evolution

Posts Tagged ‘evolution’

Ken Wilber’s Problematic Relationship to Science

Frank Visser

Abstract: Ken Wilber has argued for a spiritual view of evolution. To make his case he has defended three knowledge claims: (1) current science fails to explain major transformations in evolution, (2) some scientific views seem to support his view that the cosmos is inherently creative, and (3) his own theory of evolution is “the only theory that can actually explain the mysteries of evolution.” The validity of these three claims is questioned by the argument that a more believable integration of evolutionary theory within integral theory is called for. This requires both an openness to criticism and more solid expertise in this specific field of science. Thus far, both of these features have been lacking within both Wilber’s writings and the integral community.

Tags: integral theory, evolution, Eros, evolutionary science, extended synthesis, modern synthesis, Visser

Integral Ecofeminism: An Introduction

Chandra Alexandre

Abstract: This article offers an introduction to integral ecofeminism as a spiritually-grounded philosophy and movement seeking to catalyze, transform and nurture the rising tension of the entire planet. It articulates integral ecofeminism as an un-pathologizing force toward healing, as the offering of a possibility for creating and sustaining the emergent growth of individuals, institutions and our world systems toward awareness. Doing so, it embraces sacred and secular, rational and emotional, vibrant and still, in its conception of reality; and with this, it is a way of looking at the world whole, seeking to acknowledge the wisdom of creation in its multiplicity, specificity, and completely profound manifestation.

Tags: sustainability., Chandra Alexandre, integral, consciousness, evolution, ecofeminism, non-duality

Daring to Step into the Open: Moving Beyond Perspectives in Education and Life

Kaisa Puhakka

Abstract: Evolution in all spheres—cosmos, culture, and consciousness—is explored as a dynamic, creative process of shifting and settling, where shifting breaks out of existing structures and conceptual moorings and settling solidifies the movement of evolution into structures. Both are seen as essential aspects of the evolutionary process, but a bias for settling is noted among living creatures. For humans in particular, shifting arouses anxiety whereas settling promises security. The correction of this bias in the educational process to help realign human consciousness and culture with the rest of nature and cosmos is explored. Such a realignment may be necessary for meeting the unprecedented challenges of our world today, and an open, perspective-free inquiry can serve as a vehicle for it. But this inquiry calls for a new way of relating to the inherent uncertainty of shifting and to the anxiety this arouses in teachers and students alike.

Tags: Creative, Shiva., Kaisa Puhakka, nature, Absolutism, consciousness, constructivism, cosmos, awareness, courage, inquiry, dialectical, perspective, heart, epistemology, pluralism, Education, settling, evolution, shifting

The Union of Spirit and Matter: Science, Consciousness, and a Life Divine

Lynda Lester

Abstract: The once unbridgeable chasm between spirit and matter is closing. While the scientific method and scientific materialism have brought untold benefits to humanity, quantum physics has changed our view of matter as solid, objective, and obvious to a view that is more complex and which includes the possibility that consciousness has a part in manifesting reality. This shift mirrors Sri Aurobindo’s integral philosophy, which states that the universe is a manifestation of consciousness. This manifestation occurs through a process of involution followed by evolution, the next step of which is the emergence of a suprahumanity whose native state of consciousness will be supramental. Interestingly, some of Mother Mirra Alfassa’s experiences in bringing supramental consciousness into her body bear similarities to the discoveries of quantum physics. Unlike previous spiritual realizations, the supramental realization has the power to unify spirit and matter and usher in a life divine on earth.

Tags: Mother Mirra Alfassa, involution, Sri Aurobindo, singularity, Integral Philosophy, supermind., Integral Yoga, Lynda Lester, consciousness, spirituality, quantum physics, evolution, science

Integral Politics as Process

Tom Atlee

Abstract: Using the definition proposed here, integral politics can be a process of integrating diverse perspectives into wholesome guidance for a community or society. Characteristics that follow from this definition have ramifications for understanding what such political processes involve. Politics becomes integral as it transcends partisan battle and nurtures generative conversation toward the common good. Problems, conflicts and crises become opportunities for new (or renewed) social coherence. Conversational methodologies abound that can help citizen awareness temporarily expand during policy-making, thus helping raise society’s manifested developmental stage. Convening archetypal stakeholders or randomly selected citizens in conversations designed to engage the broader public enhances democratic legitimacy. With minimal issue- and candidate-advocacy, integral political leaders would develop society’s capacity to use integral conversational tools to improve its health, resilience, and collective intelligence. This both furthers and manifests evolution becoming conscious of itself.

Tags: process, Tom Atlee, integration, perspectives, evolution, Collective intelligence, conversational methodologies, democratic legitimacy, developmental stage, integral politics

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.

Tags: directed mutation, Donald F. Padelford, entanglement, entropy, evolution, information / probability fields, interiority, natural philosophy, consciousness, negentropy, non-locality, Falsification, non-random, Adaptive mutation, reductionism

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