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Last week we looked at change in culture and in individuals as a developmental process, where the problems created by one stage lead directly into the next stage. Modernity brought great material wealth into the world, but caused pain and oppression by excluding and devaluing cultures with different values. Postmodernism evened this playing field, re-examining modernity’s achievements and validating the knowledge and worth of other worldviews, but has also brought with it a sense of nihilism and moral relativism.

In response to these problems, another worldview is now arising—integralism. And those of us who are serious about creating a new world must seek to understand and embody this new way of thinking.

Put simply, integralism is about looking at reality as an integrated whole, seeing patterns and changes in a larger context. An integral doctor treats the entire patient, not just the part that’s hurting, and an integral culture embraces all factions within that culture as beloved, valuable pieces of a complex and connected puzzle.

As a fairly new student to integral thought, I cannot pretend to know everything about it. No one can, in fact, and that is one of its hallmarks—integral thought is not a fixed ideology as much as a willingness to discover, without preconceptions, what is possible.

That “without preconceptions” bit is important. Up until this point, each stage of cultural development has seen itself as The Answer to society’s ills. But integralism sees our entire history as a dialectic process of evolution, one stage naturally unfolding into the next as life conditions change. Part of that is recognizing that any new system of thought will eventually become an old system of thought, and this perspective means that integralism sees itself as simply the newest link in the chain between past and future. The integral worldview is therefore to be held onto very loosely and seen for what it is, which is a new system of thought, not the last system of thought.

Part of what makes integral thought attractive right now is the value it sees in all the stages of culture that came before it. Instead of looking back on traditional (God-centric) worldviews with condescension, as modernism and postmodernism tend to do, integralism sees the value in traditional forms of thought, acknowledging and looking to use the lessons that humanity learned through that stage.

By seeing the value in all of the stages, people who embody an integral worldview can heal the Culture Wars and unite communities with different values behind a common goal. We see Barack Obama acting integrally right now, in his willingness to let go of ideological loyalties and work with many different kinds of people to find good ideas to address our country’s problems. He’s not tied to the politics of identity or to party lines. He simply wants to find solutions and unite us behind them.

One other aspect of integralism is that it acknowledges and seeks to evolve every aspect of what it means to be human, both interior and exterior, by explicitly recognizing the many different capabilities, or lines of development, that humans have access to. Are we cognitively strong, but socially weak? Do we have great emotional intelligence but poor physical development? When we look at ourselves through an integral lens, we can clearly see our strengths and our problems, and we can consciously direct our attention to growth in different areas.

This process works on both an individual and a collective level. Just as some people are great at making money and not so great at making friends, cultures have different powers and pathologies as well. Seeing these lines clearly helps us address problems and harvest needed wisdom.

It certainly appears that integralism is the next stage in our cultural development—at this point in history, the lines that divide us seem less and less important compared to the massive problems of economy and ecology that we face. But how do we get there? How do we consciously choose to embrace new values? Is this even possible?

I think it is, and there are several ways to go about it. The first is educating ourselves. Philosopher Steve McIntosh says that integral theory is a theory of evolution that actually causes evolution, for this reason: the simple fact of having a map that charts the different worldviews operating today helps us understand, value, and work with them.

I have seen this in my own developmental process—gaining a deeper understanding of other people’s different values has helped curb the harsh reactions I sometimes have against those who think differently from me. This higher perspective helps me step outside of my own postmodern value set and respect the contributions of other worldviews. People with different values are not evil or dumb—they are simply people with different values. This recognition drains the violence out of conversations and allows real connections to be made.

Meditation is another way of growing towards the integral worldview. As we discussed a few weeks ago, meditation allows us to stop identifying so strongly with our thoughts and see the world more objectively. This helps us have better judgement and less attachment to a certain way of thinking.

Finally, becoming integral means being honest with ourselves—when we look at our own lives, where are we weak? Where are we strong? Looking at myself, I see that I am great at cognitively understanding new ideas, but less strong at implementing them. I have a high level of development in emotional intelligence, but my physical body is weaker. Seeing myself for where I am in terms of development allows me to address inconsistencies—right now, I’m working on my health and fitness, and I’m eager to see what emerges from attaining a new level of strength in this part of my life.

In these few articles on cultural development, I have only scratched the surface of where we are and where we are going. I will continue to explore and write about these ideas in the coming weeks. But if this emerging new way of looking at the world interests you, I encourage you to read more about it. Steve McIntosh’s book is a great introduction to the breadth and depth of what it means to be integral—I am part of a women’s study group looking deeply into this book, and we are all getting so much from the exploration. Ken Wilber’s The Integral Vision briefly lays out the integral map, and understanding this map in and of itself has the power to change your life. There’s also plenty of resources online: The Integral Institute, the Ken Wilber page on Shambhala Publications’ website, Integral Naked, and EnlightenNext magazine’s website.

Do you feel connected to a developmental, holistic way of seeing the world? Let us know what you think in the comments.