The Daily Evolver

In this episode, I discuss a terrific essay I stumbled upon that brings an integral sensibility to a new cultural emergent: the differentiation of the political left into “woke” and “anti-woke” ideologies.. Cultural evolution proceeds through a process of 1) differentiating and 2) integrating. As we learn and grow we see that there are more dots to connect and more ways to connect them. New views arise which we disagree about, even with our friends. What had been a shared worldview morphs into multiple worldviews which often find themselves at odds. Thus it is with the current unfolding of the political left. Holly Muir and Spencer Greenberg, co-authors of the essay, Understanding the Divide Between Social Justice Advocates and the Left-Leaning “Anti-Woke” Community, describe their work: “We have been investigating the perspectives of two groups in contemporary U.S. society: 1) those who advocate for social justice, and 2) the newly emerging left-of-center “anti-woke” movement (i.e., liberal-leaning people who tend to oppose identity politics, cancel culture, and critical race theory). “In recent years, we’ve witnessed a meteoric rise of this anti-woke community, with a number of writers within it gaining large followings, including Coleman Hughes, Sam Harris, Jesse Singal, Katie Herzog, and Bari Weiss. Naturally, they have received a large amount of criticism from some social justice advocates. “Given that the two groups we are discussing both lean left on the political spectrum, a major question is: what do they fundamentally disagree about? To help answer this, we have attempted to map the opposing perspectives on 13 topics where disagreement between these two groups tends to arise. In some cases, it may be that there is little genuine disagreement between the groups, and the issue in question is simply described from a different perspective.” Rather than argue for either side, or even to find common ground, Muir and Greenberg perform a more integral move: they present each side on its own terms with good faith. It is a masterful example of the differentiation necessary for a true integration to emerge. Integral consciousness is not about reconciling opposing worldviews as much as it is about accommodating them, factoring in their blind spots, and appreciating the goodness, truth and beauty each of them brings. This article is a great example. Check it out and enjoy the episode!

On this podcast a couple weeks ago I explored “The Great Stage Theory Debate”, a controversy kicked off by a tweet from Nora Bateson that said that developmental theory is “BS, colonial as hell and has got to go.” Now, apparently, we have the whole book version! “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity,” by anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow makes a similar case, aiming, as the New York Times writes, “to upend the narrative of social evolution.” Several listeners have written for my opinions about the book. I have kept up with David Graeber, the self-described “anarchist economist,” since he arose as a philosophical leader of the Occupy Wall Street movement a few years ago. I’m looking forward to reading the book and may have more to say on it when I do. In the meantime (it is 706 pages after all!) I’ll get the ball rolling by examining several key ideas behind the book using clips from a video that the authors recorded before Graeber’s untimely death prior to the book’s publication. I hope you enjoy the podcast! – Jeff Salzman PS – I also wanted to let you know about a special event in which I will be a guest. This Monday and Tuesday, Integral Institute Brazil celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a zoom conference featuring Ken Wilber and an exciting slate of Integral luminaries. Check it out here.

Is developmental theory valid? Is it even moral? This is the gauntlet laid down by author Nora Bateson in a cheeky tweet that launched a thousand comments: Stage theory… Is BS. Always was. And it is colonial as hell. Sorry, but that has got to go. — nora bateson (@NoraBateson) August 10, 2021 In a high-profile response to her social media posts, author Hanzi Freinacht shared a short essay defending stage theory as being both true and beneficial to society. The result has been an online controversy that has generated both heat and light in the Integral / Spiral Dynamics world. In this episode, I offer a shamelessly integral analysis of the ideas in contention, and how the conflict itself is contributing to the evolution of evolutionary thought. Let me know what you think at jeff@dailyevolver.com.  And here’s more about Nora Bateson and Hanzi Freinacht.

Jeff Salzman considers the question, what is it like to experience integral consciousness?  How does one feel, relate and function differently?  Also, letters from listeners.  

Race is seen differently at each developmental worldview. What might the integral version be?  Plus, a back-pocket thought experiment for race empathy.

Quick intro to the Daily Evolver • The three major worldviews fighting the culture war • How an integral approach gets the best of each.

How consciousness and cultural evolution help explain current events (and vice versa).

Is our secular meritocracy capable of knowing God?  In this excerpt from This Week in the New York Times, I consider Ross Douthat’s column: A Guide to Finding Faith.

How we regard animals is a marker of moral development.

Welcome to a new episode of Post Progressive Inquiries, where my co-host Steve McIntosh and I talk with people who are co-creating the next stage of human development. Our guest today is David Storey, a professor of philosophy from Boston College. David discovered integral thinking outside of academia, as did most of us, but is now bringing its principles to bear on his teaching. Whether the subject is history, religion or the emerging ethics of environmentalism, David’s focus is on helping his students to learn how to communicate across worldviews. David, Steve, and I cover a lot of territory in our conversation. In the first part, we talk about how academia is itself evolving, particularly in its warming to developmental theory and in its engagement with the culture at large. In the second half, we discuss how to bring more cultural intelligence to humanity’s climate challenge, and highlight David’s new essay in the Post-Progressive Post: Why We Will Grow Together or Grow Apart. I hope you enjoy the episode – and check out the Post-Progressive Post! – Jeff Salzman David Storey also hosts the podcast, Wisdom@Work, where he talks with philosophers who have gone beyond the Ivory Tower to build careers outside of academia. Steve McIntosh is the founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, and author of many books on integral theory including his latest, Developmental Politics.