The Integral Paradigm
"But the Divine is in his essence infinite and his manifestation too is multitudinously infinite. If that is so, it is not likely that our true integral perfection in being and in nature can come by one kind of realisation alone; it must combine many different strands of divine experience. It cannot be reached by the exclusive pursuit of a single line of identity till that is raised to its absolute; it must harmonise many aspects of the Infinite. An integral consciousness with a multiform dynamic experience is essential for the complete transformation of our nature."
The central themes of the Integral Paradigm - the mnanysidedness of Reality (and imperfect and partial nature of all human formulations), the theme of dynamic spiritual evolution and progress, the theme of cosmic transformation (central to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's teachings) and the synthesis of disparate yogas and transcendent revelations, can be found in various spiritual and esoteric teachings.
These include Jainism (anekantavada or manysidedness, e.g. the metaphor of the Blind Men and the Elephant), Rumi (Spiritual Evolution from stone to angel and beyond), Isaac Luria (cosmic transformation), Ramakrishna (
integral synthesis of yogas) and Henri Bergson (Creative Evolution)
I would also add the ethical stance of Sentientism, which has still to be realised in the present, anthropocentrically biased current Integral Movement, and which dates back to Jainism at least. Thus in at least two respects, Jainism was the original Integral philosophy
Gandhi, who was strongly influenced by Jainism, reconciled these two themes of manysidedness and sentientism
The culmination of Indian Spirituality and Western philosophy and occultism, still to this day the most inclusive and all-encompassing philosophy and teaching ever proposed.
Sri Aurobindo and the Mother (Integral Yoga - Integral psychology - Supramentalisation)
Selected Links:
Sri Aurobindo Ashram - this site includes collected works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and the works of some disciples, which can be read online.
Science, Culture and Integral Yoga (intelligent and high quality blog)
Not many people realise that this has absolutely nothing in common with the Aurobindonian tradition of Integral Yoga, except that both propose an evolutionary cosmology and point to higher states of consciousness. Wilber respects Sri Aurobindo but doesn't understand him
Ken Wilber - the Integral Movement
Selected Links:
Integral Multiplex -
Integral Institute
The Integral Paradigm is part of - or even one possible synonym for - a global shift in consciousness, part of the planetary transformation. The Integral Movement itself, assuming one can even speak of a single movement, is just one stream in the larger process
Redefining Integral comprehensive essay that expands an earlier essay at Integral Praxis the above themes and adds many more - on Integral World
The Integral Movement / Integral Paradigm - some comments on the history of the Integral movement. Will be revised with material from the above essay
The above diagram, from my essay Redefining Integral, traces the geneology of the "integral" meme (use of the word "integral" in a spiritual context)
It may seem a bit presumptious to suggest an Integral Canon, especially since there is no agreement on what "Integral" is; although hopefully my essay Redefining integral will help contribute towards resolving this problem, even if only by getting some debate happening.
In the meantime, here is a very very Informal Integral Canon: (I have tried tos elect only one or at most two works from each author, and also given a wide cross-section of authors
The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo is perhaps the greatest single work of philosophy ever writetn, a vast and often repetitative work that provides a powerful alternative to both materialism and asceticism: a world affirming evolutionary spirituality culminating in the Divinsation of the physical world. It is a shame that the heavy style would put off many, for lighter reading I would suggest Letters on Yoga. or just read the last four chapters. This book, together with Mother's Agenda and more recently Synthesis of Yoga, has defined my worldview and spirituality
The Synthesis of Yoga by Sri Aurobindo - companion volume to Life Divine, it presents the practical as opposed to the theoretical. The primamry textbook of Integral Yoga, and imho the work that lies at the foundation of the Integral movement. With the Agenda this is the most profound treatise on the mystical path I have ever read. This book cannot be raed from cover to cover; it is too dense, too heavy, and too repetitious. Instead, open at random, or at whatever paragraph or page grabs your interest, and read from there.
The Ever-Present Origin by 
Jean Gebser. Gbser is not as profound as Sri Aurobindo, but far more profound than modern exponents of Integralism like Wilber abnd Beck. A rich, dense, and multi-disciplinary work, which describes progressive structures or mutations of human collective consciousness. As with Wilber, there are some intriguing parallels with Rudolf Steiner's cultural epoches and root races.
Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution by Ken Wilber, (1995, 2nd revised edition, 2000, 851 pages) is Wilber's most influential book, and certainly nothing he has written before or since has matched it in scope. For readers for whom 850 pages including dense but interesting footnotes is a bit much, try instead A Brief History of Everything, which is really SES lite, without footnotes, and written in pseudo-interview form (with Wilber as both interviewer and interviewee). I find errors in both Wilber's AQAL (post) metaphysics and his methodology, but i don't deny the imporatnce of this book in kick-starting the modern integral movement
Spiral Dynamics : Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change (Developmental Management) by Don Edward Beck and 
Christopher C. Cowan. The foundation text of the modern Spiral Dynamics movement; introduces concepts like socio-cultural; evolution, business management, and that infamous vMEMES colour classification that has been so abused by the first generation of the Integral Movement sensu stricto movement (by which i mean Wilber & Beck and their uncritical followers) as a way of putting down everyone else (especially the hated "green"). Beck and Cowan had a falling out over this antagonistic first generation integralism, with Cowan arguing against Beck and Wilber's "Mean Green Meme" and misinterprations of Clare Graves origianl Spiral Dynamics. Wilber would in turn later split from Beck and reject the spiral in favour of a one-dimensional "altitude". Nevertheless, this book, which dates to happier times, is an important foundation work in the modern Integral Movement.
The Integral Research Group blogs - Integral Praxis and Integral Flow - Post-Wilberian explorations of Integral
Integral Thought - Wikipedia overview
Integrative & Integral Spirituality - more mainstream than my own work, but still interesting (however the website is cluttered and the online community didn't develop, unlike Zaadz, a similar project that likewise began from a Wilberian origin but has become very successful, and also intellectually freer)
Integral Diagrams - very cool collection of diagrams, by Slark. Mostly Wilber-Spiral Dynamics (hence many variations on a few specific themes like AQAL and the Spiral Dynamics stages), but there are also a few others, including some of my own. If a picture's worth a thousand words, this has to be multi-volume work. Or maybe it's just because I've always loved cosmic diagrams taht I love all this stuff
My early attempts at defining an Integral Paradigm. A lot of this I now consider too esoteric and/or too intellectual. Some of this material has been transferred to the esotericism section, some other material needs to be rewritten.
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