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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."
— Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, p.114



Phase I - The Original Integral - the Aurobindo-Mirra Tradition

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:


external link 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.

blogosphere Science, Culture and Integral Yoga (intelligent and high quality blog)


Phase II - The Contemporary (Wilberian) Integral Movement

Not many people realise that this has absolutely nothing in common with the Aurobindonian tradition of Integral Yoga, except that both propose an evolutionary spirituality. Wilber respects Sri Aurobindo but doesn't understand him

Ken Wilber - the Integral Movement


Phase III - The New Integral Paradigm

Although the above two have nothing in common, I have rather foolishly (ofr not) integrated them ina new Integral perspective. Others meanwhile (either inspired by me or independently) have created their own Post-Wilberian versions of Integral. Integral as such represents a further development of the global shift in consciousness, part of the planetary transformation.

external link Towards a Larger Definition of the Integral - An Aurobindonian vision and a critique of the Wilberian paradigm my first essay, in four parts - part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, on Integral World

external link Integral Esotericism my second essay, in eight parts - external link part 1 ((for a thoughtful reply (from a quasi-wilberian perspective) see Indistinct Union (Chris Dierkes); blogosphere esoteric integralism pt1, esoteric integralism pt2), external link part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, and part 8, on Integral World

external link Redefining Integral comprehensive essay that expands blogosphere 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 Integral Meme

Geneology of the Integral Meme

The above diagram, from my essay external link Redefining Integral, traces the geneology of the "integral" meme (use of the word "integral" in a spiritual context)




An Informal Integral Canon - Some Books



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 Founders

The Life Divine 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


Synthesis of YogaThe 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 Link to Amazon com The Ever-Present Origin by Wikipedia link 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, SpiritualityLink to Amazon com 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 Link to Amazon com 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 Link to Amazon com Spiral Dynamics : Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change (Developmental Management) by Wikipedia link Don Edward Beck and Wikipedia link Christopher C. Cowan. The foundation text of the modern Wikipedia link 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 Wikipedia link 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 Second Generation

still under construction
under construction






The Evolutionary / Alternative / Integral Movement :

Biographies and teachings - a list of people both included and not included in the integral movement, and who have either influenced and inspired me in my understanding and development of this Integral paradigm, or who are worthy of inclusion, regardless of what I might think of them. So if anyone here as any suggestions, please let me know!

The list so far (in approximate chronological order, but i don't have all the dates of birth yet) is

still under construction
Note: this list will be modified

Schelling
Hegel
Goethe
Darwin and Darwinism
Nikolai Fyodorov
Henri Bergson
A. N. Whitehead and the process theologians
Vladimir Vernadsky, James Lovelock, the Biosphere and Gaia
Sri Aurobindo
Teilhard de Chardin and other similar evolutionists, e.g. Beatrice Bruteau
Jean Gebser
Arthur M. Young
Edward Haskell
Haridas Chadauri (Integral psychology, founded CIIS)
Gregory Bateson, Erich Jantsch (author of one of my favourite books - the Self-Organising Universe), Ervin László, systems theory and the systems theorists
Thomas Berry and the Great Story - the eco-theologians and eco-cosmologists, including Brian Swimme etc
Barbara Marx Hubbard and conscious evolution
Abraham Maslow (Peak Experience), Stan Grof, psychedelic states,spiritual emergency; Transpersonal psychology
William Irwin Thompson
Ken Wilber (Integral Theory, the Integral Community, the Integral renniasance as an outgrowth of New Age mated with Wilberian theory)
Michel Bauwens (peer-to-peer)
Integrative Spirituality website anonymous authors (some nice definitions there)
Zaadz community

This is not a definitive list, so please give me your suggestions for improvement!


Integral themes - recurring themes. Even though there is no teaching that includes all of these themes, there are still many common "integral" themes. The following is only a tentative and partial list (in arbitrary alphabetical order)

"Big Picture" mental explanation
Developmental/Evolutionary perspective (most here, from Hegel onwards)
Emerging Zeitgeist (beyond premodern, modern, and post-modern) - Gebser and Wilber
Holism / Systems view
Integrative of different methodologies (Wilber)
p2p (transcending authoritarian structures)
Pre-Tans (Wilber - c.f. Aurobindo's "man as a transitional being)
Transhumanism - secular religion or technoprophecy?

Practical application

Social/collective reform and development, integral practice
Integral Morality (universal compassion, universal sentient rights)
The Arts as transformative




Selected Links:


blogosphere The Integral Research Group blogs - Integral Praxis and Integral Flow - Post-Wilberian explorations of Integral

Wikipedia link Integral Thought - Wikipedia overview

external link 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)


GraphicsGraphicsGraphics 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 Dunamics 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




Old material on this website

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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page by M.Alan Kazlev
page uploaded 25 June 2004, last modified 22 October 2007