"Things fall apart, the center does not hold.”
—Poet W.B. Yeats, at the close of World War I
RECOVERING OUR “CENTER”
An invitation to the integral worldview
In the last few generations, the “modernist” consensus of rationality, democracy, and enlightened self-interest has broken down. The relentless modernist attack on religion and the reality of consciousness itself has diminished the moral heart of civilization, unleashing a reign of scientific reductionism that tells us that we are nothing but biochemistry and neuron impulses. Lacking a moral center, today’s anarchic reign of materialistic economic globalization has contributed to war, environmental destruction, and inequality.
Arising at mid-century to critique these growing maladies was the boomer generation, armed with higher consciousness, egalitarianism, relativism, and “new paradigms.” Their critique of modernism at first brought such blessings as the civil rights movement, environmentalism, and feminism. But like the modernists they attack, the postmodern boomers have over time shown no clear direction, still leaving us mired in a fragmented world. Though helpful at first, postmodernism these days serves up an anything-goes pluralism, relativism, and political correctness that is ineffective at restraining the excesses of the modernist worldview.
Recovering our center of gravity: introducing the integral approach.
Without being widely known yet, advanced groups of individuals around the world are building a new culture that is recovering its soul and its center. This dynamic mega-perspective is called the integral worldview. It’s a large-scale, powerful step in cultural evolution—and a quantum leap beyond boomer postmodernism.
The emerging integral worldview sits at the point of convergence of the cutting edge of science, philosophy, and religion. All that was needed was an intention to find a new center of gravity—a desire to develop a complex and comprehensive map of the whole. Why give in to fragmentation and postmodern eclecticism when, in the Internet age, all the world’s wisdom is easily accessible? The integral worldview glues the pieces back together, showing how the “center can hold” through a structured, multi-perspectival model for all of life and cosmic reality.
In essence, the integral worldview arose from extensive cross-cultural research that has sifted through the entirety of the many partial truths of the world’s great wisdom traditions, cultural worldviews, and knowledge disciplines. It has pruned out the errors and limited perspectives, and giving us a model of human development that transcends but includes the best elements of it all. Consider these questions: Are you seeking a cultural container in which to anchor your soul growth? Integralism draws from a rich exploration of the universal features and deepest core of our common humanity—highlighting especially the great truth of the evolution. It reveals the actual “directions toward perfection” of human culture and consciousness. This allows you to locate your life and your community on the spiral of universal development, showing what’s already there, and what is missing.
Had it with the political paralysis of left and right? Integral politics builds upon inclusive both/and solutions in the realm of governance. Modernism gifted us with markets and the rule of law; postmodern gave us the search for justice and equality. Integral politics blends these contributions, and then points us to world peace and prosperity through enforceable global law, and planetary democracy. The rule of law at the global level also ensures local control of natural resources and protects the integrity of community life and culture.
Seeking a holistic lifestyle and personal spirituality that balances your inner and outer needs with obvious social and cultural imperatives? The integral model of reality integrates the subjective and the objective worlds with the demands of the many and the one. There is indeed both a spiritual center within us and a transcendent center of the universe; there is a God of evolution, an absolute Deity of impersonal cosmic reality, as well as a personal God of love and mercy!
The rallying cry of the emerging integral culture: “Transcend and Include!”
Hope is alive again, but at the meantime, today’s world stagnates in a state of perpetual war. Each worldview previous to integral consciousness is partial and rigid; that’s why each one attacks and even tries to replace all other worldviews—witness the Cold War, the War on Terror, and the endless culture war now waged by and against postmodernism. By contrast, the integral worldview embraces and includes the healthiest values and tools of all previous worldviews. It integrates the highest lessons of:
- The quest for moral order of classic pre-modernism.
- The linear rationalism of modernist scientific materialism.
- The multiple interpretations of postmodern relativism.
The integral model rises above and includes the best of all of these passing cultures, and even of previous worldviews. Indeed, it offers a new global ethic that respects and nurtures each useful contribution at each level of consciousness and culture!
Integral leadership—the new key to the future of human evolution
All previous worldviews were partial, solving the problems of the moment and then throwing off specific lessons for mankind. But in today’s pluralistic world, everything is stalled in cultural gridlock. Planetary evolution languishes, awaiting the integral leadership that is soon to be provided by today’s emerging heroes and heroines of integral consciousness. Are you one of them? Are you ready for this adventure of the ages? Are you prepared to rediscover your own center, and the Center of all? Then tune into the truth and beauty of integral worldview. We’ll show you how to get started!
By Byron Belitsos
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