Journal of Integral Theory and Practice 2012—Vol. 7, No. 1

Table of contents :
Front Cover, JITP 7(1)
Table of Contents
EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION
In this Issue
References
WISDOM: An Integral View
The Goals of this Article
Historical Approaches To Wisdom
Ontological And Epistemological Queries About Wisdom
Ontological Questions
Epistemological Questions
Integrating Integral Theory and Wisdom Studies
The Four Quadrants and the “Location” of Wisdom
Development: Levels and Lines
Lines of Development
What is the Relationship Between Development and Wisdom?
Does Wisdom Increase with Age?
Wisdom as the Product of Interactions Between Psychological Capacities
1. Wisdom as a Combination of Capacities
2. Balance Theories
3. Integration Hypotheses
Wisdom as an Emergent of Higher Levels of Multiple Lines
Wisdom as a Distinct Developmental Line
Summary of Levels and Lines
States of Mind
Limitations of Recognizing and Comprehending Wisdom
Types
The Varieties of Wisdom
Practical Wisdom
Subjective Wisdom
The Varieties of Sagehood
Conclusions about the Varieties of Wisdom
Conclusion
The Basic Moral Intuition
References
INTRODUCING THE INTEGRAL CUBE: Evolutionary Motion and Involutionary Tension in Practice
A New Model of Self
Evolutionary Motion and Involutionary Tension
Perspective Taking and Perspective Granting
A Continuum of Affect
From Metatheory to Micro-Accommodation
Translation is Not Inert: The Isometric Nature of Feelings
Revisiting Translation and Transformation
The Isometric Nature of the Self
Isometric Feelings
Static and Dynamic Translation
The Feel of Growth
A Continuum of Affect and Self-Perception
Revisiting Eros (Phobos) and Agape (Thanatos)
Aligning Feelings and Structures
The Subject/Object Emotional Algebra
Conclusion
Notes
Appendix A
References
INTEGRAL SCIENTIFIC PLURALISM
1. Wilber’s Eight Zones as Eight Distinct Horizontal Realms
2. Integral Scientific Pluralism
3. Integral Scientific Modularity
4. The Health-Pathology Duality and Science
Conclusion
Notes
References
EDUCATING THE ESSENTIAL SELF: The AQAL Model in Socially Conscious Curricula
Developing Social Conscience Courses
Research on Social Conscience Education
Integral Theory in the Social Conscience Classroom
AQAL in a Community Gathering
Conclusion
Notes
References
INTEGRAL THEORY AND E-PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT: A Model for Professional Development
The Case for Integral ePortfolios
Creating Integrally Informed ePortfolios
Selected ePortfolio Pages and Contents
The Index Page
The Integral Inquiry Page
The Integral Reflective Statement
Technical, Aesthetic, and Ethical Considerations
Recommendations
Conclusion
Notes
Appendix A
References
ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION: Integrally Connected
Finding Integral Connections
Educational Approaches to Sustainability
Feeling Large Numbers
Toward Sustainable Mathematics Education
References
DISCOVERING AN INTEGRAL CIVIC CONSCIOUSNESS IN A GLOBAL AGE: Global Problems, Global Governance, and Denial
The Civic Holarchy
Integral Civic Consciousness
The Nationcentric Worldview
The Postmodern Era and the Emergent Low Vision-logic Leading Edge
Efforts to Fill the Governance Gap
Governmental Approaches: The Global Institutions
Nongovernmental Approaches
Green Altitude Nongovernmental Approaches
Teal Altitude Nongovernmental Approaches
The Picture Today
The Water
The Green Altitude View
The Teal Altitude View
Conscious Capitalism
Commons Trusts
Destructive International Competition
Race to the Bottom and Regulatory Chill
The Universal Barrier to Evolutionary Progress
Pseudo-democracy and the Legitimation Crisis
Design Criteria for Worldcentric Civic Action
The Nation-state: From Thanatos to Eros
Global Cooperative Governance: Denial in the Face of Necessity
Notes
References
INTEGRATED RECOVERY THERAPY: Toward an Integrally Informed Individual Psychotherapy for Addicted Populations
Beyond the Biopsychosocial Model
Integrated Recovery Theory
Integral Theory
The Quadrants
Upper-Right Quadrant
Upper-Left Quadrant
Lower-Left Quadrant
Lower-Right Quadrant
Lines
Levels
States
Types
Mindfulness
Positive Psychology
Twelve-Step Philosophy
Integrated Recovery Therapy Praxis
The Six Recovery Dimensions of Integrated Recovery Therapy
1. Physical Recovery Dimension
2. Mental Recovery Dimension
3. Emotional Recovery Dimension
4. Spiritual Recovery Dimension
5. Social Recovery Dimension
6. Environmental Recovery Dimension
Practicing an Integrated Recovery Program
Transformation and Translation in Recovery
Conclusion
Notes
References
THE POSTCONVENTIONAL PERSONALITY: Book Review
Assessing Advanced Personality Development
Stage Development Related to States
Summary
Notes
References

Citation preview

Vol. 7, No. 1

Journal of

INTEGRAL THEORY and PRACTICE

A Postdisciplinary Discourse for Global Action

Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

March 2012 Volume 7 Number 1

Editorial Executive Editor’s Introduction – Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

v

Articles Wisdom: An Integral View – Roger Walsh

1

Introducing the Integral Cube: Evolutionary Motion and Involutionary Tension in Practice – David M. Zeitler

22

Integral Scientific Pluralism – Kevin J. Bowman

54

Educating the Essential Self: The AQAL Model in Socially Conscious Curricula – Martin E. Schmidt

67

Integral Theory and ePortfolio Development: A Model for Professional Development – Sheri R. Klein

81

Ecological Sustainability and Mathematics Education  – Moshe Renert and Brent Davis

94

Discovering an Integral Civic Consciousness in a Global Age: Global Problems, Global Governance, and Denial  – John M. Bunzl Integrated Recovery Therapy: Toward an Integrally Informed Individual Psychotherapy for Addicted Populations – Guy Pierre du Plessis

March 2012

Book Review The Postconventional Personality: Assessing, Researching, and Theorizing Higher Development, by Angela H. Pfaffenberger, Paul W. Marko, and Allan Combs, Eds. – Terri O’Fallon www.integralinstitute.org www.integralinstitute.org

www.metaintegral.org

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JOURNAL of INTEGRAL THEORY and PRACTICE

Journal of Integral Theory and Practice is published quarterly by: Integral Institute 2503 Walnut Street, #300 Boulder, CO 80302 United States of America Journal of Integral Theory and Practice (JITP) is the official source for material related to Integral Theory and its application. The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles, case studies, integral research, critical dialogues, book reviews, and conference reports. JITP embraces a post-metaphysical and post-disciplinary perspective that is dedicated to articulating the ways ontology, epistemology, and methodology interact and co-arise across various scales of time and space. Authors emphasize the perspectival nature of reality, which emerges as first-, second-, and third-person perspectives interact with each other to enact phenomena. JITP is indexed by EBSCO (Humanities International Complete), ProQuest, Scopus, and Ulrich’s.

www.integralinstitute.org Integral Institute provides research and leadership for humanity’s most pressing problems. Through education and events that foster intentional, behavioral, cultural, and social self-awareness, the Institute aims to help leaders from all arenas to improve the human condition. Among the primary goals of the Institute is research of complex, global issues facing humanity in the 21st century. Climate change, evolutionary forms of capitalism, and cultural conflict in political, scientific, or religious domains are examples of problems to which the Institute hopes to bring new clarity.

www.metaintegral.org MetaIntegral Foundation is a philanthropic and research organization devoted to creating a more ethical, sustainable, and psychologically mature humanity. The Foundation is engaged in three types of initiatives: 1) global initia-

tives that represent the leading edge of human thinking on how we respond to complex, multidimensional problems; 2) academic initiatives that showcase how integral frameworks effectively communicate and coordinate across cross-disciplinary boundaries; and 3) center initiatives, via eight application centers, that sponsor integral initiatives in a variety of disciplines. ©Integral

Institute, 2012

No part of any article may be reproduced in any form without permission, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism and discussion. The opinions expressed in articles, reviews, and other text material are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the editors, editorial board, or publisher. The editors and publisher deny any responsibility or liability for statements and opinions expressed by the authors. Accuracy of reference data is the responsibility of authors. ISSN: 1944-5083 (print) ISSN: 1944-5091 (digital)

Subscription Rates 2012 Rates United States $US

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Digital subscription options are also available. Please contact the journal at [email protected].

Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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EDITORIAL STAFF Editor-in-Chief

Ken Wilber

Chief Executive Officer

Robb Smith

Executive Editor

Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

Illustrator

Brad Reynolds

Managing Editor

Lynwood Lord



BOARD OF EDITORS John Astin, Ph.D. Medicine California Pacific Medical Center

Thomas Goddard, Ph.D., J.D. Healthcare George Mason University

Kevin Bowman, Ph.D. Economics Augsburg College

Olen Gunnlaugson, Ph.D. Leadership/Management Université Laval

Allan Combs, Ph.D. Transformative Studies California Institute of Integral Studies

Gail Hochachka, M.A. International Development Drishti–Centre for Integral Action

Susanne Cook-Greuter, Ed.D. Psychology Harthill USA John Dupuy, M.A. Recovery Integral Recovery, LLC Brian Eddy, Ph.D. Ecosystems Science Natural Resources Canada Lynne Feldman, Esq. Education New York Integral, Inc.

Joanne Hunt, M.M.S, M.C.C. Coaching Integral Coaching Canada, Inc. Elliott Ingersoll, Ph.D. Psychotherapy Cleveland State University Heather Larkin, Ph.D. Social Service Catholic University of America Andre Marquis, Ph.D., LPC Psychotherapy University of Rochester

Mark Fischler, J.D. Law Plymouth State University

Randy Martin, Ph.D. Criminology Indiana University of Pennsylvania

John Forman, OblSB Christian Ministry Mt. Angel Abbey

Cynthia McEwen, M.A. Sustainability Avastone Consulting

Marc Gafni, Ph.D. Spirituality Integral Life Spiritual Center

Bert Parlee, Ph.D. Psychotherapy John F. Kennedy University

Jennifer Gidley, Ph.D. Psychology, Education, Futures RMIT University

Terry Patten, M.A. Practice Integral Institute

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Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

Gerald Porter, Ph.D. Education State University of New York John Records, J.D. Social Service Committee on the Shelterless Michael Schwartz, Ph.D. Art Augusta State University Simon Senzon, D.C., M.A. Subtle Energies John F. Kennedy University Elizabeth Smith, DSW Social Service Catholic University of America Paul van Schaik Sustainability iSchaik Development Associates Joseph Voros, Ph.D. Science Swinburne University Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.d. Psychiatry University of California, Irvine David Zeitler, M.A. Psychotherapy John F. Kennedy University Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D. Ecology University of Colorado, Boulder

Journal of

Volume 7 • Number 1 • March 2012

INTEGRAL THEORY and PRACTICE A Postdisciplinary Discourse for Global Action

EDITORIAL v

Executive Editor’s Introduction – Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

ARTICLES 1

Wisdom: An Integral View – Roger Walsh

22 54 67

Introducing the Integral Cube: Evolutionary Motion and Involutionary Tension in Practice – David M. Zeitler

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Integral Theory and ePortfolio Development: A Model for Professional Development – Sheri R. Klein

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Ecological Sustainability and Mathematics Education – Moshe Renert and Brent Davis

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Discovering an Integral Civic Consciousness in a Global Age: Global Problems, Global Governance, and Denial – John M. Bunzl

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Integrated Recovery Therapy: Toward an Integrally Informed Individual Psychotherapy for Addicted Populations – Guy Pierre du Plessis

Integral Scientific Pluralism – Kevin J. Bowman Educating the Essential Self: The AQAL Model in Socially Conscious Curricula – Martin E. Schmidt

BOOK REVIEW 149

The Postconventional Personality: Assessing, Researching, and Theorizing Higher Development, by Angela H. Pfaffenberger, Paul W. Marko, and Allan Combs, Eds. – Terri O’Fallon

Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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JOURNAL of INTEGRAL THEORY and PRACTICE Aims and Organization

Integral Theory is a meta-framework that draws on the key insights of the world’s knowledge traditions. The awareness gained from drawing on all perspectives allows integral practitioners to bring new depth, clarity, and compassion to every level of human endeavor—from unlocking individual potential to finding new approaches to global-scale problems. Articles published in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice (JITP) represent explorations in several modes of discourse: philosophical, theoretical, pragmatic, experiential, and critical. JITP is committed to the refinement, development, and expansion of Integral Theory.

Instructions for Authors

JITP follows American Psychological Association (APA) style guidelines. Visit www.integraljournal. org for full submission guidelines and a glossary of Integral Theory terminology. An abbreviated outline of the manuscript review process is listed below. In light of the fact that both Spiral Dynamics and the Integral model sometimes use a color scheme to describe levels of development, we request that authors specify which color scheme they are using (e.g., orange altitude vs. orange vMeme). Altitude can be used to refer to any developmental line (e.g., orange cognition, orange self-identity,

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etc.), while Spiral Dynamics, in the context of Integral Theory, specifically refers to levels of values development.

Review Process Initial Review

Authors must submit articles to Lynwood Lord at [email protected]. In cases where authors do not adhere to JITP submission guidelines, manuscripts will be returned with a request that all components be provided. Theoretical changes, copy editing, and structural suggestions may be suggested at this stage.

Peer Review

The editorial team then assigns manuscripts to external reviewers. Information from submitted manuscripts may be systematically collected and analyzed as part of research to improve the quality of the editorial review process. Authors are expected to revise their article in light of peer-review comments and provide a revised draft within one month. Changes should be made using the track changes feature in Microsoft Word, so our editorial team can quickly identify edits.

Theoretical Review

Once a draft with peer-review comments incorporated is received, a theory call will be scheduled with Ken Wilber, Editor-in-Chief. Wilber

Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

will offer constructive criticism and theoretical clarifications. This is a good opportunity to learn and refine your understanding of Integral Theory. The call will be recorded and a link to download the audio will be provided within a week.

Editorial Review Accepted manuscripts are edited in accordance with JITP editorial style.

Author Review Authors will be e-mailed a proof and will have one week to suggest changes.

Critical Presentations

Authors are encouraged to explore hypothetical and critical views in relationship to Integral Theory. When presenting hypothetical material (e.g., the possibility of a new line of development in one of the quadrants), authors should make it clear that a suggestive addition that is not currently part of Integral Theory is being offered, and then provide as much evidence, argumentation, and supportive material as possible to substantiate their position. When presenting critical material, authors must represent the components and claims of Integral Theory within an academically acceptable range of interpretation. JITP views the process of hypothetical and critical engagement as essential to the development of Integral Theory.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

O

ne of the things that I love about working on JITP is the ongoing inquiry into how to leverage the various institutional changes that the journal has traveled through to uplevel the quality of the publication itself (e.g., accessibility, reputation, subscription prices, visibility). In this sense, the journal has been changing over the years as much as its institutional context has been shifting. I am proud that with each horizontal change (institutional home and partnerships) there has been a seized opportunity for a vertical change (journal quality). We have moved from just being at Integral Institute (II) to then being partnered with Integral Life to being housed at II and partnered with SUNY Press, and we have now left SUNY and are commencing 2012 in a new configuration. Beginning with this issue, JITP is a joint venture between Integral Institute and MetaIntegral Foundation, with the latter assuming the roles and responsibilities that SUNY held (printing, sales, distribution, online presence, etc.). Since all readers of this journal are familiar with II, let me take a moment to briefly introduce MetaIntegral. I have been building the Foundation over the past two years and officially incorporated it last year. We will be launching our website (www.metaintegral.org) in the coming months. MetaIntegral Foundation is an organization that enables the global community of integrally trained professionals to collaborate and enact worldcentric leadership at every scale. Integral Theory is arguably the most widely applied metatheory and is actively being applied in over 50 disciplines. However, there is no platform for the professional exchange of best (or “next”) practices nor is there a reliable source of funding for integral projects. Thus, the Foundation has established eight funded professional application centers, a $10 million Integral Academic Fund, and a $100 million Integral Planet Endowment. Consequently, MetaIntegral Foundation will establish itself as a premier global platform for integral discourse and action. It will cultivate comprehensive and innovative initiatives and communities of practice, and provide support, interconnection, and social and technological capital for the integral movement. It is worth noting that the MetaIntegral Foundation is one of three organizations that comprise an interorganizational social entrepreneurial ecosystem. The other two companies are the MetaIntegral Academy, Inc., a professional training institute, and MetaIntegral Associates, Inc., a consulting firm. These three organizations will work together to alleviate suffering across the planet and cultivate a more ethical, sustainable, and psychologically mature humanity. MetaIntegral will do this through the professional application of Integral Theory to 100 disciplines over the next 1,000 years. In the coming months, we will be launching a new website for JITP as part of the MetaIntegral Foundation website. This is a very exciting development, as we have wanted to upgrade our web presence for years. This new site will give us more control and freedom over how to sell the journal and showcase our authors and exciting content. So stay tuned, and thanks for all the patience our readers, subscribers, and supporters have shown over the past few months as we have transitioned from SUNY as our distributor to MetaIntegral Foundation serving that role.

In this Issue We open this issue with a new piece by Roger Walsh: “Wisdom: An Integral View.” Given that Walsh is one of the elders of Integral Theory it feels quite appropriate to have him initiating an integral inquiry into wisdom. This article is the result of an ongoing research project Walsh has conducted for several years, and also Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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provides a window into a recent anthology he has edited for the SUNY Press series in Integral Theory. In this forthcoming volume, Walsh showcases leading voices from various spiritual and philosophical traditions discussing wisdom. Throughout this article Walsh does a beautiful job of highlighting how wisdom studies can benefit from an integral approach. He highlights a number of key ontological and epistemological questions about wisdom and uses the five elements of Integral Theory to shine a light on how we might better understand wisdom and its varieties. Reading this article will make you smarter, of course, but it also just might make you wiser. The next two articles are by seasoned integral practitioners who have done much to develop aspects of Integral Theory as well as apply it to their respective fields of psychotherapy and economics. Both of the articles here do some heavy theoretical lifting and carve out new territory for Integral Theory. First we have David M. Zeitler’s “Introducing the Integral Cube: Evolutionary Motion and Involutionary Tension in Practice.” In this article, Zeitler takes us on a tour of what the calls the “Integral Cube.” In short, the cube is the result of adding a third axis to the Wilber-Combs Lattice devoted to the continuum of affect. Not only is Zeitler’s presentation of the cube engaging and mind-bending, but it also serves as a canvas for creating a picture of the importance of including emotions in our understanding of transformation and development. Zeitler has a lot going on in this article and most people will have to read it two or three times to grasp the many layers of integral thought and practice he is developing. I love how Zeitler is equally comfortable with metatheory and micro-practice. Reading this article was like opening a large window and seeing a whole new landscape of integral possibilities unfolding in front of me. Second we have Kevin J. Bowman’s “Integral Scientific Pluralism.” In this piece, Bowman builds on Wilber’s Integral Methodological Pluralism (IMP) and its associated eight zones and my own Integral Pluralism (Esbjörn-Hargens, 2010). While I am not yet convinced of the value of using the polarity of internal-external over inside-outside (in all contexts), I applaud the fact that he does. It feels essential to have these kinds of challenges and reframings within Integral Theory to create a healthy discourse. One of the things I love most about Bowman’s article is Figure 2 (p. 58), where he effectively combines what I call the Who x How x What of enactment with each of the eight zones of IMP. This simple but full illustration has many interesting implications for Integral Research. In this light, Bowman introduces Integral Scientific Modularity, which serves to help researchers and scientists be more aware of what they are and are not including in their studies. I also value how Bowman brings into relief the role of polarities within Integral Theory and introduces new ones such as health-pathology. Beena Sharma, an organizational development expert, has been working at this intersection of polarities and Integral Theory and I feel it is an important thread to pursue. As is often the case with Bowman’s writings (2008, 2010a, 2010b, 2011), he introduces insightful and worthwhile concepts and frameworks that further Integral Theory. This article is no exception. In fact, Bowman points out that several of the new concepts introduced here are being more fully developed and will be presented in two forthcoming articles in JITP. Personally, I cannot wait to see where Bowman takes us next. While the previous two articles were noteworthy in terms of their contributions to theory, the next three are particularly valuable in terms of their contributions to integral applications within education. We begin with Martin E. Schmidt’s “Educating the Essential Self: The AQAL Model in Socially Conscious Curricula.” Schmidt provides an inspiring example of international high school students in Hong Kong working with the AQAL model within two courses as well as part of an all-school assembly (a recording of which can viewed at www.integraljournal.org/Public/AQAL_Essential.mov). This article is rich in its contribution to curriculum design as well as highlighting how an integral approach to education can foster socially conscious awareness. Throughout the article he gives verbatim quotes from students and presents concrete examples of what he did and the way it was received by students and faculty. One of the things that I took away from this article is that the AQAL model can still make a powerful impact when presented in a simplified form. Next, we have Sheri R. Klein’s “Integral Theory and ePortfolio Development: A Model for Profesvi

Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

sional Development.” Here Klein presents her work around the creation and use of integral ePortfolios for professional educators. While her article is clearly valuable to educators making use of portfolios either in hard copy or in electronic expressions, I feel it is also valuable for practically anyone who is looking for an integral way of holding together numerous forms of media and content. For instance, I can see Klein’s work being extended to student applications, to final project presentations within capstone courses, and so on. Her article also raises some important questions about portfolios and their purpose and possibility. And I love how her approach provides a useful way of weaving features of Web 2.0 into an educational context. Following Klein’s piece we have Moshe Renert and Brent Davis’ article, “Ecological Sustainability and Mathematics Education.” This article was presented at the Integral Theory Conference in 2010. One of the features of this article that I really appreciate is how they have seamlessly linked sustainability, math, and education. This alone provides glimmers of the meta-disciplinary nature of Integral Theory. In particular, I love how they use an integral approach to make the mathematics of ecological issues (e.g., climate change) relevant and accessible to students. The way they approach “feeling large numbers” is brilliant and echoes the embodied cognition research of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1999). I feel Integral Theory, with its understanding of the relationship between first-person perspectives (1p) and third-person perspectives (3p), is particularly well positioned to support the development of practices of “feeling large numbers.” The more we can locate abstract 3p concepts and numbers in our embodied 1p experience, the more meaningful those 3p realities will be—and Integral Theory is capable of demonstrating the distance between 3p and 1p is not as great as we might initially expect. In addition to their example of “feeling large numbers,” Renert and Davis provide several other examples of how integral thinking can help build transdisciplinary bridges between the fields of sustainability and mathematics. The last two articles in this issue come from authors who have published before in the pages of JITP. First we have John M. Bunzl’s “Discovering an Integral Civic Consciousness in a Global Age: Global Problems, Global Governance, and Denial.” In this article, Bunzl explores the ways in which international agencies and transnational efforts are compromised in their worldcentric intent by the nationalistic commitments of their representatives. To explore this “governance gap” and its implications for global governance, Bunzl posits a civic line of development in the Lower-Left and Lower-Right quadrants. In doing so, Bunzl does great job of diagnosing a key challenge worldcentric governance faces and provides a number of starting points for considering how we might remedy this issue. He finishes by proposing some design criteria for “worldcentric civic action.” It is this kind of specific detail-driven analysis that has made Bunzl’s contributions to Integral Politics so valuable to date (see Bunzl 2009, in press). Next we have Guy Pierre du Plessis’ “Integrated Recovery Therapy: Toward an Integrally Informed Individual Psychotherapy for Addicted Populations.” Integral approaches to recovery and addiction have been showcased a number of times in JITP and this article adds nicely to the growing literature in this area. One of the things that this article adds to the discussion thus far is Du Plessis’ focus on a model of Integral Psychotherapy with addicts. Thus, this article in some ways is an integration of the fields of Integral Recovery and Integral Psychotherapy. As with Du Plessis’ other work in this area (2010, in press), this article provides some clear examples of what integrated recovery work consists of. His approach identifies six recovery dimensions that produce a “multiperspectival-hexagonal lens” from which to view a client’s progress. One of the topic areas I was particularly interested in that Du Plessis explores is the relationship between developmental stages of psychological growth and the stages or phases of addiction and recovery. While he does not offer anything conclusive, Du Plessis’ approach will be instructive for integral practitioners struggling to understand the relationship between developmental stages and chronological phases. In contrast to “stages and states,” the whole realm of “stages and phases” has really yet to be explored in Integral Theory. The other feature of Du Plessis’ work I appreciate is how he uses Integral Theory to recontextualize Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and 12-Step philosophy. While I also value the non-AA approaches to recovery, AA (and its affiliates such as Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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Narcotics Anonymous) continues to be the most well-known and engaged path for recovery. Thus, I believe there is much mainstream value in interfacing Integral Theory with the philosophy and methods of AA. We conclude the issue with a book review by developmental researcher Terri O’Fallon on a recent publication: The Postconventional Personality: Assessing, Researching, and Theorizing Higher Development (SUNY Press, 2011). This book is notable in that there is relatively little published on the Sentence Completion Test (SCT) and its associated tests. Given the value Integral Theory places on constructive-developmental stages, especially the postformal stages, this book is an important read for integral scholar-practitioners. O’Fallon does a great job of engaging the contents of the book and drawing on her own extensive experience as a researcher of the farthest reaches of human maturity. In the process she raises a number of key issues that need to be better addressed by researchers concerned with postconventional development and measurement. She also spends some time exploring the relationship between “stages and states.” Throughout the review we benefit from O’Fallon’s astute observations and insightful questions. Even if you have read the book you are going to want to read this review. So welcome to the first issue of 2012! We feel this is a particularly strong issue of JITP in that it showcases work that is establishing new trajectories of theory-building, further develops one of the key fields of integral applications (namely Integral Education), deepens the applied work of our established authors, and provides a highly relevant book review for our readers. This is the kind of breadth and depth that we aim for in each issue, and I am proud to report that all of the issues lined up for 2012 have this same mixture of content. All in all, 2012 promises to be a great year for our readers­, not to mention we have a new website on the way.

REFERENCES Bowman, K. J. (2008). Integral neoclassical economic growth. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 3(4), 17-38. Bowman, K.J. (2010a). The financial crisis of 2008– 2009: An integral political-economic analysis. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(3), 39-67. Bowman, K.J. (2010b). Integral political economy. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(3), 1-27. Bowman, K.J. (2011). Holarchically embedding integral political economy: Helping to synthesize major schools of economics. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 6(2), 1-29. Bunzl, J. (2009). Solving climate change: Achieving a noospheric agreement. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 4(4), 121-140. Bunzl, J. (in press). Transcending first-tier values in achieving binding, democratic, global gover-

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nance. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice. Du Plessis, G.P. (2010). The integrated recovery model for addiction treatment and recovery. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(3), 68-85. Du Plessis, G.P. (in press). Toward an integral model of addiction: By means of integral methodological pluralism as a metatheoretical and integrative conceptual framework. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice. Esbjörn-Hargens, S. (2010). An ontology of climate change: Integral pluralism and the enactment of multiple objects. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(1), 143-174. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York, NY: Basic Books. Pfaffenberger, A.H., Marko, P.W., & Combs, A. (Eds.). (2011). The postconventional personality: Assessing, researching, and theorizing higher development. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Samsara, Cyclic Existence



Tashi Mannox/tashimannox.com

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WISDOM An Integral View Roger Walsh

ABSTRACT Wisdom is vitally important to individual and collective well-being yet has been almost completely ignored in the modern Western world. This article uses the Integral framework to integrate Western, cross-cultural, and contemplative perspectives in exploring topics such as the nature and definition of wisdom, whether there are different types of wisdom, the relationship between wisdom and development, and contemplative methods for cultivating wisdom. An argument is made that people’s abilities to acquire, recognize, and utilize wisdom depend on their developmental stage as well as the range of states of consciousness they can access. Finally, using an integral approach, the article demonstrates how philosophical, psychological, religious, and contemplative strands of wisdom studies can be woven together. KEY WORDS epistemology; ethics; human development; ontology; wisdom

Happy are those who find wisdom…. She is more precious than jewels, And nothing you desire can compare with her…. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace…. Get wisdom, get insight: do not forget. – The Bible (Proverbs 3:13, 17; 4:5)

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he enormity and variety of the threats confronting humankind are all too obvious, and responding to them successfully will require all our resources, both inner and outer. One of the most fundamental and important responses will be to better understand and develop human virtues: qualities and capacities such as ethics, care, compassion, and wisdom. For the remarkable thing about our current global crises is that most of them can be traced to a lack of just these qualities. Given the importance of virtues—in our times and in all times—you would assume that researching them would be a high cultural and academic priority. But you would be wrong! With certain exceptions, such as the philosophical investigation of ethics, the virtues have usually been regarded as too “soft” and fuzzy to be respectable research topics. Wisdom in particular has suffered remarkable neglect. In fact, when I asked the chairman of philosophy at my university for reading recommendations, he gave a startling reply: “Well, we made a great start 2,500 years ago, but the topic has been pretty dead for the last 2,000 years.” That is a remarkable statement, given that we are talking about one of the most profound and important of all human qualities, and given that its presence or absence may decide the fate of both our species and our planet. Fortunately, things are beginning to change, and in the past two decades psychological research on wisdom has finally begun. Yes, the research is limited in many ways; ways that will be described later, but at least the process has begun. Correspondence: Roger Walsh, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California Medical School, Irvine, CA 92697. E-mail: [email protected]. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2012, 7(1), pp. 1–21

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The Goals of this Article This article has eight goals. The first is simply to encourage the renaissance of interest in wisdom. The second is to integrate integral and wisdom studies. Current research on wisdom consists of a patchwork of disparate approaches, and we have also inherited diverse philosophical, psychological, religious, and contemplative contributions. Integral Theory therefore offers a much-needed overarching conceptual framework that can compare approaches and begin to situate and integrate them into a larger picture. A third aim is to clarify assumptions about the nature of wisdom, since many studies describe and define wisdom rather fuzzily, leaving crucial assumptions unarticulated. A related aim is to provide and explicate a new definition of wisdom. Another major goal is to identify and differentiate the varieties of wisdom. We are heirs to a 2,500year-old Western philosophical division of wisdom into two types: sophia and phronesis (theoretical and practical). Contemporary researchers seem to have implicitly accepted this category system, even though it has major problems. For example, the exact nature of sophia and phronesis, as well as the distinctions between them, are unclear. The terms have not been precisely defined and have been employed in different ways by different philosophers (Curnow, 1999, 2011). In addition, the Western philosophical tradition has given little account of the mental processes, such as intuition and conceptual analysis, at work in the development and expression of different kinds of wisdom. A further and extremely important problem with our inherited category system is that contemplative traditions point to an additional, and radically different, kind of wisdom: a transconceptual seeing into the nature of self and reality. A sixth goal for the article is to clarify the relationship between wisdom and development. Many researchers assume that it is associated with higher levels of development, but the nature of this association remains rather vague. The seventh goal is to introduce cross-cultural and contemplative perspectives to Western studies. Contemporary researchers have relied almost exclusively on Western perspectives and approaches. Yet wisdom has been a worldwide pursuit throughout history, and religious-philosophical systems such as Judaism, Vedanta, and Confucianism, as well as psychologies such as Buddhist Abhidharma, have examined wisdom for thousands of years (Walsh, in press). Even more importantly, the world’s contemplative traditions have developed systematic disciplines to cultivate several kinds of wisdom. The eighth and final goal of this article is therefore an encompassing one: to point toward the possibility of a global and integral theory of, and approach to, wisdom.

Historical Approaches To Wisdom So what is wisdom? This is an ancient question, and the earliest recorded answers are found in India’s Vedas and the proverbial advice of Egyptian, Hebrew, and Mesopotamian literature (Crenshaw, 2010). In later revealed traditions, a recurrent theme is that wisdom is revealed as a divine gift, and can be cultivated by pondering and aligning one’s life with it. For example, in traditional Islam, “Wisdom derives from placing the revelation from God at the center of one’s life, reflecting on it, and making it the basis of one’s action” (Thomas, 2006, p. 439). Likewise, in Christianity, “Christians are thus considered to be ‘wise’ to the extent that their words and actions reflect and conform to the teaching and practice of Jesus…” (Dysinger, in press). However, revelation-centered wisdoms are only one form of religious sagacity. All authentic religions—including revealed traditions such as Christianity and Islam—contain contemplative or mystical branches. These are crucially important because they practice contemplative disciplines (e.g., meditation, contemplation, and yoga) that foster an array of psychological and spiritual skills such as concentration, insight, emotional maturity, and wisdom (Walsh, 1979, 1983). When these skills mature, they result in maturation to transpersonal states and stages that can culminate in a direct insight into reality. This insight yields a 2

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radically different (transrational, transconceptual, or transcendental) kind of wisdom known, for example, as jnana (Hinduism), prajna (Buddhism), ma‛rifah (Islam), or gnosis (Christianity) (Walsh, in press). For Ken Wilber (2005), the degree of a tradition’s authenticity is a function of its effectiveness in fostering transformation to transpersonal levels (Walsh & Vaughan, 1994). Presumably, a tradition’s authenticity would therefore be related to its effectiveness in cultivating transrational wisdom. With the emergence of philosophy came the first systematic analyses and divisions into different kinds of wisdom. The most influential have been the Greek distinction between sophia (knowledge of first causes) and phronesis (practical wisdom) (Curnow, 2011), as well as the analogous Buddhist distinction between prajna (transcendental insight) and upaya (skillfulness in serving and enlightening others). The recent emergence of scientific, and especially psychological, research has birthed new perspectives and definitions of wisdom. Not surprisingly, these tend to focus on mental processes and capacities, on what can be measured, and therefore on phronesis rather than sophia. Unfortunately, there is little overlap between contemporary definitions or between them and earlier views (Trowbridge, 2011). This is hardly surprising considering the wide variety of eras, cultures, approaches and perspectives, and given that sagacity “is perhaps the most complex characteristic that can be attributed to individuals or to cultures” (Birren & Svensson, 2005, p. 28).

Ontological And Epistemological Queries About Wisdom This embarrassing richness of ideas about the nature of wisdom raises two families of philosophical questions: ontological and epistemological. Ontological questions ask, “What is the nature of wisdom?” while epistemological questions ask, for example, “How do we best investigate it?” or “How does our way of investigating affect what we find?”

Ontological Questions The first and crucial question is, “Is there such a thing as wisdom simply waiting to be discovered and described?” Integral practitioners will be well aware that the short answer is no, and that to believe otherwise is to fall into “The Myth of the Given,” otherwise known as, for example, “the philosophy of the subject” or “the philosophy of consciousness” (Wilber, 2006, pp. 175-177). This is the mistaken belief that reality is simply given to us to uncover and discover. Yet the central thrust of postmodern philosophy is that all experience is in part a construction and interpretation: what we find reflects the methods of observation, the characteristics and capacities of the observers, as well as the cultures which form and inform them. But there is a still deeper “no” to the question of whether wisdom is simply something waiting to be discovered. “Wisdom” is simply a concept—an intellectual abstraction drawn from numerous experiences. As such, it is an example of the central thesis of Mādhyamaka Buddhism which argues that all phenomena are shunyata, which is usually translated as “empty” of inherent existence and characteristics (Garfield, 1995). What we actually experience are such things as thoughts, sayings, behaviors, and books that we deem “wise.” Even these “wise things” are constructed or enacted by our methods of observation and are themselves shunyata. Yet from them we abstract the concept of wisdom. These enactive and abstractive processes are rarely acknowledged in contemporary research. Consequently, researchers often implicitly attempt to discuss “Wisdom”—the Kantian “thing in itself”—without acknowledging that all we can investigate are phenomena enacted or constructed by, among other things, our methods of investigation. Philosophical discussions of these kinds of issues can get very deep very quickly (e.g., S. Esbjörn-Hargens, 2010a; Wilber, 2006). However, for our purposes, we can simply note the above points and allow them to inform our subsequent discussion of wisdom(s). One key implication is that different methods of investigation (different epistemologies) will yield different enactments of wisdom. The next question that emerges is whether these enactments are most fruitfully Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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considered as a single cluster or as multiple clusters. Speaking simply, the question becomes, “Is wisdom most fruitfully considered as one or many; as one family or multiple families of wisdom(s)?” If sagacity is considered multiple then the next questions become, “What is the relationship between these kinds of wisdoms? Are they overlapping or discrete? And if discrete, are they incommensurate or can they be integrated?” Let us try to ground these questions in specific examples. Yoga claims to culminate in transconceptual wisdom (jnana) that is radically and incommensurately distinct from wisdom based on conceptual understanding (Feuerstein, in press). This is a claim for two discrete and incommensurate kinds of wisdoms. There also seem to be varying degrees of conceptual wisdom. For example, a contemplative’s conceptual wisdom will (hopefully) be greater after 30 years of practice than after 5. Yet these different degrees of insight and understanding can probably be ordered in a developmental hierarchy. Principles for ranking them include the sequence in which they emerge, the richness, range, and depth of the understandings they encompass, as well as the degree of integration of these understandings. Conceptually based wisdoms, then, would be overlapping varieties that can be integrated developmentally. So on one hand, there may be distinct, incommensurate kinds of wisdom. On the other hand, there may also be varieties and levels of sagacity that can be recognized as variations of a single kind of wisdom.

Epistemological Questions

Key epistemological questions include the following: 1. Are contemplatives, sages, scholars and scientists talking about the same kind of wisdom? In other words, to what extent are the different disciplines and methods of investigation enacting and exploring different wisdoms? Certainly a contemplative’s introspection, a philosopher’s conceptual analysis, and a scientist’s objective measurements are very different methods, will yield different data, and may imply different “wisdoms.” 2. Does the apparent variety of wisdoms reflect different epistemological capacities in the people and cultures exploring it? The short answer is yes. Later I will argue that people’s abilities to acquire, recognize, and utilize wisdom depend on their developmental stage as well as the range of states of consciousness they can access. In other words, sapiential abilities are stage and state dependent. 3. A third group of epistemological questions concerns contemporary research methods. A crucial methodological issue is that much contemporary research—with notable exceptions such as the Berlin group of Paul Baltes and Ursula Staudinger—seems to be what Abraham Maslow (1971) called “means oriented” rather than “problem oriented.” That is, some researchers use whatever means or tests are simple and easy rather than those most appropriate to the problem. Consequently, it is not clear that some studies of “wisdom” have much to do with it. Clearly, questions about methods are going to be crucial to the future of wisdom research. As will be discussed later, research methods will need to extend beyond experimental studies to include, for example, contemplative, cross-cultural, and phenomenological approaches, and ideally Integral Methodological Pluralism.

Integrating Integral Theory and Wisdom Studies Integral Theory offers valuable advantages and implications for our understanding and research of wisdom. In what follows I will offer a large number of ideas, all of which represent hypotheses to be tested. However, 4

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rather than turn the text into a tedious list of qualifiers, I will often simply state or suggest ideas, with the understanding that all of them are provisional hypotheses to be tested. Let us begin by examining wisdom studies in light of the Integral model’s five major elements: 1) domains of reality (the four quadrants), 2) levels, 3) lines of development, 4) states, and 5) types.

The Four Quadrants and the “Location” of Wisdom The four quadrants offer one answer to a recurring research question, “Where is wisdom found?” Is it a characteristic of individuals only, or can cultures, societies, and institutions also embody wisdom? Integral Theory suggests that aspects of wisdom are found in all four quadrants. In individuals, sagacity appears as, for example, subjective insights and understandings, as well as objective behavior and neural activity. In collectives, wisdom is embedded intersubjectively in the cultural ethos: the innumerable shared beliefs, values, ethics, and ideas of a culture. These cultural elements embody the insights and understandings of countless individuals past and present. In turn, these collective cultural expressions form and inform (the wisdom of) individuals, so that “Cultural memory is the mother of wisdom” (Baltes & Staudinger, 2000, p. 123). Sapience is also expressed in collectives as (inter)objective constructions that materially embody and institutionalize individual and collective wisdom. Examples include legal, educational, and political systems, contemplative institutions, as well as art and books. For Paul Baltes, who saw wisdom as rare in individuals, “In general, wisdom is foremost a cultural product deposited in books of wisdom rather than in individuals (Baltes et al., 2002, p. 331). Of course, collectives embody not only wisdom, but also much foolishness. The amounts of wisdom and foolishness, as well as their ratio, reflect the past evolution and present maturity of cultures, and are probably of monumental importance in deciding their fate. The ratio of wisdom to foolishness—what we might call the sagacity:stupidity ratio—may well be one of the most important cultural factors determining individual and collective well-being, as well as how much cultures support or suppress the search for wisdom (i.e., to what extent cultures are sophiatrophic or sophiatoxic). Most importantly, the sagacity:stupidity ratio will likely determine the fate of societies, our species, and our planet. In summary, Integral Theory suggests that we should look for expressions of wisdom in all four quadrants. And that means that we need to use multiple methods, and ideally Integral Methodological Pluralism. Further implications will become apparent after we examine other dimensions of the Integral model, beginning with levels of development.

Development: Levels and Lines Both ancient contemplatives and contemporary researchers imply that wisdom is related to development. For example, the original Buddhist term for meditation was bhavana (literally, mental development), while in Taoism the term is lien-hsin (refining the mind) (Wong, 1997). Likewise, some researchers link the emergence of wisdom to the development of postformal operational cognition (Kramer, 2003). Postconventional, postformal operational, and transpersonal stages are important for many reasons. First, they point to our developmental potentials. Second, contemplative traditions suggest that transpersonal stages and states are intimately linked to wisdom as both cause and effect. Wise insights and behaviors are said to foster transpersonal development, which in turn fosters further insights. For example, the first practice of Buddhism’s Eightfold Path is “Right Understanding,” because without some understanding of the nature of life and our existential dilemmas, people see no reason to undertake contemplative practices. However, once begun, these practices then foster understanding and wisdom through successively deeper stages. The crucial point is that contemplative disciplines have discovered insights, lifestyles, and practices Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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that can catalyze development in general, and wisdom in particular, to postconventional and even transconventional levels (Alexander et al., 1991; Walsh, 1999; Walsh & Shapiro, 2006; Walsh & Vaughan, 1993; Wilber, 2000b, 2001, 2005, 2006). This, of course, is a discovery of enormous significance, especially since Western culture and education struggle to bring people up to conventional levels and, at best, to early postconventional levels. As Jacob Needleman (1990) puts it, “All the teachings agree: our capacity to live meaningfully, wisely, and compassionately depends entirely on our openness to the higher reaches of the inner world” (p. 14).

Lines of Development But of course people and minds are not unitary entities. There are multiple mental functions or mental modules, and over time these develop and are then known as developmental lines. Examples include cognitive, moral, ego, and perhaps wisdom lines. Developmental lines are only loosely linked and can therefore develop unevenly. One way of portraying this is by what Wilber (2006) calls an Integral Psychograph. This offers a graphic portrayal of levels of diverse lines and the extent of developmental imbalance between them (V. Esbjörn-Hargens, 2010). This raises an obvious question: Is there a characteristic psychograph associated with wisdom, and if so, what is it? As yet we have few clues. For example, wisdom scores seem to be associated with higher levels of intelligence and reflective thinking (Ardelt, 2009; Baltes & Staudinger, 2000). However, it is unclear to what extent these high scores actually reflect higher developmental stages rather than simply strengths or intensities.

What is the Relationship Between Development and Wisdom? The exact relationship of wisdom to development may be complex. In fact, researchers have suggested several distinct kinds of relationships. The best-known example of linking wisdom to a specific stage (or age) is Erik Erickson’s suggestion that wisdom emerges most readily in life’s final stage. However, there are problems with this conception, as well as with the general approach of tying wisdom to one stage. Importantly, it suggests that sagacity can’t be much expected in prior stages. Yet tying the birth of wisdom specifically to life’s end runs counter to the painful fact that this is exactly when crucial energetic and social resources are waning. Moreover, counter to popular opinion, researchers find little improvement on wisdom scores with age (Baltes & Staudinger, 2000). Erickson ruefully confessed in late life that his younger pronouncements on the growth possibilities of old age now felt overly optimistic. In his eighties he lamented that “the demand to develop Integrity and Wisdom in old age seems to be somewhat unfair, especially when made by middle-aged theorists—as, indeed, we then were” (as cited in Hoare, 2000, p. 79). Eventually he came to see the final goal or achievement of life not as wisdom, but as faith (Brugman, 2010). Indian perspectives offer instructive comparisons. By contrast with Erickson, the Buddha lamented the limited progress possible to people taking up contemplative practices late in life: ars longa, vita brevis. In Hinduism, wisdom is esteemed as a lifelong pursuit, though the pursuit takes different forms at different ages (e.g., student, householder, and renunciate) (Feuerstein, in press).

Does Wisdom Increase with Age? Why should wisdom, which intuitively seems so closely linked to life experience, not seem to increase significantly as one ages and acquires ever more life experience? This question has puzzled researchers for years (Sternberg, 2005). Yet the finding makes sense if we consider (at least parts of) wisdom as a form of expertise, 6

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and if we consider exactly how expertise is acquired. What kind of expertise might wisdom be? Well, according to Paul Baltes and Ursula Staudinger (2000), wisdom is “…expertise in the conduct and meaning of life” (p. 124). In recent years researchers have developed a rich understanding of how expertise is acquired across domains ranging from athletics to academics. One of the central findings is that mere experience or practice does not necessarily lead to improvement. You can play golf or chess, teach, write, or practice a profession such as psychotherapy for decades without necessarily improving. Just because you walk for decades doesn’t mean you improve at it. What is required is not just practice but what is called “deliberate practice.” With deliberate practice, you consciously seek to improve, focus on tasks you don’t do well, carefully assess your performance, obtain feedback and mentoring, and sustain these efforts over time (Ericsson et al., 2006; Ericsson et al., 2007). What might this imply for the cultivation of wisdom? I suspect what it means is that wisdom requires a strong, lifelong commitment to reflecting on and learning from all life experiences. Certainly this idea accords with recommendations from sages. Confucius described his own path as beginning when “At fifteen I set my heart on learning” (as cited in Lau, 1979, p. 63), while the Buddha stated that “He who would, may reach the utmost height—but he must be eager to learn” (as cited in Smith, 1991, p. 391). Likewise in Judaism, “The wise man learns from every phrase he hears, from every event he observes, and from every experience he shares” (Hoffman, 1985, p. 94). This is a very different attitude from much contemporary conventional living, which involves hours of passive intake of television or tranquilization by trivia: a conventionality that existentialists denigrate as, for example, “automation conformity” (Erich Fromm) or “everydayness” (Heidegger) (Walsh, 2001). Small wonder, then, that for so many, age increases wisdom so little. Another possible relationship between wisdom and development is that wisdom is linked to the development of a specific line, especially cognition. Piaget identified formal operations as the highest stage of cognitive development. However, higher postformal operational stages have been suggested by both contemplative practitioners, such as Aurobindo, and by contemporary researchers such as Bruner, Flavell, Sinnott, and Wilber. Some researchers have gone further to suggest that wisdom is associated with postformal operational cognition (Kramer, 2003). There are three problems with tying wisdom to a specific cognitive stage, even an advanced one such as postformal operational: 1. First, it ignores the role of other developmental lines. Due to developmental imbalance, one could exhibit, for example, mature cognitive development but immature ego and moral development (Wilber, 2006). Yet mature levels of all three may be essential for wisdom. 2. It suggests that wisdom won’t emerge prior to the appearance of a specific cognitive stage, in this case postformal operational thought. This places a floor on wisdom, and means that it cannot appear in less mature stages and forms. 3. It overlooks the possibility of still higher stages such as Aurobindo’s (1982) “illumined mind” or Wilber’s (2006) “violet cognition.” Thus it sets a ceiling on wisdom. If these arguments are correct, then they suggest that postformal operational cognition might be a major facilitator of wisdom. Yet it might not be required for less mature forms, nor be sufficient for more mature forms.

Wisdom as the Product of Interactions Between Psychological Capacities A recurrent idea in research literature is that sagacity arises from an interaction among psychological capacities, and that the strength or developmental level of the capacities is crucial. Three kinds of interacJournal of Integral Theory and Practice

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tion are frequently mentioned—combination, balance, and integration—though none have been specified precisely.

1. Wisdom as a Combination of Capacities These theories suggest that wisdom emerges from a combination of capacities. For example, Monika Aldelt (2009) defines wisdom as a “combination of cognitive, reflective, and affective personality characteristics” (pp. 11-12). However ,“combination” is a vague term, and tells us little about the nature of the relationship or interaction between capacities. The choice of a vague term is certainly understandable at this early stage of research, but will hopefully yield to more precise terms as research matures. However, other researchers have suggested particular kinds of relationships between capacities, specifically balance and integration.

2. Balance Theories Balance theories imply that sagacity emerges when two or more capacities are at optimal proportionate levels. For example, James Birren and Laurel Fisher (1990) suggest that, “Throughout life, wisdom develops as a balance of cognition, volition (conation), and affect” (p. 321). Three questions immediately emerge: 1. A balance of what? For example, what kinds of capacities need to be in proportion? Are they invariably other virtues? Or can they also be neutral capacities such as concentration that can be used for good or bad? 2. What aspects of the capacities are crucial? Is it their strength, their developmental level, or both? 3. What does balance really mean? Presumably it implies that some sort of proportion between two or more capacities is crucial for the emergence of wisdom. But what kind of proportion? Obviously many balance theories are as yet imprecise. The current imprecision of balance theories does not mean that they are wrong. In fact, there are venerable philosophical and contemplative examples. For example, “the interdependence of virtues” is an ancient philosophical idea of the Stoics who held that “every virtue requires other virtues to complete it” (Murphy, 1992, p. 558), while Christian contemplatives claim that “the virtues are linked one to another…” (Nikodimos & Makarios, 1993, p. 160). However, balance theories are proposing more than an interdependence of virtues; they are proposing an interdependent emergence of an additional virtue. Are there any specific examples of this kind of emergence? There are, and Buddhist psychology (Abhidharma) offers two. The first example is the “seven factors of enlightenment”: seven qualities or capacities that are crucial to fostering mental maturation, wisdom, and enlightenment. These are comprised of three calming factors (tranquility, concentration, equanimity) and three energizing factors (effort, energy, rapture), and a superordinate factor of mindfulness. The calming and energizing factors need to be of comparable strength to balance each other and to avoid the disabling extremes of sleepiness and agitation. Moreover, when all seven are strong and balanced then there is the possibility of a breakthrough into transconceptual awareness known as “cessation” and its resultant transconceptual wisdom (Kornfield, 1993; Wallace & Shapiro, 2006). The second example from Buddhist psychology is “the five spiritual faculties.” These consist of mindfulness and two pairs of mental qualities that must be in balance: energy/concentration and faith/wisdom. Energy unbalanced by concentration leads to agitation, while concentration without sufficient energy produces lethargy. Likewise, faith devoid of wisdom collapses into blind belief, while wisdom without faith is said to result in egocentric cunning (Nyanatiloka, 1980). As the Visuddhimagga, a 1,500-year-old classic Buddhist text (Buddhaghosa & Nanamoli, 1999), puts it: 8

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For one strong in faith and weak in understanding has confidence uncritically and groundlessly. One strong in understanding and weak in faith errs on the side of cunning and is as hard to cure as one sick of a disease caused by medicine. With the balancing of the two a man has confidence only when there are grounds for it. (Ch. IV, §47, ¶1) When all five qualities are sufficiently strengthened and balanced they are said to become “unshakeable” and are then known as the “five spiritual powers.” Like the seven factors of enlightenment, they facilitate spiritual maturation and the cessation experiences that are central to classical Buddhist enlightenment. So as these examples from Buddhist psychology demonstrate, balance theories can be venerable and valuable, but to be really fruitful they need to be more carefully specified than contemporary research has done.

3. Integration Hypotheses A further kind of interaction between developmental capacities is frequently suggested as essential for sagacity: integration. For example, wisdom is said to result from the integration of emotion and cognition (Shedlock & Cornelius, 2003) and from an “unusually integrated personality structure” (Orroll & Perlmutter, 1990, p. 160). But what does “integration” mean here? Once again, the hypotheses are not very specific. Presumably, integration implies some sort of harmonious, facilitative interaction between capacities. But so, too, does balance. So does the idea of integration add anything to the idea of balance? If so, none of the integration hypotheses seems to suggest what this addition might be. However, one possibility is that a mental function might foster (or cease to inhibit) other functions and/or beneficial interactions between them. For example, let us consider the possible role of defense mechanisms in integration and wisdom. Defenses can repress emotions, distort cognition, and redirect motivation in unhealthy immature ways. They can also dissociate mental functions so that they are no longer readily available. As an example, consider the case of a talented woman with high postformal intelligence, idealistic motives, and a strong tendency to love. But let us also assume she has a poor self-image, severe insecurity, and “normal neurotic defense mechanisms” (Vaillant, 1977). Consequently, she displaces her love away from people (who are too threatening) onto animals, represses her idealism (which is incongruent with her poor self-image), and uses her powerful intellect to rationalize her suboptimal behavior. Consequently, her positive emotions, motives, and intellect function suboptimally, and keep her locked into unhealthy, unsatisfying, and unwise ways of being and living. Now let us assume that she enters psychotherapy. There she gradually improves her self-image, releases insecurity, and adopts more mature defense mechanisms such as humor, altruism, and sublimation. Now her idealistic motives can be acknowledged, her love expressed, and her intellect used in the service of these healthy, mature motives and emotions. As her motives, emotions, and intellect are increasingly aligned toward a common goal—for example, loving and serving others—we can say they are becoming increasingly integrated. Over time, she may well learn how to achieve her goals more effectively and thereby grow in practical wisdom. This case example suggests two possible ways in which capacities might become integrated and thereby foster practical wisdom. The first is through healthy psychodynamics, and the second is through an alignment of capacities toward a common goal. As an aside, the absence of psychodynamics from discussions of wisdom research seems a major oversight, both because of their power and pervasiveness, and because both ordinary defenses and higher level meta-defenses can inhibit exceptional functioning (Maslow, 1970), quite likely including wisdom. There has been an implicit assumption in combination, balance, and integration hypotheses that all varieties of wisdom require the same kind of balance or integration. However, different varieties of wisdom may Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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well differ in their requirements. For example, practical wisdom may require far higher levels of interpersonal sensitivity than does subjective wisdom. At the very least, when discussing facilitative capacities, we need to specify the kind of wisdom.

Wisdom as an Emergent of Higher Levels of Multiple Lines Here the idea is that wisdom may emerge when two or more mental capacities become sufficiently mature and/or healthy. For example, this is an implication of the Berlin group that describes wisdom as excellence in mind and virtue (Baltes, 2004; Baltes & Staudinger, 2000). A similar emergence principle is also found in contemplative disciplines. For example, they suggest that when multiple capacities and virtues are cultivated sufficiently, then a variety of insights into the mind and life can emerge and yield intuitive, conceptual, or transconceptual wisdom. Contemplative traditions differ in their emphasis on specific capacities and virtues (e.g., the “six perfections” of Buddhism). However, there is widespread agreement on the importance of seven interdependent capacities: mature ethics, emotions, motives, concentration, generosity, wisdom, and sensitivity of awareness (Walsh, 1999, 2010). Cultivating any subset of these capacities tends to cultivate others. This is yet another example of the recurrent idea of the interdependence of virtues. My own suggestion is that wisdom is a function of the maturation of multiple developmental lines. Which lines? Well, central ones probably include the cognitive, worldview, ego, moral, motivational, emotional, interpersonal, and perceptual lines. In other words, the amount and level of a person’s sagacity will be a function of the extent that these lines (and doubtless others) mature. Moreover, the relative maturity of different lines will probably vary from one kind of wisdom to another with, for example, interpersonal maturity being more important for practical than for conceptual wisdom.

Wisdom as a Distinct Developmental Line Just as we consider cognition, affect, and motivation as largely separate capacities, so too we might consider wisdom. Confucianism may offer an example of this view. The Confucian idea, originally suggested by the sage Mencius (372–289 B.C.E.), is that wisdom develops from a “seed” which is the capacity to discern right from wrong (Kalton, in press). In opposition to the suggestion of wisdom as a single developmental line is the fact that wisdom is doubtless dependent on many other capacities such as cognition and motivation. But of course these other capacities are also complex and interdependent. The psyche functions as an organic whole, and to tease out one capacity is in part an artifact of our focus and methods. What are the implications of considering wisdom as a distinct developmental line? One is that we would expect to find not a sudden emergence of wisdom at a specific developmental stage, but rather a continuum or spectrum, though perhaps, like cognition, with quite different processes and expressions at different stages. Perhaps we might expect a range of expressions from say, survival skills and street cunning at the lower end, to mid-level interpersonal skills and existential insights, through to high-level transpersonal understanding and transconceptual insights at the upper end.

Summary of Levels and Lines When we apply a developmental perspective to different hypotheses about the nature and genesis of wisdom, we can recognize seven major families of hypotheses. These are, first, specific stage hypotheses which see wisdom 1) as (an emergent of) a specific developmental stage, e.g. Erikson, or 2) as a specific higher stage of a specific developmental line, e.g. post-formal operational cognition. Then we have three interaction hypotheses which see wisdom as the result of interactions between two or more developmental capacities. These 10

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interactions are: 3) wisdom as a combination of capacities, 4) wisdom as an emergent of balance between two or more capacities, and 5) wisdom as an emergent of integration between two or more capacities. Finally, we have 6) wisdom as a function of higher levels of multiple lines, and 7) wisdom as a distinct developmental line. These seven hypotheses echo Wilber’s (2000b) definition of spirituality in Integral Psychology. So which hypothesis is correct? Well, that may be the wrong question. First, because what we see and measure as wisdom depends on our perspective. Second, because wisdom is doubtless the product of multiple developmental processes and so several of these hypotheses may offer parts of the answer. Finally, there are likely several distinct kinds of wisdom, and different processes may contribute differentially to each. However, what is clear is that we will need to sharpen our thinking about the developmental nature of wisdom.

States of Mind States of mind (SOM) can be ranked relative to the ordinary waking state according to their functional capacities (Tart, 2001). When we do so, three major classes emerge: • • •

Lower states of reduced function such as delirium and intoxication Functionally specific states in which some capacities are enhanced and others reduced (e.g., meditative states of great concentration but diminished perceptual sensitivity) Higher states which retain usual abilities while including heightened or additional capacities (e.g., meditative mindfulness with its heightened introspective and perceptual sensitivity)

Contemplative disciplines make several radical claims about SOMs. First, they suggest that all of us potentially have available to us whole families of functionally specific and higher states, and that contemplative practices can foster these (Walsh, 1993a). Examples from yoga include functionally specific states of intense concentration, such as nirvikalpa samadhi, and higher states such as sahaj samadhi. Moreover, they claim that many of these contemplative SOMs—also called altered states of consciousness—can offer multiple psychological, somatic, and spiritual benefits. These states may heal, catalyze development, cultivate specific capacities such as positive emotions, as well as produce insights, understanding, and wisdom (Goleman, 1996). In other words, contemplative disciplines suggest that certain kinds of insight, understanding, and wisdom are more likely to occur in specific states of mind, and some may occur only in specific states. For example, “It is axiomatic in the yogic tradition that ‘knowledge is different in different states of consciousnesses’” (Shearer, 1989, p. 26). Likewise, In Taoist contemplation, it is only by reaching a state of stillness and stability through practices such as “entering stillness” or “fasting the heart-mind” that a person can attain “The Great Pure Realm” in which one recognizes their role as an integral part of the Tao (Wong, 1997). It must be noted that contemplative traditions aim not just to glimpse altered states and higher perspectives, but to stabilize them. The goal is to transform transient states into enduring traits, higher states into higher stages, peak experiences into plateau experiences, and epiphanies into personality (Goleman, 1996; Tart, 2001). The religious scholar Huston Smith (n.d.) put it poetically when he suggested that the goal is “to transform flashes of illumination into abiding light.” The result is that brief glimpses extend into continuous vision, novel perspectives become permanent meta-perspectives, and new insights develop into enduring understandings. In short, certain functionally specific and higher states may be doorways through which wisdom—in the form of valuable insights, understandings, perspectives, and resultant ways of life—can emerge and find expression. Equally important, contemplative disciplines have developed specific practices and inner technologies to cultivate these states and their insights. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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Limitations of Recognizing and Comprehending Wisdom The insights and wisdom of higher developmental states and stages may not be fully comprehensible to people at earlier stages. For example, some forms of sagacity may well be dependent on advanced cognitive capacities such as those of postformal operational cognition, Aurobindo’s illumined mind, or Wilber’s violet cognition. An obvious implication is that aspects of this sagacity may be incomprehensible to people at earlier cognitive stages. This is the phenomenon of stage-specificity. Likewise, the insights of higher states may not be fully comprehensible to those of us without direct experience of them due to state-specificity (Tart, 2001). In contemplative terms, higher wisdom remains “self-secret” (Tibetan Buddhism) or sod (hidden, Judaism) until one “opens the eye of contemplation” (Christianity) and develops the necessary “adaequatio” (Schumacher, 1977; Walsh & Vaughan, 1993). As E.F. Schumacher (1977) asserts, “When the level of the knower is not adequate to the level (or grade of significance) of the object of knowledge, the result is not factual error but something much more serious: an inadequate and impoverished view of reality” (p. 42). The crucial implication is that wisdom may be partly stage and state dependent and consequently may be hard for many people to fully recognize, understand, and appreciate. And this suggests that two of the foremost researchers, Baltes and Staudinger (2000), were half wrong when they claimed that “wisdom, although difficult to achieve and specify, is easily recognized when manifested” (p. 123). Yes, it is certainly difficult to achieve and specify. However, wisdom (and perhaps especially transconceptual wisdom) can also be difficult to recognize. In fact, a central point of Georg Feuerstein’s (2006) book, Holy Madness, is that history is filled with accounts of people now recognized as sages—most famously Socrates and Jesus—whose unconventional views and lifestyles were mistaken for heresy or insanity and resulted in persecution and execution. These state and stage limitations on comprehending wisdom can also be understood in terms of Integral Post-Metaphysics. In Integral Spirituality, Wilber (2006) points out that any experience will be a function of the interaction between the “Kosmic address” of both the perceiver and of the perceived, and that Kosmic address is determined in significant part by “altitude” (developmental level) and state of mind. The implication is that a person’s comprehension of wisdom phenomena—such as wise ideas and behaviors—will be a function of the interaction between the developmental level and state of the wisdom being observed (e.g., teal or turquoise altitude, subtle or causal states) and the level and state of the observer (e.g., orange or green altitude, gross state). So not only will wisdom itself mature with later developmental stages and more experience of states of mind, but also the sophistication of one’s understanding of wisdom. As a general principle, with higher developmental stages we might expect to find views of wisdom that are more complex, deep, differentiated, nuanced, encompassing, integrated, and contextualized. Hopefully, we will one day see, not only maps of the way wisdom matures across developmental stages, but also maps of the ways in which understanding of the nature of wisdom matures.

Types The final major element of Integral Theory is types. Within the Upper-Left quadrant, these are relatively stable orientations such as Jung’s introversion and extroversion, and the “big five” personality factors (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). An obvious question is whether wisdom may be correlated with, or even intimately linked to, certain personality types (e.g., the five Buddha Families; see Rockwell, 2002). For example, could wise people simply be open-minded introverts? In fact, some personality types—such as highly intelligent and open-minded people—do display modest correlations with wisdom-related performance (Baltes & Staudinger, 2000). Yet sagacity is clearly not simply a (function of) type, and so we need not consider it in detail as we examine the varieties of wisdom. 12

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The Varieties of Wisdom For thousands of years, philosophers have distinguished two kinds of individual wisdom: subjective and objective, sophia and phronesis, and similarly in Buddhism, prajna and upaya. However, there is an obvious question: are these two categories sufficient or do we need to add further and more refined distinctions? Let us turn to practical wisdom first, and begin by offering a definition that is a subset of the more encompassing definition of general wisdom presented later.

Practical Wisdom Practical wisdom is a function of skill in responding to the central existential issues of life effectively and benevolently. Life presents us with a wide array of existential issues that range from survival to personal meaning, interpersonal relationships, and politics. An obvious question is therefore, “Is practical wisdom significantly domain specific?” In other words, can we be relatively wise in one area of life, and less so, even foolish, in others? It certainly seems so. For example, political wisdom is not always accompanied by parental wisdom as Gandhi—who is widely revered as a saint on the basis of his political activities—painfully demonstrated. He announced that, “All of India is my family….But he never quite learned to be a father to his sons.” Rather, he expected them to be “junior saints,” even to the point of denying them a formal education “on the grounds that character was more precious than learning” (Fischer, 1954, p. 127, 128). The results were less than optimal. So what accounts for domain differences in practical wisdom? Personality and proclivity, to be sure. But a further factor is probably the different amounts of time and attention given to them, with resultant differences in domain-relevant knowledge and skills. Gandhi gave enormous amounts of time to his political work and significantly less to his family. Yet the cognitive processes involved are probably similar across domains. Therefore, it seems reasonable to think of practical wisdom as a single type with multiple expressions.

Subjective Wisdom Subjective wisdom is a different matter. The exact nature of sophia and how it differs from phronesis was ambiguous throughout Greek history, and when I sought clarification from Trevor Curnow (1999), author of a major book on the history of wisdom, he responded that “tidiness is not out there to be found in the case of sophia” (personal communication, 2010). Aristotle described sophia as knowledge of first principles or causes. However, it is not at all clear exactly what kind of knowledge it entails or how it is acquired (Curnow, 1999, 2011). One way of acquiring it may be intuition, and there is certainly widespread public belief in its importance. In fact, when I have spoken on wisdom, a common audience response is, “These intellectual ideas are all very well, but I’ve met some amazing people, such as grandmothers and tribal people, who wouldn’t understand any of this. They can’t tell you how they do it, yet everyone turns to them with their problems and they are respected as wise elders.” This, of course, is tacit knowledge that cannot be easily verbalized or communicated; Robert Sternberg (1998) considers “tacit knowledge as the core of wisdom” (p. 351), or at least of practical wisdom. This is consistent with two central ideas of intuition, both of which are supported by considerable research. Namely, that we can know much more than we can conceptualize, and that we can know much more than we know (Meyers, 2004; Vaughan, 1979). Yet some wisdom can be communicated, otherwise there would be no wise books or teachers. So subjective wisdom may be comprised of both tacit and explicit knowledge, of both intuitive and conceptual processes. And this suggests that we need to distinguish two kinds of subjective wisdom: intuitive apprehenJournal of Integral Theory and Practice

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sion and conceptual understanding. Intuitive apprehension may well be sufficient for acquiring much subjective wisdom and expressing it as practical wisdom. Yet conceptual analysis and understanding can enrich intuitions in multiple ways, such as by examining, extending, and articulating them, drawing out implications, and linking them into networks of insights and ideas. In fact, at postformal operational levels, intuition and analysis may merge so that one “sees” the interconnections of networks of ideas, which is why Wilber (2001) describes this level of cognition as “vision-logic.” For Aurobindo (1982), this capacity for vision logic emerges at the transpersonal developmental stage which he called the “higher mind” which “can freely express itself in single ideas, but its most characteristic movement is a mass ideation, a system or totality of truth-seeing at a single view; the relations of idea with idea…” (p. 940). So far we have differentiated sophia or subjective wisdom into two kinds of knowledge and two corresponding cognitive processes for acquiring it. Yet there may be further distinctions to be teased out of sophia. For contemplative disciplines insist on the possibility and importance of a radically different subjective wisdom. The contemplative claim is that specific states of mind permit a direct transconceptual insight into the fundamental nature of reality and self. This insight is said to be neither a conceptually mediated understanding, nor even a cognitively mediated intuition. Rather, it is said to be transconceptual and transrational, a direct apprehension of consciousness by consciousness, Mind by Mind, Spirit by Spirit. Examples of one family of such states—states of pure awareness or pure consciousness—include “cessation” (Theravadin Buddhism), Ayin (Judaism), “mindless awareness” (Christianity’s Meister Eckhart), “no mind” (Zen), nirvikalpa samadhi (yoga), or what Robert Forman (1990) calls a “pure consciousness event.” The result is a transconceptual apprehension and wisdom known as, for example, jnana (Hinduism), prajna (Buddhism), ma‛rifah (Islam), or gnosis (Christianity) (Walsh, in press). The reason that transconceptual apprehension is essential is that, as the Tao Te Ching puts it, “Existence is beyond the power of words to define” (as cited in Bynner, 1944, p. 25). In the words of the great Indian philosopher Radhakrishnan (1940), “The real transcends, surrounds and overflows our miserable categories” (p. 43). In short, the very nature of reality is said to be inherently transconceptual, and so a transconceptual apprehension is essential for deep insight and wisdom. So widespread is this claim of a contemplative apprehension “higher than discursive reasoning” that Aldous Huxley (1972) named it “The Second Doctrine of the Perennial Philosophy” and claimed that “it is to be found in all the great religions of the world” (p. 15). Transconceptual apprehension has also been an important part of Western philosophy and its understanding of wisdom, though a part almost entirely lost to contemporary academics (McDermott, in press; Trowbridge, 2011). So radically distinct is this epistemological mode and the wisdom it yields that it is said, “The wise are completely free from all concepts about the true nature of reality” (Gyamtso, 2003, p. 42). However, like intuition, this transconceptual wisdom or gnosis can subsequently be partly elaborated into concepts, and even inspire whole psychologies and philosophies such as Buddhist Abhidharma psychology and Vedantic philosophy. Not surprisingly, these radical epistemological claims have sparked fierce academic debates about their validity. The best known debate is between constructivists such as Steven Katz (1983) and contemplatively sympathetic philosophers such as Robert Forman (1997). Katz argues that all experience is necessarily constructed and limited by historically and culturally situated cognition, and so any and all claims for transconceptual knowing are necessarily false. Yet, the philosopher Donald Rothberg (1989) points out that Katz’s argument is itself historically and culturally limited, while Wilber (2001) points out that it is self-defeating. However, the important points for wisdom studies are the following: Across cultures and centuries, contemplatives have claimed that it is possible to cultivate transconceptual insights and that an extremely important and powerful kind of wisdom ensues. This wisdom is radically different from ordinary intuition and conceptual understanding in both its nature and results. For it is not only illuminating, but also potentially liberating, being capable of significantly healing, deconditioning, and freeing the mind from its conventional 14

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“consensus trance” (Tart, 2001). Such wisdom is said to help catalyze an “awakening” of the mind to radically more mature, healthy, and veridical states variously described as, for example, enlightenment, liberation, introversion (St. Augustine in Christianity), Ruach Hakodesh (Judaism), fana (Islam), satori (Zen), or the Jade Pure Realm (Taoism) (Goleman, 1996; Walsh, in press; Wong, 1997). Equally important, contemplatives claim to have developed mental disciplines—sapiential and soteriological technologies—to realize this wisdom. In fact, some of these disciplines recognize and foster all three kinds of subjective wisdom through a specific sequence of practices. For example, in yoga, one first listens to (sravana) and reflects on (manana) teachings to develop conceptual understanding. Then one meditates on them (nididhyasana) to gain a deeper intuitive apprehension, and finally one enters a state of intense concentration (samadhi) in which transconceptual insight (jnana) emerges (Feuerstein, in press; Free John, 1988). An analogous process occurs with the Christian contemplative practice of lectio divina. Here reading (lectio) leads to conceptual reflection (meditatio), and culminates in interior silence and insight (contemplatio) that becomes “too deep for words” (Hall, 1988). An important implication, as with virtues in general, is that different kinds of wisdom may be mutually facilitating.

The Varieties of Sagehood If there are different kinds of wisdom, then this implies that there may also be different types of sages. A sage might be remarkably sophisticated in one kind of sagacity, less so in others. What kinds of sages might we expect? One way of answering is to suggest exemplars. For an exemplar of practical wisdom, Mother Teresa would certainly rank high on many people’s list, because of both her remarkable altruism and practical skill in creating a worldwide charity. Yet while achieving all this, she suffered a decades-long existential despair, a prolonged dark night of the soul (Kolodiejchuk, 2007). An exemplar of transconceptual wisdom might be Ramana Mahashi (1988), who is widely revered for his deep realization and is generally regarded as one of India’s greatest 20th-century sages. Yet he showed little interest in conceptual analysis, and chose a monastic life where practical wisdom, other than occasional teaching, was little needed. Aurobindo, on the other hand, is considered one of India’s greatest philosophersages: a person who combined transconceptual and conceptual wisdom to extraordinary degrees. For intuitive wisdom, a perennial archetype is the wise grandmother: an elder who may have little education, analytic skills, or contemplative experience, yet who everyone turns to for comfort and advice with life concerns. A master sage would embody high degrees of all four wisdoms. Are there any such people? Hopefully so, and one well-known possibility might be the Dalai Lama. He has done decades of intense contemplative practice and intellectual training, is widely regarded as having deep prajna and impressive intuitive sensitivity, and possesses remarkable existential and philosophical insight (I once saw him debate the chair of philosophy at Harvard University and hold his own). He also displays remarkable interpersonal skills. Many people, including Western scientists, report that their lives were permanently changed by brief interactions with him. The psychologist Dacher Keltner (2009) gave a moving account of the effects of one such brief encounter in which: Goosebumps spread across my back like wind on water, starting at the base of the spine and rolling up to my scalp. A flush of humility moved up my face from my cheeks to my forehead and dissipated near the crown of my head. Tears welled up, along with a smile…. For several weeks I lived in a new realm. My suitcase was missing at the carousel following the plane flight home—not a problem, I didn’t need those clothes anyway. Squabbles between my two daughters…[produced] no bristling reaction on my part, just an inclination to step into the fray and to lay out a softer discourse and sense of common ground. (p. 175) Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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This is an example of what contemplatives call “transmission”—the induction of a sage’s state of consciousness by contact or encounter. And this is one reason why contemplative traditions the world over regard spending time in the company of the wise as one of the best means for cultivating wisdom (Walsh, 1999).

Conclusions about the Varieties of Wisdom The traditional Western philosophical lumping of all wisdom into only two categories—sophia and phronesis, subjective and practical—is insufficiently precise. We can retain the category of phronesis, or practical wisdom, for now. However, we need to distinguish at least three epistemologically, cognitively, and phenomenologically distinct modes of subjective wisdom: intuitive apprehension, conceptual understanding, and transconceptual insight. These loosely align with body, mind, and spirit. Are there further distinctions to be made? Probably so. The above is only an initial exploration and future studies will doubtless add further refinements, such as distinguishing different kinds of intuition. Moreover, there are doubtless multiple levels of wisdom(s). Conceptual, intuitive, and practical wisdom probably mature as people develop through both stages and states. For example, the wisdom that emerges at third-tier developmental stages is presumably different and deeper than that at second tier. In fact, contemplative teachers routinely assess students’ insight and wisdom, usually intuitively, but sometimes with formal tests such as Zen koans. In summary, it seems that: • • • •

There are distinct kinds and levels of subjective wisdom There are methods to cultivate all of them Investigating these methods should be a high priority Combining contemplative, phenomenological, and experimental approaches as part of an Integral Methodological Pluralism may be an optimal way to research the varieties of wisdom

Conclusion So this brings us back to our original question: What is wisdom? And that leads to the considerable challenge of defining it. Defining anything adequately is challenging, and philosophers lament that “no problems of knowledge are less settled than those of definition…” (Abelson, 2006, p. 664). In fact, for Derrida, all terms, when closely examined, end in aporia: irreducible puzzles. Moreover, in wisdom we are exploring one of the most profound of all human capacities. It may also be what we might call a “self-demanding capacity,” which I would define as a capacity that requires itself to comprehend itself. Examples include intelligence, wisdom, and mindfulness. No wonder that there are almost as many definitions as there are researchers (Trowbridge, 2011). Unfortunately, many definitions seem insufficiently sensitive to the many challenges and complexities involved. Therefore, I want to offer a new definition in hopes that it will be more adequate to these challenges, and will encompass the novel attributes, complexities, and varieties of wisdom that our previous explorations have revealed. This definition is: Wisdom is a function of deep, accurate insight and understanding of the central existential issues of life, plus practical skill in responding effectively and benevolently. I had intended to finish this article by examining this definition and using it to examine and explicate the nature of wisdom. However, the more I examined, the more nuances and implications emerged, until eventually I recognized that it would need a separate article. Consequently, here I will simply point to a few key ideas. First, this definition allows us to extract definitions of the subcategories of wisdom. For example, the first half is a definition of subjective wisdom: Subjective wisdom is a function of deep, accurate insight 16

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and understanding of the central existential issues of life. Likewise, it provides a definition of practical wisdom that has already been defined as: Practical wisdom is a function of skill in responding to the central existential issues of life effectively and benevolently. Notice that the definitions of subjective and general wisdom are deliberately ambiguous. They can be read in two ways as: 1. Wisdom is a fruition of deep, accurate insight into, and understanding of, the central existential issues of life. Yet the definitions can also be read as: 2. Wisdom is a function of deep, accurate insight (into oneself), and also of understanding of the central existential issues of life. This ambiguity allows the definitions to embrace both self-knowledge as well as insight into, and understanding of, the central existential issues of life. Both are clearly crucial for wisdom. “Know thyself” is a central idea and goal of ancient philosophy, contemporary psychotherapy, and contemplative disciplines. So too is the idea and goal of deep, accurate insight and understanding of life’s central existential issues. Of course, one of the most central of all existential issues is the nature of self. Others are issues such as mystery and mortality, meaning and purpose, suffering and limitation, relationship and aloneness, and the fundamental nature of reality (Yalom, 1980). Such issues are inescapable challenges of human existence, and a wise person is one who sees deeply and accurately into them, understands them, and then responds effectively—and where others are involved, benevolently—to them. The inclusion of benevolence in the definition recognizes the intimate link between wisdom, benevolence, and ethics (Kalton, in press). This is an ancient recognition the world over, and more than 2,000 years ago, The Wisdom of Solomon observed that “wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul” (NRSV 1:4). This link is another example of the interdependence of virtues.

The Basic Moral Intuition

I hypothesize that the depth of wisdom will be reflected in both the scope and depth of benevolence. That is, the deeper people’s wisdom, the greater will be the scope or span of their care, and the more they will specifically seek to enhance the deep well-being of others (i.e., their developmental depth). This suggests that wisdom is informed and motivated by what Wilber (1995) calls the Basic Moral Intuition: the intuition and motive to “protect and promote the greatest depth for the greatest span [number]” (p. 613). For Wilber, this is the fundamental intuition underlying all morality at all developmental levels ranging from childhood egocentricity (where the span of concern extends only to oneself) to ethnocentricity (where it extends to one’s clan) to transpersonal levels (where span can encompass all conscious life). But this still leaves a fundamental question: “What specifically motivates wise people to be benevolent and ethical?” What do they see that makes benevolence and ethicality appear appropriate and important? This is a variant of the question that Lawrence Kohlberg faced when he suggested six developmental levels of morality but was still left with the fundamental question, “Why be moral?” His answer was what he called a “metaphorical stage seven,” which grounded moral motivation in mystical unitive experience (Kohlberg & Ryncarz, 1990). Kohlberg’s formulation may provide part of the answer, at least for those few people who have such experiences. Such people, including sages, recognize their inherent unity with others and are motivated to treat them accordingly. This is the basis of statements such as those of Jesus, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31, NIV) and of Ramana Maharishi (1988), “All that you give, you give to yourself. If this truth is understood, who will not give to others?” (p. 8). Sages are also likely to have another postconventional insight. Namely, that ethics and benevolence are Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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beneficial to oneself as well as others. This is the ancient Indian idea of reaping good karma, or of the contemporary vernacular of “doing well by doing good.” To quote the Dalai Lama, “If you’re going to be selfish, be wisely selfish—which means to love and serve others, since love and service to others bring rewards to oneself that otherwise would be unachievable” (as cited in Hopkins, 2001, p. 150). Wisdom sees that ethical actions and benevolent service to others are not self-sacrifice but rather enlightened self-interest.

Acknowledgement Parts of this article are based on a previous publication: Walsh, R. (2011). The varieties of wisdom: Contemplative, cross-cultural, and integral contributions. Research in Human Development, 8(2), 109-127.

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persons. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), Wisdom: Its nature, origins and development (pp. 160-180). New York, NY: University of Cambridge. Radhakrishnan, 1940. (1929). Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1. Bombay, India: Blackie & Sons. Ramana Maharshi. (1988). The spiritual teachings of Ramana Maharshi. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Rockwell, I. (2002). The five wisdom energies: A Buddhist way of understanding personalities, emotions, and relationships. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Schumacher, E. (1977). A guide for the perplexed. New York, NY: Harper and Row. Shearer, P. (Trans.). (1989). Effortless being: The yoga sutras of Patanjali. London: Unwin. Shedlock, D., & Cornelius, S. (2003). Psychological approaches to wisdom and its development. In J. Demick & C. Andreoletti (Eds.), Handbook of adult development. New York, NY: Springer. Smith, H. (n.d.). Huston Smith. Retrieved March 28, 2012, from http://www.reference.com/browse/ huston_smith. Smith, H. (2009). Tales of wonder: Adventures chasing the divine, an autobiography. New York, NY: HarperOne. Smith, H., & Novak, P. (2003). Buddhism: A concise introduction. San Francisco, CA: Harper San Francisco. Sternberg, R. (1998). A balance theory of wisdom. Review of General Psychology, 2, 347-365. Sternberg, R. (2005). Older but not wiser? The relationship between age and wisdom. Aging International, 30(1), 5-26. Tart, C. (2001). States of consciousness (2nd ed.). New York, NY: iUniverse. Tharchin. (2000). A commentary on the Dudjom Tersar Ngondro. Watsonville, CA: Vajrayana. Thomas, D. (2006). Receiving and acquiring wisdom in Islam. Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 33(3), 439-452. Trowbridge, R. (2011). Waiting for sophia: Thirty years of conceptualizing wisdom in empirical psychology. Research in Human Development, 8(2), 149164. Vaillant, G. (1977). Adaptation to life. Boston, MA: Little Brown. Vaughan, F. (1979). Awakening intuition. New York, NY: Doubleday. 20

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Wallace, A., & Shapiro, S. (2006). Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and psychology. American Psychologist, 61, 690701. Walsh, R. (1979). Meditation research: An introduction and review. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 11, 161-174. Walsh, R. (1983). Meditation practice and research. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 23, 18-50. Walsh, R. (1993a). The transpersonal movement: A history and state of the art. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 25, 123-140. Walsh, R. (1993b). Hidden wisdom. In R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds.), Paths beyond ego (pp. 223-226). New York, NY: Tarcher/Putnam. Walsh, R. (1999). Essential spirituality: The seven central practices. New York, NY: Wiley & Sons. Walsh, R. (2001). Authenticity, conventionality and angst. In K. Schneider, J. Bugental, & J. Pierson (Eds.). The handbook of humanistic psychology (pp. 609-620). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Walsh, R. (2010). Contemplative therapies. In R. Corsini and D. Wedding (Eds.), Current psychotherapies (9th ed). (pp. 454-500). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole. Walsh, R. (Ed.). (in press). The world’s great wisdom: What sages say about living wisely and well. Albany, NY: SUNY Press Walsh, R., & Shapiro, S. (2006). The meeting of meditative disciplines and Western psychology: A mutually enriching dialogue. American Psychologist, 61(3), 227-239. Walsh, R., & Vaughan, F. (Eds.). (1993). Paths beyond ego: The transpersonal vision. New York, NY: Tarcher/Putnam. Walsh, R., & Vaughan, F. (1994). The worldview of Ken Wilber. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 34(2), 6-21. Wilber, K. (1995). Sex, ecology, spirituality: The spirit of evolution. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (1996). A brief history of everything. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2000a). A theory of everything: An integral vision for business, politics, science and spirituality. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2000b). Integral psychology: Consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Boston: Shambhala.

WISDOM

Wilber, K. (2005). A sociable God: Toward a new understanding of religion. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2006). Integral spirituality: A startling new role for religion in the modern and postmodern world. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Wong, E. (1997). The Shambhala guide to Taoism. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Yalom, I. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. New York, NY: Basic Books.

ROGER WALSH, M.D., Ph.D., D.H.L., is Professor of Psychiatry, Philosophy, and Anthropology, and a professor in the Religious Studies program at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests include integral studies, contemplative disciplines, religion and spirituality, the nature of psychological health and well-being, and the psychological roots of contemporary global crises. He has edited the books Paths Beyond Ego (Tarcher, 1993) and Higher Wisdom (SUNY Press, 2005) and has authored several books, including The World of Shamanism (Llewellyn Publications, 2007) and Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices (Wiley, 2000).

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INTRODUCING THE INTEGRAL CUBE

Evolutionary Motion and Involutionary Tension in Practice David M. Zeitler ABSTRACT This article introduces a new model of self called the Integral Cube. Mainly for integral scholar-practitioners, the Integral Cube is based upon the most relevant and apparent data clinicians and coaches see when working with people: how they pay attention to how they feel. The Integral Cube represents an explanatory model of the psyche that is uniquely integral. The WilberCombs Lattice differentiated the human trajectories of transcendence and transformation. In order to render the Wilber-Combs Lattice more application-friendly, a proposed third axis is added—an axis of translation. This “z axis” represents a continuum of affect. Using the proposed z axis may reveal the ways that emotions can be isomers—phenomenologically similar yet structurally dissimilar (old self vs. new self). Both developmental subphases (y axis) and general states (x axis) can be hypothesized by expertly attending to such isometric emotions (y axis) and the intentions the client self-generates (x axis). Assisting people with the involutionary tensions of evolutionary motion is the goal of the proposed Integral Cube. A propositional logic of affect based on the notion of Kosmic forces is presented to support the identification of common feelings expressed during subphase transformation (y axis) and during state transition (x axis), which may help clinicians and coaches diagnose the relative health of their clients’ translations. KEY WORDS affect; evolution; human development; psychotherapy; translation

We are moved by quiet acts of dignity. – Robert Kegan (1982)

A New Model of Self

Evolutionary Motion and Involutionary Tension The immediacy of your lived experience makes you a natural philosopher. This is the seed that brought forth developmental psychology in the West and contemplative spiritual practice in the East. Your lived experience is also the “data” that you bring to family, friends, religious leaders, teachers, coworkers, clinicians, and coaches who are helping you to digest or make sense out of life. This article is about the main way that I believe Integral Theory can offer clinicians and coaches an entrée to working with the data of lived experience. Starting with the Wilber-Combs Lattice, which uses a set of coordinates to align levels of development (y axis) with states of consciousness (x axis), a proposed third axis of affect (z axis) is added. “Affect,” as I am using it here, refers to the two main uses of the term (feelings and movement), but also to the original uses of the term: passion and assumption (Affect, n.d.). An axis of affect would include how I pay attention to my feelings, what moves me (my passions), and also to my assumptions. In other words, it is about how I make sense of my world, but also the scope of my assumptions. If our structure-stage of identification defines the number of perspectives I can hold at any given time, and my state of consciousness defines the number of phenomena that I can witness, then the attention I pay to all of those is like the aperture of my consciousness. I will discuss this below, but for now it is important for the reader to know that I am distinguishing the ways that we “pay attention” along the z axis from the x and y axes. Correspondence: David Zeitler, 1243 S. 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146 . E-mail: [email protected]. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2012, 7(1), pp. 22–53

The Integral Cube

The Wilber-Combs Lattice has been essential in helping scholars and practitioners make sense of how structures and states are related. However, despite the added nuance, participants in integral seminars, workshops, and graduate programs continued to ask me exactly how to use Integral Theory in their coaching or clinical practice. I realized that the way that I used Integral Theory in practice came down to two main forms: the quadrants, to track the life conditions of my clients; and, an intuition about how subject/object theory and Integral Theory could be combined in a three-dimensional model to add the depth of specific experiences from my clients. When the Wilber-Combs Lattice was introduced, I began working from this “cube” in my head (and my heart), following my clients’ experiences as perspectives (y axis), as general states (x axis), and as something like “how they pay attention to their own affect” (which became my z axis). When I would speak to this, my students and supervisees invariably would get excited and ask me how I did this, and could I show them how to do it? This article is my first effort at actually attempting to delineate what for me is an intuitive process, thus making the Integral Cube an object of my awareness and available to the world. Because my main concern is working with humans, I am less concerned with the philosophical implications of what I am suggesting. However, there is no way for me to present the Integral Cube as I use it without appealing to the nature of ontology in Integral Post-Metaphysics. I will attempt to be clear when I am parting from standard Integral Theory, although I believe that I have remained largely with the integral vision. This article is my offering to the vision Roger Walsh laid out to the integral community at the 2008 Integral Theory Conference: “The integral vision needs to expand, deepen, refine, and be more widely applied. We are looking at decades of exploration and work . . . that will transform and mature the integral enterprise in currently inconceivable ways” (Walsh, 2010, p. xv). The third axis that I am adding may offer practitioners a vision of self where the Kosmic forces of Integral Theory begin to make sense in the lived experience of their clients. I will also be making the case that meaning-making or translation has ontological value that could not be seen until the advent of Integral Post-Metaphysics. On a personal note, it was my own lived experience of frustration around involution and evolution, and how these forces “fit” into the Wilber-Combs Lattice, that inspired me to eventually create the Integral Cube. I asked myself (and my students): “How are we to make sense of involution and evolution now that we as a community of scholar-practitioners are no longer conflating states with structures?” In differentiating the path of enlightenment from the path of development, we lost a simple model of involution and evolution—involution went down, evolution went up. It was simple, but not naive. Then along came the Wilber-Combs Lattice, and the simple arcs began to look much more complicated. Wilber has yet to publish a sophisticated reformulation of involution and evolution (interested readers should consult the introductions to the Collected Works of Ken Wilber [1999] and Integral Spirituality [2006]), but his new view is that evolution and involution occur along the x axis (general states and state-stages), and the ontogenetic and phylogenetic progress of evolution is mapped along the y axis (K. Wilber, personal communication, January 10, 2012). I still believe that evolution is properly plotted on the y axis, and involution along the x axis, so I am making a claim here that is different from current Integral Theory (Wilber-V). A longtime student of subject/ object theory, going through Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey’s Immunity to Change coaching certification program utterly changed my approach to working with the data of lived experience. This, in part, is why I make the above claim. For years I have been pulled toward both the abstract and the pragmatic; first as an integral scholar-practitioner, and now as an Immunity to Change coach. And along the way, the concept of involution was a thorn in my side (more on this below). Evolution, on the other hand, was a different story. When a sublime word or selfless act circumvents our psychological defenses, and lands in our hearts, we are moved. We are certainly moved emotionally, but Kegan’s theme is that we may also be moved in other ways—we may actually experience a shift in our structure-stage of consciousness. Here, Kegan (1982) openly wonders if feelings are not always a reminder of our evolutionary motion: “In identifying evolutionary Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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Ascend

Integrate

Self-System

Differentiate

Embrace

Figure 1. Wilber’s forces of the self-system.

activity as the fundamental ground of personality I am suggesting that the source of our emotions is the phenomenological experience of evolving,” our “e–motion” (p. 81). Our “e–motions” are what make life so alive to us. Despite their richness and immediacy, they can be difficult to track with respect to “structure-stages” (altitudes) and “general states” (states) (Wilber, 2006). Even the field of emotional intelligence has little agreement about the construct of emotions and how to measure it. Perhaps the mysteriousness that makes them difficult to categorize is a part of what makes them so significant to us. Though emotions may never be quantifiable, they will likely remain our most important entrée to evolutionary motion. But what about involution? From an integral perspective, involution is an enfolding of spirit into matter, the creation of a Kosmic tension, our “sunk cost” for engaging the “business of emptiness.” It is full of potential energy, like holding an inflatable raft below water. Our involutionary tension represents our “in-tensions.” We are born into a Kosmic tension, and we are ultimately released from this tension. Our “intentions,” then, are very much about the ways that we are attracted, teleologically, to our “higher self.” Wilber’s self-system (1986, p. 80) is actually a diagram of involutionary tension, for it suggests that the forces with which we must contend are in-us-and-as-us (Fig. 1). Wilber (2002, endnote 26) also links these self-system forces to involution. I am suggesting that we have good reason to believe that this transpersonal, involutionary tension is part and parcel of our personal, affective intentions. Linking involution and evolution along a continuum of affect brings the Kosmic forces into our work with clients. Finally, I suggest this way of looking at involution as an homage to Kegan’s personalizing of evolution: involution and evolution in personal form—our in–tensions and our e–motions—or just intentions and emotions.

Perspective Taking and Perspective Granting We can also see intentions and emotions as perspectives in Integral Theory. Wilber persuasively argues that perspective taking is the foundation for cognition, since the ability to hold, simultaneously, more and more perspectives is necessary but insufficient for cognitive development (2000a, 2006). I will suggest here that perspective granting might be the foundation for emotions. I like to imagine that the our primal-perspective, constructed as we take our first breath, is both taken and granted, from us and to us, a Kosmic narcissism from which we are attempting to untangle. (This also helps me understand the autism spectrum: if a goal of the sensorimotor stage is to both take and grant myself a perspective, and I cannot do so, then I will be fused with this primary confusion of self and world—I will literally take for granted myself as I-We-It, beginning to end.) I furthermore suspect that perspective taking and perspective granting are generally simultaneous activities once they have been differentiated during the sensorimotor period (and that when they are not, it may be evidence of a problem). Granting ourselves a perspective may be the foundation for experiencing the motion of evolution. This seems a likely candidate when you consider, for example, the power of feelings involved in the socialization 24

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process; when I feel the feelings of others, because I have granted them the integrity of such a perspective, new involutionary tensions begin to emerge in my own awareness. I unpack this view of socialization later. Just as perspective taking may be the foundation for cognition, perspective granting may be the foundation for emotion. Our emotions are always at least two things: personal (individual development) and much larger (“evolutionary motion,” the actual feeling of our own growth). From this view, emotions seem to be much more than a line of development. Here is one way of framing the larger context of this piece:

Perspective Granting as Foundation of:

Type of Affect Type of Translation Emotion Evolutionary-motion (e–motion) Intention Involutionary-tension (in–tension)

A Continuum of Affect This article deals with two notoriously difficult topics—affect and metatheory. Affect is immediate, powerful, wonderful, terrible, and fundamental to our experience. So fundamental is affect, we often have difficulty in getting distance from it. This makes sense when we remember that emotions and intentions are a multiplicity: personal passions, motivations, and desires that pull us towards our future and remind us of our past, even when resting in the present moment. Metatheory, on the other hand, is an esoteric and often nebulous academic discipline. It is so abstract that many people have difficulty in understanding how the ideas, however well they fit together, can be applied to their lives.1 Thus, any exercise that deals with one of these things is going to run into some difficulty. Attempting to look at them simultaneously presents another set of difficulties—their coherence with each other; their correspondence with your experience; and their consistency with established theory. Keep in mind that the material herein is both complex and preliminary. What I am offering here is a hypothesis that human affect is as personal as it is impersonal; perhaps as personal as it is transpersonal. One way that I see this dual nature is how feelings and intentions can be isometric with respect to levels and states, respectively. I will attempt to show how adding a continuum of affect to the Wilber-Combs Lattice helps us make sense of these issues for those of us working with clients. Here is a summary of the points I will attempt to support in this article: 1. The Wilber-Combs Lattice is crucial for helping integral scholars to differentiate structure-stages from general states (gross, subtle, causal, and nondual). 2. Differentiations like the Wilber-Combs Lattice assist both scholars and psychometricians in understanding how the different scales of levels and states relate to each other. 3. The scales that are most relevant for integral clinicians and coaches are those that track a client’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Neither axis in the current Wilber-Combs Lattice achieves such precision (nor are they meant to). 4. Translation is an underrepresented feature in Integral Theory because it is a metatheory; yet translation represents one of the most important features in working with humans as individuals and in groups. 5. Understanding where a client’s translations lie along a continuum of affect does not in-and-of itself tell us if the translations are healthy. To assess affective health, I propose that practitioners include the four fundamental forces (Eros, Agape, Phobos, and Thanatos), and hypothesize how they may be playing a role in their clients’ suffering. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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6. Adding an axis of translation—a continuum of affect—to the Wilber-Combs Lattice allows for a more sophisticated set of scales (level, state, and attention; or, transformation, transcendence, and translation, respectively). 7. The model of an Integral Cube may help clinicians and coaches create hypotheses about suffering and development using the immediate data of feelings.2 The terms transformation, transcendence, and translation have been used in many ways in Integral Theory. Here, I use these terms in specific ways. I will put my reasons for doing so in an endnote.3 Transformation: Psychological development from one structure-stage to the next; a measurable, qualitative widening or deepening of subjective identity, and a correlative increase in the quantity of objects of consciousness upon which one can operate. Related terms include: structure-stage development; psychological development; accommodation; levels of consciousness; and lens of interpretation. (What we formerly called “transcendence” in the context of transformation, I will call “ascendance” herein.) Transcendence: In its temporary manifestation, a religious, spiritual, or mystical experience of oneness with the world (an “RSME”) (Beauregard & O’Leary, 2007, p. 40); with a higher being; with light or peace itself; or as an indescribable/paradoxical emptying of self that somehow makes room for everything in existence (when I am no-one in particular, I become all). In its stable manifestation, an increased and sustained awareness of the phenomena described above, which includes mundane waking consciousness and its associated phenomena as well. Often accompanied by sustained awareness during the phases of sleep. Related terms include: bliss/ananda; causal energy; emptiness; enlightenment; nirvikalpa samadhi; satori; savikalpa samadhi; subtle energy. Translation: The psychological metabolism of experience. Related terms: metabolism; assimilation; meaning-making; or just “making sense of my experiences.”4 Like the other two dynamics of the Integral Cube (transformation and transcendence), translation has twin dynamics running “underneath the hood.” In transformation, we are looking at both the subject/object boundary of the self-identity (depth) and at the complexity of interpretations (span). In transcendence, we are looking at both the intense RSMEs of a client (temporary state) and at their lived experience of, and access to, phenomena (abiding state).5 In several of his recent Integral Institute presentations, Wilber has used the different qualities of phenomena in our lived experience as an indication for state-stage development (personal communication, October 30, 2009). In translation, the two dynamics we are looking at are intentions and emotions. If you are wondering about the potential value proposition that I am offering here, consider this: why should someone of a preconventional moral stance, who gets away with stealing, ever feel bad about stealing? There is a kind of magic going on when these feelings move into the self; more of the Kosmos has been poured down the throat, and it is not spit out. I perceive the contours of feelings that extend beyond my body, my needs, and into another…even those of an entire group. And in feeling them, I find that I am felt by others as well, reborn in a world that is not just different, it is better. Cognitively understanding that other people have needs to be coordinated with is not enough to begin the most important move toward socialization— feeling bad when my actions have something to do with someone else feeling hurt. However limiting such a connection with another’s feelings can be when evolving beyond conventional levels of development (e.g., 26

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emotional fusion with my partner/religion/country), it is nevertheless an extremely important and necessary move. Understanding the subtleties of affect can help us to bring more compassion into clinical and coaching occasions around this socialization process, which has been put at risk ever since the “conveyor belt” of religions was powered down by a dissociated modernism (Wilber, 2006, pp. 179-200).

From Metatheory to Micro-Accommodation I am interested mostly in a given metatheory’s capacity to be mined for its application value. After all, as the Kantian saying goes, “theory without action is impotent, and action without theory is blind.” This is the motivation behind the “scholar-practitioner” model of pedagogy that has been employed by Integral Institute for their seminars, and throughout the Integral Theory program at John F. Kennedy University. But the great difficulty in applying Integral Theory is similar to the difficulty encountered when explaining it, which Wilber often describes: in order to understand the parts, one must understand the whole, and vice-versa. Another issue has to do with data: Integral Theory is a metatheory, and as such, its data comes from theories, not experiments or self-reports. But to create good human applications one must gather data from human experience. Anyone attempting to use Integral Theory to create applications without starting at the human level may be guilty of perpetuating an issue that the psychoanalytic community has also struggled with: Psychoanalytic meta-psychology is the attempt to take apart the psychic machine, to figure out the forces and counterforces that operate within it…. Its constructs must address the meaning with which people endow their daily experience…. [but the constructs] lack the implication of intention and meaning that any psychology must have…. No observer of human behavior can fail to notice that people act on the basis of the meaning which they attribute to their experience of themselves and of the world around them. There must be a link between…the “how” and the “why.” (emphasis added) (Greenberg & Mitchell, 1983, pp. 22-23) Obviously psychoanalytic meta-psychology is not directly akin to Integral Theory (because its data does come from human experience, it is not a metatheory like Integral Theory). I compare the two in order to highlight the issues of reckoning with human emotions and abstractions. It is relatively easy to obtain abstractions from emotions; it is much more difficult to address the meaning with which we endow our daily experience from meta-perspectives of any sort. Furthermore, if a meta-psychology has issues of getting to the heart of human motivation, it stands to reason that a metatheory, being an octave more abstract, will have a difficult time with such engagements. The visual model of an Integral Cube that I am offering represents my effort as a bridge between metatheory and application. How this is achieved is by focusing on the scope and health of affect. Affective health is a clinical and coaching assessment, discerned through the data of feelings, self-reports about reflections on those feelings, and hypotheses about a client’s affective scope (i.e., the relative conscious-unconscious awareness around their affect). Micro-accommodations along the continuum can thus be supported, or avoided, based on clinical judgments. According to subject/object theory, evolution is the fundamental activity that organizes both emotion and cognition. The Freudian and Piagetian lineages limited themselves by selecting one as the organizer of the other (Kegan, 1982, p. 81). And when we attempt to add conceptual and practical lenses to the structurestages, as we do with the Wilber-Combs Lattice, we must then grapple with the other conceptual and practical lenses that are now implicit (for more on this important notion of interacting lenses, and metatheory in general, see Mark Edwards, 2009). As one example, consider the field of emotional intelligence (EI). My research into the psychometrics Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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of “emotional intelligence” has revealed that there is little agreement among EI researchers on the nature of the construct, and little agreement on the validity of the measures. Furthermore, even if those issues could be overcome, the psychometrics in the field of EI have nothing to do with structure-stages of development (Cherniss & Goleman, 2001, pp. 83-131; Lindebaum & Cartwright, 2010, pp. 1337-1338; Emmerling & Goleman, 2003, pp. 9-20).6 In an outstanding article, David Caruso (2003) shows how the EI construct is based on incomplete methodology and insufficiently differentiated models. In a stroke of integral genius, he points out that the entire field of EI can be most easily seen as one of three approaches: a trait approach; a competency approach; and an actual intelligence approach. According to Caruso, the foundation of assessment in these three approaches should become, respectively, self-report (first-person), other-report (second-person), and objective “ability” (third-person). Caruso is suggesting that without differentiating the field methodologically, there can be no way of isolating the variables actually involved with emotional intelligence or its measurement (Caruso, 2003). In other words, our emotions are much more than just a line of development (Caruso’s thirdperson “intelligence” approach, if it includes stages). Nor is my meaning-making (my translating) an epiphenomenon or byproduct of the self’s interaction with the world. Oftentimes in reading the work of integral scholar-practitioners, I get the sense that this equation is supposed to suffice for those of us working with human beings: Altitude + General State = Translation But this will not suffice. I am not suggesting that Wilber is making a strong claim against the ontological value of translation; however, in three out of four mentions of “translation” in The Eye of Spirit, Wilber uses the qualifier “mere” or “merely” to describe it (1997, p. 181; 358; 380).7 More recently, Wilber (2005) has written that “I can come out of a nondual state of awareness, and if I am green, I will interpret nonduality in green terms….This translation-downward of great spiritual treatises is a significant problem” (emphasis in original; p. 74). I believe that healthy translation also holds the key for healthy transformation, as I outline below. For now, I would like to say that just as there is a translation-downward, there may also be a translation-upward, a connection between healthy translation and transformation in structure-stage development. For Kegan, meaning-making is an activity of great import, but it is generally used in subject/object theory to illustrate how I relate to and am influenced by my culture-of-embeddedness (i.e., holding environment). In Integral Theory, translation is the “metabolism” or “activity” of that which occurs in the interiority of the self (Upper Left). It is the digesting of experience, and occurs according to one’s complexity. We can grow in competency through practice (e.g., Kurt Fischer’s skill theory) and “develop” within a given set of capacities; but again, the translations in such a perspective are based on a-posteriori perspectives. I agree with all of this; however, it still presents translation in a passive way, an emotionally powerful yet ontologically inert activity.8

Translation is Not Inert: The Isometric Nature of Feelings As outlined above, translation is both fundamental and significant to the self. Jean Loevinger used two metaphors for this fact, that of an arch and of a gyroscope. The arch metaphor captures the fact that, like the stones in an arch, it is the forces between the parts that hold the ego together. In the gyroscope metaphor we see a side of Loevinger (1976) too often left out of the developmental literature; a philosopher who makes-meaning about the essence of meaning-making itself: “The ego is in a way like a gyroscope, whose upright position is maintained by its rotation” (p. 58). Kegan (1982) writes, “We live on a turning world and we are turning ourselves” (p. 261). This turning is, I believe, just as important as involution and evolution, and so I would like to add the term revolution to them. “Revolution” captures both the rotation as well as the intensity of the z axis: 28

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the turning that maintains our “upright” position (our integrity), and the feeling of coup d’état as a new self emerges (or, the feeling of revolt when a subpersonality hijacks us). Revolution is rotation and it is intense. Our constant revolving may be central for understanding “how” psychological development begins and is sustained. Developmentalists have long understood the “why” of development—dissonance, accommodation, transformation, and of course, support and challenge. But none of those helps us to understand how some folks under those conditions will develop, while others do not. Explaining away the ambiguity of the available clinical evidence via personality differences (type) or life conditions (quadrants) or karmic inheritance is unsatisfying. Those may play a role, but there are remainders with these explanations. For example, there are cases where life conditions are terrible, yet development occurs nevertheless; or cases where one brilliant teacher helps hundreds of children transform over the course of a career, consistently addressing differing personality types. Piaget understood that there must be a third condition, somewhere in-between learning (i.e., assimilation) and growing (i.e., accommodation) in order to account for the “how” of development. He called it “micro-accommodation,” and it is both “diachronic and synchronic” (i.e., dynamic-historical and static-current) (Gruber & Voneche, 1995, pp. 848-850; Hooker, 1995, p. 325, 376; see also Loevinger’s excellent exposition on the dynamic area between assimilation and accommodation, 1976, pp. 295-299). With micro-accommodation, integral practitioners have a link between transformation and translation. If a “translation” involves similar meaning-making yesterday and today around an activity (e.g., “It is o.k. to steal as long as I don’t get caught”), where I can only see the data that support this (e.g., “I continue to avoid detection! Everything is going well!”), then micro-accommodation is when something shifts in my meaning-making (e.g., “I wonder if this actually is best? Am I losing something here?”). Ground begins to shift into the view of a new figure. I am presenting here the following hypothesis on the nature of revolving as I use it above: translations lead to re-translations, re-translations lead to micro-accommodations, and micro-accommodations lead to transformations. The key here is that as a holon I am both moving and being moved at the same time; I affect and I am being affected. That is what I mean by “revolution.” It is not enough to be moved from without, and it is not enough to have insight; true revolution is when those forces line up. That is where translations can grip us, and open us to the forces of involution and evolution. Like the Big Bang that bore the Kosmos, I must tear myself asunder to get to the new stuff. To put that into gestalt terms, I must become both the mover and the moved, and struggle as I birth my new self.9 Kegan (1994) poetically illustrates this process in the epilogue to In Over Our Heads—a girl throwing a ball against a garage door. This repetitive act of “throwing away” captures the essence of the gradual transition from translation to transformation: Passion has its own purpose. Passion can be a bit disdainful of reasonableness and productivity. And passion is among the most sacred and fragile gifts the gods bestow on us. It is fragile before our devastating embarrassment and impatience. And it is sacred because it promises the possibility of new life. (p. 354) I see translations along a continuum of emotions as having as much ontological value as the already recognized ontological value of transformation and transcendence. Working with people gives us access to their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, though not always in a direct way. In essence, a client’s “translations” are the only things with which we can work. But everything from selective inattention to unconsciously acting out renders “translations” different from “healthy translations.” Meaning is a cipher, and anyone who wants to know someone else (let alone help them) must decipher their intentions from their attention, their feelings from their beliefs. A cipher is an interlaced design of symbols whose meaning is embedded in the structure of the layers. When I work with a client, I know that I am doing my initial job best when we both Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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reach a place of not-knowing, the moment when we bump into the layers of meaning that lie just outside our grasp. Here, doing-not-doing or wu-wei takes on great importance. Here is where open curiosity, the essence of mindfulness, is the single most important quality that a practitioner can bring to a client. This is also why a continuum of affect—a system of our collective attention to conscious and unconscious meanings—is so important for helping clinicians and coaches to decipher healthy translations from unhealthy, and developmental trajectories from regression.10 Loevinger, Kegan, and Wilber each attempt to bring scales of attention to bear upon the developing self. Because his drive theory of psychoanalysis was reductionist, Freud did not need to reconcile unconscious forces with qualitatively different structures of identity during development. The id, ego, and superego are static, and maturity is seen in those people who can integrate the forces of the id (biological) and the forces of the superego (sociocultural) without the need to engage defense mechanisms. With the advent of psychoanalytic object-relations theory, developmental psychologists were tempted to use the subject/object boundary of developmental psychology as a foundation for the subject/object boundary of psychoanalysis (or vice-versa). Wilber (1996) created six types of unconscious that I adapt to the Integral Cube. In this passage, Wilber discusses how we “become unconscious for various reasons, and these reasons lie along a continuum of inattention. This continuum ranges from simple forgetting through selective forgetting to forceful/dynamic forgetting (the latter alone being repression proper)” (p. 99). Despite identifying this continuum, it remains a part of Wilber-III, and integral practitioners have adopted a generalist stance, focusing on “the shadow,” and the notion of attention was not taken up and used by integral scholars or practitioners in any kind of meaningful way. Attention and suffering were scrubbed of their utility and delivered as “awareness” and “shadow.” The Integral Life Practice manual states: “The strategy of transcendence easily becomes a form of avoidance. In fact, it’s crucial to be able to let go fully into life and pay close, undefended attention to the qualities of your felt experience” (Wilber et al., 2008, p. 359). Yet there is no actual instruction on how one goes about actually doing this, which is particularly frustrating since the very thing being discussed is an unconscious defense mechanism. The result is something like: “you are being defensive, so don’t be defensive and then you won’t suffer from being defensive.” Kegan & Lahey (2009) have focused on the relationship between our affect and the system consciousunconscious. We can be consciously or unconsciously “hooked” by our meaning-making; or we can be consciously or unconsciously released from our meaning-making. Our subject/object processes, those translations that can be “retranslations” or “micro-accommodations,” define Kegan and Lahey’s four types of systems conscious-unconscious. Wilber (1996) pays homage to Freud’s insight on the unrepressed, but repressing, superego: “Each translation process sees but is not seen; it translates, but is not itself translated; and it can repress, but is not itself repressed” (p. 105). From the moment I read that line I was myself hooked into the meaning of the term “unconscious” with respect to development and translation, but it was not until I was trained in Kegan and Lahey’s Immunity to Change coaching method that I was finally able to resolve this issue of how developmental psychology and psychoanalysis fit together while working with clients.11 Wilber created a system of unconsciousness that is typological, in the sense that our awareness and attention are foundational for our relative “consciousness” of thoughts, feelings, and intuitions. In other words, it is the both the developmental context (our capacity for perspectives) and our content of meaning that defines the type of unconscious—transpersonal content, RSME content, biographical content, or teleological content (Wilber, 1996, pp. 97-108). In Table 1, I have adapted Wilber’s types of unconscious in a way that I believe will be helpful for clinicians and coaches. Here is a list of Wilber’s types of unconscious: Ground Unconscious 30

Structure-stages that exist in potential as Kosmic habits for everyone. “Expected maturity” for adults.

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Archaic Unconscious Submergent Unconscious Embedded Unconscious Emergent Unconscious

Psychological version of biological “instincts”; Freud’s “id”; Jung’s “archaic-images” (not arche-types). Repressed and subliminal versions. Current subjective identification; Kegan’s aspect of our cul- ture that is “embedded” in-and-as our subjectivity; Freud’s “superego.” Structure-stages that have not yet unfolded and been iden- tified with, but whose emergence is within reach (including nascent structure-stages that are not yet Kosmic habits or morphic fields, like the integral structure-stages of teal and turquoise altitudes or “Self-Transforming Mind”). (adapted from Wilber, 1996, pp. 95-104)

Once I revisited Wilber’s five types of unconscious mind, I realized that there are actually six types— because there are subliminal and repressed versions of the submergent unconscious. As soon as I made this distinction, I began to see that, like the static and dynamic versions of levels (y axis) and states (x axis), there are static and dynamic versions of our unconscious processes. By referring to the repressed version of the submergent unconscious as “submergent” and separating out the dynamic “subliminal” version, I was able to line up my continuum of affect with both Wilber’s and Kegan & Lahey’s versions of relative unconsciousness (Table 1). When we are actually unconscious of something, we feel no anxiety; that is precisely the point of our anti-anxiety mechanisms. It is also why we project them onto the world: because we can never actually cleave them from our being. Such anti-anxiety mechanisms also fit well with Kegan and Lahey’s system consciousunconscious, in that the information that might cause me anxiety, of which I am almost aware (subliminal) is mutated into something else and repressed (submergent) until my anxiety goes away. Later on, my embedded

Wilber

Kegan & Lahey

Zeitler

Static UCS

Dynamic UCS

Immunity-to-Change CS – UCS

Integral Cube Continuum of Affect-Attention

Submergent UCS

Emergent UCS

Unconsciously immune

Non-adaptive unconscious

Subliminal UCS

Consciously immune

Preconscious (attention?)

Consciously released

Conscious (attention!)

Unconsciously released

Adaptive unconscious

Submergent-Repressed

Embedded UCS

Submergent-Subliminal

Self-System Will, Metabolism, Navigation*

Ground UCS

Archaic UCS

Unattended projecting

Unattended processing

Table 1. Systems of conscious-unconscious attention in the Integral Cube. * I see three of Wilber’s self-system functions here in-and-as “conscious attention” along the z axis of the Integral Cube. The other three functions of the self-system are identification, organization, and defense; those functions, however, are part-and-parcel of the entire z axis of the Integral Cube, and are precisely those functions that I am differentiating into the other three steps along the continuum of attention (see Wilber et al., 1986, pp. 77-80). UCS—Unconscious. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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and submergent unconscious will automatically render this information “unnecessary,” should cues arise that might otherwise give me pause, or reason to attend to the issue. That is why we feel little when in the presence of a projection (but other people may react to our “negativity” or “passion” around the issue, which is surprising…because we are actively not feeling anything!). Before moving on, I will give a few words on some of Wilber’s types of unconscious. The ground unconscious is essentially the morphogenetic field of the structure-stages of development that have habitually emerged for anywhere from 200 to 10,000 years (200 being the latest structure-stage to be reached en-masse, the rational orange altitude structure-stages of development; 10,000 being the earliest structure-stages, those of infrared altitude). These structure-stages have already repeated to the point where they are Kosmic habits; these are therefore available—even expected—as mature development. The second is the “burgeoning but repressed” emergent-unconscious (i.e., I should be making meaning from a new self, but I am avoiding transformation). As mentioned above, I have divided Wilber’s submergent-unconscious into subliminal and submergence aspects because it is properly two types of unconscious, and because doing so renders static and dynamic versions for his types of unconscious processing. The subliminal unconscious is causing the new-self anxiety in the same way that Wilber’s “embedded” unconscious is causing the old-self anxiety. Both the static embedded unconscious and the dynamic subliminal unconscious are in my view preconscious, in the sense that a great deal of anxiety comes up for us as we bring our attention to the meaning-making. No longer outside of my attention (either actively, as in submergence, or as a part of my healthy and automatic unconscious thought processing), I am called to attend to information that makes me uncomfortable. My immune system has become conscious because of my life conditions (e.g., my own goal-achievements, or my desires to remain or gain a relationship). Here is the key to understanding why I am aligning all of these types of unconsciousness: both healing and growth take place as one moves from “unconscious-issue” to “conscious-work” to “unconsciousprocess.” Where “issue” can mean repression/fixation or nascent structure; “work” can mean healing or structure-building; and “process” can mean adaptive unconscious thought or freed energy for unconscious thought. Which brings me to the emergent unconscious. The “emergent” unconscious is non-adaptive because as my new self emerges, I ignore it. It can only “irritate” me, as Kegan would say, when I begin to create re-

y axis Altitude

x axis States

z axis Affect

Figure 2. Adding a z axis of translation to the Wilber-Combs Lattice.13 32

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za

Af

xis

f ec

t–

x At

te

nt

io

Ge

n

y a x i s

n

er

ax

is

S al

ta

te

A l t i t u d e

Tr

an

sla

tio

n

a Tr

ns

ce

e nd

nc

e

T r a n s f o r m a t i o n

Figure 3. Rotating the graphical coordinates of Figure 2 reveals a cube (left); the Integral Cube in its simplest form (right).

translations in the scope of this nascent self. When this has occurred, I am meaning-making from my emerging new self in a preconscious fashion, and my “embedded/subliminal” unconscious may actually repress the turning of retranslations into micro-accommodations. On the other end of the scale, as I am unconsciously released from having to constantly and consciously attend to new meaning-making, I am creating Kosmic habits that will serve as chreodes in the morphic fields of human behavior, which eventually become part of the ground/archaic unconscious (Sheldrake, 2009, pp. 170-175). This may be how my revolving as an individual may actually be related to my phylogenetic inheritance, the evolving that grants me Kosmic habits; if I carry both a ground unconscious and archaic unconscious, then my revolving may also be adding to those chreodes. And for involving myself in the Kosmos, I may be attracted to the peculiar set of attention (and inattention) that serves as a likely candidate for bearing the fruit of meaning-making in life. I believe that our revolving can be best understood with such a continuum. In the following sections, I will attempt to align the continuum of affect with subphases of development and the common feelings that can show up when people are in the throes of their own becoming. In Figure 2, I show the Wilber-Combs Lattice with the z axis added to it, then how rotating this set of coordinates reveals the Integral Cube (Fig. 3) using labels that I describe above.12

Revisiting Translation and Transformation I use the term affective health to highlight the most common way clinicians and coaches can use a continuum of affect. What I mean by this is that if we want to discover the differences between the “why” (structurestage interpretations) and “how” (translations), we need to tease apart the relative health of those translations. And the prima-facie evidence for this is not merely feelings, but whether and how a client feels about their feelings. As Elliott Ingersoll (2010) explores in our book Integral Psychotherapy: Inside-Out/Outside-In, client feelings about their feelings occur in both syntonic ways (self-consistent thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) and dystonic ways (self-repugnant thoughts, feelings, and behaviors). Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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There is almost certainly a subject/object component to one’s perception of a specific feeling, a symptom, or a general experience as being syntonic or dystonic. Those that are dystonic will lead to anxiety, even if those closest to us cannot understand why (for example, the specter of success can lead to great anxiety, or the specter of a chance at love). We protect ourselves in myriad ways. Therefore, by looking into the expression of specific feelings in terms of how a client attends to the experience, and how that tending parallels specific feelings, clinicians and coaches may better diagnose and work with the Kosmic forces of which we are composed. For example, if someone is subject to their impulses, then impulsive behavior—no matter however disruptive—is likely to be an anti-anxiety for them. Because they are “had by” their impulses, and cannot take them as an object of attention, their structure-stage (here, the impulsive-self or magenta altitude) sets limits upon the impact of their translations. However, it may also be that the impulse to hate myself is expressed through the lens of this structure-stage. If that impulse can find no embrace, or no counter, in a later version of me, it means I cannot attend to it (and therefore it may consume me). It can be an anti-anxiety mechanism, but is it healthy? Or is it a confusion of a natural aspect of development—disgust, specifically, self-disgust? The first subphase of transformation is to differentiate from an existing level, one’s current self-identity. But as we begin to create a new, more complex identity, we become disgusted of our prior and now quite stupid identity. It is easy to see how, in our translations, we can confuse the normal feelings of a new self (disgust at old self) with the unhealthy feelings of the old self (self-hatred). If that confusion runs into actual self-object fusions, particularly when entering or leaving red altitude structurestages, the result can be suicidal ideation (when self-directed) or homicidal ideation (when other-directed).

The Isometric Nature of the Self Isometric Feelings

Our emotions are often isomers—structurally dissimilar (old self and new self), but with the same formula (e.g., self-disgust in the example above). The subphases of development represent a crisis of psychological birth. The new-self structure, the one that might be good at reintegrating the identity structures and translations of my old self is not quite there yet. As I go through my subphases of development, I will literally be “all over the place” (Wilber, 1997, p. 359); I will often literally be “beside myself” (a common self-report with participants who take the subject/object interview) (Kegan, 1982, p. 169). As a coach, I have been trying to create a system for better understanding precisely what Wilber and Kegan are referring to when they use those terms. If I am to differentiate the various ways my clients are revolving, then I need to understand the structures and processes involved in translations as they lead toward retranslations and micro-accommodations. In other words, I must discern how a client’s powerful feelings may be a refraction of translation, and how the refraction can come in two forms: from old self and from new self. If I cannot look for the storm inside the façade, I may miss an important opportunity. Because emotions are often isomers, they are fused together from the perspective of the old self, and because they are fused together, they cannot yet be consciously available to the emerging self. They are neither released nor are they available for reflection. Such feelings, particularly if a habit of rendering them unconscious has already occurred throughout several transformations, often become a fixation or repression. Fixations and repressions are unmetabolized translations that are reintegrated as beliefs or assumptions. This is a key point: our unmetabolized translations continue to revolve in our awareness, by hiding in plain sight. Because we have an “adaptive unconscious” that allows us to outsource our attention (Dijksterhuis, 2006; Gladwell, 2005), and because we have the ability to repress unwelcome translations, we have all the ingredients we need to create a non-adaptive unconscious. This non-adaptive unconscious can be static (the submergent unconscious) or it can be dynamic (the emergent unconscious). In the Immunity to Change method and in the Integral Cube, non-adaptive can refer 34

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to both. I am just as unaware of an emerging new self as I am of a repression from my old self, and both are non-adaptive. Both the static and dynamic versions of non-adaptive unconsciousness show up when we work with clients. Both are unavailable to our attending, and some material will be “repressed” (submergent unconscious) while other material will be “over their heads” (emergent unconscious). Both client and practitioner might confuse the two because the translations will be “all over the place.” Our exquisite anti-anxiety systems keep both of these from our attention, for different reasons (Kegan & Lahey, 2009, pp. 47-50). By looking at the continuum of affect in light of our efforts to keep our anxiety at bay, we can begin to tease apart emotional isomers in order to isolate specific plans for our clients. Our anxiety-riddled translations, unavailable for actual psychological metabolism by either the new self or the old self, become beliefs or assumptions that are reintegrated as a blind spot with further development. Kegan and Lahey (2009) write, “Anxiety is the most important private emotion in public life” (p. 48). Our psyche is wired to help us avoid feeling a level of anxiety that instinctively seems to us like death. In Immunity to Change coaching, I am co-creating a space with my client where together, we see if feeling the anxiety will lead to metabolism or if it is indeed pointing to evidence for the reality of an awaiting catastrophe. Open curiosity is the only way through the eye of this needle. You might be asking why we would evolve these mechanisms; my answer is that despite being negative, those feelings actually bring us closer to integration. It is often a twisted mirror, this reality of ours, and it is why we will be continually attracted to life-conditions that, to outsiders, do not appear to serve us at all.

Static and Dynamic Translation If it were the case that only translations resonant with our current structure-stage capacities could be assimilated, then the self would be a perfectly static system—no transformation would occur. Above, I describe a way of looking at Wilber’s types of unconsciousness as either static or dynamic versions of steps along the continuum of affect. Here, I propose that there are also two dynamics at work in affect, just as there are static and dynamic systems at work in structure-stage transformation and in general state experiences. The static and dynamic versions of transformation and transcendence in Table 2 should be familiar to anyone who has read a book written by Wilber published since 1990. I am suggesting that translation is not only on par with transformation and transcendence, but that like them it has static and dynamic versions. One implication of aligning emotions with evolution and intentions with involution is that our sense of “intuition” may lie precisely at the meeting place between the two; right where “all the action is.” This brings a whole new meaning to “be a light unto yourself.” As an enfolded holon, my intuitions may be guiding my visions for my future, or my sense of my “higher self.” My intentions for my life (and for others in my life) are related to my involution (and for those of you who believe in karma, perhaps even for what I have brought with me during involution). I may, however, be confusing my intuitions with my emotions—how I feel about my own evolution. Teasing these two apart is paramount when working with clients, and it cannot be accomplished through psychometrics (y axis) or through the verification of state-stage development via falsification of transcendelia in a community setting (x axis); it can only be done through an open curiosity that is informed by a continuum of affect. It is being done all over the world by clinicians, coaches, teachers, parents, and best friends; it is natural and necessary, and bringing greater attention to it may help what my Immunity to Change colleague Maria DeCarvalho calls the “great empathy deficit” of living in the West (personal communication, December 11, 2011). In the Immunity to Change coaching program, we use the terms conscious and unconscious to refer to thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that hook us into old patterns, or that free us to operate from the clarity of a evolving self. In fact, the “immune” in Immunity to Change refers to those self-protective mechanisms in the psyche that keep us from metabolizing affect that has been rendered unconscious, or those emerging translations that cause me to be self-protective in the same way. Here are the steps: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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Level Transformation

State Transcendence

Affect Translation

Post-Metaphysics

Evolution

Involution

Revolution

Static Version

Levels as ladder

State-stages

In–tensions

Dynamic Version

Levels as waves*

General state

E–motions

Table 2. Static and dynamic uses for the three major aspects of self in Integral Theory. * For differentiation of terms for “structure-stage,” see Wilber (2000a, p. 7).

Unconsciously Immune: I am unaware of the emerging need to grow a new self (and of the need for healthy retranslations from an old self), and my anti-anxiety mechanisms are hard at work in my non-adaptive unconscious. Consciously Immune: I am aware of the need for healthy retranslations, and the antianxiety mechanisms of my embedded unconscious still actively attempting to submerge meaning; but with my coach I begin to expand my attention skills by actively engaging my subliminal anxiety in the service of growth (Eros).14 Consciously Released: I am able to self-generate the thoughts, feelings, and intuitions that cause me to continually retranslate my assumptions (limiting beliefs); I must pay careful attention and remain conscious of my newly expanded thoughts, feelings, and intuitions. Unconsciously Released: My new self has emerged, and because I have adapted to this identity (and/or I can metabolize my old-self translations that were submerged), I can offload much of my attention around the meaning-making I recently freed myself from to my adaptive unconscious. (This is where repressed material can sneak into the unconscious, and remain non-adaptive.) The above linear abstraction is all well and good, but it is devoid of passion. Below, I will try to maintain the linear layout, but flesh it out with the feelings that are often occurring during subphase transformation.

The Feel of Growth The first (and last) feeling involved in development is a sense of rest or balance—we are finally comfortable in our own skin. This is life-as-it-should-be. Our comfort rests on the fact that all is right with the world, however briefly. But it is quiet—too quiet. A feeling of frustration begins to creep into our awareness (dissonance). Everything is right, but…there has to be more to life than this, right? There is a quiet hope that such musings are not mere fantasy (frustration only makes sense when we believe that things can in fact be better than they are; without hope we could not be frustrated, we would actually despair). Restless as we are, we begin our journey by trying to turn “comfortable” into “excellent,” as we are equally frustrated with our current skin, and hopeful that excellence can and will prevail. And in that moment, we are responding to Eros, to a teleological force that has a billion years on our individual power of will. We experience a dissonance between our desire for excellence, and our current state of comfort. We try to get 36

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better without changing; but that never works. We are frustrated at the dissonance we are experiencing when we reach the limits for meaning-making, usually around a specific issue (e.g., if I want to best get my preconventional needs met, then knowing how other people feel would help me predict their actions; I am frustrated because on some level I know that this is better, but for some reason I cannot know how they feel until I see it written on their face! If only I could predict how they might feel if I were to try and get my needs met, then I would be even better at getting my needs met). As we actually begin to translate from a slightly more complex identity, a new and exciting world awaits us—a much better world. But what if I cannot live up to all of this newness? What if I am fooling myself? What will the world think of me? Am I being played here? Fear begins to creep in that we cannot live up to the challenge, or that we have been duped. As excited as we are at the new tools available (our new capacities for operating upon our own consciousness), we are almost as afraid that this might go away, that it is all a dream. Moving on, we feel a desire to protect this nascent self of ours, for it seems fragile. Thus do we begin to feel disgust at our old self: “Look at those fools who believe they ‘know’….you know nothing!” We negate or repudiate our old self, and the feeling of disgust is often confused with all representations of that old self (including but not limited to other people). The next feeling of development is relief. I am relieved that a new dawn has arrived. I no longer feel trapped by the dissonance of limited meaning-making; I maintain my excitement without the fear that this is not “real,” and I no longer feel the need to constantly be disgusted at “old self representations.” Relief and joy eventually lead toward comfort. Although presented in a linear manner, anyone who actually treats humans as if they can check off a list of feelings with respect to development should be treated with suspicion. Having said that, we can and should be able to investigate the relative health of the emotions that accompany the translations involved. As I claim above, our feelings can be isomers when it comes to translations, retranslations, and micro-accommodations—they can serve two selves. They can serve the self-we-are-leaving (old self) and the self-we-arebecoming (new self). They are metabolically identical, yet structurally dissimilar.

A Continuum of Affect and Self-Perception Before moving on, I would like to suspend the discussion about the isometric nature of feelings as arising from subphase development in order to look at the simple feeling of being. In his piece on zones of epistemology, Wilber (2006) hypothesizes that there are first-, second-, and third-person perspectives in each of the four quadrants (pp. 40-42). One example of this is our perceptual mechanisms. Physical perception is differentiated into three forms: proprioception (Upper Right, first-person); interoception (Upper Right, second person); and exteroception (Upper Right, third-person). Proprioception is our perception of our own bodily movements and body position in space-time (e.g., the relative heaviness of moving my arm before and after a workout); interoception is our perception of the various bodily systems in relationship to one another (e.g., I feel hunger when my muscles and other organs are seeking nourishment and send signals to the brain and stomach); and exteroception is what we commonly think of as “perception”—I perceive the world with my senses. For purposes of the present discussion, the Upper-Left self-recognition that I am discussing is analogous to interoception—the value of looking into static and dynamic processes of translation lies in the relationship and activity of the parts involved. What will their affect be like? In terms of the analogy with interoception, I am most interested in how they feel about their feelings. There is so much that clinicians and coaches can glean from this information. For example, I have treated many people who were exhibiting dissociations that carried almost no affect, but I have also treated people with modest differentiations of self whose affect was extremely intense and labile. I can safely say that getting at the heart of the feelings we have about meaning-making can be daunting. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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“Steps” in Translation Experiences Will Be…

Affect

Attention

Passive defense • Non-adaptive Unconscious

Flat Frustration

Retranslations unlikely • Self: apathy • Other: aversion

Active defense • Preconscious

Disgust /Contempt Fear/Anger

Retranslations likely • Self: threatened • Other: irritation

Active assimilation • Conscious

Excitement/Expansion Hope/Joy

Retranslations Likely: • Self: acceptance • Other: trusting

Passive assimilation • Adaptive Unconscious

Relief Comfort

Retranslations unlikely • Self: values • Other: engagements

Table 3. Self-protection: the role of the unconscious and self-other meanings in translations.

Clearly, notions of unconsciousness play a role in translation. If I do not have the capacity to think or feel about stealing as being anything but good for me, then I will happily ignore suggestions about which authority it would be best for me to turn myself in. I might have affect around your stupidity, but not around the issue of conventional morality that you are attempting to use as the background for the conversation. (Question: “Hey Willie, why do you rob banks?” Answer: “Because that’s where the money is.” Here is how Willie heard your question: “Hey Willie, why do you rob banks?”

Revisiting Eros (Phobos) and Agape (Thanatos) Above, I discuss feelings that often accompany the micro-accommodations that define the milestones of developmental transformation: comfort, frustration, hope, excitement, fear, disgust, and relief. Here, I will align these emotions with the steps of translations that show up in the self and during a session with a client. I like using “steps of affect” because it reminds me that we are all on a path, and that not all paths are healthy. Or as Kegan (1982) puts it, “The truth is made, not heard” (p. 295). If you are anything like me, you may be asking “so what?” about my proposed continuum, particularly since my ultimate goal is to create a cube-model of the self. There is a reason that I am heading toward an alignment of subphases of development with translations (evolution), and it is related to why I will later discuss Wilber’s four Kosmic forces and their impact on translations (involution). The reason is this: in order to justify a cube model that includes the familiar axes of the Wilber-Combs Lattice (transformation and transcendence), I must be able to relate translation to both transformation and transcendence. The way that I do this is by comparing feelings with specific subphases of development (how translation relates to transformation) and by comparing motivations with Kosmic forces (how translation relates to transcendence). In The Eye of Spirit, Wilber summarizes the logic of the drives (Eros, Agape, Phobos, and Thanatos). As you can probably guess from the labels, these drives go back to ancient Greek philosophy (and likely even further back). Here is the key point: “Agape split from Eros appears as Thanatos; Eros split from Agape appears as Phobos” (1997, p. 325). I believe that this formulation, when seen as a foundational set of forces in human development, gives practitioners a guide to the two most common symptoms in working with people: depression and anxiety, respectively. 38

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As I began to use Kegan and Lahey’s Immunity to Change coaching method, I realized that there is a relationship between Wilber’s four fundamental forces and Kegan’s subphases of development. A kind of “subject/object emotional algebra” began to take shape in my mind as I worked with coaching clients. In order to understand this peculiar algebra, I will align the typical feelings that we experience in a poignant way during moments of self protection, as seen in Table 2, with the subphases of development. The most commonly understood one is the confusion we experience in cognitive dissonance. Unable to make sense of two mutually exclusive truths, we are driven to become whole, forced to ride the waves of Eros to a place where we can finally make sense of the two truths together. (For example, the dissonance of wanting to manipulate a family member into doing something for our own aims, but also feeling bad when they happily do what we want; such a dissonance drives development toward a socialized way of making meaning because I must accommodate my own sense of what it means to get my needs satisfied; I must integrate you and your needs into my own understanding of myself.) I would like to offer a way of teasing out precisely how these forces are dynamically expressed through our very existence, based on Wilber’s four Kosmic forces (1995): • • • •

Eros | love of the one | integration (libido) Agape | love of the many | connection (philia) Phobos | fear of death | anxiety (phobia) Thanatos | fear of life | depression (destrudo)

I am not reducing all forms of integration, connection, depression, or anxiety to the four forces of Eros, Agape, Thanatos, and Phobos. Rather, I am linking these four forces to general states of consciousness, and to involution. I believe that they are intrinsic to RSMEs and therefore to our translation of those RSMEs. Furthermore, these four forces seem intimately related to our mundane intentions—those tensions that “have” me, that drive me, to seek or avoid, to love and to take refuge. It can even be argued that the four forces are emotionally and structurally foundational to meaning itself as much as to meaning-making, if Phobos is indeed repression: Phobos = (Eros - Agape); and Thanatos is indeed regression: Thanatos = (Agape - Eros). I have found this to be largely true in my own research and practice in the clinical and coaching aspects of developmental psychology. For example, in order to “have” rather than to “be had by” my own subjectivity, as Kegan says (moving of subject to object in development), I must let go of my exclusive identification with a given set of perspectives. Remaining attached is Thanatos, and as Kegan (1982) points out, it is precisely this attachment to an old self that interrupts the evolution of my meaning-making; it is precisely this pathological attachment, this Thanatos, that leads to developmental depression. Kegan’s treatment for such depression is to help a client to relax their assumptions about what might lay beyond such a letting-go, while simultaneously building a stronger ego structure to handle that letting-go. In other words, it is as much emotional as it is cognitive. From the perspective of the depressed client, holding on or remaining attached literally is a matter of life and death; like a child who reaches for the parent that beats them as social services takes them away, we often choose the devil we know over an unknown (Kegan, 1982, pp. 255-297). In order to express my Agape, I must continually move subject to object. More than any other topic, this one has confused the students to whom I have taught developmental psychology. I have found that the confusion begins with the word “object” and its vernacular, pejorative connotations (e.g., the “objectification” of women or nature itself). But from a developmental viewpoint, it is impossible for me to relate to, let alone embrace or integrate, a Kosmos that does not yet have its own integrity. I must know the Kosmos as “other” in order to embrace and love “the many” on their own terms (Agape). There is a big difference between “making object” and “objectifying.” The first is an expansion that allows for a full and complete intimacy, fueled by Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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love; the second is a drive to control, a contraction that is fueled by fear. Kegan (1982) gives a brilliant example of this in reviewing “intimacy” at the socialized mindset (amber altitude). Intimacy is the source, but cannot be the aim, of my philia, my desire to affiliate (p. 97). In other words, this is not Agape. The desire to fuse with a partner that so often shows up at this altitude may actually be an expression of Thanatos. How? Because if an adult’s emergent unconscious (i.e., new self that is “on deck”) is arrested, then we know there is a lack of Eros: (Agape - Eros) = Thanatos; here, (intimacy - distinction) = smothering. Such an individual has long ago accomplished the mutuality, trustworthiness, and even honor of the levels of development at amber altitude. By fusing with an intimate partner, my old self is trying to circle the wagons against life itself, against Eros. If you have a client that is less interested in sex (libido) with their intimate partner than they are with finding out how their intimate partner “…could possibly do/say ‘x’ to/about me, when I wouldn’t even consider doing/saying ‘x’ to/about them,” then you are almost surely dealing with an amber altitude arrest of some kind. This is the arrest of Thanatos. I wish that I could flesh out every variation of this subject/object emotional algebra, but I do not have the room for such. However, I hope that by linking the common subjective feelings of translations that are germane to subphases of development, and seeing them as expressions of Eros, Agape, Phobos, and Thanatos, clinicians and coaches can take their intuitions about their clients and follow those intuitions into the realm of hypothesis formation and testing. Together, they may be able to glean specific subphase feelings, and hypothesize the syntonic or dystonic nature of the feelings for their evolution. That, to me, is the definition of affective health in translation.

Aligning Feelings and Structures Below, I will begin by looking at the emotions that lie along the continuum of affect. Later, I will introduce a subject/object emotional algebra that is based on Wilber’s four fundamental forces. This adds layers of emotions that help clinicians and coaches to distinguish between translations. In other words, we will be able to take the following approach with clients: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Capture the expressed emotional experiences Identify a client’s feelings about their translation of their emotions Locate a step on the continuum of affect that matches the translation Hypothesize a missing fundamental drive (using subject/object emotional algebra) Test for retranslative and micro-accommodation capacities Treat the client by supporting evolutionary dynamics (specific supports/challenges)

The continuum of affect in the steps of translations along the z axis is consistent with both developmental psychology and clinical psychology. In developmental psychology, there is a common trajectory of translations during transformation: 1. Information that might disrupt someone’s identity is initially ignored, but differentiation begins when frustration (dissonance) overcomes this. A. Flat Affect i. Old Self: One needs ears to hear, and one needs a nascent complexity of awareness and attention to construct or hear a slightly more complex meaning. (This, incidentally, is a strong argument for a teleological force in development.) Hence the old self ignores potentially 40

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disruptive information. ii. New Self: Like a fetus, the nascent new self is ignorant, even blissfully ignorant. Right now, Eros and Phobos are in balance; Agape and Thanatos are in balance. The perturbations of these forces in the psyche, as they try to rebalance themselves, are like the kicking that a pregnant mother may feel; in other words, they portend a hurtling towards the drama of birth. “There’s nothing to worry about here!” B. Frustration i. Old Self: If the holding environment is persistent (i.e., parenting or work expectations), then frustration will be present for the old self. The old self is experiencing the frustration of feeling outmoded. Abandonment and wounding are right around the corner; so I am going to strike first. A “preemptive defensive strike,” as a military might suppose. “No boys/girls allowed,” the signs on countless ‘tween doors reads. Recognizing the inevitable co-mingling that is right around the corner, intuiting the future demands from parents (socialization), peers (fraternization), and their own body (puberty), a frustrated ‘tween might dig in for the long haul. “Just leave me alone!”, a sound of woundedness that is painfully obvious with developmental ears. ii. New Self: The frustration experienced by the new self is in being stifled. The new self may even feel smothered, shackled before life began. Such a person will likely be unable to construct the fullness of the feeling of frustration; this would make perfect sense given the fact that they know something is wrong, and that they are frustrated, but there are no challenges to grow, no contractions in the form of a structure that will finally allow me release into my own existence. 2. As ascension begins, and this same information is now beginning to “make sense,” the new translations begin to show their isometric nature. Both the new self and the old self experience both fear and excitement. The self-differentiation is the cause of the isometric nature of emotions; in other words, why they can be metabolically identical and structurally dissimilar: A. Fear i. Old Self: “I am dying.” ii. New Self: For the new self, the fear is that “I will not be able to liveup to the challenge.” The depth into which we are moving is literally too deep. Our tiny legs fervently keep us afloat as others look on. This is one place where Thanatos can set in, the fear of depth, of ascension. The new self is beginning to take form, even as the old self is being differentiated from. B. Excitement i. Old Self: For the old self, the excitement is Thanatos—the death drive. The energy currently stuck in these tiresome translations can now be freed up to merge with the new self. ii. New Self: For the new self, the excitement is Eros. As I ascend, “a whole new world awaits me!” The possibilities of the new self seem Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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endless precisely because there are no translations here. Furthermore, the new self has so much more capacity than the old self; I can literally see and do more than ever before. There is a scene in almost every single movie about baseball where the protagonist finally makes it to “the show,” the Major League. As the camera spans back from the look of awe on the player’s face, the enormous, clean, and well-lit stadium comes into view. It’s like that. And I am driven to integrate, to become whole, in this bigger, emerging self. “This time, I couldn’t possibly fail!” 3. As transformation takes root, and we pass the first subphase of development, the translations of the self once again exhibit their isometric nature. Both the old self and the new self experience both disgust and relief. The continuing trans-formation processes (the subphases) support these quantum-like superpositions of feelings: A. Disgust i. Old Self: The old self is disgusted; disgusted at any and all worldly representations of itself. “Just who are you telling?” we might ask to someone in the throes of this disgust. We loathe ourselves, which in the context of evolution can be a healthy translation. It is unhealthy without Eros; then it becomes depression, a self-loathing with no hope for the future. It is really that there is no hope for a future self, because there is a lack of Eros. Furthermore, this secretive-self-disgust could very well be the foundation for all projections. The more I see it “out there,” the less I have to be concerned with it being “in here.” ii. New Self: Once we begin to translate from the new self, with its greater capacities, depth, and interpersonal nuance, the old self has got to go. The new self experiences disgust at the translations of the old self. “How could I ever have been so stupid?” We literally create the emotional space needed to house our more complex meaning-making. We must dump the system of its old contents, and we do this by burning them with the acid of disgust. B. Relief i. Old Self: As the old translations dissolve, their meanings begin to be reintegrated into the new self. It is a relief to finally let go of control, to enjoy seeing our future self take our hard-won lessons and creating new ones from the old ones. Like a good leader who retires with the confidence of having groomed their successor wisely, the old self can finally just sit back and witness, even as it fades into dissolution. Having long ago given up in the fight for control, the old self can watch and smile. It takes energy (stress!) to advocate for meaning—without an exclusive identification with the old self, there is no more need to struggle. ii. New Self: For the new self, the relief lies in the dawning of a new day; specifically, the day after the most expansive day I have ever experi42

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enced. This relief comes most often in reflecting on a difficult situation with someone to whom we are close—a lover, a boss, or a child. If we have surprised ourselves with the ways that we were not “hooked” by old assumptions, that we held on to new integrities, we feel “released” into a new way of being (Kegan & Lahey, 2009). We are released into our new self. This is the adaptive unconscious at work—we need not consciously consider each step in our new identity. Like a sunrise, the clarity of new meanings is a constant reinforcement for this relief: “It wasn’t just a dream…this better way of being is here to stay!” 4. In reintegration, the last subphase of development, the new self is merely the self. The translations that were once too complex to be seen are neither irritating, nor fear-inducing; the translations that were once disgusting are seen for what they are—limited viewpoints (even pitiable; this changes with development into selftransforming mind, or vision-logic, where the pitiable perspectives are honored as building blocks for the dialectic of evolution). A. Comfort i. Old Self: Reintegrated now as part of the adaptive unconscious (e.g., in dual-process theory, the automatic processing in which our minds are almost constantly engaged). Possibly also now part of the archaic unconscious. ii. New Self: With the new, more complex meaning-making, the deeper translations, comes the new norm. B. Love i. Old Self: In my love for the Kosmos I dissolve, because ultimately I want to take part in creativity itself. This is not the self-sacrifice of romanticism, but a sacrifice to integrity. It means I am also, finally, made object, I am become philia, a true “me” to which I can relate, and which allows my new self to grant integrity to others who I can now represent as a first-, second-, and third-person referent. Object you say? Nay, I become a jewel of resonance inside the new self, and can radiate as intuitive connection with suffering beings. But I may instead become a clouded jewel, holding contempt instead of compassion for those who remind me of me. ii. New Self: The self (old and new, for we are assuming healthy development and integration here) arrives exactly where it began, at what Jean Gebser called the ever-present origin. It was Eros that drove my integration here, to expansion and ascension and depth. Here I have another opportunity to hone my attention (content focus) and my awareness (context focus). As I reintegrate, I may be confusing a fear of the old self for a love of the new self. In other words, I may narcissistically build an assumption that only this new self is good, and there is nothing to reintegrate from my old disgusting self after all. I will import a shallow and callous style with regards to that old self, which I will see as righteousness.

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The Subject/Object Emotional Algebra Above, I describe how considering Wilber’s four Kosmic forces while working with coaching clients has granted me much in the way of feeling into the depths of someone’s suffering. Here, I would like to flesh out this idea, so it might serve as the foundation for the rest of the guide to the Integral Cube. The first thing that we do when creating a system of logic is to assign value. I will assign a positive to Eros and to Agape, and a negative to Phobos and to Thanatos. This gives us the ingredients for an involutionary tension that is intensely personal: • • • •

Er(+) Ag(+) Ph(-) Th(-)

Evolutionary Motion

Often feeling…

Involutionary Tension

1. Differentiation

Relief

Er(+) > Ph(-)

1. Differentiation

Freedom

Ag(+) > Ph(-)

OPEN

Syntonic

Ag(+)

=

Er(+)

2. Ascension

Expansion

Er(+) > Th(-)

2. Ascension

Excitement

Er(+) > _ Ag(+)

3. Repudiation

Disgust

Ph(-) > Th(-)

3. Repudiation

Dissolution

Th(-) > Ph(-)

4. Reintegration

Hope

Ag(+) _> Er(+)

4. Reintegration

Comfort

Ag(+) > Th(-)

Evolutionary Interruption

Maybe Feeling...

Involutionary Strain

Dissociation from old self

Stifled

Ph(-) > Ag(+)

Arrest

Alienated

Er(+) = Th(-)

Fixation with old self

Smothered

Th(-) > Ag(+)

Arrest

Despair

Er(+) = Ph(-)

CLOSED

Dystonic

Th(-) = Ph(-)

Repression of new self

Terrorized

Ph(-) > Er(+)

Arrest

Isolated

Ag(+) = Th(-)

Regression to old self

Abandoned

Th(-) > Er(+)

Arrest

Doomed

Ag(+) = Ph(-)

Table 4. Subject/object emotional algebra for right-brained readers. (These forces occur simultaneously, despite the numbered subphases; they also vary in intensity.) 44

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Kosmic Forces of Involution Eros & Agape Eros & Phobos Agape & Phobos Eros & Thanatos Agape & Thanatos Phobos & Thanatos

Subject/Object Emotional Algebra Er(+) > Ag(+)

Ag(+) > Er(+)

Ag(+) = Er(+)

Ascension

Reintegration

Open Self

Er(+) > Ph(-)

Ph(-) > Er(+)

Er(+) = Ph(-)

Differentiation

Repression of New Self

Arrest

Ag(+) > Ph(-)

Ph(-) > Ag(+)

Ag(+) = Ph(-)

Differentiation

Dissociation from Old Self

Arrest

Er(+) > Th(-)

Th(-) > Er(+)

Er(+) = Th(-)

Ascension

Regression to Old Self

Arrest

Ag(+) > Th(-)

Th(-) > Ag(+)

Ag(+) = Th(-)

Reintegration

Fixation with Old Self

Arrest

Ph(-) > Th(-)

Th(-) > Ph(-)

Th(-) = Ph(-)

Repudiation of Old Self

Repudiation of New Self

Closed Self

Table 5. Subject/object emotional algebra for left-brained readers.

Despite my use of “love” and “fear” in describing these four Kosmic forces earlier, please note that I am not assigning an emotional value to them. From a purely pragmatic or transcendent set of perspectives, both fear and love are necessary in order to create a dialectic. Or, as Kegan (1982) says, “defense is integrity” (p. 41). There is healthy love and unhealthy love; there is healthy fear and unhealthy fear. For example, we might say that the ultimate acceptance—the dissolution of the self—is not inherently negative; it can be scary or ecstatic, but we all must face dissolving. Dissolution likely involves a combination of Thanatos and Phobos, but it is not always unpleasant. I see these Kosmic forces rather like ions in our brain (i.e., ions are functionally “positive” or “negative,” but there would be no Kosmos if such opposite dipoles were not present) (Tables 4 and 5). Like ions, their separation and convergence, based on their charge, creates the space that becomes a “concentration-gradient” (i.e., priming a neuron to fire). This gradient releases electrochemical forces in the form of an “action-potential” (i.e., the neuron fires). Similarly, I believe that the four Kosmic forces are ultimately neither good nor bad in and of themselves, and are largely dependent upon the perspectives being tetra-enacted. For example, Eros is not the appropriate drive to express with one’s family members, and confusing Eros with Agape is the foundation of the Oedipal and Electra complexes. I am making two large assumptions, one educated guess, and one hypothesis with my subject/object emotional algebra. First, I am assuming that these forces are ultimately neither good nor evil. Secondly, I am assuming that they can never be fully in-balance, at least not within a given holon (following Wilber’s “Incomplete or Uncertain” maxim; 1995, pp. 500-520). An educated guess is that a skilled practitioner will be able to discern whether or not a translation is bringing anxiety, depression, and perhaps even psychosis of an emerging new self or of a past dissociation based on their clinical judgment. I believe that the Integral Cube is a model that is scalable to the Kosmic forces of Integral Theory, while also allowing for specific static and dynamic expressions in each of us (i.e., six expressions, one static and one dynamic for each of the three axes of the Integral Cube). I follow Loevinger (1976), in spirit, by bringing these forces to bear upon our private and public suffering, in the sense that “A clinician relies on his own insights, and he tends to think of every bit of behavior as completely determined by the patient’s particular constellation of traits and circumstances” (p. 187). The Integral Cube represents just such an “inteJournal of Integral Theory and Practice

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gral constellation,” a tool that I hope will one day serve clinicians and coaches to help ease suffering on the planet. And my hypothesis is that, following Kegan’s notion that emotions are actually our lived experience of evolutionary-motion, we stand to discover specific phenomena associated with involutionary-tensions, and specific diagnoses and treatments as we get better at listening for the emotional isomers of our revolving.

Conclusion The Integral Cube is something that moves me from the inside-out, not a document that I use to take notes. It is part of my action-inquiry method, the appreciative-empathy and probing-inquiry processes that I learned directly from Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey. It exists as an image in my mind’s eye, a set of constantly moving vectors in my heart when I am working with a client. It exists as a working hypothesis, one that will never lead to any evidence for or against a theory. What my clients and I work toward is their own becoming, not support or refutation of a theory. If there is one area where integral scholar-practitioners should aim their pragmatic lenses, I submit that it is toward attention and unconsciousness. We are most vulnerable to suffering when we have used our natural capacity to outsource our attention to the “adaptive unconscious” in an effort to avoid overwhelmingly difficult feelings. The adaptive unconscious and the non-adaptive unconscious are essentially the same unconscious—they are operationally defined. It is all “not-me.” But our emerging or new self will bump into problems with this anti-anxiety factorysystem we have inherited. Especially if our intentions include rising to our highest self and working with the intense emotions that are always a part of that process. A continuum of affect allows us to make sense of the ways that this inheritance can be both ontogenetic and phylogenetic: ontogenetic in the sense that I inherit my own splits of consciousness, and phylogenetic in that I must reckon with morphic inheritance. Clinicians and coaches would do well to remember that these static and dynamic forces are always helpful. Defense is, after all, a simplistic reflection of integrity. And therefore simplistic versions of crafting new ways of operating in the world, or of crafting a vision of a future self, will ultimately fail at helping people either heal or evolve. Nothing that is inherent in the x axis or y axis speaks directly to the revolutions of the self that integrate us with a Kosmos that is physically, relationally, and emotionally turning in upon itself and out toward its edges. I hope the Integral Cube can bring parity and dimensionality to integral scholar-practitioners. As a visual thinker, I find it difficult to make sense of things that I cannot see in my mind’s eye; it was this characteristic (or perhaps limitation) that compelled me to struggle with taking the ontological value of translation seriously. In so doing, I found myself attempting to make meaning with the forces that Wilber introduced in his Integral Post-Metaphysics. A prototype of the Integral Cube is found in the book I co-authored with Elliott Ingersoll, Integral Psychotherapy: Inside-Out/Outside-In (2010, p. 259; 278). However, I was unsatisfied with my initial expression of the cube. I created many versions, and I apologize, dear reader, for only including two cubes in this introductory article. However, if I am right that translation has ontological value on par with transformation and transcendence, then an introductory article such as this is necessary. Struggling with the core of Integral Post-Metaphysics was not my intention (but perhaps it was my in-tension). What began as an interesting side project quickly consumed my attention.15 As Wilber is fond of reminding researchers and writers, there are bound to be many ways of differentiating the steps along the continuum of affect. But what I hope will not change is the nature of the static and dynamic versions of attention along the z axis of the Integral Cube; nor the isomers of emotions as tracked along the z axis that can help clinicians and coaches to see and feel their client’s emotions as a Kosmic superposition between subphases of development. In other words, the value of the z axis lies in its ability to help us maintain the ever-important sense of open curiosity that is an essential ingredient in helping to alleviate the suffering of others. Wilber has given us a metatheory whose implications run “all the way up and all the way down.” Eros, Agape, Phobos, and Thanatos are not “out there”—you have never been without them. This 46

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fills me with a relaxed-urgency to make healthy translation (and the healthy transformations that must always begin as healthy retranslations) the single most important gift that integral brings to our world.

NOTES 1

This brings up a disturbing trend that I have seen in the integral community over the years, something that I call integral bypassing. Integral bypassing is similar to Chogyam Trungpa’s concept of spiritual materialism, which is similar to Charles Whitfield’s spiritual bypassing. It is what happens when people who are interested in Integral Theory read about levels of development, and assume that because they are interested in integral, they must be highly developed in their structure-stages. A corollary to this is the troublesome fetish that some members of the integral community have with “higher” altitudes of development. My own experience with the integral community tells me that the more developed someone seems to be, the less interested they are in “higher” or “more complex” structure-stages, and the more interested they are in making the levels of transformation between socialization and self-authorship as healthy as they can be. But I digress; in integral bypassing, people assume too much. Yet, as Wilber himself has claimed, every structure-stage is more “integral” than the previous stage. Which means that an individual who has recently moved into orange altitude structure-stages may believe that they are rather gravitating around teal altitude simply because they are indeed more integral than they have been up until now. And as Kegan deftly points out in each one of his books on development, people will always “read” the most complex understanding that we can from another’s message and no more. Someone who is in this position will clearly understand all of the inverses, reciprocals, and combinations thereof, in a truly “systems” fashion while reading Integral Theory. They will be able to construct a rarefied ideology, replete with active, hypothesis-testing and theory-building capacities. They will be able to “own” projections about relationships and witness the ways that mere convention can often limit human expression. But this “integral” worldview will not be vision-logic, for the interpenetration of ideologies, the multiplicity of selves, can only be a foggy, forehead-scrunching meaning that occurs with the help of a skilled container. Can texts serve as this container? Perhaps. My point here is that it is entirely possible to create an amber altitude (conformist) or orange altitude (systemic) “integral theory” perspective, one that is more integral than one’s previous view, but is not vision-logic. The lived experience of such a person would be “integral,” and this would be accurate for the reasons given above (i.e., they are now more integrated). But this does not mean that their lived experience is one where ambiguity and paradox solve their very self. This is why psychometrics are so important for integral leaders; their use for integral practitioners is vital for holding the integrity of integral applications. It seems rather inevitable that we will use these psychometrics for normalizing the human condition (this is a form of power, and as history has well shown us, all forms of power eventually end up in less-developed hands; all the more reason to establish good habits now). But if we do so without an aggressive stance against hubris, we will have failed before we are able to enact our many visions for helping the world to transform. We would be using psychometrics the way that many orange altitude individuals have used empiricism— not as a way to discover truth, but as a means to advance an agenda. 2 The Integral Cube is a trademark of my coaching and consulting firm, Zeitler Executive Dynamix. This article is part of a guide on applying integral concepts to executive and life coaching work. 3 In the current version of Integral Theory (Wilber-V), both transformation and transcendence are used along both the x axis and y axis. I do not believe that this is parsimonious for theory, nor helpful for practitioners. For example, it makes sense that along the y axis, I am changing the form of my structure of development; I am transforming. Less clear to me is how growth along the x axis, which means going from one state-stage to the next, is a changing of form. I understand that there are more phenomena available to me, and that I have transcended both my current form and my current state-stage; but I have not changed my form. In fact, the very reason the Wilber-Combs Lattice was created was to solve that exact issue! I can transcend my current form without changing it, and interpret the experience of going beyond from the current form. I propose that we reserve the term transcendence for general states and state-stage development, and the term Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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transformation for structure-stage development. This solves three issues: firstly, it avoids the kind of confusion that led to collapsing transpersonal states with structure-stages beyond “vision-logic” or the “self-transforming mindset”; secondly, it allows for translation to have equal footing with transformation; finally, it makes working with people much easier, knowing that I only have to recall three terms instead of six (transformation-1, transformation-2, and so forth). I will herein use the term transformation to refer to structure-stage development, and transcendence to refer to general states (RSMEs and state-stage development). I differentiate both from translation, which I see as another trajectory of the self. Since we are now differentiating spiritual states from transpersonal structure-stages, the trajectories of the self (transcendence, transformation, and translation) are all dependent upon one another. There can be no ultimate separation of these trajectories. There is a post-metaphysical parity across these three trajectories. In other words, they need not each represent structures or processes. Involution, general states, and RSMEs along the transcendence axis are about phenomena. Evolution, structure-stages, and interpretation along the transformation axis are about perspectives. Revolution, meaning making, and passion along the translation axis are about process. Nevertheless, the moving parts within these three trajectories are in constant relationship with one another. Integral Theory gives us the opportunity to create parity across different ideologies, and across different systems; it is the essence of making value distinctions from a self-transforming mindset. The Integral Cube is my effort to track those moving parts as equal players in order to glean application value. 4 In Integral Theory, “translation” is something that occurs in all four quadrants. However, the way that “translation” is most often used in Integral Theory is as “psychological metabolism.” This is the sense in which I am using “translation.” I believe that the differences between the two is an open question, as the quadrants are a map of holons, and therefore the difference between “metabolism” and “translation” may be semantic. Nevertheless, Wilber differentiates between “metabolism” of the self and “translation” of the holon, and I am not making this distinction here. 5 As of this writing, I have two clients who appear to be abiding in states other than the gross realm/state. As Stanislav Grof is always quick to remind us, these states are not always welcome by clients. Indeed, one of my clients appears to be abiding in the subtle realm. For her, lucid dreaming is just “dreaming,” and she believes that everyone is awake and can control their dreams. She is a joy to be around, and emanates her joy; she has no spiritual aspirations whatsoever. I have another client who appears to be abiding in the causal realm/state. For her, this is an intrusion, and has been extremely disruptive in her life for almost 10 years. Despite the face-validity that she continues to exist as an individual, she feels constantly threatened by her frequent “disappearing” and absorption. Following Jack Englar’s maxim that you “have to become somebody before you can become nobody,” I advised her against meditation, and we are working on structure-building practices; furthermore, she is also reducing her dosage of the neuroleptic that she had been on, and her psychiatrist is aware of the work that she is doing with me. 6 I explore this issue of lines in detail in Integral Psychotherapy: Inside-Out/Outside-In (2010, SUNY Press). Here, I will mention that in addition to the great difficulties in locating good psychometrics for emotions as separate from cognition, Joseph Ledoux, one of the biggest influences on Goleman, studied the amygdala to better understand the fear response in humans. He says that many brain scientists see emotions as “just too complex to track down in the brain” (1996, p. 11). Too complex! Emotions are not as simple as “UR limbic system” + “UL emotional line” + “LL cultural values” + “LR human ecology,” as I fear many in the integral community believe. Even that would be difficult. My point is that even people who reduce emotions to the brain (including Goleman, Ledoux, and Howard Gardner) say that they are too complex to readily capture with metrics, models, and certainly reductions to one quadrant. 7 “Translation is a process of agency-in-communion, or the relational exchange between any holon and its interwoven environs” (Wilber, 1997, p. 177). This rare quote defining translation in a post-Wilber-II text captures the problems when trying to differentiate between “metabolism” and “translation.” A holon includes “its environs,” but is also in constant exchange with them. Wilber acknowledges “horizontal or translative developments,” but they are the developments of skills within a domain. Wilber (2000a) cites Kurt Fischer’s work in that a domain can be seen as a specific level/line combination (pp. 238-240). Another example is passive oral activity vs. an amazing chef, both of which use the talents of the sensorimotor structure-stage, but to different degrees (Wilber, 1997, p. 341; 2000b, p. 129). Wilber 48

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(1997) juxtaposes this horizontal development with vertical transformation, but also holds them as difficult to tease apart: “These translative unfoldings are both enduring and transitional. Some of them are hierarchically integrated, others are more ‘the seasons of a person’s life,’ which Daniel Levinson has so wonderfully documented” (pp. 341342). 8 In his earlier works, Wilber followed object-relations theorists who say that repetition of intersubjective activity leads to the interiorization of structures of consciousness (1986, p. 79) along the y axis of structure-stages; he also held that temporary states become permanent traits, with respect to transpersonal (read: spiritual) states and structures (2000a, p. 15; 223). However, he has seemed to back off from a strong claim of such positions, and is now focusing on the repetition of activity (not necessarily as translation) and its effect on structures or “Kosmic habits” that are not “in us,” but are “tetra-enacted” as us (pp. 245-246; 272). If tetra-enactment is, essentially, translation, then the idea presented here is a part of tetra-enactment, but not much has been written on the similarities and differences of enactment and translation. I believe that the combination of activity in each of the three axes is tantamount to tetra-enactment. 9 This begs the question: if it is possible for me to be both the old self and the emerging self at the same time, then what, ultimately, am I? It is one thing to “hold” my old self and its meanings from the perspective of my emerging self. But one of the things that makes developmental transformations so difficult is that we will often be neither the old self nor the emergent self, but somewhere in the liminal space between selves. And when I am in such a liminal space, I am open to transcendent experiences—RSME’s. Perhaps this is why people often have spiritual experiences while undergoing developmental transformations. Not ultimately governed by my old assumptions, and not having yet created new assumptions, I am left without assumptions. Following Wilber, this lack of assumptions, if combined with an acceptance of phenomena as they arise, can show up as a sensation of oneness with nature, with love itself, with deep peace, or even with the motion of the Kosmos that Kegan says is the foundation for e-motion (i.e., a nondual oneness with witnessing phenomena, including my own temporary struggle of emergence). A contracting from that liminal space might be experienced as the opposite—evil spirits or demons in nature, the vengeance of a wrathful god, or an existential crisis where I see the universe as devoid of meaning. The risk here is that by not continuing our evolutionary motion, our temporary traits of meaninglessness can become permanent states of depression and anxiety. 10 There are clients who will need you as the practitioner to represent the expertise and trust that form a bridge of loyalty to future self-esteem. In other words, do not go “over their head” by continually turning their desire for selfesteem back onto them; you may have to take a stand for something and give a clear “yes” or “no,” and it might feel uncomfortable to do so because the client might return and blame you for their suffering. Even this can be a powerful moment—like besting your parents at something and having to realize that you have become your own authority. Such is precisely the lesson needed for transforming out of a socialized mindset, yet clinicians and coaches are taught to never take on that role. For more detail, see Kegan (1994, pp. 234-269). 11 Foundational for any clinician or coach who wants to explore the precise ways that psychoanalytic object-relations theory and constructive-developmental psychology is the outstanding article “On Boundaries and Externalization: Clinical-Developmental Perspectives,” by Gil Noam and Robert Kegan (1989). 12 Terri O’Fallon uses the Wilber-Combs Lattice to describe a way of “paying attention” that is different from what I am presenting here. O’Fallon sticks with an x axis and a y axis, and sees the space between these two axes as a way of describing how much capacity (y axis) and phenomena (x axis) are both available to someone. Essentially her “space of play,” as she sometimes describes it (Integral Theory Conference, 2010), is defined by our structure-stage development and our state-stage development, although it seems that the only tool being used to measure both is the “Integral Sentence Completion Test.” The Integral Cube that I am offering here goes beyond a description of what I can translate, and attempts to address both the epistemology and ontology of translation. I submit that translation (not just the space in which we can translate) has ontological value, in the same way that evolution (y axis) and involution (x axis) have ontological value. Furthermore, the continuum of affect-attention includes a system of conscious-unconscious forces with which the self-system (new self, old self) must reckon. No other version of adding an axis to the WilberCombs Lattice that I have seen has these qualities. However, in 2007 I reviewed a first-run draft of an article by Lexi Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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Neale where he advocated adding a third dimension to the quadrants, creating a “hyper-cube.” My own Integral Cube is an entirely different concept, and as the reader no doubt sees, has almost nothing to do with the quadrants. However, the editors of JITP and I feel that full transparency about this issue is in order; to that end, I will add that my work on the Integral Cube had already been emerging by the time I read Neale’s article. For example, I had already shown Elliott Ingersoll, with whom I wrote the book Integral Psychotherapy: Inside-Out/Outside-In (SUNY Press, 2010), a version of the Wilber-Combs Lattice with a z axis, which he jokingly referred to as the “Zeitler axis.” 13 The original version of the Integral Cube was a standard set of x, y, and z axes. Like every graph, this one has an origin: the y axis represented complexity/vision and depth/embrace; the x axis represented sleep states/awareness and relating with phenomena; and the z axis represented assimilation/attention and lability/affect congruence. Here is the original version (the sun and moon images were added to the original):

The Integral Cube includes these dimensions; but as we say in Immunity to Change coaching, they are “baked into” the process. Teasing them apart may be helpful, so I offer this here. However, the static and dynamic versions of levels, states, and affect are the most relevant for coaches and clinicians, in my opinion, and because they make up three dimensions (which can nevertheless be seen in static-habitual and dynamic-open ways), I was able to simplify them into a cube. As you can see, the original version attempted to track eight areas (different from the eight zones). 14 Note that this way of looking at the system conscious-unconscious allows us to make sense of “sublimation,” Freud’s only positive defense mechanism, with more accuracy. This “consciously hooked” way of attending to meaning is highly chaordic; I must balance between blunted repression and scary attention. I am rendering myself asunder here, avoiding repression but not quite yet stably adapted to my new self. I continually bring attention to why and how people seem to intentionally avoid better, deeper meanings. 15 In the movie Contact, Jodie Foster’s character gets help cracking the code of how to read extraterrestrial instructions for building a portal that opens a stable wormhole in space-time. Her patron shows her how shifting the twodimensional printed code into a three-dimensional cube-cipher, using the existing two-dimensional data from the printout, yields the correct way of interpreting the instructions. I saw this movie when I was young; but I had a “Eureka!” moment as I watched it again, taking time off from my various writing projects. Plotting psychological forces along a similar set of vectors, I mused, might help me maintain a connection with my clients along several simultaneously operating dynamics. Later, I would also note that these dynamics were nothing more than the active versions of stable or static patterns (or rather, that much like developmental psychologists noted stability and change, so too could I see that life is always both). When taken together, the static and dynamic aspects of transformation, transcendence, and translation open many more opportunities for breakthroughs and for structure building. 50

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Appendix A

The Z-Axis Continuum of Affect compared to Y-Axis Subphases (Micro-Motions of Self) and X-Axis Transcendent States (Ex-Tensions of Self)

Evolutionary

Differentiation

Ascension

Repudiation

Reintegration

Flat

Fear

Disgust

Comfort

frustrated

excitement

relief

love

Non-adaptive

Preconscious

Conscious

Adaptive

unconscious

(attention?)

(attention!)

unconscious

Unhealthy

Dissociation

Fixation

Repression

Regression

expression

Splitting

Obsession

Projection

Fusion

Ecstasy

Love

Dissolution

Witness

(ex-stasis)

(sublime)

(peace)

(union)

micro-motion y axis

Continuum of affect z axis

Involutionary ex-tension x axis

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REFERENCES Affect. (n.d.). In dictionary.com. Retrieved January 26, 2012, from http://dictionary.reference.com. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215. Beauregard, M., & O’Leary, D. (2007). The spiritual brain: A neuroscientist’s case for the existence of the soul. New York, NY: HarperOne. Caruso, D. (2003). Comment on R.J. Emmerling and D. Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Issues and Common Misunderstandings. Issues in Emotional Intelligence, 1(1). Retrieved January 3, 2012, from http://www.eiconsortium.org. Cherniss, C., & Goleman, D. (2001). The emotionally intelligent workplace: How to select for, measure, and improve emotional intelligence in individuals, groups, and organizations. San-Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Combs, A. (2002). The radiance of being: Understanding the grand integral vision: Living the integral life. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House. Edwards, M.G. (2009). Organisational transformation for sustainability: An integral metatheory. New York, NY: Routledge. Emmerling, R. J., & Goleman, D. (2003). Emotional intelligence: Issues and common misunderstandings. Issues in Emotional Intelligence, 1(1). Retrieved January 9, 2012, from http://www.eiconsortium.org. Esbjörn-Hargens, S. (2010). An ontology of climate change: Integral pluralism and the enactment of multiple objects. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(1), pp. 143-174. Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. New York, NY: Little, Brown, and Company. Greenberg, J. R., & Mitchell, S.A. (1983). Object relations in psychoanalytic theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Gruber, H.E. & Voneche, J. J. (1995). The essential Piaget: An interpretive reference and guide. London: Aronson. Hooker, C.A. (1995). Reason, regulation, and realism: Toward a regulatory systems theory of reason and 52

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evolutionary epistemology. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Ingersoll, E., & Zeitler, D. (2005, May). Working with anxiety & bipolar I disorder. Paper presented at the Symposium of the Second Annual Integral Psychotherapy Professional Seminar. Westminster, CO. Ingersoll, E., & Zeitler, D. (2010). Integral psychotherapy: Inside/out, outside/in. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. (2009). Immunity to change: How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. Loevinger, J. (1976). Ego development: Conceptions and theories. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Maslow, A.H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York, NY: Penguin. Noam, G.G., & Kegan, R. (1989). On boundaries and externalization: Clinical-developmental perspectives. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 9(3), 397-426. Sheldrake, R. (2009). Morphic resonance: The nature of formative causation. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press. Walsh, R. (2010). Foreword: The integral enterprise. In S. Esbjörn-Hargens (Ed.), Integral theory in action: Applied, theoretical, and constructive perspectives on the AQAL model (pp. xv-xvii). Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Wilber, K. (Ed.). (1982). The holographic paradigm and other paradoxes. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (1983). Eye to eye: The quest for the new paradigm. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books. Wilber, K. (Ed.) (1984). Quantum questions: Mystical writings of the world’s great physicists. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K., Engler, J. & Brown, D.P. (1986). Transformations of consciousness: Conventional and contemplative perspectives on development. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (1995). Sex, ecology, spirituality: The spirit

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of evolution. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (1996). The atman project: A transpersonal view of human development (2nd edition). Wheaton, IL: Quest Books. Wilber, K. (1997). The eye of spirit: An integral vision for a world gone slightly mad. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2000a). Integral psychology: Consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2000b). One taste: Daily reflections on integral spirituality. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Wilber, K. (2001). Eye to eye: The quest for the new paradigm (3rd edition). Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2002). Excerpt A: An integral age at the leading edge [endnote 26]. Retrieved February 11, 2012, from http://wilber.shambhala.com/ html/books/kosmos/excerptA/notes-3.cfm. Wilber, K. (2006). Integral spirituality: A startling new role for religion in the modern and postmodern world. Boston, MA: Integral Books. Zeitler, D. (2007). Integral psychotherapy: Clinical applications. AQAL: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2(1), 60-73.

DAVID M. ZEITLER, M.A., M.B.A., is the president of Zeitler Executive Dynamix, a boutique executive coaching and consulting firm based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A Senior Associate at Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey’s Minds at Work, David’s professional focus since 2010 has been the Immunity-to-Change coaching method. His work in this area includes individual and group coaching, publishing, and the training of future Immunity to Change coaches. A founding member of Integral Institute and co-author (with Elliott Ingersoll) of the book Integral Psychotherapy: Inside-Out/ Outside-In (SUNY Press, 2010), David’s professional life began at the turn of the century, when he began a decade long journey of launching the practical applications of Integral Theory with Ken Wilber, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, and Bert Parlee.

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INTEGRAL SCIENTIFIC PLURALISM Kevin J. Bowman

ABSTRACT This article incorporates Sean Esbjörn-Hargens’ Integral Epistemological and Ontological Pluralisms alongside Ken Wilber’s Integral Methodological Pluralism within the formal dualities of Integral Theory. A specific interpretation of Wilber’s eight zones as both eight realms and eight perspectives is used to open the zones for crossing with the subject-action-object triad to specify the relations between Integral Epistemological, Ontological, and Methodological Pluralisms. The result, Integral Scientific Pluralism, allows for a clearer specification of Wilber’s integral methodology. Integral Scientific Pluralism deepens the critique of non-integral research, which tends to include unconscious or unjustified secondary methods apart from the primary methods specified. This provides direction for analyzing a wider range of events using Integral Theory. The realms are also crossed with the health-pathology duality, which makes more explicit the ways relatively healthy and unhealthy elements can affect scientific inquiry. KEY WORDS Integral Methodological Pluralism; Ken Wilber; philosophy of science; social psychology; field theory

T

his article extends Integral Theory to formally add within its integrated dualities the dynamic actions, interactions, and events of holons. This includes insights from Sean Esbjörn-Hargens’ (2010) Integral Pluralism such that Integral Epistemological Pluralism and Integral Ontological Pluralism become equally embedded within the new theory on par with Wilber’s Integral Methodological Pluralism. Added to the existing, formal set of dualities (e.g., interior-exterior, individual-collective, higher-lower, and in some ways internal-external) are new uses of the health-pathology, subject-object, and internal-external dualities (integrated to the degree required for this first, article-length specification). The synthesis makes use of a specific interpretation of Wilber’s eight zones. The eight zones are created by crossing the three dualities of interior-exterior, individual-collective, and internal-external. Or to put it another way, there is an internal and external aspect to each of the four quadrants. Wilber (2006, p. 37, for example) often uses the eight zones as eight perspectives on the four quadrants, which lays the groundwork for his Integral Methodological Pluralism (IMP). I interpret IMP with Wilber’s less common treatment of the eight (hori-)zones as appropriate for the specification of eight distinct realms or eight perspectives. Zones as realms or perspectives opens them to being dissected further, symmetrically. The first dissection of each zone is done by crossing them with the subject-action-object triad. In other words, each zone can house a differentiation of a subject, object, and their interaction. This allows for an extension of EsbjörnHargens’ Integral Pluralism. Esbjörn-Hargens provided a needed contextualization of Wilber’s IMP by postulating an Integral Epistemological Pluralism (IEP), Integral Methodological Pluralism (IMP), and Integral Ontological Pluralism (IOP). The three components of Integral Pluralism, however, do not have formal links to the dualities of Integral Theory. My version, which I call Integral Scientific Pluralism (ISP), provides these helpful connections. I then show how ISP can make more explicit a methodology employed by Wilber (1995, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c, 2000d, 2002, 2006) in his construction of integral metatheory. ISP more formally shows how non-

Correspondence: Kevin J. Bowman, 2211 Riverside Ave., Box 70, Minneapolis, MN 55454. E-mail: bowmank@ augsburg.edu. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2012, 7(1), pp. 54–66

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integral science, which lacks an integration of various epistemologies, methodologies, and ontologies, is not only fragmented, but also prone to biases through problematic assumptions that are often nontransparent or unsupported. I offer the concepts of primary and secondary methods as well as Integral Scientific Modularity (ISM) to help avoid these problems. ISM also reduces what some consider the currently onerous expectations of Integral Research. Crossing the ISP zones further with the health-pathology duality shows the need to be aware of health and pathology in all three aspects of science (the scientific observer’s holarchical embeddedness, deployment of methodologies, and objects of study).

1. Wilber’s Eight Zones as Eight Distinct Horizontal Realms This article makes use of a specific interpretation of Wilber’s eight zones (Fig. 1). The four quadrants of intention (Upper Left [UL]), behavior (Upper Right [UR]), culture (Lower Left [LL]), and society (Lower Right [LR]) can be divided into internal and external perspectives for each quadrant. Wilber (2006, pp. 36-40) most commonly treats the zones as eight horizontal perspectives on four quadrants. These eight perspectives are then used to categorize eight classes of methodologies (also shown in Fig. 1). I may study, for example, my individual-interior thoughts internally through mediation (zone 1) or a structuralist may study answers to questions posed to various individuals to understand their interiority externally (zone 2). It is important to be clear about the definition of the internal-external duality. I show in Bowman (in press-a) that there is confusion in the integral literature from the mistaken interchangeability of the internal-external and interior-exterior dualities. There is also the inside-outside duality to consider. Wilber (2002) describes constituent parts that follow the agency of the holon as internal and those which do not as external. Items that are within the boundary of the holon are inside it, otherwise they are outside it. Some items are inside, but not internal such as parasites or repressed thoughts. My use of internal-external matches Wilber’s use of inside-outside as in the formation of the eight zones because I will allow for positive and negative aspects that are internal or external. Yet I prefer to use the term internal-external (rather than inside-outside) for two reasons. One reason is that internal and external aspects can be associated with the common dynamic terms of internalize and externalize as was done in Bowman (2009). We do not have verbs like “insidize” or “outsidify.” The second reason is that the distinctions that Wilber makes can be fully accommodated when the health-pathology is crossed with what I am calling the internal-external duality. This is done when I cross all zones with the health-pathology duality in Section 4. This creates positive and negative externalities and internalities, among other realms. With the formation of Holarchical Field Theory in Section 3 of Bowman (in press-b), I cross these realms again with the static-dynamic duality, which incorporates the dynamic drives of Bowman (2009) and provides, among others, the processes of positive and negative internalization and externalization. These dynamic drives can be associated with static snapshots of positive and negative internalities and externalities. These will account for the differences Wilber makes without a need to provide both an internal-external and an inside-outside duality. In previous work (2010b), I demonstrated how the eight zones can be treated as distinct dimensions to analyze the eight zones of the contemporary, U.S. financial sector. Here, let us take a simpler example of me playing fetch with my dog Oscar (as summarized in Fig. 1). I choose this example consistent with the goal of the article, to analyze events among two or more holons. Consider my walk out to my yard with a ball and Oscar. I intend to throw the ball as Oscar’s excitement builds because he intends to fetch the ball. We play in my yard even though we would prefer to play at the lakeshore. I choose the yard because the city council has decided to ban dogs from the lakeshore. Notice how aspects of this activity can be decomposed into the eight distinct realms of experience. Presented from my perspective, my intent to throw the ball is in zone 1 because it is internal to my individual holon and within my interior consciousness. Oscar’s intent to fetch is in zone 2 because his intention is external to me as the presenter. Yet the intention to fetch is in the individual-interior of my dog. My arm’s motion to throw is in zone 5 (internal to me but an individual-exterior aspect). My dog’s Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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CO L LE C T IVE

I NDI VID UAL

INTER I O R structuralism Zone 2

Oscar's intent to fetch

E XT E RI O R empiricism Zone 6

Zone 1

Zone 5

phenomenology

autopoiesis

My intent to throw the ball

My arm's motion My dog's motion

Zone 3 hermeneutics Our joy playing City Council's intent to ban dogs from the beach

ethnomethodology Zone 4

Zone 7 social autopoiesis My yard we play on

The lakeshore we chose not to play on

systems theory Zone 8

Figure 1. Eight horizontal realms and Integral Methodological Pluralism.

motion to fetch is in zone 6 (external to me and an exterior-individual, behavioral aspect). The mutual joy of Oscar and me is in zone 3 (an intersubjective interior aspect internal to our collective holon). The city council has a zone 4 intent to restrict dogs from the lakeshore (a collective intent external to the collective holon comprising my dog and me), which keeps us to our yard in zone 7 (internal to our activity as an exterior-collective field for our play). The lakeshore ecosystem exclusive of dogs by law is in zone 8 (an unavailable collectiveexterior field by law, which we obey, and thus external to our activity). Now I will turn to a description of a collective holon relative to its external environment, which includes another collective holon. Although it is beyond the scope of this article to examine specifics of each level created by crossing extra dualities, I argue that development enacts higher and successive levels through the eight horizontal zones. For example, two horticultural-village societies (A and B) with the center of gravity of individuals at red-stage cognition (the conceptual stage) in the UL may each have two different irreconcilable myths from their magical cultures in the LL. Although they are at the same stage, members of one culture (A) are generally external to the other culture (B). We could specify internal and external aspects in each quadrant from the perspective of, let us say, socioculture A. Over time, the cultures of A and B may develop and transcend red altitude to form a united amber-stage agrarian empire A+B in the LR under mythical moral codes in the LL. Amber-stage concrete-operational cognition in the UL allows the average individual to take the role of other and embrace an ethnocentric (amber altitude) intersubjective culture in the LL beyond the egocentric (red altitude). The culture internal to the members of A has developed to internalize a greater whole. Specifying internal and external realms allows us to orient a holon relative to its external environment within each quadrant. This will help us better analyze those aspects that were either positively externalized (such as limiting egocentric, magically beliefs) or positively internalized (such as the new capacity to take on the role of other). Internalization and externalization are two of the dynamic drives specified in Bowman (2009). These internal-external specifics can also help us orient subject and object, which is addressed in the 56

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next section. Each will have their own eight zones showing some internalities that are common to both while others are not (and some relevant aspects may be commonly external or not as well).

2. Integral Scientific Pluralism Sean Esbjörn-Hargens (2010), influenced by his reading of Critical Realism (via the work of Roy Bhaskar), makes a much needed contribution to Integral Theory by showing that IMP (Wilber, 2002, 2006) can be beneficially complemented by extending the focus on methodology (the study of methods applied within a discipline) to epistemology (the study of knowing and justified belief) and ontology (the study of the categories of things that exist or may exist in some domain). Here I extend aspects of Esbjörn-Hargens’ Integral Pluralism (IP). First let me highlight Wilber’s IMP based on his eight zones. The methodologies represent families of methods employed to study the four domains of reality given by the quadrants. Phenomenology represents the class of methods (such as introspection, phenomenology, contemplation, and meditation) that study the interiority of individuals internally. Alternatively, the interior of the individual can be studied externally with the class of methods called structuralism. I interpret IMP as eight perspectives on eight realms. So I will refer to structuralism as the class of methods studying the interiority of individuals as they appear to, or are enacted by, external observers. Structuralism, therefore, examines a different zone or domain than the phenomenologist who studies the interior of an individual as it appears internally to the same individual. Esbjörn-Hargens uses the study of climate change as an example of a complex multiple object. Various interrelated portions of climate change (objects of study) are disclosed or enacted depending on the methodology employed (methods of studying) and by the limits, capabilities/specialized skills of scientists (subjects studying). A climatologist at orange altitude (subject), for instance, may compare tree rings (a zone-6 method) to find cycles of drought over a 500-year span (a LR object). An analyst at green altitude (subject) may compare rhetorical motifs in media stories (a zone-4 method) to find that the truth about climate change depends on the framing (a LL object) (Esbjörn-Hargens, 2010, p. 147). Here I show that Esbjörn-Hargens’ three pluralisms can be integrated into the dualities of Integral Theory. Given that we can treat the eight zones as realms, they can be further dissected, symmetrically, which is a critical advantage. Figure 2 shows them crossed with the subject-action-object triad.1 Employing a methodology in scientific inquiry is considered here as a subset of action (therefore the subject-method-object triad is a subset of the subject-action-object triad).2 The subject-method-object triad for scientific inquiry is different from, but related to, the epistemological-methodological-ontological (scientific) triad. The scientific triad indicates three branches of the philosophy of science that all take different aspects of scientific inquiry as their object of study. Each informs a different portion of scientific inquiry, which can be described in subjectmethod-object form. According to this article’s version of IEP, the scientist is the subject that conducts scientific inquiry embedded in at least these eight epistemological zones. The epistemological zones are those from which scientific apprehension can arise and are described intensively by epistemology. These realms can be better informed by integral theories of apprehension according to the skills of scientists by level, line, type, and so on. Eight general methodologies (IMP) can be employed to disclose or enact eight classes of objects (IOP). Taken together, Esbjörn-Hargens refers to IEP, IMP, and IOP as Integral Pluralism (IP). I will refer to the approach in this article as Integral Scientific Pluralism. The term Integral Scientific Pluralism (ISP) suggests an integration of IEP and IOP into the formal, Integral framework on par with IMP. The term science is used here broadly as “the systemic quest for knowledge” (Ponterotto, 2005) just as Wilber (2000d) uses the term “broad science.” Broad science includes not only the narrow or hard sciences “based mostly on the exterior, physical, sensorimotor world” (p. 74), but also the sciences that study interiority “which attempt to use a generally ‘scientific’ approach to the study of human consciousness” (p. 74). Formalizing and relating IEP, IOP, and IMP therefore contribute to the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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Individual Zone 1 Internal

Phenomenological Objects

External

Zone 5

(Disclosed/Enacted)

Phenomenology

Object (Injunction) Method/Action

Autopoietic Objects

Internal

External

Autopoiesis

Phenomenologist Autopoietic Scientist (Apprehension)

Zone 2 Structural Objects Structuralism

Subject Empiricism Structuralist

Interior

Zone 6

Empiricist

Exterior

Social Autopoietic Scientist

Hermeneuticist

Social Autopoiesis

Hermeneutics Hermeneutical Objects

Empirical Objects

Cultural Anthropologist

Systems Theorist

Social Autopoietic Objects

IEP Zone 7

Zone 3 Cultural Anthropology

Systems Theory

Internal

Internal

IMP External

External Cultural Anthropological Objects

IOP

Systemic Objects Zone 8

Zone 4 Collective

Figure 2. Forty-eight horizontal realms of Integral Scientific Pluralism. Shaded circles represent the pathology of that realm. IEP—Integral Epistemological Pluralism; IMP—Integral Methodological Pluralism; IOP—Integral Ontological Pluralism.

philosophy of science, “the conceptual roots undergirding the quest for knowledge” (Ponterotto, 2005), by further differentiating these aspects of science within Wilberian thought. Wilber (2006) states that “all ‘good knowledge’ consists of at least three major strands: 1. An injunction…2. An experience…3. A communal confirmation/rejection…” (pp. 267-269). Good knowledge requires knowing the Kosmic address of the perceiver (subject), perceived (object), and “what injunctions [methods]…a perceiving subject must perform in order to be at a Kosmic address that can perceive the object” (2006, p. 267). With ISP, the subject, injunctions (method as action), and object are now embedded within the dualities, triads, and spectra of Integral Theory. The following examples will help demonstrate some novel and important implications of ISP. Wilber (2006) states that IMP involves “8 basic perspectives and 8 basic methodologies” (p. 37). In ISP, we have eight perspectives (IEP), eight methods (IMP), and eight objects of study (IOP) for any given level 58

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of development. The scientist can be at orange altitude and be using relatively linear, simple cause-and-effect reasoning, or be at teal altitude and have much greater integrative capabilities. A healthy, high-level scientist will be more capable of making more realistic assumptions, of using more sophisticated methods, of processing more data, and therefore, of uncovering a more complex, multiple-level, multiple-zone object. Consider an empiricist working to disclose zone-6 objects. The subject as empiricist employs empiricism making zone-6 data and capturing aspects of objects, which are individuated parts of exterior or behavioral reality as seen on their external environment. The objects of study, however, are always part of, at least, a many-level, eight-zonal affair, but only certain zone-6 parts are observed through empiricism. Similarly, the empiricist cannot merely occupy what Wilber and Esbjörn-Hargens call a third-person perspective, which discloses these realms. The empiricist must also interpret zone-6 theory and data making use of his interiorindividual content of consciousness (symbols, translations, metaphors, etc.). Thus the empiricist is also a phenomenologist, although he is not likely to be a trained phenomenologist. So, the best methods of contemplation currently available will not necessarily be employed. Ideally, the empiricist would also have scientific-level skill in using the other classes of methodologies such as sound structuralism (or have had internalized its insights) to be able to use those insights to gain a better distance from his own phenomenology and phenomenological objects; to see them with insights from our understanding of individual-interiors as studied from their imprint on their external realm. In fact, the scientist must be in the process of internalizing mental information and externalizing unconstructive, unfocused thoughts. Following Wilber (2006), “the meaning of an assertion is the means of its enactment” (p. 266), a process made clearer by ISP, given that the horizontal realms of ISP further differentiates and integrates these aspects of inquiry. The empiricist portion of epistemology relates to zone-6 knowing, for instance; sensory skills and behavioral aspects external to the objects of study, or external to objects related to the study of other objects. In ISP, the scientist must make use of all eight epistemologies whether or not he is aware of them all. Empiricism and its methodological individualism tend not to consciously acknowledge the culturally constructed nature of its objects of study or of its own epistemology. This is one enduring critique of modernity coming from postmodernity’s “essential insight” that “there is no single ‘pregiven world’” (Wilber, 2000c, p. 775). Moreover, it is inevitable that the empiricist is a hermeneuticist of some sort because he must make sense of his objects of study with his own meaning of the world, which directs his study and interprets his data in particular ways that are culturally created to a significant extent. So he must think of his objects of study relative to the hermeneutical objects of pre-existing mutual meaning in his field of study. He is also a cultural anthropologist as he must attempt to differentiate the meanings of his study as differentiated from an external view of the pre-existing mutual understanding in the field. This helps him to find a way to communicate new mutual understanding with his peers. This requires convincing them of his proper use of empiricist methods and interpretation while also conveying novel ideas within that general paradigm. It can be difficult to convince peers of transformational science in which the values that undergird one’s discipline are challenged since those values are typically not objects of study in many disciplines (as with typical empiricist approaches). This can slow the pace of scientific progress and can be the result of an unconscious or non-scientific use of hermeneutics and cultural anthropology in the scientific process. The implicit assumption is that we need no formal analysis of the collective values undergirding the discipline. So procedures formed from outdated justifications (now merely precedence) can drive accepted values and morals in a discipline or can drive the assumptions regarding the values and morals of agents of study. We will use the assumption of rational egoism in (positivistic) rational choice theory as an example in the next section. If high-level versions of zone-3 and zone-4 methodologies were in play for the discipline dominated by empiricism, then the discipline may be open to examine its values, which otherwise undervalues the collective and interior domains. This would allow for discipline-wide learning and more profound science. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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Integral Scientific Pluralism clarifies a consistent Wilberian theme that our understanding of reality is fragmented and biased; what Wilber (2000c) often calls dissociation of the Big Three (p. 384), of ego and eco (pp. 307-309), of biosphere and nooshpere (p. 192), and so on. ISP more formally shows how our scientific understanding of the world can be fragmented and how these fragments tend to be unconsciously biased by modern and postmodern methods. It is not merely that there are multiple objects that are only partially disclosed as a less than eight-zonal object because not all methodologies are used. The problem is more severe because there are multiple subjects employing multiple methodologies in ways that are typically only transparent or justified with regards to a small fraction of the epistemologies, methodologies, and ontologies that are invariably involved in all instances of scientific inquiry. Uncovering the biases in science is critical to integrally reconstructing our understanding of reality. In the next section I will argue that Wilber’s success at transcending and including modern and postmodern understanding is the result of uncovering these biases and correcting for them by juxtaposing various bodies of theory and data. But Wilber’s work also needs to be examined critically to make more explicit the ways in which he contextualizes others’ findings, to validate his claims, and to further apply the validated methods. ISP can contribute in this regard. Consider the benefits of a clear distinction between subject and object within particular horizontal realms. Let us say that at the present moment I am not able to watch my anger arise as a zone-1 object of my awareness. Instead, the anger is only a zone-1 subject in this case given my lack of access to a zone-1 method needed for such disclosure. Therefore, I respond to similar stimuli in a predictably angry way each time. Perhaps that stimulus can be characterized as a zone-7 object such as traffic congestion that I face on my morning commute that I enact, in part, with the method of driving. Again, anger is in my interior awareness, but I cannot observe my anger as a zone-1 object. The anger will be related to an unhealthy subject portion of zone 1, which then becomes unskillfully used in the action zones. (Unhealthy aspects of each ISP realm are shaded in Figure 2.) If I work on mastering a zone-1 methodology like meditation, this may be one way that I may learn to observe my angry reaction to anger-inducing stimuli. Then I can learn to choose a different response the next time I am exposed to such stimuli. This approach—which can be done without reducing object to an exterior-intensive reality—allows us to handle statements such as Robert Kegan’s (1994) description of vertical transformation as “liberating ourselves from that in which we were embedded, making what was subject into object so that we can ‘have it’ rather than ‘be had’ by it” (p. 34). There are inconsistent uses of the subject-object duality in the integral literature such that the grammatical use of subject-object is confused with the philosophical meaning of subjective-objective. This has resulted in a reduction of the grammatical subject-object duality to the philosophical subjective-objective duality. A grammatical subject can be defined as the element of a sentence that agrees with the verb (as with “Bob” in the sentence “Bob ate a meal”). The object is the element that is not the subject but that which the verb selects or requires (“a meal”). In contrast to the grammatical subject, subjective in the philosophical sense is an understanding or statement that depends on one’s own experience as with the statement “blueberries taste better than strawberries.” Objective understanding does not rely on personal experience as with the statement “the floor of my front porch is not completely level.” Only the philosophical objective (respectively, philosophical subjective) can be associated exclusively with the exterior realm (interior realm) whereas the grammatical object (or grammatical subject) can be associated with both the interior and exterior realm as is done in ISP. Integral theorists such as Mark Edwards (2003) and Daniel O’Connor (2008, 2010) have reduced grammatical subjects (such as “I” and “we”) to the interior realms and grammatical objects to the exterior realms (“me” and “us”). But my interior thoughts can be “me,” an object of my awareness. Also consider “My brain is wired poorly” versus “Clarity expands my mind.” The subject of the former sentence is a stated exteriority in Integral Theory, and the object of the latter sentence is a stated interiority. The full sentence provides the proper context. So subject pronouns cannot be reduced to the interior quadrants and supports ISP’s 60

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decoupling of grammatical subject-object from philosophical subjective-objective. This conflation of these dualities (what I call the philosophical/grammatical conflation) and other aspects of language in the integral literature are analyzed in greater detail in Bowman (in press-a). At the orange altitude of cognition (formal operational stage), we can operate on rules. Rules are now an object of our awareness. At the previous stage, we could only follow rules as subjects of awareness. Thus, that which is differentiated and integrated in one’s subjective awareness can expand by way of better understanding component parts of subjective content and the mastery of methods, which better control their enactment and mental flow. And to better understand subjective content requires differentiation and integration of objects to which the subjective content refers. The referent objects can occupy any of the eight zones.

3. Integral Scientific Modularity Here I will describe Wilber’s success at integrating disparate bodies of knowledge as related to, and clarified by ISP. Wilber’s achievements often derive from his recognition that theorists tend to overstate their claims because they do not hold their implicit and unconscious enactment of zones by level constant in their studies. Or, they may be transparent in their assumptions, but inaccurate when examined with the current state of scientific understanding across many domains of knowledge. In either case they may be biased by their (implicit or explicit) non-neutral assumptions. Wilber’s skillful use of theory and data across many disciplines has allowed him to place certain theories and data in proper context and relation to each other as he unpacks and makes conscious some of the hidden, biased, or unjustified assumptions of many major theorists. As Edwards (2010) points out, Wilber makes generous use of metatheoretical lenses, including the crossing of dualities to aid his categorizations. For example, Freud erroneously assumes (regarding ontology) that no levels of cognition are available beyond the formal operational stage (orange altitude) (Wilber, 2000c, p. 212). Thus all post-rational experience is reduced to pre-rational because it is non-rational. Here, Wilber shows that modern structuralism renders the assumption of the truncated vertical dimension in psychoanalysis to be false. The (epistemological) knowledge of post-rational levels helps Wilber disentangle the partially valid insights of psychoanalysis (as with the unconscious repression of pre-rational drives) from its overstatements. This is done with Wilber’s (methodological) analytical application of a fuller spectral model of development to (ontological) reality. Notice here that the problem is not just that the understanding of psychoanalysis is fragmented from that of structuralism such that we should be able to combine their claims with ease. Rather, fragmentation and nonintegral science can lead to results that are wrong in important cases. The truncation of the vertical dimension across modern schools of thought nearly eradicated high-level spirituality from modern and postmodern collectives. Of course, as with any theory, ISP is limited by that which is not formally differentiated and integrated within the model. Yet it is one of the most inclusive available. Crossing the eight zones with the subject-action-object triad opens it further than the current version of the AQAL model and allows for still further crossing by other dualities. Thus an integral science is not a mere combination of schools of thought. It is not a “heapism,” to use Wilber’s term (2000d, p. 53), but a reconciliation within a more developed holarchical philosophy of science. This requires transcendence of different limitations in different schools of thought (such as poor assumptions explicit and implicit) and inclusion of their partial truths, which, when applied across disciplines, enable integration. This is in part what Wilber means by transcend and include for vertical transformation. In this case the transformation is from fragmented and distorted modern and postmodern science to ISP. To take another example, in Wilber’s critique of the influential sciences that exclusively focus on the exterior dimension as their object of study (2000c, pp. 135-138), he shows how these flatland versions of (narrow) science have made discussion of morals, values, and high-level human intention beyond discussion when employing their methodologies (empiricism, systems theory, autopoiesis, and social autopoiesis). The Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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problematic assumption in these schools is that interiority is not scientifically accessible (epistemologically). So Wilber is able to reconstruct insights from individual-exterior-external methodologies (the class called empiricism) such as neuroscience and behaviorism without reducing (ontological) reality to chemical and mechanistic functions, which is their tendency. Wilber’s solution is found by (methodologically) contextualizing the insights from exterior methodologies by findings of interior methodologies made possible from his (epistemological) vision-logic cognition and powerful (methodological) tool, the Integral map. Phenomenology and structuralism help Wilber scientifically reconstruct (the methodology of) spiritual practice and (the ontology described by) perennial philosophy, but without the unchecked metaphysical (ontological) pre-givens that they once assumed. According to Wilber, modern and postmodern knowledge refute most metaphysical assumptions (2006, pp. 44-46). Understanding from postmodern contributions in hermeneutics and cultural anthropology are included in AQAL, which greatly humble the overly strong claims of, especially, modern, exterior methodologies that implicitly assume the scientist is not biased or limited by his own culture, for example. The existential lack of meaning in pathological relativism in some zone-3 science, which derives from the assumption that no relative truth can be relatively stable or reliable (Wilber, 2000c, pp. 746-747), is overcome with the promise of higher-level meaning and holarchical reality found in some zone-2 and zone-4 science. Integral Scientific Pluralism makes Wilber’s epistemology and methodology more transparent and usable for others in their area of expertise. It is unreasonable to assume that scientists can control for, and make explicit, all the relevant epistemological, methodological, and ontological factors that ISP specifies. Yet, ISP can guide the researcher to be more intentional with regards to what is, and what is not, controlled for. Of those factors for which the researcher does not have the ability or resources to control, ISP can be used as a next best proxy for their control by treating a study as a module that links up to the existing body of disciplinary and transdisciplinary theory and evidence currently available. This I call Integral Scientific Modularity (ISM). The results of models, which make simplistic assumptions, can be contextualized by Integral Theory. Jack Crittenden (1997) has described Wilber’s methodology as beginning with orienting generalizations across many domains of knowledge. Wilber (2000a, pp. 15-16) agrees. Edwards (2010), on the other hand, contests this claim: “Orienting generalizations cannot be validated at the middle-range level [a sub-level of the metatheory] because they are only fully articulated at the level of metatheory” (p. 89). I would say that the AQAL model has probably benefited from the use of “orienting generalizations” that have survived Wilber’s (2000a) metatheoretical construction as with his example that “in the sphere of moral development... there is general and ample agreement that human moral development goes through at least three broad stages” (p. 15). Yet, in support of Edwards’ point, we see in the ISP description of integral methodology that in significant instances, Wilber teased apart the partial truths of various theories with the construction of his metatheory. This is in contrast to relying on his orientation of pre-given full-truths using metatheoretical lenses to form the metatheory. So Wilber (2000a) is being modest when he says that he has merely strung together pre-existing beads to form a metatheoretical necklace (p. 16). The process required more skill than that; cutting, polishing, rearranging, and fashioning each bead in complementary ways. For further elaboration of ISM, take for instance mathematical, theoretical models from economics (my professional discipline). These techniques are dominated by rational choice theory, which typically assumes that all agents are rational egoists (having the cognitive ability equal to, or superior to, the models, and only caring about themselves). This assumption is problematic on the cognitive and moral front, but less troubling if we take an integral approach. Contextualizing the work with ISP would show that the rational egoist assumption is not unbiased with regards to morals. This bias leads the discipline to look for institutions to better deal with rational egoists, which is not always as desirable as recognizing and empowering sociocultural aspects that develop or complement morality in their members. Societies dominated by positivistic science may even justify selfish behavior because that is all that is expected of our agents in our dominant positivistic sci62

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ences. For some evidence of this possibility, economics undergraduate students have been repeatedly shown to be more selfish and less cooperative than other students (James et al., 2001).3 At a minimum, a mathematical economics model, which assumes for simplicity that agents are rational egoists, would be expected to comment on the relevance rational egoism has for the type of behavior examined in the study. Authors would need to argue what a more realistic assumption about the distribution of real world agents at various levels of cognitive and moral development would have on the results of the model. This would encourage the discipline to develop techniques that would better incorporate more realistic assumptions regarding cognition and morals (and Kosmic addresses more generally).4 Ironically, positivistic science claims to avoid the problems of traditional societies directed by dogmatic, church-sponsored moral codes by studying only objectively. Yet the assumption of rational egoism is not neutral with regards to the subjective domain. It is unsupported and a consequence of its values, which undervalue the scientific examination of values that undergirds its accepted ontology. Thus, scientific examination of values and morals is unavoidable. We can now see ISM at play in the previous description of Wilber’s methodology. In building his manylevel, four-quadrant map, Wilber of course did not conduct a study of development in which he controlled for the intention, behaviors, culture, and societies of humans and all their evolutionary sub-holonic species. He found theoretically sound and logical correlations in various stage theories (cognition, morals, values, techno-economic base, etc.), oriented them by their relative area of focus (the four quadrants and other lenses), and deepened our understanding of them with a working synthesis of classical, modern, postmodern, and early integrative philosophies. Each one of these elements reverberated among the others contributing to a fuller understanding of each in an integrative, developmental philosophy. Integral Scientific Pluralism and Modularity contribute to the academic dialogue on Integral Research. Esbjörn-Hargens (2006) has proposed as a starting point a definition of Integral Research that includes the idea that “Integral Research would involve picking a method from 1) Phenomenology or Structuralism, 2) Hermeneutics or Ethnomethodology, and 3) Empiricism, Autopoiesis Theory, Systems Theory, and Social Autopoiesis Theory” (pp. 88-89). Nicholas Hedlund (2010) argues that this definition may be impractical regarding its epistemological demands on researchers. It also may be a challenge regarding constraints on resources and the length limitations of a typical journal article. Hedlund (2010) proposes a spectral definition of Integral Research where the lowest level 1 is the least demanding to qualify as Integral Research and level 4 is the most demanding. Level 1 involves for the researcher 1) being “reflexively situated and informed at all major phases of the research process by the IMP map and (some of) its principles,” 2) providing “at least some reflexive disclosure of aspects of the epistemological and methodological conditions of enactment,” and 3) making “use of qualitative and quantitative methodologies” (p. 10). Higher levels in the spectrum of Integral Research require the use of integrated data sets or more methodologies. I suggest that clarifying and validating ISM may have the benefit of making Wilber’s epistemology and methodology more transparent and reproducible for other integral researchers. Perhaps ISM can substitute, at least at times, for the need for multiple methods and the creation of integrated data sets. And when multiple methods and integrated data sets are used (when plausible, needed, and cost-effective), a clear handle on ISM can potentially make these approaches more powerful. I argue that ISP and ISM should be used to update Wilber’s Integral Mathematics (2006, pp. 263-266) such that Integral Mathematics actually incorporates integral methodology. ISM shows the inevitable employment of all methodologies involved in human action and science. The problems of modern and postmodern science tend to stem from their less than “state-of-the-art” use of the secondary methods used as opposed to the primary methods they acknowledge using. (The empiricist in our previous example employed empiricism as his primary methodology, but all other methods were necessarily employed secondarily). Wilber’s use of Integral Mathematics does not track all methods employed. Despite his understanding that all events tetra-arise, Wilber’s use of his notational system reduces any particular approach to only one primary method, Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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and therefore, it does not explicitly uncover how the other methodologies are unsatisfactorily employed. I argued in this section, that understanding these secondary methodologies are critical in allowing for integral differentiation and integration of modern and postmodern theory and data.

4. The Health-Pathology Duality and Science To help us understand some sources of reductionism in non-integral science, I argue here that there is solid reason to believe that we must allow for epistemology, methodology, and ontology to have healthy and pathological aspects in each of the eight zones. Therefore, I cross the health-pathology duality with the other ISP zones (the eight zones times the subject-method-object spectrum). This results in the distinction between the shaded area (pathology) and non-shaded areas in each zone of Figure 2 (for a total of 48 horizontal realms). This will also allow for the creation of a Holarchical Field Theory (as outlined in Bowman, in press-b) by synthesizing the realms of ISP with the dynamic drives of holarchical development (Bowman, 2009). I provide examples here of healthy and unhealthy aspects of epistemology, methodology, and ontology starting with ontological reality (although space does not allow for a careful specification by zone). To the extent there is equal opportunity, help for the disabled, advancement based on merit, loving parental care, constructive moral codes, ecological balance, fairly well-adjusted individuals, and so on; there are healthy aspects of the ontological world. These ontological aspects are studied by science. But science also studies pathology in each ontological realm such as child abuse, mental illness, political corruption, nepotism, ecological crisis, arbitrary moral codes, and physical ailments. It is reasonable to say that scientific findings have uncovered aspects of health and pathology in each of the eight zones of the ontological world while passing the tests of our current understanding of sound science. Thus, ISP allows for them theoretically.5 The epistemological orientations of scientists will be influenced by their needs expressed relatively healthily or pathologically. Pathology could cause the scientist to project his epistemological morbidity onto the ontological world. So the scientist, perhaps a Marxist, may disclose only pathological ontology and therefore, overplay its explanatory significance. Another scientist may not be willing to face his own shadow which may have been created, in part, by pathologies in culture. This may cause the individual scientist, in his epistemological orientation, to unscientifically dismiss certain critiques of (ontological) culture. Certain academic social systems that the scientist is embedded in may combine with the scientist’s belongingness and self-esteem needs to cause the scientist to be drawn to particular schools of thought that more readily gratify these needs. When a scientist is relatively healthy epistemologically, he will be relatively open to evidence that counters his hypotheses. He may be relatively current in the latest skills, paradigms, and findings of the field; he may be motivated for the greater good and the relatively higher-order self-actualization need in a relatively unbiased manner; and he may be conscious of the limits of his understanding and attempt to qualify his claims appropriately. The choice and use of methodology also has healthy and unhealthy versions. Pathology may cause the scientist to use methods that conveniently sidestep evidence that may counter his hypothesis and underlying agenda. He may conduct many experimental runs and choose only those that support his claims hoping that journal referees do not think to require the alternative runs that the scientist suppressed. The scientist may be incompetent in his use of methods such as failing to check for serial correlation in a time series study or he may be prone to error in coding data. The capitalist system incentivizes private research or advertising to emphasize the net benefits of patented pharmaceuticals or of processed foods relative to home remedies, natural supplements, and organic foods. Healthy use of methods include controlling for specious correlations, testing for robustness with alternative samples, including all relevant variables, avoiding leading survey questions, and publishing the sources of research funding.

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Conclusion The eight zones of IMP were treated as distinct realms and crossed with the subject-method-object (as a subset of the subject-action-object) triad. This formed the minimum 24 realms needed for Integral Scientific Pluralism (ISP) introduced here. These dimensions allowed formalization within the lenses of Integral Theory an Integral Epistemological Pluralism, Integral Methodological Pluralism, and Integral Ontological Pluralism. This synthesized Wilber’s (2006) IMP with Esbjörn-Hargens’ (2010) Integral Pluralism. Integral Scientific Pluralism contributes to Integral Theory in several important ways. For one, it deepens the critique of non-integral research. ISP shows that all scientific inquiry actually requires all major classes of methodologies in one form or another. Modern and postmodern uses of methodologies are typically biased because of their implicit and unconscious use of secondary methodologies other than those specified (i.e., their primary methods). Integral Scientific Modularity (ISM) was introduced as a way of consciously presenting research such that it can link up with wider bodies of scientific theory and data. Assumptions and exogenous aspects of research can thereby be more clearly identified and contextualized. ISM was also offered as a clarification of the methodology at the heart of Wilber’s success in creating and refining his Integral metatheory. The health-pathology duality was then used to bring awareness to some sources of dualistic and extreme sciences (as in overly apologetic vs. nihilistic descriptions of socioculture). In Bowman (in press-b), I cross the zones of ISP with the static-dynamic duality to allow for an integration of the dynamic drives of Holarchical Development (Bowman, 2009) with the holarchical embeddedness of subjects and objects. This creates a Holarchical Field Theory where neither holons nor their perspectives are fundamental units of reality, but rather fields are. These fields include interacting holons and their multidimensional, interpenetrating drives, which are enacted by the actions of holons with their environment. In Bowman (in press-a), I show how first-, second-, and third-person perspectives and pronouns can be integrated into Integral Scientific Pluralism. ISP and Holarchical Field Theory are used there as well to critique the confused uses of perspectives, pronouns, and some dualities by prominent voices in the integral literature.

NOTES See Edwards (2010) for justification of crossing dualities, triads, and spectra in metatheory. It is worth noting that the subject-method-object triad has been described extensively by Esbjörn-Hargens and Zimmerman (2009) in Integral Ecology. Esbjörn-Hargens (2010) builds on this concept in his work on Integral Pluralism. 3 It is controversial whether economics training increases this behavior, or if selfish students are drawn to economics, or both. 4 Psychological and behavioral economics has contributed to this effort. See my article (2011) for how Integral Political Economy (Bowman, 2010a, 2010b, 2011) furthers this effort. 5 Wilber (2000b) specifies pathologies and therapies by level of development, which could be used for closer examination within this ISP framework. Running from lower to higher levels, pathologies may emerge from psychosis in the earliest human stages to narcissism or borderline personality (red altitude) to script pathologies (amber altitude) to identity crises (orange altitude) to nihilism (green altitude). Elitism has been added for the teal stage (Northcutt, 2010). 1 2

REFERENCES Bowman, K. (2009). Holarchical development: Discovering and applying missing drives from Ken Wilber’s Twenty Tenets. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 28(1), 1-24.

Bowman, K. (2010a). Integral political economy. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(3), 1-27. Bowman, K. (2010b). The financial crisis of 2008–2009: An integral political-economic analysis. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(3), 39-67. Bowman, K. (2011). Holarchically embedding integral

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political economy: Helping to synthesize major schools of economics. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 6(2): 1-29. Bowman, K. (in press-a). Correcting inconsistent uses of perspectives, pronouns, and dualities in Integral Theory: An application of holarchical field theory. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice. Bowman, K. (in press-b). Holarchical field theory. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice. Crittenden, J. (1997). What should we think about Wilber’s method? Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 37(4), 99-104. Edwards, M. (2003). Through AQAL eyes, Part 7: “I” and “me” and “we” and “us” and “you” and “yous.” Retreived June 4, 2011, from http://www. integralworld.net/edwards11.html. Edwards, M. (2010). Organizational transformation for sustainability: An integral metatheory. New York, NY: Routledge. Esbjörn-Hargens, S. (2006). Integral research: A multimethod approach to investigating phenomena. Constructivism and the Human Sciences, 11(1), 79-107. Esbjörn-Hargens, S. (2010). An ontology of climate change: Integral pluralism and the enactment of multiple objects. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(1), 143-174. Esbjörn-Hargens, S., & Zimmerman, M. (2009). Integral ecology: Uniting multiple perspectives on the natural world. Boston, MA: Integral Books. Hedlund, N. (2010). Integrally researching integral research: Enactive perspectives on the future of the field. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(2), 1-30. James, T., Soroka, L., & Benjafield, J. (2001). Are economists rational, or just different? Social Behavior and Personality, 29(4), 359-364.

Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Northcutt, L. (2010). Using heart-centered therapies and the integral model for shadow integration and psycho-spiritual development. Journal of HeartCentered Therapies, 13(2), 67-82. O’Connor, D. (2008). Integral catallactics: An integral reconstruction of market theory and practice. [August 7-10, 2008]. Integral Theory Conference Proceedings. Pleasant Hill, CA: J.F.K. University. O’Connor, D. (2010). Integral praxiology: An inquiry into the essential nature of human action. [July 29-August 1, 2010]. Integral Theory Conference Proceedings. Pleasant Hill, CA: J.F.K. University. Ponterotto, J. (2005). Qualitative research in counseling psychology: A primer on research paradigms and philosophy of science. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 126-136. Wilber, K. (1995). Sex, ecology, spirituality: The spirit of evolution. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2000a). A brief history of everything (Rev. Ed.). Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2000b). Integral psychology: Consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy . Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2000c). Sex, ecology, spirituality: The spirit of evolution (Rev. ed.). Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2000d). The theory of everything: An Integral vision for business, politics, science, and spirituality. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2002). Kosmic karma and creativity. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Retrieved July 12, 2011, from http://wilber.shambhala.com. Wilber, K. (2006). Integral spirituality: A startling new role for religion in the modern and postmodern world. Boston, MA: Integral Books.

KEVIN J. BOWMAN, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of economics at Augsburg College with specializations in economic growth and international economics. He was the first to include in an endogenous growth model the forces of invention, innovation, and diffusion providing insight into the relationship between inequality and growth. Kevin has extended the Wilberian dynamic drives and developed the first mathematical model in Integral Theory. He also created the first integral approaches to economic growth and political economy. In addition to his work in JITP, Kevin has published in Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Journal of Asian Economics, and International Journal of Transpersonal Studies.

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EDUCATING THE ESSENTIAL SELF The AQAL Model in Socially Conscious Curricula Martin E. Schmidt

ABSTRACT This article explores the use of the AQAL model to support student self-understanding in courses aimed at developing social conscience at an international school in Hong Kong. In one such course, the Integral framework provided a useful conceptual map that assisted in bringing a wide array of course materials to curricular coherence, and led to an all-high school gathering to consider greater institutional balance. Through these curricular explorations, it is proposed that the AQAL model may be used as a pedagogical tool in social conscience courses to facilitate a holistic sense of meaning and life direction for high school students. KEY WORDS adolescence; AQAL model; secondary education; quadrants; qualitative research

I

n spite of the realization among some that the ecological “stability that produced civilization has vanished” (McKibben, 2010, p. 27), global society as a whole seems intent on maintaining or perhaps even exacerbating its overly consumptive habits. In a section entitled “The World Lacks a Vision of a Viable Global Future,” Willis Harman (1998) states: Since modern culture ascribes no “reality” to inner experience, transcendent values have no power and materialistic values prevail. Thus it seems reasonable for society to be characterized by economic rationalization of an ever-increasing fraction of social behavior and organization. (p. 127) In the contemporary context where daily economic indicators seem to dominate headlines around the globe, educators struggle to bring personal meaning and coherence to classrooms and to school life. Indeed, it is a challenge to continue this quest for humane values when it seems that no enduring images are powerful enough to inspire widespread change of ailing sociopolitical systems. In this modern milieu, perhaps it comes as no surprise, as Harman suggests, that the inner experience of students is under threat as schools strive to become increasingly concerned with that which is demonstrable, measurable, and quantifiable. Contemporary culture seems to lack a “big picture” that might ascribe inherent value to student introspection and realization. In an effort to challenge these trends in my own context, I have implemented curricula at an international school in Hong Kong over the past decade that aim to develop social conscience among students. Some background about the school setting is useful in order to understand these curricular changes. This K­–12 international school uses a North American (U.S.) curriculum, and serves the educational needs of wealthy expatriates working in Hong Kong as well as many affluent Hong Kong Chinese parents, who hope their daughters/sons will attain placement in prestigious universities in the United States or Canada, or to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom, Australia, or China. Nearly 70% of the students are ethnically Asian with Correspondence: Martin E. Schmidt, 1 Red Hill Road, Scenic View, Flat 3A, Tai Tam, Hong Kong. E-mail: mschmidt@ hkis.edu.hk. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2012, 7(1), pp. 67–80

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approximately 80% of these coming from a Chinese cultural background. Although the school has an open admissions policy and does not select students based on ability, academic expectations are high. With regard to my role, I have taught history, English, and religion courses in the Humanities Department of this school since 1990. In 1999, the school’s sponsoring religious body, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, asked me to develop service-learning activities both in and beyond Hong Kong as part of my responsibilities. The integration of these church responsibilities with my teaching has given rise to curricular innovations. I have come to collectively call these new courses social conscience education, which became the topic of my dissertation research completed in 2009. Some comments about school culture are also in order. In my 20 years at this international school I have observed two narratives operating within our school community. I first became aware of these in student speeches delivered at an assembly, but these two stories can also be seen to be in conflict at various levels in my institution and more broadly in the field of international education (Jones, 1998). The first narrative suggests that students enhance themselves through superior performance in comparison to others. I note this first because this was the primary student dynamic I observed when I first began teaching in Hong Kong and which is still very present in our school community. For many students and parents the school’s assumed raison d’être was, and remains to be, to earn placement in a prestigious university. However, over the years I have observed the emergence of a counter-narrative. This story asserts that personal well-being is available to self-reflective students who commit themselves to making a difference in the world. The school’s Humanities Department includes elements of this second story in its mission statement, which states that through its “collaborative exploration of human experience” students may come to a “discovery of self” and “responsible community membership.” Social conscience courses have built on this foundation and, along with popular service programs among students in the past 15 years, have brought this narrative to the fore of school life. In consideration of these two contrasting narratives, it is helpful to consider educator Joel Spring’s (2007) seemingly reasonable, yet nonetheless radical suggestion that curriculum development needs to move away from the instrumental goal of creating economically productive citizens and toward curricula that promote the well-being of students. Curricula, Spring believes, should not sacrifice the personal needs of students on the altar of economic growth. In the context of these two narratives, I have come to be attracted to the AQAL model for its ability to provide a map of well-being. While our school’s first narrative focuses on achievement and performance (Upper Right), the Integral framework prompts students to consider their inner (Upper Left), cultural (Lower Left), and systemic (Lower Right) selves as well. This article, then, first explains the development of two courses that have formed the basis of social conscience education at this international school. Second, I summarize the most salient elements of my research findings pertaining to social conscience education. Third, I share how my recent study of the AQAL model formed the basis of a class activity that grew into an all-high school gathering. Finally, the article closes with some reflections on the importance of further development of socially conscious curricula.

Developing Social Conscience Courses In 1997, a colleague and myself visited a Jesuit high school in the Philippines that had a senior-level course that combined sociology and theology, and contained a week-long service experience in Manila’s slums. The goal of the course was to challenge wealthy Filipinos to consider their role in creating positive leadership for their nation in the future. Inspired by our visit, in 2000 we established a new course entitled “Service, Society, and the Sacred” (SSS), a semester-length elective chosen primarily by grade twelve students. The goal of the course, as we initially conceptualized it, was to help students consider life purpose through connecting their inner work and outer work (Fox, 1994) in the context of the study of relevant social issues. In 2003, I initiated a second social conscience course called “Humanities in Action” (HIA). This core course option took what 68

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had been learned from SSS—that students do indeed desire a holistic curriculum linking personal beliefs and actions to larger contemporary issues—and implemented these ideas into a grade nine humanities course. Both courses have grown over the intervening years. Presently, 120 students (or 60% of the freshman class) have elected to take HIA, and more than 30 seniors are enrolled in SSS, about 70% of whom had taken HIA in ninth grade. Through considerable experimentation the two curricula have become better defined over time. During the first semester in HIA, students study the concept of worldview and focus on issues related to human nature and human behavior. In order to accomplish these goals, students read William Golding’s (1954) Lord of the Flies, examine well-known research studies such as the Milgram experiment (on obedience to authority figures) and the Stanford Prison experiment (on the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard), and study the Rwandan and Darfur genocides. Taken together, this thematic curriculum helps students consider “mankind’s essential illness” (Golding, 1954, p. 89) as a prerequisite to trying to make a difference in society. In the second semester, students consider issues related to globalization and the environment, and we read Daniel Quinn’s (1992) Ishmael. Throughout the course and particularly near the end of the year, time is devoted to studying various role models who are bringing about positive change in society. We find that students are particularly drawn to the concept of social entrepreneurship, which combines the business skills of the first narrative with the personal meaning and social value of the second narrative. Throughout the year, students participate in approximately 10 out-of-the-classroom service activities, such as hosting refugees at the school, visiting the elderly, teaching English, and cleaning beaches. The highlight of the “action” dimension for many students is a three-day trip to an orphanage in southern China. Finally, all students participate in a Personal Action Project in which they attempt to remedy some real-life problem either on campus or in the community. As capstone assessments at the end of each semester, students write essays responding to the central question of the course, which asks them, in light of their study and experience, to define their worldview, a tentative life philosophy that will guide them as they seek to bring about positive social change. The SSS curriculum has become more stable in recent years. As noted, many students who choose SSS in their senior year had previously taken HIA in grade nine. While the earlier course is an introduction to global issues from a humanities perspective, the senior course focuses on their most immediate developmental need, transitioning to university. With this in mind, the curriculum encourages students to consider what kind of personal future they would like to have, which for most students is some combination of the two narratives. Whereas the ninth-grade course emphasizes students determining and understanding their own worldview, the senior-level course focuses on three even more elemental questions, “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, and “What are my next steps?” Given this liminal stage in their lives, students who sign up for this course enthusiastically welcome having time in an academic setting to contemplate answers to these exhilarating and daunting personal questions.

Research on Social Conscience Education Before addressing use of the AQAL model in the SSS curriculum, it seems helpful to share some of the most pertinent research findings that emerged from my doctoral study, which focused primarily on the two courses described above.1 In 2005, I began my research to understand how teachers should construct curricula aimed at developing social conscience among students in Hong Kong. I decided that I first needed to understand what prevented students from having a social conscience. Based on student essays from these two courses and focus group interviews with 37 students from grades ten through grade twelve, the majority of students responded that their lack of social consciousness resulted from their disconnectedness from social reality. I gathered student-generated images from these two courses in which they depicted themselves before taking these classes: living in a cave; a room full of toys and luxuries; a small, fenced-in world; a picturesque curtained window blocking views of inclement weather; a greenhouse before the glass is broken with an axe; and Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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a shovel which unearths bones and skulls beneath a beautiful flower garden. Their most common metaphor of disconnectedness, however, was that they and their classmates were living in a bubble. The role of social conscience education, then, was to burst the bubble and help students reconnect to society. Using these interviews and student writings, along with individual interviews with nine teachers of social conscience courses, I came to define social conscience as “a personal consideration of one’s role and responsibility in society in the context of an emotionally engaged understanding of the world” (Schmidt, 2009, p. 124). This definition can best be understood through consideration of four interrelated themes that became evident as students and teachers discussed this educational approach: awareness, emotional engagement, action, and relatedness. Students and teachers used a variety of terms to describe their growing sense of awareness of the world outside their immediate environment: awakening, understanding, exposure, eyeopening, knowing, and realization. A second theme that students and teachers often spoke about was emotional engagement. Participants used various descriptors to indicate that social conscience needed to go beyond cognitive awareness to include feelings: empathy, opening the heart, ability to connect, extension of personal concern, and care. A third theme in the definition of social conscience focused on action. Students and teachers employed the following terms to describe this element of action: responsibility, involvement, reaching out, and making a difference. In student interviews and writings, an additional element permeated all three levels of the model: relatedness. Awareness of social issues, emotional engagement with issues that cause people to suffer, and active involvement all led to a closer connectedness between students and their contemporary world. Students and teachers frequently used the word “interconnectedness” to emphasize the mutuality and intimacy of their developing relationship with the world. These four elements of social conscience are represented graphically in Figure 1. Since some student essays and interviews considered their study and experiences across their high school career, some conclusions about the long-term impact of social conscience education could be drawn. Over time, students’ heightened awareness grew into perspective transformation, emotional engagement matured into empathy, and the habit of action resulted in a growing sense of self-efficacy (Fig. 1). One of the most important questions for educators, then, is how to structure curricula that fosters the development of socially conscious students. Based on the research, a model for developing social conscience curricula emerged, which is presented in Figure 2. This model advises teachers how they can structure social conscience curricula. Beginning with the top

Action Emotional Engagement Awareness

= Relatedness

SelfEfficacy Empathy Perspective Transformation = Relatedness

Figure 1. Four elements of social conscience (left); student perspectives of social conscience growth over time (right). 70

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Contemporary Events Psychological and Sociological Perspectives The Big Questions

Figure 2. A curriculum model for social conscience courses.

tier, teachers and students believe that a social conscience curriculum should focus on contemporary issues that students find relevant and engaging. The middle tier proposes that when studying contemporary issues, teachers should at the same time provide psychological and sociological lenses through which to view these events. Developmentally, high school students at our school are generally eager to learn about the thought life of individuals as well as the collective behavior of groups. Finally, teachers and students feel that it is vital that the top two levels are grounded in the ultimate goal of seeking answers to the “big questions” of life, some of which may be conceptual (e.g., Is capitalism working for the majority of people?), but in the end are also highly personal (e.g., Will working in certain professions that emphasize profit far above all other concerns be acceptable to my conscience?). My research suggests that moving up and down this multi-tiered curricular model aids the development of social conscience among students. It is important to note that the definition and the models emphasize the primary importance of individuals coming to a personal understanding of how their identity intersects with society. Thus, according to students and teachers, self-understanding is integral to the fundamental aim of creating a social conscience that acts for the betterment of society. Recent experiences at my school suggest that such a “personal consideration of one’s role and responsibility in the world” can be facilitated through use of the AQAL model. Integral Theory provides a useful map by which students can develop the reciprocal dynamic of self-understanding and social impact, leading to an education that embodies Spring’s (2007) manifesto to educate students for well-being (see Dea, 2010; Esbjörn-Hargens et al., 2010; Wilber et al., 2000, 2007).

Integral Theory in the Social Conscience Classroom With this research in mind, I once again began teaching the SSS class. Given the overarching course goal of helping students personally consider questions regarding identity and purpose, I decided to introduce the three questions of the course—“Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, and “What are my next steps?”—on the first day. I also decided that along with relevant readings, I would provide more guest speakers than past years to help students better envision their own personal futures. The first course reading was an excerpt from Martha Beck’s (2001) Finding Your North Star. The book’s central concept is introduced in chapter one in which differences between the essential self, one’s true self-identity, and the social self are outlined; influences, values, Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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and opinions brought to bear by society upon the individual are explored. Students found these distinctions useful and frequently employed terms from the book throughout the course to describe the process of navigating life in and beyond high school. A variety of topics, often tied to guest speakers, were explored during the first half of this one-semester course, such as: searching for life purpose, social entrepreneurship, Centering Prayer (a Catholic form of meditation), walking a labyrinth as a tool for meditation, and cultural identity. In the first 22 class sessions, the class heard seven guest speakers and made two field trips. Most of the guest speakers and field trips involved professionals who were using their skills to make a positive social impact. Some typical examples were: two former Hong Kong businesswomen who started a tutorial service that includes social issues in the curriculum, a human rights lawyer, a recent alumnus who is prototyping and distributing computers for the poor in Asia, an environmental activist, and a businessman engaged in corporate social responsibility. As the first quarter was coming to a close, I wanted to bring some overall coherence to the stimulating, but wide-ranging list of readings and activities that we had encountered in the first half of the course. It was at this point, then, that I thought I would experiment with use of a simplified version of the AQAL model (Fig. 3). To introduce the concept, I asked the class to sit on the carpeted floor in a circle with the space divided into four quadrants. Then I read a script I had prepared to introduce the four quadrants to the class: In the 1980s, American philosopher Ken Wilber took maps of spiritual growth from many different religious traditions and put them on the floor of his home to try to make sense of them all. What he noticed was that all of these maps, and therefore all of our life experiences, can be represented by four different quadrants. His philosophy uses very basic ideas. The top half of his map describes the self and the bottom half represents groups of people. The left-hand side explains the interior world of the self and groups, and the right-hand side describes the exterior world of self and groups. With these basic parameters in mind, we can detail each of the four quadrants. Quadrant One [Upper Left] is your true self or your essential self. It is your intuitions, your belief system, your worldview. It is who you are when no one is watching. It may be called your inner life or your soul. Quadrant one states, “To thine own self be true.” Quadrant Two [Upper Right] is your behavior and actions. It involves how you look, what you wear, your body language, and how you speak with others. It also includes all the multitude of activities here at school. Not just homework and tests, but choir rehearsal, rugby practice, Model United Nations conferences, and so on. Quadrant two reminds you, “Your actions matter.” Quadrant Three [Lower Left] may be the hardest to understand. It is about culture and community. It is your group identity with family and friends. It may involve values and beliefs from Chinese, American or Korean culture, or it may be that you are a Third Culture Kid. Quadrant three asks, “What does my community value?” Quadrant Four [Lower Right] is like the movie The Matrix: all the invisible systems that govern our lives, such as school rules, government laws or corporate trade practices that affect us. Oftentimes this is the sociopolitical world outside of our school bubble. Quadrant four asks, “How can we create justice for everyone?” If you want to lead a fulfilling life, Ken Wilber suggests that you need to be active in all four quadrants. Each of us has areas of strengths and weaknesses, but if we want to be psychologically whole people, all four quadrants need to be in sync. The name he’s given to this system is AQAL (“all quadrants, all levels”). Today we are going to practice using AQAL in search of a life of wholeness. 72

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C O LLE CT IV E

I N D IVI DUAL

I N T ER I OR

EXT ER I OR

Who am I? Why am I here? Personal reflection, self-expression, worldview

Conversations with family, friends; class spirit, cultural identity and values (being Chinese, being American)

School activities (music, clubs, sports, drama), academic skills, service as a charity activity

I

IT

WE

ITS The environment, social systems, political issues, corporations, service as justice, effecting change in structures

Figure 3. The AQAL model applied to school life.

Following this short introduction, I asked the students a series of questions, requesting them to move to the quadrant that best represented their response. The list of questions included the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Which quadrant do you think is your parents’ strongest area? Which quadrant do your parents emphasize most with you? Which quadrant do you feel you have improved in most during your high school career? Which quadrant do you feel is your most confused or conflicted area? Which quadrant do you hope to grow in most during your college experience?

After each question, we paused to first view the general pattern of responses, and then discussed responses by various students. The discussion proved to be engaging, so I asked the students to individually prepare an AQAL “story” for the next period. I suggested that each student choose something that they personally believed to be true for themselves in quadrant one and comment on the development of this theme through each of the other three quadrants. During the next class period students individually walked through a simple AQAL grid on the classroom carpet, and shared their stories. I have chosen to share a variety of exemplary examples below, but nearly all students were able to participate with thoughtful responses. One Caucasian boy commented: Q1: I believe that the earth is not invincible to our destruction and that if humans keep living the way they do with a constant consumption of natural resources that the planet will cease to exist. 

 Q2: I must live this philosophy by practicing environmentally friendly behaviors and living a life that is healthy for me and the earth upon which I live. This includes supporting organic farming, using public or eco-friendly transportation, investing in alternative energy sources and eventually working for a company that upholds these same values. Q3: I have to impose my views on my friends and family and help them to understand the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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urgency of this crisis. It is my responsibility to enact changes in the community and the way people view our earth. 
 Q4: It is my duty as an informed citizen to press my beliefs and those of many others upon lawmakers so that change can be enabled. I must fight for what I know is right. I will participate in the growing movement to change the existing “social systems” that result in environmental disaster. A Chinese girl, who attended local schools until grade nine, described her desire to bring change to the Hong Kong educational system: Q1: I believe students should learn and care about the world. The world is a lot bigger than just our lives, our grades, or our circle of friends and families. 

 Q2: I reach out, read the newspaper, and go to various places to do service. I try to care and do more than just focusing on my grades of my school life—to keep my fire burning. 

 Q3: Often times, local [Hong Kong] school students do service for “hours,” and they don’t see the purpose in doing service. I try to tell my local school friends about my international school education. I tell them what I learn, the service I do and why I’m doing it. I also try to bring out different issues to discuss. 

 Q4: To be honest, right now, I don’t know what I should do to help educational reform in Hong Kong. However, I would try to spread the message and talk to everyone about it. Perhaps in the future, when there’s a chance for me to voice my opinions through government surveys or others, I would do so. A Chinese boy born and raised in Hong Kong wrote about his desire to give back to the community: So far, my collective high school experience has opened my eyes to various worlds. My answers to these questions a few years ago would definitely have been different… 

 Q1: I have discovered that I, compared to many other people in the world, am extremely fortunate. I live in a comfortable, functional apartment with two very loving parents and have all the resources that I will ever need. I attend an amazing school and am receiving the best education possible. In a sense, my life is perfect, and I need to further acknowledge and appreciate that fact. Q2: Because I understand that my life situation, in comparison to many others, is basically perfect, I need to take action and try to better the lives of others by doing service. I have done this by trying to be as involved as I can—participating in service clubs within school, going to different countries such as South Africa to teach students, and reaching out to the local Hong Kong community by providing “new learning” education to students in underprivileged neighborhoods. I need to continue exhibiting this type of behavior and try to make a positive impact on the world. Q3: I must tell my friends that we are extremely lucky students and should be appreciative of what we have, instead of always striving for new things in superficial forms. I have to impose the notion on my friends and family that “the grass is not greener on the other side,” and we must actually try to make the other side “greener” by participating in activities such as service. Specifically, I have brought in friends to teach with me to Tin Shui Wai [a poor area in Hong Kong] and am planning on expanding the program to expose more students. 74

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Q4: As I mentioned above, my work in the area of Tin Shui Wai is of great importance to me. I (through my parents) have so many connections to all sorts of people—people in the government, finance, medicine, law, etc.—and I could potentially call upon these resources and spread the message about the conditions of the people living the area of Tin Shui Wai. I have written an article on microfinance in the newspaper, and I could potentially write about the people of Tin Shui Wai in another one. As for my future, I dream of being an entrepreneur who invests in ventures targeted at improving the conditions of other people. There is so much that I can do to make an impact on the greater community—the possibilities are endless. I feel that these four quadrants are, in a sense, linked. If I can start by altering the first quadrant—the “intentional” quadrant—I believe that I will be able to achieve all the goals and realize all of the aspirations that I have set for myself. One Chinese girl who is currently majoring in medicine at a Hong Kong University prefaced her story by commenting on a recent trip that she took to Vietnam to observe the work of the nonprofit healthcare organization ORBIS in rural areas: Going on a trip to Vietnam with ORBIS made me realize: Q1: How strongly I feel about universal healthcare—it is a human right. I hate seeing how diseases that could have been easily prevented or easily treated are not done so because of the social system’s lack of resources. Q2: I read a lot of newspapers to update myself. I also like looking up the new cost-effective cures or preventive treatment that are being discovered. Many of these cures, if properly implemented and integrated within a country, could make a huge impact even at a low cost. Q3: Although this is not an issue in Hong Kong (Hong Kong has a beautifully working healthcare system), I like to discuss what I’ve read or what I think about certain issues with family and friends, so people are more aware of the problems in other countries. Q4: In the future, I would like to work with something that is related to healthcare and services. I’ve become increasingly unsure of how I can do that, but I realize there are so many options. Becoming a doctor to work with Doctors Without Borders is just one of many options. But if the door closes on that, I’m sure there are other things I can pursue. A final example illustrates how a mixed Chinese-Western girl who has been meditating regularly in the preceding several months integrates this spiritual practice into her AQAL story: Q1: All people, especially children, deserve unconditional love. Q2: I need to become more compassionate, tolerant, and patient with others. I won’t criticize or judge or get involved with an individual’s personal life, including their decisions, their behavior, and their beliefs. Instead, I will embrace people and let them be who they are by giving unconditional love and care. I will practice Centering Prayer to open another part of my brain and broaden my awareness to see others’ lives rather than just my own. Q3: For now, I will help those around me that need someone to talk to and understand dissatisfaction with their lives and social relationships. Q4: In the future, I could perhaps host parent/teenager workshops/group discussions that inJournal of Integral Theory and Practice

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corporate meditation to help mend and/or strengthen the relationship between parent(s) and the child. I was very encouraged by the quality of responses, especially since I had spent only about 15 minutes explaining the Integral framework before moving to the questions. They seemed to easily apprehend the broad strokes of the model. In terms of course objectives, I was pleased that the activity enabled students to bring some coherence to the wide range of topics, guest speakers, and activities that we had considered in the first half of the course. Finally, given that my research found that disconnectedness was the biggest barrier to social conscience, this activity assisted students to take steps towards connecting themselves to their world.

AQAL in a Community Gathering Having shared the use of this AQAL activity in my SSS class with two colleagues, one of whom organizes high school community gatherings and the other who teaches a class on meditation, our SSS class was asked to consider bringing Wilber’s concepts to all 850 students and the faculty in a community gathering, a monthly event at the school. The students overwhelmingly voted to co-lead the gathering along with students from the meditation class. With the high school audience surrounding our two classes on a large AQAL grid in the center of the gymnasium, I led the students through a similar activity that we had done in class, using a set of questions to illustrate the four quadrants: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Which quadrant have your parents emphasized most in your high school career? Which quadrant have you grown most in during your high school career? Which quadrant do you want to grow in during your college years? Imagine yourself in 20 years: which area do you want to be focusing on for your occupation?

Some of the collective responses were quite revealing. In response to the first question about parents, the students overwhelmingly moved to the second quadrant, indicating parental emphasis on performance and achievement. In response to the second question, students had a mix of responses. Although the majority of students stayed in quadrant two, a significant number moved to quadrant four, reflecting the large number of service learning activities at the school. The third and fourth question saw students move to quadrant four, suggesting that in the future students intended to influence society. Then we moved to what we had hoped would be the thematic climax of the gathering. We asked the presiding officer of the school senate, as a representative of the student body, to ask the entire community two questions and to respond by “voting with their feet.”2 Each person was asked to stand for a specific quadrant in response to two questions: 1. Which quadrant do you feel you most appreciate about your high school experience? 2. Which quadrant would you like the school to emphasize more in your education? In response to the first question, the vast majority of students felt that the school’s strength was quadrant two, indicative of the school’s vast number of courses and activities offered. Given this statement of strengths, we then wanted to give students and faculty a voice concerning the future direction of the school. As soon as the presiding officer explained question two and asked for those people voting for the first quadrant to stand, a collective rush of energy and recognition flowed through the community as the vast majority of the audience rose. The student message was unambiguous: we desire more self-exploration. Almost no one stood for 76

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quadrant two, and a small, although not insignificant number of students stood for quadrants three and four. As an apropos closing to the gathering, the meditation class led the school in a Loving Kindness Meditation, asking students and faculty to pause and wish happiness to those in each quadrant: first, to the self; then, to a close friend or family member; third, to the local community; and last, to the world. I felt that the gathering had been a success, but I wanted to check with students that were not directly involved in its preparation to respond. Since a good number of students generally do not seem to take such large gatherings seriously, I wanted to know whether students followed the introduction of AQAL and whether they were able to take away some personal meaning from the event. So, I asked my ninth graders in HIA to write a blog comment about their reactions. To my surprise, the majority of these students seemed to understand the broad outlines of the AQAL concept. In addition, about half of the students demonstrated a sense of introspection about their own life journey, as can be seen in the following exemplary examples: The point of the group gathering was to tell us how we have to find a balance between it all and what we find most important. The community gathering also took a survey to see what the school needs to do to help students find that balance and emphasize which ones they find most important. The most important idea I received today is that we need to develop our individual and inner self as well as our group and outer self. We need to find a balance between all four of the quadrants of life. The main message that I got from the community gathering was the need for balance in our lives. In order to lead a fulfilling life, we need to explore and expand the four areas of our lives that were represented by the four quadrants (Thought, Action, Culture, World). This gathering made me examine my own life. I have focused mainly on only the Action and World areas, and I need to expand and balance my life. Also, rather than just focusing on either my academic or social life, I should have a better balance of both. That little “voting” thing really made me think about where my life is going. Do I really understand what kind of a person I am? Right now, I don’t think so. I think I need to ask myself some hard questions about who I am and who I want to be . . . For me, at least, the community gathering was a success . . . I was quite engaged. A first for me in a high school or middle school gathering. These ninth grade student comments affirmed for me that the AQAL concept was one that students found to be engaging and applicable to their own lives. Overall, the community gathering sent two strong messages to the school community. First, while our students certainly appreciate the wide array of courses and activities provided by the school, they unequivocally expressed a need for more self-reflective activities to better understand their own personal identity. This came as a surprise, given the emphasis at the school on journal writing, blogging, and other activities that accompany many aspects of school life. The school should explore what kinds of reflective activities would better meet student needs. In light of the community gathering and my experience, it seems that the school should consider training teachers and students to think in all four quadrants. For example, I have found that many Asian students do envision bringing about positive change in society (Lower Right), but that they run into resistance from within their family and cultural systems (Lower Left). According to students, discussions about making a difference in society are rarely linked to Asian family norms or cultural beliefs. A simplified version of the four quadrants, as presented above, can help facilitate this kind of reflective conversation. Secondly, the overall gestalt of student responses suggests that students intuitively understand what is necessary to lead a fulfilling life, as theorized by Wilber. Students desire a high school education where Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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not only are skills developed and valuable learning experiences provided, but also a setting where time is set aside for in-depth exploration of their essential selves. They seem to be seeking some degree of harmony between their inner selves of the Upper-Left quadrant and their outer selves of the Upper-Right quadrant. Furthermore, our students seem to have a general sense that they should engage all four quadrants as a natural life progression. The emphasis by school and parents on activities, skills, and performances needs to be balanced by self-knowledge during these formative years. As they look forward to life beyond high school, however, their focus shifts to the collective quadrants, especially the Lower Right. The AQAL model provided an easily comprehended map that helped our students recognize that they intuitively have a broad understanding of what is needed in order to develop a fulfilling life.

Conclusion My experience with the AQAL model in one class led to a community gathering that appears to have encouraged valuable student introspection. This is important, for the toll of high expectations and mounting pressures on schools, teachers, and students to achieve in the era of high-stakes testing is visible at this international school. Alexander Astin and colleagues’ (2011) recently completed seven-year study on spirituality at American universities could speak for the threat to our students as well: While higher education continues to put a lot of emphasis on test scores, grades, credit, and degrees, it has increasingly come to neglect its students’ “inner” development—the sphere of values and beliefs, emotional maturity, moral development, spirituality and selfunderstanding. (p. 2) This emphasis on quantifying discrete academic achievement mirrors, as Harman (1998) notes, society’s preoccupation with “economic rationalization of an ever-increasing fraction of social behavior and organization” (p. 127). The culture at this international school in Hong Kong includes this central narrative of performance as a dominant force, but the introduction of social conscience courses has supported the emergence of another narrative in which a greater sense of fulfillment can be gained through study that is motivated by personal values and contributing to society. According to students, they often are drawn to sign up for elective social conscience courses such as HIA and SSS because they earnestly desire to make a difference in society. My experience suggests that while it is relatively easy to stimulate interest in making an impact in the world, the more necessary and demanding task of high school social conscience educators is to help students explore their essential selves. If, as psychologist Prem Fry (1998) contends, the most important task of a lifetime is to find some sense of meaning or purpose in life, it is vital for teachers to engage high school students in a personal and collective consideration of life purpose and direction. Echoing Spring’s (2007) call for an education for well-being, it seems imperative that the search for purpose, “something that is at once meaningful to the self and of consequence to the world beyond the self” (Damon et al., 2003, p. 121), should be a priority in schools. Searching for a cause larger than the self is a common aspiration in adolescence, which, if not found during these years, may, as Erik Erickson (1980) asserts, result in diminishing chances of attainment later in life. The value of pursuing a sense of purpose during adolescence is difficult to overestimate. If it is true that “there may be an early window for developing the social and cognitive skills that underlie what we call ‘conscience’” comparable to the early years of learning a language (Kiehl & Buckholtz, 2010, p. 28), then we owe it to our children as individuals and society as a whole to include powerful experiences and images of wholeness in our curricula. This article has argued that the AQAL model, specifically the four quadrants, can serve as a useful conceptual map that can begin to ameliorate this “big picture” deficit that afflicts schools. AQAL can be employed pedagogically as an effective philosophical construct by which 78

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students’ desire for the second narrative of personal fulfillment can be strengthened. With Spring’s (2007) call for curricula that aim for well-being in mind, the use of AQAL in the context of social conscience courses at this international school serves as a practical example of how educators can strive to meet the deep human needs of students in their classrooms. The AQAL model was employed as a useful tool that engaged not only my social conscience classes, but appeared to provide a valuable learning experience for an entire school community. This experience further supports my belief that the role of social conscience educators is to provide students with a holistic understanding of the world, one in which minds and hearts are fully engaged, and then over time provide opportunities for students to ponder their future life directions. Our school’s recent experience with the AQAL model suggests that if we only ask the right questions, students will tell us what they want: an education that develops their sense of identity, purpose, and direction in relationship to society.

NOTES As a practitioner in a high school classroom, my curricular experiments generally start with small modifications of a given course of study and move over time to greater theoretical understanding. My doctoral research studied nearly 10 years of such experimentation, and helped me understand the most important features of what I came to call social conscience education. Following completion of my dissertation in 2009, I have spent more time reading and considering the practical application of the AQAL model and related concepts, such as Spiral Dynamics, to my classroom teaching. The modest success of my mid-semester kernel of an idea—the use of the activity described in my SSS class that came to be the center point of an all-high school community gathering—suggests that AQAL could serve as a framework for an entire curriculum, an idea that I am considering as I plan the coursework for future semesters. It is hoped that a more intentional design will not only enable students to bring more wholeness to their life journeys, but may also yield greater theoretical understanding of the value that an integrally informed curriculum may provide. 2 Visit www.integraljournal.org/Public/AQAL_Essential.mov for a video recording of this activity. The clip is approximately five minutes in duration. 1

REFERENCES Astin, A.W., Astin, H.S., & Lindholm, J.A. (2011). Cultivating the spirit: How college can enhance students’ inner lives. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass. Beck, M. (2001). Finding your north star: Claiming the life you were meant to live. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press. Damon, W., Menon, J., & Bronk, K.C. (2003). The development of purpose during adolescence. Applied Developmental Science, 7, 119-128. Dea, W. (2010). Igniting brilliance: Integral education for the 21st century. Boston, MA: Integral Books. Esbjörn-Hargens, S., Reams, J., & Gunnlaugson, O. (Eds.). (2010). Integral education: New directions for higher learning. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Erikson, E.H. (1980). Identity and the life cycle. New York, NY: Norton.

Fox, M. (1994). The reinvention of work: A new vision of livelihood for our time. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco. Fry, P. (1998). The development of personal meaning and wisdom in adolescence: A reexamination of moderating and consolidating factors and influences. In P. Wong & P. Fry (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: A handbook of psychological research and clinical applications (pp. 91-110). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Golding, W. (1954). Lord of the flies. New York, NY: Berkeley Publishing Group. Harman, W. (1998). Global mind change: The promise of the 21st century. San Francisco, CA: Institute of Noetic Sciences. Jones, P. (1998). Globalisation and internationalism: Democratic prospects for world education. Comparative Education, 34(2), 143-155. Kiehl, K.A. & Buckhotz, J. (2010). Inside the mind of a Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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psychopath. Scientific American Mind, 21, 22-29. McKibben, B. (2010). Eaarth: Making a life on a tough new planet. New York, NY: Times Books, Henry Holt & Company. Quinn, D. (1992). Ishmael: An adventure of the mind and spirit. New York, NY: Bantam/Turner. Schmidt, M.E. (2009). Teaching for social conscience in Hong Kong secondary schools [unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Perth, Australia: University of Western Australia.

Spring, J.H. (2007). A new paradigm for global school systems: Education for a long and happy life. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wilber, K. (2000). A brief history of everything (second edition). Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K., Esbjörn-Hargens, S., & Rentschler, M. (Eds.). (2007). Integral Education [special issue]. AQAL: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2(2).

MARTIN E. SCHMIDT, Ed.D., has taught for more than 20 years in the Humanities Department of Hong Kong International School where he has developed humanities courses that incorporate service learning into curricula. In 2009, he received his doctorate from the University of Western Australia for his dissertation, “Teaching for Social Conscience in Hong Kong Schools.” More information about social conscience education can be found on his blog: http://martinschmidtinasia.wordpress.com.

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INTEGRAL THEORY AND E-PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT A Model for Professional Development Sheri R. Klein

ABSTRACT The development of teachers as reflective practitioners is an ongoing focus among educators. Reflection practices that include electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) development within teacher education and evaluation have largely ignored a multidimensional lens toward self-assessment and approaches that embrace the emotional, ethical, and sociopolitical domains of practice. Integral Theory is discussed as a promising framework for both teacher reflection and ePortfolio development, as it focuses on awareness, inter/intra-connections, and the development of multifaceted narratives and perspective taking. The components of an integrally informed ePortfolio are discussed with examples to provide practitioners with a visual and conceptual model of the framework. Practical issues and recommendations relative to the application of Integral Theory as a framework for developing ePortfolios are discussed to assist educator/portfolio developers. KEY WORDS education; ePortfolio; Integral Theory; professional development; teacher assessment

H

ow am I doing in my practice? This question fundamentally drives the reflective practices of teachers. The development of teachers as reflective practitioners is an ongoing focus among teacher educators and practitioners (Black & Halliwell, 2000; Cambridge, 2001; Gore & Zeichner, 1991; Hatton & Smith, 1995; Hume, 2009; Klein, 2010, 2008a, 2008b; Schön, 1983; Zeichner, 1996). While teacher reflection can take many forms (Cole & Knowles, 2000; Hume, 2009), reflection practices within teacher education have largely ignored the emotional, spiritual, ethical, and sociopolitical domains of practices that support “complex and personal learning” about oneself (Featherstone, 1993, p. 2). The dominant focus in teacher reflection relies on the analysis of classroom instruction relative to standards and outcomes. While this allows for the examination of the particulars of instructional practice, contextual factors and conditions that may shape practice are not fully considered. In the past decade, new technologies in teacher professional development, specifically the electronic portfolio, or ePortfolio, have become commonplace within the educational milieu of K–16 education, and have been used as a vehicle for guided teacher reflection and self-assessment (Barrett, 2000; Borko et al., 1997; Constantino & Lorenzo, 2002; Kimball, 2003; Porter & Cleland, 1995). The majority of ePortfolio frameworks used by educators focus on how evidence of practice supports state and professional standards and professional development goals with little attention paid to the multiple dimensions of practice. While holistic education principles and practices (Gallegos-Nava, 2001; Glazer, 1999; Halpin, 2003; Krishnamurti, 1953; Miller, 2000) support the development of connections between body-mind-spirit, little attention has been paid to these philosophies within teacher preparation and graduate education curriculum and courses. If “education should awaken the capacity to be self-aware” (Krishnamurti, 1953, p. 15), then teacher reflective Correspondence: Sheri R. Klein, c/o Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 946 Ninth Street, Unit E, Santa Monica, CA 90403. E-mail: [email protected]. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2012, 7(1), pp. 81–93

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practices, including ePortfolio development, should cast a wide net over what constitutes “experience” and embrace opportunities for making body-mind-spirit-practice connections. Catherine Beauchamp and Lynn Thomas (2006) write, “It is evident that for teachers moving from student teacher to professional status, being able to imagine new ways of interpreting professional life can be crucial to their success” (p. 7). The current standards-driven culture in teacher education, however, impedes the development of personal and social imagination that drives discovery and full awareness of self and practice. Given the high burnout rate in the first three years of teaching and challenges of isolation (Conway et al., 2005), it becomes even more apparent that teacher preparation and professional development should allow for the development of self-understanding, awareness, and imaginative thinking. Integral Theory, as described in Ken Wilber’s A Theory of Everything (2000) and in his subsequent writings, offers a promising framework for developing such capacities in that it allows for the identification (and recalibration) of one’s motivations, intentions, gifts, and the examination of individual, collective, subjective, objective, intersubjective, and interobjective experiences and that are embodied in a four-quadrant, all-levels approach known as AQAL. Through these lenses one can obtain a clearer understanding about “What’s there?” and “What’s missing?” from practice (Friesen & Wight, 2009, p. 59). The AQAL model is the cornerstone for the application of Integral Theory and practice and has been adopted, and adapted, by educators in numerous professional and educational settings (Esbjörn-Hargens, 2007; Fischler, 2007; Friesen & Wight, 2009; Murray, 2009). More specifically, Integral Theory has been applied by educators within graduate professional courses and programs in the design of courses and curricula (Esbjörn-Hargens, 2007) with the aim of guiding practitioners to “think beyond work and career” (Freisen & Wight, 2009, p. 59). Table 1 illustrates a modification of the four-quadrant model based on the work of Wilber (2008, 2000) and EsbjörnHargens (2007) and that provides a model for reflective thinking about practice in teacher education. As recent studies suggest, ePortfolio development supports a myriad of functions and aims in the preparation of educators and other professionals (Jafari & Kaufman, 2006), so it is timely that practitioners consider Integral Theory as a model for teacher reflection and ePortfolio development. While Wilber’s work has not been widely adopted within teacher education circles, this may be due in part to the emphasis upon linear and technical thinking about practice and professional development that is focused on skill building and analytical thinking.

COL L ECT IV E

I NDI VI DUA L

IN TERIO R

• • • •

E XT ERI O R

Inquiry Dreams Reflection Experiential knowing

• Action • Application • Observation

I

IT

WE ITS • • • •

Participation Communities of practice Shared meanings Relationships

• • • •

Economic Political Educational Artistic

Table 1. Four-quadrant model for understanding self and systems. Diagram and categories adapted from Wilber (2000) and variations presented by Esbjörn-Hargens (2007). 82

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Throughout my practice as a university art and teacher educator, and artist, I have engaged in reflection as an ongoing practice and advocated for it with students at all levels. Yet, I have continually sought out new models for reflection as dominant modernist and linear frameworks for reflection and ePortfolio development tend to limit perspective-taking and contribute to polarized thinking about practice and self (e.g., good/bad, right/wrong, strengths/weaknesses). Progressive and holistic education philosophy offers greater promise for illuminating the connections between body-mind-spirit and practice, for recognizing the importance of educator presence and awareness, and for diminishing fragmented and mechanistic pedagogical approaches (Gallegos-Nava, 2001). However, it does not take into account the necessity for educators to engage in “shadow work,” or examining the aspects of self that have been “rejected, denied, hidden from ourselves, [or] projected onto others” (Wilber et al., 2008, p. 41). As such, Integral Theory offers even greater potential for a multidimensional approach for self-examination, by expanding a student’s consciousness as well as locating and addressing the impediments that may hinder one’s practice (Wilber, 1997, 2000, 2008). Sean Esbjörn-Hargens’ (2007) “Twelve Commitments of Integral Education” provides a clear articulation of the application of the AQAL model in educational practices. In addition, Tom Murray’s (2009) analysis of progressive and integral pedagogical principles expanded my understanding of how the AQAL model both embraces and extends progressive and holistic principles yet allows for a “metasystematic understanding of many pedagogies or of the multiple systems one is embedded in as a teacher” (p. 122). These examples suggest that the four-quadrant model is a relevant and elastic framework for reflection-on-practice using multiple modalities (i.e., written, visual, poetic, metaphorical, and metaphysical). As multiple methodologies for inquiry can be used within the Integral framework, it offers great potential for knowing and illuminating “the kinds of shapes, patterns, textures and openings and shadows” (Klein, 2008b, p. 377) within one’s practice. In this article, I make a case for the application of Integral Theory within teacher education, specifically with reflective practice that includes ePortfolio development. Murray’s (2009) understanding of “integral” is relevant for guiding thinking about “integrally informed” teacher reflection and ePortfolio development: It is a form of human understanding and skillfulness that takes the insights about the human condition, the critiques of existing systems and mores, and the experiential openings in human capacity that we associate with the progressive and New Age movements, and adds new levels of rigor, reflective self-and-system understanding, and hope to the possibilities of improving the human condition. (p. 127) As such, an integrally informed ePortfolio adopts the four-quadrant AQAL model as an organizational and conceptual framework to guide a practitioner in reflection on practice for the purposes of self-understanding and personal transformation. It must be noted that the AQAL model includes levels, lines, states, and types in addition to the four quadrants (Wilber, 2008, 2000). The proposed framework for ePortfolios suggested in this article, however, is limited to a discussion of the four quadrants and their application for examining four areas of practice: professional inquiry, behaviors, cultural participation, and interactions with dynamic systems of practice. Selected portfolio pages and a sample reflective statement are included (Appendix A) to illustrate how the model can be applied within teacher education and education-related disciplines. Practical issues relative to the creation of an integrally informed ePortfolio will be presented to assist educators and other portfolio developers with understanding the range of possibilities as well as some limitations. Taking into consideration new technologies, I make the case for the development of Web 2.0 integrally informed educator ePortfolios. Finally, recommendations for extending the Integral framework in the development of ePortfolios are addressed for practitioners in all disciplines and fields. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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The Case for Integral ePortfolios The creation of professional educator portfolios, whether in paper or digital formats, is a strategy employed within U.S. teacher education programs to engage both practicing and future teachers in reflective practice with the aim of documenting competencies as well as meeting state standards and professional goals (Kimball, 2003). Within the ePortfolio, contents typically include a wide number but fairly standard “artifacts” that correlate with the portfolio framework (standards or goals) and are selected and gathered over time by the student/practitioner. Such portfolio artifacts may be in text, audio, and/or visual formats (Brown & Dillon, 2006) and often include a teaching philosophy, lesson plans/curricula, student work samples, evaluations of performance, and other relevant materials.1 Portfolios within teacher education programs are typically reviewed by education faculty with students at various “benchmarks,” or points within the degree program, with the aim of assessing and improving student teacher dispositions, academic and teaching performance. Although educator portfolios within university teacher education programs focus mainly on assessing student performance for determining readiness for teaching, practicing educator portfolios can serve multiple functions, including employment, licensure, retention, and career advancement (Campbell et al., 2003; Kilbane & Milman, 2005, p. 7). Although the purposes for ePortfolios may vary throughout the career of an educator, the portfolio framework, reflections, and artifacts are common features in all educator ePortfolios (Barrett, 2000; Woodward & Nanholy, 2002). While most schools of education now require digital, interactive ePortfolios to monitor the progress of pre-service teachers as they proceed in their academic programs, these frameworks are also quite standardized and organized around predetermined artifacts and reflections relative to coursework and practicum experiences. As a result, the ePortfolio process affords little opportunity for a student-practitioner to envision new questions about his or her practice, or to reflect on issues, questions, or concerns outside of a fixed process. In addition, many ePortfolios are created within web-based institutional ePortfolio systems (with login and password) and do not afford public accessibility, or flexibility in altering the “look and feel” of the existing framework or templates. Perhaps more importantly, within teacher education and professional development there tends to be a focus on addressing pedagogical and performance deficits by “micro-analyzing practices and reflecting on technical problems in teaching” (Klein, 2008a, p. 111). This narrow focus, however, does not adequately consider the influences of values and beliefs that guide pedagogy, and other influences that may shape practice. The AQAL model applied toward reflection and ePortfolio development can allow for a fuller and more complete understanding about the complex nature of overlapping and intersecting beliefs, values, behaviors, interactions, and actions and that allow educators to examine their practice through processes of contemplation, visualization, and intuition not typically afforded using traditional methods of teacher reflection. As Integral Theory embraces progressive theories (Murray, 2009, p. 99), it is possible, therefore, for practitioners to use more qualitative methodologies to engage in self-inquiry, such as journaling, art making, and even arts-based research (ABER) to explore the intersections of artistic and pedagogical practice (Cahnmann-Taylor & Siegesmund, 2008). For example, ePortfolio frameworks that embrace the inclusion of author-generated metaphors, themes, and questions can allow for more poetic and artistic approaches and responses about practice to emerge. Looking at practice from an aesthetic lens allows for thinking not only about the design of a portfolio, but the “design” of one’s practice. Integral Theory offers a lens for understanding individuals as dynamic beings who fluidly operate between, across, and within a variety of cultures and systems. The AQAL model symbolically represents “four dimensions of being-in-the world” and the idea that “development is not a linear ladder, but a fluid and flowing affair” (Wilber et al., 2008, p. 28, 22). That is, development is a spiral process through which consciousness or awareness occurs through one’s interactions and engagements. While the AQAL model can be viewed in a sense as a cognitive model and “a power tool for mental integration…[that] can enable you to recognize, 84

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classify, and eventually transcend and include perspectives” (Wilber et al., 2008, p. 69), it is also a model for processing emotions, feelings, and beliefs. It is all a matter of the degree to which the model is applied to practice (and life), the emphasis placed upon each of the quadrants, and the methods that are used to inquire (e.g., analysis, intuitive, artistic, etc.) about practice.

Creating Integrally Informed ePortfolios The creation of integrally informed ePortfolios supports a view of teaching and learning that is formed by multidirectional engagements in an experiential and interconnected web of knowledge, feelings, hopes, dreams, emotions, and an expanding and evolving awareness of the self. It also acknowledges that self-understanding requires gestalt thinking, attention to nuances (Eisner, 1983, 2002) and the affective and emotional domains (Eisner & Powell, 2002; Sherman, 2004, p. 118), as well as being thoughtful (van Manen, 2002), responsive (Sherman, 2004), and discerning (Gallegos-Nava, 2001). A basic ePortfolio can be shaped around the four quadrants of Integral Theory: the Upper Left (UL), representing interior experience; the Upper Right (UR), representing exterior experience; the Lower Left (LL), representing how we participate in cultural contexts; and the Lower Right (LR), representing how we participate in systems (see Table 1). Wilber (2008, 2000) elucidates other aspects of the AQAL model, such as developmental stages or levels, lines of development such as cognitive or interpersonal, state experiences, and types of human capabilities. In practice, these dimensions are not separate from but rather nested into each of the quadrants. While all these dimensions are important for growth, it may not be possible, or even necessary, to focus on all dimensions at any given point in time (Wilber et al., 2008, p. 29). Self-awareness, however, relative to these dimensions can help one to focus, or refocus, on needed areas for development. Two sections of my ePortfolio are included and discussed: 1) the Index page that provides a visualization of the four-quadrant framework (Appendix A); 2) the Integral Inquiry page that illustrates how the UL quadrant, or the “I” quadrant, represents my interior engagements (Appendix A); and 3) a sample integral reflection about my artistic inquiry (Table 2, Fig. 1). While space does not permit a discussion of all of the content included in my ePortfolio, it is my hope that readers can better understand how to design and conceptualize an integrally informed ePortfolio through these selected pages.

Selected ePortfolio Pages and Contents The Index Page The Index page of my portfolio visualizes the framework through inclusion of four images that represent the four quadrants: “Integral Inquiry” (UL), “Integral Action” (UR), “Integral Participation” (LL), and “Integral Dynamism” (LR) (see Appendix A) (Esbjörn-Hargens, 2007). The UL quadrant represents my “individual interior“ (Wilber et al., 2008, p. 28), and is signified by my oil pastel drawing, “Voices in my Head.” This quadrant addresses my inner life (dreams, values, beliefs, passions, and intent) and what underlies my actions and practice. The UR quadrant represents the “individual exterior” and is signified by a photo of me looking at art in an art museum. To that end, the materials within this quadrant are dedicated to my artistic and educational scholarship and pedagogy (theory-in-action), and how I manifest my subject knowledge and passion for art into curricular and educational experiences. The LL quadrant represents the “collective interior” and is signified with an image of myself teaching an undergraduate art education class. This quadrant is dedicated to how I participate in shared spaces of practice and other learning spaces within and outside of the university setting. Finally, the LR quadrant represents the “collective exterior” and is signified by an architectural image of the interior space of The Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The photograph is representative of systems of practice (e.g., institutions, organizations, etc.) and signifies my experiences within systems. Wilber and colleagues (2008) explain, “Practice is always arising in and as all 4 quadrants… but sometimes Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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a practice will emphasize one quadrant more than another” (p. 28). I find this to be true and the quadrants in my ePortfolio reflect varying degrees of my attention and completion. Linking from the Index page are numerous pages such as “Bio,” “About my portfolio,” and “References.” The “Bio” page includes information about my education and teaching experiences, my research interests, and highlights my professional life with links to documents that represent accomplishments (e.g., grants, awards, and publications). The “About My Portfolio” page provides a brief overview of the organizational framework (i.e., Wilber’s AQAL model) and my rationale for using this structure. The “References” page includes images related to books and articles that have relevance to my practice. Other features include a current photo and a quote that reads “Anu Aprend,” which in Latin signifies that “I am always learning.” Consistency throughout the ePortfolio and in writing reflective statements is achieved through questions that are adapted to each of the quadrants (Integral Inquiry, UL; Integral Action, UR; Integral Participation, LL; Integral Dynamism, LR) and provide a structure for open-ended responses, multidirectional thinking and a multitude of responses that may be represented by visual, web, and/or multimedia means. These questions include: • • • •

What does it mean to (inquire, act, and participate)? (UL) How do I (inquire, act, and participate)? (UR) What do I (inquire about, act on, and participate in)? (LL) What do I learn from (inquiry, acting, and participating)? (LR)

The Integral Inquiry Page The Integral Inquiry page lists the guiding questions or prompts with my responses that are noted in different fonts and colors to provide contrast and to serve as a visual organizer (see Appendix A). On this page, three digital images are included (covers of my two authored books and a drawing) to recognize two areas of my inquiry. In addition, links are provided to other pages or documents (e.g., to my sample reflection; see Fig. 1). My responses to the guiding questions noted on the Integral Inquiry page include: What does it mean to inquire? • Responses: to wander, to follow hunches, to ask questions, to interpret and to ponder How do I inquire? • Responses: questioning, note taking, reading, drawing, poetry, doing action research, collaborative research, theoretical research, survey research and arts based research What do I inquire about? • Responses: look at art in all varieties, art education, holistic education, higher education, the nature of my experiences relative to my professional roles and identities, and the current conditions within art education contexts What do I learn from my inquiry? • Responses: Awareness of self and practice; how my inquiry impacts the practices of others; seeing nuances; finding new questions that can guide my inquiry and practice It is important to note that responses to these guiding questions will vary over time and that these questions might also be applied toward reflection on areas of interest outside of work. Additionally, these questions can also serve as a framework for journaling or blogging that enable an overview of growth and change over time. 86

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Figure 1. Reflections on my visual inquiry.

Other follow-up questions that might be considered include: “How do I see myself? What is my desired self? How do others see me?” (Keifer-Boyd, in press, p. 210). As such, these questions allow for intersubjective reflection, reflexivity, and intersectionality—or the exploration of the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and class (Keifer-Boyd, in press, p. 209).

The Integral Reflective Statement The AQAL model also provides a framework to support the writing of reflective statements about practice. Practitioners from any discipline could use the guiding categories within the four quadrants (inquiry, actions, and participation in cultures and systems) to begin. That said, the guiding questions listed in Table 2, and that I created to reflect on my artistic practice, could also easily be adapted for any discipline. The range and types of questions listed offer the opportunity to address the emotional, ethical, and sociopolitical dimensions of practices and the “shadows” of practice with the aim of awareness, integration, and recalibration. While most teacher reflections are textual, I have created an image and text-based response to the guiding questions listed in the UL quadrant (see Fig. 1) as an example as to how one might approach writing an integrally informed statement that incorporates visuals. Working visually allows me to “draw” on my experiences and reflect on my beliefs, desires, and processes for “doing artistic inquiry.” Figure 1 includes a “snapshot” of my drawing/writing workspace and reflections on a number of questions listed in the UL quadrant. For those inclined toward creating music, dance, or poetry, these questions may provide the impetus to respond using multimedia and through performance-based inquiry. Others may be more comfortable writing in a straightforward way. Regardless of the media that is selected, responses to questions are likely to generate new insights and questions about practice. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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1. Integral Inquiry What form(s) does my inquiry or practice take? What is my intent for producing visual art? How do I inquire in my medium of choice (conceptually, symbolically, etc)? How do I inquire about my arts practice (i.e., through readings, journal, self-talk, narrative, blog, etc.)? What issues am I inquiring about in my work? What art world references does my work connect to? What artists and/or researchers share similarities in content, media and/or method with my work? What issues arise through inquiry? 2. Integral Action How do I act on my inquiry? How do I make/craft my work? What factors are considered in making my work? What issues arise through creating (art, writing, etc.)? 3. Integral Participation How do I participate in sites of practice (communities, exhibits, websites of artwork, blogging, etc.)? Why do I participate in these sites? What do I bring? Where am I an individual? A collaborator? What issues, conflicts, and new understandings arise through participation? 4. Integral Dynamism What systems, agencies and/or groups am I a part of and why (schools, associations, galleries, digital communities, etc.)? What are the responses to my work from interactions with art systems (artists, critics, curators, etc.)? What do I bring to these systems? Where am I an individual? A collaborator? What issues, conflicts and new understandings arise within these systems?

Table 2. Sample guiding questions for writing an integral artistic reflective statement. Several questions in the Integral Inquiry and Integral Action sections are adapted from the work of Graeme Sullivan (2005, pp. 216-217).

Technical, Aesthetic, and Ethical Considerations Currently, there are many digital options and resources for teacher educators, pre-service, and K–12 teachers to create ePortfolios. These options include static (i.e., PowerPoint, Keynote) and interactive (Web 2.0) programs and platforms. The creation of a web-based portfolio affords practitioners with greater flexibility to visualize practice in ways that support the integration of visual elements as central to self-representation. In addition, online presentation affords many options for sharing, publishing, and archiving ePortfolios. The selection of an ePortfolio format (program or platform) should consider the author’s aims, the anticipated audience(s), the author’s interests and desires for interactivity and accessibility, the author’s philosophical approaches to practice, and his or her skill, technical proficiencies, and time commitment. While programs such as PowerPoint and Keynote have limited options, they may also eliminate some of the distractions and frustrations associated with learning a more complex application (e.g., Dreamweaver) or setting up a blog. Web 2.0 options, such as blogs, should be considered as they offer exciting ways to create ePortfolios that afford great accessibility and interactivity. For example, wordpress.com or blogger.com are highly recommended platforms because they are free and user-friendly, particularly for first-time bloggers. They allow for the posting of images and text as well as providing mechanisms for reader feedback through commenting features. Other advantages of using blogs include customizable templates, social network integration, and archiving capability. While there are numerous online sites to host images for image sharing (e.g., Flickr, Picasa, Photo Bucket, SmugMug), these do not provide a format for ePortfolios as they lack options for uploading substantive text. These image-hosting platforms do, however, provide opportunities to create slide shows that may be embedded in an ePortfolio, website, or blog. By accessing www.embedit.com or www.slideshare.net, slide shows and videos can be easily embedded within websites or blogs. Text and image portfolio artifacts can 88

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also be organized and converted into digital “binders” through accessing Live Binder (www.livebinder.com) and then uploaded into an online ePortfolio. Several attractive and free website portfolio options are available to educators. These include Epsilen (www.epsilen.com), DIGI-cation (www.digication.com), Prezi (www.prezi.com), and Wet Paint (www.wetpaint.com). All of these provide tutorials, are user-friendly, and provide many options for customizing templates, selecting private or public access, and uploading a variety of multimedia artifacts. Photos, graphics, drawings, and videos are important features for making the concepts come alive. Content created by others, however, should only be used with permission. With so many options available (portfolios now can be viewed on mobile phones and digital tablets), some practical considerations should include whether an ePortfolio has public or restricted access. Furthermore, as personal and professional needs and goals shift with employment changes, or as one nears retirement or seeks a second, or new, career, the ePortfolio may more broadly reflect career and life achievements, new passions, and goals. In Integral Life Practice, Wilber and colleagues (2008, p. 300) provide a very useful and targeted set of questions related to job-hunting using the four quadrants and that can assist those seeking new avenues of employment or re-entry into the workforce. One may find the need to create multiple ePortfolios that focus on both general and specific dimensions of practice, such as an educator portfolio along with a consulting portfolio, etc. Finally, creating an integrally informed ePortfolio can spur higher levels of awareness, so it may also yield possibly painful realizations about oneself as “shadow” areas surface. Therefore, ethical considerations are needed when publishing an ePortfolio online. For example, you may want to keep your portfolio private and use it more like a journal. Or, you may choose to publish it as a wonderful example for other integral educators to learn from. Knowing your intent and understanding your comfort level is key to making decisions about online publication.

Recommendations After completing an educator portfolio, a question may arise: “Now what?” A completed ePortfolio, or an in-progress ePortfolio, can serve as a reflection tool for personal and professional growth. Some guiding questions for facilitating reflection using an ePortfolio include: What new awareness do I have about myself as a result of this ePortfolio? What do I need to awaken in myself or in my practice as a result of creating this ePortfolio? What do I need to integrate into my life and/or practice as a result of creating this ePortfolio? What do I need to manifest into my life and/or my practice? (Klein, 2007). Addressing such questions may assist educators in thinking more broadly about professional practice and allow for greater self-awareness and understanding. Furthermore, exploring the question “What are the missing pieces?” can afford opportunities to work towards greater integration and wholeness within oneself and in one’s practice. As a result of creating my ePortfolio thus far, and exploring the questions I have noted above, I have become aware that I need to connect more with artistic and spiritual communities of practice, that I have spent too much time “in my head,” analyzing and theorizing, and I have moved too far away from my creative life. While critical thinking and analysis have dominated my own educational experiences as a student and professor, I now realize that it is the spaces in my heart that need to be in, so that I may achieve greater balance. The creation of the ePortfolio is one of several engagements that I have undertaken in the past few years as part of my spiritual work and my desire to confront my shadows, to heal the past and my emotional body, and to understand my practices more fully. Paralleling my ePortfolio work were my continuing involvements with creating art, dream work, and more recently, meditation. In particular, the LR quadrant has been powerful for examining how my relationships with systems have been both rewarding and painful. The ePortfolio is truly a work in progress and as I become aware of areas that I need to further explore, I can return to the quadrants again and again to do more work. Finally, as I continue to evolve, I can also adjust the guiding Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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questions, add or subtract images, revise statements, or add new quadrant categories. As such, ePortfolio creation is an organic process that allows me to see how and where I am cultivating, refining, and “being” in the world.2 While the potential for using the AQAL model for ePortfolio development is limitless, many educators at the present time remain unfamiliar with Integral Theory. Dialogue among and between educators, including integral educators, will contribute to advancing both the theory within the discipline of education and advancing the application of the theory within ePortfolio development. Web 2.0 offers many possibilities for educators to dialogue about and publish integrally informed ePortfolios. Published ePortfolios can serve as models for students and practitioners at all levels. In particular, those practitioners interested in creating integrally informed ePortfolios by combining visual art and writing with technology can assist others who are looking for powerful and inspiring examples.

Conclusion Typically, educator portfolio frameworks are driven by checklist approaches that impede opportunities for deep questioning, reflection, and imaginative thinking. Using an integrally informed portfolio framework offers educators opportunities to engage in a “stance toward practice that is both affective and intellectual” (Orland-Barak, p. 27), with the aim of greater self-awareness and more opportunities to create a multi-narrative representation of self (Brown & Dillon, 2006). The AQAL model can advance perspective taking through reflecting on dimensions of practice that include both inner and outer experiences and interactions with cultures and systems. Moreover, the Integral approach emphasizes self-understanding and awareness as central to advancing the effectiveness of professional practice; it supports the view that identity development is not static (Flannery, 2000, as cited in Tisdall, 2003, p. 127), but rather is shaped and re-shaped in a web of actions, interactions, cultures, and systems of practice. To this end, integral approaches to teacher reflection and ePortfolio development are very much needed in teacher education, for they can assist practitioners in connecting to oneself and one’s practice with greater understanding, depth, and compassion.

NOTES Dr. Helen Barrett is a leading advocate of educator ePortfolio development and has done extensive research on portfolio development. See http://electronicportfolios.com. 2 The four-quadrant framework outlined here is flexible, so it can be expanded to address other dimensions such as the dreaming state and how it informs waking reality. Keeping a dream log is an effective strategy for documenting the unconscious and can be a source for understanding fears, hopes, and conflicts that may surface in waking reality. Similarly, a critical analysis of strengths and weaknesses in various lines of development could be a powerful way to reflect on personal development and provide a balance for critical and analytical thinking about practice. 1

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Appendix A

Sample Pages of an Integrally Informed ePortfolio

Example of an Index ePortfolio page (Top) and an Integral Inquiry ePortfolio page (Bottom). Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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REFERENCES Barrett, H. (2000). Electronic teaching portfolios: Multimedia skills + portfolio development. Retrieved August 10, 2011, from http://electronicportfolios. com/portfolios/site2000.html. Beauchamp, C., & Thomas, L. (2006). Imagination and reflection in teacher education: Development of professional identity from student teaching to beginning practice. Retrieved January 3, 2012, from http://www.ierg.net/confs/viewpaper. php?id=127&cf=3. Black, A., & Halliwell, G. (2000). Accessing practical knowledge: How? why? Teaching and Teacher Education, 16(1), 103-115. Borko, H., Michaelec, P., Timmons, M., & Siddel, J. (1997). Student teaching portfolios: A tool for promoting reflective practice. Journal for Teaching Education, 48(5), 347-357. Cambridge, B. (Ed.). (2001). Electronic portfolios: Emerging practices in student, faculty and institutional learning. Washington, D.C: American Association of Higher Education. Campbell, D.M, Cignetti, P.B., Melenyzer, B.J., Nettles, D.H., & Wyman, R.M. (2003). How to develop a professional portfolio: A manual for teachers (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Cahnmann-Taylor, M., & Siegesmund, R. (2008). Artsbased research in education: Foundations for practice. New York, NY: Routledge. Cole, A., & Knowles, P. (2000). Researching teaching: Exploring teacher development through reflexive inquiry. Toronto, Ontario: Allyn & Bacon. Constantino, P.M. & Lorenzo, M.N. (2002). Developing a professional teaching portfolio. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Conway, C., Hibbard, S., Albert, D., & Hourigan, R. (2005). Professional development of arts teachers. Arts Education Policy Review 107(1), 3-9. Brown, A., & Dillon, S. (2006). The art of ePortfolios: Insights from the creative arts experience. In A. Jafari and C. Kaufman (Eds.), Handbook of Research on ePortfolios (pp. 420-433). Hershey, PA: Idea Group. Eisner, E. (2002). The arts, and the creation of mind. New Haven, CT: Yale. 92

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Eisner, E. (1983). The art and craft of teaching. Educational Leadership, 40(4), 4-13. Eisner, E., & Powell, K. (2002). Art in science? Curriculum Inquiry, 32(2), 131-139. Esbjörn-Hargens, S. (2007). Integral teacher, integral students, integral classroom: Applying integral theory to graduate education. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2(2), 72-103. Featherstone, H. (1993). Learning from the first years of classroom teaching: The journey in, the journey out. Teachers College Record, 95(1), 92-112. Fischler, M.J. (2007). How to connect with your students: An integral approach to higher education. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2(2), 43-49. Flannery, D. (2000). Identity and self-esteem. In E. Hayes & D. Flannery (Eds.), Women as learners (pp. 53-78). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Friesen, E., & Wight, I. (2009). Integrally informed journaling for professional self-design: Emerging experience in a graduate program context. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 4(3), 59-86. Gallegos-Nava, R. (2001). Holistic education: Pedagogy of universal love. Brandon, VT: Foundation for Educational Renewal. Glazer, S. (1999). (Ed.). The heart of learning: Spirituality in education. New York, NY: Putnam. Gore, J.M., & Zeichner, K. (1991). Action research and reflective teaching in pre-service teacher education: A case study from the United States. Teaching and Teacher Education, 7(2), 119-136. Halpin, D. (2003). Hope and education: The role of the utopian imagination. London: Routledge. Hatton, N., & Smith, D. (1995). Reflection in teacher education: Toward definition and implementation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11(1), 33-49. Hume, A. (2009). Promoting higher levels of reflective writing in student journals. Higher Education Research & Development, 28(3), 247-260. Jafari, A., & Kaufman, C. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of research on ePortfolios. Hershey: Idea Group. Keifer-Boyd, K. (in press). In S. Klein (Ed.), Action research methods: Plain and simple (pp. 197-216). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Kilbane, C.R., & Milman, N.B. (2005). The digital teaching portfolio workbook: Understanding the

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digital teaching portfolio process. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Kimball, M.A. (2003). A review of the web portfolio guide: Creating electronic portfolios for the web. London, United Kingdom: Longman. Klein, S. (2010). Exploring hope and the inner life through journaling. Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 23(2), 49-52. Klein, S. (2008a). Holistic reflection in teacher education: Issues and strategies. Reflective Practice, 9(2), 111-121. Klein, S. (2008b). The use of dispositions in pre-service art teacher preparation. Studies in Art Education, 49(4), 375-380. Klein, S. (2007, June). Holistic approaches to teacher reflection and professional development. Paper presented at the Teaching for Change Conference, Park City, UT. Krishamurti, J. (1953). Education and the significance of life. San Francisco, CA: Harpers. Miller, J.P. (2000). Education and the soul: Toward a spiritual curriculum. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Murray, T. (2009). What is the integral in integral education? From progressive pedagogy to integral pedagogy. Integral Review, 5(1), 96-134. Orland-Barak, L. (2005, March). Portfolios as evidence of reflective practice: What remains “untold.” Educational Research, 47(1), 25-44. Porter, C., & Cleland, J. (1995). The portfolio as a learning strategy. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook. Schön, D.A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Sherman, S. (2004). Responsiveness in teaching: Responsibility in its most particular sense. The Educational Forum, 68(2), 115-125. Sullivan, G. (2005). Reflection, contextual, and reflexive activities. In: Art Practice and Research: Inquiry in the Visual Arts (pp. 216-217). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Tisdell, E.J. (2003). Exploring spirituality and culture in adult and higher education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. van Manen, M. (2002). The tact of teaching: The meaning of pedagogical thoughtfulness (3rd. ed.), London, Ontario: Althouse Press. Wilber, K., Patten, T., Leonard, A., & Morelli, M. (2008). Integral life practice: A 21st-century blueprint for physical health, emotional balance, mental clarity, and spiritual awakening. Boston, MA: Integral Books. Wilber, K. (2000). A theory of everything: An integral vision of business, politics, science, and spirituality. Boston, MA: Shambala. Wilber, K. (1997, February). An integral theory of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4(1), 71-92. Woodward, H., & Nanholy, P. (2002). Digital portfolios: Fact or fashion. Retrieved May 11, 2011, from http://www.aare.edu.au/02pap/woo02363.htm. Zeichner, K. (1996). Teachers as reflective practitioners and the democratization of school reform. In K. Zeichner, S. Melnick, & M. Gomez (Eds.), Currents of reform in pre-service teacher education (pp. 215-234). New York: Teachers College Press.

SHERI R. KLEIN, Ph.D., is a visual artist, educator, and researcher with over twenty years teaching experience in K-16 art and teacher education. Her degrees include a doctorate in curriculum and instruction in art education from Indiana University, Bloomington, and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her research interests include praxis-oriented pedagogy, research, teacher reflection and professional development, art and design education curriculum theory and practice, contemporary comic art, and graphic narratives as an art form for selfreflexive visual inquiry. Dr. Klein has been recognized for her work with the Kathy Connors Teaching Award from the National Art Education Association/Women’s Caucus (2009); the Promising Practice Award from the Wisconsin PK–16 Leadership Council (2003); and the Higher Education Division Award from the Wisconsin Art Education Association (1999). Her edited and authored books include Teaching Art in Context: Case Studies for Art Education (National Art Education Association, 2003), Art and Laughter (I.B. Tauris, 2007), and Action Research: Plain and Simple (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming). She has exhibited her visual art widely and her current visual inquiry explores relationships within and between her artistic and pedagogical practices. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION Integrally Connected Moshe Renert and Brent Davis

ABSTRACT What do quadratic equations have to do with global warming? Most people would answer, “nothing.” But this answer relies on some deeply entrenched perspectives about mathematics and the purposes of mathematics education. This article uses an integral analysis to argue that mathematics education is intertwined with problems of sustainability. We study the holarchy of conceptions of mathematics to show that the connections emerge only at higher levels. We then investigate three developmental entry points through which educators can gain access to sustainability: accommodation, reformation, and transformation. The example of large numbers is used to illustrate these points. We conclude with a call for opening up a new field of sustainable mathematics education. KEY WORDS climate change; ecology; education; mathematics; sustainability

I

t is difficult to overstate the potential environmental disasters humanity faces. The ecological systems that have sustained human beings on this planet are gravely stressed and degrading rapidly (IPCC, 2008; Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). So fast is the decline that many prominent scientists, including many Nobel Prize winners, have issued stern warnings about the future of not just human life but life in general (Union of Concerned Scientists, 1992; St. James’s Palace Memorandum, 2009). For example, Martin Rees (2003), former president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, predicted that, “The odds are no better than fifty-fifty that our present civilization … will survive to the end of the present century … unless all nations adopt low-risk and sustainable policies based on present technology” (p. 8). As mathematics educators and researchers in mathematics education, we are experiencing a growing disparity between the preoccupations of our professional lives and the problems of the hour. As we work with incoming and practicing teachers, we cannot help but wonder if the pedagogical issues we discuss with them will benefit them and their students. How relevant is our research into teachers’ pedagogical and disciplinary knowledge in the face of the transitions that await all teachers and students? At the same time, it is not easy to imagine how the practices of mathematics education could change in order to respond to the problem of sustainability. When we informally asked some of our pre-service teachers “How is mathematics related to problems of sustainability?”, they responded that the two have little to do with each other. It was difficult for them to identify connections between global warming and fractions, quadratic equations, or other objects that populate mathematics textbooks. Mathematics is popularly conceived of as independent of its environment and value-free. Even though this Platonic conception has been challenged in the past two decades by the critical mathematics movement (Skovsmose, 1994) and social constructivist readings (Ernest, 1991), the critique has focused on mathematics education’s complicity in issues of social justice, equity, gender, and democracy. The environment has gener-

Correspondence: Moshe Renert, 192 MacEwan Student Centre, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2012, 7(1), pp. 94–104

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ally been absent from the discourse of critical mathematics education. And so ecological sustainability and mathematics education are still largely unconnected in the research literature. In this article, we use integral analysis to explore connections between these seemingly unrelated fields. First, we examine the holarchy of conceptions of mathematics to show that the connections emerge only at higher levels in it. We then investigate three developmental entry points through which educators can activate approaches to sustainability: accommodation, reformation, and transformation. We illustrate the approaches through an extended example of large numbers. The article concludes with a call for opening up the new field of sustainable mathematics education.

Finding Integral Connections Ecological sustainability is a transphenomenal notion with multiple contested meanings. Sean Esbjörn-Hargens and Michael Zimmerman (2009) identify over 200 perspectives and ideological approaches to ecology, many of which are at odds with each other. These approaches are enacted simultaneously at various scales— the biological, the personal, the cultural, the social, the economic, and the biospheric. Similarly, we have used integral analysis elsewhere (Renert & Davis, 2010a, 2010b) to show that mathematics is accessed through multiple competing perspectives. A quadrant view reveals that mathematics, in addition to manifesting in mathematical objects (Upper Right), is experienced through subjective meaning making (Upper Left), collective cultural values (Lower Left), and social systems in which it is embedded (Lower Right). A levels view (see Table 1) shows that mathematics is an evolving system of perspectives that obeys Kegan’s (1982) subject-object mutuality, in which the subject of any level becomes the object of the subject of the next level. School mathematics is probably the most influential force shaping people’s conception of mathematics. Since all students are exposed to school mathematics in every one of the K–12 years and beyond, the way mathematics is enacted in schools invariably becomes what mathematics is for them. Mathematics pedagogy of today, with its pronounced emphasis on manipulation of mathematical objects (e.g., long division) and on mathematical problem solving, resides primarily in the pre-formalist and formalist stages. The New Math reform of the 1960s attempted to incorporate hyper-formalist elements into school mathematics but failed miserably. The more recent sensibilities of constructivist, constructionist, and critical mathematics are born

Level

Subject (The nature of mathematics)

Object (The tools of mathematics)

Integral

An evolving system of interpretive discourses (perspectives)

Perspectives

Post-formalist

A socially constructed interpretive discourse

Discursive elements

Hyper-formalist

A formal system

Formalisms

Formalist

A separate discipline with a formal mode of reasoning

Rationality

Pre-formalist

A mode of reasoning about essences

Abstract mathematical objects

Oral

Human processes and interactions about immediate phenomena

Objects in the environment

Table 1. Levels of mathematics Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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out of the post-formalist stage. While they have had a profound impact on research in mathematics education, they are still underrepresented in today’s practice of school mathematics. Mathematics, as viewed from the pre-formalist, formalist, or hyper-formalist stages, has very little to do with the environment. Only at the post-formalist stage, in which mathematics is understood as an interpretive discourse used by humans to make sense of their world, do connections between mathematics and the environment emerge for conscious interrogation. And so, perhaps not surprisingly, the integral perspective turns the problem of connecting mathematics to ecological sustainability into an issue of the evolution of consciousness. It gestures toward a new way of seeing, knowing, and interacting with mathematics. For example, consider this statement about food production: The efficiency with which various animals convert grain into protein varies widely. With cattle in feedlots, it takes roughly 7 kilograms of grain to produce a 1-kilogram gain in live weight. For pork, the figure is over 3 kilograms of grain per kilogram of weight gain. For poultry it is just over 2, and for herbivorous species of farmed fish (such as carp, tilapia, and catfish), it is less than 2. As the market shifts production to the more grain-efficient products, it raises the productivity of both land and water. (Brown, 2009, p. 226) Like most other information communicated about the environment, it relies on mathematical reasoning and numbers. Making sense of this statement requires some sophistication in proportional reasoning. As Confrey and colleagues (2009) have shown, proportional reasoning is one of the major foci of school mathematics, and it is supported by a vast network of analogies, metaphors, associations, exemplars, applications, procedures, and algorithms. The relationship between the abstract construct we call “proportional reasoning” and its supporting network is co-constitutive. The metaphors and examples create a certain understanding of proportional reasoning, and that understanding of proportionality is used to interpret new situations. School mathematics has traditionally organized its examples and applications around needs of the moment and real-world applications that society deems important. This is why examples about giving change and buying carpet are so common. With regards to proportional reasoning, a typical word problem would read: “If 10 apples cost $5, how much do 16 apples cost?” But the statement above about protein production is qualitatively different from these examples, drawn from commerce, since it directly implicates the learner in responsibility for the earth. It discloses the reality that a bite of beef stresses the earth’s limited agricultural resources 3.5 times more than does a bite of chicken. It suggests a food hierarchy in which a diet consisting of vegetables and herbivorous fish provides an easy and ready solution for eliminating over 65% of the pollution caused by protein production. It orients learners to think critically when they select their next entrée in a restaurant, and toward an ethic of conservation. Which school discipline should concern itself with the statement about protein production? Science? Social studies? We believe that it belongs in mathematics classes, too. The deep familiarity of mathematics teachers with the web of associations underlying proportional reasoning allows them to bring important perspectives to bear as their students make meaning of food production. Moreover, integrating the environment into the discourse of the mathematics classroom signals the possibility of a more genuine mathematics education—one that is not so much about acquiring certain competencies but about noticing the world differently and moving to ethical action as a result of increased awareness.

Educational Approaches to Sustainability Even though the environment has not played a significant role in mathematics education, concern for the environment is not a new theme in education in general. Joy Palmer (1998) traced the roots of environmental 96

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Sustainability is considered only as it relates to survival of current educational practices. Stakeholders are concerned solely with perpetuating current practices (e.g., “Don’t bother me. I have to prepare these students for the SAT.”)

Avoidance

Subsistence

Sustainability is seen as an imposition. Stakeholders conform to traditional ethics, and comply begrudgingly with top-down regulation as a way of circumventing more demanding regulation (e.g., “If I solve a couple of mathematical problems about population explosion, then perhaps no one will bother me.”) Sustainability is seen as an attack by opposition groups on the status quo. Stakeholders exhibit ignorance and apathy toward the negative impact of current educational activities on the environment (e.g., “Math has nothing to do with sustainability. It’s the science teacher who should be thinking about it.”)

Compliance

Sustainability is considered to be a source of potential profit/benefit (e.g., “I can use examples drawn from sustainability to motivate my students to learn about logarithms.”)

Efficiency

Local Sustaining

Commitment

Sustainability is valued as a way of developing education into the future. Stakeholders devise and implement transformational strategies for moving toward goals that support host communities (e.g., “We should view mathematics education using as a living complex system, and promote maximum vitality in the system for the benefit of students and their communities.”)

Global Sustaining

Sustainability is valued for balancing educational, social, economic, and environmental concerns. Schooling is seen as connected with the outside community in a societal network. Stakeholders are committed in principle and go beyond regulatory compliance. (e.g., “Sustainability is the most important issue that our society faces. It should be part of the curriculum in my math class.”)

Sustainability is embodied within all aspects of the educational process and is seen in global and intergenerational terms. Stakeholders make connections between multiple layers of purpose that include: physical, economic, environmental, emotional, social, and spiritual. (e.g., “Based on my understanding at this moment, I would like to reshape mathematics education as an integral project which addresses every student’s body, mind, and spirit, for the benefit of society and the planet at large. However, I realize that my actions might actually exacerbate the problem in ways I cannot see or understand.”)

Response within Mathematics Education

Table 2. Responses to sustainability in settings of mathematics education.

Accommodation = education about sustainability • Has a content/knowledge bias • Can be assimilated easily within existing educational paradigms • Assumes that knowledge about sustainability is uncontested and can be codified and transmitted

Reformation = education for sustainability • Includes a values and capability bias • Involves some reformation of the existing paradigm, but essentially leaves it intact • Still assumes that we know the values/ knowledge/skills needed for sustainability, but includes critical thinking

Transformation = education as sustainability • Knowing is seen as approximate, relational, and provisional • Involves a transformative epistemic learning response by the educational paradigm • The process of sustainable development is essentially one of learning, while the context of learning is essentially that of sustainability

Type of Educational Response (Sterling)

Stages of Organizational Sustainability (Edwards)

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education to the mid 1960s. The early decades of environmental education were characterized by a focus on formulating and refining interpretive frameworks for humans’ relationships with the environment. Some key movements of the 1970s and 1980s were: outdoor education, field studies, urban studies, values education, and action research. Following the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, environmental education assumed a more activist and future-oriented stance. Some notable trends of the past two decades were: transformative education, education for sustainable development, futures education, and sustainable education. They share a common critique of the ways in which current educational systems perpetuate the unsustainable industrial/modernist model of growth. Perhaps the best-known exponent of this critique in education is David Orr, whose book Earth in Mind (2004) brought it to wide attention. Some authors of the past decade (e.g., Sterling, 2004; Stone & Barlow, 2005) have moved beyond critique to call for a wholesystem, relationship-oriented, ecological model of education. Yet, despite some encouraging scattered examples of successful environmental programs in education (see Stone, 2009), the overriding focus of education today is still career preparedness and achievement as measured by standardized tests—the hallmark goals of modernist, market-driven education. While the mission statements of many of today’s schools profess a commitment to the environment, it appears that four decades of environmental awareness have not brought about substantial changes in schooling practices. As the track record of environmental education shows, sustainability can provoke a variety of responses in educational settings that range from avoidance to transformation. Stephen Sterling (2004) offered a stage model of responses to sustainability in educational contexts. Sterling’s model derives from Gregory Bateson’s (1973) logical categories of learning (cf. Tosey, 2006). Bateson distinguished among first-order learning (accommodation), which proceeds within agreed boundaries and does not challenge basic values, second-order learning (reformation), which reflects critically on the assumptions that govern first-order learning, and third-order learning (transformation), which involves a creative shift of consciousness made possible by deep awareness of alternative worldviews. Mark Edwards (2010) used a developmental lens to offer a more fine-grained holarchic model of organizational approaches to sustainability. Stages in Edwards’ model echo some of Esbjörn-Hargens and Zimmerman’s (2009) eight ecological selves as they manifest in collective settings. In Table 2, we read Sterling’s and Edwards’ models across each other, as we imagine their application to contexts of mathematics education. Both Sterling’s and Edwards’ models are very helpful, as they offer a map that allows educators to identify where their thinking and practices are currently located, and where they could develop next. When we used the models to locate our own work, we found that imagining what mathematics education might look like at stages that are beyond our own is not straightforward. For example, what would it mean for a mathematics educator to “value sustainability as a way of developing education into the future” and to “devise and implement transformation strategies for moving towards goals that support host communities”? In many ways these abstractions were over our heads (cf. Kegan, 1994), that is, they were signifiers with no meaningful signifieds in our worldspace. But when we thought about them in the context of specific examples, some meanings started to emerge. Large numbers turned out to be a particularly fruitful example. We will next use Sterling’s entry points (or levels) of accommodation, reformation, and transformation to show how mathematics educators may respond to the mathematical problem of feeling large numbers.

Feeling Large Numbers Human beings emit 29 trillion (2.9×1013) kilograms of carbon to the atmosphere each year. Like most other numbers used to describe ecological quantities, 29 trillion is a large number. But how big is this quantity of 98

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carbon? Few people, if any, can imagine let alone have a felt bodily sensation of it. On the other hand, many high school students can confidently reason that it is 1,000 times greater than 29 billion (2.9×1010), which is another large number. But even though these two numbers differ by several orders of magnitude, they do not feel different. They are both abstractions that we relegate to the abstract category of large numbers. John Barrow (1992) made an important distinction between the notion of counting and the notion of quantity. Whereas number sense refers to humans’ ability to transact numbers appropriately, quantity sense refers to humans’ ability to comprehend magnitude and size. When it comes to large numbers, our number sense is almost entirely divorced from any quantity sense. Humans’ ability to count—that is, to use numbers as symbolic representations of quantities—provides us with a powerful mechanism for storing, recalling, and manipulating cultural information. Our decimal number system utilizes exponentiation to allow us to represent large numbers compactly with only a few digits; scientific notation reduces the number of digits even further. But humans’ inability to feel large numbers is very problematic in our dealings with ecology and the environment. Cognitive scientists (Damasio, 1994) have called attention to the pivotal role that feelings and emotions play in decision-making and human action. If we do not feel numbers, then our emotional access to the phenomena they represent is much diminished. This may explain why a film such as An Inconvenient Truth may seem surprisingly detached. In the film, Al Gore uses numerous figures and graphs to present very disturbing information about the impending climate crisis. Yet even though the information was both thought provoking and alarming, the magnitude of the calamity described and its sheer horror were nearly impossible to comprehend. The current emphasis on number sense has led mathematics educators David Wagner and Brent Davis (2010) to caution that our curricular and pedagogical methods may exacerbate students’ deficits in comprehending quantities. They call for “mathematics classroom experiences that can help students feel the weight of number” in the hope that “such experiences will awaken them to be less numb to their physical and social environment and more aware of the role of mathematics in society” (p. 48). Their call becomes all the more urgent in the context of sustainability. How will mathematics educators respond to this call? Table 2 can help us imagine a range of possibilities. An accommodating response might be to include a new unit of study in the curriculum, under the heading Orders of Magnitude. Middle-school students would learn to use integers to describe the sizes of large numbers. For example, the number 1,250,000,000 is of order of magnitude 9, while 5,670,000,000 is of order 10. The students will subsequently be tested on their skill at calculating orders of magnitude accurately. Note that this educational response does not overcome the separation of number sense from quantity sense. The students are still engaging in activities that develop their number sense only. A reforming response might be to devise experiential activities that would foster appreciation of large numbers. Wagner and Davis (in press), for instance, described how they used grains of rice in various containers to represent numbers of various magnitudes. 10,000 grains of rice occupy a small (150 mL) bowl, 1,000,000 grains of rice occupy a large (15 L) sack, and 6,000,000,000 (the number of people in the world) occupy the whole of a small North-American apartment. While this example provides a visual metaphor that facilitates comparisons of orders of magnitude, it still does not impart a felt sense of the size of the world’s population. If anything, the miniaturization afforded by the tininess of rice grains appears to diminish the size of the world’s population. Chemist Nate Lewis (as cited in Friedman, 2008) offers a particularly effective analogical account of carbon pollution: Imagine you are driving in your car and every mile you drive you throw a pound of trash out your window. And everyone else on the freeway in their cars and trucks is Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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doing the exact same thing, and people driving Hummers are throwing two bags out at a time—one out the driver-side window and one out the passenger-side window. How would you feel? Not so good. Well, that is exactly what we are doing; you just can’t see it. Only what we are throwing out is a pound of CO2—that’s what goes into the atmosphere on average, every mile we drive. (p. 34) Lewis’ analogy is powerful because it compares one type of pollution with another, one pound of carbon with one pound of trash. The image of freeways piled up with garbage arouses a physical sense of disgust, and is likely to open up an opportunity for critical discussion of carbon pollution among students. The reformminded teacher would welcome the connections made between mathematics and the real world, and would encourage such critique of current practices. A transforming response subsumes the accommodating and reforming responses and goes beyond them. It will see the value in learning about orders of magnitude, while discounting the strong focus on computational accuracy. It will embrace teachers’ ingenuity at devising meaningful experiential activities that open up a space for critique. But it will also recognize that teachers are not the only source of ingenuity in mathematics classrooms, and that deconstruction and critique ought to be followed by visioning and transformation. One transformative approach to the problem of feeling large numbers is to pose it directly to students as an intractable problem in mathematics. A generative prompt might be: “Many adults are having a hard time comprehending large numbers and as a result find it difficult to relate to issues of the environment. How would you explain the meaning of some large numbers (for example, the number of kilograms of carbon emitted daily into the atmosphere) to adults in your life in order to move them to action?” This prompt shifts the responsibility of knowledge production from the teacher to the entire classroom collective. It connects knowledge with political action, and empowers students to act locally to bring about change in their own communities. Teachers should expect that some of the solutions offered by the students may appear foreign, since they draw on the students’ own lived experiences. For example, children may come up with metaphors drawn from video gaming, and these may not carry much meaning for teachers who are not gamers. Rather than discard such metaphors, teachers can invite the entire class to evaluate them, and to analyze the features that make them more or less effective. As the problem of feeling large number illustrates, problems of sustainability necessitate a new, qualitatively different approach to mathematical problem solving. Their solutions are not known a priori, and in many cases there is no certainty that solutions can be found at all. A different order of ingenuity is required to approach them, one that we call radical creativity. From an integral perspective, it is the transformation of learning to novel and more complex patterns of organization. What pedagogical practices and curricular structures will promote radical creativity in mathematics classrooms? Mathematics educators will need to negotiate answers to this question as they embark on the path toward sustainable mathematics education.

Toward Sustainable Mathematics Education These years may be the last in which global society has sufficient resources and political cohesion to change direction and transform to sustainable modes of living. History tells of several societies—the Mayans, Polynesians of Easter Island, and Sumerians, among them (cf. Wright, 2004)—whose inability to shift course, even when they recognized the harm caused by their unsustainable practices, led to their demise. But unlike these localized catastrophes, unmanageable environmental calamity in today’s interconnected global village will likely spell the end of modern civilization as we know it. If a real estate bubble in Florida could set in motion a global recession from which the world is still struggling to recover years later, one can only imagine 100

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the impact of prolonged water shortages or rising oceans on the fragile fabric of global society. Many practical solutions are at hand and mathematics is an indispensable part of them: renewable wind, solar, and geothermal power; smart energy grids; a cradle-to-cradle, zero-waste, new materials industry; redesigned cities; reforestation and carbon sequestering; localization of agriculture; changes in food production and consumption; and conservation. As discussed earlier, the current lack of political will to implement these solutions can be understood as a problem in the evolution of consciousness. We believe that this is where education in general, and mathematics education in particular, can make a difference. Since school is a social institution situated at the intersection between present society and the promise of what society may become, educators are uniquely positioned to facilitate evolution in their classes and to envision with their students the upcoming green revolution. Ken Wilber (2007) suggests that “Gaia’s main problem is the lack of mutual understanding and mutual agreement” (p. 473). Mathematics education may well help to address this problem, as mathematics is a primary lens through which we understand and relate to the earth. Integral thinking can provide mathematics educators with ready entry points to the ongoing conversation between humans and their environment, by offering an expansive organizational frame for interpreting the practices of mathematics education. The learning of mathematics is widely seen nowadays as an Upper-Left practice that contributes to the development of the cognitive line. From an integral perspective, cognitive development is necessary (although not sufficient) for development in other lines, which in turn might enable us to comprehend more perspectives simultaneously. But as the example of feeling large numbers illustrates, even greater possibilities for mutual understanding can be had when mathematics educators transcend the cognitive line and engage the affective domain as a mode through which Upper-Right mathematical objects are accessed. Traditional mathematics pedagogy would typically seek to address the abstraction of large numbers through cognitive means. But AQAL enables a more powerful pedagogical response by gesturing to new answers that lie elsewhere altogether­—in affect and emotion. The example of large numbers is only one instance of how integral thinking may help bridge the disparate fields of ecological sustainability and mathematics education in order to produce the more complete field of sustainable mathematics education. We believe that many integral distinctions can act as catalysts for productive reflection on the connections between the two fields. Some of these distinctions are: 1.  First-, Second-, and Third-person Perspectives. Issues of the environment are difficult to conceptualize because of their complexity and scope. Integral Theory suggests that one way to enable deeper third-person conceptualizations is through rich first- and second-person experiences. Mathematics teachers can expand the range of their students’ first-person experiences by allowing affect, aesthetics, and spirituality to enter the discourse of mathematics education. Teachers can foster rich second-person experiences by skillfully attending to collectivity and intersubjective dialogue in their classrooms. A world of conceptual possibilities opens up when the focus of instruction shifts from individual learners in the class to the class as a collective learner. As Davis and Simmt (2006) observed, “a focus on the collective supports the development of robust, flexible individual understandings … each learner has access to a diversity of interpretations and strategies … this diversity of interpretation is made a focal point of the interactions” (p. 309). 2.  Transcend and Include. Mathematics education is a field traditionally mired by turf battles. Every decade appears to bring a new reform that negates its predecessors (e.g., New Math, the Standards reform, discovery learning, and back to basics). From an integral viewpoint, they all represent partial perspectives on the nature and Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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purposes of mathematics teaching and learning. Each reform arose historically in response to certain life conditions, each is partially valid, and each is compromised by nonproductive orthodoxies. As educators develop the new field of sustainable mathematics education in response to current environmental conditions, they must adopt an integrative stance if they wish to avoid this trend of “transcend without include.” Such a stance would require them to integrate useful dimensions of all past perspectives while simultaneously attending to new ecological perspectives on mathematics. The teaching of chaos and non-linear dynamics is a ready example of a new ecological perspective that has not yet been addressed in mathematics education (cf. Renert, 2011). 3.  Development. As Table 2 illustrates, development plays an important role when considering the range of possible responses to the call for sustainable mathematics education. Although some mathematics educators will adopt accommodating approaches at first, it is important to set the more ambitious end goal of transformation from the start, and to create awareness around it. Helping educators move along the path toward transformation requires careful use of skillful means to identify and overcome likely developmental obstacles. Mathematics education is generally enacted in large-scale schooling systems that are typically resistant to change. Sustainable mathematics education is more likely to succeed as a grassroots movement than as a dictate from administrators. Careful attention must be paid to the language so that it addresses the needs and concerns of teachers. For example, we believe that dire predictions about impending ecological calamities are not likely to engage teachers in issues of sustainability. Since teaching is forward looking and optimistic by nature, the language should focus on the well-being of children and the future roles that they stand to play as custodians of the earth. Mathematics educators have been shielded by the perceived purity and neutrality of their discipline. But as latecomers to environmental education, they can sidestep earlier mistakes made by others. They can recognize from the start that what is needed is a paradigmatic shift—a transformation—and that accommodating responses will not be enough. In integral terms, this transformation corresponds to an evolution to second-tier consciousness. As Sterling (2004) states: The crisis/opportunity of sustainability requires second—and where possible—third order learning responses by cultural and educational systems. There is a double learning process at issue here: cultural and educational systems need to engage in deep change in order to facilitate deep change—that is, need to transform in order to be transformative. (p. 15) A paradigmatic shift of mathematics education would recognize that the mathematics class itself is a living complex system, integrally embedded in and open to exchanges with its environment. The disciplinary boundaries between mathematics and other disciplines are likely to be interrogated and de-emphasized. The borders between class, school, community, society, and ecology will be continually challenged and blurred. Educational practices will be reorganized to promote maximal vitality of all these levels of learning systems (cf. Davis & Sumara, 2006). Einstein once remarked, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. We have to learn to see the world anew.” Sustainable mathematics education is about seeing the world 102

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anew by seeing mathematics anew. From a collection of objects, or a series of competencies, mathematics will turn into an open-ended state of observing the world. Its concern will be not only on feeling large numbers, but also on feeling the global situation. And from this position it will call on us to engage in ethical action for healing the world.

REFERENCES Barrow, J. (1992). Pi in the sky: Counting, thinking, and being. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Bateson, G. (1973). Steps to an ecology of mind: Collected essays in anthropology, psychiatry, evolution and epistemology. London: Paladin. Brown, L.R. (2009). Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to save civilization. London: Norton. Confrey, J., Maloney, A., Nguyen, K., Mojica, G., & Myers, M. (2009). Equipartitioning/ splitting as a foundation of rational number reasoning using learning trajectories. In M. Tzekaki, M. Kaldrimidou, & H. Sakonidis (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2, pp. 345-352). Thessaloniki, Greece: PME. Damasio, A. (1994). Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason and the human brain. New York, NY: Putnam. Davis, B., & Simmt, E. (2006). Mathematics-for-teaching: An ongoing investigation of the mathematics that teachers (need to) know. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 61, 293-319. Davis, B., & Sumara, D. (2006). Complexity and education: Inquiries into learning, teaching, and research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Edwards, M.G. (2010). Organisational transformation for sustainability: An integral metatheory. New York, NY: Routledge. Ernest, P. (1998). Social constructivism as a philosophy of mathematics. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Esbjörn-Hargens, S., Reams, J., & Gunnlauson, J. (Eds.) (2010). Integral education: New directions for higher learning. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Esbjörn-Hargens, S., & Zimmerman, M.E. (2009). Integral ecology: Uniting multiple perspectives on the natural world. Boston, MA: Integral Books. Friedman, T.L. (2008). Hot, flat, and crowded: Why we need a green revolution—and how it can renew America. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux. Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC).

(2008). Climate change 2007 synthesis report. Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC. Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problems and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Millenium Ecosystems Assessment. (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being: Biodiversity synthesis. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. Orr, D. (2004). Earth in mind: On education, environment, and the human prospect. Washington, DC: Island Press. Palmer, J.A. (1998). Environmental education in the 21st century: Theory, practice, progress and promise. London: Routledge. Rees, M. (2003). Our final century: Will the human race survive the twenty-first century? London: Basic Books. Renert, M. (2011). Mathematics for life: Sustainable mathematics education. For the Learning of Mathematics, 31(1), 20-26. Renert, M., & Davis, B. (2010a). Life in mathematics: Evolutionary perspectives on subject matter. In M. Walshaw (Ed.), Unpacking pedagogy: New perspectives for mathematics classrooms (pp. 177-199). New York, NY: Information Age Publishing. Renert, M., & Davis, B. (2010b). An open way of being: Integral reconceptualization of mathematics for teaching. In S. Esbjörn-Hargens, J. Reams, & J. Gunnlauson (Eds.), Integral education: Serving teachers, students, and the classroom. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. St. James’s Palace Memorandum. (2009, May 28). Retrieved May 2, 2010, from http:// www.nobelcause.org/Conclusions/Pages/ Memorandum.aspx. Skovsmose, O. (1994). Towards a philosophy of critical mathematics education. Dordrecht, The NetherJournal of Integral Theory and Practice

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lands: Kluwer Academic. Sterling, S. (2004). Sustainable education: Re-visioning learning and change. Foxhole, England: Green Books. Stone, M.K. (2009). Smart by nature: Schooling for sustainability. Healdsburg, CA: Watershed Media. Stone, M.K., & Barlow, Z. (Eds.) (2005). Ecological literacy: Education our children for a sustainable world. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books. Tosey, P. (2006). Bateson’s levels of learning: A framework for transformative learning? Retrieved May 3, 2010, from www.som.surrey.ac.uk/NLP/Resources/BatesonLevels2006.pdf. Union of Concerned Scientists. (1992). World scientists’

warning to humanity. Retrieved August 21, 2009, from http://www.ucsusa.org/ucs/about/1992world-scientists-warning-to-humanity.html. Wagner, D., & Davis, B. (2010). Feeling number: Grounding number sense in a sense of quantity. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 74(1), 3951. Walshaw, M. (Ed.) (2010). Unpacking pedagogy: New perspectives for mathematics classrooms. New York, NY: Information Age Publishing. Wilber, K. (2007). A brief history of everything. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wright, R. (2004). A short history of progress. Toronto, Canada: House of Anansi Press.

MOSHE RENERT, Ph.D.(c), is director of The Renert Centre, a network of mathematics schools in Western Canada. His research interests focus on relaxing orthodoxies of mathematics education through application of integral principles. Recent publications include book chapters in Integral Education: New Directions for Higher Learning (SUNY Press, 2010), and Unpacking Pedagogy: New Perspectives for Mathematics Classrooms (Information Age Publishing, 2010). BRENT DAVIS, Ph.D, is Distinguished Professor of Educational Studies in Mathematics at the University of Calgary. His research is centered around the educational relevance of advances in the cognitive and complexity sciences. Davis has published numerous books and articles in the areas of mathematics learning and teaching, curriculum theory, teacher education, epistemology, and action research. Some titles include: Engaging Minds: Changing Teaching in Complex Times (Routledge, 2007) and Complexity and Education: Inquiries into Learning, Teaching, and Research (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006).

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DISCOVERING AN INTEGRAL CIVIC CONSCIOUSNESS IN A GLOBAL AGE

Global Problems, Global Governance, and Denial John M. Bunzl ABSTRACT This article asks why, in an age of global crisis, global governance still remains a low priority for the integral community. It posits a civic line of development, suggesting only those possessing a worldcentric level of civic awareness can fully comprehend global problems and the need for binding global governance. I argue that modern (orange altitude), postmodern (green altitude), and even low vision-logic (teal altitude) worldviews still see global problems nationcentrically rather than worldcentrically. I explore this limitation in light of destructive international competition; a key and potentially catastrophic phenomenon that, it is argued, shows why only a worldcentric, late vision-logic (turquoise altitude) civic consciousness can disclose solutions to the global crisis. Ways in which green and teal altitude split off these realities are suggested, providing clues to how turquoise civic consciousness may be accessed and how the integral community may thus play a fuller, more effective role in global transformation. KEY WORDS civics; globalization; government; holarchy

C

ivics entails the rights and duties of citizenship and the role citizens have in establishing, shaping, and overseeing government at any level (Altinay, 2010). Civics is founded on citizens’ perception that governance is actually necessary; that it is functionally required to solve societal, environmental or economic problems at a particular level, be it local, national, or global. If, for example, a citizen could not perceive national-scale problems, or mistook them as being of a merely local nature, she would see no need for national governance at all.1 Her civic consciousness would be merely local or ethnocentric. Such a citizen would recognize only their local authority or tribe as functionally required and would likely see any higher levels of government as superfluous, wasteful and suspicious. Those at orange altitude or higher, on the other hand, recognize national government to be required in addition to local governance. Their depth of civic consciousness thus has two levels. Yet, in an age when our problems are increasingly global and threaten our civilized survival, it is notable that very few citizens see any need for a third level, that being global governance. Indeed, for the vast majority of people, including those up to teal altitude, civic consciousness remains, as I will be arguing, at best nationcentric. The emphasis on global civics indicates that global problems must first be perceived as such; a worldcentric perception that indicates that merely technical solutions or national (or local) politics cannot suffice. Instead, a vertical transformation toward a form of binding global governance is necessary. I distinguish the civic from the political line of development in the Lower-Right (LR) quadrant by noting that civics is fundamentally about the perception, by citizens, of a need for governance. Politics, on the other hand, is what happens after governance (or formal government) has been established. Civics, in that sense, is prior to politics. Correspondence: John M. Bunzl, International Simultaneous Policy Organisation, P.O. Box 26547, London SE3 7YT, United Kingdom. E-mail: [email protected].

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The Civic Holarchy Like all lines of development, the proposed civic line tetra-evolves and manifests in all four quadrants. Civic holons are most obvious in the LR quadrant, in what I will be referring to as “the civic holarchy.”2 This is the holarchy of our institutions of governance that has evolved and bonded together human societies from the earliest hunter-gatherer bands, through to Middle-Age city and small-states, and up to present-day institutions of national and global governance (Wilber, 2000; Wright, 2001). Across a wide variety of cultures, the civic holarchy typically comprises, in the LR, the following levels: Local Authority → State → Nation-state. That is, the smallest civic holon is generally a local authority of some kind; an authority that determines local taxes and regulations. In some countries, local authorities form the parts that make up the larger whole of a state; an intermediate level of government which is itself part of a larger nation-state. In other countries, local authorities directly form the parts of the nation-state. In either case, each is a whole/part and each subsequent level transcends and includes its predecessor. I end the civic holarchy with nation-states because although there may be many supra-national institutions of governance, such as the European Union, the United Nations (UN), and others, these institutions remain, for reasons elucidated later, heavily influenced by nation-states and their differing national interests. It is thus nation-states that today remain the key class of actors on the world stage, the most senior level in the civic holarchy. Democracy and civics are closely intertwined wherever individuals have a legally binding vote.3 Thus, in democratic countries, individual citizens can be said to represent the Upper-Right (UR) quadrant correlate of civic holons at each level. Meanwhile the civic consciousness of an individual citizen represents the Upper-Left (UL) quadrant correlate. Similarly, the civic culture of a society will manifest in the Lower-Left (LL) quadrant and will be reflected by its institutions of governance in the LR. This is not to suggest an absence of civic consciousness in non-democratic nations; only that it is not mediated by democracy.

Integral Civic Consciousness The nation-state system and representative democracy first came to prominence with the Western Enlightenment (Wilber, 2000). But given the intervening centuries, one would think civic consciousness, especially among those claiming an integral level of awareness, would by now have evolved well beyond a rational, nationcentric level to a genuinely worldcentric level. For, as Ken Wilber (2000) concludes with respect to our current global ecological crisis, Gaia’s main problem is not toxic waste dumps, ozone depletion, or biospheric pollution. These global problems can only be recognized and responded to from a global, worldcentric awareness, and thus Gaia’s main problem is that not enough human beings have developed and evolved from egocentric to sociocentric to worldcentric, there to realize—and act on—the ecological crisis. (p. 525) But if the integral community had evolved to such a level, one would expect it to be engaged in various forms of worldcentric civic-political action; action, in other words, aimed at establishing a form of binding global governance that Wilber and others argue to be fundamental to our species’ survival (Wilber, 2000; McIntosh, 2007; Stewart, 2000). But this seems largely absent. Indeed, integral practitioners seem markedly reluctant to engage in global civic action. As political commentator Scott Payne (2010) asserts, “Certainly activism as teaching people about an integral perspective is vital to our political, cultural, and conscious evolution. … And yet, I still feel like there is a certain reticence among self-identified integralists around getting into the nitty-gritty, day-to-day grind of the political process.” 106

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What this anomaly suggests is that while consciousness among integral practitioners may indeed have evolved to a more worldcentric level along many lines of development, it remains critically under-evolved in the civic line. Indeed, as I will argue, civic consciousness, for those up to at least teal altitude, still remains, in subtle but critical ways, bounded within a nationcentric worldview. It is this phenomenon—this arrested feature of our consciousness—I will attempt to elucidate and address. In doing so, however, let us first trace the development of nationcentrism itself.

The Nationcentric Worldview Rationality and modernity, and with them nation-states, emerged with the Enlightenment, so succeeding the prior mythic-membership worldview (Habermas, 1979; Wilber, 2000). The prior, mythic (amber altitude) worldview recognized only those sharing the same tribe or religious belief; an ethnocentric worldview broadly reflected (in the LR) by the horticultural techno-economic mode and, in the civic holarchy of the time, by the Middle-Age small-state or city-state. But with orange altitude rationality came a more encompassing worldview. As Jürgen Habermas (1979) points out, formal operational rationality established the postconventional stages of “civil liberties” or “legal freedom” for “all those bound by law.” It thus extended the civic circle to a much wider group than its mythic predecessor and this was reflected in the LR by the industrial techno-economic mode and, politically, by the nation-state (Wilber, 2000). In Europe, from roughly the mid-17th century, the circle of mutual respect expressed in each nationstate encompassed all those sharing a particular nationality. Yet, despite this greatly expanded in-group there still remained, for each nation, an “out-group” consisting of all people beyond its borders. This sense of ingroup versus out-group was reflected in the competitive, colonial era whereby the rational worldview, being predominantly at orange altitude, saw its own nation before (or above) all others (Gellner & Breuilly, 2009). Struggles for democracy and human rights, although released by rationality—a wave that was transnational in its potential and often in its articulation (e.g., Marx)—nevertheless remained essentially national struggles. That is, since these newly won rights had to be enshrined in law, and since the law is guaranteed only by each nation-state, these struggles could only be resolved within a national framework. For the vast majority of Western citizens in the modern era, then, the concept of the nation-state was internalized as the highest and most powerful expression of a common identity; the highest expression of We (Smith, 1993).

The Postmodern Era and the Emergent Low Vision-logic Leading Edge But what changes did the late-rational (postmodern) worldview bring to this earlier, quite xenophobic form of nationcentrism? And what of substance has the emergent, low vision-logic (teal altitude) worldview added? In the postmodern era the modern notion of “my country above all others” has given way to a more egalitarian, pluralistic view. In keeping with postmodernism’s pluralistic relativism, nation-states are seen more as equals (Archibugi, 2008). Political identity is beginning to shift, albeit only to some extent, from nationcentric toward a more worldcentric view (Appiah, 2008). And yet our mode of governance and, as I shall explain, our civic consciousness, remain decidedly nationcentric. What seems to have happened is that while many aspects in both the LL and LR have become globalized (i.e., worldcentric), this has not occurred to the same extent in the civic line of development. As Greg Wilpert (2004) points out, We can see that the current manifestation of globalization does not represent a globalization along all possible dimensions or lines of human experience. Today, only some aspects of human development are globalized, while others are left out. Specifically, the economic and some elements of the cultural dimensions tend towards the global, while the moral and political [including civic] dimensions remain largely stuck at the national level. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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UL

UR

Early Industrial Late Industrial Early Informational

Egocentric Ethnocentric Nationcentric Governance Gap LL

Empire State Nation-State LR

Civic Line of Development

Figure 1. The “governance gap” depicting missing segments in the civic line of development. The innermost circle represents red altitude; proceeding outward, the circles represent amber, orange, green, and teal altitudes.

In the postmodern era, and among those at teal altitude, we can identify an increasing mismatch between, on the one side, aspirations (in the LL) and the economy (in the LR), both of which have moved to a worldcentric level, and on the other, civic consciousness (in the LL) and our continued confinement within national forms of governance (in the LR), both of which remain merely nationcentric. This mismatch, or “governance gap,” can be seen in Figure 1 by the missing green and teal altitude segments in the civic line of development in both the LL and LR quadrants. But why do such mismatches or gaps arise? They occur, Wilber (2002) explains, because technological innovation [in the LR] happens very fast, simply because you can change the materials of production fairly quickly …. But … the worldview, the cultural accoutrements of religion, meaning, beliefs, shared values, and so on [in the LL] moves much more slowly, because this involves…an interior subjective transformation of consciousness—a notoriously slow and difficult process. The problem, then, is that our techno-economic base (in the LR) is now worldcentric, as are many associated problems such as global warming, global financial market instability, and so on. But our civic consciousness (LL)—the very way we understand world problems and how to deal with them—still remains essentially nationcentric, as does our mode of governance (LR) (Bunzl, 2009b). That is, we still understand the world, not aperspectivally as a whole system, but substantially from within the prism of nation-states and their competing interests.

Efforts to Fill the Governance Gap But the governance gap is not entirely empty. For, it is here we come to the plethora of global institutions and organizations mentioned earlier. As noted, there are a number of institutions operating in the LR beyond the nation-state, most notably the United Nations (UN), World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Trade Organization (WTO). Equally, there are many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), some operating on a global scale. These would include organizations such as Oxfam, World Wildlife Fund, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, and others. In what follows, it is not my intention to provide a comprehensive analysis of these organizations and their roles; only to give a brief overview of their position in the bigger picture I will be elucidating. 108

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Governmental Approaches: The Global Institutions Looking, firstly, at how nations act on the world stage and at the role of the global institutions—the UN, World Bank, IMF and WTO—we can see that their inability to deal adequately with global problems is rooted in two distinct yet related pathologies: one which concerns the global institutions themselves, the other which concerns nation-states. Global institutions remain heavily influenced by nation-states, and particularly by the most powerful among them. Article 2:1 of the UN Charter, for example, determines that the UN itself can have no autonomous power over its member-nations (Whittaker, 1997). Moreover, the only powers it has are not really its own powers at all. For powers of sanction and the use of force are mandated not by the UN as an autonomous entity, but only by the Security Council; that is, by its permanent nation-state members (Whittaker, 1997).4 As for the IMF and the World Bank, they are substantially influenced by their principal shareholders who are, again, the most powerful nations. The WTO, on the other hand, has in principle an equal, consensual structure. In practice, only the most powerful nations are able to use the WTO’s rules and its dispute settlement procedure to protect or project their interests (Hoekman & Mavroidis, 2000). Furthermore, the rules embodied in the WTO only serve, arguably, to fairly regulate a global economy that, because it already structurally favors the most powerful national economies, provides merely a veneer of fairness (Sachs et al., 1998). In these circumstances it is difficult to see the UN or other global institutions as governing nation-states in a manner that is autonomous, objective, fair, or binding; in a manner, in other words, that could be described as effective, let alone worldcentric. Today’s global institutions, we might conclude, display a pathological communion (or fusion) with nation-states, and particularly with the most powerful ones. Instead of being holarchically above nations, as would be needed if they were to perform global governance objectively and in a binding fashion, these institutions are instead substantially on the same holonic level as nations. That is, despite their worldcentric pretensions, they still remain subtly, yet decisively, nationcentric. But since these institutions were created by nation-states, perhaps this should be of little surprise. Alongside this pathology sits its inverse twin: the agency of nation-states themselves. As their inability to agree on anything substantive on climate change or on many other global issues shows, they cannot cooperate with each other in many vital areas because of their need to pursue only their short-term national interests (Johnston, 1996). For nation-states, then, there is the problem of alienation from each other; an alienation that is expressed in nation-centrism itself. These twin but opposite pathologies—on one side, global institutions that are overly fused with powerful nations and, on the other, nations that are overly alienated from one another—not only allow global problems to keep on worsening, they also elucidate the extremely poor prospects for either the established global institutions or the world’s nations to solve global problems if we leave them wholly to their own devices.

Nongovernmental Approaches But what of the thousands of NGOs that constitute the global justice movement? And what of the many other organizations and approaches that are seeking, in one way or another, to solve or mitigate global crises? Nongovernmental organizations, particularly campaigning NGOs, have been very successful in bringing global problems to greater public attention. Through widespread campaigns and protests they have succeeded in mobilizing public opinion behind many worthy causes. This is reflected in the dramatic increase in NGO membership over recent decades and in public support for the various approaches the movement has espoused (Johnston, 1996). A selection of these approaches is summarized in Figure 2. The distinction between nongovernmental green and teal altitude approaches, although somewhat arbitrary, I suggest indicates an important shift in consciousness. Although green approaches reflect a very broad Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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Altitude

Non-Governmental Approaches

Analysis

Teal (low vision-logic/ postpostmodern)

Corporate social responsibility

Stakeholder capitalism/ Triple-bottom-line accounting

Conscious Ethical capitalism/ consumerism Social business/ (e.g., fair trade) Commons trusts

Shareholder activism/ Socially responsible investing/ Microcredit

Engagement with economics; dissociation from civics

Green (late rational/ postmodern)

Back to nature/ small communities

Anti-capitalism/ Anti-free trade

Direct action/ Protest

Charities/ Disaster relief

Dissociation from civics and economics

Campaigning NGOs

Figure 2. A selection of nongovernmental approaches to solving global problems.

recognition of global problems and a welcome thrust towards greater equity and ecological sustainability, we can note that they are substantially dissociated from both civics and economics. Dissociated from civics, by their choice to incarnate themselves as pressure groups rather than as political parties; and dissociated from economics, in that they tend to campaign against individual corporations or against wider trends in the economy, such as free trade or even globalization itself. Teal approaches, on the other hand, differ from green in that they indicate a willingness to work with the system rather than against it. When it comes to civics, however, teal’s dissociation remains similar to green’s.

Green Altitude Nongovernmental Approaches Let us first look in more detail at the cognitive sophistication of green altitude with respect to filling the governance gap. One propensity of green cognition is to identify individual global problems, such as climate change, and, from that to identify the entity seen as causing each problem. If there is climate change, for example, it must be governments who are failing to regulate. If there is large-scale pollution, the appropriate corporation is singled out for blame. This kind of cause-and-effect thinking is part and parcel of the rational cognitive structure. As John Stewart (2008) points out, Rational analysis is very effective at modelling systems in which linear chains of cause and effect predominate. However, it is poor at modelling systems in which circular causality is common—i.e., systems in which each element impacts on other elements and they in turn impact back on it, directly or indirectly. Conscious rational analysis alone can rarely work out how such a complex system will unfold through time. While it is true that individuals at green also identify the larger system to be at fault—such as capitalism, free-trade, tax avoidance, etc.—when it comes to action, it tends to focus on single issues or individual entities; on raising awareness and protest. Indeed, in keeping with postmodernism’s distaste for meta-narratives, the movement seems to be defined by an overemphasis on diversity at the expense of unity. As one commentator on the World Social Forum observed, This diversity of opinion and approach is both a strength of the Forum, as well as its principal weakness. The Forum derives strength from this diversity as it provides the opportunity for a very large number of movements and organisations to come 110

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together, each feeling that their views have a place in the open space of the Forum. At the same time the diverse trends and opinions lead, often, to a sense of frustration that the Forum is not able to hammer together a consensus regarding both a strategic understanding and tactics to be applied. (Gupta, 2005). There are cases, however, where organizations within the movement act on a broader international basis, such as in climate campaigns. But, as I will demonstrate, their attempts to persuade governments to cut carbon emissions take no account of new, but as yet largely unrecognized, stimuli inherent in the globalized economy. These stimuli, I will argue, make it virtually impossible for governments to act substantively and this may explain why green altitude worldviews attempting to fill the governance gap have thus far proven inadequate. The rational, modern/postmodern cognitive structure tends to operate, then, in a binary, either-or fashion. It is very good indeed at seeing the fish; at identifying all the single issues of concern and the individual entities seen to be at fault. But as I will explain in more detail, what green fails to fully see, is the water. That is, it fails to properly recognize the dynamics of the wider collective environment in which all the fish swim and compete and the large extent to which that environment influences their destructive behavior.

Teal Altitude Nongovernmental Approaches The teal worldview, on the other hand, sees the world more systemically (Wilber, 2006). Rather than working against corporations and the economic system, it seeks to engage with them. Hence the recent explosion in the number of approaches which seek to transform individual corporate or consumer behavior, many of which can be seen in Figure 2. Many of these have been quite successful and have helped raise awareness and alter behaviors. Nevertheless, one common trait in teal approaches is that engagement with economics tends to act on the individual; be it the individual corporation, or individual consumer. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), for example, depends on individual corporations voluntarily deciding to adopt a CSR approach. Ethical consumerism, likewise, depends on individual consumers voluntarily deciding to use their dollars responsibly. This reliance on individual responsibility is inherent in the teal perspective (Wilber, 2006). Meanwhile, as explained earlier, green approaches, albeit for different reasons, similarly tend to focus on individual entities. The common factor between green and teal altitude, then, is that when it comes to action, their centers of gravity reside in the individual quadrants (the UL and UR).

The Picture Today Before moving on, I conclude our review of the governance gap by summarizing the recent evolution of governance in the civic line of development in both the LL and LR quadrants (Fig. 3). In Figure 3, it can be seen that nationcentric thinking and national governance structures remain prominent. Nevertheless, within the postmodern era, more egalitarian, multicultural thinking has become prominent, and this is reflected in a more distributed, networked form of governance (Rosenau & Czempiel, 1992). Rather than national governments being effectively the sole actors in the public domain, as they were in the early rational era, governance today, such as it is, tends to be performed by a complex interaction of all players, be they governments, global institutions, global markets, corporations, or NGOs. It is this mode which, in Figure 3, I refer to as networked governance. What the teal, early worldcentric level has added is its focus on greater individual consciousness and responsibility; a trend reflected by a multitude of approaches that attempt to elicit voluntary compliance from individual entities, be they citizens or corporations. Industry-wide codes of practice, the UN’s Global Compact, and other similar voluntary, non-binding agreements can be regarded as belonging to this wave.5 It Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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Lower-Left Mode/Orientation Turquoise (High vision-logic) Teal (Low vision-logic)

Late worldcentric Early worldcentric

Lower-Right Mode/Orientation

Global, aperspectival view; Integration of civics and economics

Binding global governance

Equitable world governance: accommodation of all levels of civic development

Individual responsibility; Dissociation from civics

(Voluntary self-governance)

All entities “do governance” + voluntary, non-binding agreements

Green (Late rational)

Late nationcentric

Multicultural, egalitarian; Dissociation from civics and economics

(Networked governance)

Governments, global institutions, markets, business and NGOs all “do governance” together

Orange (Early rational)

Early nationcentric

Nationalist

Nation-state

Nations as sole actors

Figure 3. The evolution of the civic line of development in the Lower-Left and Lower-Right quadrants.

is this mode of governance I refer to in Figure 3 as voluntary self-governance. Apart from the addition to Figure 3 of the turquoise, high vision-logic civic perspective, readers may notice that the green and teal modes of governance in the LR (i.e., networked governance and voluntary selfgovernance) are placed in parentheses. I do so for two reasons. Firstly because, in the light of the new stimuli discussed below, it will become even clearer why these modes of governance are proving inadequate. I do so secondly because it is arguable whether these modes can properly be described as holons of governance at all. Given that all the holons of governance in the civic holarchy (Local Authority → State → Nationstate) have the capacity to implement binding laws and regulations, to tax and spend, to redistribute wealth, and to provide social safety-nets, it is immediately clear that these vital capacities are not shared by either networked governance or voluntary self-governance modes. Nor are they shared to any significant degree by any of the global institutions (Bunzl, 2009a). Absent these critical governance capacities, it is perhaps unsurprising that all attempts short of some kind of binding global governance were always going to prove inadequate. This provides additional corroboration to that of Wilber (2000), who suggests that only binding global governance—a form of worldcentric governance disclosed at late vision-logic (turquoise altitude)— can properly provide a substantive solution to global problems (pp. 204-206). To more completely substantiate the inadequacy of green and teal approaches, let us turn now to the new stimuli in the global economy. Although these stimuli may be present, they have hitherto not generally been recognized. For as Wilber (2000) points out, it is only when we start to see more deeply and completely that our consciousness accesses completely new horizons: “In transformation [as opposed to translation] whole new worlds … disclose themselves. These ‘new worlds’ are not physically located someplace else; they exist simply as a deeper perception (or deeper registration) of the available stimuli in this world” (p. 67).

The Water So, what “available stimuli” are visible to turquoise altitude but still substantially invisible to green and teal? To see these stimuli with new eyes, let us look again at something most of us see every day: the newspaper. Below is a selection of newspaper clippings and commentary pertaining to the subject at hand. Concerning climate change, it has been noted that Governments remain reluctant to address [this] threat because any country acting alone to curb its greenhouse gas emissions, without similar commitments by other 112

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governments, risks damaging the competitiveness of its industries. (Financial Times, November 16, 2006)





With respect to the regulation and taxation of corporations, especially multinationals: Governments vying to attract inward investment are weighing the advantages of cutting business costs…Tax rates have been falling across the world over the past quarter of a century.... This trend is forcing some experts to the conclusion that governments have embarked on a race to the bottom. (Financial Times, January 19, 2007) Concerning human rights, inter-racial equity and economic justice in developing countries: South Africa relaxes empowerment rules. The South African government has exempted foreign companies from having to sell a 25% stake in their local operations to black business… The government exempted foreign players because “we had to be mindful that we also have to position South Africa in a global environment where there is fierce competition for investment,” said Mandisi Mpahlwa, South African Minister for trade & industry. (Financial Times, December 15, 2006) Regarding worker’s rights and sweat-shop wage exploitation: The £25 suit… but at what cost? Asda [part of Walmart] is today offering customers a passable two-piece suit for the price of a round of drinks in a London bar. Bangladeshi student, Shafiqul Islam, said “People can’t survive on £12 a month, but if the government protests, Asda and others will go to China or somewhere else.” (The London Paper, January 22, 2007)

And concerning attempts to regulate global financial markets following perhaps the most severe financial crisis in history: Row erupts as watchdog calls for tax on the City. A fresh row has erupted over “excessive” banking bonuses after Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the City watchdog, claimed Britain’s financial sector has grown “beyond a socially reasonable size.” His comments caused an uproar in financial centres yesterday, including Edinburgh, with leading figures and organisations warning that Britain would lose yet another major industry to competitors abroad. John Cridland, deputy director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, said: “The government and regulators should be very wary of undermining the international competitiveness of the UK’s financial services industry.” (The Scotsman, November 29, 2009)

The Green Altitude View Let us first discuss how green altitude tends to see these “available stimuli.” Green altitude, I suggest, would firstly see the inadequacy of ineffective or negligent governments. It would also see the greed and abuse of exploitative corporations. Hence it would protest against them, seeing them as the prime causes of the problem. But if we look again at this with more penetrating eyes, we see that the agent at work is not individual Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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governments themselves so much as the fear each has that acting will harm their national economic competitiveness; a fear induced by the ability of capital to move freely across national borders. Thus, governments are not acting autonomously out of free and independent choice, but largely out of fear for how markets may react and what other governments may do. Likewise with corporations. Any corporation refusing to take advantage of lower taxes or labor costs in other countries would only make itself uncompetitive compared to those that do. To refrain would mean lower profits, a relatively lower stock price and, ultimately, the prospect either of bankruptcy or an unwelcome takeover. With corporations, too, the problem lies not with any individual corporation so much as with the competitive dynamic between them. Whereas green sees the entities as free, autonomous agents, this deeper view reveals they are very substantially guided by market forces and how their peers may or may not react to those forces. Seen in this deeper way we see that, far from being autonomous entities, governments and corporations are very substantially guided by competitiveness concerns and are caught in a global vicious circle from which they cannot ordinarily escape. This deeper view reveals, in other words, that almost regardless of the particular global issue under examination—be it climate change, global poverty, financial market regulation, etc.—the problem lies not with the fish but in the competitive environment of the water. It is this underlying, global dynamic that represents, I suggest, the key barrier to solving global problems; a dynamic I call destructive international competition. I should at this point acknowledge that some organizations operating at green or teal altitude do, to a limited extent, acknowledge the problem of destructive competition, or “the race to the bottom” as it is sometimes called (Daly, 1993). But what they still fail to see, in my experience, is the primacy of destructive international competition—the fact that each nation’s (or corporation’s) short-term need to maintain its international competitiveness necessarily trumps every other concern, be it climate change or any other—and, moreover, that it can only continue to do so. The failure to recognize this occurs, I suggest, because postmodern perspectives tend to reject all hierarchies (Beck & Cowan, 1996; Wilber, 2000). Seeing all global problems as being equally important means that if destructive international competition is detected at all, green altitude perceives it as just another global problem alongside all the others. This failure to see its primacy, to see it in its worldcentric fullness, to see how it substantially determines the behavior of all the entities means that green altitude also critically fails to see something else: that beyond raising public awareness and winning occasional minor concessions, destructive international competition renders green approaches substantially futile. Green altitude’s failure to see any of this thus reveals a fragmented and incomplete civic worldview; a worldview that, because it sees only the fish but not the worldcentric water, remains by default essentially nationcentric.

The Teal Altitude View Identifying why teal altitude fails to recognize destructive international competition is more problematic. Teal represents, supposedly, the leap into second-tier awareness; an awareness that is systemic, worldcentric, and should therefore detect a phenomenon such as destructive international competition. But perhaps because of its individualistic center of gravity in the UL/UR, teal misses it altogether. For, destructive international competition is, essentially, a collective phenomenon that arises in the LL/LR. To more clearly unpack this, it may help to look at some actual solutions proposed by those one could reasonably expect to express a teal civic worldview. A good example would be the authors of the book, Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists can Solve All the World’s Problems (Strong & Mackey, 2009). Contributed to by many eminent people, including John Mackey, Muhammad Yunus, Hernando de Soto, Don Beck, and others, the book outlines various teal solutions. Below, I look at two of the most important.6 114

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Conscious Capitalism Conscious capitalism is the idea that individual entrepreneurs, if acting from an enlightened, conscious perspective, can solve many of the world’s problems. There is no doubting the desirability and positive difference this would make. The difficulty is the assumption that if entrepreneurs are ethical as individuals, their aggregate behavior will necessarily also be. But this ignores that in large-scale markets where market players are both numerous and anonymous, there is a very different dynamic. For when myriad players compete, often internationally, no player can know who all its competitors are, nor whether they can be relied upon to apply “consciously capitalist” (i.e., stakeholder) principles. Indeed, Integral Theory itself is founded on the realization that different societies, and therefore different entrepreneurs, will hold different business valuesets; some perhaps at teal or green altitude, but most at orange or lower. And it is the unpredictable mix of these values in an anonymous global market which is likely, I suggest, to lead conscious capitalists to gradually abandon or compromise their principles to ensure they stay competitive and survive. Or as business people sometimes put it, “If we don’t do it, our competitors will.” Here, then, is where teal’s overemphasis on the UL/UR exposes its fundamental weakness and partiality. Building on this assumption, the book suggests that traditional profit-centered businesses (i.e., businesses that adopt a “shareholder value” approach) would perform even better if they adopted a consciously capitalist, stakeholder approach. Hence the book’s claim that if conscious capitalism were adopted by everyone, that would solve all the world’s problems. To substantiate their claim, the authors assert “The real question is, how does a traditional profit-centred business fare when it competes against a stake-holder-centred business?” (Strong et al., 2009, p. 84). To clinch the point, a study is cited that shows stakeholder businesses generally out-perform profit-centered businesses over the long-term—a study the accuracy of which we need not doubt. But there are really two questions that need answering, both of which go well beyond the authors’ thinking. The first is, “Granted that stakeholder businesses generally outperform profit-centered businesses, does that fact necessarily mean profit-centered businesses can and will shift to a stakeholder approach?” To this, the answer may seem obvious: Of course they will! But the point missed is that if we take a look at what is actually happening in the world, there is usually only one major company in any given market sector that makes a stakeholder or ethical approach the center of its business model and brand image. In the U.K. cosmetics sector, for example, there is only The Body Shop that takes that approach, and no one else. In the U.S. ice cream sector there is only Ben & Jerry’s, and no one else. In contract flooring there is only Interface, and no one else. Why is this? If adopting a stakeholder approach means improved performance, as Whole Foods CEO Mackey insists, surely companies would be falling over themselves to emulate one another? The reason they are not is perhaps because, while it may doubtless be attractive and profitable for one major company in a given sector to make environmental and social responsibility into a profitable niche, that may only make it harder, rather than easier, for competitors to follow. This is because the sums a competitor would have to invest to ethically outcompete an already-ethical market leader may be better and more profitably spent by differentiating itself in other ways; by investing in superior product quality, for example, or in branding, more catchy advertising, lower prices, or superior customer service. Indeed, as the widely respected expert on competition, Professor Michael E. Porter (1996), points out, “Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value” (p. 45). So, this not only suggests it is doubtful a stakeholder model will generally cause others to follow, it also begs a second question: “If two or more major stakeholder companies ever competed head-to-head in a given, large-scale market, would they be able to consistently maintain their ethical, stakeholder approach?” Or would they instead find themselves compromising it as they encounter, not only each other, but many others in the market who may have altogether different business values? Would they end up abandoning it, in other words, in favor of a profit-centered approach as long-term ethical considerations were steadily sacrificed at the altar of short-term competitive survival? Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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The difficulty in answering this is that, if we are correct about our first question (i.e., that one major stakeholder company in a given market makes it unlikely competitors will follow), we will never get a proper answer to the second question at all! And that fact itself demonstrates the partialness of UL/UR, stakeholder approaches, be it corporate social responsibility (CSR), the UN’s Global Compact, shareholder activism, triple-bottom-line accounting, or any other. For they all focus on the individual corporation and not on the collective dynamics of the market in which the individual corporation operates. They fail to recognize, in other words, that the dynamics of the water are fundamentally different and, moreover, that they are corrosive of any good intentions that may exist in the UL/UR. Unless, that is, they are also addressed by binding governance in the collective quadrants.

Commons Trusts A further, important claim in Be the Solution is that property rights can solve virtually all the world’s environmental problems. From this comes the approach of creating environmental trusts (or Commons Trusts). These would be bodies having a legal obligation to preserve specific environmental assets or species habitats, or even the entire global atmosphere (Quilligan, 2009). The idea is to ensure, not only that the trustees of the asset have a legal responsibility to protect it, but that any corporation or person can be charged for using the asset or can, if they damage it, be sued. In that way our impact on the environment would be priced directly into the goods and services we consume, so giving appropriate signals to change our behavior. Although Commons Trusts would be appropriate in many contexts, what is overlooked are the potential adverse consequences if any nation implemented them unilaterally. If taxes where shifted from income and wealth to a carbon tax in one nation alone, for example, or if environmental trusts were widely established in that country alone, many domestic businesses could find their costs increasing. And in today’s global market, that could make them uncompetitive with their peers elsewhere, potentially resulting in increased unemployment in the nation concerned. Any such country, then, is likely to make its economy less competitive in the global market; distinctly less attractive to foreign investors and corporations. This potentially constitutes a powerful disincentive to any nation and may therefore prevent the widespread implementation of nationallevel commons trusts in the first place. Here, again, by failing to recognize the worldcentric, LR phenomenon of capital that moves freely across national borders—the very phenomenon, that is, which gives rise to destructive international competition—we can see how teal approaches subtly presume a national political-economic context. That presumption, in other words, discloses by default teal’s essentially nationcentric level of civic awareness and its inadequacy, consequently, to address today’s global problems.

Destructive International Competition I hope it is now clear that destructive international competition to a very significant extent determines (i.e., constrains or guides) the behavior of governments and corporations. Moreover, this dynamic has the nature of a vicious circle; a circle all governments are caught in, cannot see beyond, and cannot ordinarily escape. As such, it should not be a surprise that governments fail to act, nor that they continue to fail, because their need to maintain their national short-term economic competitiveness remains paramount. Destructive international competition I am suggesting, then, represents the crucial deeper reality—the deeper view of the available stimuli—those at teal altitude or lower levels of civic consciousness do not generally see.

Race to the Bottom and Regulatory Chill Political economists will know that the theory of destructive international competition is similar, but not 116

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identical, to what is more commonly known as the “race to the bottom” (Daly, 1993). Race to the bottom suggests a progressive, competitive down-leveling of social, environmental, and tax regulations between nations. Destructive international competition, on the other hand, while it can encompass such a race, can equally be characterized by a simple inability of governments to act adequately or at all; what is sometimes known as “regulatory chill” (Blair, 2008). Race-to-the-bottom theory, political scientist David J. Blair (2008) points out, “…has been cited by a number of environmental groups that oppose international trade and investment agreements as well as the broader process of economic globalisation” (p. 2). As he explains, however, “The claims of these various actors have spawned a considerable number of studies that challenge the existence of an environmental race to the bottom or the likelihood of such a race” (Blair, 2008, p. 3). My reasons for including such a widely challenged theory within my definition of destructive international competition is therefore required. Although the mix of factors which determine a nation’s competitiveness will undoubtedly vary quite widely from nation to nation according to differing geographic, economic, political, and cultural factors (Porter, 1996, p. 155), the aggregate result for all nations seems, under globalization, to be substantially the same: that each nation seems relatively constrained to pursuing only policies which will not upset the balance of its own particular mix of factors. For developed nations, such as the European Union states, maintaining relatively high social and environmental standards has generally been possible despite competition from lower-cost countries. But that, I suggest, is only because of the presence of other important offsetting factors in the mix (e.g., the attractiveness of its large, rich, and educationally advanced markets). For developing nations without such offsetting factors, very low taxes and weak environmental regulations may be the only ways they can attract sufficient inward investment and jobs. The point, however, is that neither developed nor developing nations seem able to dramatically alter their policies toward the much higher social or environmental standards now required to address global problems. The contention of mainstream economists that instances of maintained (or even increased) levels of environmental regulation show that competition does not necessarily lead to a “race to the bottom” is therefore entirely beside the point. For what seems clear is that it does at least lead to significant “regulatory chill.” Whether social and environmental protection regulations are racing to the bottom, staying still or rising slightly, then, is not the issue. Because whichever one takes to be true, global problems are still far outpacing regulation—and destructive international competition, it seems, remains the central barrier. Blair (2008) concludes, interestingly, that “Race to the bottom critics tend not to devote much attention to [regulatory chill]…” and their neglect of it is, he says, a major shortcoming of many analyses of the impact of globalisation on environmental regulation because [regulatory chill] involves a much larger number of countries than those that are most likely to weaken or dismantle existing environmental laws and regulations. (p. 7) In conclusion, destructive international competition encompasses both regulatory chill and race-to-the-bottom theory, but instead of simply seeing them in isolation (i.e., in terms of whether regulations either weaken or stay still), it sees them relative to the urgency of global problems; it sees them, that is, systemically and worldcentrically.

The Universal Barrier to Evolutionary Progress It is worth mentioning that if we look back to earlier crises in evolution, we find that the dynamic of destructive competition has always been—and likely always will be—the key barrier to evolutionary progress. As evolutionary biologist John Stewart (2000) points out, this barrier applies Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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to all living processes. The circumstances that cause it are universal. Individuals who use resources to help others without benefit to themselves will be out-competed. They will be disadvantaged compared to those who use the resources for their own benefit. … The barrier has applied whether the evolutionary mechanisms are those that adapt corporations, individual humans, other multi-cellular organisms, single cells or autocatalytic sets. (p. 57) In identifying destructive international competition, then, we are deeply connecting with what is the timeless, universal barrier all societies of organisms threatened with extinction have had to overcome. If we fail to deal with destructive international competition, then, quite simply, we fail. But this identification in our present context of a single, key, underlying barrier also presents us with an opportunity. For it suggests that to solve virtually all our global problems, we need focus only on one overarching issue. We need focus, that is, only on how destructive international competition may be overcome; on how it can be brought within a higher, cooperative, international governance framework that makes competition constructive rather than destructive. This does not mean green or teal approaches should stop. Rather, it implies that the emphasis should now be on achieving an appropriate form of binding, people-centered, global governance.

Pseudo-democracy and the Legitimation Crisis There is, however, a further critical point, because the severe restriction on government action that destructive international competition imposes is not its only unwelcome consequence. Of particular importance is its effect on democracy. Since the ability of capital and corporations to move freely across national borders forces governments to maintain their international competitiveness, their policies are severely restricted. In today’s global economy, only those policies that enhance or defend national economic competitiveness are permissible. Moreover, this is not a political choice but an existential necessity. Thus, all parties in power in virtually any country not surprisingly end up implementing substantially the same, narrow, business-and market-friendly agenda. This is why we find left-of-center parties adopting policies traditionally espoused by right-of-center parties. It’s why New Labour’s Tony Blair was often said to be the best Conservative leader since Margaret Thatcher. Or, as former Conservative prime minister, John Major, once put it, “I went swimming leaving my clothes on the bank and when I came back Tony Blair was wearing them” (The Week, 29 October, 1999). While the mechanics of free and fair elections still exist, the quality of democracy has been drastically hollowed out, reducing it to what I have elsewhere described as pseudo-democracy (Bunzl, 2001, pp. 30-36); a kind of electoral charade in which, in terms of macroeconomic and environmental policy at least, it no longer matters much which party we vote for, or whether we bother to vote at all. This is how destructive competition severely constrains governments and, by consequence, the ability of citizens to remedy the situation through conventional democratic processes. What all this amounts to is a “legitimation crisis”; a breakdown in the adequacy of the existing worldview and its governance systems to command allegiance (Habermas, 1973).7 Not only are our governments stuck in a vicious circle they cannot escape, citizens no longer have any effective means of redress—a perilous situation indeed.

Design Criteria for Worldcentric Civic Action Destructive competition and pseudo-democracy, then, are vital phenomena we must understand if global problems and the global legitimation crisis are to be overcome. Indeed, any genuinely worldcentric civicpolitical action would not only have to be global in scope to take destructive international competition fully 118

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into account, pseudo-democracy shows that, to succeed, the vehicle for doing so cannot possibly be national political parties. That is, pseudo-democracy dictates that any party in power, however ethical it may be, and in whatever country it may operate, would be quite unable to reconcile global (or national) environmental sustainability with its need to maintain national economic competitiveness. That, indeed, is why all present political parties are failing to address these issues. Indeed, the very object of a political party is to become a national government, so for any would-be integral political movement to incarnate itself as a political party would be to adopt essentially the same regime (or code) as a nation-state; a regime that is by definition nationcentric, and cannot therefore be reconciled with worldcentric civic action.8 Political parties are simply too embedded in, too pathologically fused with, the nationcentric system they would seek to transform, which is something of an inherent contradiction. Equally, however, the nongovernmental route of green and teal approaches fares no better. For governments’ paramount need to maintain their national competitiveness dictates, as we have seen, that regardless of how well NGOs may campaign, and however loudly they may protest, their demands can only continue to go largely unmet. Teal UL/UR approaches too, we saw, are neither mandatory nor sufficiently widespread and so are unlikely to succeed unless complemented and completed by some form of binding global governance in the LR. A genuinely worldcentric form of civic action, then, would have to be embodied in an unprecedented type of hybrid organization; a transformative organization that is neither a conventional political party nor a conventional NGO. Moreover, to overcome the barrier of destructive international competition, it would have to advocate a process of achieving binding global governance that avoids any nation, corporation, or citizen losing out unduly to any of their peers. To ensure governments were driven to cooperate with one another, it would, moreover, have to possess considerable political leverage—considerable agency—as well as be capable of appealing to nations, cultures, and political systems at all levels of development. In short, it would have to be an emergent organization capable of transcending, negating, and including party politics and nation-states. This gives rise, of course, to the practical question of how this could occur, and what such an organization might actually look like? Elsewhere (in Bunzl, 2009b) I show how such an organization is already operating in the real world and, moreover, how it is consistent with Wilber’s “20 Tenets,” and particularly with those which relate specifically to vertical transformation. If we care to look, in other words—if we care to activate a worldcentric civic consciousness—practical answers may be more readily available than we might at first think.

The Nation-state: From Thanatos to Eros What I have described above points toward the conclusion that a legitimation crisis is in full swing and that, because meaningful translation has all but broken down, the holon of the nation-state is reaching the end of its life. Absent transformation, the “death drive” of Thanatos looms increasingly large; a death drive that would affect us all. In Figure 4, I retrace the holonic life-stages of the nation-state with the aid of an S-curve, showing how the nation-state has proceeded through the stages of Unity, Differentiation, Dissonance, Crisis, and now finds itself in the Fragility Zone; the zone in which crises occur frequently.9 It is how humanity responds to these crises that will determine whether the nation-state either survives by becoming a part of a new, higher whole or whether it regresses into chaos. As Wilber (2000) notes, “The modern nation-state, founded upon initial rationality, has run into its own internal contradictions or limitations, and can only be released by a visionlogic/planetary transformation” (p. 192). We must move, then, to a higher, worldcentric civic consciousness and a form of civic action capable of achieving global governance. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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New Unity

Binding Global Governance

Crisis

Fragility Zone Dissonance Differentiation

Globalization Regression Age of Colonialism

1648 Birth of the Nation-state

Unity

Figure 4. The holonic life-stages of the nation-state.

Global Cooperative Governance: Denial in the Face of Necessity Despite the oncoming crisis, few of us choose to consider or investigate global governance, the integral community included. One reason is because green and teal civic worldviews, being nationcentric, believe that interventions within the current nation-state system can still somehow shift the world from its present ruinous path; that our global crisis can somehow be overcome without a fundamental transformation. Given the uncertainty transformation always involves, it is perhaps understandable that people refuse to accept that nothing short of a move to global governance can suffice. But the problem is that, all the while green and teal approaches encourage us to believe in the effectiveness of further intervention at the existing level, we naturally avoid the increasingly obvious need to move to the next, global level. And so, when it comes to binding global governance, too often we do nothing about it. This is reinforced by the almost universal perception that global governance will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve—that “it’ll never happen.” Thus, despite the increasingly obvious need for binding global governance, it is immediately cast aside as a solution. Just because the mountain to be climbed seems so daunting, we pretend it doesn’t need climbing; we pretend, even, that the mountain doesn’t exist at all. An example of this was subtly demonstrated in the U.K. news digest, The Week. One of its articles covered protests that took place in the United Kingdom during December 2010 orchestrated by UK Uncut, a campaign group. The protest targeted Philip Green, owner of clothing retailer Topshop, who is said to have avoided U.K. tax by placing his company in the ownership of his wife who is based in Monaco, a well-known tax haven. But as many media commentators pointed out, the tougher U.K. tax regime called for by the protesters would only see still more corporations move their operations elsewhere. But here is my point: instead of pointing out that the corporate ability to move elsewhere necessitates some form of global cooperation or governance, or instead of drawing readers’ attention to any efforts governments, the UN, or other global institutions may (or may not) be making in that direction, the article simply concludes as follows: “The politicians we vote into power have to consider the unromantic possibility that a tougher tax regime will push companies to relocate in places such as Switzerland” (The Week, Issue 798, December 2010). What should be clear, here, is that the ability of companies to relocate should, if society were not in denial, be merely the start of the article’s discussion about the possibility of global cooperation and governance, not the end of it. The point of critical concern, then, is that society’s civic consciousness is so hobbled and truncated that global cooperation and governance are not even mentioned. The mountain, let alone the need to climb it, is instantly denied. Instead of accepting the central, logical, and indeed blindingly obvious conclusion that a global market can only become equitable and sustainable with global cooperation and binding governance—with a global, noospheric agreement of some kind—we tune out. And instead of realizing, 120

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as Wilber (2000) has stated, that “Anything short of that noospheric accord will continue to destroy the biosphere” (p. 541), we switch off. Despite the evidence that only global governance can suffice, people—including those at green or teal altitude—comprehensively avoid the issue. Thus, just as we fast approach the precipice over which only chaos and regression await, we find we have comprehensively split ourselves off from the difficult, painful, yet unavoidable mountain that must be climbed if global problems are to be solved. But perhaps our denial has an additional cause. Because, if we accept in the very depths of our souls that governments are stuck in a vicious circle they cannot ordinarily escape, we would also have to accept that only we, ordinary citizens, can possibly resolve the situation. By this I do not mean anarchy and taking to the streets. Rather, an unprecedented entity that is capable of transcending, negating, and including nationstates and enfolding them within a more encompassing global embrace, can only start with citizens. It can only start with us. But that is a responsibility we have not embraced; for as George Bernard Shaw so rightly noted, “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” This dread at once reveals, then, both the depth of our fear and the true evolutionary lesson of our times; a lesson which not only calls us, unavoidably, to a genuinely worldcentric civic consciousness, but above all, to the more fearless and earnest taking of our global civic responsibility upon which our species’ survival depends.

NOTES Ultimately, all problems manifest themselves at the local level (since that is where we physically are). But many, such as global warming, are global in nature. Perceiving this, however, requires worldcentric awareness; and perceiving global governance as necessary to solve it, requires worldcentric civic awareness. It is recognized, however, that properly establishing the existence of a civic line of development would require a fuller investigation. For the moment it is posited simply to help us focus on the issue. 2 Elsewhere in my writing, I have hitherto called this “the human social holarchy.” Typically, within Integral Theory a line is isolated to a single quadrant, although it is recognized that the line will have correlates in the other three quadrants. Research must establish whether a civic line is present in all four quadrants. 3 Thus, as Wilber (2000) points out, 1

In human affairs … most of us resist the temptation to describe a social holon, such as a State, as being literally a superorganism, because all organisms have priority over all of their components, and yet with the rise of democratic structures, we like to think that the State is subservient to the people, and to the degree that that is true, then the social system is not a true organism…. Further, the State, unlike a concrete individual, does not have a locus of self-prehension, a unitary feeling as a oneness. … And finally, the parts in this social system [i.e. individual citizens] are conscious, but the “whole” is not. (pp. 72-73) Chapter VII of the UN Charter provides for the possibility of mandatory resolutions, sanctions, and the authorization of the use of force. But the determination of these issues lies solely with the Security Council. 5 Please see the UN Global Compact official website: http://www.unglobalcompact.org. 6 Much of the discussion in the following two sections (“Conscious Capitalism” and “Commons Trusts”) is taken, with kind permission, from my review published in Integral Leadership Review (Vol. X, No. 2, March 2010). 7 Voter Turnout Since 1945—A Global Report, available from the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (www.idea.int), shows that for many years voter turnouts were on the increase but, from the 1980s onwards, they went into decline. It is perhaps no coincidence that it was around this time that the Reagan-Thatcher “Big Bang” deregulation of financial markets took place. 8 In this sense, the prospects for the Swiss Integral Party (http://www.integrale-politik.ch) to achieve anything meaningful seem doubtful. 9 These life-stages are analogous to Wilber’s Fulfillment, Dissonance, and Insight/Opening, as explained in A Theory of Everything (2001, p. 35). For more on this, see Bunzl (2009a). The S-curve is derived, with grateful acknowledgement, from After the Clockwork Universe by Sally Goerner (1999). 4

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REFERENCES Altinay, H. (2010). The case for global civics. Retrieved June 23, 2011, from http://www.brookings.edu/ papers/2010/03_global_civics_altinay.aspx. Appiah, K.A. (2008). Education for global citizenship. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 107(1), 83-89. Archibugi, D. (2008). The global commonwealth of citizens—Toward cosmopolitan democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Beck, D., & Cowan, C. (1996). Spiral dynamics: Mastering values, leadership, and change. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Blair, D.J. (2008). Race to the bottom denial: Reassessing the globalisation-environmental regulation relationship. Retrieved July 15, 2010, from http:// www.allacademic.com/pages/p268485-1.php. Bunzl, J. (2001). The simultaneous policy: An insider’s guide to saving humanity and the planet. London: New European Publications. Bunzl, J. (2009a). People-centred global governance— Making it happen! London: International Simultaneous Policy Organisation. Available from: http://www.simpol.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ Books/PCGG%20Site%20Version.pdf. Bunzl, J. (2009b). Solving climate change: Achieving a noospheric agreement. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 4(4), 121-140. Daly, H. (1993, November). The perils of free trade. Scientific American, 50-57. Gellner, E., & Breuilly, J. (2009). Nations and nationalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Goerner, S. (1999). After the clockwork universe. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Floris Books. Gupta, A. (2005). The world social forum sprouts wings. Retrieved February 20, 2009, from http://www. forumsocialmundial.org.br. Habermas, J. (1973). Legitimation crisis. London: Polity Press. Habermas, J. (1979). Communication and the evolution of society. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Hoekman, B., & Mavroidis, P. (2000). WTO Dispute settlement, transparency and surveillance. The World Economy, 23(4), 527-542. Johnston, R.J. (1996). Nature, state and economy—A 122

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political economy of the environment. Chichester, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons. McIntosh, S. (2007). Integral consciousness and the future of evolution. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House. Payne, S.H. (2010). In conversation with Steve McIntosh: The degree of our transcendence is determined by the scope of our inclusion. Retrieved January 4, 2011, from http://beamsandstruts.com/ essays/item/140-in-conversation-with-steve-mcintosh-the-degree-of-our-transcendence-is-determined-by-the-scope-of-our-inclusion. Porter, M. (1996). On competition. Boston, MA: Harvard University. Quilligan, J. (2009). People sharing resources—Toward a new multilateralism of the global commons. Retrieved January 10, 2011, from http://www. kosmosjournal.org/kjo2/bm~doc/people-sharingresources.pdf. Rosenau, J.N., & Czempiel, E. (1992). Governance without government: Order and change in world politics. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Sachs, W., Loske, R., & Linz, M. (1998). Greening the north—A post-industrial blueprint for ecology and equity. London: Zed Books. Smith, A.D. (1993). National identity. Reno, NV: University of Nevada Press. Stewart, J. (2000). Evolution’s arrow: The direction of evolution and the future of humanity. Canberra, Australia: Chapman Press. Stewart, J. (2008). The evolutionary manifesto, Part 3: Advancing evolution by enhancing evolvability. Retrieved August 4, 2009, from http://www.evolutionarymanifesto.com/man3.html. Strong, M., & Mackey, J. (2009). Be the solution: How entrepreneurs and conscious capitalists can solve all the world’s problems. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Whittaker, D.J. (1997). United Nations in the contemporary world. London: Routledge. Wilber, K. (2000). Sex, ecology, spirituality: The spirit of evolution. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2001). A brief history of everything. London: Gateway (Gill & Macmillan). Wilber, K. (2002). Excerpt A, An integral age at the leading edge: The nature of revolutionary social trans-

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formation [page 1]. Retrieved October 12, 2011, from http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/ kosmos/excerptA/part3-1.cfm. Wilber, K. (2006). Integral spirituality: A startling new role for religion in the modern and postmodern world. Boston, MA: Integral Books.

Wilpert, G. (2004). From Tikkun Magazine. Retrieved November 22, 2011, from http://www.tikkun.org/ magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0107/ article/010713.. Wright, R. (2001). Nonzero: History, evolution and human cooperation. London: Random House.

JOHN M. BUNZL is a social entrepreneur and businessman. He is founder of the International Simultaneous Policy Organisation. Having conceived the Simpol idea in 1998, he wrote his first book, The Simultaneous Policy—An Insider’s Guide to Saving Humanity and the Planet (2001). In 2003, he co-authored Monetary Reform—Making it Happen! with the prominent monetary reformer, James Robertson. In 2009, John completed People-centred Global Governance— Making it Happen! He has given talks at various organizations, including the World Trade Organization and the Schumacher Society. He was born 1957, lives in London, and has three children.

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Toward an Integrally Informed Individual Psychotherapy for Addicted Populations Guy Pierre du Plessis

ABSTRACT This article outlines an integrally informed individual psychotherapy adapted for treating addicted populations. Integrated Recovery Therapy, as a therapeutic orientation, is a psychotherapeutic Integral Methodological Pluralism. As with any Integral Methodological Pluralism, it has paradigmatic and meta-paradigmatic features. The paradigmatic aspect refers to the recognition, compilation, and implementation of various methodologies in a comprehensive and inclusive manner. The meta-paradigmatic aspect refers to its capacity to weave together, relate, and integrate the various paradigmatic practices while providing a metatheoretical and transdisciplinary framework. Integrated Recovery Therapy is a meta-therapy that provides a comprehensive and multiperspectival therapeutic orientation for therapists who treat addicted clients in individual psychotherapy. Its core philosophy is derived from an integration of 12-Step abstinence-based philosophy, mindfulness, positive psychology, and Integral Theory. Integrated Recovery Therapy represents one of the various novel, integrally informed methodologies in the budding field of Integral Addiction Treatment and Integral Recovery—a nascent discipline that holds much promise for developing more comprehensive and sustainable addiction treatment approaches. KEY WORDS 12-Step program; addiction; mindfulness; positive psychology; therapy

Drug addiction is not, as generally believed, an escape from society, but a desperate attempt to occupy a place in it. Insofar as the addict perceives that his family is revolving hypnotically around him and that society is judging his behavior as an attack on civic unity, he always remains homo oeconomicus while playing out his societal role as the negative hero. – Luigi Zoja (1989, p. 15) All things overflow their own structural limits, the inner Action transcends the outer structure, and there is thus a trend in things beyond themselves. – Jan Smuts (1927, p. 327)1

A

ddiction is one of the most ubiquitous and complex social problems in developed nations.2 Understanding the multidimensional etiology of addiction is an ongoing challenge to social scientists and academics. Although there are many different and sophisticated etiopathogenic theories of addiction, our current understanding is far from complete (DiClemente, 2003). Moreover, the methodologies of those who treat addicts are influenced by a cornucopia of etiological models, and it has become exceedingly difficult to integrate this vast field of knowledge into effective treatment protocol. Mark Forman (2010), a pioneer in the development of Integral Psychotherapy, states, “Psychotherapists, perhaps more than any other group of Correspondence: Guy Pierre du Plessis, 35 Duiker Gate, Capricorn Beach, Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa, 7945. E-mail: [email protected]. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2012, 7(1), pp. 124–148

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professionals, are confronted with the full complexity of the human condition. So many factors—biographical, genetic, cultural, and social—come into play in the life of the client, mixing and interacting with largely unpredictable results” (p. 1). This statement is particularly relevant when working with addicted populations, since addiction is a holistic disease to the extent that it leaves no area of the addict’s life untouched. To successfully treat and understand addiction, all of the affected areas must be treated, or at least acknowledged. Consequently, therapists working with this population need a truly comprehensive and integrative therapeutic orientation to accomplish this goal (Donovan & Marlatt, 1988; Glantz & Pickens, 1992).

Beyond the Biopsychosocial Model In attempts to address the multifariousness of addiction, scholars and therapists often use the biopsychosocial model to explain and treat addiction, because “the inadequacy of any single factor to explain addiction highlight[s] the need for a more complex, multicomponent model across addictions” (DiClemente, 2003, p. 17; also see Short, 2006). Carlo DiClemente (2003) states that, “Although the proposal of an integrative model represents an important advance over the more specific, single-factor models, proponents of the biopsychosocial approach have not explained how the integration of biological, psychological, sociological, and behavioral components occur” (p. 18). He further states that, “Without a pathway that can lead to real integration, the biopsychosocial model represents only semantic linking of terms or at best a partial integration” (2003, p. 18). This article will attempt to show that, through the application of Integral Theory, true integration of all these components is possible. In order to treat the numerous areas affected by addiction, many therapists working with addicted populations recognize their approach as eclectic. Without a sound orienting framework, this can result in syncretism, wherein therapists haphazardly pick techniques without any overall rationale, resulting in syncretistic confusion (Corey, 2005). Below, I argue that by applying Integral Theory as a metatheoretical conceptual framework, a therapist can avoid syncretistic confusion by means of a genuine integrative meta-therapeutic orientation in the treatment of addicted populations. This article explores the theory and practice of an integrally informed individual therapy for treating addictions, called Integrated Recovery Therapy (IRT). IRT represents one of the various novel, integrally informed methodologies in the newly emerging field of Integral Addiction Treatment and Integral Recovery (Du Plessis, 2010; Dupuy & Gorman, 2010; Dupuy & Morelli, 2007; Shealy, 2009).3 Because IRT is informed by Integral Theory, therapists are provided with a multiperspectival orientation that enables them to work in an inclusive and comprehensive manner. In addition, this approach provides a metatheoretical and transdisciplinary orientation (Forman, 2010; Ingersoll & Zeitler, 2010). IRT is derived from the Integrated Recovery Model, which was designed as an integrally informed clinical model for inpatient addiction treatment (Du Plessis, 2010). IRT is the psychotherapeutic application of the IRM for psychotherapists and counselors to use as an orienting framework in individual therapy. Because it deals with more than intra- and interpersonal changes that commonly characterize counseling and psychotherapy, IRT is better understood as a broad-based individual therapy.

Integrated Recovery Theory IRT is a meta-therapy in the sense that it provides a multiperspectival and metatheoretical perspective when guiding addicted clients in their recovery processes. A foremost aim of IRT is to help clients develop a healthy lifestyle by practicing an Integrated Recovery Program (IRP). A client’s IRP can be described as a mindful practice of the client’s physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and environmental dimensions as part of a lifestyle-oriented approach that is geared toward personal development in relation to self, others, and the transcendent. IRT can be understood as a practical application of Integral Methodological Pluralism (IMP) in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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context of the therapeutic encounter with addicted clients (Wilber, 2002a, 2002b). Wilber (2006) states that “any sort of Integral Methodological Pluralism allows the creation of a multi-purpose toolkit for approaching today’s complex problems—individually, socially, and globally—with more comprehensive solutions that have a chance of actually making a difference” (p. 14). As with any IMP, IRT has paradigmatic and metaparadigmatic features (Wilber, 2002a, 2002b).4 An IR therapist constantly functions from a paradigmatic and meta-paradigmatic perspective. Therefore, he or she works in a comprehensive and non-exclusive way with clients, while maintaining a meta-perspective on the interrelatedness and relevance of the recovery paradigms that are simultaneously in play during the client’s recovery process. The paradigmatic aspect of IRT refers to all therapies and recovery practices available to and practiced by the client. This is similar to “Integral Transformative Practice (ITP), wherein a full range of human potentials are simultaneously engaged and exercised in order to enact and bring forth any higher states and stages of human potential, leading individuals through their own legitimating crisis to an increase in authenticity” (Wilber, 2006, p. 13). The IR therapist applies therapies and recommends practices that the client applies and practices in all essential recovery dimensions, according to what is appropriate for his current recovery altitude and stage of change, as defined by the transtheoretical model (DiClemente & Prochaska, 1998).5 The meta-paradigmatic aspect of IRT refers to its capacity to weave together as well as relate various recovery paradigms. The IR therapist, by applying Integral Theory, “generates a meta-practice of honoring, including, and integrating the fundamental paradigms and methodologies of the major forms of human inquiry” (Wilber, 2006, p. 16). From this meta-paradigmatic perspective, the IR therapist acknowledges that all the available recovery-based therapies and practices potentially offer value in the client’s recovery when applied at the right time. Furthermore, the therapist is able to observe how certain therapies and recovery practices relate to and strengthen each other when practiced concurrently. The therapist is then able to orchestrate these recovery paradigms in the client’s process.6 Moreover, and equally importantly, the IR therapist also assists the client to achieve a meta-perspective of his own recovery process. This enables the client to apply the principles, tools, and meta-structure of the Integrated Recovery approach outside of formal individual therapy. Informed by the AQAL model, Integrated Recovery Theory identifies six recovery dimensions (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and environmental) that provide a multiperspectival-hexagonal lens on a client’s therapeutic process. Integrated Recovery Theory states that it is vital that these six recovery dimensions be maintained at an essential level of health (the definition of essential health is relative and unique to each client) for sustainable recovery. If there is pathology in any of these areas, the whole recovery system suffers (Du Plessis, 2010). The IR therapist functions like the conductor of an orchestra, keeping a metaperspective of the client’s process and ensuring that the various therapies and recovery practices fit together in a balanced way, as well as ensuring that all essential areas of a client’s recovery process are addressed. The IR therapist works within a continuum of change agents and therefore does not need to be trained in all the therapies or practices needed in the client’s process. He or she works together with other therapists when necessary, yet always maintains a meta-perspective on the client’s process. A primary function of an IR therapist is to assist and coach a client in finding the most suitable and customized IRP, and ensuring that all the essential areas of the client’s Integrated Recovery Lifestyle are addressed and functioning adequately. The IRP planner and Integrated Recovery Wheel (IRW) are graphic tools that provide an easily accessible, quantifiable recovery structure for both client and therapist to plan and gauge the recovery process. These recovery tools also serve an underlying psychodynamic purpose for recovering addicts. Most addicts suffer from various degrees of pathological narcissism, which can be understood as the regression/fixation to the stage of the archaic nuclear self (Kohut, 1971, 1977). The narcissistically regressed/fixated individual often has a need for omnipotent control, a characteristic of the grandiose self. In active addiction, such power is sought through fusion with an omnipotent self-object (drug of choice), and manifests as impulsivity. Once in recovery, this need for control will initially manifest as obsessive-compulsive personality traits of ritual and 126

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rigidity. Without some clear recovery structure, and in the absence of the previously idealized self-object, the narcissistically regressed individual will be subject to massive anxiety, stemming from fear of fragmentation of self and depression, which reflects the scantiness of psychic structure and good internal objects (Levin, 1995). The structure of an IRP and IRW can help satisfy the need for ritual and rigidity in a healthy way, and once this recovery structure is internalized, will help build much-needed psychic structure. I will now briefly discuss the primary theoretical influences of IRT, which are Integral Theory, mindfulness, positive psychology, and 12-Step philosophy, and describe how they influence the therapeutic orientation of an IR therapist.

Integral Theory What distinguishes IRT from other biopsychosocial, holistic, and eclectic therapeutic orientations to addiction treatment is the application of Integral Theory as an integrative meta-paradigm. It has been argued that applying Integral Theory as an orienting meta-framework can assist treatment professionals in creating more comprehensive and inclusive approaches to addiction treatment (Du Plessis, 2010, 2012; Dupuy & Gorman, 2010; Dupuy & Morelli, 2007; Shealy, 2009). How can Integral Theory help integrate all the diverse therapeutic practices available to a therapist into a comprehensive, yet accessible therapeutic orientation? Andre Marquis (2009) states that, “Integral Theory accomplishes this [the integration of diversity into an integrated whole] by providing an exquisitely self-reflexive and parsimoniously elegant conceptual scaffolding within which to order and organize the myriad approaches to counseling” (p. 14). Integral Theory is often referred to as the AQAL model, with AQAL representing all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, and all types; these five elements signify some of the most basic repeating patterns of reality. Therefore, including all of these elements increases one’s capacity to ensure that no major part of any solution is left out or neglected (Esbjörn-Hargens, 2009; Wilber, 2002a, 2002b). IRT is informed by all five elements of the AQAL model and guides the therapeutic orientation of the IR therapist.

The Quadrants Integral Theory states that reality has at least four interrelated and irreducible perspectives―the subjective, intersubjective, objective, and interobjective―that should be consulted when attempting to fully understand any aspect of it (Esbjörn-Hargens, 2009). These four universal perspectives are known as the quadrants. This section of the article briefly indicates how, in aiming to be as comprehensive as possible, the six recovery dimensions of IRT cover the same ground as the quadrants.

Upper-Right Quadrant Observing the recovery process from an Upper-Right (UR) quadrant perspective, we notice all the positivistic and objective perspectives of individual structures, events, behaviors, and processes of the individual (Marquis, 2008). This area includes neurotransmission levels, diet, medication, physical health, brainwave patterns, and observable behavior of the individual. The physical recovery dimension of IRT refers to aspects of a client’s recovery process that reside primarily in the UR quadrant.7 The physical recovery dimension includes therapies and practices that address physiological and neurological well-being.

Upper-Left Quadrant Viewing the recovery process from the Upper-Left (UL) quadrant perspective, we see the subjective and phenomenal dimensions of individual consciousness (Esbjörn-Hargens, 2009). Integrated Recovery Theory Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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groups the various elements of this quadrant into three recovery dimensions, namely the emotional, mental, and spiritual. The emotional recovery dimension refers to practices and psychotherapies that create emotional literacy and psychological well-being. The mental recovery dimension refers to practices that stimulate cognitive insight, such as reading and 12-Step written work. The spiritual recovery dimension refers to the spiritually oriented aspects and practice of recovery, such as meditation as well as existential pursuits.8

Lower-Left Quadrant Looking at the recovery process from the Lower-Left (LL) quadrant, we see the intersubjective dimension of the collective (Esbjörn-Hargens, 2009). The social recovery dimension refers to all the therapies and recovery practices relating to the LL quadrant. This dimension refers to all the relational, social, and cultural aspects of recovery, and includes elements such as 12-Step fellowship meetings and the quality of relationships.

Lower-Right Quadrant The Lower-Right (LR) quadrant includes aspects of the collective viewed from the exterior, addressing observable aspects of clients’ recovery infrastructure (Marquis, 2008). The environmental recovery dimension refers to all the socioeconomic and environmental aspects, such as the monetary, residential, and administrative features of an individual’s life, which usually relate to the LR quadrant.

Lines According to Integral Theory, each aspect of the quadrants has distinct capacities that progress developmentally; these are known as lines of development (Esbjörn-Hargens, 2009). Wilber (2000) has theorized that each person has multiple lines of development, similar to Howard Gardner’s (1993) conception of multiple intelligences. These developmental lines can be plotted on a psychograph. Although the concept of multiple lines of development is a non-dominant notion in developmental psychology, and empirical proof for separate lines of development remains inconclusive, it nevertheless remains a useful clinical metaphor (Forman, 2010; Ingersoll & Zeitler, 2010). The six recovery dimensions of a client can be understood as separate yet interrelated lines of development, each of which can be at a different stage of development from the others.9 Furthermore, each of these lines of development is actually a composite of various other developmental lines; however, for pragmatic reasons I use these six lines. Viewing and quantifying the recovery process metaphorically from a lines-of-development perspective provides easily accessible insight to therapists and clients as to what aspects of the client’s IRP can be improved. When each of the six recovery dimensions is plotted on an Integrated Recovery Graph (IRG), analogous to the psychograph, we get a simple graphic illustration of aspects of an individual’s recovery process. The IRG is to be understood as a metaphor and used as a clinical tool rather than an empirically valid developmental measurement instrument.

Levels When viewed as lines of development, each of these six recovery dimensions progress and fluctuate through a sequence of developmental altitudes, known in Integral Theory as stages or levels of development (Wilber, 2006). An insight into addiction and recovery from a stage perspective is imperative for truly all-inclusive understanding and treatment (Du Plessis, 2010; Dupuy & Gorman, 2010; Dupuy & Morelli, 2007). The IR therapist could incorporate three types of developmental stage models in his/her therapeutic orientation. The first is the client’s general stage of development (Cook-Greuter, 2004; Piaget, 1977; Wilber, 2006). A client’s overall development or center of gravity “is a key factor in treatment planning, profoundly 128

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influencing which categories of intervention are likely to be optimal, neutral, or contraindicated” (Marquis, 2009, p. 18). The second type is the client’s stage of change as defined by the transtheoretical model of intentional behavior change (DiClemente & Prochaska, 1998). It must be noted that a client can be at different stages of change for different aspects of his addiction and elements of his Integrated Recovery Lifestyle: for instance, at the maintenance stage for crack addiction, the pre-contemplative stage for sex addiction, and the contemplative stage for giving up junk food and adopting healthier eating habits. Finally, the third type is the general recovery altitude of a client based on clean time and stage of recovery using recovery-based developmental approaches (Bowden & Gravitz, 1998; Nakken, 1998; Whitfield, 1991). Depending on the client’s stages of development, various recovery practices and therapies are suggested.10 Figure 1 indicates various developmental models often used in Integral Theory, developmental models of addiction and recovery, as well as my own composite developmental model. Although the stages of addiction and recovery may be better understood as chronological stages or phases, I believe there is a correlation between the stage model as articulated in Integral Theory and the various stages (or phases) of recovery models. Simply put, earlier stages of recovery may correlate with early developmental stages, and higher altitude stages of recovery may correlate with more complex developmental stages. The figure is a simplified example of the developmental stages that a client’s center of recovery gravity can possibly rest at. It must be noted that the figure is speculative regarding how the stages of recovery and addiction relate to other developmental models, and is best used as a clinical metaphor. A developmental approach to recovery is also useful for therapy with recovering addicts at high altitude stages of recovery. An individual’s recovery can progress through various levels of development along different lines of recovery. Consequently, at each new developmental stage, the individual requires a new set of recovery tools to function satisfactorily. Advancing through the stages of recovery requires that a client’s IRP become increasingly more sophisticated in order to remain optimally successful. This suggests that the vague notion of the destination of “serenity,” often used to refer to a type of “recovery nirvana,” is often misleading, because each new stage presents new struggles all the way up the spectrum of development. As a holon, the recovering individual is always caught in a tension between a desire to be part of something larger and to be a whole unto himself. The discontent and drive of Eros is ever present and encourages this evolution.11 On the one hand, addiction is characterized by constricted awareness, which results in low developmental altitude (Block & Block, 2005a). Recovery, on the other hand, is characterized by an increase in awareness, which is accompanied by an increase in developmental altitude. Ultimately, the IR therapist aims to promote vertical development in the client by introducing practices and therapies that stimulate growth, insight, and awareness in all six recovery dimensions of a client’s Integrated Recovery Lifestyle. Apart from vertical growth (also called transformation), the IR therapist helps clients to translate (achieve competence at a certain stage of development) in healthy ways within their current stage of recovery, by providing more efficient recovery tools to navigate their current stage(s) of development.

States In Integral Theory, states refer to the various states of consciousness available at any stage of development (Wilber, 2006). Addicts are obviously experts on states. Using substances or any mind-altering behavior is an attempt to create an altered state of consciousness (ASC), and the specific psychoactive effect of various drugs and mind-altering behavior creates various types of ASCs (Milkman & Sunderwirth, 2010). It follows that viewing addiction in terms of an ASC perspective is crucial for a complete understanding of the nature of addiction (Winkelman, 2001). Some researchers have argued that the majority of addiction treatment programs fail to integrate a huge body of literature that highlights the therapeutic benefits for addicts in experiencing ASCs. They propose that a principal reason for the high relapse rate in treatment programs is the failure of those programs to address the basic need to achieve ASCs (McPeake et al., 1991). Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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INFRARED

Survival

Emergent awareness

Core Issues

Whitf ield (1991)

Bowden/Gravitz (1988)

Life Breakdown Stage

Stage 3

Lifestyle Change Stage

Stage 2

Stage 1

Nakken (1998)

Early Stage Addiction

Active Addiction

Stages of ADDICTION

Early Stage Stages of Recovery RECOVERY

Middle Stage Recovery

High Altitude Stage Recovery

Transpersonal Stage Recovery

Du Plessis (2010)

Stages of Addiction & Recovery

Late Stage Addiction

Middle Stage Addiction

1 st TIER

2 nd TIER

3 rd TIER

Internal Change Stage

Stages of Addiction

Transformation

Integration

Genesis

Figure 1. Developmental stages of addiction and recovery.

Values Graves/SD/Wade

Cognitive

Stage 0

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stages of Stages of Recovery & Recovery for Addiction ACoAs

Kin Spirits (Purple)

MagicAnimistic Survival (Beige)

Power Gods (Red)

Piaget/Commons, Richards/Aurobindo

(Symbolic)

Preoperational

(Conceptional)

Preoperational

(Rule/Role Mind)

Egocentric

Concrete Operational Absolutistic

(Rational Mind)

Formal Operational Truth Force (Blue)

Human Bond (Green)

Flex Flow (Yellow)

Strive Drive (Orange)

Relativistic

Systemic

Global View (Turquoise)

Transcendent

Unity

Multiplistic

(Meta-systemic)

Pluralistic Mind

(Paradigmatic)

Low Vision-Logic

MAGENTA

RED

AMBER

ORANGE

GREEN

TEAL

(Cross-paradigmatic)

Illumined Mind, Para-Mind High Vision-Logic

INDIGO

TURQUOISE

Intuitive Mind, Meta-Mind

Overmind

ULTRAVIOLET

VIOLET

Supermind

CLEAR LIGHT

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Some scholars believe that humans have an innate drive to seek ASCs (e.g., McPeak et al. 1991; Weil, 1972; Winkelman, 2001; K. Wilber, personal communication, January 13, 2011). They believe that addicts engage in a normal human motive to achieve ASCs, but in depraved methods because they are not provided the opportunity to learn “constructive alternative methods for experiencing non-ordinary consciousness” (McPeak et al., as cited in Winkelman, 2001, p. 340). From this viewpoint, drug use and addiction are not understood as an intrinsic anomaly, but rather as a yearning for an inherent human need. I believe that in some instances the etiological roots for certain individuals’ addiction may be a dysfunctional attempt, borrowing terms from Robert Assagiloi (1975), at “self-realization,” and the consequent flawed channeling of “superconscious spiritual energies,” energies to which these individuals are often sensitive to but have not found suitable ways to actualize. Every human being engages in various activities to feel good. Feeling good and avoiding unnecessary pain are universal needs. To feel good, we seek out activities that alter our brain chemistry. Addiction can be understood as this normal need gone awry. Harvey Milkman and Stanley Sunderwirth (2010) state that, “In light of the seemingly universal need to seek out altered states, it behooves researchers, educators, parents, politicians, public health administrators, and treatment practitioners to promote healthy means to alter brain chemistry” (p. 6). Addicts have found a dysfunctional way to meet this innate need through substances or certain behaviors to which they become addicted. Addicts normally have three dominant ways of seeking comfort and altering their consciousness: We repeatedly pursue three avenues of experience as antidotes for psychic pain. These preferred styles of coping―satiation, arousal, and fantasy―may have their origins in the first years of life. Childhood experiences combined with genetic predisposition are the foundations of adult compulsion. The drug group of choice― depressants, stimulants, or hallucinogens―is the one that best fits the individual’s characteristic way of coping with stress or feelings of unworthiness. People do not become addicted to drugs or mood-altering activities as such, but rather to the satiation, arousal, or fantasy experiences that can be achieved through them. (Milkman & Sunderwirth, 2010, p. 19) The quotation above clearly illustrates the need for addicts in recovery to find healthy behaviors and activities to manifest their preferred coping style, since this preferred coping style (satiation, arousal, or fantasy) correlates with their drug of choice. The IR therapist helps clients to alter their consciousness and channel their preferred coping style in ways that are life-giving and non-destructive.

Types For a comprehensive understanding of addiction and recovery, knowledge of the concept of types is essential. Mark Forman (2010) states that, “The notion of types in the Integral model describes the diverse styles that a person (UL or LL) may use to translate or construct reality within a given stage of development” (p. 231). For a therapist to have a comprehensive understanding of a client, she needs to identify the different addiction/ recovery types the client displays in each of the six recovery dimensions.12 The usefulness of viewing addiction and recovery from a typology perspective is illustrated in the following two examples. First, in the discussion of states, we saw that among addicts there are typically three different types of coping styles (satiation, arousal, or fantasy) that correlate with their drug of choice (depressants, stimulants, or hallucinogens).13 Milkman and Sunderwirth (2010) state that, “After studying the life histories of drug abusers, we have seen that drugs of choice are harmonious with an individual’s usual means of coping with stress” (p. 19).14 Applying this simple typology to a client’s drug of choice enlightens Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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the therapist as to a couple of important factors. It enables the therapist to identify the client’s primary mode of stress reduction by correlating it to their drug of choice. When in recovery, the client will continue to use a preferred coping style and will be attracted to activities that produce a similar effect as their drug of choice. For example, an amphetamine user will likely be attracted to high-risk, physically demanding activities that are stimulating. The IR therapist helps the client to find healthy recovery-based activities that correlate with the preferred coping style. If a client is not guided toward finding alternate, healthy way of coping with stress, he will likely cross-addict to other destructive behaviors and addictions that correlate with the preferred coping style. Secondly, another useful typology is the bioself-psychological typology of addiction by Richard Ulman and Harry Paul (2006), which is a synthesis of the self-psychological and biological-psychiatric versions of bipolarity. Heinz Kohut (whose concept of the bipolar self represents the foundation for the model by Ulman and Paul) states that: The self should be conceptualized as a lifelong arc linking two polar sets of experiences: on one side, a pole of ambitions related to the original grandiosity as it was affirmed by the mirroring self-object, more often the mother; on the other side, a pole of idealizations, the person’s realized goals, which, particularly in the boy though not always, are laid down from the original relationship to the self-object that is represented by the father and his greatness. (as cited in Ulman & Paul, 2006, p. 390) In the bioself-psychological typology, addiction is understood as a psychological end result of developmental arrest in the bipolarity of the formation of the self. Biological psychiatrists, in their conception of bipolar spectrum disorder, devote considerable attention to depression and mania as they manifest in this disorder. These mood disorders correlate with disorders of the bipolar self as understood by Kohut: In general, a disturbance in the pole of grandiosity may find expression in either an empty, depleted depression or, in contrast, in over-expansive and over-exuberant mania or hypomania; whereas a disturbance in the pole of omnipotence may appear in either depressive disillusionment and disappointment in the idealized or, in contrast, in manic (or hypomanic) delusions of superhuman physical and/or mental powers. We maintain that an individual may be subject to specific outcomes resulting from a disturbance in either or both of these poles of the self. (as cited in Ulman & Paul, 2006, pp. 395-396) Due to the specific accompanying mood disorder of each of the possible disturbances of the poles of the self, individuals will be attracted to certain psychoactive substances, which can be understood as an unconscious attempt at rectifying a specific deficit in self and coping style (Wieder & Kaplan, 1969). Using the masculine and feminine typology as articulated in Integral Theory, we can see from the above two examples how the psychopharmacological properties of certain classes of substances correlate with masculine and feminine typologies (for instance: depressants/feminine and stimulants/masculine), and how these poles of the self can also be classified within a masculine and feminine typology (pole of grandiosity/feminine and pole of idealizations/masculine). We can therefore see how certain “masculine or feminine drugs” acts as “structural prosthesis” in an attempt of rectifying dysfunctional masculine or feminine poles of the self and coping styles (Du Plessis, 2010).15

Mindfulness In 12-Step fellowships, members are advised to live “just for today.” This simple yet profound slogan can be seen decorating the walls of thousands of 12-Step meeting venues all over the world. In essence, this slogan 132

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refers to the concept of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a way of being that originated in Eastern meditation practices. Jon Kabat-Zinn (1994) describes mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally” (p. 4). The philosophy of mindfulness, with its mindfulnessbased interventions, is one of the core influences of IRT. The practice of mindfulness increases awareness. This is a necessary aptitude in recovery, since participation without awareness is a feature of impulsive, mood-dependent, and addictive behavior (Linehan, 1993). Mindfulness is a way of cultivating and strengthening awareness. This is one of the primary reasons IRT implements mindfulness-based interventions. Addiction over a period of time diminishes awareness and arrests vertical development (Du Plessis, 2010; Dupuy & Gorman, 2010; Dupuy & Morelli, 2007). Stanley Block (2005) describes collapsed awareness as the root of addiction or any dysfunction. The defense mechanism of denial, which is one of the primary obstacles to recovery, is in essence a profound narrowing of the client’s awareness. This in turn leads to a fragmented understanding of the damages and reality of their addiction, which perpetuates the addictive cycle. As Fritz Perls (1976) writes: “Without awareness there is no cognition of choice” (p. 66). With increased awareness there is increased choice, and consequently, for the addict, increased ability to break the cycle of addiction. There are many mindfulness-based methods and programs available to therapists. Examples of awareness training programs are the mindfulness-based stress reduction program (Kabat-Zinn, 1991), mindfulnessbased cognitive therapy (Teasdale et al., 2000), dialectic behavior therapy (Linehan, 1993), and mind-body bridging (Block & Block, 2005, 2010).

Positive Psychology What is a good life and how do we achieve it? These questions are of fundamental importance in IRT. Positive psychology attempts to answer this enigmatic question. IRT is informed by the philosophy and methodology of positive psychology. Seligman and colleagues (2005) state that “positive psychology is an umbrella term for the study of positive emotions, positive character traits, and enabling institutions” (p. 410). Positive psychology focuses on what makes people happy, and not merely on psychopathology as do the majority of psychotherapeutic approaches. IRT includes a solution-focused approach to therapy, which is similar to the ambitions of positive psychology, as they both focus predominantly on the solution rather than spending an inordinate amount of time investigating the problem, and both aim at increasing the quality of life for individuals. This is not to say that IRT does not acknowledge or work with psychopathology, but rather that it uses a balanced approach to the understanding of suffering and happiness and their respective methodologies.16 Some of the answers that positive psychologists suggest to the question of what makes us happy and what constitutes a good life are of particular relevance for IR therapists and their clients. According to positive psychology, there are three possible routes to happiness available to us, each with a different effect on our well-being (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). The first route is called pleasurable life. This is any past, present, or future activity that creates positive emotions and pleasure. Such activities create immediate pleasure or positive affect in any number of ways, but this pleasurable experience normally fades in a short period of time. The second―and considered the more enduring―route to happiness is called engaged or good life. This includes activities that are characterized by absorption, engagement, and flow. These gratifications come about through exercising one’s strengths and virtues. The therapeutic application of flow theory is particularly useful with addicts, as the use of flow principles allows therapy to be reoriented towards building on interests and strengths (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2005). Finally, there is meaningful life, which is characterized by using one’s signature strengths in the service of something larger than oneself. Signature strengths refer to the character strengths that a person displays most frequently. When signature strengths are applied daily, they lead to a good or engaged life; when applied to something truly meaningful, they contribute to a meaningful life. I believe these concepts are clinically useful in guiding clients to find an integrated recovery lifestyle that is truly fulfilling by incorporating all three routes to happiness. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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Twelve-Step Philosophy The central component of IRT is the philosophy and methodologies of the 12-Step program as originated by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). There is substantial evidence that the 12-Step program of AA is an effective treatment modality (Bourne & Fox, 1973; Laudet et al., 2006; Laffaye et al., 2008). Much of the work of the IR therapist involves helping clients internalize the principles of the 12 Steps and assisting them to integrate into 12-Step fellowships. It is imperative that recovering individuals recover by “living in consultation” and that their recovery process takes place within a supportive and informed community (Carnes, 2008). I am of the opinion that any therapeutic process that does not help recovering addicts integrate into a supportive community will generally be unsustainable. Twelve-Step fellowships provide easily accessible and well-established recovering communities (Du Plessis, 2010). When addiction is viewed from a self-psychology perspective and understood as a disorder of the self, with narcissism as the problematic expression of the need for self-object responsiveness, we begin to appreciate why 12-Step programs are curative for addicted populations (Flores, 1997; Khantzian, 1994; Levin, 1995). Kohut (1977) viewed narcissistic disorder as the manifestation of a reaction to injury of the self, and healthy object-relations in early life as crucial for psychological growth and health. He implies that there is an inverse relationship between an individual’s early experiences of positive self-object responsiveness and their propensity to turn to addictive behavior as a substitute for damaged relationships. If addicts are to successfully give up these misguided attempts at self-repair, they must learn how to form new healthy interpersonal relationships in which their needs for self-object responsiveness (mirroring, merger, and idealization) are fulfilled in gratifying ways. Twelve-Step programs accomplish this in several ways. Twelve-Step programs provide predictable and consistent holding environments that allow addicts to have their self-object needs met in healthy ways. Furthermore, a 12-Step program, as a holding environment, also becomes a transitional object—a healthy dependency that provides enough separation to prevent depending too much on any single person until internalization is established. Gradually, “alcoholics or addicts are able to give up the grandiose defenses (narcissism) and false-self persona for a discovery of self (true self) as they really are” (Flores, 1997, pp. 292-293). As addicts form new healthy relationships and apply the principles of 12-Step programs, they internalize more self-care and are able to monitor affective states (transmuting internalizations). Twelve-Step fellowships work because they naturally support addicts to engage in continued interaction with other members of the fellowship, allowing individuals in recovery to modify the dysfunctional interpersonal style (object relations) that dominates their lives, which is a significant etiological factor in their addiction (Flores, 1997). Edward Khantzian (1994) believes that only through this maintenance of connection with others can people repair the disorders of the self that lie at the root of all addictions.

Integrated Recovery Therapy Praxis

The Six Recovery Dimensions of Integrated Recovery Therapy I will now explore in more detail how an IR therapist works within each of the six recovery dimensions, as defined by Integrated Recovery Theory, to ensure a comprehensive and balanced lifestyle for the client. As noted before, Integrated Recovery Theory identifies six interrelated yet irreducible recovery dimensions that provide a multiperspectival conceptual framework on a client’s therapeutic process. For a client’s IRP to be sustainable, a certain measure of health is needed in each of their recovery dimensions. What defines necessary health in each of the recovery dimensions is relative for each client. A skilled IR therapist applies therapies and assists clients in finding practices that are relevant to their specific needs and stages of recovery.

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1. Physical Recovery Dimension Addiction is often classified as a disease of the brain. Addiction affects the mesolimbic system of the brain, the area where our instinctual drives and our ability to experience emotions and pleasure resides. The pleasure pathway of the brain is hijacked, so to speak, by the chronic use of drugs or compulsive addictive behavior. Due to the consequent neurochemical dysfunction, the individual perceives the drug as a life-supporting necessity, much like breathing, food, and water (Brick & Erickson, 1999). This explains why most addicts cannot stop using the substance or behavior on their own, in spite of adverse consequences. Furthermore, the chronic use of drugs does remarkable damage to the whole body, including the subtle energy bodies.17 Traditionally, addiction treatment and therapy place very little emphasis on healing the body (and subtle energy bodies) and brain. Erickson (1989) suggests that for treatment to be effective, a combined physiological and psychological approach is required. Treatment that does nothing to improve an addict’s neurophysiology often proves fruitless or incomplete. The IR therapist assesses a client’s physiological condition and recommends suitable therapies and practices. The physical recovery dimension of a client’s IRP may include therapies and practices such as neurotherapy, nutritional supplementation, exercise, tai chi, yoga, pharmacotherapy, acupuncture, and nutritional education.18 Moreover, physical activities, especially team sports, also serve a social and existential function.

2. Mental Recovery Dimension Addiction is characterized by limited cognitive insight and cognitive distortions fueled by defense mechanisms such as projection, denial, and repression (DiClemente, 2003; Flores, 1997). Much of the therapeutic process of working with addicts is about cognitive restructuring, helping them work through their defenses to find a more accurate perspective on the nature and consequences of their addiction. The mental recovery dimension includes therapies and practices that create cognitive insight for the client into both the nature of addiction and the client’s participation in an Integrated Recovery Lifestyle. The IR therapist assists the client in gaining the necessary cognitive insight into the recovery process. Furthermore, the therapist teaches the client the basic elements of the IR approach, and the why and how of its tools, thereby providing the client with a meta-recovery structure that is easy to understand and use. The mental recovery dimension of a client’s IRP may include therapies and practices such as psychoeducation and coaching by a therapist, 12-Step “written work,” workshops, lectures and reading recoverybased literature.

3. Emotional Recovery Dimension All psychotherapeutic and psychological factors relating to an individual are covered by the emotional recovery dimension. Obviously the mental and spiritual recovery dimensions are related to the emotional dimension, but, as mentioned before, this division is a pragmatic and abstract one. Addicts are known to have turbulent and overwhelming inner worlds. From a psychodynamic perspective, addiction is often referred to as an attempt at self-medicating the addict’s painful and confused inner world (Khantzian, 1985, 1999). Owing to defects in ego and self-capacities, the substance of choice becomes the addict’s main method of mood management, which temporarily restores inner equilibrium: Addiction . . . is viewed as a misguided attempt at self-repair. Because of unmet developmental needs, certain individuals will be left with an injured, enfeebled, uncohesive, or fragmented self. Such individuals often look good on the outside, but are empty and feel incomplete on the inside. They are unable to regulate affect and Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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in many cases are even unable to identify what it is that they feel. Unable to draw on their own internal resources because there are not any, they remain in constant need (object hunger) of having those self-regulating resources met externally—out there. Since painful, rejecting, and shaming relationships are the cause of their deficits in self, they cannot turn to others to get what they need or have never received. Deprivation of needs and object hunger leaves them with unrealistic and intolerable affects that are not only disturbing to others, but shameful to themselves. Consequently, alcohol, drugs, and other external sources of gratification (i.e., food, sex, work, etc.) take on a regulating function while creating a false sense of autonomy, independence, and denial of need for others . . . addiction is an attempt at self-help that fails. (Flores, 1997, pp. 232-233) Therefore, an essential component of recovery is learning healthy ways to self-soothe and cope with stress (Khantzian, 1999; Levin, 1995). Furthermore, if they do not deal with unresolved trauma, addicts may stay prone to relapse or cross-addiction. If not addressed, these individuals’ addictions will continually migrate, seeking dysfunctional ways to deal with their turbulent inner worlds, ineffective object-relations, and unresolved trauma (Dayton, 2000; Flores, 1997). A vital component of a client’s IRP is some form of psychotherapeutic process that deals with unresolved trauma, family of origin issues, shadow work, and the building of emotional literacy. The IR therapist helps clients to find the most appropriate form of psychotherapy and practices referent to their recovery altitude, stage of development and stage of change. The Integral Taxonomy of Therapeutic Interventions (ITTI) of Marquis (2009) can prove useful in this area. Different therapies have their value at different developmental stages (Forman, 2010; Ingersoll & Zeitler, 2010; Marquis, 2007; Wilber, 2000). According to Ulman and Paul (2006), psychotherapy can serve as a transitional self-object, dispensing functions that serve as “psychopharmacotherapeutic” relief. In other words, a psychotherapist can replace the faulty self-object–like functioning of a client’s drug of choice, and help the client to re-experience “archaic moods of narcissistic bliss” in a therapeutic as opposed to an addictive fashion. “Such an altered state of consciousness may eventually supersede and supplant an addicted patient’s dependence on an addictive state of mind” (Ulman & Paul, 2006, p. 63). Clients can also be referred to group psychotherapy, which has been shown to be particularly effective with addicts (Flores, 1997). As individuals progress in recovery, new issues emerge, and the psychotherapy that helped at a previous recovery stage may no longer be effective. Moreover, once addicts have dealt with their primary addiction(s) and have been in recovery for a while, other less obvious yet often equally destructive addictions begin to surface (e.g., codependency, love addiction) (Whitfield, 1991; Schaeffer, 1997). It is important for an IR therapist to have insight into which psychotherapies are appropriate for different stages of recovery (in addition to their developmental altitude), as well as an understanding of comorbidity and dual-addictions.

4. Spiritual Recovery Dimension In a letter addressed to Bill Wilson, the co-founder of AA, Carl Jung stated: “You see, alcohol in Latin is spiritus and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison. The helpful formula therefore is: spiritus contra spiritum” (Kurtz & Ketcham, 2002, p. 118). Jung was pointing out to Wilson that at the heart of a cure for alcoholism there often is a spiritual transformation, because he also believed that the thirst for alcohol “was the equivalent, on a low level, of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness, expressed in medieval language: the union with God” (Kurtz & Ketcham, 2002, p. 113). So, in a sense, addicts and alcoholics are misguided mystics. Avital Ronell (1993) echoes this sentiment and states that addiction is “a mysticism in the absence of God, a mystical transport going nowhere” 136

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(p. 103). Thanks to the influence of Jung and others, such as William James (1901/1961), whose book The Varieties of Religious Experience was studied by Bill Wilson in depth, AA and subsequent 12-Step groups have seen the need for healthy spirituality as a central component of the recovery process (Kurtz & Ketcham, 2002). Furthermore, James’s pragmatic thinking—he was one of the primary proponents of the philosophical system of pragmatism—had a huge influence on AA’s pragmatic and pluralistic approach to spirituality (Flores, 1997; Kurtz, 1982).19 Integrated Recovery therapists promote spiritual well-being in their clients by working with therapies and practices that help clients to translate healthy spirituality in their lives appropriate for their particular stage of spiritual development. Rioux (1996) illustrates how certain spiritual healing techniques can play a role in a holistic addiction counseling approach, as they focus on inner realities that produce harmony and self-wholeness. Winkelman (2001) further suggests that spiritual practices can also free addicts from egobound emotions and provide balance for conflicting internal energies. Spiritual practices can help addicts achieve a sense of wholeness to counter the sense of self-loss which lies at the core of addictive dynamics. These practices enhance self-esteem by providing connectedness beyond the egoic self, with a “higher power of your understanding” as suggested in 12-Step programs. It must be noted that in some instances one could run the risk of a type of pre/trans fallacy by confusing developmentally arrested archaic narcissistic needs and behavior with postconventional spiritual yearning, which is actually a fairly common phenomenon in certain drug subcultures (Wilber, 2006). In treatment, this type of pre/trans fallacy, when it forms part of an individual’s denial system, is fairly difficult to deconstruct. The individual needs to realize that, very often, what s/he thought of as an experience of “oneness with the Kosmos” and a mystical quest for the transcendent, was in fact a developmentally arrested infantile yearning for “symbiotic merging” (Almaas, 1996) with the mother, which does not sound quite so spiritual―this does not easily appeal to a narcissistically wounded individual who believes that his drug-taking was based on lofty transcendent values and pursuits.20 An essential component of the spiritual recovery dimension is the focus on finding existential meaning for the individual in recovery. Spiritual practice plays an important existential role in the healing of addiction by providing a sense of meaning to life often found lacking among the addict population (Miller, 1998). Once addictive behavior is given up, most recovering addicts are faced with an existential vacuum in their lives. Without finding meaning in recovery, which is generally a long, difficult process, most addicts will revert back to addictive behavior. The practices of the spiritual recovery dimension encourage the formation of meaning within the recovering lifestyle. Spiritually and existentially oriented therapies and practices may include existential analysis, meditation, prayer, reading spiritual literature, joining a spiritual sangha, sports, hiking, reading, playing a musical instrument, or learning an art form.

5. Social Recovery Dimension Addiction progressively erodes relationships and is often caused by eroded relationships. Addiction is often viewed as an intimacy disorder, as addicts tend to have an inability to form healthy intimate relationships (Carnes, 2008). Scholars who support the self-medication hypothesis believe addicts often suffer from defects in their psychic structure due to poor relationships when they were young (Flores, 1997; Khantzian et al., 1990; Levin, 1995). This leaves them prone to seek external sources of gratification, such as drugs, sex, food, work, and so forth, in later life (Kohut, 1971, 1977). Edward Khantzian (1994) asserts: Substance abusers are predisposed to become dependent on drugs because they suffer with psychiatric disturbances and painful affect states. Their distress and suffering is the consequence of defects in ego and self capacities which leave such Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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people ill-equipped to regulate and modulate feelings, self-esteem, relationships and behavior. (p. 1) It is for this reason that the social recovery dimension is of utmost importance for an effective and sustainable recovery process. For addicts to develop a healthy and stable sense of self, they need to be in a supportive and knowledgeable social environment. The addict’s psychic troubles are born from poor relationships and can only be modified via new relationships (Kohut, 1997; Khantzian, 1994; Kurtz, 1982). The social recovery dimension refers to all the relational, social, and cultural components of a client’s Integrated Recovery Lifestyle. Apart from the corrective relationship the client has with the therapist, the client is also assisted in forming new healthy relationships with friends, family, a spouse or partner and, ideally, within a supportive community. An essential component in IRT is helping the client integrate into a 12-Step fellowship or similar supportive communities. Some object-relation theorists believe 12-Step fellowships provide the ideal social environment for addicts to heal their psychic deficits: Ernest Kurtz (1979) views the mutuality of AA―one alcoholic needing and helping another―as the cornerstone of the recovery process and the main reason why Twelve-Step programs are so successful. Isolation of one’s self from the rest of humanity is one consequence of shame and the driving force behind addiction, since the use of chemicals enhances the denial, fuels the grandiose defenses, and keeps one isolated. (Flores, 1997, p. 245) Twelve-Step fellowships provide opportunities for supportive friendships, group participation, and mentoring. When actively participating in social fellowship activities such as sponsoring, being sponsored, service, meetings and informal fellowship activities, the individual starts to internalize these new healthy objectrelations experienced within the fellowship; this results in a more stable, cohesive, and realistic sense of self and ways of relating to others. Without improving these capacities, the recovering addict would continue to be plagued by a feeling of emptiness, boredom, and poor relationships―which would of course continue to make the addict vulnerable to addictive behavior (Flores, 1997). Participation in 12-Step fellowships helps the transition from the culture of addiction to the culture of recovery, an essential element for sustainable recovery. William White (1996) states that: Addiction and recovery are more than something that happens inside someone. Each involves deep human needs in interaction with a social environment. For addicts . . . the culture of addiction provides a valued cocoon where these needs can be, and historically have been, met. No treatment can be successful if it doesn’t offer a pathway to meet those same needs and provide an alternative social world that has perceived value and meaning. (p. xxvii) The right social and cultural affiliation is one of the most important curative aspects of the recovery process, especially in early recovery. In my view, the main reason 12-Step methods are so successful is because they offer well-established recovery cultures that provide an immediate sense of acceptance and belonging for the recovery neophyte.21

6. Environmental Recovery Dimension Abraham Maslow (1968), in his theory of human motivation, proposes that motivation is determined by 138

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a hierarchy of needs. He suggests that there are at least five sets of basic needs. These are physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization needs. Simply put, these five needs form a hierarchy that orders our urgency to satisfy these needs―for example, a hungry person with no home is usually not that concerned with aesthetic or spiritual well-being until his/her hunger and safety needs have been satisfied. Addiction exemplifies this theory. In most cases, addicts’ addiction needs take precedence over most of their other higher needs. Addiction primarily manifests as physiological/safety needs, with the result that when these are not satisfied, all other needs become much less of a priority, resulting in a compulsive drive to meet the addiction needs at the expense of all other areas of life. Maslow’s theory of human motivation is useful for an adequate understanding of the environmental recovery dimension. The environmental recovery dimension collectively refers to a client’s monetary, occupational, administrative, legal, and residential precincts. Using Maslow’s model, it is clear that most of the aforementioned recovery dimensions are related to the three higher needs (love/belonging, esteem, and selfactualization), whereas the environmental and physical recovery dimensions relate to the two lower needs (physiology and safety). Therefore, when a client’s environmental recovery dimension is unmanageable, he will likely struggle to actualize in the other recovery dimensions. If a client has serious financial, legal, and/ or residential problems, the more lofty goals of their Integrated Recovery Lifestyle are often compromised. Often recovering addicts tend to make a distinction between “working a recovery program” and the reality of their lives. They may rationalize that even though they are unable to manage in their finances or work, they are still “working a good program” because of the amount of psychospiritual work they are doing. The Integrated Recovery approach warns against and prevents such faulty thinking. If an addict’s financial, administrative, legal, and residential needs are unmanageable, the whole recovery system may be compromised. Although they may be engaged in a lot of psychospiritual work and 12-Step program participation, it is not uncommon for recovering addicts to relapse because of severe unmanageability in their environmental recovery dimension. Integrated Recovery Theory states that the environmental recovery dimension is interlinked with all other aspects of an IRP, and includes this dimension when evaluating what constitutes working at a good recovery program.

Practicing an Integrated Recovery Program The foremost aim of an IR therapist is to assist clients in constructing and practicing a comprehensive and sustainable IRP. When a client has identified adequate practices in all six recovery dimensions, each dimension strengthens the others. Consequently, in this way the client will heal and grow more rapidly than by only practicing one or two of these elements. Thus, Integrated Recovery can be seen as a type of recovery crosstraining spanning all the dimensions. IRT is similar to certain features of therapies such as dialectical behavior therapy (Linehan, 1993), many coaching approaches, and solution-focused brief therapy (Berg, 1994; De Shazer, 1985) in the sense that the therapy primarily aims at teaching clients the necessary skills to eventually practice their own IRP without the assistance of the therapist. I will now briefly explore some of the tools used in IRT: the template clients use to plan their IRP, the Integrated Recovery Wheel (IRW), and the Integrated Recovery Graph (IRG). These three tools provide a graphic, visual, and easily assessable structure for therapist and client to help plan and navigate the recovery process. My aim with these aids was to create the most simple and pragmatic structure that would graphically represent the recovery process. These aids have been used by many counselors and clients in inpatient treatment environments, many of whom have reported them to be of great value.22

Transformation and Translation in Recovery

According to Susanne Cook-Greuter (2004), human development can happen vertically (transformation) and horizontally (translation). This is an important distinction for a therapist when working with clients: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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When we talk about . . . human development, we distinguish between lateral [translation] and vertical [transformation] development. Both are important, but they occur at different rates. Lateral growth and expansion happens through many channels, such as schooling, training, self-directed and life-long learning as well as simply through exposure to life. Vertical development in adults is much rarer. It refers to how we learn to see the world through new eyes, how we change our interpretations of experience and how we transform our views of reality. (pp. 2-3)

Integrated Recovery Program Name: _______________________

Date: ________________________

The Six Recovery Dimensions Physical

Spiritual

Exercise: ______________________

Meditation: ___________________

Diet: _________________________

Prayer: ________________________

Medication: ___________________

Spiritual Literature:______________

Supplements: __________________

Existential: _____________________

Other: ________________________

Other: ________________________

Mental

Social

12 Steps Written Work: __________

12 Step Groups: ________________

Literature: _____________________

Family/Friends: _________________

Other: ________________________

Sponsor: ______________________

_____________________________

Service: _______________________

_____________________________

Other: ________________________

Emotional Individual Therapy: ______________

Environmental Work: _______________________

Group Therapy: _________________

Monetary: _____________________

Step 10 Daily Journal: ____________

Residential: ____________________

Other: _________________________

Legal: _________________________

______________________________

Other: ________________________

Figure 2. Integrated Recovery Program planner. 140

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SOCIAL

SPIRITUAL

EMOTIONAL

MENTAL

PHYSICAL

RECOVERY ALTITUDE

Integrated Recovery Graph

Integrated Recovery THERAPY

The IR therapist views and quantifies the client’s recovery progress on two planes―the horizontal and vertical―referred to as translation and transformation in Integral Psychology (Forman, 2010; Ingersoll & Zeitler, 2010). A client’s vertical growth in recovery refers to how he grows developmentally. Here we can use various developmental models (Cook-Greuter, 2004; Wilber, 2000). As clients slowly and painstakingly grow through these vertical stages, their perspective of themselves and the world changes―it gradually becomes less self-centered, more inclusive and embracing (Wilber, 2000). On the IRP planner, clients specify their IRPs and indicate their vertical development in each of the six recovery dimensions on the IRG (Fig. 2). As we have seen, each of a client’s six recovery dimensions can be at a different stage of vertical development. The IRG helps therapist and client to see which of the recovery dimensions are functioning at adequate or less than adequate levels. Clients need not excel in each of these recovery dimensions unless they choose to, but they do need to function at a reasonable level of health at least in each recovery dimension for their overall recovery to be sustainable. For the sake of simplicity, the IRG plots three stages: poor, good, and excellent. These three stages could also be articulated as low, medium, and high levels of development, but do not correlate with the general stages of development of Integral Theory (Wilber, 2000) because certain recovery practices will be interpreted differently (and be of different value) at different stages of recovery. Obviously, these are not precise scientific measurements, but inexplicit estimates of the developmental level of each of the recovery dimensions. It is important to remember that what would be considered adequate health in a certain recovery dimension is relative to the client’s recovery altitude. I use a hexagonal-circular model called the Integrated Recovery Wheel (IRW) to illustrate fluid aspects of horizontal (translation) development of a client’s Integrated Recovery Lifestyle  (Fig. 3). The inner circle represents relapse, the middle circle signals dangerous or toxic behaviors, and the outer circle signifies healthy practices in the six recovery dimensions. Vertical as well as horizontal development in a client does not fluctuate on a daily or weekly basis and takes considerable time to progress or regress. On the other hand, when viewed within a short time frame, horizontal growth can fluctuate dramatically. The IRW is an assessment tool of how well clients are translating their IRPs within a chosen time frame, which could be daily or weekly. For each recovery dimension, clients write down in the outside circle the practices that promote healthy growth (protective factors), and in the middle circle activities that are det-

 

Figure 3. Integrated Recovery Wheel. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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rimental (risk factors). This provides a visual structure for observing the healthy and unhealthy practices in a client’s Integrated Recovery Lifestyle within a certain time frame. Consistent horizontal practice or translation in a recovery dimension leads to vertical development or transformation in that recovery dimension, which in turn contributes to overall vertical development. It is important to note that the principal aim of an IR therapist is to help clients translate effectively at their current stages of development, instead of just aiming at vertical growth.

Conclusion This article provides a cursory sketch of the theory and practice of an integrally informed, 12-Step–based individual psychotherapy for treating addicted populations, with the premise that the inclusion of the metaparadigmatic Integral model may result in a more comprehensive and sustainable treatment outcome. I am fully conscious of the deficiencies of this article; such deficiencies are necessarily characteristic of pioneering and exploratory work. Integrated Recovery Therapy and the Integrated Recovery Model have shown great promise in several addiction treatment centers in Cape Town, South Africa, since their inception and application in 2007 (Du Plessis, 2010). Clients and therapists alike have reported this approach to be of great value, and anecdotal reports are promising. This article is not the final word on Integral Addiction Treatment; it is merely a tentative and modest attempt to show what possibilities exist when applying Integral Theory in the context of individual psychotherapy with addicted populations, and hopes to stimulate interest toward the eventual development and full flowering of a well-researched, comprehensive Integral Addiction Treatment theory and practice.

NOTES In my opinion, General Jan Smuts, South African statesman, philosopher, and author of Holism and Evolution (1927), was one of the first truly modern integral thinkers. Smuts, who coined the term “holism” and who was the first to promote a holistic epistemology, is mostly forgotten by contemporary academia. It is well known that Fritz Perls, cofounder of gestalt therapy, was greatly influenced by Smuts’ holistic theory while living in South Africa after fleeing Nazi Germany, as was Alfred Adler. Adler used Holism and Evolution for his classes in Vienna (and had it translated into German) and describes holism theory, in a letter to Smuts, as “supplying the scientific and philosophical basis for the great advance in psychology which had been made in recent years” (as cited in Blackenberg, 1951, p. 81). Furthermore, in his book Psychosynthesis (1975), Roberto Assagioli acknowledges Smuts as the originator of the holistic approach as well as of the psychology of personality, subsequently influencing thinkers like Maslow and Allport. Assagioli (1975) describes Smuts’ holistic approach as one of the most “significant and valuable contributions to the knowledge of human nature and its betterment” (p. 14). Unfortunately, the majority of modern holistic thinkers seldom acknowledge his pioneering work. However, Ken Wilber holds Smuts’ work in high regard, and was influenced by him in the early stages of his career (personal communication, May 26, 2009). 2 The DSM-IV-TR does not use the term “addiction” but rather “substance abuse disorders,” since the World Health Organization concluded in 1964 that addiction is no longer a scientific term. However, the soon-to-be-published DSMV will use the term “addictive disorders” instead of “substance dependence.” For the purposes of this article, the term addiction refers to substance use disorders and process addictions such as sex addiction and pathological gambling. 3 Integral Addiction Treatment and Integral Recovery are used as umbrella terms to represent integrally informed theory and practice in the field of addictionology, addiction treatment, and recovery. Integral Addiction Treatment refers to the more academic and clinical applications of integrally informed approaches to addiction treatment and research, whereas Integral Recovery refers to integrally informed approaches to early as well as late stages to the recovery process. 1

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I use the term paradigm to mean a set of social practices or behavioral injunctions, as was originally intended by Thomas Kuhn (1970). 5 For example, a client in early recovery and at a pre-contemplation stage of change will be assigned certain practices appropriate for his/her recovery altitude as well as practices that will help the client to move from a pre-contemplation to a contemplation stage of change (DiClemente & Prochaska, 1998). The client’s recovery altitude and stage of change, as well as his/her general stage of development, must be considered in choosing appropriate therapies and recovery practices. 6 It may be useful in the future to develop a taxonomy of recovery-based interventions, similar to the Integral Taxonomy of Therapeutic Interventions (ITTI) devised by Andre Marquis (2009). 7 Although many of the observable behaviors of a client’s IRP that are grouped under other recovery dimensions should theoretically be classified under the UR quadrant, I will classify therapeutic and recovery practices relative to the quadrant in which they primarily create change and healing. 8 Clearly the mental, emotional, and spiritual recovery dimensions are interrelated and overlap, making it difficult to group certain practices under specific dimensions. However, it should be remembered that these are abstract and not ontological classifications for pragmatic therapeutic purposes. 9 My perspective on lines of development is that certain lines have developmental limits. Therefore, I believe using a generalized developmental index for all types of lines normally used in integral studies is theoretically incorrect. In my view, this is one of the reasons why current integrally informed psychographs run into problems―they are not dynamic enough and use the same stage developmental models for all types of lines. If we use Wilber’s stage model, it seems that the body-related lines can only progress to pre-personal levels, the mind-related lines to personal, and the spiritual-related lines to transpersonal. Therefore, it would be incorrect to refer to body- or mind-related lines as transpersonal. 10 It must be noted that these stage models are meant to be used only as orienting generalizations, not as rigid tools for treatment protocol. It is not clear how ego development correlates with the various stages (or phases) of recovery models, yet I believe they are related. This is another area for future research in the emerging field of Integral Addiction Treatment. 11 Understanding the nature of the amber-conformist stage (Cook-Greuter, 2004; Wilber, 2006) and its relation to development in recovery allows us to see why it is necessary to follow the often rigid structure and rules of early recovery. Twelve-Step fellowships are often criticized for having too much dysfunctional amber structure (Kasl, 1992). I believe this particular criticism against 12-Step fellowships is misguided. Apart from the fact that most 12-Step fellowships’ cultural norms function more from a green-pluralistic stage perspective (hence its non-exclusionary pluralistic attitude towards spirituality and membership), they provide the necessary healthy amber structure that is imperative to sustainable early recovery. In order to advance from the red-egocentric stages of addiction to higher stages, recovering addicts must first pass through and internalize the amber-conformist stage. The amber level concerns structure, rules, and conformity. This is why treatment centers and early stage recovery protocols often provide rigid rules and structure, which help the addict to internalize the stage structure of the amber-conformist stage. If the addict fails to internalize amber structures, vertical development may be arrested and the addict could remain stranded in narcissistic red-egocentric stages. 12 Typologies in the context of addiction and recovery are an area open to future research. Developing comprehensive typologies of addiction and recovery spanning all four quadrants would be a useful tool for addiction treatment professionals. Furthermore, from a meta-paradigmatic perspective, using statistical tests such as factor analysis, we could identify how different addiction/recovery typologies interact with one another and possibly share similarities that cluster together. We may also be able to develop an addiction/recovery typology questionnaire(s) to define different addiction/recovery types that can assist in more personalized addiction treatment protocols. 13 A research study found a striking relationship between personality, preferred coping style, and drugs of choice (Milkman & Frosch, 1973). It showed that individuals who preferred depressants such as heroin used passive with4

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drawal, as well as reduced sensory stimulation, as their primary coping skills. On the other hand, those who preferred stimulants, such as amphetamines, were prone to confront a hostile environment with intellectual or physical activity. Those who used hallucinogenics such as LSD used daydreaming and imagery to reduce tension. 14 I believe Ulman and Paul (2006) would disagree with Milkman and Sunderwirth (2010) about fantasy being an independent coping style. In their self-psychological model of addiction, Ulman and Paul posit that fantasy (in particular an archaic narcissistic fantasy of being a megalomaniacal self) is the underlying principle in all forms of addiction. 15 According to Ulman and Paul (2006), stimulants (masculine drugs) provide an idealized self-object like function (for the feminine pole) and depressants (feminine drugs) provide a mirroring self object–like function (for the masculine pole). 16 The IR therapist implements certain methodologies associated with positive psychology which focus on character strengths and virtues, as outlined in the book Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). The classification of the 6 virtues and 24 character strengths, as outlined by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman (2004), gives therapist and client a structure to assess individual strengths. The IR therapist focuses on the identification, acknowledgement and fortification of the character strengths of the client. Therapy is then not merely focused on fixing what is dysfunctional, but also on nurturing the positive resources of the individual. 17 Most subtle body practices originated in the Far East, where they have been in use for thousands of years. This system assumes that, apart from our gross bodies, we have a non-physical or subtle energy that permeates and circulates throughout our bodies. In various medical traditions it is called different names, but it essentially refers to the same phenomenon―in Indian medicine it’s knows as prana, in Chinese medicine as chi, and in Japanese healing traditions as ki. 18 Nutrition and dietary supplements can play a significant role in recovery. However, many dietary and nutritional approaches that have become available in recent years for treating addictions promise rather outlandish results. Most of these approaches are based on a similar premise used in biological psychiatry (a discipline often viewed as reductionist in “holistic” circles): in its extreme form, it states that abnormalities in brain chemistry and metabolism are primary risk factors and/or causes of addiction. Rectifying the imbalance will eliminate addiction. Clearly, from an integral perspective this amounts to quadrant absolutism, as irregular neurophysiology is only one of the (possible) etiological risk factors in this multidimensional disorder. I used to value the work of Patrick Holford in the context of addiction, but have become increasingly skeptical of his theories, particularly his “cherry picking” of research results to validate his claims (and range of products). I believe many physiological theories of addiction have great merit as etiological risk factors, but once addiction has hijacked, so to speak, an individual’s brain chemistry, supplements or medication is not going to reverse the complex neurophysiological adaptation that an addict’s brain will have undergone as a result of addiction. 19 Unfortunately, no aspect of 12-Step philosophy is as misunderstood and misrepresented as its spiritual component. Twelve-Step programs are often criticized for being religious, fundamentalist, or promoting an amber stage belief in a “higher power” (Kasl, 1992). This is simply not true. Actually, 12-Step programs adopt a pluralistic stance toward the idea of spirituality and the concept of a higher power. They promote the pluralistic concept of a “higher power of your understanding” and suggest that members choose a spiritual orientation they are comfortable with at their current stage of development. 20 In certain subcultures, drug use is often glorified for its mystical and transcendent properties, and the individuals in these subcultures often justify their frequent use of drugs through spiritual values. The problem is not that the ingestion of psychoactive substances cannot produce authentic mystical experiences, or that some of these individuals are not authentically driven to find spiritual enlightenment through the use of psychoactive substances, but rather that the prevalent drug use in these cultures is often driven simply by a need “to get high,” and not a spiritual motivation. Consequently, most individuals are there to get high, not to become enlightened, but use these lofty ideals as rationalizations for more primitive impulses. The problem is that the frequent use of these drugs has long-term effects that are damaging physiologically, psychologically and, ironically, spiritually. Psychedelics, including marijuana, which 144

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are often described as harmless by these subcultures, cause profound damage to the subtle energy bodies. It is no coincidence that Timothy Leary used the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thödol), a funerary book, as a guide for the psychedelic experience, as it describes the process of dying and indicates how consequently the subtle energy bodies loosen from each other. A psychedelic experience has this temporary effect of loosening the subtle energy bodies from the gross body, and replicates a partial death process. When these subtle energy bodies are loosened from the gross body too often, it can have disastrous consequences for the whole person, and hinders authentic spiritual development. For a brilliant discussion of the social and spiritual implications of these types of pre/trans fallacies, see A Sociable God (Wilber, 1983). 21 When viewing the process of recovery from the perspective of Wilber’s (1997) developmental model, we can see why a community is so important, especially in early recovery. As addicts move out of the egocentric red altitude of addiction into the ethnocentric amber altitude of early recovery, they enter a stage of development where their group plays a significant role in healthy development and integration. 22 Subsequent to its inception at Tabankulu Secondary Recovery Center in 2007, the Integrated Recovery Model has been applied in several other treatment facilities in Cape Town. At Tabankulu Secondary, informal quantitative research was conducted by the staff, measured by the amount of ex-clients who achieved a year’s clean time (abstinence from all mood-altering substances) using a sample of 23 ex-clients. The study showed a success rate of 80%. The author is aware of the extreme weakness of the validity and reliability of these results and does not wish to present these results as conclusive proof, but merely as an indication of the possibility of the increased success rate of an integrally informed treatment approach. A postgraduate outcomes-based evaluative research project was done at Tabankulu Secondary through the University of Cape Town, Department of Psychology. The research project showed promising results (Duffett, 2010). Furthermore, since 2007 many addictions counselors have been trained in the Integrated Recovery approach by the author in his capacity as Head of Treatment at Tabankulu Secondary and Program Director at Seascape House Recovery Centre, some of whom are currently applying it in their private practice.

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Bowden, J., & Gravitz, H. (1998). Genesis: Spirituality in recovery from childhood traumas. Pompano Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc. Brick, J., & Erickson, C. (1999). Drugs, the brain and behavior: The pharmacology of abuse and dependence. New York, NY: Haworth Medical Press. Carnes, P. (2008). Recovery start kit. Carefree, AZ: Gentle Path Press. Cook-Greuter, S. (2004). Making the case for a developmental perspective. Industrial and Commercial Training, 36(7):275-281. Corey, G. (2005). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (7th ed). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks Cole. Dayton, T. (2000). Trauma and addiction: Ending the cycle of pain through emotional literacy. Pompano Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc. De Shazer, S. (1985). Keys to solutions in brief therapy. New York, NY: Norton. DiClemente, C.C. (2003). Addiction and change: How addictions develop and addicted people recover. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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DiClemente, C.C., & Prochaska, J.O. (1998). Toward a comprehensive, transtheoretical model of change: Stages of change and addictive behaviours. In W.R. Miller and N. Heather (Eds.), Treating addictive behaviours (2nd ed) (pp. 3-24). New York, NY: Plenum Press. Donovan, D.M., & Marlatt, G.A. (Eds.). (1998). Assessment of addictive behaviours. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Duffett, L. (2010). Outcomes-based evaluative research at an integrally informed substance abuse treatment centre using the Integrated Recovery model [unpublished thesis]. Cape Town, South Africa: University of Cape Town, Department of Psychology. du Plessis, G.P. (2010). The integrated recovery model for addiction treatment and recovery. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(3):68-87. du Plessis, G.P. (in press). Toward an integral model of addiction: By means of Integral Methodological Pluralism as a metatheoretical and integrative conceptual framework. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice. Dupuy, J., & Gorman, A. (2010). Integral Recovery: An AQAL approach to inpatient alcohol and drug treatment. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(3), 86-101. Dupuy, J., & Morelli, M. (2007). Toward an integral recovery model for drug and alcohol addiction. AQAL: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2(3), 26-42. Erickson, C.K. (1989). Reviews and comments on alcohol research relaxation therapy, and endorphins in alcoholics. Alcoholism, 6, 525-526. Esbjörn-Hargens, S. (2009). An overview of integral theory: An all-inclusive framework for the 21st century. (Resource Paper No. 1). Retrieved February 11, 2012, from http://integrallife.com/ node/37539. Flores, P. J. (1997). Group psychotherapy with addicted populations. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, Inc. Forman, M. (2010). A guide to integral psychotherapy: Complexity, integration and spirituality in practice. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: Theory into 146

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practice, a reader. New York, NY: Basic Books. Glantz, M., & Pickens, R. (Eds). (1992). Vulnerability to drug abuse. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Ingersoll, E.R., & Zeitler, D.M. (2010). Integral psychotherapy: Inside out/Outside in. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. James, W. (1901/1961). The varieties of religious experience: A study in human nature. New York, NY: Colliers. Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York, NY: Hyperion. Kasl, C. D. (1992). Many roads, one journey: Moving beyond the 12 Steps. New York, NY: HarperCollins. Khantzian, E.J. (1985). The self-medication hypothesis of addictive disorders: Focus on heroin and cocaine dependence. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 1259-1264. Kantzian, E.J. (1994). Alcoholics Anonymous—Cult or corrective? Paper presented at Fourth Annual Distinguished Lecture. Manhasset, NY: Cornell University. Khantzian, E.J. (1999). Treating addiction as a human process. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. Kohut, H. (1971). The analysis of the self: A systematic approach to the psychoanalytic treatment of narcissistic personality disorders. New York, NY: International Universities Press. Kohut, H. (1977). The restoration of self. New York, NY: International University Press. Kuhn, T. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Kurtz, E. (1982). Why AA works. The intellectual significance of Alcoholics Anonymous. Quarterly Journal Studies of Alcohol, 43(1), 38-80. Kurtz, E., & Ketcham, K. (2002). The spirituality of imperfection: Storytelling and the search for meaning. New York, NY: Bantam Books. Laffaye, C., McKellar, J.D., Ilgen, M.A., & Moos, R.H. (2008). Predictors of 4-year outcome of community residential treatment for patients with substance use disorders. Addictions, 103, 670-680. Laudet, A.B., Morgen, K. & White, W.L. (2006). The role of social supports, spirituality, religiousness,

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life meaning and affiliation with 12-Step fellowship in quality of life satisfaction among individuals in recovery from alcohol and drug problems. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 24(1-2), 33-73. Levin, J.D. (1995). Psychodynamic treatment of alcohol abuse. In J.P. Barber & P. Crits-Christoph (Eds.), Dynamic therapies for psychiatric disorders (Axis 1). New York, NY: Basic Books. Linehan, M. (1993). Skill training manual for treating borderline personality disorder. London, United Kingdom: The Guilford Press. Marquis, A. (2008). The integral intake: A comprehensive idiographic assessment in integral psychotherapy. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. Marquis, A. (2009). An integral taxonomy of therapeutic interventions. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 4(2), 13-42. Maslow, A. (1968). Toward a psychology of being. New York, NY: Van Nostrand. McPeake, J.D., Kennedy, B.P., & Gordon, S.M. (1991). Altered states of consciousness therapy: A missing component in alcohol and drug rehabilitation treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 8, 75-82. Milkman, H.B., & Frosch, W. (1973). On the preferential abuse of heroin and amphetamines. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 156(4), 242-248. Milkman, H.B., & Sunderwirth, S.G. (2010). Craving for ecstasy and natural highs: A positive approach to mood alteration. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Miller, W.R. (1998). Researching the spiritual dimensions of alcohol and other drug problems. Addiction, 93(7), 979-990. Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2005). The concept of flow. In C.R. Snyder & J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Nakken, C.M. (1998). Understanding the addictive process: Development of an addictive personality. Center City, MN: Hazelden. Perls, F. (1976). The gestalt approach and eyewitness to therapy (2nd ed). New York, NY: Bantam Books. Peterson, C., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Washington, DC: American Psychological

Association. Piaget, J. (1977). The essential Piaget. In H.E. Gruber & J.J. Voneche (Eds.). New York, NY: Basic Books. Prochaska, J.O., & DiClemente, C.C. (1992). Stages of change in the modification of problem behaviors. In M. Hersen, R.M. Eisler, & P.M. Miller (Eds.), Progress in behavior modification (pp. 184-214). Sycamore, IL: Sycamore Press. Rioux, D. (1996). Shamanic healing techniques: toward holistic addiction counseling. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 14(1):59-69. Ronell, A. (1993). Crack wars: Literature, addiction, mania. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. Schaeffer, B. (1997). Is it love or is it addiction? Center City, MN: Hazelden. Seligman, M.E., Steen, T.A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410-421. Shealy, S. (2009). Toward an integrally informed approach to alcohol and drug treatment: Bridging the science and spirit gap. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 4(3), 109-126. Short, B. (2006). AQAL: Beyond the biopsychosocial model. AQAL: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 1(3), 126-141. Siegel, R. (1984). The natural history of hallucinogens. In B. Jacobs (Ed.), Hallucinogens: Neurochemical, behavioral and clinical perspectives. New York, NY: Raven Press. Smuts, J.C. (1927). Holism and evolution (2nd ed). London: Macmillan & Co. Ulman, R.B., & Paul, H. (2006). The self psychology of addiction and its treatment: Narcissus in wonderland. New York, NY: Routledge. Weil, A. (1972). The natural mind. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. White, W.L. (1996). Pathways: From the culture of addiction to the culture of recovery. Center City, MN: Hazelden. Whitfield, C.L. (1991). Co-dependence, healing the human condition. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc. Wilber, K. (1997). An integral theory of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4(1), 71-92. Wieder, H., & Kaplan, E.H. (1969). Drug use in adoJournal of Integral Theory and Practice

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lescents: Psychodynamic meaning and pharmacogenic effect. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 24, 399-431. Wilber, K. (2000). Integral psychology: Consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Boston: Shambhala. Wilber, K. (2002a). Excerpt A: An integral age at the leading edge. 5 pts. Ken Wilber Online. Retrieved January 10, 2009, from Wilber, K. (2002b). Excerpt B: The many ways we touch: Three principles helpful for any integrative approach. Retrieved May 9, 2011, from http://

wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/kosmos/excerptD/excerptD.pdf. Wilber, K. (2006). Integral spirituality: A startling new role for religion in the modern and postmodern world. Boston, MA: Integral Books. Winkelman, M. (2001). Alternative and traditional medicine approaches for substance abuse programs: a shamanic perspective. International Journal of Drug Policy, 12, 337-351. Zoja, L. (1989). Drugs, addiction and initiation: The modern search for ritual. Boston, MA: Sigo.

GUY PIERRE DU PLESSIS, B.A. (Hons.), has worked in various addiction treatment clinics and facilities for over 12 years as a counselor, head of treatment, program director, trainer, and program developer. He holds a B.A. Honors degree from the University of South Africa in psychology, with specialization in psychological counseling. He is the developer of the Integrated Recovery Model, Integral Model of Addiction and Integrated Recovery Therapy, and also the first to pioneer and implement an integrally informed clinical model within an inpatient addiction treatment clinic. He is the author of a book about the Integrated Recovery approach, which is currently in development with SUNY Press. His main academic interests are developing well-researched, evidence-based theory and practice in the field of Integral Addiction Treatment. He is a Zen student under Sensei Mugaku Zimmerman (White Plum lineage), a musician/producer specializing in integrally informed avant-garde music, and his favorite activity and spiritual practice is spending time with his beloved daughter Coco.

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THE POSTCONVENTIONAL PERSONALITY

Book Review Terri O’Fallon

Reviewed Pfaffenberger, A.H., Marko, P.W., & Combs, A. (Eds.). (2011). The Postconventional Personality: Assessing, Researching, and Theorizing Higher Development. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

W

hat a pleasure to read an anthology that brings a trajectory of human development in view through its descriptions of individual development, research, and philosophy. Apprehending each chapter in this book through developmental eyes yields a rich display of perspectives. To begin, I want to be transparent about the lens through which I am viewing the offerings in The Postconventional Personality: 1) my own level of perspective taking, which has been informed primarily by Integral Theory and Susanne Cook-Greuter’s developmental work (2002, 2010); 2) the research I have conducted on developmental levels over the past eight years with the Pacific Integral Generating Transformative Change (GTC) community, which informs my understanding of development as an embodied experience; 3) a theory on stage development derived from Cook-Greuter’s and Wilber’s (2006) work, which I am in the midst of formulating and verifying; and 4) an appreciation of and deep respect for the many variations of developmental research. Also, it should be noted that I hold the work in The Postconventional Personality as a developmental whole (i.e., as applying not only to the evolution of individuals, but also to that of researchers, authors, and to developmental scales themselves). From an integral perspective, the book focuses primarily on two of the five elements of the Integral model—that of stages and states. So a good part of this review will address themes related to these two areas. Much of the book speaks to the research process itself, and even though there is a focus on the postconventional personality and what that might mean, frequently the authors and their studies move beyond the postconventional stages (Individualist and Autonomous in Jane Loevinger’s scale) to the post-postconventional, or postautonomous levels (e.g., Cook-Greuter, p. 58; Combs & Krippner, p. 212). Also, there are 15 chapters in the book, each filled with research, practice, and/or theory, so it is not possible to provide a detailed commentary on every author’s contribution. Therefore I will draw my commentary from knowledge in most chapters but cite those that support arising themes. The Postconventional Personality begins with an introduction by Angela Pfaffenberger and Paul Marko, and then presents commentaries by respected scholar-researchers on three thematic subdivisions in the book. The first section, “Assessing Advanced Personality Development,” focuses on the research process itself. The second section, “Emerging Research about Postconventional Development,” describes five different areas of research: 1) the issue of higher stages, 2) exploring facilitative agents, 3) happiness, 4) self transcendence in religious renunciates, and 5) leadership. The final section of the book, “Theories of Advanced Development,” explores concepts such as intentional versus active development; transcendent experiences; postformal religious constructions; personality in evolution; and integrity and the prism self.

Correspondence: Terri O’Fallon, Pacific Integral, LLC, 6827 Oswego Place Northeast, Suite B, Seale, WA 98115. E-mail: [email protected]. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 2012, 7(1), pp. 149–155

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Pfaffenburger and Marko’s introduction sets the focal points and parameters of the book: “While rooted in Jane Loevinger’s work, [this volume] goes beyond it in significant ways and presents a comprehensive examination of optimal adult development coming out of positive, developmental and humanistic psychology” (p. 1). The editors go on to present a brief description of Le Xuan Hy and Jane Loevinger’s Sentence Completion Test (SCT) stage model, as well as initial comparisons of its variations by Cook-Greuter, William Torbert, and Bill Joiner. One notion in the introduction seems noteworthy as an application to the entire book, its subject matter, and authors: Individuals who occupy the higher stages of development must, at some point during their lives, have experienced the earlier stages of development. Virtually all models of higher development maintain that each individual begins at the lowest possible stage and progresses onward through developmental levels in sequence. Thus, people understand the thinking and worldview of lower developmental stages but their comprehension of or empathy towards worldviews at higher levels is limited. (p. 6)

Assessing Advanced Personality Development The Loevinger Washington Sentence Completion Test (WSCT) and its derivatives are, essentially, the developmental scales referred to throughout the book. Several themes arise from this focal point, throwing light on the interpretations of the research and theory outlined in the remainder of book. One assessment theme involves the construct upon which the WSCT was predicated, that of an ego self. Pfaffenberger seems to question whether the concept of ego as first envisioned by Loevinger should change from its original conception (p. 18). This seems like an important notion to investigate related to meaning making at the postconventional and post-postconventional stages. Loevinger and Wessler (1970) describe ego development as …. the search for coherent meanings in experience … rather than just one amongst many equally important ego functions. The ego maintains its stability, its identity and its coherence by selectively gating out observations inconsistent with its current state—granting that one person’s coherence is another person’s gibberish. (p. 8) Later, the description of ego is rendered as …. style of life … the unity of personality, the method of facing problems, opinion about oneself and the problems of life and the whole attitude toward life … those terms were meant to be different ways of describing a single thing or function. That is what is here called ego. (p. 4) From these descriptions of ego, which remain relatively stable throughout Loevinger’s corpus, the ego is regarded as a central functioning of the self that has multiple components. These components develop in a way that includes one’s capacity to see this central functioning, enough so that they can gate out other views, depending on the level of development in which the self is positioned. That there are multiple levels of responses within any one individual is also recognized. Cook Greuter’s (1999) expanded definition does not seem to abandon any of Loevinger’s tenets of ego. She writes, “However, I use the term ‘ego’ here to denote the underlying principle in personality organization that strives for coherent meaning and orchestrates how we perceive reality” (p. 76). Next she quotes Loevinger: “Ego development is the term for the common element in the stage sequence and the corresponding 150

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dimension of individual differences (Loevinger, 1993, p. 6).” She then adds, The function of the ego as process is to organize, synthesize and integrate experience from both external and internal sources and to mediate among them. The ego is the central processing units within the rational, personal, symbol-mediated realm of experience. The ego as representation (the I and the me as one’s identity) can be understood as the result of this effort at integration. The created identity thus changes with the changing levels of integration. Interestingly, rare high-end SeTs seem to reflect the possibility of becoming a witness to both the ego’s efforts at processing and to the changing results of the process of “identity formation.” (p. 76) Both Loevinger and Cook-Greuter (2010) recognize the focus of the cognitive element in ego theory (p. 74). However, within the holistic dimension of the definition of ego, Cook-Greuter seems to add specific elements that transcend and include the definition that Loevinger laid as the foundation for the WSCT. CookGreuter is specific about the capacity of the self to take perspectives on itself (or not) as a central component of ego (p. 74). This is borne out in Loevinger’s material as early as the Self Aware stage (Hy & Loevinger, 1996; Loevinger, 1998), so it seems that Cook-Greuter is making this notion explicit (p. 24). Research in process (O’Fallon, 2011) suggests that there are at least three iterating patterns of ego, each transcending and including the previous one. This pattern first becomes apparent in the Egocentric stage, which builds the concrete ego, which is transcended and included by the Conscientious (ego) stage (Hy & Loevinger, 1996), which builds the subtle ego, which in turn is transcended and included by a posited Ego Aware stage (CookGreuter, Chapter Four). The expansion of the initial definition of “ego” has continued to develop with a hierarchical transcend-and-include approach by Loevinger (1998), Cook-Greuter (2010), and others. This scale has been correlated with other scales that were derived from it, where the construct of ego was used to support other developmental definitions. For example, Joiner (Chapter 9) has used a scale to correlate ego with levels of leadership agility. In addition, specific traits have been correlated with the WSCT. Tracie Blumentritt (Chapter 10) observes, “…that higher ego levels are associated with wisdom, self-esteem and a personality type characterized by intense interest in personal growth provides additional evidence for what Manners and Durkin (2001) refer to as the ‘conceptual soundness of ego development’” (p. 162). This seems to support additional horizontal and vertical broadening of constructs supported by the central ego and a heterarchical notion that the central concept of ego, itself, develops as one moves from preconventional to conventional to postconventional to post-post conventional stages (Combs & Krippner, Chapter 14, p. 212). A second theme relates to the validity and reliability of the postconventional and post-postconventional levels of the scale. Pfaffenburger (Chapter 1) has produced extensive verification of the preconventional and conventional stages of development as distinguished by the WSCT (pp. 10-14). Where the postconventional stages of Individualist, Autonomous, and Integrated are concerned, she brings cautionary questions, primarily as to whether or not postconventional utterances on the inventory actually distinguish these later levels. Several studies are cited, including one she conducted, where interview data were scored, some of which were not highly consistent with the SCT postconventional scores. From that she draws the conclusion: In summary, these studies allow for the conclusion that the SCT appears to be valid for sorting participants into the postconventional or conventional tier of development, but in regard to the exact ego stage, an error margin of about 50% may need to be taken into consideration … In sum, the SCT is clearly useful for researchers in the field, but an unequivocal endorsement for its use cannot be given at this time because more definitive studies about reliability and validity still need to be completed. (p. 17) Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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All of the studies cited in this review used interview data to correlate with or predict the results of the SCT. It may be important to ascertain the reliability of using interview data as a measure of validity of the scale, as many of the studies in The Postconventional Personality also used interview data. I have two questions about the summary outlined above. First, if we are to apply the tenet endorsed in the introduction, that the “capacity … to comprehend development of levels later than one’s own is limited” (p. 6), the question arises as to whether the researchers conducting the interviews in these studies were actually taking postconventional perspectives themselves. For instance, if an interview rater’s central ego level was at Conscientious, it would seem that they could recognize that level, but perhaps not later levels in an interview, for there is no manual for scoring interviews like there is for the SCT. Loevinger (1998) maintains that even with investigators experienced with and knowledgeable about the SCT but not knowing the scores, correlations with interviews have been weak (from 0.32 to 0.51) for these reasons (p. 34). Alternatively, Loevinger (1998) seems to support behavioral correlations over interviews as a better means of external validation (p. 35). Elaine Barker and William Torbert (Chapter 3) describe how they have used practical application to support the external validity of both the earlier Loevinger scale and the expanded Gook-Greuter scale. Their work also fits my experience (O’Fallon, June 2010). For the past eight years, my colleagues and I have done interobservations of respondents scoring with the SCT at levels of development from the Self Aware stage through Unitive (Cook-Greuter, 2010) in periods of up to 18 consecutive months, both individually and in groups. From this we began to learn what the descriptions of the constructs “postconventional and post-postconventional” mean in an embodied fashion, which greatly enhances understanding of these ego levels by both Loevinger (Hy & Loevinger, 1996) and Cook-Greuter (2002). I also appreciate Marko’s recognition that there is a range of scores within the 36 sentence completions, and that one could respond with any of those levels in an interview (p. 16). In review of this theme, perhaps questioning the validity and reliability of the WSCT as a whole (i.e., the inclusion of the Impulsive through the Integrated stage), which was validated in the main sample (Loevinger, 1998), might be more fruitful than using interviews to validate particular stages. It could be that the use of the inventory along with long-term observations might actually bring a more accurate description of what these stage descriptions mean and be better at supporting external validity. Also, Cook-Greuter (Chapter 4) reports that Loevinger’s Autonomous stage manual had less reliable inter-rater agreements and this might be a more appropriate distinction of reliability than comparison with interviews. Another area of concern related to the SCT has to do with changes to the scale itself. For example, would the scale be rendered invalid if used in contexts other than its original design (i.e., research only vs. research and application) (Cook-Greuter, Chapter 4)? Is the scale invalidated if the sentence stems have been altered or others have been substituted for the original ones? Will adding new stages to the scale invalidate it (Pfaffenburger, p. 18)? Loevinger (1998) makes it clear that “there is no objection to a researcher substituting one or a few stems of his or her own choosing for an equal number of stems in the new Form 81” (p. 14), and both Barker and Torbert (Chapter 3) and Cook-Greuter (Chapter 4) have followed this practice. Torbert has added six stems, which increased the face validity of the scale (p. 45) and the new stems correlate with the protocol better than the ones that were dropped from the original scale (p. 46). Also, by using the scale in practical situations rather than only in research venues, the external validity was actually increased (pp. 48-49). Additional levels were added to the inventory by Cook-Greuter (p. 58). Therefore, the scoring algorithm has changed in the Cook-Greuter scale, and it necessarily would, given that there are two more stages than in Loevinger’s most recent rendition of the SCT; probability measures are based on the number of stages that have been verified and will change whenever additional stages are added to the scale, so inter-rating between the two scales would not produce the same results. The final rating in each inventory is a matter of probability statistics, which change depending on the variables (number of stages) included. Loevinger 152

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(1998) also recognized this when she produced different algorithms for her latest version of the SCT, moving from the original nine stages to eight stages in her 1996 version (p. 23). The research process and approach continues to evolve. Loevinger (1998) began with an exemplar manual, then moved to a categorized manual, then to a thematic manual with categories. Cook- Greuter (2010) extended this process with the recognition and use of developmental patterns. In summary, as an implicitly agreed upon construct underlying this book, new levels of development will continue to appear and thus the very construct of the ego itself is likely to develop. The ego development scale (Loevinger’s WSCT, 1998; Torbert’s Leadership Development Profile [LDF], Chapter 3; CookGreuter’s Mature Adult Profile [SCTi-MAP], Chapter 4) appears to be developing with new levels being added; cut-off calculations distinguishing the boundaries of each level in earlier renditions of this scale are likely to continue to change in light of future research, as borne out in later versions of the SCT by both Loevinger (1998) and Cook-Greuter (2010). Thus, probability statistics have been and will likely continue to be altered to accommodate evolution (Cook-Greuter, Chapter 4). As well, the trajectory of the research process itself will likely continue to develop.

Stage Development Related to States Six of the fifteen chapters in The Postconventional Personality describe some relationship between states and stages. Some of the themes in the discussion above are also relevant here. For example, of the chapters that reported on individual studies, four of five used interviews and four of five used the Loevinger or CookGreuter scale as their developmental measure. I found some interesting results related to the use of interviews in these studies. Two studies hypothesized that self-reported transcendent experiences in interviews would predict later ego levels, but the correlation in both instances was negligible (Travis & Brown, Chapter 2). Since there is question as to whether an interview can be successfully scored developmentally, as suggested earlier in this review, these two studies seem to support that notion. However, when interviews were used as an elaboration of the tested ego level, the hypothesis seemed to be confirmed (Marko, Chapter 6; Heaton, Chapter 12). When the ego level is ascertained through testing, and interviews are conducted to discover experiences connected with a designated level, it seems that a more extended vision of the level is established. For example, Marko (Chapter 6) was able to discern different kinds of facilitative agents (developmental triggers) at the Individualist, the Autonomous, and the two latest Postautonomous stages, which had more altered states as triggers. But the interview data appeared to be connected to the stages, rather than the other way around. This is of particular interest when comparing the work of Fred Travis and Sue Brown (Chapter 2) to Dennis Heaton (Chapter 12). Travis and Brown hypothesized that “individuals reporting sustained postrepresentational experiences should at least be at the higher stages of the third tier of ego development” (p. 33). Their population was comprised of 11 Transcendental Meditation (TM) practitioners who had reported these experiences and had taken the SCT. In addition, Travis and Brown conducted brain studies on these research participants. The correlation was low, but by way of comparison, Heaton, who describes a longitudinal study of TM mediators where no interviews were used to predict ego levels, reports a positive correlation of TM with individual ego development.1 It may be important for researchers to be aware of the use of interviews related to developmental stages, particularly if one is selecting a research population on the assumption that you can predict their developmental level from a claim or an interview. Related to some of the successes of the TM studies reported by Heaton, it appears that at least in some of the studies, TM was alternated with “normal” activities (Chapter 12, p. 171), wherein at least one longitudinal study involved participants going through Maharishi University of Management while using a control group from other universities. In this case, the context of the Maharishi University may have had as much effect on the longitudinal growth as did TM. To confirm this suspicion, my colleagues and I have done pre- and Journal of Integral Theory and Practice

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post-MAP (Cook-Greuter, Chapter 4) tests in our Generating Transformative Change program, where meditation is an option but not a requirement. Our participants are retested every two years; several groups have been tested twice after they have left the 18-month program, and we continue to see developmental gains in them as well. Ken Wilber (personal communication, February 2, 2010) has stated that simply knowing about these levels is psychoactive (i.e., individuals who study developmental models are more likely to achieve growth in some aspect of their lives). Relative to these state/stage observations, something more appears to be happening. First, getting an exact definition of an advanced “state” across these studies seems to be difficult but there appears to be general agreement in several of the studies. Travis and Brown (Chapter 2) and Heaton (Chapter 12) refer to pure, or cosmic consciousness, accessed in waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep. Marko (Chapter 6) also refers to experiences that took place in altered consciousness (p. 99) and Heidi Page (Chapter 8) refers to transcendent ego levels (p. 126). These four studies seem to recognize some sense of transcendent experience. On the other hand, James Day (Chapter 13) speaks more about religiosity, particularly related to moral development, and Allan Combs and Stanley Krippner (Chapter 14) arrive at a multitude of distinctions across the WilberCombs Lattice (p. 219). In several of the studies there seems to be an interest in the object of awareness in the various states (Heaton, p. 179; Page, p. 123; Travis & Brown, pp. 23-24). The critical aspect of awareness could be an additional focus of any definition in addition to transcendence. For example, references in these chapters are made to awareness of concrete and subtle objects, and Torbert has a very interesting trajectory of awareness, which he calls single-, double-, and triple-loop learning (Barker & Torbert, p. 41), 45). Singleloop learning involves awareness of the concrete and outside world; double-loop learning involves awareness of your interior world of thinking or feeling about the concrete or actions; and triple-loop learning involves being in the undifferentiated ground of awareness, holding the double-loop and single-loop continuum simultaneously (p. 45). To elaborate on this further, Combs and Krippner (Chapter 14) share the notion of the Wilber-Combs Lattice, which involves the capacity to have concrete, subtle, causal, and nondual states at each stage, and Cook-Greuter (2010) refers to four tiers of stage development: preconventional, conventional, postconventional, and post-postconventional (postautonomous) (p. 212). If the observations across these studies and proposed theories were integrated, one might imagine how the personality would “grow up” to postconventional and post-conventional stages where tiers with stages are interwoven with states. In this conception, the first tier holds several stages that involve subtle state awareness with concrete objects (single-loop learning), which with practice could be held in concrete waking, perhaps in subtle dreaming, and possibly causal state emptiness in dreamless sleep.2 The second tier is subtle, with stages supporting state awareness of subtle objects (i.e., thinking about thinking as described in Combs & Krippner [p. 209] and Barker & Torbert’s double-loop learning [p. 41]) in concrete waking, in subtle dreaming, and causal emptiness in deep dreamless sleep. The third postautonomous tier, in which causal state awareness holds awareness itself as its object (triple-loop learning), encompasses concrete waking, subtle dreaming, and causal emptiness as ordinary. Note that this tier would recognize state awareness of concrete waking, subtle dreaming, and causal deep dreamless sleep as available to each level of development (Combs & Krippner); however, the object of awareness would be determined by whether the developmental stage level was a concrete stage (first tier), a subtle, conventional/ postconventional stage (second tier), a causal stage (third tier), or a later stage (nondual tier) (Combs & Krippner, p. 212). A state in an earlier tier becoming ordinary at a later tier could be the drive to move toward the next tier (Marko, Chapter 6) where new states with different objects would be recognized.

Summary

I thoroughly enjoyed pouring through this volume, which has as its backdrop the SCT as envisioned by Loevinger, elaborated by Torbert, and developed to the next stage by Cook-Greuter. With 15 separate topics 154

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divided into three sections, finding overarching meanings and themes between the chapters enhanced my own understanding of the SCT, as well as the distinctions between postconventional and post-postconventional personalities. As a whole, the book gave me a deep appreciation for the sheer magnitude of the reach and sweep of this measure, and of its developmental nature; a theory, research approach, and resulting scale that itself appears to have developed and anchors for us a promise for the continuation of its development through the span of multiple researchers through time, beginning with those honored in this volume. The construct upon which the SCT was developed, that of “ego,” the central functioning of the self, also appears to be evolving along with the understanding of later developmental levels: the postconventional and post-postconventional levels of development that this volume investigates. To me, this speaks to the robustness of the original scale and its continuing value, as well as the unique pliable quality it has to accommodate evolving theory, definitions, and measurement of the central functioning of the self as it continues to mature.

NOTES 1

Heaton hypothesizes that there would be ego level growth for those using TM (using a comparison group) over a period of 10 years. 2 See Travis & Brown (Chapter 2) and Heaton (Chapter 12) for discussion.

REFERENCES Cook-Greuter, S. (2002). Ego development: Nine levels of increasing embrace. Retrieved January 3, 2012, from http://areas.fba.ul.pt/jpeneda/CookGreuter.pdf. Cook-Greuter, S. (2010). Postautonomous ego development: A study of its nature and measurement. Boston, MA: Integral Publishers. Hy, L.X., & Loevinger, J. (1996). Measuring ego development. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Loevinger, J. (Ed.). (1998). Technical foundations for measuring ego development: The Washington University Sentence Completion Test. Mahwah,

NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Loevinger, J., & Wessler, R. (1970). Measuring ego development 1:Construction and use of a sentence completion test. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass. O’Fallon, T. (June 2010). Developmental experiments in individual and collective movement to second tier. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 5(2), 149-160. O’Fallon T. (2011). Stages: Growing up is waking up— Interpenetrating quadrants, states and structures. Pacific Integral. Available at: www.pacificintegral.com. Wilber, K. (2006). Integral spirituality: A startling new role for religion in the modern and postmodern world. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

TERRI O’FALLON, Ph.D., has taught, consulted, led, and conducted research in the field of “Learning and Change in Human Systems” for more than 46 years. Her work has included leading a nonprofit corporation serving the adult developmentally disabled, public schools administration, and university teaching. Terri’s previous research specialized in online and face-to-face learning communities, dialogic approaches to making new knowledge, and designing learning systems. Terri is a Principal of Pacific Integral, which conducts Generating Transformative Change (GTC), a leadership program that provides developmental research on leaders that enter and complete the program. She is a certified scorer of the Leadership MAP. Her most recent work is as Director of the Developmental Research Institute, where she is conducting research on the later levels of human development.

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