The Daily Evolver

Evolving your consciousness means enlarging your circle of moral consideration. Who is inside your circle and who is “the other”? In this episode, Ankur Delight and I look at the moral development of humanity, and the integral challenge of including people of different worldviews.

Taking a little summer break from the news, Ankur Delight and I turn our attention to a subject that has fascinated – and terrified – human beings since day one: what happens when we die? What might the integral answer to that question be? Enjoy the episode! Ankur Delight – 10,000 Heroes podcast Jeff Salzman – The Daily Evolver podcast _________________________ Join me at the live Fireside Chat I do two Fireside Chats a month, on the first and third Wednesday. The next one is on Wednesday, August 2nd at 2pm MT, 4pm ET. Join us – it’s freewheeling integral fun! Zoom link here. You can also add it to your calendar here. Join other events at Integral Life here – many free events open to all.

Hey folks! In this episode, I look at the evolutionary significance of our emerging mediaverse, with its gusher of entertainment coming to us from all over the world. How do we navigate it? We ask our friends! In that spirit I offer: * My favorite TV series of all time * My least favorite movie of the year, and why it’s my fault * The Flintstone Effect: projecting modern consciousness onto premodern times * The battle (in my head) between Robert Eggers (yay!) and Taylor Sheridan (boo!) This episode is edited from the regular Fireside Chat I host with the Integral Life Practice community. Check out all their offerings on integral living at www.integrallife.com/calendar Join me for the next live Fireside Chat I do two a Fireside Chats a month, on the first and third Wednesday. The next one is this coming Wednesday, July 19th at 2pm MT, 4pm ET. Join us – it’s freewheeling integral fun! Zoom link here. Enjoy the episode! Jeff Salzman

This week Ankur and I share our 4th of July experiences and chart the different routes we took to a more integral appreciation of America. Enjoy! – Jeff Ankur Delight – 10,000 Heroes podcast Jeff Salzman – The Daily Evolver podcast Lee Mead’s Anthem (for a taste of integral patriotism)

Hey folks, welcome to another episode of The Shrink and the Pundit, where Dr Keith Witt, integral psychotherapist extraordinaire, joins me to take a look at our next generation: the kids, teenagers and people entering their twenties. Are they okay? Dr Keith and I explore this question through the lens of cultural development. I hope you enjoy! Jeff Salzman And check out a new transformational offering, The Elephant in the Room, from my friends at Momentum Lab … 

In this short episode, we bring an integral lens to a controversial New York Times story, “Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History”. Jeff Salzman, The Daily Evolver Podcast Ankur Delight – 10,000 Heroes podcast

In this episode, Jeff Salzman and Ankur Delight look at the culture war and explore exciting new insights Ankur has gained from training with mediation master Ken Cloke.

In this episode, Jeff Salzman and Ankur Delight look at some of the questions involving the emerging workplace: Will artificial intelligence be able to create? How do we integrate the goals of achievement and growth with the goals of equity and sustainability? What is the role of people who can’t or won’t fit into the system?

Hey folks, As integral practitioners, we have insights that help us harmonize cultural polarities, which is why it’s too bad Bill Maher didn’t invite me on his recent show with Elon Musk where they decried the “woke mind virus”. Woke is the activist/fanatic arm of the emerging mass culture of postmodernity. Every stage of human development has activists and fanatics whose job is to fully bring forth the worldview (call it the “mind virus”) of their age. Our job is to see what they so desperately want us to see and to critically consider what they want us to do. We do the same with their opponents, cultivating the integrated wisdom that arises when one is able to hold multiple perspectives. I hope you enjoy the episode, edited from the ‘fireside chat” I hold regularly with the Integral Life Practice Community. Next chat is June 7th at 1 pm Pacific Time, Zoom link here. Join us!

A brand new iteration of “This Week in the News”. Ankur Delight, who hosts one of my favorite podcasts, 10,000 Heroes, joins me to bring an integral take to the headlines of the week. This week, we look at the big shakeup in the mainstream news media. Days ago, and within an hour of each other, Fox News and CNN fired two of their biggest stars: Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon. What does this say about the modern news business, the evolution of our culture … and the possibility of a President Carlson? Hope you enjoy.

Hey folks, This week I look at a rising star in the mainstream commentariat: Peter Zeihan. To me he is a good example of a proto-integral thinker in that he is a master synthesizer, weaving compelling narratives about our world that include economics, demography, geography, politics and history. He gives me a far more integrated understanding of a variety of issues from the Russia / Ukraine war to the workings of the drug cartels, to “Is it Oklahoma’s time to shine?” Yet, as with so many contemporary thinkers, his analysis misses the core value of integral thinking: that human consciousness and cultures have evolved and that they continue to. In this episode, I look at this missing piece that integral thinking offers, and which adds an invaluable element to any analysis of human events. I hope you enjoy the episode! – Jeff Salzman

This week I look at the hubbub surrounding the introduction of large language chatbots, the latest evolutionarily-potent development in artificial intelligence. A long-time listener asked ChatGPT to write a poem expressing Ken Wilber’s developmental stages. The result (below) is mind-blowing. How is it possible for a machine to create three verses that capture the essence of developmental theory so well? Mind-blowing, yes, but is it beautiful? Can it be beautiful when it was written by a machine? Welcome to humanity’s next stage of understanding itself and our place in the cosmos. ALSO, it’s Trump’s turn in the dock with his indictment in Manhattan. Is this good or bad for democracy? For the answer, we look to the old Chinese farmer … I hope you enjoy the episode! – Jeff Salzman PS – This is an edited version of a live “Fireside Chat” I do with the Integral Life Practice Community every first and third Wednesday of the month. Join me this Wednesday, April 19, at 1 pm Pacific Time (Zoom link).   On Ken Wilber’s Developmental Theory by ChatGPT Ascending the steps, we embark, On a journey through levels so stark, Wilber’s wisdom reveals, That development heals, As we climb, a new consciousness sparks. In the spiral of growth, we find, Our perceptions and thoughts intertwined, With each stage that we pass, A more intricate grasp, Of the depths of humanity’s mind. From the shadows to radiant light, Through these stages our souls take flight, In a dance of ascent, Where our hearts find content, In the wisdom that guides us to unite.

The DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) movement is one of the leading edges of cultural evolution, installing green postmodern values which in part seek to correct hidden power imbalances regarding race, gender and identity in American institutions. My guest today is Diane Musho Hamilton, who has been on the front lines of the DEI movement for over two decades, starting as a diversity trainer in the Utah Supreme Court. Diane is also a transmitted Zen teacher in the White Plum Tradition, and a highly respected leader in the integral community. Diane’s specialty is working with groups under stress, of which there is no shortage when it comes to DEI initiatives. She is a master of metabolizing group energies and emotions thereby making space for new levels of collaboration and community to emerge. Diane is currently enrolling a new cohort in her Real LIFE Facilitator Program, a seven-month training in leadership, Integral theory, facilitation skills and the dynamics of working groups. It focuses on how to engage conflict, polarities and group shadow, as well as how to work creatively with them. We start our conversation by looking at the Integral movement in general and the unique perspectives it brings to the project of diversity, equity and inclusion. I hope you enjoy! – Jeff Salzman

Hey Folks, In this Daily Evolver I explore a variety of topics:  A telling difference between green art and integral art  – Learn more about the Lost Birds music here. Yes, stages exist but maybe the spiral is spiked Traditionalism’s hot war on modernity in Ukraine Ghosts: an integrally-flavored tv comedy! This episode is recorded from the live “Fireside Chat” I do twice a month (1st and 3rd Wednesdays) for Integral Life.  Join us live if you can this coming Wednesday the 29th at 1 PT, 4ET.  Integral Life is building an impressive community of integral practitioners, and you can check out all the opportunities to participate here.   I hope you enjoy this episode!   Jeff Salzman

In this episode, I take a look at three cultural artifacts that present worldcentric ideals of sustainability, egalitarianism and gender fluidity through an ethnocentric lens of good versus evil: * Avatar: The Way of Water – James Cameron’s latest movie in his great green myth of Pandora, a pristine planet attacked by modernity (and a few pre-trans fallacies). * Bros – A gay romantic comedy produced by Judd Apatow, where the triumph of queer ideology is a moral imperative. * Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race – A picture book for preschoolers that shows how we would live in a world without regard for skin color – if it weren’t for white people. All contain developmental truths enmeshed with us-versus-them resentments that power the culture wars. Welcome to the beautiful-but-not-pretty evolution of consciousness! * Jeff Salzman PS: I’m posting more on Twitter these days and you can “follow” me there @dailyevolver.