The Daily Evolver

Today Jeff is joined by Dr. Warren Farrell, who has co-authored (with John Gray) a new book, The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It. The book illustrates how boys are falling behind girls in crucial metrics of well-being: in academics (61% of college degrees will go to females by 2020), in mental and physical health (boys commit suicide at six times the rate of girls), in behavioral problems, career prospects, even life expectancy. Warren brings an integral sensibility to the situation by advocating a path forward that expands options for boys to find purpose and meaning, much as girls are able to do as a result of the feminist revolution. He also emphases the role of fathers and postive male role models for boys. As Gail Sheehy, author of Passages, writes of The Boy Crisis:  “As an activist in the women’s movement, I’m proud of expanding life choices for our daughters. But no one did the same for our sons—until now.” Warren will help you think differently about the issues of sexual dynamics, and how we can move forward into a future where there are more ways to be human and fulfilled for all sexes. Dr. Warren Farrell  is the author the the bestseller, The Myth of Male Power, and is the only man in the U.S. to have been elected three times to the Board of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in New York City.

Today Jeff talks with Scott Ford, author of Integral Consciousness in Sport: Unifying Body, Mind and Spirit Through Flow. Scott, an elite tennis coach for decades, is at the leading edge of thinking and practices for enhancing athletic performance. He has mapped out a five-stage developmental sequence of athletic performance, the first three of which are familiar: Learn the rules, tools and techniques Strategies and tactic for winning Mental/emotional training for self-excellence Stage 3, online for less than 50 years, is where many elite athletes function today. But it is at stage 4 and 5 that things get more interesting. At these higher stages we are working with flow or the zone, that elusive state where the player and the game merge. This “subject / object collapse” is what Scott calls “flowing presence” and is the gateway not just to greater performance, but to a profound enjoyment and fulfillment in the act itself. Scott is also a founding member of the Sports, Energy and Consciousness Group, a collective of doctors, psychologists, scientists, world-class athletes and leading-edge coaching, which is having its third annual conference in San Rafael this July. In this podcast Scott offers a specific practice for entering flow, which is applicable for “in the zone” performance in all aspects of life.

Today Jeff visits with integralist Tom Curren, who has launched a new non-profit initiative with the goal to Change the Rules of the American political system. Tom has identified four structural problems in American politics that exacerbate the electorate’s most tribal impulses: How the election system sorts for a “lesser of two evils” choice Why the most extreme ideologues have disproportionate power The big money machine that is successfully enriching its clients Barriers to large scale citizen participation Our political system seems to be carved in constitutional stone, but actually many of its most dysfunctional rules are not in the constitution, and have been built up to support the business of politics. Listen as Tom explains a series of non-flashy, non-partisan strategies (ballot initiatives, legal challenges and legislative pressures) that are already proving to drain the swamps in states and municipalities across the nation.. While The Daily Evolver usually focuses on integrating the polarities arising in consciousness and culture, this episode offers exciting, third-person structural solutions with high leverage. Tom also offers listeners an efficient way to participate personally on-the-ground in their communities. Tom Curren is founder of Hawthorne Consultants, a firm specialized in the integration of strategy and organization change. Find out more about his new non-profit, Change The Rules.

Today Jeff and Corey take a close look at an fascinating new article by Valerie Tarico, published on Alternet with the title “Here’s Why Some Progressives Are Tearing Each Other Apart”. In the article Tarico argues that today’s political left is largely split into two major conflicting factions, each of whom are operating with two very different narratives around social progress. The first of these narratives she calls The Social Liberal Story, which proclaims universal values and seeks to expand the circle of people who benefit from them. Tarico contrasts this narrative against that of the The Structural Oppression Story, which views history as the continuing struggle of certain groups being oppressed by certain others — and if you aren’t being oppressed, it can only mean that you are one of the oppressors, whether you are conscious of perpetuating oppression or not. Both of these narratives are alive and well among liberals — and predictably, we integralists believe both contain true-but-partial wisdom that needs to be woven into a more mature framework for the political left (which, by the way, the author completely agrees with, and even offers her own integrative insight to this end). And to go a step further, both of these leftist views need to be integrated with the various wisdoms found on the political right in order to achieve a more healthy and functional body politic. Listen as Jeff and Corey try to navigate the inherent truths and limitations of each of these views, and enfold them into a bigger and bolder vision of our ongoing political evolution.

Today Jeff’s guest is Bence Ganti, the creator of the 3rd Integral European Conference, which will commence on May 22nd at the Azur Resort at Lake Balaton in Hungary. This third biennial conference will be the biggest and most comprehensive yet, with over 600 participants from 50 countries. Titled Allies of Evolution, the conference will offer 250 programs on a wide range of integral issues, from contemporary politics to organizational development to art, culture and spirituality, in a mix of academic presentations and experiential processes. It features an optional pre-conference certification course with Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter, and a Spiral Dynamics Level II Workshop, as well as a post-conference 3-day sightseeing tour by bus. Plus lots of fun, community, music, dance and an open-air goulash bonfire dinner and dance in the beautiful Hungarian countryside. You can find out more about the Integral European Conference here …

The Integral stage of human development reveals a thrilling new view of reality. It starts at the Teal altitude where we are able to see and map the movement of evolution in history and in our own lives. We develop the ability to hold paradox and appreciate the beauty of all previous stages who have been so long at war. It matures into the Turquoise altitude, where we experience a more unified kosmos, one that is animated with a loving intelligence which each of us, in our own way, is both expressing and creating. Our thanks to those of you who have written and sent voicemails to share your adventures in integral emergence. In today’s episode Jeff uses your reflections to chart some of the landmarks of the new integral territory, as well as characteristics of the pioneers who seek to inhabit it.

Today integral psychotherapist Dr Keith Witt joins Jeff for a look at the human brain. Dr Keith shares new research about brain health and specific actions we can take to maintain cognitive capacities into elderhood. They discuss the various types of dementia and Alzheimer’s, the most current understandings of their causes, as well as some surprising and simple ways we can keep our brains operating efficiently and adaptively.

Today Jeff and Corey consider the choice of John Bolton to become Donald Trump’s national security advisor (replacing Gen. H.R. McMaster), as well as the promotion of Mike Pompeo to be Secretary of State (replacing Rex Tillerson). The shakeup represents a major worldview shift from orange modernity to amber traditionalism in the war cabinet of a President who often operates from the red power stage. So long status quo, which has avoided nuclear war for 75 years and brought about significant disarmament in the last 25. The upside: a grand bargain. Kim Jong Un, knowing we really do have a bigger nuclear button, doesn’t trust Trump and Bolton not to use it any more than the rest of us do. Therefore he will be pliable in negotiations that eliminate missiles that could hit the US, and perhaps even more in return for decreasing the American military presence in South Korea, which Donald Trump would like to do anyway. The downside: war. Bolton means what he says about the necessity of a first strike, and Trump goes along for the ratings. Can we trust Donald Trump, who has consistently decried the folly of “stupid” wars, to not get us into another one? The appointment of John Bolton radically recasts the odds.

Public intellectuals don’t get any hotter than Jordan Peterson. Virtually unknown 18 months ago, he has today amassed over a million subscribers to his YouTube channels and countless millions of views. His new book “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos” is an international bestseller, nearing the million copy milestone. Peterson, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, sparked his fame by posting a lecture announcing his refusal to abide by a new civil rights code in Canada that appeared to legally require the use of gender-neutral pronouns with people who prefer them. Through subsequent postings critical of the political and cultural left, he has become a hero for advocates of free speech, and a idol to people who are opposed to the postmodern promulgation of multiculturalism and gender fluidity. So where does Jordan Peterson fit in the integral schema? In these two episodes of the Daily Evolver Jeff examines Peterson’s message as expressed through his book and his most popular lectures and interviews. In Part One Jeff made the case that Peterson is tantalizingly close to integral thinking, and is making a potent contribution to a large population of primarily (but by no means exclusively) young men, who are inspired by his transmission of traditional values, starting with his exhortation to “stand up straight with your shoulders back.” In this episode, Part Two, Jeff points how Peterson misses the integral mark by seeing postmodernity as a poisonous political ideology rather than a fully fleshed out stage in human evolutionary development, which, like all stages has its gifts and baggage. This misreading kicks off a cascade of conflict and consternation that, while stoking the culture wars, does not provide an authentic evolutionary path forward. Enjoy the episodes and let us know what you think!

Public intellectuals don’t get any hotter than Jordan Peterson. Virtually unknown 18 months ago, he has today amassed over a million subscribers to his YouTube channels and countless millions of views. His new book “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos” is an international bestseller, nearing the million copy milestone. Peterson, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, sparked his fame by posting a lecture announcing his refusal to abide by a new civil rights code in Canada that appeared to legally require the use of gender-neutral pronouns with people who prefer them. Through subsequent postings critical of the political and cultural left, he has become a hero for advocates of free speech, and a idol to people who are opposed to the postmodern promulgation of multiculturalism and gender fluidity. So where does Jordan Peterson fit in the integral schema? In these two episodes of the Daily Evolver Jeff examines Peterson’s message as expressed through his book and his most popular lectures and interviews. In Part One Jeff makes the case that Peterson is tantalizingly close to integral thinking, and is making a great contribution to a large population of primarily (but by no means exclusively) young men, who are inspired by his transmission of traditional values, starting with his exhortation to “stand up straight with your shoulders back.” Check out Part Two as well, where Jeff points how Peterson misses the integral mark by seeing postmodernity as a poisonous political ideology rather than a fully fleshed out stage in human evolutionary development which, like all stages, has its gifts and baggage. This misreading kicks off a cascade of conflict and consternation that, while stoking the culture wars, does not provide an authentic evolutionary path forward. Enjoy the episodes and let us know what you think!