Politics
Frederik Coene (Part 2) – EU Diplomat Shares His Personal Thoughts About Russia and Ukraine: Holding Multiple Perspectives for a Sustainable Peace in the Face of War, Reactivity, and Rage
Ep. 35 (Part 2 of 2) | Frederik Coene, a European Union diplomat stationed in Kyiv and world authority on Russia and Eastern Europe, describes the current situation in Ukraine—”a cocktail of emotions”—and outlines what it would take for us to find a true solution to the conflict and create sustainable peace. Frederik brings the multiple perspectives of Integral theory to bear: he discusses how developmental stages play into the ways Russians and Ukrainians are thinking, acting, and reacting, and emphasizes the need to get beyond black and white thinking, foster compassion, and take responsibility for our thoughts and our actions. How do we cultivate the willingness to understand each other, to have a dialogue? Because as Frederik says, “the war may be fought on the battlefield, but peace is only going to come through dialogue.”
The fruits of Frederik’s own personal transformative practice and understanding of the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics flow into his work as a diplomat/bureaucrat, pointing the way towards change. Besides effectively deepening our understanding of what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia now, this talk is a real inspiration for those interested in weaving together personal growth, professional responsibility, and dedication to service. A humble, open, and wise transmission. Recorded on June 29, 2022.
Read MoreFrederik Coene (Part 1) – EU Diplomat Shares His Personal Thoughts About Russia and Ukraine: Holding Multiple Perspectives for a Sustainable Peace in the Face of War, Reactivity, and Rage
Ep. 34 (Part 1 of 2) | Frederik Coene, a European Union diplomat stationed in Kyiv and world authority on Russia and Eastern Europe, describes the current situation in Ukraine—”a cocktail of emotions”—and outlines what it would take for us to find a true solution to the conflict and create sustainable peace. Frederik brings the multiple perspectives of Integral theory to bear: he discusses how developmental stages play into the ways Russians and Ukrainians are thinking, acting, and reacting, and emphasizes the need to get beyond black and white thinking, foster compassion, and take responsibility for our thoughts and our actions. How do we cultivate the willingness to understand each other, to have a dialogue? Because as Frederik says, “the war may be fought on the battlefield, but peace is only going to come through dialogue.”
The fruits of Frederik’s own personal transformative practice and understanding of the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics flow into his work as a diplomat/bureaucrat, pointing the way towards change. Besides effectively deepening our understanding of what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia now, this talk is a real inspiration for those interested in weaving together personal growth, professional responsibility, and dedication to service. A humble, open, and wise transmission. Recorded on June 29, 2022.
Read MoreIndra Adnan (Part 2) – Reimagining Power, Politics, and Possibilities: An Alternative Vision
Ep. 32 (Part 2 of 2) | Socio-psychotherapist and political consultant Indra Adnan brings forth a compelling, fresh, and powerfully practical alternative vision for our politics and our world, based on bringing people and communities together in relationship to effect real planetary transformation. Indra states that the solutions to our problems exist; we just need to be able to access them, and it is at the cosmo-local community agency networks (CANs) level that we can develop responses to current crises like climate and social justice most effectively. Indra discusses how the internet has dissolved the line between the private and the public space, especially for women and the underprivileged, and asks us to imagine what the public space would look like if all our voices were heard. Rather than focusing on our disconnectedness, Indra suggests we focus on the miracle of our connectedness in this moment and drop the dividing lines that keep us stuck in disadvantageous, unempowered lives. In this conversation, the possibilities of putting Indra’s alternative vision into effect are palpable—this is a remarkable reimagining of how things could be where political agency works from the bottom up to effect systemic transformation for the benefit of all.
Read MoreIndra Adnan (Part 1) – Reimagining Power, Politics, and Possibilities: An Alternative Vision
Ep. 31 (Part 1 of 2) | Socio-psychotherapist and political consultant Indra Adnan brings forth a compelling, fresh, and powerfully practical alternative vision for our politics and our world, based on bringing people and communities together in relationship to effect real planetary transformation. Indra states that the solutions to our problems exist; we just need to be able to access them, and it is at the cosmo-local community agency networks (CANs) level that we can develop responses to current crises like climate and social justice most effectively. Indra discusses how the internet has dissolved the line between the private and the public space, especially for women and the underprivileged, and asks us to imagine what the public space would look like if all our voices were heard. Rather than focusing on our disconnectedness, Indra suggests we focus on the miracle of our connectedness in this moment and drop the dividing lines that keep us stuck in disadvantageous, unempowered lives. In this conversation, the possibilities of putting Indra’s alternative vision into effect are palpable—this is a remarkable reimagining of how things could be where political agency works from the bottom up to effect systemic transformation for the benefit of all.
Read MoreAlexander Beiner (Part 2) – Truthfinding, Sensemaking, the Psychedelic Renaissance, and How to Heal a Culture That Has Lost Its Soul
Ep. 30 (Part 2 of 2) | Rebel Wisdom co-founder Alexander Beiner has his finger on the cultural pulse of our times. Here he explores key challenges we face as a global community: sensemaking and truth finding in a culture that has lost its coherence as well as its sense of the divine, and what role psychedelics might play both therapeutically and spiritually in healing our culture. He discusses the need to go beyond the intellectual to find clarity and coherence, using embodied practices like meditation and inquiry, and explains how modalities such as these are an essential container for therapeutic psychedelic experiences. What if deep, spiritual, psychotherapeutic group processes were to inform political decision making? Are commodification and economics going to subvert the benefits of the psychedelic renaissance? Let’s start asking, what do we want these substances to bring to the culture, and who has the authority to decide what psychedelics are used for? Ali brings keen insight and the wisdom of a dedicated contemplative to asking the important questions and offering up some answers as well. Recorded September 27, 2021.
Read MoreAlexander Beiner (Part 1) – Truthfinding, Sensemaking, the Psychedelic Renaissance, and How to Heal a Culture That Has Lost Its Soul
Ep. 29 (Part 1 of 2) | Rebel Wisdom co-founder Alexander Beiner has his finger on the cultural pulse of our times. Here he explores key challenges we face as a global community: sensemaking and truth finding in an culture that has lost its coherence as well as its sense of the divine, and what role psychedelics might play both therapeutically and spiritually in healing our culture. He discusses the need to go beyond the intellectual to find clarity and coherence, using embodied practices like meditation and inquiry, and explains how modalities such as these are an essential container for therapeutic psychedelic experiences. What if deep, spiritual, psychotherapeutic group processes were to inform political decision making? Are commodification and economics going to subvert the benefits of the psychedelic renaissance? Let’s start asking, what do we want these substances to bring to the culture, and who has the authority to decide what psychedelics are used for? Ali brings keen insight and the wisdom of a dedicated contemplative to asking the important questions and offering up some answers as well. Recorded September 27, 2021.
Read MoreThe Moral Imperative to Help Ukraine (Part 2): Integral Perspectives on the War, Its Global Implications, and the Role of Warrior Consciousness
Ep. 23 (Part 2 of 2) | Integral leaders Kateryna Yasko, Vytautas Bučiūnas, and Bence Gánti illuminate many of the most poignant and pressing questions of our time, brought to the fore by the ongoing war in Ukraine: Can postmodern people embrace a warrior consciousness when necessary? Are Russians, brainwashed by propaganda, who explicitly support the war worthy of compassion? Can people remain sane and humane while at the same time taking up arms? How can we handle the effects of the psychological trauma that will cascade over generations? And how do we prevent the mass delusion and psychosis that is so easily propagated via modern media technology?
What are the global consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine? The trillions of dollars now being diverted to defense and military weaponry in the West are trillions of dollars that will not be spent on social programs, global health, education, climate change, and food—many people in Africa will starve as a result of this war on the breadbasket, wheat-producing Ukraine. What is wrong with democracy if its leaders can’t step up to the plate, be authentic, strong, and stand up for what is right, while autocrats do whatever they please? A powerful, heart wrenching conversation asking the right questions, pointing towards the answers. Recorded April 15, 2022.
Read MoreThe Moral Imperative to Help Ukraine (Part 1): Integral Perspectives on the War, Its Global Implications, and the Role of Warrior Consciousness
Ep. 22 (Part 1 of 2) | Integral leaders Kateryna Yasko, Vytautas Bučiūnas, and Bence Ganti illuminate many of the most poignant and pressing questions of our time, brought to the fore by the ongoing war in Ukraine: Can postmodern people embrace a warrior consciousness when necessary? Are Russians, brainwashed by propaganda, who explicitly support the war worthy of compassion? Can people remain sane and humane while at the same time taking up arms? How can we handle the effects of the psychological trauma that will cascade over generations? And how do we prevent the mass delusion and psychosis that is so easily propagated via modern media technology?
What are the global consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine? The trillions of dollars now being diverted to defense and military weaponry in the West are trillions of dollars that will not be spent on social programs, global health, education, climate change, and food—many people in Africa will starve as a result of this war on the breadbasket, wheat-producing Ukraine. What is wrong with democracy if its leaders can’t step up to the plate, be authentic, strong, and stand up for what is right, while autocrats do whatever they please? A powerful, heart wrenching conversation asking the right questions, pointing towards the answers. Recorded April 15, 2022.
Read MoreSteve McIntosh (Part 2) – Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too: Beyond the Culture War
Ep. 21 (Part 2 of 2) | Steve McIntosh, philosopher, author of the groundbreaking book Developmental Politics, and co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, outlines an extraordinary framework to make sense of our political conflicts—extraordinary in that it points to ways through and out of our persistent polarity consciousness. Steve convincingly argues our opportunity is right now: to create a synthesis, a cooperative agreement space, that transcends and includes thesis and antithesis, left and right, individual and community. Steve’s is a passionate and prophetic voice; there is hope for politics. With vertical development we can recover a common sense of truth, a common sense of goodness—transcendent ideals could become social norms. Steve ends with an invitation to listeners to investigate this new concept of cultural intelligence and the implications of the new truth: consciousness and culture co-evolve. Recorded on September 8, 2021.
Read MoreSteve McIntosh (Part 1) – Consciousness Evolves, Politics Can Too: Beyond the Culture War
Ep. 20 (Part 1 of 2) | Steve McIntosh, philosopher, author of the groundbreaking book Developmental Politics, and co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, outlines an extraordinary framework to make sense of our political conflicts—extraordinary in that it points to ways through and out of our persistent polarity consciousness. Steve convincingly argues our opportunity is right now: to create a synthesis, a cooperative agreement space, that transcends and includes thesis and antithesis, left and right, individual and community. Steve’s is a passionate and prophetic voice; there is hope for politics. With vertical development we can recover a common sense of truth, a common sense of goodness—transcendent ideals could become social norms. Steve ends with an invitation to listeners to investigate this new concept of cultural intelligence and the implications of the new truth: consciousness and culture co-evolve. Recorded on September 8, 2021.
Read MoreJonathan Rowson (Part 2) – Making Friends with Conflict, Metamodernity, Construct Awareness, and Other Ways of Facing the Current Metacrisis
Ep. 18 (Part 2 of 2) | Jonathan Rowson, brilliant, driven, articulate, shines a bright light of understanding on the metacrisis we face today, what feeds it, and what could help us find our way through. What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer? Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? Can we grow into our problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings” as the climate collapses around us? From the metaperspective to the deeply personal, Rowson shares his wisdom, including life lessons he gleaned from being a chess Grandmaster, before becoming a philosopher, research fellow, nonprofit director, and author. Recorded on November 17, 2021.
Read MoreJonathan Rowson (Part 1) – Making Friends with Conflict, Metamodernity, Construct Awareness, and Other Ways of Facing the Current Metacrisis
Ep. 17 (Part 1 of 2) | Jonathan Rowson, brilliant, driven, articulate, shines a bright light of understanding on the metacrisis we face today, what feeds it, and what could help us find our way through. What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer? Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? Can we grow into our problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings” as the climate collapses around us? From the metaperspective to the deeply personal, Rowson shares his wisdom, including life lessons he gleaned from being a chess Grandmaster, before becoming a philosopher, research fellow, nonprofit director, and author. Recorded on November 17, 2021.
Read MoreUkrainian Integral Perspectives on the Ongoing Invasion of Ukraine with Kateryna Yasko & Vytautas Bučiūnas
Ep. 16 | Kateryna Yasko and Vytautas Bučiūnas crossed the border into Lithuania three days before this conversation took place, after a five-day exodus from Kyiv, following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This conversation is a call for action and support of the incredibly brave Ukrainian people, and illuminates their willingness to fight to the death to throw out the invaders who are there to crush their freedom and make Ukraine a colony of Putin’s Russia. This is an informative, inspirational, and heartbreaking dialogue with two exceptionally insightful Integral leaders from the Ukraine—about propaganda and myth-making in our post-truth world, about integrating power, force, and love, about a new worldwide unity, and how the Integral perspective might pave the way towards world peace. Recorded March 5, 2022.
Read MoreJeff Salzman (Part 2) – Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad, and the Integral Vision
Ep. 2 (Part 2 of 2) | Culture wars, polarization, discernment versus condemnation, how our psychological development determines political attitudes and values, and how Integral perspectives help us understand them all. A candid conversation, ranging from global current events to personal spiritual turning points, with endearing, brilliant, and optimistic Integral pundit Jeff Salzman. Recorded on September 2, 2021.
Read MoreJeff Salzman (Part 1) – Polarization, Being Woke, the Universal Agenda, Mindfulness Going Bad, and the Integral Vision
Ep. 1 (Part 1 of 2) | Culture wars, polarization, discernment versus condemnation, how our psychological development determines political attitudes and values, and how Integral perspectives help us understand them all. A candid conversation, ranging from global current events to personal spiritual turning points, with endearing, brilliant, and optimistic Integral pundit Jeff Salzman. Recorded on September 2, 2021.
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