report from the second international Integral Theory Conference 2010 in San Francisco
- Extract from the online journal "integrally informed", Issue 25
Dennis Wittrock, August 2010
Image: Campus at JFK University, Pleasant Hill, CA was the title of the conference on Integral Enacting Future . "Enactment", in German as "staging" means in the context of the integral theory and practice that our experience of reality not in any prescribed form lying around, but that we actively by our recognition efforts and practices co-create and produce. could, with over 100 speakers, 77 individual presentations, 15 panels, 16 workshops in the interlude and 24 poster presentations an impressive stage had been prepared, on which over 500 participants from all over the world together now stage the next step of an integrated future.
I was on Monday in San Francisco arrived to give my body enough time to arrive so that I could handle the full program the following weekend. About my old friend, John Dupuy, active integrals in addiction recovery, I was in touch with Adam Gorman, was currently taught doctoral candidate at the JFKU. True to the spirit of ILP, we went right after my arrival to the gym and practiced meditation in the morning together, minimizing my jet lag evident.
Wednesday evening with Steve McIntosh @ Bay Area Integral
Image: Steve McIntosh at the lecture After some sightseeing on Tuesday I should an event on Wednesday evening, the local Bay Area group with the integral Integral philosopher Steve McIntosh organized on the occasion of the ITC was in the area. Terry Patten gave host a brief introduction and then presented McIntosh, entitled "Progress and aim of Evolution A summary of the main theses of his new book. Thus evolution is essentially a dialectical process that is driven by the production and realization of ever higher levels. McIntosh's strategy is to use the book mainly to address people, attach to the modern world view and to show what evidence can be solely derived from the science to the development point of view, which begins at the Big Bang, in the realm of matter and life continues and finally, the field of mind and culture includes. According to him, eg an emergent quality at the level of life (biosphere) the ability of organisms - such as rudimentary whatsoever - to follow intentions and evaluative to make decisions. This ability has a specific survival value. This gets to blossom in human culture (noosphere), in which the values trio of truth, beauty, good looks as an evolutionary attractor. McIntosh's book will soon appear in the U.S..
Thursday: "Who are we?" - Began Pitirim A. Sorokin integral to 2.5
The conference on Thursday with 14 pre-conference workshops. I first attended a half-day introduction to Holacracy with Brian Robertson because I was curious as to which aspects of its integral practice for organizations, he would get close to this particular audience. In addition, I looked at a workshop with Marilyn Hamilton and Cherie Beck, who used the lenses of an integral urban planning and patterns of recurring cycles of generation on the health of cities and municipalities.
: Mark Forman, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens & Jordan Luftig In the evening there was the grand opening of the conference at the Hilton Hotel. The main organizers of the conference, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens and Mark Forman and David Zeitler gave an introduction to the topic. Sean opened wide when he posed the question "Who are we?" And "How will we look back a thousand years to this conference?" He stressed that the practical application of theory in practice, the litmus test and that the ITC all two years as a kind of check-in could serve, where you'll see what has emerged in the meantime. He described that the necessary process of differentiation began the figurehead of the field of Ken Wilber already at the first conference in 2008.
David Zeitler went in more detail on the question "Who are we?" one, as he presented the findings of a survey of the conference two years ago. Accordingly, on average, had already made many of the participants ever mystical experiences and were moved by the issues of "cultural fragmentation and belonging", "ecological devastation and renewal" and "psychological regression and transformation." The most important element of the integral theory felt the 47% level of consciousness than to convey the most difficult to communicate with colleagues from their own discipline, the element states of consciousness has been called. Overall, a large range of different evaluations found that indicate that substantive tensions will persist in the field. This fact was interpreted as a sign of a healthy, diverse community.
Mark Forman considered the question of differentiation of Ken Wilber precise and made clear that the integral equation = Wilber is not tenable in which he focused on the search for the footsteps of predecessors made and stressed that present alternatives to AQAL admit. Nevertheless, Forman said that AQAL is a refined model and compared with a mathematical genius Wilber, who are present but his solution, but often not the way he it got there. He described the objective of the conference, a scientifically robust view of Integral. As the academic world traditions familiar and singular figures often distrusted, did he show a concern a historical perspective, even if only a preliminary, schematic:
history of Integral
integral beta: Early integral thinkers
integral 1.0: AQAL (1995), Ken Wilber Integral
2.0: The Convergence and Application (ITC 2008)
Integral 2.5: differentiation, diversity, research (ITC 2010)
Integral 3.0: towards a mature integrated academic
He also pointed out five ways in which the field starts from Wilber to
differentiate 1) evidence
2) interpretation
3) Application and emphasis
4) method
5) Framework
The first three are the easiest. If you look at other data refers to (1), AQAL interpreted differently (2), or by applying experience other aspects emphasized (3) is much easier than if you want to change independently the integral method (4) or the Framework (5) . When three Challenges here Forman called the sheer volume of written material (Sean Esbjörn-Hargens estimated it at about 10,000 pages - only by Wilber - and 10,000 pages of others), the difficulty of applying AQAL and the difficulty of creating a method for meta- Research. Such a method would make reconstruct why you shoot in which aspects of its meta-theory, instead of just presenting the results of the process (as Wilber). designated
Mark Forman it a great turning point in our view, the Integral to be regarded as historical line. In this spirit, he presented then another - in integrated circuits so far unknown - Ken Wilber's precursor: the Russian and American sociologists Pitirim A. Sorokin (1889-1968). This also began the term "integral" to use, referring among others to the "three channels" of body, mind and intuition, in which every man available. In addition to these and other parallels with Wilber Forman had worked out deliciously, like Sorokin apparently had a similarly ambivalent relationship with his critics. From contemporary accounts of his colleagues went out this vividly as Sorokin mercilessly cut - Wyatt Earp would approve. The ensuing laughter in the audience was a healthy self-mockery in the field . Close
Sean Esbjörn-Hargens In analysis of the status quo is ranked the first ITC in 2008 looking back on the motto "Love Fest", during 2010 for it all under the sign of differentiation - not only in relation to Wilber. He highlighted in particular the work of Mark Edwards, whose concept of "lenses" he described as groundbreaking. The five elements of AQAL can therefore be regarded as a theoretical lens through which the world can be developed. There are still other possible lenses, such as the lens 'power', in the postmodern thinkers as Foucault plays a central role, but in the integral theory not previously been emphasized (demarcation needs compared to post-modern?). He summarized the decoupling of Ken Wilber and Integral Theory in the following diagram:
as factors that influence this decoupling, he was one of Wilber's disease and the resulting silence itself (long no output anymore), newly prominent voices, new publications, both ITC conferences, and Mark Edwards on metatheory.
As a new alternative to Wilber-centric approaches on the one hand and the "bunch" of Wilber-neutral "integral studies" on the other hand illustrated Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, the third possibility of Wilber-based position using the metaphor of a tree. The tree is rooted in the work integral pioneers, such as Gebser, Baldwin, Aurobindo, is his master (father) Wilber, and starting from there he branched out into various applications, extensions and publications. clouds hovering above him, the critic, like Visser and Edwards, the rain is nourishing. You can see from this picture, as is very Esbjörn-Hargens home in ecology. He called for the integral approach as a "theory of anything" umzutitulieren (instead of "everything") - not a "theory of everything", but a theory that can be applied to any aspect of reality.
the title of the conference "Enactment" he described as a continuous koan. It means the active participation in the reality, not just their image. Central here are the methodologies, the how of the production. Ultimately, it related to the practice. And he urged those present to practice in the following days, the following properties: reflexivity, critical dialogue, paradoxes keep taking meta-statements, change of perspective, dialectic ... and generosity to each other - the latter having in common academic discourse often enough a foreign word is.
The introductory lecture Surprise was the first of what should be a great concert. Sean Esbjörn-Hargens had laid calculated that, considering the numerous combinations of offers (the calculator of its iPhones on strike in the meantime) at least 800 million different ways possible, the conference to go through. I was curious what would be mine.
the complete Part 1 of the report is Online Journal "integrally informed" to read Issue 25 . appears from September 2010 .
Picture: Allan Combs, Terry Patten, Steve McIntosh, Craig Hamilton
0 comments:
Post a Comment