ARCHIVE #11 — From Extraction to Emergence: Conscious Capitalism and the Future of Culture, with Carter Phipps

In this far-reaching dialogue, I’m joined by Carter Phipps—author, cultural philosopher, and co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, a think tank reimagining politics and society through the lens of developmental theory and Integral philosophy. As co-author of Conscious Leadership, Carter explores how business, spirituality, and systems thinking can converge to shape a more coherent and purposeful world.

Our conversation navigates the evolution of culture itself: from the polarization of American politics to the possibility of an economy infused with moral intelligence and spiritual depth. We explore conscious capitalism not as a branding tactic, but as a living framework—one that acknowledges the soul’s need for meaning, the planet’s call for regeneration, and the intelligence embedded in evolution itself.

Themes include: Teilhard de Chardin’s Omega Point, Whitehead’s adjacent potential, ontogenesis, mysticism and cosmological participation, political progress, transhumanism, and the danger of replacing the sacred with synthetic intelligence. We also reflect on whether we are being pulled by the future—or haunted by the unfinished business of the past.

This episode invites you to think beyond systems collapse or utopian dreaming. It’s a call to engage the emergent with clarity, creativity, and courage.

This episode was originally released under the podcast title Sacred Wisdom, the precursor to The Cosmic Codex. It now resides within The Sacred Wisdom Archives.