beck
October 2008 
Integral -Whats That?
Posted on Jul 10th, 2008
by 
Albert
Albert
After 30 years dealing with integral approaches and after 28 years especially with the Aproach of Ken Wilber I paused the last 2 or 3 years with explicit statements. Nevertheless I started my Gaia Blog in feb 2006 with an exposition taken from Wilbes Excerpts to Kosmos Trilogy2.
As I felt Zaadz somehow near to Integral, Gaia more inclined to Paul Rays approach of Cultural Creatives. The lines are blurring and its not so much important here to specify distinctions for the moment.
Then I pursued the timeline of preparation of first 1st Biennial Integral Theory Conference
4 essays on Frank Vissers site document several critical arguments regarding integral theory and the Conference.
Though I am in favor of Esbjörn Hargens and Formans points I thorougly miss two worlds at the Confernce:
First, less than something aboive zero the European presence as presenters. The big countries UK, France, Germany, and the active country Netherlands :Where are they? And why?
Second, though organizers explicitly refer to development of Integral than Wilber Centric event....Integral seems to be kidnapped by AQAL like positions and its derivates. Everybody knows how strong I am inclined to KW approach. Simply for historic reasons not to discuss here.
I am not amuzed that SDi in toto isnt as reference highlighted. Will see post festum if anybody did it from the participants. And I am most curious how Don Beck, recently suggested by American Association for Psychology for establishing the new branch of Large Scale Psychology ,would see this.
What the hell is going on here?
I will check the backgrounds. This seems most unhealthy for me. And I suggest the organizers should re-think, re.imagine and re.define what "Bridging the gaps " means.
The puzzle of reality is a bigger than life one.
Spiral Dynamics Integral belong definetly in the first line of integral pioneering efforts in the conceptual space! Respect, appreciation and deep Valuation of this aproach is a MUST for me.
Otherwise these 4 following mosaics of integral essays are to be diagnozed as sensoric and verbal Aphasy as described in clinical mediicine.
REBUILDING INTEGRAL BRIDGES
Frank Visser
THE INTEGRAL PUZZLE
Steven Wallis
THE ACADEMIC EMERGENCE OF INTEGRAL THEORY
Mark Forman & Sean Esbjörn-Hargens
ASSESSING INTEGRAL THEORY
Frank Visser
Access: PublicTagged with: Integral, SDi, Wilber, Beck, Visser, Hargens, Theory, Conference, Large Scale Psychology
you brought up some excellent concerns. i'm not sure what the dynamics and politics behind the scenes of this conference tho. so i'll just observe and see what happens. then again it's the first conference of its kind so maybe it would evolve and get refined in the future.
but yeah, i hear you on SDI.
btw, just added this post to the Integral Stuff Room on FriendFeed :)
~C
Thanks Rommel, as always.
Basically I appreciate very much the spirit in which this first conference is organized and prepared. No doubtn however that a certain, subtle schism is happening in Integral. I have all understanding for the broadest and most complex differentiation of integral landscape.
However it should be done with respect and with the famous helicopter or satellite view. The world with nearly 7 billion earhtlings needs every global reach out.
As soon as German Center for HUman Emergence is launched I will personally engage in this direction. I am addresing this topic here too as the subtle schism between SDi and AQAL or proto AQAL approaches is is creating unhealthy frictions.. Maybe some books have to be written earlier or later to out the them in a clear global context.
Wishing this first conference full success and an excellent premiere.
However it should be done with respect and with the famous helicopter or satellite view
The world with nearly 7 billion earhtlings needs every global reach out …
INDEED
Albert, just saw this post on Integral Praxis. check it out.
“As founders and organizers of the 1st Integral Theory Conference we feel moved to respond to Frank Visser's latest posting (“Assessing Integral Theory”). We do this in the spirit of dialogue and out of a sense that his characterization of our event was misleading and inaccurate in important ways.”
read more.
gah. nevermind. you already linked to it :)
Plus:
The is a great, highly qualied discussion about these topics since 2002 at London Integral Circle with now 391 members.
The London Integral circle is the greatest English speaking Orbit outside North American Orbit with a level of discussion at least the same as at Integral Instite and affiliations. Its a most promising growing European and even Global epicenter of tough integral questions, answers and action inquiry. Of legitimate citicism and hosting diverse integeral and proto integral, evolutioanry and complex approaches.
I mention it as Integralworld.net
has nothing of these discussions. Inspite the most comprehensive place for introducing Integral (with al caveat from KW). So its time to screen the thousands of epicenters and salons, circles and projecs, persons and initiatives more comprehensively.
Thats the power and beauty of P2P evolutionaryy appoaches and sytems.
I seem t recall having said this somewhere else, some time ago, but hell… I'll live dangerously and repeat myself.
We had a discussion about how to bring together all the stars on the 'integral' scene - or even all the leaders of the 'movement' to getting our shit together as a species trying to ease out of its awkward and hormonal adolescence into a more sustainable maturity before it overdoses on its own bad habits. To get these people together to learn from each other…
But funnily enough, that never seems to happen. They all seem to prefer to sit on their pinnacles and take potshots at each other. Then I had this insight that perhaps it's not their job to collaborate. Each of these stars in the sky (many of them with their own orbiting planets…) is there to brightly shine and maintain the purity and integrity of their field and their perspective. Leaving the humble likes of us to lie on the hillside with our heads together looking up at the stars in the sky and pointing out the many different constellations that can be formed by joining up the dots in different ways.
It is rarely the theoreticians and philosophers who actually get their hands dirty in the world. You can't be all things - though Don Beck does a pretty good job as a global activist.
So you are right, Albert, that P2P evolutionary approaches and systems are what we need - and what's emerging, we are seeing it and being it. And there is no need for the Integral conference to be anything other than what it will be. By the way, there is a list (integral worldspace) for the hosts and organisers of 'epicentres and salons, circles and projects, persons and initiatives', and London Integral Circle's own Matthew Kalman has put together a great website to gather together everything that's going on… visit it at integral strategies.org
Sometimes repetition and galvanization is just that whats needed:):)
You are on spot, Helen.
Something additional:
The work on the ground demands extensive, intensive and sustainable collaboration with people from all walks of life. Top down with leaders of all kind and bottom up with activists of all kind. Even the list of Matthew is focusing too much on explicit. integral labels.
As transatlantic communication is about to be integrated into the huge Asia Pacific Game…and aligned with it.hundreds of thousands of emerging projects at the leading/bleeding edge have to be cordinated, guided, designed and intiated.
And as Mike Jay from SDi says in his new book “Upping the downside” in 2012 over 50 percent of job profiles in this global evolutioanry game are not even defined right now!
So something like collective leadership emrges. Yes, and not to forget in pre-green and preorange orbits and fashion too!
So I go even further:
Lots of current stars will decline next years. Others will rise and like erupting magma/lava
will create new landscapes of transformation.
No longer -I said it already and will repeat it again:):) -is it about Sherpa Service on Demand.
And now I want Matthew finally taking some action here asap and putting my blog on his side. At least founder of LIC should have it ALL on his radar screen.
Avanti, Dilletanti!
Best, as always,
Albert
Well, Albert, you know I totally agree with you!
We are learning and making it up as we go along. Organic, chaordic, emergent - this is what our world is now - nothing less than collective leadership will do. Supplied by acts of leadership as peopel at all levels on the spiral learn to sense together what they are called to do in the interests of the whole.
And if you want your blog on matt's site, contact him and tell him to put it there!
warmly
h
Well.I invited him already to Gaia and finally he signed in:):)
its interesting, and I met yesterday Tech entrpreneur and VC Mariana Bozesan (VC Bsuiness in California and writing a dissertation about conscious leadership) from San Franciso who worked for Oracle, with Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Queen Noor and lots of other well known people,….
Lots of most interesting and profound people do not even speak integral. They are engaed in their business and devlop massive impact far beyond integral radar screens. We agreed completely that building leverage for these constelllations is utterly important.
We need maps and global configuration scenarios which include hundreds and thousands of edge projects, intiatives and people. This is certainly one of the msot urgent and relvant jobs.
lets go for it…
Albert
Hope you don't mind me piping in here with some additions.
Integral is mainly a theory that, again mainly, is a KW affair. As it says of itself to be encompassing 'everything' (remember?) it needs to look at many of the differentiations from all sides, and all that has been mentioned here.
Well, if it takes itself serious…
But in my view it has become a religion, and as every religion it has a salvatory stance and a hierarchy of steps to be taken to reach the “top” (and KW has loudly and clearly pronounced he's right there!) from where, again a religious statement, you can cover all levels, etc. (you know the drill, don't you?)
This in itself is an ancient position that we've inherited from the last 2000 years or so. So maybe we just let it go? I think the 'bleeding' (like that, Albert!) leading edge of Emergence has passed much beyond that 'perennial philosophy' theorizing into the p2p and 'open source' camp.
So I do wish them the very best with their conference. I very much doubt that anything 'leading edge' will come out; and even if it does, it won't gain momentum as those people, making things happen, simply don't have time to learn to speak “integralise”.
Lots of people are participating in this conference, like Nancy Roof, whom I met in person in march. They are very much aware of the necessity of gaining momentum.
We do not even can screen right now how many people are sailing under the label integral. Lots in invisible ways.
So yes, similar as you, Mushin I prefer pragmatic and practical approaches. We are all in different tunnels and will met more and more in surprising ways:):)
Albert