Jeff Salzman: Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad & the Integral Vision

Ep. 1 (Part 1 of 2) | A candid conversation with endearing, brilliant, and optimistic Integral pundit Jeff Salzman of The Daily Evolver podcast, ranging from global current events to personal spiritual turning points. This talk delves into culture wars, polarization, discernment versus condemnation, how our psychological development determines political attitudes and values, and how Integral perspectives help us understand them all.

Jeff Salzman is a current events junkie who delights in interpreting emerging politics and culture through a lens of consciousness evolution, presented in his lively and informative podcast, The Daily Evolver. For three years, Jeff worked with Ken Wilber in developing the Integral Institute and their historic seminars on integral application in business, psychology, and spirituality. Jeff is also on the board of philosopher Steve McIntosh’s think tank, The Institute for Cultural Evolution, and co-founder of CareerTrack Training, an adult education company. A long-time practitioner in several spiritual traditions, Jeff has taught meditation and led many retreats. He has a master’s degree in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism from Naropa University.

Topics & Timestamps - Part 1

• Bringing Integral theory, big-picture, deep-picture, multiple perspectives to current events: that’s Jeff! (03:59)
• Stages of development and how culture wars & our current polarization is necessary for our evolution (09:00)
• Our individual cosmic address, integrating stages of consciousness, the mythic self, and the new tier emerging from post-modernity (10:55)
• Jeff’s own life stages — the tribal stage, the red f*** you phase, modern Jeff vs. traditional Jeff vs. postmodern Jeff and how Integral can make all of it work for all of us (13:58)
• MAGAstan vs. Woke-astan (21:39)
• Traditionalists, modernists, and postmodernists dysfunctional sides: welcome to evolution (28:35)
• The agenda of the universe (40:55)

Resources & References - Part 1

• Jeff Salzman’s The Daily Evolver podcast
• Jeff Salzman’s The Post-Progressive Post podcast
• Ken Wilber, One Taste*
• Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead*
• Fifth studio album by English rock band Yes, Close to the Edge*
• Ken Wilber, Up from Eden*
• Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey*
• Clare Graves, the Sensitive Self, adult developmental stages psychologist foundational to Spiral Dynamics

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell