The Daily Evolver

Part 1: I look at a front-page story in the New York Times about how psychedelic drugs, such as ecstasy and magic mushrooms, are poised to reshape psychiatry. I make the case that this is a significant move in the evolution of human consciousness. Part 2: I play excerpts from a fascinating conversation between John McWhorter and Bill Maher on race relations, and imagine how an understanding of developmental theory would have improved it. Here’s to another week in cultural evolution! ~ Jeff Salzman

In this episode, I look deeper into the Integral project of ”worldview diversity,” where we seek to befriend, appreciate, and be influenced by people and cultures who inhabit different world-spaces (altitudes of development). Topics I hit on: Alexei Navalny’s heroic, near-death fight for modern values in Russia. “Our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others.” Pew research on how Eastern and Western Europeans respond to that statement. How “mean modernity“ blinds us to the deep identity and fulfillment found in healthy traditionalism. Practicing to deepen multi-perspectivalism with individuals and cultures. Plus, I welcome Integral teacher and coach Lee Mason to tell us about his new program, The Essence of Integral Flourishing, now available at Integral Life. Enjoy! You can learn more about Lee on www.practicalintegral.com.

This week I explore an essay published in Israel’s newspaper Haaretz that The New York Times said “shook the Israeli left like an ideological bunker-busting bomb.” In it, Nissim Mizrachi, former head of the department of sociology and anthropology at Tel Aviv University, describes what he calls the blind spot of liberals, who, he says, “do not see themselves as ‘classifiable’ from the outside.” “I think the most blatant phenomenon in world politics today is the resounding defeat of the liberal vision,” Mizrachi says. “It’s a double breakdown: one involving the government, in the sense of the left’s inability to gain a political foothold among the masses; and more deeply, one involving an inability to imagine an order that accommodates opposition groups.” Integral theory shows us that all first-tier worldviews, not just liberalism, are stuck in their ideological bunkers. And that the way forward is to explore and open to the world of others, particularly our political opponents. In the second part of the episode, I apply this thesis to the culture war currently being fought within the African-American community, where the antiracists, led by Ibram X. Kendi, are sparring with the anti-antiracists, led by Glenn Loury and others. What does a diversity of worldviews look like? It’s deceptively simple, says Professor Mizrachi, “We think the other side’s concerns are not mine, but they should be because I care about him or her. We share something in common here. We are sharing this land and this nation. It sounds horrible, but he or she needs to become part of us. Because they are part of us.” Sounds kind of beautiful to me, but getting there sure ain’t pretty. I hope you enjoy the episode!

All living processes exist in a rhythm of opposing forces which create conflict, resolving into either cooperation or domination. This dynamic of tension is the subtext of most human activity. The good news is that in the long run friending wins. In this episode of The Shrink and the Pundit, integral psychotherapist Dr Keith Witt explains how sociability is latent in most interactions, even those that are marked by hostility. And how human beings at every scale, from individual children to collective nation-states, invite constraints to provide a delineated space for new growth. Dr. Keith’s insights help us normalize – and realize the potential – in the inevitable conflicts of life. NOTE: We apologize for the buzz you might hear at times from Dr. Keith Witt’s mic.

Every stage of development brings forth new territories in the evolution of human consciousness and culture. A few days ago we witnessed a move into postmodernity (green altitude) in Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Harry and Meghan, the renegade Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Harry and Meghan are exemplars of postmodernity’s most powerful creed: to relieve human suffering that has been unseen in previous structures … suffering in the collective, with a new dedication to those people and groups who have been previously marginalized or discounted by society, and suffering in the individual, with a heightened awareness of psychic pain, trauma, and “mental health”. To some, the interview was a display of hypersensitivity and self-indulgence; to others a noble challenge to right the blind spots of history. In this episode, I explore this latest skirmish in the culture war. With a burst of sunshine by John Denver!

Good rationality demystifies the world and bad rationality disenchants it. This week I look at two examples of the casual blindness of mainstream culture to all things divine. 05:44 – Amy Dickenson, writer of the popular advice column “Ask Amy” counsels a woman who is offended that her sick husband’s caregiver offered to pray with him. 17:49 – In the essay, “My Generation Isn’t Suffering Enough,” a wise young writer looks at Gen Z (under 25 years old), and asks why they are so hopeless and sad. Along the way, I look at how a divine Other can be brought through modernity, cleansed of fundamentalism, and experienced directly as the 2nd Person of Spirit. The deep meaning this brings to life (and death) is the ultimate antidote to anxiety and depression. Enjoy the episode!

This week I spotlight more of what’s new in cultural evolution: President Joe Biden leads a memorial to COVID victims and offers consolation to their survivors in a way that brings on the best of “good green”. Green consciousness, “the sensitive self”, is drawn to ever-deeper levels of empathy and care, especially for those who are typically unsung in society. It is the leading edge of human evolution and the part of green that we want to integrate into 2nd tier consciousness. Joe Biden, uniquely qualified by virtue of his personal suffering, is leading the way. TwinsthenewTrend is the moniker for twin brothers Tim and Fred Williams, now 21, who have become YouTube sensations recording “reaction videos” of themselves listening to all types of music. Their effortless flow and guileless friendliness to all are magnetic and, I argue, represent qualities of integral consciousness that are native to a new generation of young people, two more of whom I profile. 13:00 – TwinsTheNewTrend 24:15 – Zoë Jenkins of Civics Unplugged 31:15 – Young friend from Stockholm Enjoy the episode! – Jeff

In this episode of Post-Progressive Inquiries, Steve McIntosh and I visit with economist Pia Malaney to ponder economics through the lens of evolutionary theory. We look at what is arising concerning globalism and nationalism, wealth distribution, the future of work, model economies, the culture war between MAGAstan vs WOKEstan, and why Joe Biden gets us from the fire into the frying pan. Hope you enjoy the episode! – Jeff Salzman Pia Malaney is Co-Founder and Director of The Center for Innovation, Growth and Society and Senior Economist at the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Her own professional research has focused on economic, biological, and sociological approaches to human welfare. She has held positions at the Harvard Institute for International Development and the Center for International Development at Harvard’s Kennedy School where she worked in collaboration with Asian and African governments on the development of health care and economic policies. She received a BA from Wellesley College and a PhD from Harvard University. Learn more about the Institute for Cultural Evolution and Steve McIntosh.

In this episode, recorded in the middle of the impeachment trial, I examine both the stunning House prosecution of the worst presidential betrayal in U.S. history (thank you Liz Cheney) as well as the apparent, dispiriting acquittal. It turns out that rationality and the evolution of “laws not men” are not built on solid ground, but are tethered to tectonic consciousness structures that are pre-rational, mythic and magic. I also look at last week’s Real Time show, where Bill Maher makes a good case about the religious qualities of Trumpism, but … if only he understood development. Finally, I highlight his guest, Charlotte Alter, who attempts an integral analysis of the cultural “cancellation” of actor Armie Hammer. It may fall flat with Bill — but you’ll get it! Enjoy the episode and let me know what you think. You can write at [email protected] or leave a voicemail here.

Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water, out of the depths arises Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon Congresswoman from Georgia who trumps Trump in conspiracy nonsense. In this episode I attempt to bring some integral context to her and QAnon, the spaces they rent in our heads and suggest how we as evolutionary practitioners can relax into a more mature engagement with our ever-morphing culture.