The Daily Evolver

The Shrink and the Pundit is an ongoing discussion between Jeff and his longtime friend, Dr. Keith Witt, a leading Integral psychotherapist. In this podcast they explore the topic of self-love. Dr. Keith traces the relationship that each of us has with our own “self-sense” from birth (actually gestation), when we fall from the paradise of the womb to begin the process of growth into ever new worlds of conditional love. That pattern continues until we reach higher stages of development, where a more integrated sense of self is able to love what has previously been in shadow. Dr. Keith presents practical ideas on how to become more aware of self-defeating patterns of thought and behavior, and how to transmute them into a loving self-acceptance that can elevate you as well as the people around you. A father of two himself, Dr. Keith shares specific insights into ways to support a loving sense of self in the children in your life. Later in the podcast, Dr. Keith leads Jeff in a simple yet powerful exercise designed to develop one’s capacity for self-love. Here it is so you can try it too: * While attending to the sensation in your chest area, ask yourself the question, “At this moment am I willing to love and accept myself no matter what?” * If you feel a pleasurable relaxation in your chest, the answer is probably, “Yes, at this moment I am willing to love and accept myself no matter what.” Enjoy this moment of self-acceptance. * If you feel an uncomfortable tightening or constriction in your chest area as you ask, “At this moment am I willing to love and accept myself no matter what?” the answer is probably, “No, at this moment I am not willing to love and accept myself no matter what.” * If your answer is, “No,” ask yourself, “Why not?” and answer the question of why you are not willing to love and accept yourself at this moment no matter what. The answer doesn’t have to be rational. It can be, “Because I don’t deserve it,” or “Because I don’t know how to love and accept myself,” or “Because I’m not a nice person,” or, “I eat too much sugar,” or, “Because I forgot to feed my dog today.” Don’t dispute or indulge the answer, just observe it with interest. * After you answer the “Why not?” question, ask yourself again, “At this moment am I willing to love and accept myself no matter what?” while paying attention to your chest area. Does your chest get tighter or looser? Observe any shifts with interest. * Practice this sequence five times a day for a month. You’ll notice your chest getting looser after you answer the “Why not?” question. You’ll also probably more frequently answer, “Yes,” to the “At this moment am I willing…” question. * If you practice this exercise consistently, over time you’ll program, “Yes, I am willing to love and accept myself at this moment no matter what,” deeper and deeper into your adaptive unconscious. This is one way of growing your capacity for self-love. Listen in as Jeff and Dr. Keith discuss how to cultivate “a warm sense of oneness with your self as being good, caring and beautiful.”

My colleagues Diane Hamilton and Terry Patten are here at my home, preparing for the Integral Living Room gathering which begins tomorrow. They arrived a day early, yesterday (November 8), so we could celebrate Hillary Clinton’s victory together. Ha ha! Instead we, like millions of people, are trying to come to terms with the victory of Donald Trump. Suddenly we are in a new world dealing with questions like: * Where are we? * Why did this happen? * What do we need to see? * How might we respond? Of course nothing is settled, except that we are embarking on a new adventure together — one that Diane, Terry and I, at least, would never have chosen. We recorded a conversation of our process to share with you, in case it might help you make sense of things as well.

Defeat Trump! Not because he is a big alpha figure who would bust up the establishment. Not because he's vulgar. Not because lacks a coherent policy vision. Those things can actually be evolutionarily potent in their proper measure. No, the real problem with Donald Trump is that in important lines of development he is arrested at the level of a five-year-old. Keep nukes out of the hands of children. Make sure to vote!

I had a terrific gabfest with my Integral besties Diane Musho Hamilton and Terry Patten about the Clinton-Trump campaign. I’m sharing it with you here. We recorded ourselves Monday, October 10th, the day after the second Presidential debate (the debate preceded by Trump’s press conference with four women who accuse Bill and Hillary Clinton of abuse). Here’s some of what we talked about: * Is Trump degrading our culture? * The painful karma of being the first female presidential candidate, and how Hillary is handling it. * What about the third party option? * The gift of Trump: how something ugly can create something beautiful. In the call I test-drove my theory that this campaign, as appalling as it is, is a powerful engine of cultural evolution and is moving us to a more intelligent and humane place (as long as Trump doesn’t get anywhere near the Oval Office of course). Have a listen and see if Terry and Di buy it. And if you do too … – Jeff

If there’s one thing that people on both ends of the political spectrum can agree on, it’s this: the system is rigged. That is a central theme of Donald Trump’s campaign, as he claims “nobody knows the [rigged] system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” We also hear it from the left when Bernie Sanders exhorts us to “not settle for a rigged economy held in place by a corrupt campaign finance system.” Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson asserts that the electoral system itself is “a rigged game.” Green Party candidate Jill Stein promises to “fix our rigged system.” Even Hillary Clinton calls for a constitutional amendment to regulate the flow of money into politics, all while she is herself seen by a majority of voters as dishonest and avaricious. So … is the system rigged? In this podcast I attempt to shed the light of integral thinking on that question. I start by recalling that all political/economic systems in all times and places are rigged to benefit the people who control them. Tribal customs dictate all aspects of life for their people. Warlords and monarchs rule vast territories through systems of domination and exploitation carried out by elite enforcers. Rigged? Corrupt? Yes, especially to subsequent generations who seek to cure the cruelties of these dominator systems by creating a new system that requires the consent of the governed. Modern democratic governments have virtually eliminated abject domination by developing a legal system of rights and laws, resulting in societies of unprecedented peace and prosperity. What a relief! But although “all boats have risen” we can see that advantages still accrue to the people in charge, now less in the form of custom and ethnic patronage and more in the form of money and influence. In the US we find ourselves in a political system where our legislators spend half their time soliciting contributions from corporations and the wealthy. And an economic system where for two generations 90% of growth has flowed to the top 1% of the population. As we grasp the impact of this (and other injustices) we evolve into a postmodern worldview, where we begin to look upon our own modern system as being corrupt. So now integral thinkers can recognize a metapattern emerging. We can see that over time humanity has created a series of systems, each designed to right the wrongs of the previous system. Essentially, the workings of any system is seen as corruption by people at the next stage of development. This bigger pattern – let’s call it the System – has been in place since the dawn of humanity and it continues to evolve systems that are ever more equitable and humane. So, two systems: 1) the political/economic system in which we are embedded, and 2) the bigger System of cultural evolution. Both are rigged, but we can be grateful that the second is rigged to stage-by-stage unrig the first. Have a listen and let me know what you think!

Jeff focuses on a new Integral sensibility that he sees emerging among the Democrats. Their convention in Philadelphia was a beautiful example of a Green multicultural gathering, with every creed, color and progressive identity well-represented, including...

Years ago, a love relationship changed the course of Patricia Albere's life. "We entered into a very intensive awakening that we shared…and together we were being purified and processed by whatever this thing was." The Sufis refer to it, she says, as red sulfur, an intense awakening that can't be stopped. "It's like an orgasm that just keep going and going." Peter, her lover, died suddenly in a car accident, but Patricia was forever changed and her curiosity about this experience of mutual awakening has just kept growing. Can it be practiced with groups? Can it be cultivated? Yes, and yes. For the past several years Patricia's been at the helm of an extraordinary spiritual experiment called the Evolutionary Collective, which is asking these questions and exploring the territory of a post-autonomous enlightenment, transcendence in the interpersonal realm. Patricia has brought many years of spiritual practice into her facilitation, from the years she spent with Werner Erhard to her studies with A.H. Almaas and years spent in the Rajneesh community. Jeff's and Patricia's relationship goes way back to the early days of Boulder Integral, and it's a pleasure to eavesdrop on their conversation. Sometimes Patricia seems to emanate the sacred feminine, in the space between the words. So listen with your heart. We hope you enjoy it. You can find more about Patricia Albere and her work at mutual-awakening.com and evolutionarycollective.com. Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

Jeff begins this episode with a heartfelt reminder of just how valuable integral theory is for opening our hearts and understanding our world. It helps us to see and accommodate more of reality, to make sense of competing worldviews and conflicting truth claims. "All schools of human wisdom find their place in the bigger integral view," he says. Jeff invited special guest Theo Horesh on to the show to talk about candidate Bernie Sanders and the progressive movement he's leading. Theo is an integrally-informed author and thought leader. He’s been a political activist since the days of Ralph Nader and the Green Party, and is especially savvy about using social media to organize (check him out on Facebook). Jeff and Theo talk about: -Money in politics and income inequality: Sander's message of a moral economy -Sander's policy proposals are not radical or untested: the European model of socialism -The critique of Sanders: he's not integral -Bernie or bust: supporting Sanders as a referendum on Hillary Clinton -Are the two parties obsolete? What does the future of American democracy look like? Also in this podcast: -Pre-trans fallacy: a conservative Muslim scholar condemns America with help from the classic song "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" -The perfect example of two first tier stages talking at each other: Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski confronts Donald Trump about his careless use of words Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

For many of us in progressive, postmodern cultures, our spiritual evolution follows a similar trajectory: we move from the conventional religion of our childhood (which in the West is theistic) to secular humanism, which eventually gives way to postmodern explorations of Eastern philosophy and practice (which tend to be nondual in nature). From a developmental perspective, this journey represents movement through the traditional, modern and postmodern stages. For some the journey continues with a new receptivity to God's love—a welcome next step to a post-postconventional relationship with the divine. Steve explores this idea in depth in his 2015 book The Presence of the Infinite. This upwards spiral is fueled by what Steve calls an interdependent existential polarity – between the nondual and the theistic – and he wants to teach us how to consciously use it to deepen our relationship to Ultimate Reality: to God and to Emptiness. Listen as Jeff and Steve discuss how this formulation of an integral, evolutionary spirituality lends itself to a method, a practice that can evolve consciousness. Steve and Jeff will be exploring the nondual/theistic spiritual path at an upcoming gathering, The Integral Incubator, taking place this August at The Integral Center in Boulder. Check it out if you're interested in deepening your spiritual insight and practice. Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

Jeff begins the podcast by playing an excerpt from a commencement speech given by President Obama at Howard University recently, which had a distinctly integral feeling to it. Before challenging the graduates, Obama puts their place in history in context: "If you had to choose one moment in history in which you could be born, and you didn't know ahead of time who you were going to be ... What nationality, what gender, what race, whether you'd be rich or poor, gay or straight, what faith you'd be born into ... You wouldn't choose 100 years ago. You wouldn't choose the '50s, or the '60s or the '70s. You'd choose right now." It's an uplifting introduction based on the big picture, the arc of history, so often lost to us amid our daily toils as the cable news hijacks our amygdalae. "People realize," says Jeff, "that for all of our problems, that this is indeed the best time to be alive and that it's getting better." Such a vision of progress is a stark contrast to the everyday attitude of first tier consciousness, which is predominantly motivated by fear and lack, or "a sense of not being enough, as sense that something went wrong," Jeff says. "Human beings drove this thing into a ditch and now we need to fix it or we're doomed." Which brings us to our main story: a fresh look at Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in their respective roles as the presumptive nominees of their parties. While Clinton still has Sanders breathing down her neck and nudging her left, she has begun to reach out to his supporters. Alas, so has Trump, who may or may not go out of his way to unite the GOP but will definitely try to scoop up as many of those Sanders supporters as he can. Not an entirely mad plan, Jeff thinks. We'll be spending a lot of time with these people in the coming months, these out-sized figures in the collective American psyche—each loved and reviled passionately by factions of the population. What are their values, their developmental centers-of-gravity? Can they still surprise us? Jeff looks at the criticism and praise heaped on each of them, and puts their candidacies in the context of the giant moneyed machine that is Washington D.C. You'll also hear another familiar voice in the podcast–a certain conservative hockey mom from Wasilla that has a way with words, and she's talking up Trump! Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

As humans evolve we are able to empathize with more and more life forms, beginning with other people and eventually extending to other species that may be very different from us–from elephants to insects. Jeff talks about new research into the interiors of tiny critters and explores the idea that consciousness is an irreducible aspect of reality. The Wilberian notion that consciousness extends all the way up and all the way down, from humans to atoms, is rich for exploration. Jeff is joined by a special guest who is working to implement basic rights for the elephants that have been held captive in temples and zoos and ill-treated for generations. Due to the controversial nature of her activism she has requested to remain anonymous. We’ve called her Annie. When we reach a green, postmodern consciousness, the idea of stealing a baby animal from its family and training it for our own amusement–a process called phajaan–literally "crushing"–is abhorrent. Thank God for green! Working only through social media, Annie has already begun to make an impact by educating people and encouraging her followers to write and take videos of elephant abuse. Also, Jeff reviews the movie "The Witch", which he likes. It tells the story of a family dealing with an evil force in God-fearing New England decades before the 1692 Salem witch trials. Plus, Trump has clinched the GOP nomination for president and Jeff wonders what exactly he's tapping into. Is Trump's populist brand of politics post-ideological or pre-ideological? Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

Carl von Clausewitz famously said "war is the continuation of politics by other means." From a developmental standpoint, Dr. Keith points out, it's the other way around: politics is actually war by other means. The 1800 election between Adams and Jefferson was the first ever peaceful transition of power in a democracy. Since then, instead of waging war against those we disagree with, we wage political campaigns, (which is a huge improvement though we sometimes have to hold our noses to participate). In this episode, Jeff and Dr. Keith look at the current presidential candidates through a psychological lense, and then turn it back on us. Some of the things they talk about: –The evolutionary roots of our quests for power –The difference between getting elected and governing –The stages of development from which our politicians are operating –What our choice of candidates says about us collectively –The tension between trusting “emergence”, and being angry and impatient about the rate of social change Enjoy! Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

In this week's Daily Evolver live Jeff takes an in-depth look at the beautiful and mysterious desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which he refers to as "our Arab frenemy". President Obama spent several days there last week—his 4th visit, more than any sitting president. Saudi Arabia is our biggest customer in terms of arms sales, and we rely heavily on their oil. And yet, recent legislation would provide U.S. citizens with recourse to sue Saudi Arabia for culpability in the September 11 attacks (Obama says he'll veto it). There is also a growing chorus of voices demanding the US government declassify 28 pages of a congressional investigation said to detail Saudi relations with, and support for, the Al Qaeda terrorist network before September 2001. Most Americans know that of the 19 hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks, 15 were citizens of Saudi Arabia. Needless to say, the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia is complicated. The Saudi peninsula was populated by Bedouin nomads for thousands of years. Jeff takes us through some history of how these people went from humble nomadic goat herders to the richest per-capita nation on the face of the earth. Obviously, oil plays a starring role in that story. So what happens when a Red, warrior people suddenly have such wealth and power to wield in the world? Well for one thing, it creates a struggle between their red, warrior values such as ethnocentrism, patriarchy, and jihad, and the new, modern cultural values like science, commerce, and individual freedoms that want to come online. Jeff uses integral theory to shed some light. Jeff also speaks with Bence Ganti about the 2nd Integral European Conference taking place in Hungary this week. Bence explains the multiple wisdom streams that will be converging: Ken Wilber's AQAL Theory, Don Beck's Spiral Dynamics, the "Teal movement" inspired by Frederick Laloux, circling practice, and Stan Grof's transpersonal psychology. As the refugee crisis continues, it's a particularly poignant time to think about what it means to be a European. Bence and Jeff talk about how integral theory can help illuminate, and maybe even ameliorate, the humanitarian crisis engulfing the continent. Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

In this short episode, Jeff speaks with Bence Ganti about the 2nd Integral European Conference taking place in Hungary next week, at beautiful Lake Balaton. Bence explains the multiple wisdom streams converging at this event: Wilberian integral theory, Don Beck's Spiral Dynamics, the teal movement inspired by Frederick Laloux, circling practitioners, and Stan Grof's transpersonal psychology. As the refugee crisis continues, it's a particularly poignant time to think about what it means to be a European. Bence and Jeff talk about how integral theory can help illuminate, and maybe even ameliorate, the humanitarian crisis engulfing the continent. Tickets are still available for IEC 2016, "Reinventing Europe". Find out more at http://integraleuropeanconference.com/. "Mutuality and love...that's the essence of Integral." –Bence Ganti Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.

Jeff often talks about how politics offers us opportunities to do integral practice, because politics has a lot of juice. "It really reaches down to our lower strata of development, down to our power and security chakras, which determine how we see the world," he says. Interestingly, and perhaps for the first time ever, we have presidential candidates whose developmental centers-of-gravity span four entire stages of development. Hence, they each speak to different parts of ourselves. Trump, for instance, has classic Red (warrior) tendencies. Red is chaotic, unpredictable, and often sees the world as divided into predator and prey, perpetrators and victims. Trump doesn’t talk about policy ideas or his vision for the country. He brags, and postures, and says "I'm going to be the best jobs president God ever created." No need to explain how. When asked why he would torture, he replied they did it to us first. Which is perfectly reasonable to an eight year old. Senator Ted Cruz represents the traditional, Amber stage of development. "This is a strata that is well occupied by candidates in history. This is Republican territory. This is social conservatives, religious, nationalistic, pro-American to the point of being anti-immigrant." Traditional is an absolutistic mindset—you're either on the side of God, or the side of the devil. There’s no middle ground. Kasich most likely represents the modern, Orange stage of development. These are not the die-hard believers. It's harder to get people fired up at this stage—they're just so rational. Which may explain why Kasich is losing (though polls say he would give Clinton and Sanders a run for their money in a national election). Hillary may even be a modernist, with post-modern and even integral tendencies. It's a bit harder to pin her down. Jeff brings integral author and teacher Terry Patten on to the show to talk about the Clinton/Sanders race. Terry is one of the few people in the integral/evolutionary world that is an activist in the political realm, (in 2012 he created a PAC to raise money for Obama in the integral community). With Hillary’s victory in New York, Jeff wonders if we can begin to look past the Bernie-Hillary rivalry and embrace the Bernie-Hillary reconciliation. Sanders has brought a challenge from the progressive wing (Green altitude) of the Democratic Party that is akin to a political revolution. The Democratic Party cannot unite behind Hillary without Hillary embracing some essence of Bernie's message. He has to be reckoned with, says Terry. "I have hopes that a Clinton presidency can actually be a unifying force in the nation, but she's not going to get there unless she first acknowledges and really validates this revolution that Bernie has fought and won." All that, plus your comments and questions. Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button on dailyevolver.com.