Growing Down: A Progressive Integral Podcast

Frayed. That's the word I think of when I think of how I left Growing Down. Growing Down was last published in 2020. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since that time. Here is an update of cohosts Jeremy and Ryan: Jeremy is engaged in other projects but is up for reunions now and then. Ryan has created a wonderful political podcast "Meta-Ideological Politics" with Nate Coffman that deserves a listen to. 

As for me, I was not ready to let Growing Down, or GD, go because I believe the panel of thinkers we interviewed are the foundation for future integral politics. I want to build upon their insights. 

There are two subjects for the episode. The first is closure.  I am not certain of the future of Growing Down, but I do know that the idea that birthed GD is still very needed today. Before giving up on it, I wanted to explore the subject of political engagement. Growing Down was my political engagement-at least, how I measured it. Without this political outlet, I found myself disinterested in the current political narrative. 

There was a wonderful satirical sitcom in the 80's called "Not Necessarily the News". As a child, I watched it with joy to watch some of the world leaders make comedic faux pas' over and over. If anything, it made politics fun. To the skeptics that say politics can't be fun I say this: you are probably right. But -- 

Let's try. 

I asked Canadian metamodernist Brent Cooper (and past interviewee of GD) to cohost to help me unravel some anxiety I have about the future of politics and this podcast: How do politics fit into our lives? How can we transcend the left/right spectrum?  Is direct democracy a good thing? How can we stay politically engaged when all we want to do is quit? And --

Should we quit? Not necessarily. 

Be a working class hero and donate a $1 to Brent's project: https://www.patreon.com/abs_tract

Brad Kershner is a school leader and independent scholar, and the author of Understanding Educational Complexity: Integrating Practices and Perspectives for 21st Century Leadership. His research, teaching, and writing cover a wide range of interdependent topics, including education, leadership, parenting, race, technology, metamodernism, integral theory, meditation, complexity, and developmental psychology. You can learn more about his work and access recordings of his guided meditations on Patreon.

ashby goodrum (preferred pronouns: they/we/us) works as an advanced practice nurse in primary and maternity care settings with significant experience as a bedside nurse/psychopomp and in midwifery. Some of their research and clinical interests include gender affirming care, birth equity, palliative care, cultural trauma and healing centered engagement, and transformative justice. ashby lives in Portland, Oregon which rests on traditional village sites of multiple indigenous tribes – such as the Multnomah, Clackamas, and Tualatin – who were among the land's first human caretakers.

Thomas Hubl - Healing Collective Trauma

Karen and Barbara Fields - Racecraft

ashby mentioned:

Isabel Wilkerson - Caste

Resmaa Menakem - My Grandmother's Hands

also: Danielle Allen, Anthony Appiah, Mariame Kaba

could also add:

Albert Murray - Omni-Americans

Carlos Hoyt - The Arc of a Bad Idea

http://mariamekaba.com/publications/ 

https://survivedandpunished.org/building-accountable-communities/

https://transformharm.org/

Michael Yellow Bird expert on neurodecolonization and indigenous mindfulness

https://vimeo.com/86995336

Karen Murphy explores how to prepare the way for civic healing 

https://onbeing.org/programs/karen-murphy-the-long-view-ii-on-who-we-can-become/

Ruha Benjamin on “New Jim Code" - range of discriminatory designs that encode inequity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JahO1-saibU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CS627aKrJI&t=4s

Robin D.G. Kelley  on how capitalism has been racial from the beginning 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32ZwK2Zlw1U

Edward E. Baptist, author of The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP_Rn8InPCo&feature=emb_title

David R. Williams on how racism makes us sick 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzyjDR_AWzE&feature=youtu.be

"How to Unlearn Racism" Scientific American article

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c0151be1137a6764abd89da/t/5f7276d98f12fd4b48de2efc/1601337050346/How+To+Unlearn+Racism+-+Scientific+American+October+2020.pdf

Psychology of Radical Healing Syllabus  

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c0151be1137a6764abd89da/t/5f4acedcaf548851802d0a8a/1598738150128/Radical+Healing+Syllabus.pdf

ReRooted Podcast with Francesca M. Maximé

https://beherenownetwork.com/francesca-maxime-rerooted-ep-26-the-shift-from-fear-to-love-with-james-doty-md/

Maia Szalavitz on addiction as a learning disorder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XsbxM1jGnY

Sarah Peyton, facilitator and neuroscience educator 

https://beherenownetwork.com/francesca-maxime-rerooted-ep-41-unconscious-contracts-with-sarah-peyton/

bell hooks, groundbreaking cultural critic and author

http://www.bellhooksinstitute.com/

In this episode we talk with Ben Burgis. Ben is a philosophy instructor at Georgia State University Perimeter College, a Jacobin columnist, and the host of the “Give Them An Argument” podcast and YouTube show. He is also the author of Give Them an Argument: Logic for the Left and the forthcoming Canceling Comedians While the World Burns: A Critique of the Contemporary Left.  

Andres Bernal returns to Growing Down to discuss the current political landscape and how the principles of MMT can create a new framework for how we view money. Integral Politics advocates for a new paradigm that transcends the left/right binary. What might a new society look like if the conversation shifted from "How are you going to pay for it?" to "How can we create a flourishing society?" 

Author David Nicol joins the GD podcast to discuss his book, Subtle Activism: The Inner Dimension of Social and Planetary Transformation, and the important role subtle activist can play for the local and global challenges of the meta-crisis.

About Subtle Activism: "Can awakened consciousness contribute to social change and, if so, how? David Nicol introduces the concept of "subtle activism to describe the use of consciousness-based practices like meditation and prayer to support collective transformation, such as global meditation directed toward peaceful resolution of a conflict. Subtle activism represents a bridge between the consciousness movement and the movements for peace, environmental sustainability, and social justice. It is not a substitute for physical action but rather a potentially crucial component of a more integrated approach to social chance." 

Learn more about David at Earth Rising

Credits:

Featured Intro/Outro Track "Nobita" by Smith the Mister | Follow GD on Twitter: Jeremy //  Matt //  Ryan

Jeremy Johnson is joined by Ryan Nakade, Brent Cooper, Matthew T. Segall, Brad Kershner and Layman Pascal to honor the memory Michael Brooks  (1983-2020) and discuss his contributions to integrative thinking in politics, cosmopolitan socialism, and where we go from here in solidarity. Recorded on 7/25/20. Watch the YouTube livestream of this talk.

The struggle continues. #LeftisBest. #RestinPower.

John Dupuy, the author of Integral Recovery, reflects on how politics and addiction intersect. As a country, we may be experiencing a dark night of the soul. The opioid crisis highlights a wound in our country that we must be brave enough to face. Can an integral practice provide a clue to addicts and non-addicts alike to how we can flourish into our best self, community and country? 

Class is in session! The co-hosts of Growing Down sit front row as Rabbi Michael Lerner shares insights from his new book Revolutionary Love and his rich history of activism for social rights. We were honored to be in the audience and we hope you feel the same. 

Excerpt from Revoltionary Love:

"We seek a new bottom line that judges our institutions, our economy, our political lives, our legal system, our cultural institutions, our educational system, and every aspect of our society as productive, efficient, or rational to the extent that they maximize our human capacities to be loving, generous, and caring toward each other and the Earth, ethically and environmentally responsible, and committed to social, economic, and environmental justice; and to the extent to which they promote joy, playfulness, compassion and empathy, self-acceptance, humor, and aesthetic creativity, health and thanksgiving for life in all its forms, love of learning science and literature, repentance and forgiveness, treatment of all human beings as embodiments of the sacred and not just instrumentally as means to our own ends, and a response to the universe and our planet Earth that is filled with awe, wonder, and radical amazement (rather than seeing them only as "resources" to fill human needs). " -Rabbi Michael Lerner

Eileen Reavey of the National Popular Vote campaign joins co-hosts Ryan and Matt to discuss the history of the electoral college and the movement to create an interstate compact that would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the the most popular votes. Join us to discussion its importance to democratization politics.