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!

Preview: The Dawn of Everything

This week I address a listener’s question about a fascinating subculture arising in the environmental movement: the “post-doomers”, people who, as she writes, “hold the idea that the collapse of civilization as we know it is already well underway, is unstoppable, and will be felt by us here in Comfortable Land through disruption of many kinds in the not-too-distant future.”

Post-doomers find meaning in surrendering to this inevitable doom, much as a hospice patient might find peace - even joy - in the acceptance of their death. Or that their loved ones might find in reconciliation and morning.

I’m not a doomer. I’m an “I-think-we’ll-muddle-througher” and a chronic both-sidesist. I am allergic to alarmism as well as to those who dismiss their opposition.

But might I be a post-doomer? Can one get the transmission without swallowing the doctrine? Yes, there is no end to environmental suffering, and any path to sustainability will continue to be painful and frightening. Witnessing and grieving this along the way makes us worthy to create a new and better world.

Evolution proceeds through destruction and creation. Fortunately, since the Big Bang, at least, creation wins. I have not only hope but faith that will continue.

Enjoy the episode! - Jeff Salzman

APOCALYPSE ALWAYS: Doom, Post-Doom and Beyond

Sometimes in our psychological development the way forward requires us to go back, to re-explore earlier stages of life to see what is distorted or left unintegrated.

This is the theme of the work of my guest today, developmental psychotherapist Kim Barta. He discusses his approach to personal growth, which is based on the STAGES Model of Development created by well-known developmental theorist Terri O’Fallon (who is also Kim’s sister.). Using psychotherapeutic practices, shadow work and meditation, Kim has devised a comprehensive system of self-exploration with stopovers at every stage of development, designed to bring the gifts and powers of that stage online.

Shoring up our developmental scaffolding in this way makes us able - and worthy - to grow into the higher stages of integral consciousness, which Kim and the STAGES model also beautifully illuminate. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Kim Barta!

- Jeff Salzman

Kim is launching an intensive year-long program, “Shadow and Light” for a cohort of 16 people. (As always when I discuss a product with a guest, I get no compensation.) You can find out more about Kim and all his offerings at Kimbarta.org.

Illuminating Our Stage Structures, with Developmental Psychotherapist Kim Barta

This week I look at the hubbub surrounding the introduction of large language chatbots, the latest evolutionarily-potent development in artificial intelligence.

A long-time listener asked ChatGPT to write a poem expressing Ken Wilber’s developmental stages. The result (below) is mind-blowing. How is it possible for a machine to create three verses that capture the essence of developmental theory so well?

Mind-blowing, yes, but is it beautiful? Can it be beautiful when it was written by a machine? Welcome to humanity’s next stage of understanding itself and our place in the cosmos.

ALSO, it’s Trump’s turn in the dock with his indictment in Manhattan. Is this good or bad for democracy? For the answer, we look to the old Chinese farmer …

I hope you enjoy the episode! - Jeff Salzman

PS - This is an edited version of a live "Fireside Chat" I do with the Integral Life Practice Community every first and third Wednesday of the month. Join me this Wednesday, April 19, at 1 pm Pacific Time (Zoom link).




On Ken Wilber’s Developmental Theory

by ChatGPT

Ascending the steps, we embark,
On a journey through levels so stark,
Wilber's wisdom reveals,
That development heals,
As we climb, a new consciousness sparks.

In the spiral of growth, we find,
Our perceptions and thoughts intertwined,
With each stage that we pass,
A more intricate grasp,
Of the depths of humanity’s mind.

From the shadows to radiant light,
Through these stages our souls take flight,
In a dance of ascent,
Where our hearts find content,
In the wisdom that guides us to unite.

Chatbot’s Paean to Integral & Trump Goes to Court

Hey folks,

This week I look at a rising star in the mainstream commentariat: Peter Zeihan.

To me he is a good example of a proto-integral thinker in that he is a master synthesizer, weaving compelling narratives about our world that include economics, demography, geography, politics and history. He gives me a far more integrated understanding of a variety of issues from the Russia / Ukraine war to the workings of the drug cartels, to “Is it Oklahoma’s time to shine?”

Yet, as with so many contemporary thinkers, his analysis misses the core value of integral thinking: that human consciousness and cultures have evolved and that they continue to. In this episode, I look at this missing piece that integral thinking offers, and which adds an invaluable element to any analysis of human events.

I hope you enjoy the episode! - Jeff Salzman

Peter Zeihan And The Missing Piece In Public Discourse

Hey folks, welcome to another episode of The Shrink and the Pundit, where Dr Keith Witt, integral psychotherapist extraordinaire, joins me to take a look at our next generation: the kids, teenagers and people entering their twenties. Are they okay? Dr Keith and I explore this question through the lens of cultural development. I hope you enjoy! 
Jeff Salzman

Are The Kids Alright? Dr Keith and I look at teen depression

Transcending the dueling perspectives of history, politics, religion and race, the insights of cultural development offer a more integrated, evolutionary understanding of wicked geopolitical problems like the conflict in the Middle East.  

PART 1 of this podcast is my talk to the Developmental Alliance, a monthly Zoom group sponsored by the Institute for Cultural Evolution. PART 2 is a more personal chat with my weekly conversation partner Ankur Delight, host of the 10,000 Heroes podcast. 

Thanks for tuning in!  - Jeff Salzman  

Join the ongoing conversations …
The Developmental Alliance, every 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7pm ET. 
My chat with Ankur Delight is live every Thursday at 1pm ET on the Daily Evolver YouTube Channel. 
Live Fireside Chat with the Integral Life Practice Community, every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month, 4pm ET. 
And follow me on Twitter/X!

Israel and Palestine: A Developmental View

Hey folks, 

In this episode, Ankur kicks off our discussion by asking: “What can we do for Israel and Palestine? What really helps?” 

We discussed a Kosmo-centric view and how it transcends (and includes) the world-centric view of green postmodernity. Also the evolution of empathy, the role of meditation, Sam Harris’s “presentism” error and more. Enjoy the episode!

Jeff Salzman

Jeff Salzman - The Daily Evolver

Ankur Delight - 10,000 Heroes

TWO WAYS TO JOIN ME LIVE:

Fireside Chats with the Integral Life Practice Community

First and Third Wednesdays of every month @ 1 PM Pacific / 8 PM GMT
It’s a relaxed and free-flowing discussion of current events and cultural evolution. 
Zoom link to join

Join other live events at Integral Life.

The Daily Evolver Live, with Ankur Delight

Thursdays @ 10 AM Pacific / 5 PM GMT
Join here on YouTube Live

For the last few Thursdays, my buddy Ankur Delight and I have been quietly showing up on YouTube Live to “talk integral” about what’s happening in the world. It’s been fun and fruitful, and we love for you to join us!

What Really Helps? The Kosmo-centric View

Ankur Delight and I talk about the major new deal the UAW struck with the Big Three automakers in the US. The three pillars of the deal are 1) a 25% wage increase, 2) equalized pay for the same job, and 3) the ability to strike in response to plant closings. All represent a further move into green postmodern culture. 

But, Ankur objects, did we need to be enemies to get here?  That's when the discussion gets really interesting.

The United Auto Workers Deal - The Daily Evolver Live With Ankur And Jeff

If a debate isn’t about facts and arguments, what is it about? In this episode I look to a high school debate Tournament of Champions for the answer. As you will hear this next generation is Green, they’re mean, and they are discovering new territories of being human that are essential for the coming Integral stage.

To connect with Jeff Salzman, follow https://twitter.com/DailyEvolver

New Rules of Postmodern Debate

On today's Daily Evolver Live (every Thursday @ 10am PT on YouTube) Ankur and I discussed the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. He's a fundamentalist Christian who supports Trump and the election deniers. He's also for Covenant Marriage and against porn, two views that may be evolutionarily potent. Ankur and I tease apart what is good and what is retrograde in his views.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Covenant Marriage and Porn

In this episode, I take another look at the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once in light of its popularity and controversy - including in the integral community. I also consider how taking one new perspective on the play, The Realistic Joneses by Will Eno, turned it from infuriating to infatuating. And more on the ongoing saga of pronouns. Enjoy the episode! 
This recording is from a Live Fireside Chat that I hosted recently on Integral Life.

Hot Takes on a Movie, a Play and Pronouns

Is America really getting stupider? Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt makes the case in his influential essay in The Atlantic Magazine titled “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid”.

I challenge his thesis from an integral perspective. Growing from a cultural conversation dominated by a modern worldview to one where many perspectives are online may feel like going backward (kind of like a sweet 12-year-old becoming a sour 13-year-old). But every new stage of development looks like a regression to the stage it is emerging out of. In this episode I make my case. Enjoy!

Jonathan Haidt’s “Stupid America”

A year away from the US Presidential election, Ankur Delight and I ponder the spectre of Donald Trump being the odds-on favorite to win. Our muse this week is Rick Wilson, the founder of the Lincoln Project, who sounds the “Never-Again Trump” alarm in his recent Substack article, Red Caesar and the Next Regime. As Wilson points out, “Red Caesar” is a term used by “the New Right, to mean a leader whose post-Constitutional rule will restore the strength of his people.” Ankur and I discuss an integral perspective, which would categorize Trump’s ruling philosophy as pre-Constitutional but no less “Red”. It looks like we are fated to live a very interesting next year. Enjoy the episode!
-- Jeff Salzman

Ankur Delight: 10,000 Heroes Podcast

The Return of Red Trump

This week I’m sharing a terrific conversation I had with Nomali Perera and Lee Mason reviewing 2023 from an integral perspective. Through a series of lightning-round questions -- greatest surprise, greatest disappointment, etc -- we tour the evolving culture, politics, art and the integral movement itself. I hope you enjoy it and best wishes for the New Year!

- Jeff Salzman

2023: How Culture Evolved

Hey Folks,

This week we’re looking at Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s new movie about Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein has been a favorite of mine since I happened upon a lecture he gave in the 70s charting the development of music from a single note to the full musical polyphony we have today, as well as the two polarities in nature that transform sound into art (The Greatest Five Minutes in Musical Education).

Maestro tells the story of Bernstein in three distinct periods, each rendered with the perspective and language of the time, quite literally in the first segment which is filmed in 35mm black and white and spoken in the Mid-Atlantic accent. It’s one of the best attempts I’ve seen at resisting interpreting the past through contemporary sensibilities. As such we get a palpable transmission of the evolution of not only the artist himself but also the culture at large.

This episode is edited from my live Fireside Chat, hosted by the Integral Life practice community. Nomali Perera, the founder of the community (and lover of Maestro), and several listeners weigh in too. I hope you can join us for the next Fireside Chat on Wednesday, February 21, at 1pm PT, 9pm GMT, where we look at culture and politics through an integral lens.

I hope you enjoy the episode and check out Maestro on Netflix and in theaters.

Jeff Salzman

Maestro: An Integral Take On an Integral Artist

How does an integrally-informed Navy SEAL sniper relate to the job he has to do, and the people he must engage in war? What is it like to re-enter civilian society? Jeff got to ask these questions and more in this conversation with Jake Bullock. 

Integral Sniper: A Conversation With Navy SEAL Jake Bullock

Islamic culture in the Middle East is entrenched in a dialectical antithesis with modernity. Building on the work of moderate Muslim intellectuals, McIntosh argues that the Islamic cultural reform needed to overcome radical Islamism depends on the underlying reform of the religion of Islam itself.

How An Integral Spirituality Can Help Evolve Islam; Jeff Salzman Interviews Steve McIntosh

The willingness to look at the parts of ourselves that we can’t see -- or don’t want to see -- is a major milestone on the path of self-actualization. In this episode, Dr. Keith Witt tells us that the difference between a destructive shadow and a constructive shadow is our willingness to engage with it. So how do we do that? 

Turning Destructive Shadow Into Constructive Shadow

In the following excerpt Jeff asked Ken Wilber a question about magical thinking vs real psychic phenomena.

Whether we’re talking about near-death experiences, precognitive dreams, telepathic communication, bizarre synchronicities...they all defy materialistic explanation, and yet they also seem to communicate deep truth and meaning. What are we to make of this when science says no, but we intuit that something more is going on here?

Listen to this clip of Ken Wilber as he clarifies the difference between pre-rational magic and trans-rational subtle energies and what he refers to as "the realm of transformation."

Ken Wilber On Magic Vs Psychic

This week, a gem from the archives: an early talk between Jeff and Dr. Keith Witt--part of a series that eventually became "The Shrink and The Pundit". 

Brother Keith has been practicing psychotherapy in Santa Barbara for over 40 years, and is also a master martial artist and devoted spiritual practitioner with experience in many traditions. Who better to talk to about integrating these two approaches to human development, a topic that causes so much confusion and consternation among seekers of higher consciousness?

Spiritual teachers and psychotherapists are often as odds and people who participate in both modalities often reflect that conflict in their own minds. Which is the best way to go? Is it more fruitful to work with our personal history and iron out the stuck points in our lives (psychotherapy) or to work to transcend them by seeking enlightenment (spirituality)? Do we work with our story or drop our story?

Most spiritual traditions are rooted in pre-modern schemas that see dysfunction as a spiritual problem, whether possession by evil spirits or a separation from God. Even a non-theistic religion like Buddhism perceives the manifest world as a fallen and corrupt place that is to be transcended (and in more advanced Buddhist thought, re-embraced) through meditation.

Psychotherapy, on the other hand, works with the circumstances of our lives, and we are encouraged to look deeply into our own dramas and traumas, and even to re-experience them in the controlled psychotherapeutic container created with the therapist.

Anyone who has practiced both systems can see the value of each, yet their trusted guides, the spiritual teachers and psychotherapists, often deny the veracity of the other approach.

The integral solution, as you might expect, is to find the “piece of the truth” revealed by both spiritual practice and psychotherapy, to map the territories that each inhabit (and the territories they don’t), and to work with both in an integrated and harmonized way. That way the benefits are multiplied.

I know of no more qualified (and stimulating!) guide to this endeavor than Keith Witt. Check out our conversation below, as well as an essay Keith wrote on the topic.

For more from Keith, see his website drkeithwitt.com.


Spirituality And Psychotherapy; Integrating The Two Great Paths Of Development

To prepare for the Integral Living Room gathering here in Boulder last week, Diane Hamilton, Terry Patten, and Jeff spent the last year talking with Ken Wilber about the idea of soul. What do the great spiritual traditions tell us about it, and is there a trans-rational conception of the soul that integralists can work with?

In this podcast, Jeff takes us on a brief tour of how this idea of the soul shows up at different stages of development, along with Ken’s own emerging ideas on the subject. 

So is there any part of us that survives this life, any part of us as unique individuals that continues on? Ken says yes, and Jeff unpacks this theory.  

In the second half of the show, Jeff responds to a question from a listener: 

“When will you share the microphone with an integral conservative? These terms are not mutually exclusive! Conservative thinkers are not isolationists, or messianic, magical thinkers. Conservatism embodies great wisdom that should be integrated into this conversation."

Jeff agrees, and so he spoke to Rich Tafel, integral thinker and founder of the Log Cabin Republicans, an organization working within the Republican party since 1977 to advocate for gay rights. Rich dispels the myth that liberals are postmodern/integral and conservatives are traditional/modern. "My experience is that there are polarities in each of these levels of development,” he tells Jeff. So rather than being merely reactionary or obstructionist, conservatism can be thought of as the ever-evolving disposition that wants to preserve what’s good at each stage of development.  

Conservatives and progressives are biased towards different quadrants to explain social phenomenon—the interiors and exteriors, the individual and the collective. This causes a lot of conflict, but that seems to be the way nature moves us forward.  We integrate and synthesize the best that each side has to offer, and create something new, and better. Something more integral... 

Towards a trans-rational theory of the soul

In the previous episode of The Shrink & The Pundit, Dr. Keith and Jeff talk about the history of marriage, what questions to ask as you consider marriage, and above all the challenge of supporting each other’s mutual development—what Dr. Keith calls the marital love affair. 

But for half of all couples the love affair will end, and so will the marriage.  A higher divorce rate doesn’t necessarily mean there is something wrong with our society. It more likely indicates our changing expectations of a primary partnership, says Dr. Keith. “We’re living twice as long as we did a hundred years ago,” he tells Jeff, “Women have more power, and the standard of marriage is a fulfillment standard now more than a stability standard."

A fulfillment standard is much more demanding, and people are likely to adopt it without a commitment to the practices that maintain it (see The practice of the marital love affair).

When one person makes the decision “I don’t want to live with you anymore,” from that point on everything is different. For the couple sitting in Dr. Keith’s office, the therapy is no longer about resolving marital issues; instead, it’s about helping the couple separate with as little pain and expense as possible, says Dr. Keith. 

Divorce, like marriage, has evolved. No fault divorce is a relatively new option and quite a leap forward from the ritual humiliation of earlier versions of legal separation, when one partner had to prove the other was inadequate or defective in some way. And recently the phrase “conscious uncoupling” entered the popular lexicon when Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin of Coldplay decided to separate earlier this year. 

Despite how far we’ve come, it’s still generally painful and expensive, and it’s a huge life transition. But with some work and a little help from an integral therapist, it can be less painful and less expensive.

Here are some of the things that Dr. Keith and Jeff talk about in the podcast:

-The very real difference in the psychology of the person leaving and the person being left
-Divorce as a signature event in a child’s life. Should you consider staying together for your kids?
Is there such a thing as an integral divorce, and what would it look like? 
-The archetype for intimate relationships that was created in our infancy and the lessons it teaches us about how to stay connected to another person
-How to use divorce to help your own development and be ready for your next relationship

Thanks for listening! Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on DailyEvolver.com. 


The integral guide to divorce, with Dr. Keith Witt

By Jeff Salzman

I’ve long enjoyed music critic Greg Thomas’s insightful posts on Integral Life, where he write about jazz.  

Not that I like jazz music. Truth is, I’ve always found jazz to be annoying. I can’t tap my foot to it. I can’t sing it in the shower. Like a lot of artforms, when we don’t understand them, jazz has shown up to me as noise.  

Of course like all good integral practitioners, I want to turn toward the object of my annoyance. I know it’s not the fault of jazz that I don’t get it.  Millions of people are ecstatic over it, and I want to have what they’re having.  

So I was thrilled when Greg came to one of my programs at the Integral Center last summer, and I invited him to stay with me. During downtimes we had some great one-on-ones where Greg did his best to initiate me into the jazz idiom. He explained how jazz expresses American culture. He told stories of various artists and songs. He played some of his favorite pieces and schooled me in what was going on. He turned out to be just the teacher I was looking for, and I began to get the beat.  

Greg’s mastery is obvious, and he is indeed one of the nation’s leading experts on jazz. For several years Greg was a jazz columnist for the New York Daily News. He’s a consultant with the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and with Jazz at Lincoln Center, the largest organization in the world dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of jazz. 

As we see with integral theory, art is often the leading edge of cultural and consciousness evolution, and jazz today continues to lead the way.
In this two-part series, The Soul of Jazz, Greg takes us through the history of jazz from its roots in the magic, mythic and traditional interiors of African Americans at the turn of the last century, through the modern and postmodern strains of the mid and late 20th Century, to the more wild wooly contemporary scene. He points out the evolutionarily potent and ultimately integral qualities jazz conveys as it confronts enduring human polarities such as the individual vs the group, tragedy vs comedy, competition vs cooperation, and structure vs freedom.

This is part one of our conversation ...


The soul of jazz part 1 with Greg Thomas

In a healthy intimate relationship, the partners don’t have to be turned on by each other all the time, says Dr. Keith, “but they do need to be turned on by each other regularly." Every couple has a balance of how much sex is needed to keep things vibrant, and it’s the responsibility of each partner to make it happen. 

For many couples, this is something that must be learned and practiced.

In the days of our grandparents, there wasn’t much need for sex therapy. Sexual fulfillment was not an expectation for a traditional marriage; it was how you made babies. The dawn of modernity (orange) brought with it a value structure that focused more on the individual. With changing morals and the advent of birth control, the focus of sex became less about procreation and more about pleasure. Our personal sexual fulfillment took priority over social convention, and divorce began to skyrocket.

With the dawn of the postmodern age, couples are faced with additional challenges. The main challenge is how to keep the erotic energy alive when couples are focused on minimizing male/female differences and elevating equality. “These couples need to practice taking and being taken,” says Dr. Keith, "where one person’s masculine really focuses on the other person’s feminine. One person leads the other person—and the other person allows themselves to be led—into the dance of eroticism.”  

In some relationships, such as with many gay couples, the roles of masculine and feminine can even be exchanged. 

Some of the main topics that Jeff and Dr. Keith discuss in the podcast:

The predictors of happy relationships and how to turn those into practices
The energetics of arousal: Giving masculine direction to feminine radiance
The kind of fantasizing that is productive and the kind that isn’t 
The relationship between sex and shadow
How to raise our children to be sexually healthy adults

Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.


Integral sex therapy with Dr. Keith Witt

Activity in the Mormon church seems to be declining – particularly in the West – and Thomas McConkie is witnessing what he calls a “faith crisis.” 

Many people are questioning the stories being passed down to them, especially Millennials, who are effortlessly modern or even postmodern. Gold plates with Egyptian writing on them? Lost tribes of Israel in the Americas? Where is the proof? (And what about the sexism, racism and homophobia?) 

Thomas, who was born and raised in the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City and comes from pioneer ancestors, left the church at thirteen. This was unprecedented in his family at the time – a major transgression. 

When he returned to the Mormon church twenty years later, he brought an awareness of Buddhism, integral theory and adult development with him. It became clear that this faith crisis was systemic, and not just isolated to the individual. He was moved to find a way to re-integrate his Mormonism, perhaps providing a bridge for a new generation of Latter-day Saints to authentic worship.

“A faith crisis might just be a developmental shift gone unrecognized,” he tells Jeff. “I hope that we can normalize this process of falling apart and coming back together again as new beings that see and experience the world in a new way.”

The Mormon church has a strong amber (traditional) base, but developmentally, a lot of orange, modern consciousness has emerged and is looking for evidence of the religion’s supernatural claims. Is there a way of going through this stage without completely leaving your religion behind? It’s unclear. Why do some people stay and some people go? 

“Someone who has more of an atheistic bent, how can we honor their Mormonism?” Thomas asks. “What does a ‘strategist' or a teal Mormonism look like? Someone who’s into turquoise, indigo and beyond, what is that experience – to relate to this tradition from those levels?” 

Some of the things Thomas and Jeff discuss include:

•	The center of gravity of Mormon culture, and how to honor those who are different
•	The Mormon practice of “ongoing revelation”—receiving inspiration from God
•	The Mormon doctrine of “eternal progression” as an early evolutionary viewpoint
•	What happens after we die. Does any part of us go on? 
•	Allowing a faith crisis to be an opportunity 

Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.


The Mormon faith crisis:  can integral thinking help? A conversation with author Thomas McConkie

For many of us in progressive, postmodern cultures, our spiritual evolution follows a similar trajectory: we move from the conventional religion of our childhood (which in the West is theistic) to secular humanism, which eventually gives way to postmodern explorations of Eastern philosophy and practice (which tend to be nondual in nature).  From a developmental perspective, this journey represents movement through the traditional, modern and postmodern stages. 

For some the journey continues with a new receptivity to God’s love—a welcome next step to a post-postconventional relationship with the divine. Steve explores this idea in depth in his 2015 book The Presence of the Infinite. 

This upwards spiral is fueled by what Steve calls an interdependent existential polarity – between the nondual and the theistic – and he wants to teach us how to consciously use it to deepen our relationship to Ultimate Reality: to God and to Emptiness. 

Listen as Jeff and Steve discuss how this formulation of an integral, evolutionary spirituality lends itself to a method, a practice that can evolve consciousness. 

Steve and Jeff will be exploring the nondual / theistic spiritual path at an upcoming gathering, The Integral Incubator, taking place this August at The Integral Center in Boulder. Check it out if you’re interested in deepening your spiritual insight and practice.   

Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

The practice of integrating God and Emptiness: a conversation with Steve McIntosh

Jeff begins this episode with a heartfelt reminder of just how valuable integral theory is for opening our hearts and understanding our world. It helps us to see and accommodate more of reality, to make sense of competing worldviews and conflicting truth claims. "All schools of human wisdom find their place in the bigger integral view," he says. 

Jeff invited special guest Theo Horesh on to the show to talk about candidate Bernie Sanders and the progressive movement he's leading. Theo is an integrally-informed author and thought leader. He’s been a political activist since the days of Ralph Nader and the Green Party, and is especially savvy about using social media to organize (check him out on Facebook). 

Jeff and Theo talk about:

-Money in politics and income inequality: Sander's message of a moral economy
-Sander's policy proposals are not radical or untested: the European model of socialism
-The critique of Sanders: he's not integral
-Bernie or bust: supporting Sanders as a referendum on Hillary Clinton
-Are the two parties obsolete? What does the future of American democracy look like? 

Also in this podcast:

-Pre-trans fallacy: a conservative Muslim scholar condemns America with help from the classic song "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" 

-The perfect example of two first tier stages talking at each other: Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski confronts Donald Trump about his careless use of words 

Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

Bernie's amazing race • Policing Trump-speak • An unlikely source of Muslim rage

Life is wounding. For some of us our wounds are inflicted in the form of a major trauma such as a serious injury, painful divorce, career failure or act of abuse or violence. More often, however, we are merely called on to suffer the slings and arrows of everyday life, which can also leave their mark.     

Contemporary psychology has revealed two major insights into trauma. One is that trauma is pervasive: two-thirds of Americans report experiencing a major trauma in their lives. The other is that trauma is toxic, often kicking off lifetime patterns of depression, anxiety and addiction. One study showed that people who suffer six or more of ten different categories of adverse events lived on average twenty years less that people who had had experienced none of those categories of adverse events.

Whether large or little, some trauma is inevitable and necessary for healthy development. Shocks and setbacks shape who we are and can provide the opportunity to develop resilience and a larger perspective. 

Yet we tend to feel ashamed of our wounds and naturally shrink away from them. We clench around our pain physically and/or mentally, and deny it so it can’t hurt us anymore. In some cases we may do the opposite, by indulging our pain, using it to control other people, or by playing the victim of our own life.   

In this two-part podcast Transforming Trauma Into Power, integral psychotherapist Dr. Keith Witt explores what we now know about trauma and how it affects us. He also charts an empowering course forward, so that we can metabolize the traumas of our life in a way that liberates us from their grip and reveals exciting new territories of our ongoing development.

The Daily Evolver

Part 1: Transforming small ‘t’ trauma

Beena Sharma is one of the leading practitioners in the field of adult integral human development, specifically in mapping and assessing the levels of adult maturity.
 
Beena has founded The Center for Leadership Maturity, in collaboration with Susanne Cook-Greuter, internationally known authority on adult development. Beena and Susanne have been working together since 2004. They work with individuals, teams, and organizations to facilitate vertical adult development. She is also a dear friend, who I have known and worked with for over 10 years.  Beena brings to her work the rigor of a practitioner-scientist focused on good theory, concrete evidence, robust research and lived experience. She combines that with the reverence of a true spiritual practitioner who is herself in awe of the dynamics and the miracle of human growth.
 
In this podcast, Beena and I discuss what she and her team are learning about how adults grow through the predictable stages of adult development while still remaining true to their own journey. We examine how we can consciously participate in our own evolution and growth in a way that creates a more fulfilling, healthy, conscious and fruitful life. I particularly appreciate Beena's focus on mapping the later, Integral stages of development and how they show up in herself and people she works with.  She offers some insights on how we can actually grow to those later reaches of maturity while also appreciating the triumph of where we have already arrived.  Beena and I also touch on one of the essential tools of the developmental journey, that of working with polarities – the interdependent and seemingly opposite qualities we continually encounter on our path – and how we can begin to meaningfully navigate those qualities and paradoxes in an increasing profound way. 
 
Beena, as you will hear, is actively engaged with advancing both the theory and practice of vertical development in practical, profound and creative ways.   For those of us who fancy ourselves as Integral practitioners, Beena provides illuminating insight into the territory that we aspire to explore and ultimately inhabit.
 
I am very much inspired by my conversation with Beena Sharma. I bet you will be too!

Facilitating Vertical Development – A Conversation with Beena Sharma

**New research into people who lack empathy, and how to deal with them**

In this episode I attempt once again to plumb the shallows of Donald Trump's mind.

I was spurred by an article in The Atlantic magazine about children who have been diagnosed with “callous and unempathetic traits.” In many ways Trump fits the profile of these children, who to a surprising degree do not respond to disapproval or punishments, but do respond to praise and rewards. The article reports on interesting new treatments that are helping these kids grow into better adults.

Unfortunately, at age 71 Trump may be a lost cause. In the last part of the podcast I look at some of the ramifications of his psychological profile, specifically as it relates to North Korea.

Donald Trump Has A Very Small Amygdala

Here’s what’s cooking in this week podcast:

A Transracial American Identity (0:15)

In this episode I reflect on a conversation Corey DeVos and I had with African American scholar Greg Thomas, where we explored what a more integral approach to race relations might look like. Greg is influenced by his mentor, Albert Murray, who, writing in the 60’s challenged the postmodern narrative that reduced race (and much of human relations in general) to hard constructs of victim and oppressor.

Judge Roy Moore and the Evolution of Creepy (20:30)

American politics is riveted on bombshell accusations involving Judge Roy Moore, who is running for U.S. Senate from the state of Alabama. In a story reported in the Washington Post, he is accused by five women of molesting them when they were 14 – 16 years old. He proclaims his innocence, claims he always “got their mother’s permission” when dating young girls, and calls the charges a political smear.

Thanksgiving and the Force Field of Gravity (47:28)

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday: few obligations, a nice dinner and a reminder to be grateful for life’s blessings - and the blessing of life itself! Gratitude is itself a practice in many spiritual traditions and it is a worthy part of an integral practice. In this episode I take a look at the power of gratitude through an integral lens. Happy Thanksgiving!

Roy Moore Scandal - American Identity - Gratitude’s Force Field

Ann Coulter’s provocative personality often obscures two aspects of her that are far more important: she is a devoted Christian and committed nationalist. She thinks multiculturalism is dangerous and that Western culture rooted in a Judeo-Christian tradition creates superior societies. She advocated for Trump enthusiastically, and wrote a popular book In Trump We Trust, E Pluribus Awesome! to support his election.  
So how is she feeling a year in to Trump’s presidency?  Not altogether happy, considering her recent column, Headlines From an Administration That is Not Putting American First. In this episode Jeff contemplates the views of Coulter and her nationalist comrades on the right.

Ann Coulter’s Piece of the Truth: Critiquing Trump from the Right

A spiritual vision with evolution at its core: Jeff talks to Byron Belitsos

Today we share Jeff’s guest appearance on Steve Harper‘s “What’s Your Theory?“ webcast.  Steve and Jeff explore the interior qualities of traditionalism (amber altitude), and how to recognize, respect and nurture their power in one’s self and others. The conversation is organized around three touchstones:

Joseph Campbell, whose insights into “the hero’s journey“ reveal the deep structures of myths throughout history, and their value in giving our lives direction and meaning.

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” the classic Frank Capra film where an idealistic young Senator (Jimmy Stewart) champions honor and sacrifice over the interests of money.

Jordan Peterson, whose wildly popular YouTube videos and new bestseller “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos“ seek to reanimate a heroic traditionalism, particularly for young people who are deficient.

This podcast is a companion piece with the episode, “The Beauty (and Baggage) of Traditionalism,” where Jeff provides a more theoretical context for the amber altitude of development.

How to be the hero of your own life story

Ken Wilber on Practicing the Religion of Tomorrow

I am an integralist, an evolutionary and a commentator who is heartened by the state and future of things - yes, even with Trump. I believe life is animated by the power of evolution and we are riding a geyser of emergence toward a sacred world.

In this podcast I look at emerging trends in politics, economics, science, spirituality, and entertainment, all with an eye toward spotting the upflow of human consciousness and culture.

The Daily Evolver

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