The Daily Evolver

Epic interview. Brilliant and inspiring ideas (and strategies and tactics) around leadership development and how to work with “power” in the service of cultural transformation – Accelerating Leadership Rand Stagen is well known in the integral world as founder of the Stagen leadership academy. Stagen is the gold standard for leadership training, focused on long-term, disciplined, “leadership practice” which integrates psychological and even spiritual dimensions. I consider Rand to be one of most effective practitioners of applied integral thinking out there, and I enjoyed this conversation immensely. I hope you do too. “Post-Progressive Inquiries” is a co-production of the Daily Evolver and the Institute for Cultural Evolution. My co-host is the founder of the Institute, Steve McIntosh. You can find out more about Rand Stagen and the Stagen Leadership Academy here.

Thank you for this hopeful and inspiring conversation. – Donnell Allan Thanks fellas. I needed this chat. – Mary Evans Absolutely love you guys. Tons of sense-making along with optimism for the future. It feels good to smile again. – Cee Gee Last Wednesday we saw a mob assault the US Capitol Building in an attempt to stop the certification of November’s presidential election. Five people have died. This insurrection was incited by a sitting president of the United States – whose flags then waved from the broken windows beneath the Rotunda. As these astonishing events have sunk in over the past few days, there is a growing sentiment that Trump and rabid Trumpism must be condemned and contained. And that Trump’s political energies – “mean red” in developmental terms – are poisonous to the hard-won civility of a modern society. In this episode, integral psychotherapist Dr. Keith Witt and I try to add some integral perspective. Let me know what you think at jeff@dailyevolver.com. – Jeff Salzman

I start this week with some feisty and insightful letters from listeners and end with an idiosyncratic list of my products of the year, decade and millennium (so far). (01:34) Who’s more mean, trads or pomos? Responses to my critique of the famous “toast scene” in the movie Five Easy Pieces.  (18:39) How can the mythic impulse in religion be integrated? (22:55) My ebullient resilience, and how to capture integral in four bullet points (26:25) My products of the year, decade and millennium so far (34:40) Gratitude to the Integral movement’s leading light Let me know what YOU think! Write to me at jeff@dailyevolver.com or leave me a voicemail. And farewell to a no-fun but probably quite fruitful year. Hope you all have a Happy Holiday! – Jeff Salzman        

In this episode, I look at the tensions arising among conservative Christians about how fervently to support Trump. 01:23 – Clips and observations from the Jericho march on Washington DC earlier this month featuring evangelical leaders (and Alex Jones), and the backlash it has caused with others in the movement. 21:25 – How mainstream punditry is seeking to explain the seeming paradox of Trump-loving Christians. 35:50 – Bill Bryson and Jack Nicholson demonstrate why the hatred of the left still unites traditional conservatives – and why we deserve it. I hope you enjoy the episode! Announcement:  The Institute for Cultural Evolution think tank, where I serve on the Board, is recruiting an Executive Director to help run our operations. The job description for this new position can be found here. If the possibility of working with ICE sounds intriguing, I encourage you to check out this opportunity. – Jeff Salzman

In this episode, I welcome integral thinker Sue Brightman to talk about her new book, A Call to Further Becoming, The New Declaration From Women Over 50.  Sue describes the cutting edge of consciousness being pioneered by women who are now entering – and thriving – in elderhood. Based on 100 interviews with women age 50 – 70+, Sue shares 10 themes that capture the emerging essence of this creative, exciting and spiritually-rich stage of life. I hope you enjoy the episode! – Jeff Salzman  

In this episode I share some clips from Newsmax, the cable news network that is the new home for Trump people who have left Fox News for not being supportive enough of the President. Though inspired by the mendacity of his election fraud claims, the reporters hew closer to the truth than Trump does (The National Report), except when they opt for a good old-fashioned rant (Diamond and Silk). The result is a more differentiated mediaverse, required for the integration to come. I end on a happy note, with uplifting evidence of the evolution of consciousness in the person of five-year-old Tianna.

This is intellectual champagne!!! – Alexander Husum Welcome to Post-Progressive Inquiries, a new podcast series coproduced by the Daily Evolver and The Institute for Cultural Evolution (ICE). In each episode, ICE President Steve McIntosh and I explore new territories emerging in politics and culture. We are happy to have as our inaugural guest Tomas Bjorkman, an “applied philosopher and social entrepreneur” who has founded and funded many initiatives dedicated to the co-creation of a more conscious society. Steve and I talk with Tomas about his work, and particularly his association with the Metamodern movement that has emerged out of European developmental thought. Tomas Bjorkman is the founder of the Ekskäret Foundation and Retreat Center on Ekskäret Island in the Swedish Archipelago. He is the author of several books, most recently The World We Create, From God to Market. Integral philosopher Steve McIntosh is the author of several books on integral philosophy, including Developmental Politics, and Evolution’s Purpose.

Thank you Jeff. I love your show. Thank you for this talk. I struggle with these same feelings and it was good to find some humor in it. – John & Barbara Knoops Many thanks Jeff and Keith. Your episodes are always enjoyable and thought provoking. I immediately resonated with the concepts of empathy without demanding empathy in return, re-enchantment and ceremony. I have experienced these in my own life and look forward to more conversations that address their further development. – Barbara Senglaub Dr. Keith kicks off this episode with research showing that although virtually everybody lies, most people vastly prefer to tell the truth and believe other people are doing the same. But how do we as integralists make sense of competing truth claims, particularly from different sides in the culture war? How do the facts and logic of modernity stack up against the allure of premodern myth and story? And what are the effects to the body politic of the long-term diet of lies served up by our newly-certified Loser-in-Chief? “The Shrink and the Pundit” is my ongoing conversation with integral psychotherapist Dr. Keith Witt. 

As always, Jeff gives us an outstanding talk about the user of Integral Theory to understand and navigate our world. – Nils Montan On last week’s edition of CNN’s Global Public Square, host Fareed Zakaria ardently condemned Donald Trump’s attack on the election, drawing dark parallels to the rise of Hitler and Nazism after World War 1. His first guest, former National Security Advisor, General H. R. McMaster, chided Fareed for “misusing history”, arguing that the US has modern institutions specifically built to withstand the will of an autocrat. There is an essential truth in both of these perspectives. Fareed is right that pre-rational tiers of human consciousness can be dangerous and violent. They hunger for great myths, and thrill to the warrior leader who has come to set the world right. McMaster is correct that the US government is designed to check these non-rational impulses, and seems to be doing so effectively against the onslaught of Trump the Red. In this episode, I argue that integral thinking provides a next possibility beyond trusting leaders and trusting institutions. It is to trust in development itself, which in modernity and postmodernity has installed reliable new structures of rationality and sensitivity that dilute and contain (but do not eliminate) the premodern ones. Maybe the lesson of Germany in the ‘30’s is not that it could happen again in the US., but is found in the subsequent evolution of Germany into a world-leading nation less than a lifetime later. And that the odious Trump, if not Trumpism altogether, is headed to the ash heap of history.

Who better to process the election with than my integral political pals, Diane Musho Hamilton and Terry Patten? After all, it was just four years ago we gathered at my place to celebrate Hillary Clinton’s victory together (Ha ha!). The next day we recorded the podcast, The Trump Era, Day 1: Three integrally-informed friends attempt to face reality. After four years of The Trump Show, we’re happy to be changing the channel. To what, we don’t exactly know, but we’re happy to share our musings with you! Share back at jeff@dailyevolver.com. This is a co-production with Terry’s podcast “State of Emergence”. You can find out more about Diane here.