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Integral Theory
Ken Wilber
Integral Theory is a synthesizing philosophy and psychology brought to life by the world famous American philosopher and writer, Ken Wilber at the end of the 20th century. This exciting new theory that integrates body mind and spirit, in the territories of self, culture, and nature, gives us a professional synthesis of western psychology and the teachings of the great spiritual wisdom traditions. Wilber goes beyond mere eclecticism or subjective mashing: he seriously draws together hundreds of systems from all ages and cultures from around the globe, and finds the underlying common patterns, that he articulates in different models - such as the four quadrants, the levels and lines of development, and the states and types of consciousness. Creating an integral development theory that spans from infanthood through the so called „normal” adult life to spiritual awakening of the Universal Spirit or the Buddha-mind is in itself a remarkable achievement of our times, and also a necessary steps if we would like to have a global psychology and spirituality in a global time. Why not putting together the pieces of cross-cultural knowledge on body, mind, soul and spirit, and have a full spectrum psychology? Wilber did that.
Integral Theory is integral in a multiple sense. It integrates spirituality and science, or more precisely the pre-modern, modern, and post-modern ways of knowing thus creating a post-postmodern stance. With integral theory, or the AQAL model we are also able to integrate the different schools of western psychology that is a remarkable thing in itself, for those, who are tired of being scattered in science, and wish to rest under an umbrella of a theoretical unity. We believe, that what is integral for the mind, is unity for the heart. The heart feels unity, and the mind knows it, if it has an integral theoretical framework as a tool to think unity.
Integral Theory is integral in a multiple sense. It integrates spirituality and science, or more precisely the pre-modern, modern, and post-modern ways of knowing thus creating a post-postmodern stance. With integral theory, or the AQAL model we are also able to integrate the different schools of western psychology that is a remarkable thing in itself, for those, who are tired of being scattered in science, and wish to rest under an umbrella of a theoretical unity. We believe, that what is integral for the mind, is unity for the heart. The heart feels unity, and the mind knows it, if it has an integral theoretical framework as a tool to think unity.
An integral psychology gives also a great opportunity for the spiritual teachers who are typically familiar with the transpersonal realms of human reality, but less concerned with the personal and prepersonal stages, which they see as realms simply to be transcended. Many people today experience, that transcending the ego requires a great deal of work on the ego, so integrating psychotherapy and spirituality is a good idea for those, who seek unity in the science of the inner world. As spiritual people sometimes tend to look down at psychology, psychologist tend to look down on spirituality. Integral theory can provide a pacifying space, where this debate can calm, upon a reasonable theoretical understanding.
AQAL – an acronym for All Quadrants All Levels, that refers to Integral Theory - is integrating science and religion, the objective and subjective realms, meditation and psychotherapy, genuine mysticism, ecology, art, social sciences, business, healthcare, law - to name a few.
Let us quote some integral text from genuine sources, and refer you to further readings.
Starting with the words of Ken Wilber – quoted from Esbjorn-Hargens „An All-Inclusive Framework for the 21st Century” at www.integralife.com:
"The word integral means comprehensive, inclusive, non-marginalizing, embracing. Integral approaches to any field attempt to be exactly that: to include as many perspectives, styles, and methodologies as possible within a coherent view of the topic. In a certain sense, integral approaches are “meta-paradigms,” or ways to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching." – Ken Wilber
Let us quote some integral text from genuine sources, and refer you to further readings.
Starting with the words of Ken Wilber – quoted from Esbjorn-Hargens „An All-Inclusive Framework for the 21st Century” at www.integralife.com:
"The word integral means comprehensive, inclusive, non-marginalizing, embracing. Integral approaches to any field attempt to be exactly that: to include as many perspectives, styles, and methodologies as possible within a coherent view of the topic. In a certain sense, integral approaches are “meta-paradigms,” or ways to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching." – Ken Wilber
As Sean Esbjorn-Hargens continues in his introduction to Integral Theory:
„The world has never been so complex as it is right now — it is mind boggling and at times emotionally overwhelming. Not to mention, the world only seems to get more complex and cacophonous as we confront the major problems of our day: extreme religious fundamentalism, environmental degradation, failing education systems, existential alienation, and volatile financial markets. Never have there been so many disciplines and worldviews to consider and consult in addressing these issues: a cornucopia of perspectives. But without a way of linking, leveraging, correlating, and aligning these perspectives, their contribution to the problems we face are largely lost or compromised. We are now part of a global community and we need a framework — global in vision yet also anchored in the minutiae of our daily lives — that can hold the variety of valid perspectives that have something to offer our individual efforts and collective solution building.
„The world has never been so complex as it is right now — it is mind boggling and at times emotionally overwhelming. Not to mention, the world only seems to get more complex and cacophonous as we confront the major problems of our day: extreme religious fundamentalism, environmental degradation, failing education systems, existential alienation, and volatile financial markets. Never have there been so many disciplines and worldviews to consider and consult in addressing these issues: a cornucopia of perspectives. But without a way of linking, leveraging, correlating, and aligning these perspectives, their contribution to the problems we face are largely lost or compromised. We are now part of a global community and we need a framework — global in vision yet also anchored in the minutiae of our daily lives — that can hold the variety of valid perspectives that have something to offer our individual efforts and collective solution building.
The book that helped me
In 1977 American philosopher Ken Wilber published his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness. This groundbreaking book integrated the major schools of psychology along a continuum of increasing complexity, with different schools focused on various levels within that spectrum. Over the next 30 years he continued with this integrative impulse, writing books in areas such as cultural anthropology, philosophy, sociology of religion, physics, healthcare, environmental studies, science and religion, and postmodernism. To date, Wilber has published over two dozen books and in the process has created integral theory. Wilber’s books have been translated into more than 24 languages, which gives you an idea as to the global reach and utility of integral theory. Since its inception by Wilber, integral theory has become one of the foremost approaches within the larger fields of integral studies and meta-theory. This prominent role is in large part the result of the wide range of applications that integral theory has proven itself efficacious in as well as the work of many scholar-practitioners who have and are contributing to the further development of integral theory.
Integral theory weaves together the significant insights from all the major human disciplines of knowledge, including the natural and social sciences as well as the arts and humanities. As a result of its comprehensive nature, integral theory is being used in over 35 distinct academic and professional fields such as art, healthcare, organizational management, ecology, congregational ministry, economics, psychotherapy, law, and feminism. In addition, integral theory has been used to develop an approach to personal transformation and integration called Integral Life Practice (ILP). The ILP framework allows individuals to systematically explore and develop multiple aspects of themselves such as their physical body, emotional intelligence, cognitive awareness, interpersonal relationships, and spiritual wisdom. Because integral theory systematically includes more of reality and interrelates it more thoroughly than any other current approach to assessment and solution building, it has the potential to be more successful in dealing with the complex problems we face in the 21st century.
Integral theory provides individuals and organizations with a powerful framework that is suitable to virtually any context and can be used at any scale. Why? Because it organizes all existing approaches to and disciplines of analysis and action, and it allows a practitioner to select the most relevant and important tools, techniques, and insights. Consequently, integral theory is being used successfully in a wide range of contexts such as the intimate setting of one-on-one psychotherapy as well as in the United Nations “Leadership for Results” program, which is a global response to HIV/AIDS used in over 30 countries. Towards the end of this article I provide additional examples of integral theory in action to illustrate the variety of contexts in which people are finding the integral framework useful.
„Wilber first began to use the word “integral” to refer to his approach after the publication of his seminal book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality in 1995. It was in this book that he introduced the quadrant model, which has since become iconic of his work in general and integral theory in particular. Wilber’s quadrant model is often referred to as the AQAL model, with AQAL (pronounced ah-qwal) standing for all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, and all types. These five elements signify some of the most basic repeating patterns of reality. Thus, by including all of these patterns you “cover the bases” well, ensuring that no major part of any solution is left out or neglected.”
Integral theory provides individuals and organizations with a powerful framework that is suitable to virtually any context and can be used at any scale. Why? Because it organizes all existing approaches to and disciplines of analysis and action, and it allows a practitioner to select the most relevant and important tools, techniques, and insights. Consequently, integral theory is being used successfully in a wide range of contexts such as the intimate setting of one-on-one psychotherapy as well as in the United Nations “Leadership for Results” program, which is a global response to HIV/AIDS used in over 30 countries. Towards the end of this article I provide additional examples of integral theory in action to illustrate the variety of contexts in which people are finding the integral framework useful.
„Wilber first began to use the word “integral” to refer to his approach after the publication of his seminal book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality in 1995. It was in this book that he introduced the quadrant model, which has since become iconic of his work in general and integral theory in particular. Wilber’s quadrant model is often referred to as the AQAL model, with AQAL (pronounced ah-qwal) standing for all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, and all types. These five elements signify some of the most basic repeating patterns of reality. Thus, by including all of these patterns you “cover the bases” well, ensuring that no major part of any solution is left out or neglected.”
To read the full text of the Integral Theory by Sean Esbjorn-Hargens, please visit integrallife.com at the following link:
http://integrallife.com/node/37539
Other main resources for Integral Theory, practice and community: