The Daily Evolver

By Jeff Salzman From the earliest clans to today’s multicultural societies, we can see the circle of moral consideration that human beings and cultures have granted to others has increased, stage by stage. Traditional societies (amber altitude) are built on racial and religious identity and enforce overt and often brutal hierarchies. Modern societies (orange altitude) in turn seek to grant legal rights to all, as we have seen with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, laws against discrimination against women, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the legalization of gay marriage. The postmodern project (green altitude), is to correct less overt biases embedded in the structures of society, and in the hearts and minds of each of us. In this episode, I talk with Diane Musho Hamilton about how the process of authentic inclusion continues to emerge, and what she’s learned from her work in diversity training and mediation. Diane Musho Hamilton is a Zen teacher, mediator and meditator. She is the author of The Zen of You and Me: A Guide to Getting Along with Just About Anyone.

In his classic book, Adventures of Ideas, Alfred North Whitehead describes the eros of the beautiful, the true, and the good. And to this list of intrinsic values he adds the idea of adventure, without which, he observes, “civilization is in full decay.” In this episode, Jeff Salzman’s guest Steve McIntosh explores Whitehead’s theme of adventure as it relates to the realm of spiritual experience. Steve focuses specifically on the spiritual experience of wilderness, and the spiritual experience associated with entheogens (psychedelic drugs). He compares the locations of these “inner and outer adventures,” using his powerful personal experiences to illustrate. We conclude with Steve considering the theological and political implications of psychedelic spiritual experience. Steve McIntosh is the author of several books on Integral theory, including The Presence of the Infinite. You can find out more about Steve at stevemcintosh.com, and at the Institute for Cultural Evolution.

In less than three months, Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend Indiana, (population 102,000), has gone from political anonymity to the top tier of candidates in the Democratic race for president of the United States. What accounts for Mayor Pete’s blast out of the political gate? His resume certainly ticks the boxes: Harvard graduate, Rhodes scholar, McKinsey consultant, and Afghanistan war veteran. And his performance as mayor of South Bend is by all accounts successful; he won 80% of the vote in his reelection campaign – months after coming out as gay. As the first prominent millennial candidate for president, Mayor Pete embodies his slogan, “It’s time for a new generation of American leadership.” And with his nerdy, earnest, shirt-sleeve persona he is the polar opposite of Donald Trump. But I would argue that Mayor Pete has an X-factor that is greater than the sum of those parts: an Integral sensibility. Evident in his campaign biography, Shortest Way Home, as well as his recent media appearances, is a big-hearted, deeply perceptive, flex-flow mind that is able to hold multiple perspectives and to authentically respect the people advocating for them. I hope you enjoy this analysis of America’s newest political star, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and his impact on our presidential politics.

First of all, let me say that “intellectual dark web“ is the worst name I can imagine for a movement that seeks to illuminate our cultural moment. But, okay, nobody asked me and it appears they’re doing quite well anyway: the intellectual dark web (IDW) has coalesced into a vibrant group of intellectuals, most prominently Jordan Peterson, who are sparking a new international counter-culture known mostly for goring the sacred cows of far left postmodernism (Green altitude). Today’s guest, David Fuller, is at the center of the intellectual Dark Web (IDW) having founded Rebel Wisdom, a YouTube station that has attracted over 60,000 subscribers in less than two years. A veteran producer from BBC News, David made the first documentary on Jordan Peterson, “Truth in the Time of Chaos”, which helped launch Peterson into intellectual stardom. David is also interested in integral theory, and last November he traveled to Denver to interview Ken Wilber for Rebel Wisdom, from which he has recently released the following two videos: Ken Wilber: ‘Jordan Peterson and the evolution of thought’ Ken Wilber: The Intellectual Dark Web, an Integral Conversation? In these interviews Ken is brilliant in appreciating the evolutionary power of the IDW while inviting its audience to the larger, more inclusive integral vision, and the videos have made a powerful impact on the Rebel Wisdom site. One of the top viewer comments sums up the potential that many fans of the IDW see in integral theory: As much as I like Jordan Peterson (and I do very much!), I think Wilber’s Integral Theory is waaaaaay more sophisticated and compelling. It is not full of self-contradictions and cul de sacs. It is not tied to Christianity or the West. It does not demonize Post Modernity and toss it out. I couldn’t agree more, and make a similar case in a two-part series I published on Jordan Peterson last spring, as well as a Rebel Wisdom video where David and his partner Alexander Beiner interviewed me: Part 1: What Jordan Peterson (and His Friends and Foes) Can Learn from Integral Theory Part 2: What Jordan Peterson (and His Friends and Foes) Can Learn from Integral Theory “Is Jordan Peterson Integral?” with Jeff Salzman David Fuller is committed to the further evolution of the intellectual dark web and enthusiastic, as I am, about what integral theory can bring to that project. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Nature is, as poet Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote, “red in tooth and claw.” Human nature is too, so far at least, but a counter-trend is emerging: as evolution progresses, conflict overall becomes less violent and more complex. Complexity arises out of the evolutionary process of differentiating (conflictual) and integrating (fun!). In this episode of The Shrink and the Pundit, integral psychotherapist Keith Witt and I discuss the evolution of human conflict, how it is manifesting in today’s world and what might be next as emerges into integral (second tier) consciousness. The integral awakening is bringing a deeper awareness of interiors, natural hierarchies and flex/flow power dynamics to all human functioning. The result, as Dr Keith says, is that conflict resolution at the cutting edge doesn’t even look like conflict: Second-tier conflicts keep pumping compassion, love, and play into the fractal interface between order and chaos, until it transforms into warmth and intimacy, the gold standards of interpersonal repair. See why I love this guy? I hope you enjoy this edition of The Shrink and the Pundit!

This week I take a look at a recent issue of New York Times’ Sunday Review (2/24), where seven of eighteen articles focus on the real-time evolution of sex and gender relations. The Sunday Review is a quality barometer of the cultural weather in America and is must reading for me each week. In this podcast I endeavor to bring some integral perspective to the following selection of articles: Stop Counting Women: Quotas and tallies won’t bring real progress on gender parity Not the Fun Kind of Feminist: How Trump helped make Andrea Dworkin relevant again What Formula Does for Dads. A young father finds bliss in bottle feeding It’s Not That Men Don’t Know What Consent Is Why the Priesthood Needs Women Why Celibacy Matters. How the critique of Catholicism changes and yet remains the same Just another week in the Culture War. Enjoy! Please forgive the three short sections of defective video

Today my guest is Vince Horn, integrally-informed Dharma teacher and co-founder of the popular podcast, Buddhist Geeks, who discusses how the Buddhist Dharma (teaching) and Sangha (community) are being reimagined for contemporary life. How does a lineage founded on traditional concepts of renunciation, surrender and obedience to a teacher get transmitted into a modern and postmodern culture — without losing its potency? Can awakening itself be practiced in a way that recognizes the integral distinction between waking up (horizontal state development) and growing up (vertical stage development)? These are messy propositions, as is evolution in general, and Vince shares his thinking on how they are emerging. He also explains how his own practice community, Pragmatic Dharma, is experimenting with new forms of Sangha such as virtual networking, transparency and naturally flowing hierarchy. As Vince says “When everyone in a community is more empowered to learn and share it creates an incredible positive feedback loop.”

Every stage of human development creates radical new ways to organize work. The holy grail for today’s companies is to function so that everybody has a real chance to contribute their gifts. Instead of operating top-down, more power must be distributed throughout the organization, giving individuals and teams freedom to self-manage, while staying aligned to the organization’s purpose. Achieving this is the promise of Holacracy, a self-management practice for organizations, developed by my guest Brian Robertson using explicitly integral principles. Over 1000 companies utilize Holacracy today – in healthcare, insurance, banking, retail, technology, nonprofit and government sectors; and in places as diverse as Dubai, Shanghai, Amsterdam, London, Berlin, New York, Bangalore, Las Vegas and rural Africa. Holacracy enables employees to act more like entrepreneurs and self-direct their work instead of reporting to a manager who tells them what to do.”</em– Tony Hsieh CEO, Zappos It so happens that I and a group of colleagues at the Integral Institute were guinea pigs in Brian’s laboratory a dozen years ago, trying out his ideas on meeting practices. I remember some truly remarkable results and a flowering of group wisdom that I had never experienced before. It’s great to catch up with Brian now that Holacracy is catching on! Brian Robertson is a business partner at HolacracyOne, the organization he launched to steward the Holacracy practice and assist other organizations seeking to adopt it.

I invited Brooke McNamara to the Daily Evolver to talk about a project she is launching that I think represents a new way of building creative we-spaces. It’s a 6-week virtual course that provides inspiration, community and an opportunity for creative self-expression to a select group of people who are living in a unique crucible: mothers. Brooke developed the course, Write to the Heart of Motherhood* because, as a poet, she knows writing to be a flexible and potent way for mothers to “connect to our true voice in the middle of our messy lives.” She explains: “The practice of writing is not something I do, but somewhere I go. When I give myself fully to whole-bodied listening for poems, I am never disappointed. Even if nothing comes, the tuning itself creates a presence and vitality in my being that support me profoundly in living and mothering. Poetry, for me, is language that carries both meaning, imagery and story, AND, more importantly, life force itself.” Brooke McNamara is the author of “Feed Your Vow, Poems for Falling into Fullness.” She is also a performing artist, Zen monk and mama to two small boys. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband, Rob. * I occasionally feature offerings that I find interesting and which further human development. I have no financial interest in them.

Is there intelligent life beyond Earth? Have alien beings contacted us? What do we make of the thousands of testimonials of human-alien contact, including from scientists, diplomats and astronauts? Yet … where’s the proof? And if there is proof, why is alien contact not the biggest story of the millennia? “It is arguably the most intellectually credible topic on the planet with the most cultural taboo surrounding it.” So says my guest, Sean Esbjorn-Hargens. Many of you know Sean as a leader in the integral community, as producer of three hugely successful Integral Theory Conferences, a respected consultant (founder of MetaIntegral) and author (Metatheory for the 21st Century). Well, it turns out there is another side to Sean. Here’s how he describes it: “For over a decade I’ve been a closeted UFO/ET geek – reading 100s of books and watching 1000s of hours of videos (interviews, documentaries, movies) – all in an attempt to make sense of my own experiences and intuitions around this fascinating and confusing topic. If there is ever a place where multiple perspectives run amuck, bumping into each other and in general creating chaos, it is around aliens and the craft they pilot. Over the last few years, I’ve begun to talk with ‘integralists’ about these topics and I’ve been continually surprised to discover many of them have had their own powerful and evocative experiences with UFOs, ETs, and paranormal realities.” Sean is throwing himself fully into the arena. This year he founded the Institute for Exo Studies (IES), and this fall he debuts the Exo Studies Master Course, a three-month online course “exploring the psychological, sociological, and scientific implications of living in a multidimensional multiverse.” I’ve never met an alien (that I know of) but I jumped at the chance to talk about them with someone whose intelligence and judgment I respect. As I expected, I found our conversation to be quite mind-expanding. I hope you do as well!