Everyone Is Right

"The long-awaited emergence of 'Teal' as a shape of consciousness, set of life conditions, and accompanying techno-economic structure is upon us, and will increasingly emerge with the rise of The Transformation Age. The Integral Philosophy movement inhabits just one small niche of this broader phenomena that inside Integral Life we simply call 'Emergent Teal'. Populated by a diverse set of people and organizations, starting this year Integral Life has begun opening its platform to a broader set of voices, hosts and activities—look out for many exciting announcements coming your way soon—and also begun to engage with some of these talented people, like the one here, an “open class” format which arose from an interaction among Perspectiva’s Jonathan Rowson, The PopUp School’s Bonnitta Roy, GameB’s Jordan Greenhall and myself on Twitter. I was excited to join this conversation because our host, the brilliant Bonnitta Roy, intentionally focused on the personal and concrete among the three guests—all of us fathers—on what it means to be a father, raise children, and take on the responsibility of intergenerational transmission in this time between eras, and whether it holds lessons for being a leader today." —Robb Smith

Wang Huning is arguably the world’s most influential and powerful intellectual. And you’ve probably never heard of him, as he has sat quietly at the top of China’s power structure, advising three presidents over 30 years. The architect of many of China’s most significant contemporary ideological and strategic efforts, he’s deeply studied in the philosophy and ways of the west. Long before Robb’s own analysis that the west is amidst a monumental breakdown he called a “Great Release”, Huning came to the conclusion that the decadence of the United States, its culture and capitalism will lead it to ruin, and China must be steered in a different, and in some ways more integral, direction. The stakes couldn’t be higher: to understand this century, we have to understand the geopolitical and philosophical power struggle between China and the United States and the differing global “Operating Systems” they’re fighting for. And to better understand that struggle, we have to better understand whether the cognition of China’s leaders are integral or not: are they capable of bringing the Teal “Power to Integrate” to bear on the world system? For that answer, we must look to Wang Huning. Join Robb as he holds an impromptu commentary-monologue on a recent profile of Wang Huning published in Palladium Magazine: https://palladiummag.com/2021/10/11/the-triumph-and-terror-of-wang-huning/

Explore the concept of polarity thinking in personal development and navigating biases. Learn about integrating polarities in various fields and the challenge of approaching the other pole in diversity discussions. Delve into monolithic thinking in conspiracy theories and the difficulties of engaging with extreme beliefs. Discover the blurred line between fact and fiction, and find integral solutions through respectful discourse and understanding conflicting views.

Corey and Ryan discuss the importance of cultivating and inhabiting a “confident humility” with relation to our own physical bodies, mental processes, and spiritual health. We also have a fun segment at the end designed to put your own humility to the test by looking at 10 common integral caricatures — stereotypes that many of us fall into at one point or another during our Integral lives. There is a phenomenon that has become fairly well known in recent years known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. If you are not familiar with that term, it describes the fact that, on average, people tend to greatly overestimate their own capacities and competences. In other words, the majority of us are completely out of our depths when it comes to some important aspect of our lives — our work, our skills, our overall sense-making and maps of reality, etc. — and we surround ourselves with any number of cognitive biases that prevent us from seeing just how limited our views and our self-concepts truly are. In other words, “the first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re in the Dunning-Kruger club.” It’s one of the well-known traps of Integral — because it is so comprehensive and includes so much of our inner and outer worlds, it can tempt us into thinking we know… well, everything. What’s worse, if we don’t keep a careful eye on our ego, it doesn’t take too long before we’ve wrapped an entire identity around our epistemic over-certainty, which only leads to further social fragmentation, tribalism, and culture wars — even within the integral space itself. Because make no mistake, this phenomenon is not describing “dumb people” or people who are “less developed” than yourself. It also describes doctors, PhDs, philosophers, artists, and many of the greatest minds of our time, regardless of where they are in their own growth and development. The sorts of cognitive biases that produce the Dunning-Kruger effect are legion, and made all the more ubiquitous by social media and all the various selection pressures that come with it. So if you are able to take a moment to pause and reflect on where you might be on the Dunning-Kruger path — congratulations! You are practicing healthy epistemic humility right now at this very moment. So how do we prevent ourselves from falling into the trap of over-certainty? By committing to the ongoing work of growing up, cleaning up, and waking up within our own interiors, and then bringing more flexibility, curiosity, and multi-perspectival awareness to our epistemic maps of reality. In other words: cultivating our interior confidence, and then aligning that with humility when it comes to how we navigate the world around us.

We are blessed to live at a time when virtually all of the world's practices from all of the world's cultures and spiritual traditions are freely available to us. In fact, we have so many different kinds of practices it can be downright intimidating: Which should I do? How many should I do? How do I know they're working? Where do I begin? How am I even going to find time for all this? This is what makes this week's discussion so important, as Terry Patten and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at their book Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening. ILP is a highly distilled, easily customizable, and radically inclusive approach to practice, based on the most comprehensive map of human potentials we currently have. It is neither "map" nor "territory", but the vehicle by which we find, refine, and deliver our unique gifts to the world.

We are blessed to live at a time when virtually all of the world's practices from all of the world's cultures and spiritual traditions are freely available to us. In fact, we have so many different kinds of practices it can be downright intimidating: Which should I do? How many should I do? How do I know they're working? Where do I begin? How am I even going to find time for all this? This is what makes this week's discussion so important, as Terry Patten and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at their book Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening. ILP is a highly distilled, easily customizable, and radically inclusive approach to practice, based on the most comprehensive map of human potentials we currently have. It is neither "map" nor "territory", but the vehicle by which we find, refine, and deliver our unique gifts to the world.

We are blessed to live at a time when virtually all of the world's practices from all of the world's cultures and spiritual traditions are freely available to us. In fact, we have so many different kinds of practices it can be downright intimidating: Which should I do? How many should I do? How do I know they're working? Where do I begin? How am I even going to find time for all this? This is what makes this week's discussion so important, as Terry Patten and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at their book Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening. ILP is a highly distilled, easily customizable, and radically inclusive approach to practice, based on the most comprehensive map of human potentials we currently have. It is neither "map" nor "territory", but the vehicle by which we find, refine, and deliver our unique gifts to the world.

We are blessed to live at a time when virtually all of the world's practices from all of the world's cultures and spiritual traditions are freely available to us. In fact, we have so many different kinds of practices it can be downright intimidating: Which should I do? How many should I do? How do I know they're working? Where do I begin? How am I even going to find time for all this? This is what makes this week's discussion so important, as Terry Patten and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at their book Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening. ILP is a highly distilled, easily customizable, and radically inclusive approach to practice, based on the most comprehensive map of human potentials we currently have. It is neither "map" nor "territory", but the vehicle by which we find, refine, and deliver our unique gifts to the world.

We are blessed to live at a time when virtually all of the world's practices from all of the world's cultures and spiritual traditions are freely available to us. In fact, we have so many different kinds of practices it can be downright intimidating: Which should I do? How many should I do? How do I know they're working? Where do I begin? How am I even going to find time for all this? This is what makes this week's discussion so important, as Terry Patten and Ken Wilber take an in-depth look at their book Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening. ILP is a highly distilled, easily customizable, and radically inclusive approach to practice, based on the most comprehensive map of human potentials we currently have. It is neither "map" nor "territory", but the vehicle by which we find, refine, and deliver our unique gifts to the world.

Our dear friend Terry Patten has completed his human journey, and has now passed on from this world. By all accounts Terry made his transition with tremendous grace and courage, guided as he was by his many years of integral and spiritual practice. We miss this man enormously, and feel deeply grateful for his friendship, as well as for the limitless passion, care, and spirit that he brought to the integral movement over the last two decades. So that Terry’s life and death can continue to be a source of meaning, inspiration, and awakening for us all, we want to release the following meditation to the world. Listen as Terry offers a short guided meditation to help you reduce the existential fear, dread, and anxiety surrounding death, by shifting your attention and identification to the indestructible presence at the very center of your being. We love you, Terry Patten. Your light will continue to shine in our hearts, in our spirit, and in our practice. Blessings to you, our cherished friend, teacher, and partner.