Let\u2019s continue this Worldviews series<\/a> with an in-depth look at the Integral worldview.<\/p>\n Though this isn\u2019t one of the main worldviews currently active in the world, developmental psychology suggests that this is the following stage of individual human development, and leading thinkers in the integral philosophy movement are witnessing its gradual emergence at a cultural level.<\/p>\n As such, this Integral worldview is likely to signify the next step for human cultural evolution.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, the emergence of the Integral worldview signifies not only the emergence of a new stage, analogous to Traditional<\/a>, Rational<\/a> and Postmodern<\/a>, but of a new meta-stage of development. If society transforms unimaginably when a new stage<\/em> comes online, we can only imagine how it transforms when a new meta-stage<\/em> does. If the theory plays out in reality, we may be set for another revolution of similar impact to that of the 1960s and the Enlightenment.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s begin by looking at the context for the emergence of the Integral worldview.<\/p>\n To understand the Integral worldview, it\u2019s essential to be aware of the context in which it appears. Just as plants will only take the root if the soil is right, each worldview only appears if certain individual and collective conditions are met.<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s worth mentioning that, even in advanced countries, this worldview is nearly invisible and as yet has little influence. There has yet to be an Integral revolution analogous to that of the other worldviews, so it remains in the shadows. It\u2019s difficult to point to real-world examples because there are few.<\/p>\n That said, Integral thinkers, groups, commentators and leaders are gaining a foothold in areas as diverse as spirituality, philosophy, psychology, medicine and art.<\/p>\n Furthermore, an integral-type stage appears in all models in developmental psychology that study development after the postmodern stage, meaning there are enough people at the Integral level of development to enable statistically significant study samples. There is dramatic agreement among these models about many of the fundamental characteristics of Integral consciousness, even when they study slightly different aspects of development.<\/p>\n In individuals, it tends to arise after a period of postmodern dominance. As far as we know, it\u2019s impossible for this worldview to appear directly after traditional or modernist consciousness, because it transcends and includes both. <\/p>\n We must pass through periods of modern domination and postmodern domination before we can even entertain the Integral worldview. Indeed, it\u2019s during the end of an individual\u2019s postmodern stage that it starts to become appealing.<\/p>\n We essentially marinate in the postmodern worldview for so long that we become bored with it. Relativism becomes contradictory, sensitivity becomes restricting, egalitarianism seems na\u00efve, and counterculturalism is rendered ineffective.<\/p>\n In collectives, the Integral worldview begins to emerge once postmodernism has yielded a significant amount of social change, when the limits of postmodern egalitarianism and sensitivity become clear, and when there\u2019s need for a reintegration of all the worldviews that have emerged so far. <\/p>\n In fact, according to several thinkers in the Integral sphere, Western countries are currently experiencing these life conditions, meaning the Integral soil is now fertile.<\/p>\n It\u2019s fascinating to notice how closely the American Culture Wars resemble this description of the context for Integral emergence. The Traditional, Modern and Postmodern worldviews, which roughly correspond to the political right, centre and left, do not understand each other, and it\u2019s leading to considerable social fragmentation and political stagnation.<\/p>\n In a time of accumulating global problems that require large-scale coordinated efforts to solve, integration, synthesis and mutual understanding are essential.<\/p>\n Perhaps we\u2019re witnessing the birth of the Integral age, and Clare Graves\u2019 prediction regarding the birth of the Integral worldview is fascinating:<\/p>\n The accumulation of unsolved problems is such that they will produce the most dramatic change in human behavior that has yet occurred in all of man\u2019s history.<\/p>\n clare graves<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The Integral worldview is post-progressive, post-postmodern and post-ideological. It\u2019s multiperspectival, unlike all prior worldviews, which are monoperspectival. It transcends and includes the Postmodern worldview, bringing a new clarity after the disarray typical of this stage.<\/p>\n One of its fundamental features is its ability to see and feel all prior worldviews in individuals and collectives. It appreciates that these worldviews are developmentally and evolutionarily bound, rather than mere preferences or types of people.<\/p>\n It understands that it itself is a product of the process of development, just like those other worldviews, and so respects all prior worldviews. All stages contain mineable gold.<\/p>\n Aware of how we develop through various lines of development to varying degrees, it sees people as multicoloured and multifaceted and as perpetual works in progress. It looks at all prior worldviews as inevitable, necessary and precious.<\/p>\n Seeing the strengths and weaknesses of all stages, it\u2019s able to integrate the best while discarding the worst: to be more traditional yet less so, more modern yet less so, more postmodern yet less so. Thus, it has the capacity to truly relate to all people. <\/p>\n Looking out at the world and current affairs, it sees all the prior worldviews vying for hegemony. It\u2019s not nations or races or politicians or political groups that define the struggle, but worldviews. It views the chaos through an evolutionary lens and learns to trust in the power of evolutionary emergence. <\/p>\n Later, more mature worldviews await us so long as we continue to evolve. Recognising violence and war as natural and inevitable expressions of the Pre-traditional and Traditional worldviews, it demonises them far less than the Postmodern does.<\/p>\n When we hold a predominantly post-traditional, traditional, modern or postmodern worldview, our identity is contracted around it, and seldom are we able to comprehend the others, much less operate from them when necessary.<\/p>\n Furthermore, it\u2019s multiperspectival: it not only values the prior worldview structures, but can actively participate and fluidly identify with them.<\/p>\n At Integral, we enter what the Spiral Dynamics theory calls FlexFlow awareness. This means that perspectives are no longer our masters; we are their masters. We can receive them, breathe them in, explore them, dance with them, hold several at once, switch between them, dance with them. <\/p>\n We\u2019re aware of our own familiar perspectives too, and we find great freedom in letting them go. You might say that instead of striving to enforce our familiar view, we strive to master the process of perspective-taking itself. Beck and Cowan say that under this worldview, \u201cLife is a mosaic of tiles without cement which can be rearranged to make the most appropriate picture of existence at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to understand other people, we\u2019re able to identify their dominant worldview, and we comprehend that they fully believe that it\u2019s correct. Though we may hold a different view, we respect theirs, and don\u2019t try to convert or influence them. Instead, we\u2019re ready to be influenced by them.<\/p>\n We go from impatiently chastising \u201chow could you think that?!\u201d to curiously enquiring \u201chow could you think that?\u201d. We\u2019re genuinely interested in the people we used to demonise. We value modern, old, future, past, scientific and ascientific, so long as it points to genuine truth.<\/p>\n You might like these four practices to embody integral consciousness<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n \nContext for Integral Worldview<\/h2>\n
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Defining Features<\/h2>\n
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