Tags: integral, Thomas Jordan, politics, Fein
Posts Tagged ‘integral’
What is Integral Postmetaphysical Spirituality?
Bruce Alderman, Layman Pascal, Edward Berge and Joseph Farley
Tags: Definitions, Alderman, Pascal, postmetaphysics, integral, spirituality
The Intersection of PatternDynamics and Integral Post-Metaphysical Spirituality: What Brings Us Together?
Tim Winton and David MacLeod
Tags: integral, Winton, PatternDynamics, post-metaphysical spirituality, Macleod, postmetaphysics
Strategy as Emergence: Reviewing the Practice Turn in Social, Organizational and Leadership Studies from an Integral Perspective
Elke Fein
Abstract: Practice perspectives are increasingly popular in many social sciences. Moreover, the practice turn (PT) has gained influence across various disciplines as a novel epistemological and research perspective. It claims to be able to better explain the workings of social action, among them leadership phenomena in organizations, due to a detailed look onto the micro level. Due to their focus and epistemology, they also claim to be able to better describe and analyze the complexity of social action than more traditional individualistic or institutional approaches. This paper therefore takes a closer look at some of the epistemological claims made by practice perspectives, based on integral epistemological concepts and tools. It proposes a selective discussion of the PT’s genuine epistemological value, as well as potential shortcomings, blind spots and limitations.
Tags: leadership, development, epistemology, strategy, Elke Fein, knowledge, practice turn, relationalism, complexity, integral
‘Inter-Bridging’ Bridges and Bridging as Metaphors for ‘syn-integrality’ in Organization Studies and Practice
Wendelin Küpers, Jürgen Deeg, Mark Edwards
Abstract: By interpreting the bridge as a relational metaphor, and reflecting an inter-relational ‘space between’ of positions, the paper contributes to a different view of integrating pluralism in organization studies. Following an embodied realism, first bridges and bridging are presented as phenomena, media and metaphors for connecting and separating. Showing their ambivalent character the role of bridges as metaphors and metaphors as bridges are discussed in relation to organisation studies and as transition zones for paradigms. Based on an integrative orientation, mediating qualities of bridges and bridging are outlined for gaining a decentered, but interconnected understanding of organising. The final part discusses some implications for organization studies.
Tags: bridges, bridging, embodied realism, metaphor, relational., Jürgen Deeg, Mark Edwards, integral, Wendelin Küpers
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: integral, consciousness, evolution, ecofeminism, non-duality, sustainability., Chandra Alexandre
Toward a Genealogy and Topology of Western Integrative Thinking
Gary P. Hampson
Abstract: Contemporary integrative thinking such as meta-theorising, integral approaches and transdisciplinarity can be productively contextualised by identifying both a broad genealogy of Western integrative thinking, and also a topology regarding facets of such thought. This paper offers one such genealogical and topological reading. The genealogy involves the historical orientations or moments of Hermetism; Neoplatonism; Renaissancism; the nexus of German classicism, romanticism and idealism; and reconstructive postmodernism. Arising from this, an indication of a general topology of Western integrative thinking is offered (with case studies), one involving objects of integration (such as philosophy and spirituality), macro-integrative entities (such as syncretism), micro-integrative entities (such as creativity and love), integrative “shapes” (such as organicism), and processes of integration (such as intuition).
Tags: integral, panosophy, reconstructive postmodernism, spirituality, Renaissance, Gary P. Hampson, syncretism., creativity, organicism., Hermeticism, intuition, integrative, love, Neoplatonism
Global Knowledge Futures: Articulating the Emergence of a New Meta-level Field
Jennifer M. Gidley
Abstract: In this paper I articulate a new meta-level field of studies that I call global knowledge futures—a field through which other emerging transdisciplinary fields can be integrated to cohere knowledge at a higher level. I contrast this with the current dominant knowledge paradigm of the global knowledge economy with its fragmentation, commodification and instrumentalism based on neoliberal knowledge capitalism. I take a big-picture, macrohistorical lens to the new thinking and new knowledge patterns that are emerging within the evolution of consciousness discourse. I explore three discourses: postformal studies, integral studies and planetary studies—using a fourth discourse, futures studies, to provide a macro-temporal framing. By extending the meta-fields of postformal, integral and planetary studies into a prospective future dimension, I locate areas of development where these leading-edge discourses can be brought into closer dialogue with each other. In this meeting point of four boundary-spanning discourses I identify the new meta-level field of global knowledge futures, grounded in human thinking capacities, such as creativity, imagination, dialogue and collaboration.
Tags: knowledge economy, post-positivism., Jennifer M. Gidley, integral, postformal, planetary, positivism., Foresight, futures studies
Transdisciplinary Consumption
Sue L.T. McGregor
Abstract: For the past 100 years, research about consumption has stemmed from two main disciplines: (a) consumer studies/consumer sciences (including consumer policy and education) (a spin off from home economics) and (b) consumer behaviour research (a spin off from marketing). This paper focuses on these two disciplines because the results of their respective research are used to shape consumer policy and consumer protection legislation and regulations, marketplace competition policy and regulations, consumer product and service information, media coverage of consumer issues, consumer education curricula and pedagogy, and insights into an evolving consumer culture. This paper asks consumer studies/sciences and consumer behaviour scholars to embrace the transdisciplinary methodology in addition to the traditional empirical, interpretive and critical methodologies. It provides an overview of the four axioms of transdisciplinary methodology with examples to illustrate how consumer-related research would change to address the complex reality of 21st century consumption.
Tags: Sue L.T. McGregor, integral, Consumption, consumer behaviour, consumer studies, home economics, sustainability transdisciplinary methodology.
The Dynamics of Marriage Law and Custom in the United States
Elizabeth Ann Wilson Whetmore
Abstract: This article examines changes in marriage laws and related cultural norms and values in the United States across the last several decades, and discusses correlating worldview shifts. It appears that the “traditional” worldview produced earlier laws, cultural norms and values, and changes to these have corresponded with a cultural worldview shift, first into “modernism” and then towards “postmodernism.” The implications of these worldview shifts for ongoing change to marriage law and custom are also analyzed.
Tags: gay marriage, law, marriage custom, marriage worldview, modernist, postmodern, teen pregnancy, integral, traditional, worldview paradigm., Cultural lines of development, Elizabeth Ann Wilson Whetmore, feminism
Evolving Dimensions of Integral Education
Judie Gaffin Wexler
Abstract: This article explores the concept of integral education as a way to prepare students for the complex, rapidly changing global environment in which they will be living and working. It contends that education must help students focus both internally and externally if they are to be effectively prepared. The experience of the California Institute of Integral Studies is used as a case study to discuss key dimensions of integral education.
Tags: integral, transformative, interdisciplinary, Education, Contemplative practice, diversity, holistic, Judie Gaffin Wexler
Becoming World Becoming: Embodied Practice in Psychology and Education
Ian J. Grand
Abstract: In the Integral philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and Haridas Chaudhuri, consciousness and knowing do not suffice. What is crucial is actual participation in the making of the world. Beyond transcendence, there is a creative emergence in historical time of new possibilities of being and becoming. When we meditate, or act in the world, or engage in other kinds of spiritual practices, we directly, concretely, change the ground of our being. We are changed in our bodies and we are changed in our interactions in the world. There is a creative spiral: changes in breath, changes in activity, become changes in consciousness. How we interact, do work, have feeling, changes us, as does our reflection upon them. The conditions, practices and tools of the historical era in which we live shape us as we shape them. What becomes important in practice is to learn tools and perspectives that expand our ability to participate in the making of the world.
Tags: ontology, Ian J. Grand, Creative, emergence, spiritual practice, somatic psychology, world becoming., integral
Metatheory Building in the Conflict Field
Karim Fathi
Extended Abstract in English
Given the increasingly complex nature of conflicts, a corresponding increase of new methods can be observed in Peace and Conflict Studies. At this juncture, metatheories aimed at integrating this labyrinth of diverse methods is becoming necessary. This paper will draft a conceptual proposal, discussing two well-known holistic approaches of mediative conflict management in an integrative context:
– The Conflict Management Approach by Prof. Dr. Friedrich Glasl (2004).
– The Conflict Transformation Approach (The Transcend Method) by Prof. Dr. Johan Galtung (2000).
The theoretical assumptions of this paper are based on the integral approach by Ken Wilber (2001) – a highly discussed “Theory of Everything“ that has thus far remained widely ignored in Peace and Conflict Studies, yet. Therefore, it is also of interest to scrutinise the integral approach with regard to its contribution for an integrated Peace and Conflict Studies. The analysis was conducted as follows:
1. Introduction of two holistic Peace and Conflict Studies approaches:
a. The Conflict Management Approach by Glasl implies a number of categories and entry points (Ansatzmomente) resulting in a complex intervention spectrum. In this regard, the consideration of escalation levels is highly important, integrating perception-oriented (low escalation), emotion-oriented (medium escalation) and behaviour-oriented (high escalation) measures. The spectrum may be combined with other categories such as conflict type (hot or cold) or criteria of conflict analysis (issues, conflict trends etc.).
b. The Conflict Transformation Approach by Galtung is characterised by a three-fold schematic, enabling a complex understanding of violence (direct, cultural, structural), conflict (behaviour, assumptions, contradictions) and peace (non-violence, empathy, creativity). Moreover, Galtung’s model implies three conflict phases (before, during, after violence) as well as five styles of conflict management.
c. The integral approach can be understood as a “Theory of Everything“ presupposing that no perspective can be 100% wrong (but “partially true”). Its methodology is based on “map making” by categorizing established paradigms, methods and theories in a holistic metacontext. By means of five categories – quadrants, levels, lines, types, states (altogether AQAL: All Quadrants All Lines) – the integral approach claims to consider as many aspects of reality as possible in a holistic concept.
2. Outline of an integration model:
a. Possibility of an epistemological integration of the introduced methods:
The five AQAL-dimensions enable the epistemological foci of the approaches by Galtung and Glasl to be revealed. A point in which both approaches may complement each other becomes apparent by combining a vertical spectrum of escalation levels (Glasl) and a horizontal axis of different fields of violence (Galtung). It might be of further research interest to analyse the potential extent of a correlation to evolution oriented level schemes (Wilber), e.g., referring to development psychology or evolution theory. Are there different development levels (Wilber) of direct, cultural and structural violence (Galtung)? Is there a correlation between levels of development (Wilber) and regression (Glasl)? This paper concludes for both cases a cautious “yes.” In doing so, the consideration of the other AQAL-dimensions (types, lines, states) provides further information.
b. Proposal for an integral heuristic:
The consideration of vertical (levels) and horizontal (quadrants, types, lines) AQAL-categories is also useful to integrate heuristics. However, the integral approach itself does not represent a method of heuristic and practical effect, though it is useful to adapt the AQAL-categories and to consider new tools that are highly relevant for the Peace and Conflict Studies. The heuristic integral concept is based on the vertical conflict scheme by Galtung (three conflict phases) and Glasl (escalation model) and additionally considers horizontal analysis categories (e.g., types: conflict type; quadrants: fields of violence) on each level. A complex integral Peace and Conflict Studies heuristic is the result, under the consideration of an adapted AQAL-model.
3. Conclusion and critique:
The analysis shows that the primary use of the integral approach for Peace and Conflict Studies lies in its ability to integrate the epistemological benchmarks of different approaches. Thereby, the integral concept provides information about some points in which the epistemes and heuristics of Glasl and Galtung may complement each other which could enrich the construction of a metatheory in the Peace and Conflict Studies (especially with regard to the combination of Glasl’s escalation model and Galtung’s three-folded schematics). However, it should be noted that the examples of Glasl’s and Galtung’s meta-approaches provide other important integration and categorisation concepts which are not be covered by the integral approach (at least in its present form). Thus, the AQAL itself may be inappropriate to integrate methods in the context of their orientation (e.g., process, client, solution oriented) or regarding the modus operandi (e.g., (a) conflict analysis, (b) intervention planning, (c) action). The AQAL is not only lacking meta-categories which are adapted to the particular heuristic requirements of Peace and Conflict Studies, also the contextualisation of its dimensions – e.g., the evolutionary scope of the level dimension – may not always be adequate and useful.
Generally, it can be concluded that metatheory building requires to consider different – in some respects contradicting – possibilities of formulating meta-categories. With regard to Peace and Conflict Studies, there remain a lot of research questions to be opened, since different meta-contexts may follow differing “main interests.” Preliminarily, it can be concluded that a really integrated Peace and Conflict Researcher should be familiar with epistemological and heuristic contexts, but also metatheoretical and theoretical contexts as well.
Abstract – Deutsch
Angesichts immer komplexerer Konflikte in der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (Friedens- und Konfliktforschung) sind Metatheorien von Nöten, die diese unübersichtliche Vielfalt unterschiedlicher Methoden zu integrieren vermögen. Im Rahmen des vorliegenden Papers soll hierzu ein konzeptioneller Vorschlag skizziert werden, indem zwei holistische und bekannte Ansätze der mediativen Konfliktbearbeitung in einem integrativen Kontext diskutiert werden:
– Der Konfliktmanagement-Ansatz nach Prof. Dr. Friedrich Glasl (2004).
– Die Transcend-Methode nach Prof. Dr. Johan Galtung (2000).
Den theoretischen Rahmen, auf den sich die Überlegungen dieser Arbeit stützen, liefert der Integrale Ansatz (IA) von Ken Wilber (2001) – eine viel diskutierte philosophische „Theorie von Allem“, die im Rahmen der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung jedoch noch weitgehend unberücksichtigt geblieben ist. Daher ist es im Rahmen der Arbeit von weiterem Interesse den IA auf seinen Mehrwert für eine integrierte Friedens- und Konfliktforschung zu untersuchen.
Die Untersuchung verlief wie folgt:
1. Vorstellung der in der Untersuchung berücksichtigten Ansätze:
a. Der Konfliktmanagement-Ansatz von Glasl unterscheidet eine Vielzahl von Kategorien und Ansatzmomenten, die ein komplexes Interventionsspektrum ergeben. Sehr wichtig ist hierbei unter anderem die Berücksichtigung von Eskalationsstufen, die eine Unterscheidung zwischen perzeptions- (niedrige Eskalation), gefühls- (mittlere Eskalation) und verhaltensorientierten (hohe Eskalation) Maßnahmen ermöglichen.
b. Die Konflikttransformation nach Galtung zeichnet sich unter anderem durch dreigeteilte Schematisierungen aus, die ein komplexes Verständnis von Gewalt (direkt, kulturell, strukturell), Konflikt (Verhalten, Annahmen, Widerspruch) und Frieden (Gewaltlosigkeit, Empathie, Kreativität) ermöglichen. Darüber hinaus unterscheidet Galtung unter anderem auch drei Phasen des Konflikts (vor, während, nach der Gewalt).
c. Der IA versteht sich als eine Methode des metatheoretischen „Map makings“. Mittels fünf Kategorien – Quadranten, Ebenen, Linien, Typen, Zustände (zusammen AQAL) – folgt der IA dem Anspruch, so vielen Aspekten der Realität wie möglich in einem Gesamtkonzept Rechnung zu tragen.
2. Skizze eines Integrationsmodells:
a. Möglichkeit zur epistemologischen Integration der vorgestellten Konfliktbearbeitungsansätze:
Mittels der fünf Dimensionen des AQAL lassen sich die epistemologischen Schwerpunkte der Ansätze von Glasl und Galtung darstellen. Ein gegenseitiger Ergänzungspunkt bietet sich vor allem bei der kombinierten Berücksichtigung eines vertikalen Spektrums von Eskalationsstufen (Glasl) und eines horizontalen Rasters von mehreren Gewaltbereichen (Galtung).
b. Vorschlag für ein heuristisches Gesamtkonzept:
Der IA stellt keine heuristisch-praktische Methode dar, daher ist es in diesem Fall sinnvoll, die AQAL-Kategorien anzupassen und sogar neue Kategorien, die für die Friedens- und Konfliktforschung besonders relevant sind, zu berücksichtigen. Das heuristische Gesamtkonzept nimmt das vertikale Konfliktschema von Galtung (drei Phasen des Konflikts) und Glasl (Eskalationsmodell) zum Ausgangspunkt und berücksichtigt zusätzlich auf jeder Ebene horizontale Untersuchungskriterien (z.B. Quadranten: Gewaltart etc.)
3. Fazit und Kritik:
Die Untersuchungen dieser Arbeit verdeutlichen, dass der Mehrwert des IA für die Friedens- und Konfliktforschung vor allem darin liegt, die epistemologischen Bezugspunkte unterschiedlicher Ansätze zu integrieren. Am Beispiel der Ansätze von Glasl und Galtung zeigt sich aber auf, dass ein heuristisches Metamodell zusätzliche Metakategorien erfordert, die von der Schematisierung des IA nicht erfasst werden. Es lässt sich daher schließen, dass sich die Metatheoriebildung für die Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, vielfältigen Herausforderungen und weiterführenden Forschungsfragen gegenübersieht, zumal sich unterschiedliche Metakontexte unterscheiden lassen, mit differierenden Geltungsansprüchen und „Integrationslogiken“. Ein wirklich integrierter Friedens- und Konfliktforscher sollte sich im Idealfall sowohl im Bereich der epistemologischen und im heuristischen, im metatheoretischen und im theoretischen Kontext sicher bewegen können.
Tags: Wilber, heuristisch, Konflikt, Karim Fathi, Konfliktmanagement, AQAL, Konflikttransformation, Dialog, Kontext, Ebene, Linie, epistemologisch, Metatheorie, Eskalation, Quadrant, Frieden, Typ, Galtung, Zustand, integral, Glasl
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.
Tags: integral, Tom Murray, Education, pedagogy, progressive/alternative, second tier
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.
Tags: reincarnation, time, survival, Aurobindo, Whitehead, soul, Sean M. Kelly, Barbour, complex holism, death, complexity, Fechner, Gebser, Morin, integral, Nietzsche
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.
Tags: integral, Wilber, critical theory, Martin Beck Matuštík, Habermas, model
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.
Tags: integral, consciousness, Olen Gunnlaugson, generative dialogue, presencing, reflective dialogue
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.
Tags: Gurdjieff, critical, Laclau, becoming-other, Mouffe, transformational practice, Zizek, Aurobindo, Deleuze, Guattari, Ziporyn, integral, Tarthang, Trungpa, Daniel Gustav Anderson, Benjamin, ideology
A Transdisciplinary Mind: An Interview with Ian Mitroff
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.
Tags: spirituality, transdisciplinary, integral, Russ Volckmann, leadership, psychology, systems, crisis
Plain and Integral: An Interview with Karen Kho
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.
Tags: integral, Jonathan Reams, Green building, residential home building.
Integral Review and its Editors
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
Tags: integral, Jonathan Reams, integration, Russ Volckmann, paradigm, research, social change, transformation, Wilber, change agents, Sara Ross, complexity, Reinhard Fuhr, consciousness development, Michel Bauwens, Gebser, Thomas Jordan
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.
Tags: metasystems, structural coupling, oscillations, systems, integral, physics, tango, social change, processes, universal, Sara Ross, process theory, developmental process, projection, dynamics, psychology, fractal, public policy, human development, public issues, meta pattern, reciprocity, meta process, reciprocal interaction
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.
Tags: change agent, skills, political, meaning-making, integral, Thomas Jordan, Russ Volckmann, consciousness
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.
Tags: integral, Jonathan Reams, leadership, consciousness, development, transpersonal
