The Daily Evolver

Today I am joined by my dear friend and colleague, Diane Musho Hamilton, to honor our brother-in-arms, Terry Patten, who recently passed away at the age of 70. Terry was beloved by many in the Integral community, and Diane and I had the privilege to teach and work with him for nearly 20 years.

As Diane recounts, Terry was “the consummate integralist”, awake to his own mind, body and spirit, and dedicated to the wellbeing of all: family, friends and the world at large. I think of him as Integral’s “Zorba the Greek”, whose warmth, laugh and sheer ecstatic transmission could turn any gathering into a celebration. Above all Terry was an activist, championing what he called the “revolution of the heart”, an integration of:

In our conversation, Diane and I reflect not just on our extraordinary friend, but also on the history of the Integral movement, the evolution of its ideas and practices, and the countless people who have been uplifted by the evolutionary vision. For anyone watching this episode, there is a photo show at the end. I hope you enjoy! – Jeff Salzman

Terry Patten’s life’s work is articulated in his final book “The New Republic of the Heart, An Ethos for Revolutionaries”. You can find out more about Diane Musho Hamilton, and contact her about her offerings, here.

The cover version of the song Spirit in the Sky is credited to Black Feathers.

Here are some end-of-year-musings about our current moment in the evolution of consciousness. I bring an integral lens to look at cultural polarization, effective governance, Covid, progress, our biggest dangers, and the challenge of the millions of stories people tell about all of it. Enjoy and here’s to a bright 2021! – Jeff Salzman

In his remake of West Side Story, master filmmaker Steven Spielberg demonstrates how to bring a classic work of art into the present. Integrating the 60-year old Broadway musical’s cultural context into our own, his West Side Story expresses colliding worlds with deep sympathy and goodwill to all.

And the sheer cinematic transmission! From the iconic opening, with its call-and-response whistle echoing through the tenements of New York City, the film’s every moment is lit with the sparkle of humanity. It exudes the passion of youth, the grittiness of street life, and the deep liquid space of the gang and family. What a joy to be in the hands of a great artist (and leader of great artists, as cinema is our most collaborative of art forms) at the height of his power.

West Side Story tells a tale of race, culture and class conflict with a flamboyantly American flavor. It is the story of star-crossed young lovers (inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet), ethnic warfare, and the relentless march of modernity. In Spielberg’s hands, all of these conflicts are woven into a drama that is both particular and universal, and ultimately heartening. As Time Magazine’s critic Stephanie Zacharek wrote: “I had no idea I needed this West Side Story until I saw it.”

I hereby nominate this beautiful film for status as an integral work of art, and in this episode, I make my case. I hope you enjoy it and the movie too! – Jeff Salzman

In this episode, I discuss a terrific essay I stumbled upon that brings an integral sensibility to a new cultural emergent: the differentiation of the political left into “woke” and “anti-woke” ideologies..

Cultural evolution proceeds through a process of 1) differentiating and 2) integrating. As we learn and grow we see that there are more dots to connect and more ways to connect them. New views arise which we disagree about, even with our friends. What had been a shared worldview morphs into multiple worldviews which often find themselves at odds. Thus it is with the current unfolding of the political left.

Holly Muir and Spencer Greenberg, co-authors of the essay, Understanding the Divide Between Social Justice Advocates and the Left-Leaning “Anti-Woke” Community, describe their work:

“We have been investigating the perspectives of two groups in contemporary U.S. society: 1) those who advocate for social justice, and 2) the newly emerging left-of-center “anti-woke” movement (i.e., liberal-leaning people who tend to oppose identity politics, cancel culture, and critical race theory).

“In recent years, we’ve witnessed a meteoric rise of this anti-woke community, with a number of writers within it gaining large followings, including Coleman Hughes, Sam Harris, Jesse Singal, Katie Herzog, and Bari Weiss. Naturally, they have received a large amount of criticism from some social justice advocates.

“Given that the two groups we are discussing both lean left on the political spectrum, a major question is: what do they fundamentally disagree about? To help answer this, we have attempted to map the opposing perspectives on 13 topics where disagreement between these two groups tends to arise. In some cases, it may be that there is little genuine disagreement between the groups, and the issue in question is simply described from a different perspective.”

Rather than argue for either side, or even to find common ground, Muir and Greenberg perform a more integral move: they present each side on its own terms with good faith. It is a masterful example of the differentiation necessary for a true integration to emerge.

Integral consciousness is not about reconciling opposing worldviews as much as it is about accommodating them, factoring in their blind spots, and appreciating the goodness, truth and beauty each of them brings. This article is a great example. Check it out and enjoy the episode!

On this podcast a couple weeks ago I explored “The Great Stage Theory Debate”, a controversy kicked off by a tweet from Nora Bateson that said that developmental theory is “BS, colonial as hell and has got to go.”

Now, apparently, we have the whole book version! “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity,” by anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow makes a similar case, aiming, as the New York Times writes, “to upend the narrative of social evolution.”

Several listeners have written for my opinions about the book. I have kept up with David Graeber, the self-described “anarchist economist,” since he arose as a philosophical leader of the Occupy Wall Street movement a few years ago. I’m looking forward to reading the book and may have more to say on it when I do. In the meantime (it is 706 pages after all!) I’ll get the ball rolling by examining several key ideas behind the book using clips from a video that the authors recorded before Graeber’s untimely death prior to the book’s publication.

I hope you enjoy the podcast! – Jeff Salzman

PS – I also wanted to let you know about a special event in which I will be a guest. This Monday and Tuesday, Integral Institute Brazil celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a zoom conference featuring Ken Wilber and an exciting slate of Integral luminaries. Check it out here.

Is developmental theory valid? Is it even moral? This is the gauntlet laid down by author Nora Bateson in a cheeky tweet that launched a thousand comments:

Stage theory…

Sorry, but that has got to go.

— nora bateson (@NoraBateson) August 10, 2021

The result has been an online controversy that has generated both heat and light in the Integral / Spiral Dynamics world. In this episode, I offer a shamelessly integral analysis of the ideas in contention, and how the conflict itself is contributing to the evolution of evolutionary thought.

Let me know what you think at [email protected].  And here’s more about Nora Bateson and Hanzi Freinacht.

Jeff Salzman considers the question, what is it like to experience integral consciousness?  How does one feel, relate and function differently?  Also, letters from listeners.

Race is seen differently at each developmental worldview. What might the integral version be?  Plus, a back-pocket thought experiment for race empathy.

Quick intro to the Daily Evolver • The three major worldviews fighting the culture war • How an integral approach gets the best of each.

How consciousness and cultural evolution help explain current events (and vice versa).