethics, developmental theory, Institute for Applied Developmental Theory, knowledge-building, Model of Hierarchical Complexity, Richards, stages, Wilber

How Then Do We Choose to Live?

Facing the Climate Crisis and Seeking

“the Meta Response”

Jan Inglis

Abstract: The author observes that a sense of hopelessness appears to be forming in our culture in response to recent descriptions of the impact of climate crisis. This reaction is compared to the way people respond to diagnoses of life threatening illness. Stages of reactions to difficult news are known to accompany such responses. The author shares her own sorting of responses as an example of stage transitions in the process of grappling with the difficult news of climate crisis. Transitions from one stage to the next are developmental. The importance of bringing resources from the field of adult development into the field of public deliberations to address the climate crisis is emphasized. A meta approach, “the Gaia approach,” is proposed, as are many questions for individual and public reflection.

Keywords: Adult development, climate crisis, deliberation, developmental, Gaia approach, meta approach, stage transition processes, complexity

Issue 5, 2007 Abstracts

The Evolution of Consciousness as a Planetary Imperative:

An Integration of Integral Views

Jennifer Gidley

Abstract: In this article I aim to broaden and deepen the evolution of consciousness discourse by integrating the integral theoretic narratives of Rudolf Steiner, Jean Gebser, and Ken Wilber, who each point to the emergence of new ways of thinking that could address the complex, critical challenges of our planetary moment. I undertake a wide scan of the evolution discourse, noting it is dominantly limited to biology-based notions of human origins that are grounded in scientific materialism. I then broaden the discourse by introducing integral evolutionary theories using a transdisciplinary epistemology to work between, across and beyond diverse disciplines. I note the conceptual breadth of Wilber's integral evolutionary narrative in transcending both scientism and epistemological isolationism. I also draw attention to some limitations of Wilber’s integral project, notably his undervaluing of Gebser's actual text, and the substantial omission of the pioneering contribution of Steiner, who, as early as 1904 wrote extensively about the evolution of consciousness, including the imminent emergence of a new stage. I enact a deepening of integral evolutionary theory by honoring the significant yet undervalued theoretic components of participation/enactment and aesthetics/artistry via Steiner and Gebser, as a complement to Wilber. To this end, I undertake an in-depth hermeneutic dialogue between their writings utilizing theoretic bricolage, a multi-mode methodology that weaves between and within diverse and overlapping perspectives. The hermeneutic methodology emphasizes interpretive textual analysis with the aim of deepening understanding of the individual works and the relationships among them. This analysis is embedded in an epic but pluralistic narrative that spans the entire human story through various previous movements of consciousness, arriving at a new emergence at the present time. I also discuss the relationship between these narratives and contemporary academic literature, culminating in a substantial consideration of research that identifies and/or enacts new stage(s) or movements of consciousness. In particular, I highlight the extensive adult developmental psychology research that identifies several stages of postformal thinking, and recent critical, ecological and philosophical literature that identifies an emerging planetary consciousness. In summary, my research reveals an interpretation of scientific and other evidence that points beyond the formal, modernist worldview to an emerging postformal-integral-planetary consciousness. I posit that a broader academic consideration of such an integration of integral theoretic narratives could potentially broaden the general evolution discourse beyond its current biological bias. The article concludes with a rewinding of narrative threads, reflecting on the narrators, the journey, and the language of the discourse. Appendixes A and B explore the theoretical implications of the emergence of postformal-integral-planetary consciousness for a reframing of modernist conceptions of time and space. Appendix C holds an aesthetic lens to the evolution of consciousness through examples from the genealogy of writing.

Keywords: Aesthetics, evolution of consciousness, futures, Gebser, integral theory, language, macrohistory, narrative, participation, planetary, postformal, Steiner, Wilber, space, time, writing

 Towards an Integral Critical Theory

of the Present Age

Martin Beck Matuštík

Abstract: A new model of a critical theory that is integral is introduced. It adds a seventh stage to a six-stage model of critical theory. Building on the model’s predecessors, from Kant, Hegel, and Marx to Habermas and Wilber, this proposal is a three-pronged model of material, socio-political, and spiritual critique of the present age. Each dimension is non-reducible to the other. The current model echoes the attempts to bridge social and existential perspectives by early Marcuse and Sartre, and the author’s prior work that did this for Habermas and Kierkegaard. This model of an integral critical theory introduces a self-transformational axis, the integer or witness-self, complementing transversally the vertical stages and horizontal states of consciousness.

Keywords: Critical theory, Habermas, integral, model, Wilber

Developing Integral Review:

IR Editors Reflect on Meta-theory, the Concept of "Integral,"

Submission Acceptance Criteria, our Mission, and more.

Abstract: Over the past three years our journey as editors of Integral Review has been full of rich learning. The processes of providing authors with feedback, going over reviews of articles as well as writing ourselves have all contributed to our growth. The primary forum for this learning has been the many conversations amongst us to deal with the various issues that arise in publishing IR. Our intention in this brief piece is to share some of our reflections on this learning journey with you. These will take the form of contributions/reflections from individual editors, allowing us to share with you the particular issues we feel of value in this process.

By writing these short pieces, we aim to provide additional resources for understanding how IR works. While we have guidelines and criteria for submissions on our website, it seems that narrative voices from individuals may add some flesh to them. Relating how we perceive issues around writing for an “integral” journal offers a supplement for engaging these criteria, and will hopefully bring them to life. As well, we hope that our writing provides insights into how and what we think about issues relevant to IR’s mission. These pieces reflect the unique voices we have as editors of Integral Review, and demonstrate some of the thinking and passions behind this journal.

Issue 4, 2007 Abstracts

Humanity, Forest Ecology, and the Future

in a British Columbian Valley: A Case Study

Stephan Martineau

Abstract: One of the most important and challenging issues facing humanity in the 21st century is the increasingly complex human-ecology interface. This article suggests the potential that integral mediation and integral ecology hold in addressing this interface. It distinguishes two categories of ecological challenges, removed and local tangible ones, and indicates that they require adapting methodologies to address them. Using a local tangible challenge—a 35-year old conflict over land use issues in the Slocan Valley, British Columbia, Canada—as an example, an integral mediation approach is outlined. First, context is given, both historically and geographically. Then the main capacities employed in the vision-building and mediation process are outlined. The article presents the case in such a way as to emphasize some generalizations, favoring these over a presentation of many case details. It concludes with a brief description of perspectives that are prerequisites in order to successfully apply integral solutions to the human-ecology interface.

Keywords: human-ecology interface, integral ecology, integral mediation

Exploratory Perspectives for an AQAL Model of Generative Dialogue

Olen Gunnlaugson

Abstract: Otto Scharmer’s generative dialogue model of the four fields of conversation has been largely applied in organizational settings with the intent of fostering conditions for groups to learn to think together, generate new knowledge and solve the deeper problems that pervade organizational culture. This article introduces elements of Wilber’s Integral or AQAL paradigm as an interpretive framework for advancing key distinctions within Scharmer’s account of generative dialogue.

Keywords: consciousness, generative dialogue, integral, presencing, reflective dialogue

How I Lost My Mind and

Found the Meaning of “Life”

Herb Koplowitz

Abstract: By integrating philosophical rigor with practical examples and personal history and revelation, the author shares how he ended his quest to understand the concepts of life, mind, and soul and resolved the mind-body problem. The article relates the key insight garnered from Elliott Jaques that triggered a new, internally-consistent conceptual framework or paradigm. Founded on a unitary organism model of life, it replaced the mind-body-soul model. The paper is grounded in the premise that our attempts to answer a question (e.g., "How do we think and judge?") are hindered by accepting an entity (e.g., mind) whose only evidence is that the question exists. The logic of the new conceptual framework is developed through brief, methodical discussions that juxtapose choice and judgement with calculation, Newtonian physics, randomness, and self correction. On that foundation, unitary arguments trace the author’s dissolution of concepts of mind, body, and soul and the spiritual. General implications of this framework are then applied to terminology and to the origin of life, abortion, and trading one duality for another. In relating some personal implications of this framework in daily life, the author makes the case for the value of simplicity in conceptual frameworks and the clarity that can result.

Keywords: body, choice, dualism, Elliott Jaques, judgement, life, mind, mind-body problem, organical, organism, organismic, soul, unitary

Modeling the demands of interdisciplinarity:

Toward a framework for evaluating interdisciplinary endeavors

Zachary Stein

Abstract: I suggest there are two key factors that bear on the quality of interdisciplinary endeavors: the complexity of cognition and collaboration and the epistemological structure of interdisciplinary validity claims. The former suggests a hierarchical taxonomy of forms of inquiry involving more than one discipline. Inspired by Jantsh (1972) and looking to Fischer's (1980) levels of cognitive development, I outline the following forms: disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, cross-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, and trans-disciplinary. This hierarchical taxonomy based on complexity is then supplemented by an epistemological discussion concerned with validity. I look to a handful of philosophers to distil the general epistemological structure of knowledge claims implicating more than one discipline. This involves differentiating between levels-of-analysis issues and perspectival issues. When all is said and done, we end up with a “language of evaluation” applicable to interdisciplinarity endeavors. Ultimately, this suggests an ideal mode of interdisciplinary endeavoring roughly coterminous with Wilber's (2006) Integral Methodological Pluralism.

Keywords: cognitive development, epistemology, integral methodological pluralism, interdisciplinary, language of evaluation, levels-of-analysis, perspectival, transdisciplinarity

Integral Re-views Postmodernism:

The Way Out Is Through

Gary P. Hampson

Abstract: In this article I re-evaluate the potential contribution of postmodernism to integral theory via integrally-derived perspectives. I identify a premature foreclosure: the underappreciation of postformal modes of thinking (cognitive development beyond Piaget’s formal operations). I then enact certain forms of postformal reasoning in relation to integral theory. This includes an engagement with such perspectives as complexity theory, conceptual ecology, vision-logic, dialectics, genealogy, critical theory, and construct-awareness. A major theme concerns the dialectical relationship between reconstruction and deconstruction—partly explored through a developmental assessment of contra-indicative discourse by both Wilber and Derrida. Although the territory is complex, the relationship between current Wilberian theory and postmodernism is clearly problematised. I posit that a deeper engagement with postmodernism can lead to an autopoietic deepening of integral theory.

Keywords: autopoiesis, construct-awareness, critical theory, Derrida, dialectics, Gebser, Green vMeme, integral theory, postformal, postmodernism, recursion, vision-logic, Wilber

Issue 3, 2006 Abstracts

Drei Avantgarde-Strömungen des heutigen US-Geisteslebens –

und ihre Beziehung zu Europa

Roland Benedikter

Zusammenfassung: Die heutigen USA gelten vielen als Vorreiter auf dem Weg zur integrativen Erneuerung von Wissenschafts- und Erkenntnisparadigmen. Dies vor allem im Bereich der traditionellen Kern- und Grundlagen-Wissenschaft der neuzeitlichen Universität: der Philosophie und der historisch aus ihr erwachsenen Psychologien. Seit einigen Jahren ist in den USA in der Tat eine Entwicklung im Gang, welche die Einseitigkeiten des nominalistisch-subjektivistischen Paradigmas der „Postmoderne“, welches aus ideengeschichtlicher Sicht die Epoche zwischen 1979 und 2001 geprägt hat, um einen neuen geistigen Objektivismus ausgleichen und beide zu einem neuen, „subjektiv-objektiven“ Paradigma integrieren will. Diese Entwicklung findet ihren Ausdruck in drei exemplarischen Avantgarde-Strömungen, die im vorliegenden Beitragvorgestellt sowie auf Charakteristiken und Wechselbeziehungen untersucht werden. Dabei erweist sich, dass die heutige ideengeschichtliche Avantgarde der USA in Kernterminologie, historischer Kontinuität und Ausrichtung stark pazifisch-asiatisch, aber noch zu wenig atlantisch-europäisch geprägt ist. Das scheint mit ein Grund dafür zu sein, warum diese Avantgarde-Ansätze trotz ihres hochwertigen Anregungs- und Innovations-Potentials im Hinblick auf ein ganzheitlichen Wissenschafts-Paradigma für das 21. Jahrhundert noch unübersehbare Schwierigkeiten haben, den atlantisch-europäisch geprägten Hauptstrom des Geistes-, Kultur- und politisch-sozialen Lebens ihrer Gesellschaft zu erreichen. Es zeigt sich, dass der innere Ausgleich zwischen pazifischen und atlantischen Ideen-Einflüssen eine der zentralen Herausforderungen für diese Avantgarde-Strömungen, aber darüber hinaus im Spiegelverhältnis auch für das europäische Kultur- und Gesellschafts-Paradigma sowie für die Entwicklung der integralen Bewegungen auf Weltebene insgesamt ist.

Schlüsselwörter: Integrale Bewegungen, Weltphilosophie, Paradigmen-Erneuerung, Ganzheitliche Wissenschaft, Ideengeschichtliches Verhältnis USA-Europa, Ken Wilber, Andrew Cohen, A.H. Almaas, Freimaurerei, Rosenkreuzertum, Anthroposophie, Theosophie.

English abstract of original article in German

Three avant-garde currents within the contemporary

intellectual life in the United States – and in their relationship to Europe

Roland Benedikter

Abstract: Many intellectuals consider the U.S. of today a forerunner for an integrative renewal of scientific and cognitive paradigms, particularly in the field of philosophy and psychology. Indeed, since a few years there have been tendencies which try to compensate the onesidedness of the nominalistic-subjectivistic paradigm of “postmodernism”—which from a historical point of view characterized the period between 1979 and 2001—by a new kind of intellectual objectivism, and to integrate both into a new, “subjective-objective” paradigm. This trend is represented by three exemplary avant-garde currents which are examined in their characteristics and correlations. It turns out that the basic terminology, historical continuity and orientation of these intellectual-historical avant-garde currents in the U.S. are characterized by Pacific-Asian influences rather than by Atlantic-European ones. This seems to explain at least in part, why in spite of their high-quality innovation potential these avant-garde approaches, in view of a holistic science paradigm for the 21^st century, still have problems to reach the mainstream of the intellectual, cultural and politico-social life of their society. It becomes apparent that the harmony of Pacific and Atlantic influences of ideas and intellectual traditions poses a central challenge to these three avant-garde currents, but also to the European cultural and social paradigm, as well as to the development of integral currents worldwide.

Keywords: A.H. Almaas, anthroposophy, Andrew Cohen, freemasonry, holistic science, intellectual-historical relationship U.S.-Europe, integral currents, renewal of paradigms, rosicrucianism, theosophy, world philosophy, Ken Wilber.

Of Syntheses and Surprises:

Toward a Critical Integral Theory

Daniel Gustav Anderson

Abstract: The central concern of this article is how the search for formal structures with universal values functions ideologically, addressing Zizek’s claim that East-West syntheses may represent the dominant ideology par excellance of global capitalism. To this end, the article offers a Foucaultian genealogy of Integral theory, tracing its origins to the cultural and subjective contingencies of the British Empire, primarily in the work of Integral theory’s foundational thinker, Aurobindo Ghose. The article poses a primary critique of synthesis and evolution as mythological keys to Ultimate Reality which suggests that Zizek’s critique may have some validity, and offers the potential for a “critical integral theory” as an alternative. Situated in Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of becoming, and represented in the ideas and practices of a constellation of thinkers inclusive of Gurdjieff, Benjamin, and Trungpa, the article’s view of integration supports radical democracy as presented in the writings of Laclau and Mouffe as a model outcome for social and personal transformational practices.

Keywords: ideology, integral, critical, becoming-other, transformational practice, Aurobindo, Deleuze, Guattari, Ziporyn, Tarthang, Trungpa, Benjamin, Gurdjieff, Laclau, Mouffe, Zizek.

 Measuring an Approximate g in Animals and People

Michael Lamport Commons

Abstract: A science of comparative cognition ultimately needs a measurement theory, allowing the comparison of performance in different species of animals, including humans. Current theories are often based on human performance only, and may not easily apply to other species. It is proposed that such a theory include a number of indexes: an index of the stage of development based on the order of hierarchical complexity of the tasks the species can perform; an index of horizontal complexity; and measures of g (for general intelligence) and related indexes. This article is an early-stage proposal of ways to conceive of g in animals and people. It responds to Geary’s argument that domain-general mechanisms are essential for evolutionary psychologists. Existing research is used to enumerate domains, such as problem solving behavior in pursuit of food, or behaviors in pursuit of mates and/or reproduction, and itemize identifiable human social domains. How to construct g, across domains and within domains, is described.

Keywords: comparative cognition, domains, evolutionary psychology, hierarchical complexity, g, intelligence, IQ, measurement theory

The Centrality of Human Development in International Development Programs:

An Interview with Courtney Nelson

By Russ Volckmann

Abstract: For over forty years Courtney Nelson was engaged in projects in Africa, Asia and the Middle East that were focused on trying to make a positive difference in the lives, work, and organizations of people confronting rapid change, new demands on themselves and their families, and worldwide economic and political forces that few understood. Courtney’s integral perspective is evident here as he forges a clear presentation of the relationships among variables in development.

A Process Model of Integral Theory

Bonnitta Roy

Abstract: In this article I introduce a Process Model of integral theory, combining Dzogchen ideas and Western works on process philosophy. I make a distinction between Wilber’s notion of perspective and the Dzogchen notion of view. I make the further distinction between Wilber’s use of process in his writings from what I consider to be a process view. I distinguish epistemological categories of knowing from ontological ways of understanding and propose ways to integrate the epistemological field with the ontological dimension by contextualizing both the ways they are related, and the characteristics that distinguish them. This article outlines the conditions of structural enfoldment and shows how they can help contextualize the limits of structural frameworks. I introduce how process models of cognition, conceptualization and value can be integrated into the Process Model.

Keywords: Dzogchen, epistemological field, Guenther, integral theory, microgenesis, ontological dimension, perspective, process model, states of consciousness, structural enfoldment, structure-stages, view.

Issue 2, 2006 Abstracts

The Springs of Leadership

Nathan Harter

Abstract: Leadership denotes activity, if not strenuous activity. Yet in its own way contemplation is an activity—an activity arguably at the root of leadership, which this meditation seeks to justify.

Keywords: Activity, contemplation/meditation, ensimismamiento, leadership, nature.

A Transdisciplinary Mind: An Interview with Ian Mitroff

By Russ Volckmann

Abstract: Known more widely as the “Father of Crisis Management,” University of Southern California professor Ian Mitroff came to the work of Ken Wilber and integral theory over two decades ago. No one else has brought an integral perspective to the fields of management and organization theory for as long as Mitroff. In this interview he talks about the development of his theories, the people he has worked closely with, his spiritual development and the streams of his work, including his research on spirituality in organizations. While his involvement with Wilber’s Integral Institute is not what he would like it to be, he sees there the potential to develop an institution that addresses the politicization and failures of our institutions of higher education. In the face of the crisis in leadership, integral and transdisciplinary approaches have the potential for making a positive difference as we are faced with the dissolution of distinctions that underlie how we make meaning in the world.

Keywords: crisis, integral, leadership, psychology, spirituality, systems, transdisciplinary

Integrales Lernen in und von Organisationen

Wendelin Küpers

Abstract: Bezogen auf das integrale Models von Ken Wilber untersucht der Beitrag die Bedeutung des Lernens in und von Organisationen. Nach einer Darstellung der Relevanz und des Grundverständnisses des Lernens im Organisationskontext, werden integrale Dimensionen des Lernens dargestellt. Im Einzelnen werden die verschiedenen Sphären eines inneren-subjektiven und äusseren-„objektiven“ Lernens des Einzelnen als auch ein gemeinschaftliches Lernen und Lernen im System auf der kollektiven Ebene dargestellt sowie deren interrelationaler Zusammenhang diskutiert. Schließlich beschreibt der Beitrag noch integrale Lernprozesse sowie integrale Gestaltungsfelder zur Förderung des Lernens in den verschiedenen Bereichen. Abschließend spricht der Artikel noch Schwierigkeiten und Probleme an sowie nimmt im Fazit ein perspektivischen Ausblick vor.

Keywords: Integrale lernprozesse, integrale theorie, organisatorisches lernen.

Abstract: Related to the integral model of Ken Wilber, this paper investigates the role of learning in and of organisations. After describing the relevance and basic understanding of learning in the context of organisations, integral dimensions of learning will be outlined. In particular learning in the sphere of an inner-subjective and exterior-objective learning of the individual and a communal learning and learning within a system on the collective level as well as its interrelations will be discussed. Afterwards integral learning processes and various measurements for enhancing integral learning in the different sphere will be discussed. Finally, difficulties and problems will be addressed and in conclusion some perspectives and implications are presented.

Keywords: Integral learning processes, integral theory, organizational learning.

English Summary of this article is available in PDF.

Voegelin’s Ladder

Nathan Harter

Abstract: Leadership has non-logical aspects. One of these is spirituality. Voegelin’s Ladder provides a context for studying spirituality as a part of leadership. What it reveals is that spirituality arises at the intersection of the human with the divine. Spirituality expresses itself as purpose and aspiration, which a leader embodies.

Key words: Great Chain of Being, leadership, spirituality, Voegelin, Eric.

More Perspectives, New Politics, New Life: How a Small Group Used

The Integral Process For Working On Complex Issues

Sara Ross

Abstract: This article reports on a small research project with citizens who wanted to address their community’s chronically adversarial behaviors and atmosphere. It complements a longer research report on the same project, which is also published in this issue of Integral Review. The project used a structured public discourse process, The Integral Process For Working On Complex Issues (TIP). This article supplies background on TIP’s origins, then focuses on two areas. First, it explains the process steps used in the project in conjunction with the issue that participants developed by using them. Second, using examples from participants’ experiences of transformative impacts from their work in the project, it reports on two themes that underlie the main impacts and outcomes. The group worked on an issue about how its own intentions and tones needed to be chosen carefully if participants wanted to improve the adversarial local culture. The article includes links to “products” the group created in the course of its work. The themes were about dissolving “us versus them” mindsets and behaviors, and the liberation of being able to use multiple perspectives (as compared to only one point of view). This article is aimed at a diverse audience of individuals and organizations interested in promoting healthy individual and social change by addressing complex public issues and relationships. A brief epilogue sketches how TIP embeds criteria of integral theory. 

Keywords: action inquiry, complex issues, deliberation, decision-making, group process, political culture, public discourse, public relationships, replicable, The Integral Process For Working On Complex Issues, transformative.

Plain and Integral: An Interview with Karen Kho

By Jonathan Reams

Abstract: Karen Kho describes her work in the Alameda County Green Building Program. She covers the application of an integral framework to working with a variety of stakeholders in the residential building industry. This work includes a stakeholder analysis, rating program, educational materials and guidelines. How the program expanded beyond Alameda County is also covered.

Keywords: Green building, integral, residential home building.

Le Peer to Peer: Vers un Nouveau Modèle de Civilisation

Michel Bauwens

Abstract: Le « peer to peer » est la dynamique intersubjective caractéristique des réseaux distribués. Le but de cet essai est de montrer qu'il s'agit d'une véritable nouvelle forme d’organisation sociale, apte à produire et échanger des biens, à créer de la valeur. Celle-ci est la conséquence d'un nouvel imaginaire social, et possède le potentiel de devenir le pilier d'un nouveau mode d'économie politique, voire d'un nouveau type de civilisation. Pour cela, nous allons d'abord définir le P2P, décrire en bref ces manifestations, et le différencier d'autres modalités d'échange intersubjectif tel que le marché, la hiérarchie, l'économie du don.

   Comme principale modalité P2P nous distinguons: Les processus de production P2P, comme troisième mode de production, qui n'est ni géré par un mode hiérarchique ou par l'état, ni répondant à des impératifs de profit ou qui sont modulés par le biais des prix. Les processus de gouvernance P2P, qui gouverne ces processus de production. Les formes de propriété P2P, qui sont destine a empecher l’appropriation prive de cette production pour le commun.

   Afin d’examiner les characteristiques de cette nouvelle dynamique sociale, nous utilisons la typologie intersubjective de l’anthropologue Alan Page Fisque, qui distingue: 1. l'échange égalitaire (Equality Matching), c..a.d l’economie du don. 2. La relation d’autorité (Authority Ranking) tel qu’elle s’exprime dans le mode hierarchique. 3. le marché (Market Pricing). 4. la participation commune (Communal Shareholding).

   En conclusion, nous examinons les possibilites d’expansion de ce nouveau mode sociale et son insertion dans l’economie capitaliste, en nous nous posons la question: le P2P peut-il etre concu comme alternative sociale et economique aux modeles existants.

Keywords: capitalisme, cognitif, Economie, Internet, Politique, Societe de l'information, Reseaux.

Abstract: "Peer to peer" is hypothesized as a new social formation with intersubjective dynamics characteristic of distributed networks. This is shown to have profound implications for the transformation of our current form of market economy. To demonstrate this, I initially will define P2P, and carefully distinguish it from other modes of production and governance such as reciprocity-based gift economies, markets etc.. Peer to peer dynamics are associated with a series of important processes: Peer production as a third mode of production, peer governance, and Universal common property regimes.

   In order to examine characteristics of this new social dynamic, I use the intersubjective typology of the anthropologist Alan Page Fisque, who distinguishes: 1. leveling exchange (Equality Matching), the gift economy. 2. The relation of authority (Authority Ranking) such as it is expressed in the hierarchic mode. 3. The market (Market Pricing). 4. The common participation (Communal Shareholding).

   In the end, I look into the possibilities of expansion for this new social formation,
which holds great promise for a reform of our polity towards more participation. I conclude the article with an examination of the integrative nature of P2P.

Keywords: Capitalism, cognitive, economy, internet, policy.

English Summary of this article is available in PDF.

Perspectives On Troubled Interactions:

What Happened When A Small Group

Began To Address Its Community’s Adversarial Political Culture

Sara Ross

Abstract: This study investigated fostering political development (as defined in the report) through an integration of adult development, public issues analysis, and structured public discourse. Entitled The Integral Process For Working On Complex Issues, that multi-session discourse methodology includes issue analysis and framing, deliberation, and organizing systemic action. Its issue-framing template helps users generate multiple approaches to issues that reflect different levels of complexity and incorporate the conceivable human and institutional perspectives and environmental life conditions. The small group used the discourse process to select a public issue of concern and to begin to address it. It was about how to change the community’s adversarial political culture. They conducted a deliberative action inquiry into their own tones and intentions toward that issue as the starting point to address it, and did deliberative decision-making on that basis. The political reasoning and culture of the group developed during the study, evidenced by the group’s work and changes that participants experienced. The study is the first of its kind in several respects, which are: (a) to use this public discourse process as part of the research methodology, (b) to perform this kind of empirical research on public discourse and deliberation, and (c) to foster political and adult development while addressing complex issues. This extended length research report departs from traditional journal article formats not only by its length but also by integrating its report of findings with analyses of the processes that resulted in the findings. It is complemented by a shorter article in this issue of Integral Review, which describes the steps of the process and the major themes evident in participants’ experience.

Key words: action inquiry, adult development, hierarchical complexity, perspectives, political culture, political development, transformative learning.

Collaborative Knowledge Building and Integral Theory:

On Perspectives, Uncertainty, and Mutual Regard

Tom Murray

Abstract: Uncertainty in knowing and communicating affect all aspects of modern life. Ubiquitous and inevitable uncertainty, including ambiguity and paradox, is particularly salient and important in knowledge building communities. Because knowledge building communities represent and evolve knowledge explicitly, the causes, effects, and approaches to this “epistemological indeterminacy” can be directly addressed in knowledge building practices. Integral theory's approach (including “methodological pluralism”) involves accepting and integrating diverse perspectives in ways that transcend and include them. This approach accentuates the problems of epistemological indeterminacy and highlights the general need to deal creatively with it. This article begins with a cursory analysis of textual dialogs among integral theorists, showing that, while integral theory itself points to leading-edge ways of dealing with epistemological indeterminacy, the knowledge building practices of integral theorists, by and large, exhibit the same limitations as traditional intellectual discourses. Yet, due to its values and core methods, the integral theory community is in a unique position to develop novel and more adequate modes of inquiry and dialog. This text explores how epistemological indeterminacy impacts the activities and products of groups engaged in collaborative knowledge building. Approaching the issue from three perspectives--mutual understanding, mutual agreement, and mutual regard—I show the interdependence of those perspectives and ground them in relation to integral theory’s concerns. This article proposes three phases of developing constructive alternatives drawn from the knowledge building field: awareness of the phenomena, understanding the phenomena, and offering some tools (and some hope) for dealing with it. Though here I focus on the integral theory community (or communities), the conclusions of the article are meant to be applicable to any knowledge building community, and especially value-oriented groups who see themselves fundamentally as working together to benefit humanity.

Keywords: Applied epistemology, cognitive psychology, ethics, integral theory, knowledge building.

Issue 1, 2005 Abstracts

Integral Review and its Editors

Sara Ross, Reinhard Fuhr, Michel Bauwens, Thomas Jordan,

Jonathan Reams, and Russ Volckmann

Abstract: In this introduction to Integral Review’s inaugural issue, we explain the meaning we give to the title of this electronic journal which is open-access, both refereed and peer-reviewed, and why that meaning is important for us in today’s world. The draft of the basic article, which was intensely discussed among the members of the editorial committee, was written by Sara Ross and Reinhard Fuhr,* and following it, other members of the editorial committee added their personal emphases in reference to the integral paradigm as well as their (critical) evaluation of the premises made in the basic article. Thus Thomas Jordan offers a set of categories and criteria for integral qualities which turned out to be most important in practice and evaluation processes. Michel Bauwens makes distinctions about the multi-perspectival nature of the integral paradigm, points out ways to avoid four different kinds of reductionism, and highlights layers of awareness. Russ Volckman emphasizes the connection between the diversity of worldviews and methodologies, which allow us to also integrate recent developments in behavioral approaches in his professional field of organization and leadership development. Jonathan Reams emphasizes the new, transcendent quality of an integral approach that enables us to use different qualities of “reflection” flexibly and - as we have a meta-framework of human perceptions and values - to recognize everybody's truth and feel compassionate with it. We then close with a discussion of the relationship between Integral Review and the mission of its non-profit publisher, ARINA, Inc.  

Editor’s note: Sara Ross is president of ARINA, Inc. and coordinator of IR, Reinhard Fuhr is editor-in-chief of IR

Key words: change agents, complexity, consciousness development, Gebser, integral, integration, paradigm, research, social change, transformation, Wilber

Jean Gebser: Das Integrale Bewusstsein

Kai Hellbusch

Zusammenfassung: Um den Begriff des integralen Bewusstseins bei Jean Gebser deutlich werden zu lassen, werden die Bewusstseinsstrukturen in ihrem konzeptionellen Stellenwert erläutert, bevor jede einzelne vorgestellt wird. Die Kenntnis der bisherigen Bewusstseinsstrukturen ist Voraussetzung für die Kenntnis des integralen Bewusstseins, das sich aber nicht in der Integration des Früheren erschöpft, sondern seine eigene Aufgabe hat: die Realisierung der Zeit, also die Konkretion der den Bewusstseinsstrukturen zugehörigen Zeitformen. Dadurch entsteht eine neue Freiheit, die als bewusste Annäherung an das Göttliche, den „Ursprung“, zu verstehen ist.

Schlüsselwörter: Bewusstseinsstrukturen, Mutation, integrales Bewusstsein, Konstitutionstheorie, neue Wirklichkeit, Zeit.

Jean Gebser: The Integral Consciousness

 Kai Hellbusch

Abstract: The Swiss-German philosopher Jean Gebser is introduced as the first to describe the integral worldview in detail. The author sketches Gebser's biography, explains his basic assumption of a universal consciousness from which basic structures of consciousness emerge, and describes the different stages of consciousness development from archaic to magic to mythic to mental to integral. The integral structure of consciousness is presented in its main characteristics as an attitude towards the world, to ourselves and in particular to time.

Key words: Structures of consciousness, mutation, integral consciousness, universal origin (Ursprung), new reality, time
 

 Complexity Intelligence and Cultural Coaching:

Navigating the Gap Between Our Societal Challenges and Our Capacities

Jan Inglis and Margaret Steele

Abstract:  In this article, we present the term complexity intelligence as a useful moniker to describe the reasoning ability, emotional capacity and social cognition necessary to meet the challenges of our prevailing life conditions. We suggest that, as a society and as individuals, we develop complexity intelligence as we navigate the gap between our current capacities and the capacities needed to respond to the next stage of complex challenges in our lives. We further suggest that it is possible to stimulate and support the emergence of complexity intelligence in a society, but we need a new form of social change agent - a cultural coach, to midwife its emergence.

Key words:  complexity, reasoning ability, emotional capacity, social cognition, adult development, social change, cultural coach

The Development of Dialectical Thinking

As An Approach to Integration

Michael Basseches

Abstract: This article offers a description of dialectical thinking as a psychological phenomenon that reflects adult intellectual development. While relating this psychological phenomenon to the various dialectical philosophical perspectives from which the description is derived, the article conceptualizes dialectical thinking as a form of organization of thought, various aspects of which can be identified in individual adults' approaches to conceptualizing a range of problems, rather than as one particular stream of intellectual history. The article provides a range of examples of dialectical analyses, contrasting them with more formalistic analyses, in order to convey the power, adequacy, and significance of dialectical thinking for the sorts of challenges that this journal embraces. It suggests that events in all areas of life demand recognition of the limitations of closed-system approaches to analysis. Approaches based instead on the organizing principle of dialectic integrate dimensions of contradiction, change and system-transformation over time in a way that supports people's adaptation when structures under girding their sense of self/world coherence are challenged. Higher education and psychotherapy are considered as examples of potential contexts for adult intellectual development, and the conditions that foster such development in these contexts are discussed. The article as a whole makes the case for consciously attempting to foster such development in all our work as an approach to integration.

Key words: dialectic, development, transformation, constitutive relationships, interaction, multiple systems, open systems, metasystematic, epistemic adequacy, dialectical thinking, dialectical philosophical perspective, dialectical analysis, psychotherapy, higher education

 Toward An Integral Process Theory Of Human Dynamics:

Dancing The Universal Tango

Sara Ross

Abstract: This article is an outline toward developing a fuller process theory of human dynamics aimed at practical applications by a diverse audience. The theory represents a transdisciplinary synthesis of a universal pattern and integrates humans’ projection dynamics with complex systems dynamics. Five premises, presented in lay language with examples, capture basic elements involved in the meta process of human development and change: reciprocity, projection, development’s structural limits, oscillations, and structural coupling. Based on a fractal dialectical pattern that shows up wherever complex systems are involved, the theory’s applications are scalable. It could be useful for personal development, public policy design, issue analysis, and systemic action on intransigent issues. It may be a complementary adjunct to developmental stage theories because it deals in an accessible way with the processes involved in stage transitions. Throughout the article, its practical relevance at some individual, social, and political scales is illustrated or mentioned. Readers interested in individual and social change may gain a sense of the human dynamics involved in it, and thus the potential usefulness of a process theory that describes what goes on in human change and development.

Key words: developmental process, dynamics, fractal, human development, integral, meta pattern, meta process, metasystems, oscillations, physics, processes, process theory, projection, psychology, public policy, public issues, reciprocity, reciprocal interaction, social change, structural coupling, systems, tango, universal

 Timely and Transforming Leadership Inquiry and Action:

Toward Triple-loop Awareness

Anne Starr and Bill Torbert

Abstract: Drawing from situations in business, art, leadership education, and home life, this essay experiments with diverse ways to communicate the experience of triple-loop awareness. Contrasting it with single- and double-loop feedback in a person’s awareness, the triple-loop supposedly affords the capacity to be fully present and exercise re-visioning, frame-changing timely leadership. The essay presents an encompassing theory of time and of its relationship with our own capacity for awareness. The experiment concludes with the reminder to readers that a first reading is like walking around the base of a mountain. The authors invite readers to try out one of the uphill paths of being with these experiments with a different kind of attention.

Key words: action-logic, awareness, inquiry, leadership, learning, re-visioning, timely action, theory of time, transformation, triple-loop

 Good, Clever and Wise:

A study of political meaning-making among integral change agents

Thomas Jordan in an Interview with Russ Volckmann

Abstract: Thomas Jordan discusses the intellectual and research foundations that have led to his creation of a consciousness development model. In interview research that he conducted among selected personnel in Swedish defense and security agencies, Jordan has focused on three key skill sets: consciousness skills, self-awareness and embeddedness or identification. From this he has identified seven characteristics that show up in various patterns among those he interviewed. The first three—good, clever, and wise—are key characteristics. The next four follow from them: curious, inventive, modest and handy. These show up in variable combinations among these integral change agents involved with promoting change within political institutions.

Key words: Integral, change agent, consciousness, skills, political, meaning-making

 What’s Integral about Leadership?

A Reflection on Leadership and Integral Theory

Jonathan Reams

Abstract: This article provides an introduction to the idea of integral leadership. It describes the basic premises of integral theory, focusing on the four quadrants, levels or stages of development, and lines or streams of development. It briefly examines the relationship of consciousness to leadership, and then provides an overview of the history of leadership theory from an integral perspective. It then suggests a distinction between an integrally informed approach to leadership and integral leadership, and closes with questions deserving further inquiry.

Key words: integral, leadership, consciousness, development, transpersonal

 Ein Integraler Gestalt-Ansatz

fuer Therapie und Beratung

Reinhard Fuhr & Martina Gremmler-Fuhr
 

Zusammenfassung: In diesem Text stellen wir unseren Ansatz für Psychotherapie und Beratung auf dem Hintergrund des integralen Paradigmas dar. Wir erläutern zunächst kurz vier Anforderungen an ein integrales Konzept in diesem professionellen Bereich: Umgang mit Komplexität und Vielperspektivität, Berücksichtigung gerichteter, vieldimensionaler Entwicklung, Orientierungs- und  Sinngebungsfunktion, Realisierung relationaler Qualitäten in der Arbeit. Nach einer Begriffsbestimmung von „Therapie“, „Beratung“ und „Bildung“ charakterisieren wir das seit vielen Jahren von uns entwickelte Konzept für den Integralen Gestalt-Ansatz unter den Fragen nach (1) den Intentionen und Aufgaben von Therapie und Beratung, (2) der Gestaltung der Kommunikation und Beziehung, (3) der Art der Problemdefinition und dem Umgang mit Diagnostik sowie (4) den Strategien und Methoden - alle unter Rückkopplung an die zuvor erläuterten Anforderungen an ein integrales Konzept.
 

Schlüsselwörter: Psychotherapie, Beratung, intentionaler Dialog, Gesprächszyklus, Beziehung, holarchische Entwicklung, Phänomenologie, Hermeneutik, Problemidentifikation, Diagnostik

An Integral Gestalt Approach for 

Psychotherapy and Counseling

Reinhard Fuhr & Martina Gremmler-Fuhr

Abstract: In this text we present our approach to psychotherapy and counseling on the background of the integral paradigm. We shortly explain four major requirements for such an integral concept: handling complexity and multi-perspectivity, considering directed and multi-dimensional development,  offering orientation and meaning, relational qualities. After defining the terms „psychotherapy“, „counselling“, and „education“ we present our concept for the Integral Gestalt Approach which we have developed and evaluated for many years by dealing with four questions: (1) the intentions and tasks of therapy and counselling, (2) the formation of communication and relationship, (3) the specific way of defining problems and using diagnostics, and (4) the strategies and methods - all related back to the major requirements of an integral concept.
 

Key words: therapy, counseling, intentional dialogue, cycle of contact, relationship, holarchical development, phenomenology, hermeneutics, disidentification, problem identification, diagnostics.

English Summary of this article and its figures is available in PDF.