The Daily Evolver

Very good podcast Jeff. Puts a lot of calm into a very chaotic time. – Nils Montan The day before this week’s US presidential election one of my favorite public intellectuals, Sam Harris, released a podcast where he announced a breakthrough in his understanding of what had heretofore been a mystery: the appeal of Donald Trump to his followers. His revelation: Trump offers what no priest can credibly offer: a total expiation of shame. His personal shamelessness is a kind of spiritual balm. Trump is fat Jesus. He’s grab-them-by-the-pussy Jesus. He’s I’ll-eat- cheeseburgers-if-I-want-to Jesus. He’s punch-them-in-the-face Jesus. How painfully partial and depressing is Harris’s denigration of the 30% of the population who love Trump, and the 47% who voted for him. And we thought Trump was insulting (he is)! Integral thinking offers so much more in the way of understanding – and appreciating – people with different worldviews. We see the dignities and disasters of all three developmental stages currently fighting the culture war and seek to integrate the best of each. Harris, in contrast, offers a “mean modernism” that marks all non-rational reality as deluded and dangerous. Enjoy the podcast and let me know what you think at [email protected].  

One of my biggest surprises in this campaign has been the growth in my estimation of Joe Biden as a person, candidate, and possible President of the United States. No longer just the compromise contender to defeat Donald Trump, Biden has inspired me with a vision for America that seeks to integrate the two competing stories of our history, those of gratitude and grievance. I endorse him enthusiastically! Watch full video of “The Love – @Black Eyed Peas and Jennifer Hudson | Joe Biden for President 2020″   _ _ _

That is great piece! Real manifestation of 2nd tear in practical terms. And eye opening even for people from abroad USA, which have bit different racial issues. – KuboF Hromoslav Powerful. Extremely informative. Thank you – Sue Brooks This is really good. Cindy Wigglesworth has a great balance between a lot of knowledge/wisdom with true humility. She’s doing good work in our world, y’all. – Michael Gott Whoa, such a great conversation! – Sarah Foster Barrett This week I welcome back my dear friend, Cindy Wigglesworth, a Teacher known and loved by many in the integral world. Several years ago, Cindy turned her considerable insight to the issue of racial reckoning in America, particularly on the part of privileged white people, and has helped build a vanguard program of diversity training through her church, Unity of Houston. As always with Sister Cindy, whether we’re talking about spiritual intelligence or Star Trek, I received a transmission of new consciousness in this conversation, and ended it with an enlarged view of what is happening and how to be helpful. I hope you do, too! Cindy Wigglesworth is author of SQ21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence, and you can find out more about her and her work here. Cindy is also an accomplished watercolorist and painted the illustration above.       Friends, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and Like us on Facebook! Thank you!

I remember hearing something like “any behavior is appropriate in some context”. Your presentation really brings this out! – George Shepherd Moral development involves increasing the categories of people who are inside one’s circle of compassion. At the green postmodern stage, we include people who have been marginalized because of race, looks or sexual identities, as well as folks with mental and emotional conditions that deviate from behavioral norms (which are themselves questioned). One of the most challenging frontiers in the mainstreaming of abnormal behavior is the “anti-social personality disorder,” which includes psychopathy and sociopathy. These conditions range from people who lack empathy and capacity for guilt, to people who lie and bully, to violent criminals. In this episode, I look at two examples of our culture’s reconsideration of people who exhibit this spectrum of traits: The author of last Sunday’s New York Times’ Modern Love column, “He Married a Sociopath: Me”, who describes her journey from a sociopathy diagnosis in her early twenties to a functional life today as a wife, mother and doctor of psychology (specializing in anti-social personality disorders). A certain resident of the White House. Hope you enjoy!

Hey Folks, I recently checked in with Corey DeVos, Editor-in-Chief of Integral Life, about their long-awaited debut of Integral Life Practice (ILP), a “personal-evolution” program that integrates the best practices of spiritual, psychological, interpersonal and cognitive development. Integral Life has brought together dozens of deeply-experienced Practice Leaders to provide live, daily guided ILP practice sessions that you can experience from the privacy of your own living room. Check it out here. But being integralists and old pals, Corey and I couldn’t stop our conversation there, so we also took on our mostly-concurring integral interpretations of today’s news in politics and culture, as well as the evolution of the integral community. And Corey’s new integral hobby which you can also purchase! We hope you enjoy. – Jeff Salzman 1:51 – Introducing Integral Life Practice: the new online community practice platform on IntegralLife.com 11:44 – What’s going on in the Integral community regarding politics, culture and news 55:34 – Corey’s amazing AQAL woodwork!

That is the best and most integral commentary on the US presidential election I have come across so far. Thanks so much, Jeff. – John O’neill With less than a month left in the campaign, Trump, knocked back with Covid, stokes his base with new cries about “the Russia hoax”. Meanwhile Joe Biden, up in the polls, goes to Gettysburg to talk about faith in “One America.” In this episode I share my observations on another week in the evolution of American politics.  

The first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is over – and I didn’t start drinking! In this episode, I show how an integral view helps us see the debate for what it is instead of a defective version of “what it should be”. Then I look at some of the issues the candidates addressed, and how together they moved the ball. By the way, I hope you’ll join me for my live show every Wednesday at 1pm US Mountain Time. The Daily Evolver Live is hosted by IntegralLife – and now simulcast to my Facebook page! As always, I love hearing what’s on your minds and hearts, so keep your comments, questions and critiques coming! You can write me at [email protected], or leave me a voicemail (which I may play on the show). And don’t forget to Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter…

Hey Folks! In this episode, I respond to provocative comments from my very smart listeners, and share some photos from my trip to Trumplandia! See topics and timestamps below. I love hearing what’s on your minds and hearts, so keep your comments, questions and critiques coming! You can write me at [email protected], or leave me a voicemail (which I may play on the show). And don’t forget to Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter… THIS EPISODE: 0:45 – “What’s up with these Trump people?” Trump supporters seen through the lens of Piaget’s developmental theory. 13:06 – The devilish details in the political integration of left and right. 24:16 – Rapper J Cole’s “vulnerable rap with a sword” displays integral consciousness. 30:52 – “Isn’t woke culture really warrior red, and critical theory amber fundamentalist?” 39:30 – Peak Barbra: a 24-year-old Barbra Streisand transmits early green consciousness in her signature song.

In this episode of “Shrink and the Pundit,” Keith and I explore breathing practices described in a powerful new book, Breath, the New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor, as well as a muscle conditioning program developed by Dr. Zach Bush in his 4-Minute Workout. Both systems promised – and delivered – big results from easy effort, enabling both Keith, a master practitioner, and I, a serial dilettante, to tap into new vitality from rethinking some basic biological functions. I hope it inspires you too! __________________________________ Attn: Apple Podcast users – please resubscribe Our link to Apple Podcasts broke, so new episodes may not be showing up. To fix, simply delete the Daily Evolver from Podcasts – then resubscribe. All fixed!

“Claire and I listened to Jeff’s latest podcast on Sunday and it was a breath of fresh air. Highly recommended if you’re upset by the current culture wars. (if you’re not, are you still alive?) Yes, Jeff uses some integral jargon from time to time but I think anyone will appreciate his view from 10,000 feet.” – Bill Epperly, PhD, of Integral Awakenings Every stage of human development is experienced by its subjects as an awakening into a new world. Traditional religious believers (amber/blue meme) “wake up” to the reality of a transcendent God or Nirvana. Modern rationalists (orange meme) create “the Enlightenment,” a world freed from the bondage of ignorance and superstition. Postmodern (green meme) progressives “get woke” to how the historic karmas of oppression continue to manifest, including in our own hearts and minds. People at each of these stages tend to hate and fear those who have not awakened into their world, and each has their orthodoxy, thought police and cancellation of heretics. This provides the fuel for today’s culture war (and the endless wars of history). I receive a lot of questions about what integral thinking can reveal about woke culture, and the challenge it brings to the established modern and traditional views. In this episode, I respond to a message I received from a listener who sums up his argument with a sincere question: “What’s so good about WOKE?”

Integral psychotherapist Dr. Keith Witt sparked this episode of our ongoing conversation, “The Shrink and the Pundit”, by writing to me about a dilemma that many evolutionaries share: In our personal relationships we are pretty good at harmonizing differences. But when it comes to politics and culture it is a much harder task. He writes: I’m mostly stable at teal and turquoise helping my clients at whatever Kosmic address they occupy, but I find that much more difficult when considering the larger social struggles. It’s as if a primitive part of me wants war so I can attack and defeat enemies, while the mature part of me wants to turn enemies into allies, even brothers and sisters. I can do this on the local, individual level, but keep struggling with it on larger cultural levels. I objectify and attack individuals, institutions, and groups, knowing I’m objectifying them, knowing that it is not the most beautiful, good or true reaction. I feel like I’m missing something that’s just on the edge of awareness. WDYT? Together, I think Keith and I found some answers, and may even have caught a glimpse of what can happen when the cats and dogs stop fighting. Enjoy and let us know what you think! Dr. Keith Witt is a practicing psychotherapist and author of many books and courses on integral psychotherapy.

One of the most powerful projects to come out of the integral movement is the practice of “authentic relating” with its core 2nd-person technology of “circling.” The Boulder Integral Center was a laboratory for its development, and Jason Digges was in the thick of it, first by being personally transformed, then by teaching it to others … and now with his terrific new book Conflict = Energy, The Transformative Practice of Authentic Relating.

We are in a cultural moment regarding race where we can literally see and feel the movements of history. It’s making for many great conversations among integralists, and in this episode I share one I enjoyed recently with two evolutionary thinkers, Greg Thomas and Phil Anderson. Our topics include differentiating the often-conflated concepts of race, culture and development … recognizing and harmonizing both poles of the culture war … and exploring the uniquely cosmopolitan role that Black folks play in the ever-accelerating evolution of humanity. As always you are welcome to join the conversation by writing to me at [email protected] or leaving a voice mail here. Greg Thomas, CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project, is a writer, intellectual, and entrepreneur. Greg was instrumental in developing programs such as the National Jazz Museum in Harlem’s flagship interview series, Harlem Speaks. He has written about culture, race, and democratic life in publications ranging from the Village Voice, Integral+Life, New Republic, Salon, UPTOWN, The Root, the Guardian Observer, and the New York Daily News—as jazz columnist. Greg has lectured on American cultural history and jazz at Columbia, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Hamilton College, and Harvard. His blog is Tune In To Leadership. Phil Anderson has a background in electronics hardware design and software engineering and has spent the last few decades engaged in various Internet-related entrepreneurial activities. An epiphany that occurred in 2007 when trying to model the process of evolutionary emergence using engineering control theory concepts led Phil to the idea of Holons, Holarchies and Wilber’s Integral theory, although because of how Phil arrived at Integral thinking, he retains his own unique holonic Integral perspective. His blog is published at Integral World.

My last episode, Toward A Post-Progressive View of Race Relations, sparked a lot of letters from listeners. In this episode, I answer some of the very good questions and very smart criticisms I received. Keep them coming! Send email to jeff[at]dailyevolver.com or leave a voicemail here. – Jeff

The videotaped murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police and the subsequent two weeks of demonstrations has galvanized the nation. In part 1 of this episode (00:10), I look at the evolutionary potency of the events of the last two weeks, which have brought into searing clarity the realization that a part of the American family has been grievously discounted and mistreated. And that we as a country passionately desire to set things right. I describe a resulting turn of the “spiral of development” regarding race, with red behaviors becoming more constrained, traditionalists becoming more professional, and modernists becoming more sensitive and humane. In part 2 of this episode (12:50), I look at the continued development of the leading edge of society: postmodernism. What might growth beyond contemporary political progressivism look like? I attempt to flesh this out under the guidance of two leading African American intellectuals, Ibram X.Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Thomas Sowell, author of Black Rednecks and White Liberals. Though each of these men come from opposite poles of contemporary American politics, both bring essential truths to the table. Integrating them reveals a more complete understanding of America’s tragic racial legacy and the unique role of Black America in building an ever-more vibrant nation of ever more vibrant people.

It’s subtle but some of you have noticed: I’ve changed the tagline of the Daily Evolver to “A post-progressive look at politics and culture”. It used to read “Integral insights into politics and culture”, which still describes what I attempt to do in this podcast: to point out what I see as the emerging edges of human and cultural evolution, and to foster new habits of thinking for people who wish to embrace multiple worldviews. So when my pal, neighbor and integral philosopher Steve McIntosh, used the term post-progressive in one of our evening hangouts, my integral chimes rang. Steve and I both paused to ponder. Post-progressive … is it a term? Are people using it? A quick google search showed that it describes a genre of rock music. How about politics? Yes, there was one prominent article that had the term post-progressive in its title; the author used it, however, to describe certain combative streams of leftist politics. But how about the next stage in the evolution of political thought? While Steve and I have both happily identified as progressives for decades, we have also begun to chafe at the hardening of its orthodoxy, especially in the age of Trump, and to feel an evolutionary pull forward. We notice this is true of many other folks in the integral community and the culture at large. If we and integral theory are correct, the post-progressive move forward will, in part, involve integrating the best of progressivism and the best of its conservative opposition. But unlike centrism, which seeks to compromise competing ideals of the status quo, post-progressivism represents a vertical move that will expand the political playing field to embrace emergent thinking and policies. In this episode, Steve and I explore the new terrain of post-progressive political thought, as well as its “felt sense”. For more, check out Steve’s new article, Toward a Post-Progressive Progressive Political Perspective, published in Aero Magazine online. Many of the core ideas are also expressed in his new book Developmental Politics: How American Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself – and of course in the Daily Evolver podcast archives.

I’m a big fan of The Integral European Conference (IEC), which has become the leading event in the international integral community. The fourth and latest IEC, Global Integral Awakens, was scheduled for the end of this month at Lake Balaton in Hungary. Then came COVID-19 and reluctant cancellation. But the show will go on – online! Founder Bence Ganti and his conference team have risen to the challenge of reimagining the conference on the Zoom platform, complete with over 70 presenters and a full range of activities including workshops, games, even live concerts and dance. In this short episode, Bence shares some of how the online conference will work and how you can participate. See IEC ONLINE. Bence and the team are also planning the next in-person event in May 2021. For more on the goals and spirit of the conference check out our earlier conversation.

Human beings have evolved – and continue to – within the domains of first-person, second-person, and third-person reality. In first-person (I-space) we integrate ideas and worldviews. In third-person (it-space) we create new systems and technologies out in the world. This episode is about evolution in the domain of second-person (we-space), where we develop in relationship with others. My guest is my longtime friend and colleague, Diane Musho Hamilton, who discusses the ideas behind her new book, Compassionate Conversations, co-authored with Gabriel Menegale Wilson and Kimberly Myosai Loh. She explains how, by simply talking and listening to other people more consciously, we can enact our own – and humanity’s – evolution into the Integral Age.

Dr. Keith Witt and I have way too much fun discussing the consequences, in all four quadrants, of life in the time of COVID-19.

Consider, friend, as you pass by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, you too shall be. Prepare, therefore, to follow me. This famous epitaph from a Scottish tombstone sums up the central dilemma of human existence: it ends in death. But is death the end? All peoples throughout history have intuited that there is more to this life than meets the eye. And they (we!) have created endless practices and art forms to invoke reality beyond time and space. In the spirit of preparation and good cheer, I share some ideas and poetry that have come in handy for me.

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 [email protected].

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.

Integral philosopher Steve McIntosh helps us usher in the new year (and decade) with a fresh look at an ancient formula for living a happy, productive and meaningful life. In this episode he explains “the virtues”, a philosophical concept with living roots reaching back to antiquity, including Plato and Confucius, as well as modern validity in the findings of positive psychology and social science. Virtues practice is a powerful means of personal growth, and Steve gets us started by introducing The Character Exercise, an eight-minute internet quiz that helps us clarify our highest ideals and create a personalized “portrait of the good”. You are invited to do the quiz midway through the podcast … your answers generate a printable chart that serves as a practice tool for cultivating happiness and fulfillment. I took the quiz a few months ago and I can honestly say that it has significantly changed my life for the better. I am surprised at its power and trust it will be helpful to you too (let me know!). (let me know!). Later in the podcast, Steve imagines the virtues as illuminating the path through our hyper-polarized political culture, a prospect he explores more fully in his upcoming book, DEVELOPMENTAL POLITICS, How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself.

In this episode, I point out some integral insights bursting forth from the world of comedy: Bill Maher, who ended his season of Real Time on HBO with a surprising sort-of-integral message Joel Stein, author of In Defense of Elitism, Why I’m Better Than You and You’re Better Than Someone Who Didn’t Buy This Book Eliza Schlesinger, who dissects her wedding – and worldview – in her Netflix comedy special, Unveiled PLUS a quick visit from the Comedian-in-Chief himself. Enjoy the episode!

In this episode, Dr. Keith Witt and I discuss evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson’s latest book, This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution, where he challenges mainstream science to broaden its inquiry to include cultural and consciousness evolution, two pillars of integral theory.

“All of us – researchers, practitioners and activists – are all looking for what it means to meet the call for transformative change. If we can bring in developmental psychology as one of the knowledge sets, I think we’re going to have some really exciting times ahead.” – Gail Hochachka Can developmental psychology help us respond more effectively to climate change? My guests, Terri O’Fallon and Gail Hochachka, say yes. In this episode, we discuss Gail’s Ph.D. project at the University of Oslo, where she has utilized Terri’s STAGES model to gain insight into how people at various developmental stages make meaning about climate change. Her findings, using data drawn from populations in El Salvador and Guatemala, show how multiple levels of meaning appear within the traditional, modern and postmodern worldviews. Traditional, conformist meanings are concrete, atomistic and related to the present and recent past. Modern, expert and achiever meanings are more abstract, involving cause-and-effect logic, with time extending to the future and past. Postmodern, pluralist meanings demonstrate contextual, network-thinking, and are the most forward and backward-looking in time. Gail’s findings were published in the prestigious, peer-reviewed journal Global Environmental Change, and have gained significant positive attention. You can read the article here. In this episode, we also hear from Terri about how climate change is viewed at the integral stages of Teal and Turquoise. I hope you will be inspired, as I was, to learn how these two pioneering women are creating a new “basic science” of understanding perspectives that will help humanity adapt and indeed transform in response to our climate challenge.

As the star of Judge Judy, Judith Sheindlin presides over the #1 show in US daytime television, where she rules on small-claims disputes drawn from real-life litigants across the country. Now in its 23rd year, Judge Judy attracts 10 million viewers a day who are eager to watch the 76-year-old grandmother transform into a Valkyrie for Justice, laying waste to the mendacities of cheating lovers, thieving landlords, lying teenagers and meddling mothers-in-law. In this episode I examine her genius and her enormous contribution to the evolution of consciousness and culture.

“While we can easily plateau in our adult development, we don’t have to. In fact, there seems to be no upper limit to how much we can grow. The latest stages of human development remain a Mystery waiting to be lived.” … so says Thomas McConkie, founder of Lower Lights, a spiritual community that is practicing a new approach to integral spirituality. Based in Salt Lake City as well as operating virtually, Lower Lights seeks to integrate the three pillars of mindfulness, adult development and the wisdom traditions to discover Universal patterns of growth and transformation. In our conversation, Thomas discusses the doctrines, practices and rituals he and his community have developed to, as he says, “address the whole human being, always in relationship to a larger whole.” I consider Thomas to be one of the brightest young innovators in the emergent field of integral spirituality. I hope you enjoy our conversation! Thomas McConkie has joined with Integral theorist Terri O’Fallen to create Spectra, a 9-month “journey of transformation” for a cohort of 20-25 people. You can find out more about the program here.

President Trump has given us a taste of his America-First foreign policy by withdrawing from Syria, and his Trump-First foreign policy by arm-twisting Ukraine for political dirt. In all of the chaos there are patterns of a new integration arising in the way US voters think about who we are and our place in the world. This is edited from my live weekly webcast, hosted on Integral Life, every Wednesday at 1pm MT, 7pm GMT. If you’d like to participate with a question or comment, use this link: https://zoom.us/j/392949640. Or you can watch without participating here: https://integrallife.com/live

The culture war heats up and President Trump is fighting with gloves off, trashing precedent, propriety — and apparently the Constitution. Liberals can’t fathom how conservatives have chosen a lying, cheating philanderer as the standard-bearer for traditional values. In this episode I try to shed some integral light on the subject. This is edited from my live weekly webcast, hosted on Integral Life, every Wednesday at 1pm MT, 7pm GMT. If you’d like to participate with a question or comment, use this link: https://zoom.us/j/392949640. Or you can watch without participating here: https://integrallife.com/live

In this week’s episode, edited from the live webcast, I focused on listener response to my earlier podcast on Greta Thunberg and the environmental movement. Enjoy these highlights and tune in live when you can!

Many integralists are fans of Otto Scharmer, MIT professor and developer of “Theory U”, a brilliant tool for activating higher stages of consciousness that has gained wide acceptance in organizations. As a leading public intellectual Dr. Scharmer also writes about politics and culture. In this episode, integral psychotherapist Dr. Keith Witt and I discuss Scharmer’s political theory as presented in a popular and much-shared article, Axial Shift: The Decline of Trump, the Rise of the Greens, and the New Coordinates of Societal Change. Enjoy the episode! – Jeff Salzman

In this episode I share some thoughts on the evolutionary power of Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate activist, and her visit (via sailboat!) to the UN Climate Summit.

This week I examine the roster of Democratic contenders vying to unseat Donald Trump. It’s fascinating to watch them trying to create a larger public identity and harness the cultural forces they need to stand out. For my jumping-off point I consider two articles in last week’s Sunday Review in the New York Times: “Donald Trump Is Not A Sinister Genius”, by Ross Douthat, which makes the case that Trump is beatable, and “Tinder the Vote”, by Eve Peyser, a comic take on each of the Democratic candidates in the form of a quick dating profile. If article #1 is correct then one of the people profiled in article #2 will be the next President of the United States. In this episode I share which of them is – and isn’t – getting my heart fluttering. Let me know what you think at [email protected]!

This summer marks the finales of two multi-chapter fantasy epics that have both reflected and shaped our evolving culture. HBO’s Game of Thrones presented its eighth season, earning a record-breaking 32 Emmy nominations (it has 161 overall). Over at the movies, the Marvel franchise based on The Avengers comic books released its eighteenth and final installment, Avengers: Endgame, which has already become the world’s highest-grossing movie of all time. What are the cultural forces behind these entertainment juggernauts? Today I bring an integral lens to that query with my guest, Los Angeles-based filmmaker and evolutionary guide Jason Lange. Jason wrote and directed the award-winning sci-fi short film SHARE, and is currently crowdfunding a new webseries, Stuck in Development. (See if you can find the integral easter egg in the background of the kickstarter video!)

“We have to accept the reality that to one extent or another everyone has chronically amped-up distress, and a persistent negativity that generates confusing, distorted stories and emotional pain.” This statement kicks off another fascinating conversation with my pal, integral psychotherapist Dr. Keith Witt. What makes our distress difficult to accept, Keith says, is that we live in a culture that preaches zero tolerance for emotional pain. We have convinced ourselves that when we feel it we should be able to fix it — with therapy, pills, spiritual practice or one of the thousands of products that promise to make us happy. And if/when we can’t fix it we are a failure. It’s a double-bind that contributes to psychological conditions such as anxiety and depression, now at record levels. In this episode of our ongoing series, The Shrink and the Pundit, Dr. Keith and I talk about evolving a more mature relationship with our own – and other peoples’ – emotional discomfort and pain.

Today’s guest, Sebastian Siegel, is the screenwriter and director of the upcoming movie, Grace and Grit. The film tells the true love story of iconic, Integral philosopher Ken Wilber and his wife Treya. Based on the acclaimed book that chronicles Treya’s journals, they fall madly in love in 1980’s California and are immediately faced with illness and challenges that tear them apart. They overcome by finding a connection beyond this world, and love beyond life. The film stars Mena Suvari and Stuart Townsend as Treya and Ken, and features supporting performances by Frances Fisher, Rebekah Graf, Nick Stahl, and Mariel Hemmingway, In our conversation, Sebastian, who is an integral practitioner, friend, and long-time fan of Ken’s work, talks in depth about many elements of making the film from writing, development, and casting, to directing, storytelling, and production, and his overriding mission to serve not just this epic love story, but also the emergence of Integral consciousness itself. Sebastian Siegel is author of the book, “The Consciousness Revolution”, and is the creator of two documentaries: “Awakening World” and “Spirit of Evolution.” You can find out more about Grace and Grit at the movie’s website, Sebastian’s instagram account. , and his website.

My vision of a peaceful Colorado summer of slowed-down punditry and ramped-up gardening has been disturbed by a specter of menace entering the scene. While never reaching a crisis level, it has nevertheless presented a real-life dilemma that has taxed whatever integral capacities I have, and has proven to be potent grist for my daily evolving. In this podcast I share the story of my bully and me.

Every first-tier worldview wants to dominate the world, and given a chance they will run roughshod over all who dissent. But as humanity grows (and we individual humans grow) each worldview has to contend with opposing worldviews, a process that constrains the totalitarian impulses of each. In this way, worldviews, even as they stay true to their essence, become less dangerous as they arise in an ever more complex, multi-stage world or person. But they’re still there, or rather here, living and breathing in our developmental stack, and we just have to click on a news site to see that the worst of humanity can break out at any time. In this episode I explore this phenomenon of horizontal development as it applies to red “warrior” consciousness and culture, using examples from General Butt Naked, an infamous Liberian warlord turned evangelical Christian minister, to current popular art such as Game of Thrones, to the President of the United States, a master of red energy. I also discuss the integral practice of relaxing the repression of worldviews within ourselves and liberating the precious gifts that each stage brings.

My guest, Fleet Maull, is a criminal justice activist and integralist who shares the story of his time in prison and the work it has inspired. In the 1980s Fleet was a contemplative psychology graduate and student of Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa. But a double life caught up with him as he was convicted of drug trafficking, and he ended up serving 14 years in prison. While behind bars, Fleet sought to put his Buddhist training to work and began teaching meditation in the prison chapel, eventually founding the Prison Mindfulness Institute and The Prison Hospice Association. Today Fleet continues his work in what he calls mindfulness-based emotional intelligence training, which has proved to be remarkably successful in sparking transformation for people inside and outside of prison. In this conversation Fleet shares wisdom gained from decades of work with countless prisoners, virtually all of whom, he discovered, had been victimized themselves, the realization of which was central to their healing. Fleet reflects on the evolution of the social justice movement, and the challenge that woke activism brings. He seeks to integrate the best of the personal- and social-responsibility models, as well as brain science, into a more inclusive view of whole system transformation. I talked to Fleet as he took a break from an in-depth training program he was conducting for law enforcement and corrections officers in Ottowa, Canada. Fleet Maull’s’ new book, Radical Responsibility, is available for pre-order. Anyone who pre-orders it between now and May 13th will be enrolled in his 8-module, $397 Radical Responsibility online course for free.

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Keith Witt about what he calls “the seductive power of quadrant absolutism,” riffing on the quadrant model (part of the AQAL Model) developed by integral philosopher Ken Wilber. Quadrant absolutism denotes the propensity each us of has to see the world through the lens of a preferred dimension of reality – the inner world vs. grounded reality, for instance, or through relationships rather than tasks (see illustration). These preferences, innate and learned, help us create internal models of everything – the world, ourselves, other people – and rely on these models to function. We project our models onto events to better understand and put them in context. We resist input that contradicts our models and struggle with people who see the world differently. As a result we may miss out on the fruits of entire dimensions of reality. The good news is that seeing our native perspective is a powerful way to expand beyond it and to grow into integral stages of consciousness. As Dr. Keith says, “The awakening to a stable teal worldview involves being much more open to high-velocity shifts in perspectives.”

By Jeff Salzman The Democratic field for US president is taking shape fast. Today I have a freewheeling conversation with Corey DeVos of Integral Life about our impressions of the emerging landscape, with a special focus on Marianne Williamson, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg.