Integral Theory, Awakening, and Society || Ken Wilber

Today we welcome Ken Wilber to the podcast. Ken is the developer of Integral Theory. He is also the founder of the Integral Institute, which was formed in collaboration with over 200 scholars and experts, specializing in education, politics, business, medicine, psychology, spirituality, law and criminal justice. His 25 books have been translated into 30 foreign languages, making Ken one of the most widely translated academic writers in America. At age 74, he is still very much active as a philosopher, author, and teacher, with all of his major publications still in print. In this episode, I talk to Ken Wilber about his Integral Theory. Instead of trying to tackle it in all its complexity, Ken hones in on the application of his theory to intelligence, consciousness and transcendence. He believes that development in these areas follows a predictable path, such as in the case of enlightenment. Borrowing from Zen Buddhism, Ken talks about what it’s like to awaken to the truth of reality. We also touch on the topics of psychological research, diversity, artificial intelligence, and social media.  Website: https://integrallife.com/ Twitter: @TheKenWilber   Topics 03:17 Integral Theory and its applications 09:50 Components of spiritual intelligence 17:41 Maslow’s influence on Ken 21:41 Critique of stage theories  30:49 Spiritual narcissism 44:12 The process of enlightenment 48:42 Individual differences in unitive consciousness 58:09 Integral Theory research 1:03:44 Is society progressing? 1:09:39 Diversity beyond physical attributes 1:13:03 Improving modern-day psychology research 1:18:06 Is life just a test run? 1:22:22 What would an integral social media look like? 1:26:36 Addressing Integral Theory critiques 1:33:00 Does objective reality exist? 1:38:52 Development of artificial intelligence 1:43:08 Awakening to reality See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.