The Daily Evolver

This week I take a look at the Coronavirus pandemic and humanity’s response to it. The integral lens helps us see more clearly the myriad forces rising out of this crisis, which increases our wisdom and compassion in dealing with it. The situation is changing day-to-day and I will no doubt comment further in future podcasts. Let me know what you’re thinking at jeff@dailyevolver.com.

As a psychotherapist, I have conducted over fifty thousand therapy sessions with men, women, couples, teens, kids, and families over the last thirty-seven years. And I’m here to testify that secret affairs literally screw everybody up. So says Dr. Keith Witt in this fascinating exploration of infidelity in marriage, which arises out of human beings’ two competing sexual drives: to pair-bond and to cheat. From an integral perspective, affairs arrest the development of both the couple and each individual partner. Keith explains the reasons people have secret affairs (and how they justify them), how to recognize and derail the cascade of behaviors that lead to infidelity, and how healthy couples recover and move forward in its aftermath.

What a difference a Super Tuesday can make! Last week I and many others wrote off Joe Biden’s candidacy as hopeless. Now he is the front runner for the Democratic nomination in a two-man race with Bernie Sanders. What happened? And what might it reveal about the race going forward? To ponder these questions, I invite onto the podcast two of my favorite Integral political pals, Diane Musho Hamilton and Terry Patten.

It’s the high political season here in the U.S., and like all good citizens I am called on to cast my vote. My fellow Coloradans and I are part of Super Tuesday, where one-third of the Democratic electorate will decide who we want to go up against President Trump in November. In this podcast, I attempt to bring an integral sensibility to my decisions on the six major candidates, and to share how I’ve come up with my own final three.

In the lineage of Integral philosophers, Jean Gebser is a mystic. Famous for delineating the structures of human consciousness as archaic, magic, mythic, mental and integral, he regarded them as arising not just sequentially in history but also vividly in an ever-present now. “While it is clear that adults possess various mental and physical capacities not possessed by children, and modern cultures possess scientific and technological capacities unknown in primal cultures, it is equally clear that children possess profound imaginal capacities greatly diminished in most adults, and primal cultures take for granted a deep connection with, and intimate knowledge of nature that is impossible to achieve in modern cultures, a connection and knowledge for which many of us harbor a profound yearning.” – Jean Gebser (1905-1973) My guest, integral philosopher Jeremy Johnson, president of the Jean Gebser Society, explains how Gebser’s vision is uniquely relevant to contemporary life, and how it offers an integral spiritual transmission that seeks to be manifested through practice. Jeremy is pioneering this practice, and in this episode he shares the themes of his new course, Seeing Through the World – Integral Consciousness and the Ever-Present Origin, starting this Sunday, Feb 23. Check it out and I hope you enjoy the podcast! Jeremy Johnson has a degree in sociology from Fordham University, the Jesuit College in Manhattan, and a Masters in Consciousness Studies from Goddard College. He is the founder of Nura Learning, and author of the book, Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and Integral Consciousness.  Gebser portrait by Nina Bunjavec

In this episode integral philosopher Steve McIntosh and I discuss his new book: Developmental Politics—How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself. Steve employs integral political philosophy to help overcome America’s hyperpolarized cultural condition. He offers a pragmatic yet inspiring approach to our national political dilemma through a new politics of culture—one that goes right to the heart of this entrenched, complex issue. Steve’s proposals for overcoming hyperpolarization are founded on an emerging form of “cultural intelligence” that directly addresses the conflicting values underlying our poisoned politics. This new way of seeing leads to an inclusive vision of social progress—a new American Dream—that can help revive our collective sense of common cause and thereby restore the functionality of our democracy. Developmental Politics provides the fresh thinking we need to transcend America’s contemporary political impasse. In his book, and this episode, Steve offers one of the best applications of integral thinking I know of, and right on schedule for our times. I hope you’ll find it as inspiring as I do. You can find out more about Steve McIntosh and Developmental Politics at SteveMcIntosh.com.  See (and share!) his 5-minute video on YouTube. 

Like everything, the practice of psychotherapy is evolving. Emerging in the field today is a new integration of modalities that have previously been siloed, each claiming to be the best. But best for who – and what? My guest today is integral psychotherapist and Zen priest, Chad Bennett, who explores the new integration of therapeutic processes that is taking shape. He starts by describing the three major streams of psychotherapy: Shadow work seeks to penetrate psychological issues, which are resolved by thinking and insight. Trauma work deals with biological issues, which are resolved by sensing the body. Attachment work addresses issues that are ultimately spiritual in nature, and are resolved, as he puts it, by “being”. In this episode, Chad explains how each modality works – separately and together – and maps their integration in a way that serves as a guide for both choosing and managing your therapeutic adventure. Our conversation made a lot of pieces fall into place for me, and I trust it will for you, too! Chad Bennett is an Integral Zen priest studying with Doshin Roshi, and has been a practicing psychotherapist for many years. You can find out more about Chad at his website Integral Somantic Awakening. 

My longtime friend and integral comrade Terry Patten and I have argued for many years about the state and trajectory of the world. And though we both strive to bring an integral perspective to the question, we do see it differently, and in ways that I think reflect differences of views within the integral community, and maybe within your own psyche. In this episode, we share the latest of our ongoing discussions. We enjoyed the heck out of it and, as always, finished a little bigger than we started. We hope you do the same! This episode is a co-production of The Daily Evolver and Terry’s new podcast, State of Emergence.

President Trump’s drone assassination of Iran’s General Qassim Suliemani has dramatically increased the tensions between the US and Iran. It also raises concerns about Donald Trump’s motives and judgment in carrying out a U.S. President’s most deadly option, and what the ramifications may be. In this episode, I attempt to shed some integral light on the situation.

Today my guest is Bence Ganti, the driving force behind the upcoming Integral European Conference, a major six-day event for the Integral community which will commence on May 26th at the Azur Resort at Lake Balaton in Hungary. This fourth biennial conference will be the biggest and most comprehensive yet, with over 700 participants from 50 countries. Titled Global Integral Awakens, the conference will offer 250 programs on a wide range of integral issues, from contemporary politics to organizational development to art, culture and spirituality, in a potent goulash of presentations, workshops and experiential processes. And there’s goulash night too, the Hungarian specialty cooked in cauldrons over an open fire … then trance dance … then a firewalk! To extend your integral immersion, consider the pre-conference training on human development with Dr.Robert Kegan, as well as a post-conference 3-day sightseeing tour by bus. Click here to find out more about the Integral European Conference.